Mae Questel

Mae Questel (/ˈmeɪ ˌkwɛˈstɛl/; born Mae Kwestel; September 13, 1908 – January 4, 1998) was an American actress. She was best known for providing the voices for the animated characters Betty Boop (from 1931) and Olive Oyl (from 1933).^[1]

Questel began her career in vaudeville, primarily working as an impressionist. She later performed on Broadway and in films and television, including her role as Aunt Bethany (her final role) in National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation (1989).

Born Mae Kwestel on September 13, 1908, in the Bronx, New York City, to Simon and Freida (née Glauberman) Kwestel, she attended Morris High School and studied acting at the American Theatre Wing and with the Theatre Guild.^[2] Although she wanted to be an entertainer, her parents, who were Orthodox Jews, actively discouraged her from doing so, at one point forcing her to leave the Theatre Guild school. It was also her drama teacher, Joseph G. Geiger, that changed her name to Questel.^[3]

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 impressions of Fanny Brice, Marlene Dietrich, Eddie Cantor, Mae West, Maurice Chevalier, and others, as well as doing animal imitations.^[2]

Questel also attended Columbia University,^[2] where she studied drama.

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 created, 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.^[2] She began as one of a number of actresses providing the character's voice, but soon took over the role exclusively.^[4]

From 1931 until 1938, Questel provided the voice of Betty Boop in more than 80 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. Starting in 1938, Margie Hines, who was the original voice of Betty Boop, replaced Mae Questel when production made the transition from New York to the Miami Studio in Florida. In 1943, the studio returned to New York and Questel resumed as the primary Betty Boop voice.^[5]

In 1988, she reprised her role as Betty Boop in a cameo appearance in Who Framed Roger Rabbit, which was Questel's most extensive work for Disney; she had provided brief additional voices for some of Disney's earlier films.

Beginning in 1933,^[2] Questel provided the voice for Olive Oyl in the Max Fleischer Popeye cartoons. 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 reportedly based Olive's nasal vocal quality and expression, "Oh, dear!", on character actress ZaSu Pitts.^[6]

Questel returned as the voice of Olive Oyl in 1944 after the studio reorganized as Famous Studios, Paramount Pictures and had returned to New York, a role in which she would remain 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, alongside Floyd Buckley and Harry Foster Welch.^[4][7][8]

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.^[9]

In addition to her signature voices of Olive Oyl and Betty Boop, Questel also provided the voice of Little Audrey.^[2] In 1935, Mae Questel played the voice of the Woman in the Shoe in the Max Fleischer cartoon, The Kids in the Shoe.

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. She provided the voice of Casper, the Friendly Ghost in Golden Records' Casper the Friendly Ghost and Little Audrey Says in 1962.^[10]

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.

Questel played a number of small parts, including appearing with Rudy Vallée as Betty Boop in the 1931 short Musical Justice^[11] and as a nurse in The Musical Doctor in 1932.

In 1962, she played a Jewish mother in an episode of crime drama Naked City. She was also seen as a middle-aged bride in Jerry Lewis' It's Only Money.^[12] In 1968, she was one of Fanny Brice's mother's card-playing friends at the start of the film Funny Girl.

In 1973, Questel had a role in the short-lived ABC television sitcom The Corner Bar,^[2] but she achieved perhaps her greatest visibility in television commercials, notably playing "Aunt Bluebell" in ads for Scott Towels from 1971 to 1979, and appeared in spots for Playtex, Folger's Coffee, and others. She also appeared on panel shows and in daytime soap operas.^[2]

In 1989, she appeared as the "Jewish Mama from Hell" in New York Stories in Woody Allen's segment titled "Oedipus Wrecks";^[4] she had earlier sung the song "Chameleon Days" on the soundtrack for Allen's film Zelig in 1983.^[3]

Her last nonvoice appearance was as the elderly Aunt Bethany in 1989's Christmas slapstick comedy film National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation.^[13][14]

Questel married Leo Balkin on December 22, 1930, and they were divorced prior to 1950. She married Jack E. Shelby on November 19, 1970; they remained married until his death. She had two sons, Robert Balkin and Richard Balkin.^[2]

Questel died on January 4, 1998, from complications related to Alzheimer's disease at the age of 89^[15] in her Manhattan apartment. She was buried in New Montefiore Cemetery in West Babylon, New York.^[2]

Questel appeared on Broadway four times:^[16]

• Doctor Social (1948) with Dean Jagger^[17]
• Leonard Spigelgass' A Majority of One (1959) with Cedric Hardwicke and Barnard Hughes^[18] – she reprised her role (as "Essie Rubin") in the film adaptation
• Enter Laughing (1963) based on the novel by Carl Reiner, with Alan Arkin, Alan Mowbray, Sylvia Sidney and Michael J. Pollard^[19] and
• Bajour (1964), the Walter Marks musical, starring Herschel Bernardi, Nancy Dussault and Chita Rivera^[20]

• Biography portal

Notes

• Taylor, James D. Jr. The Voice of Betty Boop, Mae Questel. New York: Algora Publishing, 2016. ISBN 978-1-62894-204-0

• Mae Questel at the Internet Broadway Database
• Mae Questel at IMDb 
• Mae Questel at the TCM Movie Database
• Mae Questel at Find a Grave
• Mae Questel at the Internet Archive
• Mae Questel at Behind The Voice Actors
• Mae Questel at OTRRpedia at the Wayback Machine (archived March 4, 2016)