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"I had no idea you had such a good singing voice!"
"The man who lives in my finger hired the crew."
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Mr. Bimbo is a man who lives in the finger of Squire Trelawney in Muppet Treasure Island. He is very smart, and has been to the moon (twice). Mr. Bimbo lives in the index finger of the Squire's left hand. Mr. Bimbo is said to be the one responsible for the hiring of the pirate crew of the Hispaniola after taking the advice of the ship's cook, Long John Silver. According to Squire Trelawney during the "Sailing for Adventure" musical number, Mr. Bimbo has a great singing voice (although he is never heard singing by the audience). In the final battle of the film, it is Mr. Bimbo who defends Trelawney by facing off against Angel Marie with his amazing swordplay abilities.
Mr. Bimbo only ever communicates privately to the Squire, no one else (including the audience) ever hears his voice nor can they see him (as he lived inside the bear's finger). This causes many to doubt his existence all together, believing Mr. Bimbo to be nothing more than a concoction of the crazy half-witted bear's imagination. Rizzo said upon hearing the Squire first mention of Mr. Bimbo, "I smell a bozo." It is never fully clear in the film if Mr. Bimbo is real or just in the mind of a crazy bear. However in the audio commentary found on the 2003 DVD release, director Brian Henson refered to Mr. Bimbo as "an imaginary friend who lives in [Squire Trelawney's] finger".
Behind the Scenes
Kevin Clash performing Squire Trelawney and Mr. Bimbo on the set of Muppet Treasure Island
The idea for the character came from Kirk Thatcher in a writing session for the film. He thought it would be funny to have Fozzie play the character of Squire Trelawney as a somewhat crazy dimwit who thinks there is a man living in his finger.
The finger that houses Mr. Bimbo (the index finger of Trelawney's left hand) was controlled by the main puppeteer of Squire Trelawney - either by Fozzie's regular performer Frank Oz, or (as with most of Oz's characters in a majority of Treasure Island's scenes) performed by Kevin Clash with the Squire's vocal lines dubbed by Frank Oz later on. The puppeteer's right hand manipulated the Squire's head and their left hand controlled the Squire's left hand (including the Mr. Bimbo finger). The Squire's right hand was performed by a second assisting puppeteer. However, when acting, Mr. Bimbo and the Squire were both being controled by the same performer.
Treasure Island writer Jerry Juhl said in a 1998 interview that "I thought it was lucky when Kirk Thatcher came up with the idea of Mr. Bimbo for Fozzie, having this running gag with a character living in Fozzie's finger...it was, Fozzie playing a loon. When Frank Oz came in for the first read-through, he was coming off of other projects, so it was almost a cold reading for him. He just had a chance to briefly skim it over before we started. And, at first he was just incredulous: 'Uh..uh..Fozzie really has this character in his finger?' and we said, 'Yeeeah.' It took him a long time to warm up to it but in the end he loved it." Juhl continued to say, "It takes a while to sink in! But [Frank] ended up suggesting more places on set to add bits with Mr. Bimbo."
Brian Henson talked about Oz's feeling towards the character in the commentary found on the 2003 DVD's, stating that "Frank [Oz] said this joke would never work - its so stupid that there's a Mr. Bimbo in his finger. He use to say 'I don't even get it, it's such a stupid joke'. And then he sort of reluctantly shot these scenes with Fozzie and at the end he said 'one of my favorite jokes is Mr Bimbo in the finger'".
Notes
- Due to Fozzie's accent and his pronunciation of "Mr. Bimbo" in the film, many film reviewers and viewers have incorrectly referenced the character as both "Mr. Bimble" and "Mr. Thimble" in their writings on the film. However the character's true name is Mr. Bimbo.
- Mr. Bimbo (and the Squire) appeared in the film Muppet Treasure Island as well as in special video clips made for the Muppet Treasure Island Video Game.
- Palisades Toys planned to make an exclusive Squire Trelawney & Mr. Bimbo action figure in their series 14 line-up. However the line ended at series 10 and the figure was never produced.
- The name Mr. Bimbo came from the term Bimbo which is defined as "A term that emerged in English language in the late 20th century as a popular term to refer to a person who is stupid, dim-witted and pliable; usually in reference to a female." [1]