Bonzolino or - Bonzo Broadcasted

Bonzo the dog hitches a ride on radio waves all the way to Hollywood to win back his girl in this silent cartoon comedy

The course of true love never did run smooth, not even for cartoon canines. Cheekee the Pekinese is so besotted with silent movie stars that she has no time for Bonzo, so he hitches a ride on the radio waves to Hollywood and, after a few mishaps, earns his own contract. The irony is that George Studdy's creation Bonzo was already a star of stage shows, merchandising and this 26-part animated series.

Born out of Studdy's weekly one-page illustration in The Sketch, the character of Bonzo had slowly transformed from a number of dog drawings into a much loved national character. The artist had experimented with short animated editorial cartoons during WWI, but this series marked a different scale of operation. One of the few British animated characters to compete with imports like Felix the Cat, any success in cinemas was sadly short-lived. Like many other silent animated characters, Bonzo enjoyed a longer life on home movie formats like 9.5mm film.