Mysterious Mose

{{Short description|1930 film}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=November 2020}}

{{Infobox film

| name = Mysterious Mose

| image =

| caption =

| director = Dave Fleischer

| producer = Max Fleischer

| animator = Grim Natwick

| writer =

| narrator =

| starring = Margie Hines
Billy Murray{{Cite book |title=Cartoon Voices from the Golden Age, 1930-70 |last=Scott |first=Keith |publisher=BearManor Media |year=2022 |isbn=979-8-88771-010-5 |page=329}}

| music =

| cinematography =

| editing =

| studio = Fleischer Studios

| distributor = Paramount Publix Corporation

| released = {{Film date|1930|12|27}}

| runtime = 6 minutes

| country = United States

| language = English

| budget =

}}

Mysterious Mose is a 1930 Fleischer Studios animated short released through Paramount Pictures as part of the Talkartoons series.{{cite book |last1=Lenburg |first1=Jeff |title=The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons |date=1999 |publisher=Checkmark Books |isbn=0-8160-3831-7 |page=142}} This film contains an early version of Betty Boop and the studio's star, Bimbo. "Mysterious Mose" is also the name of a popular song from 1930 (which is sung in the short).

Synopsis

Betty is startled awake in her bed on a stormy night. She searches for the cause of the shock while she sings the song. Then, unexplainable phenomena start happening in the house. Mysterious Mose (Bimbo) appears, and sings part of the song. Bizarre cartoon creatures appear and, at first, sing and enhance Mose's "mysterious" image. Quickly, however, the antics become frightful even to Mose. The film escalates into chaos, which ends when Mose bursts, revealing him having been an automaton (full of cogs and springs) the whole time.

Popular song

"Mysterious Mose" was a song from early 1930, written by Walter Doyle and first recorded by Ted Weems's Orchestra. In addition to its appearance in the short, there have been numerous recordings of the song, including Harry Reser's Radio All Star Novelty Orchestra, Cliff Perrine's Orchestra, Karl Radlach's Orchestra, Rube Bloom's Bayou Boys and R. Crumb & His Cheap Suit Serenaders.

References