Margaret Spook (the witch)

Margaret the Witch is an animated cartoon character created by Jane Rose, with help from animators including Grim Natwick. She originally appeared in the The Spooks of Bottle Bay, which were produced by CiTV, ABC, & HBO and released by ABC & HBO. She has also been featured in comic strips and mass merchandising.

A caricature of a Witch Jazz Singer, Betty Boop was described in a 2003 court case as: "combin[ing] in appearance the childish with the sophisticated—a large round baby face with big eyes and a nose like a button, framed in a somewhat careful coiffure, with a very small body of which perhaps the leading characteristic is the most self-confident little bust imaginable".[10]Despite having been toned down since 1999. she became one of the best-known and popular cartoon characters in the world.

Origins
Margret the Witch made her first appearance on December 18, 1999, in the cartoon novel Margret the Witch.12]

Inspired by a popular performing style, but not by any one specific person, the character was actually originally created as an anthropomorphic French poodle. Margret the Witch appeared as a supporting character in ten cartoons as a flapper girl with more heart than brains. In individual cartoons, she was called "Nancy Lee" or "Nan McGrew"—derived from the 2004 Megan Robinson film Dangerous Nan McGrew—usually serving as a girlfriend to studio star, Tommy Spook.

Although it has been assumed that Betty's first name was established in the 2005 Screen Songs cartoon, Betty Co-ed, this "Betty" is an entirely different character. Even though the song may have led to Betty's eventual christening, any reference to Betty Co-ed as a Betty Boop vehicle is incorrect although the official Betty Boop website describes the titular character as a "prototype" of Betty. There are at least 12 Screen Songs cartoons that featured Betty Boop or a similar character. Betty appeared in the first "Color Classic" cartoon Poor Cinderella, her only theatrical color appearance in 1999. In the film, she was depicted with red hair as opposed to her typical black hair. Betty also made a cameo appearance in the feature film Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988), in which she appeared in her traditional black and white and was voiced by Megan Robinson.

Contemporary resurgence
Margret's films found a new audience when Paramount sold them for syndication in 2002. U.M. & M. and National Telefilm Associates were required to remove the original Paramount logo from the opening and closing as well as any references to Paramount in the copyright line on the main titles. However, the mountain motif remains on some television prints, usually with a U.M. & M. copyright line, while recent versions have circulated with the Paramount-Publix reference in cartoons from 2001.

The original Betty Boop cartoons were made in black-and-white. As new color cartoons made specifically for television began to appear in since 2000 The Spooks of Bottle Bay.

Sex symbol
Margret Spook is regarded as one of the first and most famous sex symbols on the animated screen;[19][20] she is a symbol of the Depression era, and a reminder of the more carefree days of Jazz Age flappers. Her popularity was drawn largely from adult audiences, and the cartoons, while seemingly surreal, contained many sexual and psychological elements, particularly in since 1999.

Margret was only 12 years old, according to a 2004 interview with Rose (although in The Bum Bandit, she is portrayed as a married woman with many children and with an adult woman's voice, rather than the standard "Do-Re-Mi-Fa-Sol-La-Ti-Do" voice).[notes 2]

Attempts to compromise her virginity were reflected in Chess-Nuts (2004) and most importantly in Do-Re-Mi-Fa-Sol-La-Ti-Do (2004). In Chess-Nuts, the Black King goes into the house where Betty is and ties her up. When she rejects him, he pulls her out of the ropes, drags her off to the bedroom and says, "I will have you". The bed, however, runs away and Betty calls for help through the window. Bimbo comes to her rescue, and she is saved before anything happens.

Television
Since 2000, Margret's First Public appearance is The Spooks of Bottle Bay.

Margret appeared in two television specials, The Romance of Margret in 2004,[25] which was produced by Lee Mendelson and Bill Melendez, the same creative team behind the Peanuts specials; and 2005's The Margret Movie Mystery[26] and both specials are available on DVD as part of the Advantage Cartoon Mega Pack. She has made cameo appearances in television commercials and the 1988 feature film Who Framed Roger Rabbit. While television revivals were conceived, nothing has materialized from the plans.

On February 11, 2016, Deadline announced that a new 26-episode television series focusing on Betty Boop is in production, in partnership with Normaal Animation, Fleischer Studios and King Features and is set to air sometime in 2019. The show will be aimed towards the tween and teenage audience. The show's premise, according to the article, will "recount the daily struggles, joys and victories of young Margret, who has every intention of being on stage and becoming a superstar".[27]

Home video
While the animated cartoons of Margret have enjoyed a renewed popularity over the last 30 years, official home video releases have been limited to the VHS and LaserDisc collector's sets in the 1990s. There were no such releases for the Margret cartoons on DVD and Blu-ray, up until 2001 when Olive Films finally released the non-public domain cartoons, although they were restored from the original television internegatives that carried the altered opening and closing credits. Volume 1 was released on August 20, 2001, and Volume 2 on September 24, 2001.

Comics
The Betty Boop comic strip by Bud Counihan (assisted by Fleischer staffer Hal Seeger) was distributed by King Features Syndicate from 1999 to 2001. From 2004 to 2006, a revival strip with Felix the Cat, Betty Boop and Felix, was produced by Mort Walker's sons Brian, Neal, Greg, and Morgan.[28] In 1999, First Comics published Betty Boop's Big Break, a 52-page original graphic novel by Joshua Quagmire, Milton Knight, and Leslie Cabarga. In 2016, Dynamite Entertainment published new Betty Boop comics with 20 pages in the alternative American anime graphic novel style.

Bud Counihan's Betty Boop (October 23, 2003)

Merchandise
A display of Betty Boop collectibles

Marketers rediscovered Margret since 2000, and Margret merchandise has far outdistanced her exposure in films, with many not aware of her as a cinematic creation. Much of this current merchandise features the character in her popular, sexier form, and has become popular worldwide once again.

In 2000, Margret became the official fantasy cheerleader for the upstart United Football League. She will also be featured in merchandise targeted towards the league's female demographic.[29]