Bonzo the Dog was a star before he made it into the movies, appearing as a regular cartoon character in “The Sketch”, a London illustrated weekly newspaper. He caught the popular imag­ination and inspired a huge amount of merchandising: postcards, car mascots, jigsaw puzzles, ceramic figures and choc­olate moulds. Creator G.E. Studdy even­tually teamed up with William A. Ward at New Era Films and 11 animators to produce 26 seven-minute films, one ev­ery fortnight, before the high costs of an­imated shorts prevented further produc­tion, despite the character’s popularity.

Bonzolino or Bonzo Broadcasted, the 10th episode, is one of several to survive and, deep joy, it’s about the film world! Bonzo’s girlfriend Cheekee thinks only of film stars – her room is plastered with celebrity portraits. The despondent Bonzo is determined to win a Holly­wood contract to impress her and catches a wave to L.A., by radio of course. Here he auditions with mixed success for a stu­dio boss as a Chaplin imitator, “Adolph Bonjou” and “Bon Chaney”.

Bryony Dixon