Bimbo (Fleischer)

Bimbo
Betty Boop character
Betty Boop and Bimbo in Minnie the Moocher (1932).
First appearance	"Hot Dog" (1930)
Last appearance	"The Betty Boop Movie Mystery" (1989)
Created by	Fleischer Studios
Voiced by	Billy Murray
Information
Species	Border Collie Dog
Gender	Male
Occupation	Drummer ("Betty Boop's Hollywood Mystery")
Significant other(s)	Betty Boop

Bimbo is a tubby, black and white cartoon dog 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. A precursor design of Bimbo, 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 later became the protagonist and star of Fleischer's Talkartoons series, positioned as a rival to Disney's Mickey Mouse, making his first appearance as Bimbo in Hot Dog (1930), though Bimbo's design wouldn't 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 Hayes Code censorship rules began to strictly get enforced in 1934, Bimbo disappeared from future Fleischer cartoons of the era, due to the implications of a anthropomorphic dog dating a human girlfriend were too risqué at the time.

About 56 years after his first absence from cartoons, Bimbo made a reappearance in 1989 as a major co-star in the TV special Betty Boop's Hollywood Mystery. Then 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 continued to appear in various Betty Boop merchandise after that and was reestablished as a mainstay of the series.