Here are two “conspiracy cartoons” for your enjoyment and edification. The first is Bimbo’s Initiation, a 1931 Fleischer Studios Talkartoon animated short film starring Bimbo and featuring Betty Boop. It begins with a rousing song and enthusiastic cheer such as found at an Ivy League college of the day such as Yale (hint, hint). Our hapless protagonist Bimbo is then submitted to a series of harrowing initiation ordeals and rituals by a cabal of sinister-looking individuals in disguise. Notice the repeated Skull and Bones motif throughout the film until Bimbo gains enlightenment and learns who is behind his “initiation.”

The second animation, Eat Raw Meat = Blood Drool, is even more disturbing. Notice the repeated usage of Illuminist symbols of the Owl of Minerva, reference to P.M.C.V. which stands for Per Me Caeci Vident (“Through me the blind become sighted”), and “Weaving Spiders Come Not Here”, the motto of the elite Bohemian Club. During their annual mid-Summer encampment the Bohemians reenact the ritualistic Cremation of Care before their forty foot statute of the Owl of Minerva on their secluded and carefully monitored  2,700-acre campground.

The Best of Charles Burris