Mae Questel


Mae Questel was an American actress and voice actress best known for providing the voices for the animated characters Betty Boop and Olive Oyl from 1931.
She began in vaudeville, primarily as an artist impersonator and played occasional small roles on Broadway and on television and films, later in her career, most notably the role of Aunt Bethany in 1989's National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation.

Early career and Betty Boop

Born as Mae Kwestel in the Bronx New York City to Simon and Freida Kwestel, she attended Morris High School and studied acting at the American Theatre Wing and with the Theatre Guild. Although she wanted to be an entertainer, her parents, who were Orthodox Jews, actively discouraged her from doing so, at one time forcing her to leave the Theatre Guild school.
Nevertheless, at the age of 17 Questel won a talent contest held at the RKO Fordham Theatre in the Bronx by imitating actress and singer Helen Kane. She was signed by an agent and began performing in vaudeville as an impersonator. Billed as "Mae Questel - Personality Singer of Personality Songs," she did Fanny Brice, Marlene Dietrich, Eddie Cantor, Mae West, Maurice Chevalier and others, as well as doing animal imitations. She was seen by animator Max Fleischer, who was looking for an actress to provide the voice for his Betty Boop character. Questel's "Boop-boop-a-doop" routine, done in a style similar to the version Helen Kane made popular, while at the same time evoking something of the naughty allure of film star Clara Bow, was exactly what Fleischer wanted, and he hired Questel in 1931. She began as one of a number of actresses providing the character's voice, but soon took over the role exclusively.
From 1931 until 1939, Questel provided the voice of Betty Boop in more than 150 animated shorts, the longest run for any actress doing that voice. During the 1930s she released a recording of "On the Good Ship Lollipop" which sold more than two million copies. In 1988, she reprised her role as Betty Boop in a cameo appearance in Who Framed Roger Rabbit, which was effectively Questel's only known work for Disney.
Along with her voice work, and occasional on-camera appearance in Paramount shorts, Questel also attended Columbia University, where she studied drama.

Olive Oyl

Beginning in 1933 Questel also provided the voice for Olive Oyl in the Max Fleischer Popeye cartoons, inititially voiced by Bonnie Poe, she made her debut with "I Eats Me Spinach" and essentially became the permanent voice until her hiatus to start a family in 1938. She based Olive's nasal vocal quality and expression, "Oh, dear!" on the character actress ZaSu Pitts and ultimately played the role for 20 years.
Starting in 1938, Margie Hines, who was the original voice of Betty Boop replaced Mae Questel when production made the transition to the Miami Studio, Florida. Questel returned as the voice of Olive Oyl in 1944 after the studio re-organized as Famous Studios, Paramount Pictures and had returned to New York, a role in which she would remain in until 1962. She also filled in for Jack Mercer as the voice of Popeye for a small number of cartoons, made when Mercer was temporarily drawn into war service.
When Hanna-Barbera began making the All New Popeye cartoons for television in 1978, Questel auditioned for the role of Olive Oyl but lost out to Marilyn Schreffler.

Other voices

In addition to her signature voices of Betty Boop and Olive Oyl, Questel also provided the voice of Little Audrey and Casper, the Friendly Ghost in their respective animated shorts. In 1958, she voiced Wendy the Good Little Witch in the theatrical Casper cartoon short Which is Witch. In the 1950s, she was the voice for the title character of the pioneering interactive Saturday-morning cartoon series Winky Dink and You.
In The Flintstones series she voiced characters from the spin-offs The Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm Show, The Flintstone Comedy Hour and the Flintstone Frolics. She voiced Wiggy Rockstone after the original voice actress, Gay Autterson, left the role in 1982.
She continued to provide the voices of Betty Boop and Olive Oyl in commercials, television specials and elsewhere until her death. In 1988, she reprised her role as Betty Boop in the film Who Framed Roger Rabbit.
In 1935, Mae Questel played the voice of the Woman in the Shoe in the Max Fleischer cartoon, The Kids in the Shoe.

On-camera roles

Questel played a number of small parts, including appearing with Rudy Vallee as Betty Boop in the 1931 short Musical Justice and as a nurse in The Musical Doctor in 1932.
In 1961 she was seen as a middle-aged bride in Jerry Lewis' It's Only Money, one of Fanny Brice's mother's card-playing friends at the start of the film Funny Girl in 1968, and as the "Jewish Mama from Hell" in New York Stories in 1989 in Woody Allen's segment titled "Oedipus Wrecks"; she had earlier sung the song "Chameleon Days" on the soundtrack for Allen's film Zelig in 1983. Her last non-voice appearance was as the elderly Aunt Bethany in 1989's National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation.
In 1973, Questel had a role in the short-lived ABC television sitcom The Corner Bar, but she achieved perhaps her greatest visibility in television commercials, notably playing "Aunt Bluebell" in ads for Scott Towels, but also appeared in spots for Playtex, Folger's Coffee and others. She also appeared on panel shows and in daytime soap operas.

Broadway

Questel appeared on Broadway four times:
Questel was married twice: to Leo Balkin on December 22, 1930, from whom she was divorced prior to 1950; and to Jack E. Shelby on November 19, 1970; they remained married at his death. She had two sons, Robert Balkin and Richard, who survived her.

Politics

Questel was a Democrat who supported Adlai Stevenson's campaign during the 1952 presidential election.

Death

Questel died from complications related to Alzheimer's disease at the age of 89 in her Manhattan apartment. She was buried in New Montefiore Cemetery in West Babylon, New York.

Selected filmography