How It Started
We were having one of our TikTok conversations about Shirley Temple. There’s a shocking secret there, too. You can look for that post next week. Someone brought up Betty Boop. Which prompted me to post this:
When You Think of Betty Boop
Who Was The Real Betty Boop?
The real Betty Boop was a performer by the name of Esther Jones aka Baby Esther. She was a popular performer at the famous Cotton Club in Harlem.
The Cotton Club
The legendary Cotton Club was a New York City hot spot from 1923 to 1940. It was located in Harlem (1923 to 1935), then in the midtown Theater District (1935-1940). The club operated during the era of Prohibition and Jim Crow laws.
A List Performers
As was common for the day, Black people could not attend the Cotton Club, but they could play the Cotton Club. It was the place that launched the careers of many of the most popular black entertainers of the era like Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, Count Basie, Billie Holiday, Lena Horne, Bill Bojangles Robinson, and more. As for me, when I think of The Cotton Club, The Amazing Showman, Cab Calloway, immediately comes to mind.
A Stolen Act
A White performer named, Helen Kane saw Baby Esther’s performance and literally stole her entire act, all the way down to the classic, Boo, Boo, Be, Do.
The Truth Revealed
What Do You Think About This?
Drop me a comment and let me know!
Did You Know?
I wrote a book? I did! It’s called, 3 Super Simple Tips For An Awesome TikTok Experience! It’s my lessons learned as I built my TikTok community to over 200,000 in a little over a year.
It’s a quick, easy read full of helpful tips and a bonus one. It also has a supplemental worksheet to help you put what you learned into action.
Let me know if you read and what you think.
Until next time,
Namaste,
Khadeeja
