Bimbo's Initiation - Toonstalgia

Bimbo's Initiation and Real Secret Societies

Toonstalgia

Bimbo's Initiation
Released 1931
Voices by Mae Questel and Billy Murray
Animation by Grim Natwick

Bimbo and Poodle Betty

A secret society wants Bimbo to join and Bimbo's not on-board.

Grim Natwick (besides having a cool name) exemplifies the word "prolific". That man worked hard and did not always get credit like with this cartoon which doesn't credit him.

Betty Boop isn't the traditional Betty. She's poodle Betty and she's saucy.

A Ripped from the Headlines Cartoon

The probable inspiration for "Bimbo's Initiation" isn't an actual secret society unless the Fleischers or a member of their team were in one. I think this is unlikely because the secret society is portrayed as coercing Bimbo's acceptance through violence and generally being as creepy as possible. Likely the stories and the representations of secret societies in the press inspired this work.

In the early part of the 20th century, secret societies were a serious issue in high schools and college in the United States. In California, they had many including the "Golden Goat Society" and the "Scum and Dirt" society as reported by The Los Angeles Times on July 23, 1911.

Bruce Bliven manages to explain the candy box part of an initiation with as much delicacy and class as is humanly possibly considering the candy box. Basically, the initiate would be compelled to go around campus and offer girls candy from a box.

"Johnny will appear upon the college campus, carrying a box of candy elegantly wrapped and tied. In the front of his trousers there will be a hole--not too small--say about six inches square. And through the live-long day Johnny, bravely ignoring the unrepaired state of his upholstery, will approach every young lady he sees...."

-Bruce Bliven

I wandered through the news reports of twisted rebellion. I chose Bliven's article to highlight because I fell in love with his writing even though it is one of the early articles I saw. It contained many of the themes that repeated. Also Max Fleischer would have been in his late 20s, early 30s in the 19-teens and Dave Fleischer would have been in his teens. So I think this is where their ideas about secret societies would have formed.

The basics of the stories about the societies were the same. The authorities didn't like them, the kids did like them and they did some strange things. Some of the stories related in the articles of the time seem inflated to me. Accurate or not, these were the stories being shared in the press. Stories of drinking, minor debauchery, cruel games, physical assault and amusing torments. People seemed to fear that they didn't know the full extent of the students' activities.

Perhaps the cruelest part were the "fake" societies. A "prank" where students would set up a fake secret society, encourage freshmen to join, abuse them then reveal the "prank". Reportedly some students would laugh it off and others would leave school.

"These are really huge, practical jokes, played upon some unsuspecting soul,
usually a freshman of particularly virulent emerald hue."
-Bruce Bliven 

Secret societies are all different in activity, organization and inspiration. From the outside, a secret society is bad. From the inside, it might still be bad.

"Secret societies are generally considered to be anti-social: to contain elements
which are distasteful or harmful to the community at large."
-Akron Daraul

With any news as salacious as the secret societies, it's necessary to read the news stories critically. These societies were a threat to the social order, the authority of schools and a source of empowerment for some student bodies. They were also a source of abuse and designed to exclude some students. This cartoon is essentially ripped from those headlines then converted to a cartoon.

Sources

The Los Angeles Times - "Pranks of Goat Make Johnny Take a Tumble" by Bruce Bliven - Sunday, July 23, 1911

Bimbo's Initiation - Fleischer Studios Talkartoon - 1931

A History of Secret Societies by Arkon Daraul (1962)