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| Images copyright D.C. THOMSON & Co., Ltd |
Three for the price of one this time around, folks. BIMBO ran from 1961 until 1972 and was a nursery comic for the very young. It contained strips drawn by DUDLEY D. WATKINS (TOM THUMB), BILL RITCHIE (BABY CROCKETT) and BOB DEWAR (BIMBO). Given that The BEANO's DENNIS The MENACE was named after a song, it's natural to wonder whether Bimbo was likewise christened, perhaps based on JIM REEVES' C&W track of the same name.
Back in the '60s, one of my neighbours, a fellow by the name of ROBERT BAIRD, was nicknamed Binbo (Bimbo Baird - now that's got a ring to it), but I don't know if he was named directly after the Jim Reeves song or the comic. One of the strips in the comic was OLD McDONALD's FARM, and I recall thumbing through an issue in an old wooden news- agent's kiosk back in '66 while holidaying in KINGHORN, and seeing this strip. I always remembered the line "Old McDonald had a farm, E-I-E-I-O - and on that farm he had some ducks - read about them below!" What a memory, eh?
Anyway, that's of no interest to you, I'm sure, so enjoy the covers of the first three issues of Bimbo.
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And here's a pic of Bimbo Baird from a 1970-'71 School Friends photo album.
And here's a Bimbo badge...
I had these as a nipper and was very surprised to see Baby Crockett in there! ( glossy, as I recall? )
ReplyDeleteJim's song - my Mother used to sing it to my brother, when he was a baby!
Yup, glossy - like Twinkle and Little Star. I can't quite recall if the issue of Bimbo I saw in that old wooden hut was actually bought for me or not - might've been. If so, I think it was the only one I ever had. I don't think I heard the song until after I started buying Jim Reeves records in 1976/'77. If I ever heard it earlier than that on the radio, I don't remember.
ReplyDeleteI remember reading it when I was younger. Later moved on to the Beano, and Topper. My final comic was the Victor. After the National Geographic (whose articles about the Pacific islands taught me about the female form)I moved on to my present diet of The Times Literary Supplement.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure I had a Bimbo annual when I was a young 'un, probably around 1980 and therefore probably a hand-me-down from an older relative. I wish I could remember more about it, but only vague memories of reading it at the kitchen table come to mind.
ReplyDeleteSo, E-CR. which is funnier - The Beano or the TLS?
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I've got the last 3 Little Star Annuals, DD, so I'll have to nab a Bimbo Annual to add to the collection. When I do, I'll post some pages.
Does Bimbo now mean the same thing in the UK as it does in the U.S.?
ReplyDeleteIt does indeed, Phil - has done for many a long year.
ReplyDeleteI was listening to the Podcast Skeptocs Guide to the Universe and they said bimbo actually meant a man. It's short for Bambino. Hence your comic is a little boy. Somehow the meaning changed.
ReplyDeletePettycur bay caravan park was where i bought most of my treasury editions.
ReplyDeleteI've heard people say "He's just a male bimbo", Phil, so I wonder at what point it changed to the feminine, eh?
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Baab, my gran used to have a holiday home in Kinghorn. It was a wooden affair, set amongst others of the same type. I don't remember any caravans there 'though. I remember seeing a little bust of Churchill in one of the bedrooms (that would've been in '66), and years later I saw it in my gran's actual flat (in the town in which I lived), so she must've given up the holiday home by that point. That was in the early or maybe mid-'70s.
Was the holiday home set on a hill among others right next to the beach?
ReplyDeleteThat sounds about right. As I sat at the front door, there was an area of grass in front of the dwelling, with a fence 'round it. Down below was the beach, so it was almost like being on top of a cliff (but was probably just a hill).
ReplyDeleteThe Times Literary Supplement is not meant to be funny. But the latest issue has a number of letters about amusingly mistranslated menus. Here is are a few samples: “Battered codpieces” “Liver in Venetian art” and “mixed fried of sea”.
ReplyDeleteIt helps if one knows the original language from which they were translated with the aid of a phrasebook.
"Not meant to be" being the operative words there, eh? Battered codpieces certainly sounds painful, E-CR.
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