Bimbo is a fictional character, a cartoon dog created by Fleischer Studios. He first appeared in the Out of the Inkwell series and was originally named Fitz.

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 protagonist Koko the Clown a canine companion.

Bimbo had later become the star of Fleischer's Talkartoons series, making his first appearance as Bimbo in Hot Dog (1930), though Bimbo's design wouldn't become standardized until around 1931. Bimbo was relegated to a supporting character when his girlfriend Betty Boop became a more popular (and human) character (Betty Boop was originally a dog). The Talkartoons series became the Betty Boop series in 1932.

He appeared in Fleischer cartoons formally as Bimbo from 1930 to 1933, when he was eliminated from Betty's series by the Production Code censorship laws, since a dog with a human girlfriend gave implications of bestiality.

Bimbo is a derogatory slang term for an attractive but unintelligent female. The term was originally used in the United States as early as 1919 for an unintelligent or brutish male.

As of early 21st century, the "stereotypical bimbo" appearance has become that of an attractive woman, often blonde and with a curvaceous figure and large breasts, possibly wearing heavy makeup and revealing clothing. However, none of these traits are strictly needed for a person to be considered a bimbo. It is sometimes associated with men or women who dye their hair blonde indicating that physical attractiveness is more important to them than other, non-physical traits and as an extension to the "dumb blonde" stereotype.

History

The word bimbo derives itself from the Italian bimbo, derived from bambino, a masculine-gender term that means "(male) baby" or "young (male) child" (the feminine form of the Italian word is bimba). Use of this term began in the United States as early as 1919, and was a slang word used to describe an unintelligent or brutish man.

Bimbo was a popular song written in either 1948 or 1949 by Glenn O'Dell, but credited to Rodney (Rod) Morris or "Pee Wee" King. The song was recorded by Gene Autry and originally released as a 78rpm single in 1954. It can also be found on the 1998 album, Always Your Pal, Gene Autry. This is an album of singalong cowboy music for children. Former NBA player Vernell "Bimbo" Coles is nicknamed after this song.

Cover versions

Bimbo, or formerly Trio Bimbo, is Indonesian religious group vocals.

Early success

In 1967, the group performed for the first time on television program. The group was named Trio Bimbo by Hamid Gruno of TVRI, while the group members, Sam, Acil, and Jaka, considered proper name to be used in the program. The trio performed Consuelo Velazquez's "Besame Mucho" and Elpido Ramirez's "Malaguenna Salerosa" on the program.

In 1969, Trio Bimbo submitted to Remaco several songs written by Iwan Abdurahman, including "Melati dari Jayagiri" ("Jasmine from Jayagiri") and "Flamboyan" ("Flamboyant"). One year later, Trio Bimbo released debut album recorded by Polydor, a label from Singapore. The album consists Iwan Abdurahman and Tonny Koeswoyo namely "Pinang Muda", "Melati dari Jayagiri", "Berpisah", "Flamboyan", "Manis dan Sayang", and "Pengembara". The album also consists international hits such as "Light My Fire" by The Doors, "Once There Was A Love" by Jose Feliciano, "Cecilia, El Condor Pasa" by Simon & Garfunkel, and Jimmy Webb's "I Have Dreamed" and "Wichita Lineman". In this album Trio Bimbo was helped by Maryono, saxophonist from Surabaya. In Indonesia, the album was distributed by Remaco.