You may be totally clueless about Esther Jones, but you certainly know her aura: the tight curls, the high-pitched voice and a boop-oop-a-doop singing signature. Sounds like Betty Boop, right? Indeed, Jones was a child performer known as “Baby Esther.” Her world-renowned performances birthed the famous cartoon character.
Jones possessed a distinctive vocal style characterized by “baby” talk and scatting, which she brought to places like the Cotton Club in Harlem, N.Y.
While some white performers tried to claim they were the real-life vision behind Boop, Jones, and other Black starlets of the era, like Florence Mills, faded into the background.
That is, until now.
Boop! The Musical is bringing Betty to life, and Jasmine Amy Rogers, in her Broadway debut, is playing the titular role, bringing reverence to the Black women of the 1930s era who brought joyous performances throughout the world.
“It means everything to me,” Rogers declared to EBONY. “As a Black woman gets to do that, it’s really, really cool.”
Like many, Rogers didn’t know much about the real-life counterpart that helped inspire Betty Boop. “When I got the role, I started looking into how she basically created this iconic baby scat style,” Rogers shared.
“It’s really nice that she’s getting a resurgence of attention because of what we’re doing. People are realizing that she existed and what she did mattered, and she was a pioneer in the space.”
It’s an homage Rogers is living for. “I’ve met people on the street, and they’re like, ‘It’s good to see one of us up there.’ That means so much. It’s another way to connect back to my blackness as well.”
And for her grandmother, who grew up in the 1930s, it’s thoroughly surreal. “She said, ‘I’ve waited 90 years for this,’” Rogers exclaimed. “There’s nothing better than that, nothing better.”
Boop! The Musical is playing at the Broadhurst Theatre in New York City.
