Bimbo | |
---|---|
Betty Boop character | |
First appearance | "Hot Dog" (1930) |
Last appearance | "The Betty Boop Movie Mystery" (1989) |
Created by | Fleischer Studios |
Voiced by | Billy Murray (1930–1931) [1] Claude Reese (1931–1933) Billy Costello (1932; singing voice) Cab Calloway (1933; singing voice) Bradley Barker (1933) Don Redman (1933; singing voice) Michael Bell (1989) |
In-universe information | |
Species | Dog |
Gender | Male |
Occupation | Drummer ("Betty Boop's Hollywood Mystery") |
Family | Betty Boop (girlfriend) |
Bimbo is a fat, black and white cartoon pup created by Fleischer Studios. He is most well known for his role in the Betty Boop cartoon series, where he featured as Betty's main love interest. [2] A precursor design of Bimbo,[ citation needed ] originally named Fitz, first appeared in the Out of the Inkwell series.
Bimbo was initially inspired by animation director Dick Huemer's work on Mutt and Jeff , who, when working on the Out of the Inkwell series, decided to give protagonist Koko the Clown a canine companion. Bimbo has the distinction of being the first known cartoon character in history to ever have fully animated dialogue, as seen in the 1926 short My Old Kentucky Home , where a prototypical Bimbo says "Follow the ball and join in, everybody!" [3]
Bimbo later became the protagonist and star of Fleischer's Talkartoons series, positioned as a rival to Disney's Mickey Mouse, making his first named appearance as Bimbo in Hot Dog (1930), though Bimbo's design would not become standardized until around 1931. The name Bimbo was chosen because in the 1920s the word was mostly associated with men who liked to fight.
He starred in several famous cartoon shorts of the 1930s, most notably Swing You Sinners! , Minnie the Moocher and Bimbo's Initiation .
Bimbo became a less prominent character after his girlfriend Betty Boop gained unexpected stardom and popularity with fans, with the Talkartoons cartoon retooled to give her top billing as the Betty Boop series in 1932.
After Hays Code censorship rules began to strictly get enforced in 1934, Bimbo disappeared from future Fleischer cartoons of the era, due to the implications of an anthropomorphic dog dating a human girlfriend being considered too risqué. [4]
About 56 years after his first absence from cartoons, Bimbo made a reappearance in 1989 as a major co-star in the TV special The Betty Boop Movie Mystery and in First Publishing's 1990 comic Betty Boop's Big Break with more of his original personality intact as a love interest of Betty. He has continued to appear in various Betty Boop merchandise since then and has been reestablished as a mainstay of the series.
In 2016, he appeared in Dynamite's Betty Boop comic mini-series as Betty's best friend with a secret crush on her. He later appeared in the iOS game Betty Boop Dance Card in a 3D look, also voiced by Will Ryan.
In 1932, a character created by Walter Lantz Productions, a dog named Pooch the Pup appeared as the star of his own cartoon shorts. Pooch greatly resembled Bimbo's design; in 1933, Pooch was redesigned even further to look more reminiscent of his Betty Boop counterpart. [5]
Title | Release date |
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Hot Dog | March 29, 1930 |
Fire Bugs | May 9, 1930 |
Dizzy Dishes | August 9, 1930 |
Barnacle Bill | August 31, 1930 |
Swing You Sinners! | September 24, 1930 |
Grand Uproar | October 3, 1930 |
Sky Scraping | November 1, 1930 |
Up to Mars | November 20, 1930 |
Accordion Joe | December 12, 1930 |
Mysterious Mose | December 26, 1930 |
Ace of Spades | January 16, 1931 |
Tree Saps | February 3, 1931 |
Teacher's Pest | February 7, 1931 |
The Cow's Husband | March 13, 1931 |
The Bum Bandit | April 3, 1931 |
The Male Man | April 24, 1931 |
Twenty Legs Under the Sea | May 5, 1931 |
Silly Scandals | May 23, 1931 |
The Herring Murder Case | June 26, 1931 |
Bimbo's Initiation | July 24, 1931 |
Bimbo's Express | August 22, 1931 |
Minding the Baby | September 26, 1931 |
In the Shade of the Old Apple Sauce | October 16, 1931 |
Mask-A-Raid | November 7, 1931 |
Jack and the Beanstalk | November 21, 1931 |
Dizzy Red Riding Hood | December 12, 1931 |
Any Rags? | January 12, 1932 |
Boop-Oop-a-Doop | January 16, 1932 |
The Robot | February 5, 1932 |
Minnie the Moocher | February 26, 1932 |
Swim or Sink (S.O.S.) | March 11, 1932 |
Crazy Town | March 25, 1932 |
The Dancing Fool | April 8, 1932 |
Chess-Nuts | April 13, 1932 |
A Hunting We Will Go | April 29, 1932 |
Hide and Seek | May 26, 1932 |
Admission Free | June 10, 1932 |
The Betty Boop Limited | July 1, 1932 |
Betty Boop's Bizzy Bee | August 19, 1932 |
Betty Boop, M.D. | September 2, 1932 |
Snow White | March 31, 1933 |
Betty Boop's Ker-Choo | January 6, 1933 |
Betty Boop's Penthouse | March 10, 1933 |
Betty Boop's Birthday Party | April 21, 1933 |
Betty Boop's May Party | May 12, 1933 |
Betty Boop's I Heard | Sep 1, 1933 |
Fleischer Studios was an American animation studio founded in 1929 by brothers Max and Dave Fleischer, who ran the pioneering company from its inception until its acquisition by Paramount Pictures, the parent company and the distributor of its films. In its prime, Fleischer Studios was a premier producer of animated cartoons for theaters, with Walt Disney Productions being its chief competitor in the 1930s.
Walter Lantz Productions was an American animation studio. It was in operation from 1928 to 1949 and then from 1950 to 1972, and was the principal supplier of animation for Universal Pictures.
Max Fleischer was a Polish-American animator and studio owner. Born in Kraków, Poland, Fleischer immigrated to the United States where he became a pioneer in the development of the animated cartoon and served as the head of Fleischer Studios, which he co-founded with his younger brother Dave. He brought such comic characters as Koko the Clown, Betty Boop, Popeye, and Superman to the movie screen, and was responsible for several technological innovations, including the rotoscope, the "follow the bouncing ball" technique pioneered in the Ko-Ko Song Car-Tunes films, and the "stereoptical process". Film director Richard Fleischer was his son.
Betty Boop is an animated cartoon character designed by Grim Natwick at the request of Max Fleischer. She originally appeared in the Talkartoon and Betty Boop film series, which were produced by Fleischer Studios and released by Paramount Pictures. She was featured in 90 theatrical cartoons between 1930 and 1939. She has also been featured in comic strips and mass merchandising.
Talkartoons is a series of 42 animated cartoons produced by Fleischer Studios and distributed by Paramount Pictures from 1929 to 1932.
Koko the Clown is an animated cartoon character created by Max Fleischer. His first appearance as the main protagonist in Out of the Inkwell (1918–1929), a major animated series of the silent era. Throughout the series, he goes on many adventures with his canine companion "Fitz the Dog", who would later evolve into Bimbo in the Betty Boop cartoons.
Out of the Inkwell is an American animated film series of the silent era. It was produced by Max Fleischer from 1918 to 1929 and was called The Inkwell Imps at the end of that period.
James H. "Shamus" Culhane was an American animator, film director, and film producer. He is best known for his work in the Golden age of American animation.
Dave Fleischer was an American film director and producer who co-owned Fleischer Studios with his older brother Max Fleischer. He was a native of New York City.
Andy Panda is a cartoon character who starred in his own series of animated cartoon short subjects produced by Walter Lantz. These "cartunes" were released by Universal Pictures from 1939 to 1947, and United Artists from 1948 to 1949. The title character is an anthropomorphic cartoon character, a cute panda. Andy became the second star of the Walter Lantz cartoons after Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. He achieved considerable popularity until being eventually supplanted by Woody Woodpecker.
Betty Boop's Ker-Choo is a 1932 Fleischer Studios animated short film starring Betty Boop, and featuring Koko the Clown and Bimbo.
Dinky Doodle was a cartoon character created by Walter Lantz for Bray Productions in 1924.
Bimbo's Initiation is a 1931 Fleischer Studios Talkartoon animated short film starring Bimbo and featuring an early version of Betty Boop with a dog's ears and nose. It was the final Betty Boop cartoon to be animated by the character's co-creator, Grim Natwick, prior to his departure for Ub Iwerks' studio.
Dizzy Dishes is an animated cartoon created by Fleischer Studios in 1930, as part of the Talkartoon series. It is noted for being the first cartoon in which Betty Boop appears. Under current United States copyright law, the short will enter into the public domain in 2026.
Mysterious Mose is a 1930 Fleischer Studios animated short released through Paramount Pictures as part of the Talkartoons series. This film contains an early version of Betty Boop and the studio's star, Bimbo. "Mysterious Mose" is also the name of a popular song from 1930.
Any Rags? is a 1932 Pre-Code Fleischer Studios Talkartoon animated short film starring Bimbo, and Betty Boop, with a brief appearance by Koko the Clown.
Pooch the Pup is a cartoon animal character, an anthropomorphic dog, appearing in Walter Lantz cartoons during the studio's black-and-white era. The character appeared in 13 shorts made in 1932 and 1933.
Minnie the Moocher is a 1932 Betty Boop cartoon produced by Fleischer Studios and released by Paramount Pictures.