'Nancy Drew,' comic strip icons Betty Boop, Blondie now under public domain
Beloved US cultural icons Nancy Drew, Betty Boop, and Blondie have joined Popeye, Winnie the Pooh, and Mickey Mouse in the public domain.
On Jan. 1, several literary, cartoon, and comic characters reached maximum coverage under the U.S.' 95-year copyright protection law. According to CBS News, these pieces of intellectual property are now free for creators to use without permission or payment.
Betty Boop first appeared in a comic strip in 1930. The 1920's flapper became so popular that she eventually appeared in numerous merchandise and branding materials, including restaurant logos, T-shirts, and water tumblers.
Only the earliest Betty Boop iterations belong to the public domain: Dizzy Dishes, the first cartoon. To use this, creators still need to pay for the character's trademark under Fleischer Productions. A trademark and copyright are different, as Disney frequently points out regarding the use of many of its characters.
In the same year, Blondie, a young flapper who played straight arrow against her clumsy boyfriend Dagwood, also came out in a newspaper comic strip. It inspired a film series and a radio show.
Only the initial four months of the comic strip are in the public domain.
Nancy Drew, the indomitable teen girl sleuth, had 56 stories written about her in classic yellow-spined hardbound books, and published by Grosset & Dunlap from 1930 to 1979. When Simon & Schuster took over, the series continued on to 175 books. It has been made into several series and films, with Emma Roberts in 2007 and Sophia Lillis in 2019, playing the titular role.
Only the first four books of the original series written under the pseudonym Carolyn Keene—the first of which is The Secret of the Old Clock—are now free to be used by anyone.
Aside from these creations, many other literary works, films, and songs are now also free for the public to use. These include:
Books
- The Murder at the Vicarage by Agatha Christie, the first of Christie's novels featuring amateur detective Miss Marple
- The Little Engine That Could by Watty Piper
Songs
- Dream a Little Dream of Me, music by Fabian Andre and Wilbur Schwandt, lyrics by Gus Kahn
- Georgia on My Mind, written by Hoagy Carmichael and Stuart Gorrell
- I've Got a Crush on You, written by George Gershwin, with lyrics by his brother Ira
Films
- All Quiet on the Western Front, directed by Lewis Milestone, and the Best Picture winner at the 3rd Academy Awards
- King of Jazz, featuring the first screen appearance of Bing Crosby
In 2027, two Universal Pictures classics will be among the newcomers in the public domain: Dracula and Frankenstein.
