Bimbo's Initiation (1931) User Reviews

Weird, but fun

[rbverhoef · 7/10 · 1 May 2004]

This is a very weird cartoon with Bimbo the dog who enters a house where he is asked by strange creatures if he "wanna be a member, wanna be a member?" His answer is no and every time he answers that again the house pulls some tricks on him. Near the end there is a short appearance of Betty Boop (with the voice of Mae Questel), only she has dog ears here.

This cartoon is very weird and surreal in some ways. The house has some great surprises, all very well animated. It looks very original. The music fits the action perfectly and the appearance of Betty Boop, with the strange ears, is a nice one and it helps this cartoon with a nice ending. Recommended.

the bizarre joys of classic cartoons

[framptonhollis · 8/10 · 11 May 2019]

The Fleischer-produced-and-directed cartoons of the 1930's are tremendously trippy feats of classic animation. 'Bimbo's Initiation,' with its endless creativity and absurdist comedy, is emblematic of these free-spirited films, unafraid to be suggestive, violent, and, most excessively of all, balls-to-the-walls weird and wacky. It's practically unpredictable in its madness, one looney laugh after another assaulting the viewer. Its reputation as one of the most surreal cartoons of its time is well-earned, there is little sense to be had: a spark of fire can dance, a sharp blade can lick its lips, creepy cult members can tear off their skin revealing multiple clones of the stereotypically alluring Betty Boop, etc.

Betty Boop's Last Canine Appearance

[springfieldrental · 8/10 · 22 October 2022]

Anyone familiar with the history of animation knows the name of Grim Natwick, responsible for one of cinema's greatest short cartoons in the history of film, July 1931's "Bimbo's Initiation." Natwick's legendary career is most recognizable in Walt Disney's 1937 "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs" where he was the lead animator in the first feature film cartoon. Earlier, he was responsible for designing Betty Boop, one of 1930s most popular on-screen animated characters. Max Fleischer, president of Fleischer Studio, said he wanted a girlfriend for his popular cartoon dog Bimbo, so Natwick came up with the flapper nightclub singer sporting a pug nose and dog ears. From Betty's introduction in August 1930 "Dizzy Dishes" to July 1931's "Bimbo's Initiation," Natwick was in charge of Betty's look in the ten cartoons she appeared with Bimbo.

The Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin-native had a knack for drawing at an early age. He specialized in sheet music cover art after graduating from New York City's National Academy of Design. Future film director Gregory La Cava (1936 "My Man Godfrey"), a school chum of Natwick's, first suggested the artist go into the film cartoon business at William Randolph Hearst's animation studios where La Cava was the supervisor. He did, launching a fifty-year career in the animation field. He worked for several cartoon studios, including Fleischer's, Ub Iwerks', where he animated a number of "Flip The Frog" cartoons and ran Ub's studio, and Walt Disney's, becoming the head animator for his "Snow White" production.

As he was was drawing "Bimbo's Initiation," Natwick knew it was the last cartoon he would sketch Betty Boop and her boyfriend dog. Fleischer Studio assigned him to other projects, so he wanted his final Bimbo effort to go out with a bang. It turned out "Bimbo's Initiation" has been acknowledged as one of cartoons' greatest works. The surreal-like short has the pup falling through a manhole into a secret society's underground clubhouse. Throughout his attempts to escape, he asked by its leader of its freaky-appearing membership club if he wants to join. After several minutes of heart-pounding sequences, including Betty's surprise appearance, the cartoon ends in a complete surprise as to whom belongs to this society. Voted #37 in the 'Fifty Greatest Cartoons' ranked by professional animators, "Bimbo's Initiation" had been credited by cartoonist Jim Woodring (the creator of "Jim" magazine) as "one of the things that laid the foundation for my life's philosophy."

Natwick's career reads like a "Who's Who" in drawing circles, not only originating Betty Boop, but also animating Mickey Mouse in 1940 Disney's "Fantasia," Mr. Magoo, Popeye, Felix the Cat, among a host of other characters. He lived to be 100, and is remembered by the South Wood County Historical Museum in his hometown of Wisconsin Rapids showcasing many of his works.

Worth Watching for the Pre-Code Sexuality

[Michael_Elliott · 27 July 2010]

Bimbo's Initiation (1931)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Marginally entertaining short has Bimbo falling down a manhole where he ends up in a strange playhouse where some masked people keep asking him if he wants to be a member of their group. Each time he says no they put him through some form of abuse but soon Betty Boop shows up and asks him the same question. In terms of imagination this short has quite a bit of that but in terms of laughs there are very few. I think the film works best as some eye candy because the house is a pretty interesting one and at least keeps the movie going at a good speed. I thought all the tricks were rather clever and this includes the rolling floor and the sequence where Bimbo has to open one door after another. I think the highlight is without question the cameo by Boop and there's no doubt that this short was made before the Hayes Code. The level of pre-code sexuality is quite high as it's obvious Boop is having quite the effect on poor Bimbo who can't control himself. The scenes with Boop shaking her butt and slapping it are hard to forget and easy to see what's going on.

This brief, ground-breaking film teaches young tykes . . .

[tadpole-596-918256 · 7/10 · 16 January 2020]

. . . that gender is a fluid concept, subject to change on their slightest whim. "Betty Boop" makes several cameo appearances (as an alluring wench) while she's driving home this point to her steadfast(ly) male companion, "Bimbo." Even in the days before Medicaid-covered gender reassignment surgery for any incarcerated person curious about how the other half lives became the norm, BIMBO'S INITIATION introduces the title character to the idea that it's none of his business IF his dame Betty sports a bushy, black beard, cross-dresses in Eastern Bloc old guy anarchist garb and issues imperatives in basso profundo tones. Such a whimsical broad should have just as much right to use the Ladies Room at a Girl Scout Convention in the Carolinas as Caroline Kennedy herself! Bimbo is shown to be initially resistant to Betty's pleas for open-mindedness during the better part of BIMBO'S INITIATION. However, once he relents and gets with the times, his sweetie offers him four dozen of her closest girlfriends to enjoy (as the producer gets around any threat of censorship by picturing this whole frisky bunch as a high-stepping bevy of kicking Betty clones). As "Popeye" once said, "Beard Today, Bare Tomorrow."

Pure, Undiluted Fleischer quantum weirdness...

[Eusephus · 10/10 · 12 September 1999]

Bimbo's Initiation (1931): An early Max Fleischer cartoon starring the studio's pre-Betty Boop star, Bimbo. A strange, cocky, decidedly urban character, Bimbo went through many character designs and voices during his early films. By this film the little dog had settled into the design he would keep until he was eclipsed by Betty Boop's popularity in the mid-thirties . Like many of the Fleischer's Depression era cartoons, "Bimbo's Initiation" is filled with desperate characters dealing with an unstable, even hostile universe. After being swallowed by a manhole and locked in by a demonic Mickey Mouse (evil Mickey Mouses were rampant in the early Fleischer cartoons) Bimbo finds himself in a dungeon inhabited by a psuedo-Masonic group with chamberpots on their heads who chant,"Wanna be a member, Wanna be a member?" When Bimbo refuses, he is thrown into a labyrinth filled with surrealistic tortures while the Lodge brothers continue to chant, "Wanna be a member...?" Does Bimbo relent? Watch the cartoon and find out! No spoilers here!

Brilliant early sound cartoon

[froggy-34 · 10/10 · 14 June 2000]

"Bimbo's Initiation" is a gem of a cartoon. It captures the surreal quality of a nightmare-- but the disturbing quality is outweighed by the humor.

This is the strange rubbery universe of the Fleischer Brothers at it's best. This is one of the very few cartoons that I can enjoy watching again and again.

Fleischer rarely got more nightmarish than here

[TheLittleSongbird · 9/10 · 22 January 2017]

Fleischer were responsible for some brilliant cartoons, some of them still among my favourites. Their visual style was often stunning and some of the most imaginative and ahead of its time in animation.

Despite the Betty Boop picture on this page, 'Bimbo's Initiation' is not a Betty Boop cartoon, or at least not one where she is a lead. She does feature here, towards the end in a very nice short appearance that shows her trademark charm, sensuality and adorable factor, and also a bravery and care for Bimbo.

'Bimbo's Initiation' is, as the cartoon's title indicates, very much a Bimbo cartoon, and Bimbo is on top form where one really cares what happens to him and often feels the same emotions as he.

As always, the animation is outstanding (though Betty's different-to-usual character design, like with the ears, is a touch odd), everything is beautifully and meticulously drawn and the whole cartoon is rich in visual detail and imagination. Every bit as good is the music score, which delivers on the energy, lusciousness and infectiousness but also an ominous spookiness and eerie quality that sets the tone of the cartoon brilliantly.

The cartoon also is hugely atmospheric and while terrifying to a child (Fleischer rarely got nightmarish, and this is coming from someone who saw the likes of 'The Cobweb Hotel') it's pretty creepy still through adult eyes as it should be. There are some great ideas, very imaginatively drawn and done with great visual creativity and fluid timing.

Overall, a great nightmarish cartoon. 9/10 Bethany Cox

Lots of surreal fun for adults, but terrifying for children!

[planktonrules · 9/10 · 16 August 2012]

As I watched "Bimbo's Initiation", I was surprised how good the cartoon was as well as how inappropriate it was for younger audiences! In a strangely surreal film, the Fleischer Studio managed to appeal and repel two different audiences! However, despite the title, Bimbo is a dog--Betty Boop's friend and companion--so the film is NOT adult in this regard!

The film begins with Bimbo walking down the street when he's tossed down a manhole by a BRIEF appearance of a character that looks exactly like Mickey Mouse! However, he comes and goes so fast--probably so that they wouldn't get sued for using this Disney character! But, since we are in the age of DVDs and computers, stop and look--it IS Mickey!

Bimbo falls down this tunnel into a fun-house like world where he is constantly being asked if he wanted to join some secret society or cult. When he says no, they appear to try to kill him in many weird and funny ways. None of it is cute--mostly it looks like a film directed by or inspired by Salvador Dali or a man on LSB (is there a difference?). You just have to see it to understand what I mean. However, if all Betty Boop cartoons were this bizarrely entertaining, I'd seek them out--but unfortunately they are not.

FYI--This movie was recently listed by Crack Online on their list of Five Cartoons Way Darker Than Most Horror Movies. And, based on what I saw, I would agree.

Can't say no to Betty?

[Horst_In_Translation · 4/10 · 23 October 2015]

"Bimbo's Initiation" is a black-and-white sound cartoon from almost 85 years ago done by the legendary Dave Fleischer / Fleischer Studios. In this one, Bimbo is the star and Betty only plays a supporting part. Bimbo gets invited by a bunch of mysterious men to join their even more mysterious group. Wanne be a member? Wanna be a member? And even if he refuses to, it seems like he has to go through a great ordeal, many dangerous and scary challenges in order to be accepted. however, in the end he quickly changes his mind when we see that all the mysterious men were actually all Betty Boop in disguise. Really strange cartoon, and unfortunately not too funny except one or two occasions. Not recommended.

Very strange short with a small part for an early take on Betty Boop.

[llltdesq · 9/10 · 5 July 2002]

This is a BImbo cartoon and quite an odd one it is too. Betty Boop makes a relatively brief appearance towards the latter half of the short and at the end and her look is slighly different in this early short. Exceedingly strange things happen throughout to say the least! Great fun but definitely an acquired taste. In print and available. Well worth watching. Recommended.

"Do you want to be a member? Want to be a member?"...."No!"

[theowinthrop · 10/10 · 25 January 2007]

Because of the way the Betty Boop cartoons were shown on television in the early 1960s, certain cartoons were not pushed too much. Those that showed her as she was originally drawn, with "dog" ears", and which hinted at more raw sex than the occasional lapses of later "domesticated" Betty Boop cartoons with her inventor "Gramps" and with her cute dog "Pudgy" were never shown. This, unfortunately, reduced the chances of seeing some of the early Boop supporting cast - Koko the Clown ("Out of the Inkwell") and the male dog Bimbo. Bimbo was Betty's boyfriend in some of the early cartoons - like this one.

Here we see Bimbo strolling along, minding his own business, when he falls down a manhole - and immediately the manhole is shut with a heavy lock applied to it. Bimbo finds himself in an underground structure surrounded by about ten masked men who are the members of a society and offer him a chance to join. But he sees they have paddles, and he refuses. And then the surreal world of the Fleischer studio takes over: Bimbo is pushed from one room of the underground structure to another - and in each he is confronted by torture devices that are aiming to kill him. He is also confronted by corn ball jokes (he opens a door and sees a skeleton on a pay phone, telling his girlfriend, "I have a bone to pick with you!"). Every now and then he meets with the spokesman of the society, repeating the offer ("Do you want to be a member? Want to be a member?" And each time Bimbo refuses, and the process of torture begins again.

Then Betty pops up to briefly rescue him. At the tail end of the cartoon Betty is there and goes into a dance, and she makes the offer - and now Bimbo accepts it. Then all the members remove their clothes, and they are revealed to be Betty Boop clones.

As I said earlier there was more raw sex in these cartoons than in the later ones. Betty, to keep Bimbo's total fascination with her from flagging, whacks herself on the behind while dancing. At the tail end of the cartoon (no pun intended) as she and new member Bimbo are jointly dancing they both "playfully" whack each other's behind a bit. Done tastefully...of course! It was a more open era before the Hays Office Code and the Breen Office really got underway in Hollywood three years after this cartoon was made.

Wanna be a member? Wanna be a member?

[robynh-4 · 10/10 · 24 June 2009]

"Bimbo's Initiation" is a hilariously surreal cartoon about Betty Boop's boyfriend, Bimbo the Dog. While the cartoon may not be suitable for children (but then again Betty Boop was- and still is- an adult cartoon, really), "Bimbo's Initiation" is one of those old crazy cartoons you just gotta watch.

OK, the synopsis for "Bimbo's Initiation": The cartoon opens with Bimbo walking down the street, harmlessly enough walking over a series of manholes, when an evil Micky Mouse traps him in an open sewer! Bimbo slides down a tunnel and lands in front of a secret society of candle-headed weirdos. The leader asks Bimbo "Wanna be a member? Wanna be a member?". Bimbo of course replies "No!". The secret society weirdos then send Bimbo on his way (or so he thinks), but he really ends up in a sadistic fun house, with the secret society popping up every now and then asking Bimbo "Wanna be a member? Wanna be a member?"

What I find as one of the strangest things about "Bimbo's Initiation" is Betty Boops design. In this cartoon she has floppy dog ears, but is still human (apparently Betty Boop was originally meant to be a sexy anthro dog. Anyway, the surrealness of "Bimbo's Initiation" is very well done, combining comedy with some scary elements, ultimately creating a beautiful nightmare very well worth watching.

In short, watch "Bimbo's Initiation".

Wonderful great movie

[mrdonleone · 10/10 · 23 March 2019]

So anyway this movie is so great and it brought me so many nightmares when I was a little boy but there are some other nightmares about hell and other places and now this is obviously about the Illuminati who controls the movie with witches ironically Scythe I'm writing this to belongs to movie with lovers and I'm a movie lover myself so I just support the Demonic thing that you could see on the movie Scream which is terrible to understand that to realize especially when you're old enough to understand this is all not good but what can I do about it it's a beautiful life I'm living in its lovingly even better with movies because movie certain movies not all movie certainly not scary movies or bad movies that this was not a bad movie trust bit scary. And all these things happen of course for a reason to make the people understand when they are young. They must join the Illuminati and the Illuminati with me that dreams come true otherwise they are not welcome in the movie business like I was the case with me just terrible but it's the way it goes and this is the underlying message of this scary wonderful great movie

Wanna be a member?

[BA_Harrison · 9/10 · 11 August 2020]

Betty Boop's love interest Bimbo gets his own adventure in this crazy cartoon that makes one wonder what the hell they were snorting or smoking at the Disney animation studios in the '30s. The premise is simple: a secret society invites Bimbo to join their group, but when he refuses, they use more persuasive methods. The execution, however, is far from straightforward, producer Max Fleischer and his animator Grim Natwick committing to film some truly freaky and surreal scenarios (indeed, I'm sure this cartoon must have influenced Joe Dante for his nightmarish Twilight Zone: The Movie episode).

The first indication that this is going to be something very strange indeed is the appearance of the secret society members, sinister robed figures with candles on their heads. Why? Only Disney, Fleischer or Natwick could say for sure, and they're no longer around to tell (unless you believe the story that Walt is cryogenically frozen somewhere). Things get darker and darker and stranger and stranger as the dog tries to escape from various traps - it's an incredibly imaginative and visually stunning piece of work that proves thoroughly entertaining from start (which features an early appearance from Mickey Mouse) to finish (in which Betty Boop, with dog ears, turns up to strut her stuff).

Phi over Pi, not Pi over Phi

[chopinesque30 · 10/10 · 28 February 2016]

Since I am limited to 1,000 words, I cannot do this picture justice from the start. Therefore, I will simply say: who's to say what it means? Should we each individually subscribe to any one interpretation and thereby join a group? (Wanna be a member?) I think that is the most important point if anything. At least Bimbo seems to think he has the right to walk, happy-go-lucky, through a neutral society (going in and out the window without actually ever going in or out as he whistles along) without falling into a trap set for him by Mickey Mouse or other corporate traps, lol. When he does fall into one, he has the right to say no, but when all groups are reduced to their least common denominator, male and female, he also has the right to say "YES!". It is unfortunate as it seems that Betty did not remain faithful and later turned into a real "Bimbo" in her other pictures, lol.

I believe the least common denominator is arrived at by phi over pi (0.5150362148) indicating that Bimbo is only a little over half a person without his female companion. Together they would add up to a little over one 1 with the overage leading back through time to their origin. The leader of the secret society has a prop that seems to suggest their belief in the opposite, pi over phi which is 1.94161103873 and is nonsensical unless you say that a group is more than the sum of its parts and this perhaps somehow gives them more import or rights than an individual or married couple or any person who does not desire to be incorporated. I assume that Fleischer was a Jew and so had been instructed in the importance of male and female union and so this makes sense from that perspective.

Holy canolies!!!

[Foreverisacastironmess123 · 8/10 · 8 April 2013]

Well, for starters it gets points for originality, that's for damn sure! It certainly seems there was once a time when cartoons were made for adults too. I love the way the jolly old-timey opening suggests a short that's going to be all rosy and sweetness-no way, Jose! This is one of those special and awesome Betty Boop shows that gives strong credence to the notion that all animators of the 1930s were on substances of a, oh shall we say, questionable nature! Like the best kinds of old toons it is dark, even spooky. And it's got that vital 'lil dash of the macabre-perhaps more than just a little this time! Everything is alive and 'kickin, and the sinister sight gags soon abound with swiftness. Mere moments in we get creepy morlock clans, scary anthropomorphic pointy things,(one just somehow knows it's a bad thing when the knife licks its own blade!) startlingly twisted and warped perceptions, inescapable rooms and a dog-eared slutty woman. Apparently at one point they were considering Betty being some kind of poodle-like creature. Must not have panned out. It's almost as if most of the gags were done by the animators just to show that they could. There's all the wonderfully random nightmarish nonsense that I do so love! ::: Horror show frat: see the brutal recruitment methods of the good 'ol days! When Bimbo says he doesn't wanna be a member, they make his life a living hell-literally! "Wanna be a member, wanna be a member!!?" I love that, it's so absurd and surreal. I mean, a member of what exactly? This is crazy cooky 1930s Fleischer cartoon land-who the hell cares! Anything can happen there...WHY NOT?! I love the cool revolving room with the many doors of mystery where every room has some gimmicky trap. And now behind door number one... And the show really takes off beautifully when it gets to Bimbo's final run through the tunnel of doom. It's like a ghost train. And I would like to point out that the brilliant door-within-a-door-within-a-door scene is the part of the cartoon that can be briefly glimpsed on a TV screen in Twilight Zone: The Movie! ::: Very well worth seeing for any fan of vintage animation or just for anyone who likes a little dark wanton with their toons.

Utterly Frightening

[Hitchcoc · 9/10 · 31 December 2015]

When I watch David Lynch movies, I sometimes think he is showing us his nightmares. I often feel that the Betty Boop canon may be David Fleischer's nightmares. In this one, Bimbo, her little dog is the star. He is walking down the street when he fall in a manhole. He finds himself in some weird meeting of some kind of clan. They keep asking him if he wants to join (they are holding boards with nails in them and other weapons). He says no and this leads to one horrible situation after another where he must try to survive. It's a terrifying world but that is the Fleischer way of doing things. There is also a kind of vibration, a kind of rhythmic dance that goes on in these cartoons. I am enjoying these cartoons, fifty years after I saw them as a kid.