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[miko2]

Today's Song -- Dangerous Nan McGrew by Helen Kane


Helen Kane was Betty Boop before there was a Betty Boop. In point of fact, Betty Boop was based on Helen Kane. She was well known for her "Boop-oop-a-boop" line (which she added on her own to her most famous hit, I Want To Be Loved By You. After she went to Hollywood she appeared in the film Heads Up playing a supporting character named Betty. So -- I Wanna Be Loved By You appeared in 1928, Heads Up in 1930, and Betty Boop first appeared in 1930 but wasn't given the name until some years later. (She also made appearances as Nancy Lee and Nan McGrew before getting her current name.)

Helen Kane tried to sue Max Fleischer and Paramount Publix Corporation for the obvious, but after two years the case went against her. It was claimed that Betty Boop was also modeled on silent film star Clara Bow (true -- and you can tell just by looking at her) and that Helen Kane had borrowed her own Boop-oop-a-boop scat singing style from a relatively unknown African-American singer named Baby Esther, whom she'd seen at a Harlem club (also true, apparently).

(Kristin Hersch and 50 Foot Wave have a song called Clara Bow).

Dangerous Nan McGrew is a song from a 1930 film of the same name. It's the only film in which Kane was the star; by all reports, she wasn't star material, nor was the film very watchable. The title is a parody of Dangerous Dan McGrew, from the Robert W Service poem The Shooting of Dan McGrew. In any case, the song and her singing style amuse me. ^_^

Helen Kane, Dangerous Nan McGrew