This is a 1930 to 1931 colorized artwork of Betty Boop by Grim Natwick. This is Betty's original color palette as a poodle woman.
Betty has vivid red hair, blue eyes and she wears a pink dress. This here is Betty's original color palette by Natwick.
Betty already was a redhead long before the 1934 cartoon "Poor Cinderella" and Grim Natwick has confirmed this on many occasions. The Fleischers after all stole his creation. They obviously are going to change the narrative, as if Natwick did not already establish that Betty had red hair and blue eyes.
Such a shame that Natwick has been discredited by the Fleischer Studios family lineage for decades now, even after his death.
Obviously Betty's image was based on Clara Bow and other women who were stars back in the 1920s and 1930s.
Helen Kane the "Boop-Boop-a-Doop" Girl who Natwick used as one of the many sources to introduce Betty Boop had based most of her earlier success on Clara Bow the "It" Girl. Kane had aspired to be the next Clara Bow. Kane's wasn't so successful in the movies. She appeared in several Paramount films from 1929 to 1931.
When Kane went to Broadway and found success in "Good Boy" in 1928, she became a short-lived star. She was a sort of rival to Bow not in the movies but on record.
Bow was more successful as a film star, and Kane as a singer. Gloria Swanson told Helen Kane in 1930 at an event that Clara Bow was the most beautifulest of stars, this enraged Kane. It turns out that Bow did not get on with other women in Hollywood, with the only acception being Louise Brooks.
Kane's stardom fizzled by 1931, and Bow retired in 1933.
Betty Boop was not just based on those women, but also the women who voiced her. Margie Hines, Little Ann Little, Bonnie Poe and most notably Mae Questel.
Most of Betty Boop's image was based on the cute Questel.
Much like Helen Kane imitating Clara Bow, Mae Questel started her career imitating Helen Kane.
