Poor Betty was a victim of the Hays Code, or the Motion Picture Production Code, which in 1934 banned profanity and curtailed violence and sexual content in movies — even animated movies.

The Betty Boop cartoons were not just aimed at kids. They had stuff in them for grownups, too: not least, guest appearances by some of the era's top jazz musicians.

From her 1930 debut as a poodle-human hybrid to a modern-day symbol of empowerment, Betty Boop has had an unusual journey to the Broadway stage. Boop-oop-a-doop!