| “ | We are the members of Do-It-Or-Die! Dee-I, Dee-I, Dee-I! Watch us make Bimbo, as easy as pie! Dee-I, Dee-I, Dee-I! We are, tough you bet! Filled with college pep! Bring him on, we cry! Dee-I, Dee-I, Dee-I! B! I! M! B! O! BIMBO! | „ |
| ~ Do-It-Or-Die's opening song |
| “ | Wanna be a member? Wanna be a member? | „ |
| ~ The leader's catchphrase |
The Mystic Order of the Koo-Koo-Ma-Hatcha (also known as Do-It-Or-Die, based on the cartoon's opening sequence) is the secretive group of people from the 1931 cartoon Bimbo's Initiation.
Summary[]
They consist of strange candle-headed people who are for some reason obsessed with making Bimbo the Dog a member, with the chant "wanna be a member, wanna be a member?" being recurrent throughout the cartoon. When he declines, they put him through many torturous deathtraps. These include trapping him in a spinning room while a knife tries to poke him in the back, lowering a spiked block onto him while he's stuck to the floor, and making him go through a series of spiked doors. When Bimbo finally comes face to face with the 'leader' of the group, he says "no" before the leader even asks him again if he wants to join them. The leader then takes his costume off to reveal himself to be none other than Betty Boop (who, for some reason, has dog ears in this cartoon). Bimbo, who has seemingly given up, finally agrees to become a member. All of the other members remove their costumes to reveal that they are all Betty Boop clones, and the cartoon ends with Bimbo and the lead Betty Boop dancing happily.
Analysis[]
The Mystic Order of the Koo-Koo-Ma-Hatcha has been interpreted as a reference to groups thought to be secretly running the world, such as the Illuminati and the Freemasons. This claim can be validated by the group's presumed policy that once people find their hideout, then they must either join them or be killed. Their white outfits have also been seen by some as a reference to the Ku Klux Klan. Many people have interpreted the ending scene where the members of the Mystic Order all reveal themselves to be Betty Boop clones to be symbolic of the club successfully driving Bimbo insane with their torture. Another more humorous theory is that after becoming a member, Bimbo was allowed to leave the hideout only occasionally (which is why there were only a few Bimbo cartoons after Bimbo's Initiation) before being transformed into another Betty Boop clone (which would explain why he disappeared altogether from Betty's cartoons.