Short answers, pulled from the story.
Betty Boop was designed by Grim Natwick at the request of Max Fleischer. She made her first appearance in the cartoon Dizzy Dishes, released on the 9th of August, 1930, as the seventh installment in Fleischer's Talkartoon series.
In May 1932, Helen Kane filed a $250,000 infringement lawsuit against Fleischer Studios, Max Fleischer, and Paramount Publix Corporation, claiming Betty Boop was a deliberate caricature of her persona that caused unfair competition. The case went to trial in New York in 1934, and New York Supreme Court Justice Edward J. McGoldrick ruled in favor of the studio, finding that Kane had not proved the "baby" style of singing originated with her.
From the 1st of July, 1934, when the Production Code took effect, Betty Boop was restyled as a spinster housewife or career girl wearing fuller dresses. Head censor Joseph Breen ordered the removal of her suggestive opening sequence, and she gradually lost her hoop earrings, gold bracelets, and curls. New co-stars including a boyfriend named Freddy, a puppy named Pudgy, and an inventor named Grampy were introduced to appeal to a more juvenile audience.
Betty Boop was featured in 90 theatrical cartoons between 1930 and 1939. The Betty Boop cartoon series officially ended with Yip Yip Yippy (1939), though her genuine final appearance was in Rhythm on the Reservation (1939).
Mae Questel is the most closely associated voice actress, having begun the role in Silly Scandals (1931) and continued until 1939, then returning nearly fifty years later in Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988). Earlier voices included Margie Hines, who was first, as well as Kate Wright, Bonnie Poe, and Ann Rothschild. Cindy Robinson has voiced the character since 2015.
Under US copyright law, Betty Boop's earliest appearances entered the public domain on the 1st of January, 2026. Fleischer Studios still retains trademark rights on her name and image, which unlike copyrights do not expire as long as the rights holder continues using them.