Bimbo's Initiation

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!

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.

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.

"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.

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.