Classic Entertainment Autographs

Cat. #002142: MAE QUESTEL

Scarce and terrific 10x8-inch printed sketch of Fleisher Studios' Popeye and Olive Oyl, boldly signed in black fine-tip pen in the 1980s. In good condition and excellent for display. After winning a Helen Kane lookalike contest at age 17, Mae Questel made a living impersonating the popular singer in Vaudeville and on the radio. She was invited by Max Fleischer to do her Kane impression for the voice of his latest and sexiest cartoon creation, Betty Boop, which she would do in over 150 animated shorts until the character was retired in 1939. Five decades later, she made one final appearance as Boop in the Ink and Paint Club sequence of Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988). Questel also lent her voice to both Oliver Oyl and See'pea in Fleisher's Popeye cartoons. In her elderly years, she found new work as a character actress, popping up in films like Funny Girl (1968), Hot Resort (1983), Zelig (1983), New York Stories (1989), and Christmas Vacation (1989), as the demented, cat- and jello-wrapping Aunt Bethany.