George E. Studdy (1878-1948) created Bonzo the dog in the early 1920s, and the bull terrier became a merchandising bonanza in the UK. Bonzo made the leap to the USA in the mid-1920s when the Crosley company manufactured a small radio receiver called the Crosley Pup and adopted the dog as their mascot. The Crosley Bonzo wore headphones (the way most people listened to radio broadcasts then) in an apparent parody of RCA Victor's Nipper character.


Vivian Stanshall (1943-1995) intros "The Intro and the Outro" on the Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band's debut album, Gorilla (1967). Click for this great guide to the puns, personnel and people, fictional and otherwise, cited in the tune. And here for the massive Stanshall Archive. Do not adjust your set.

 



In the style of "The Intro and the Outro", Stanshall did the narration for Mike Oldfield's Tubular Bells (1973). A portion of Tubular Bells was used in the soundtrack of William Friedkin's The Exorcist that same year.

Labels: bonzo dog, eric idle, intro, michael palin, oldfield, outro, stanshall, studdy, terry jones

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