Bimbo (known as Bimbo The Pup) is a fictional anthropomorphic dog created by Max Fleischer and Grim Natwick for Fleischer Studios. He is best known for his role in the Betty Boop cartoon series, where he featured as Betty's main love interest. He is described as a generic dog, or a mix of Pug, Boston Terrier, and Bulldog, and was not based on a specific breed. While the early versions of Bimbo varied, the most recognizable appearance is that of a short, round, black dog.
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History
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 Out of the Inkwell protagonist Koko the Clown a canine companion named Fitz.
Bimbo made his first appearance in Hot Dog (1930) as the protagonist and star of Fleischer's Talkartoons series. He was gradually developed into an amoral everyman to compete with Walt Disney Productions' Mickey Mouse, allowing the character to become popular while Koko the Clown languished in legal turmoil over rights issues. He starred in several famous cartoon shorts of the 1930s, most notably Swing You Sinners!, Minnie the Moocher and Bimbo's Initiation, eventually reuniting with Koko when Albert Weiss gave up rights to the character.
Bimbo was later paired with Betty Boop, a female dog similar to Minnie Mouse, who gained unexpected stardom and popularity to the point Bimbo and Koko were overshadowed.
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. Coupled with the fact that everymen like Mickey Mouse, Oswald the Lucky Rabbit and Bosko lost their appeal to the audience, Bimbo was quickly retired in 1933 in favor of the Betty Boop and Popeye the Sailor series.
Revival
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.
Filmography
All films were directed by Dave Fleischer.