Wednesday, October 1, 2014

BIMBO'S INITIATION - Fleischer Studios - "Members Only" (1931)

 Personally, I don't think anything says Halloween better than old scary cartoons, so without further delay, let's get this Countdown To Halloween 2014 underway with a fantastical release from 1931 called "Bimbo's Initiation!"

When Bimbo make any sounds, it's Billy Murray doing the talking! Billy was the voice of Bimbo in 9 other cartoons too! So here's Bimbo the dog, innocently walking down the street, minding his own business!

Bimbo falls into a hole, and after a long descent, the adventure begins!

Down at the bottom of the chute is this group of things, and they want Bimbo to join their "Do It Or Die" organization, hence the title, "Bimbo's Initiation!"

Bimbo's not a team player, and he doesn't want to become a member!

"Wanna Be A Member, Wanna Be A Member?"     
"NO!"

"Bimbo's Initiation" starts and it's nothing but one long bad dream that he can't wake up from!

There's the Topsy-Turvy room and a giant knife with a mind and an appetite of it's own!

Luckily, another trap door opens and allows Bimbo to escape this fiendish nightmare!

Needless to say, it doesn't get any better for Bimbo!

There's a rope with a candle burning through it connected to this big smasher thing that's suspended over Bimbo's head!

Groggy from all the action, Bimbo must now make a choice! I love this shot! 

Those crazy Fleischer Brothers seem to have an endless supply of wacky Rube Goldberg devices at their mental disposal like this bike to nowhere that spanks him as he goes, or...............

....................These endless doors of misfortune!!

Down another chute! Rule one in these cartoons, you can't have too many sliding down a chute scenes!

It's like a giant boardwalk fun house of death and dispair!

Betty Boop shows up and makes it all better, and Bimbo then decides it's finally okay to say "YES" to "Do You Wanna Be A Member?" "Bimbo's Initiation" is one of the last cartoons where Betty Boop still had her dog ears, and you can see it for yourself right here among other places for free on YouTube!

4 comments:

Dr. Theda said...

Great Images... and a very good post ...
we posted on this one a bit back....
We hope that you Guys are well...

Grant said...

In a way this cartoon is very "current," because there's such focus on secret societies like the Freemasons right now. (I guess there ALWAYS is, but it's especially big just now.) And this one is so strange it almost feels like some "lurid" story or article about them (in a good way, I mean).

Eegah!! and Tabonga! said...

Thanx Doc! We're hanging in there! Same to you!!

Eegah!! and Tabonga! said...

Pretty funny Grant! Cartoons retain their relevance better than movies!

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