Count Bobby
Count Bobby (German: Graf Bobby) is a fictional Viennese comic figure that has been very popular for many years. The inventors of Count Bobby are unknown. Originally a popular figure in jokes, in the early 1950s Count Bobby became so popular that the jokes were collected in anthologies. Later, he was the main character in a number of films, played by Peter Alexander. Count Bobby has more recently also featured in computer games.
In most jokes about him, Bobby's fictional friend Rudi appears as a sidekick. Baron Mucki is also often mentioned. Bobby, Rudi and Mucki represent members of the Austrian nobility, though officially the use of noble titles was abolished with the founding of the Austrian First Republic in 1919.
Both Count Bobby and Baron Rudi are a little remote from daily life; their education is somewhat problematic; their intellectual abilities are only so-so; but their manners are impeccable. Both have a hard time making ends meet - but noblesse oblige! They speak in a slightly bored inflection in a nasal Viennese dialect known as Schönbrunnerdeutsch, or German as spoken at the Habsburg Imperial Court at Schönbrunn.
Baron Rudi is a little more versed in the ways of the actual world, more energetic and a little brighter, and thus the perfect foil for Bobby. Their stories range from the silly to the downright philosophical.
Films
1961: The Adventures of Count Bobby (Director: Geza von Cziffra)
Count Bobby has a big castle but no money, that's why he has to play the entertainer for some tourists, who want to visit his castle. Finally he sees an opportunity to gain some money, but his aunt gets ill, so he has to dress himself as a woman in order to accompany the millionaire's daughter Mary during her voyage through Europe. But he hasn't thought about Baron Mucki, who has been engaged as a private detective by Mary's father...
1962: The Sweet Life of Count Bobby (Director: Geza von Cziffra)
Count Bobby and Baron Mucki are working together as private detectives, but they aren't very successful... Suddenly they get hired to investigate the disappearance of some girls in southern Europe. That's why they have to dress as women. Count Bobby becomes the chief woman of a dancing group. When they make a tour through the Atlantic Ocean he recognizes that he is in deep trouble...
1965: Count Bobby, The Terror of The Wild West (Director: Paul Martin)
Count Bobby gets to know that his uncle from Arizona has died. So he journeys to Arizona because he wants to inspect his new possessions. But Doc Harper is after the Count's new house. So Bobby and Mucki have to defend themselves with guns and roses...
Computer Games
Since 2005 several freeware computer games have been produced about Count Bobby by Le Woltaire, in which however the Count's title has been translated as "Earl" to make the figure more distinctive. These games are classic point and click adventures and consist of very simple joke like stories. The concept of these games is that Bobby always loses things because he suffers from dementia. So the player has to help Bobby in finding his important objects. He has to interact with several characters like Baron Mucki to do so.
The Bobby computer games were nominated for several awards in the independent gaming scene.