Betty Boop 1931 "Bimbo's Initiation"

The surreal, nightmarish atmosphere of Bimbo's Initiation has made it one of the most renowned Fleischer Studios shorts. Leonard Maltin described it as "the 'darkest' of all" the Fleischers' cartoons.

In 1994 it was voted #37 of the 50 Greatest Cartoons of all time by members of the animation industry. It was the final Betty Boop cartoon to be animated by the character's co-creator, Grim Natwick.

in "Bimbo's Initiation," Bimbo falls into a manhole and is surrounded by strange, hooded creatures chanting, "Want to be a member?" The last creature turns out to be Betty, with dog ears. In her earliest incarnation, Betty was a dog (attempting to create a counter figure for the famous Disney mouse). Soon her floppy ears became hoop earrings and a femme fatale was born...

Category:

Film & Animation

Tags:

• betty boop
• grimm natwick
• bimbo's initiation
• bimbo
• psychedelic
• surrealism
• fleisher studios
• animation
• cartoon

[Cosmonina]

Yeah that's Mickey. Or a parody of him... There were more of these 'cameos' . I know 'The Bum Bandit' has another guest appearance by the Disney mouse.... Betty was originally made into a dog, to be a worthy rival for the mouse.... glad they sorted her out ;)

[rang3r34]

They just don't make cartoons like this aymore! Surreal, almost nightmarish, but still funny!!

[Ignacio6412]

@ZeroRockerX Yes Paramount Was Saying To Disney That They Know About Suicide Mouse

[ZeroRockerX]

This have anything to do with suicide mouse?? :o

[raggiedoll2008]

this was the first betty cartoon i ever watched. it's going to be 80 years old soon :)

[andoc]

@steverlfs She's not fully Betty yet, here she's still a Poddle and Bimbo's girlfriend, I believe.

[circusgirl16]

this isn an initiation this is a freacking cartoon verision of Saw and som other random stuff.

[jthomasnovak]

Is it just me, or does Bimbo throw out an "Oh sh*t!" at frame 2:22?

[hausthc]

awesome animation.

I like it more than 3d animation

[sntmiranda]

Sorry, I misunderstood the comments. Anyway you can use it for general knowledge... =P

[sntmiranda]

Ok, ok, let's see this clear; Mickey and Bimbo are clearly NOT the same. Bimbo was the Fleisher version of the Pat Sullivan and Otto Messmer animation "Master Tom" (later Felix the cat). And Mickey is the Disney version of Felix the cat. They all based the character in master Tom because of his success.