Betty Boop/Characters

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


Betty Boop

A 16 year old flapper girl, looking for a good time and good at heart. Was gradually toned down post-1933, but is still remembered today as the peppy, cute youth of her early days.


Bimbo

The initial star of the Max Fleischer Talkartoons series of sound cartoons, Bimbo is a cartoon dog, bred of the stock rubberhose art style of the time and the Fleischers answer to Mickey Mouse. Betty was initially created to be his girlfriend, but ended up becoming so popular that Talkartoons became her own series, with Bimbo getting into many escapades with her, some of which were romantic. However, once the Hays Office grew its claws in 1934, Bimbo was immediately abandoned due to the Codes rules against Beastiality.


Koko The Clown

The original star of the Max Fleischer cartoon studio from the Out of the Inkwell series, Silent Age cartoon veteran Koko the Clown made occasional appearances in the shorts as a copatriot of Betty and Bimbo.


Pudgy

After Betty was cleaned up by the Hays Office, animator Myron Waldman decided to give Betty a new friend, a moon-faced puppy named Pudgy, to replace Bimbo (a character whom Waldman despised). In a sense, Pudgy is Fleischer's answer to Walt Disney's Pluto, but arguably much cuter.


Grampy

Betty's grandpa, who happens to be a genius inventor.