Studio: Fleischer Studios
Distributor: Paramount Pictures
Short Synopsis
On a stormy night, Betty, still a dog-eared flapper at this stage, is woken in her bed by a shock. She gets up and creeps through the dark house looking for the cause, singing the popular song "Mysterious Mose" as she goes. Strange things begin to happen: objects move by themselves, and noises come from nowhere. Then Mysterious Mose himself appears, played by Bimbo, and takes over the song, boasting of his powers. A procession of bizarre creatures materialises around him, at first singing backup and adding to his spooky image. But the spirits get out of hand, and the antics become frightening even for Mose. The chaos builds until Mose bursts open and turns out to be a machine, full of cogs and springs, all along.
Why It Matters
- The film is a short catalogue of the Fleischer studio's dream logic, with a house that misbehaves on its own and a chorus of creatures that seem to be invented on the spot. The reveal that the mysterious Mose is a clockwork automaton is a typically odd Fleischer twist, played for neither horror nor sense.
- It is one of Betty Boop's earliest appearances, before she had her name or her human form, and it shows the studio building her up as a co-star beside Bimbo. The song-driven, haunted-house formula it uses was refined over the next two years into Minnie the Moocher and Snow-White.
Notes and Trivia
- "Mysterious Mose" was a hit of early 1930 by Walter Doyle, first recorded by Ted Weems's orchestra; many other bands recorded it, including R. Crumb & His Cheap Suit Serenaders decades later.
- Screen Novelties' 1998 stop-motion short Graveyard Jamboree with Mysterious Mose used Harry Reser's 1930 recording of the song.
- It entered the U.S. public domain on 1 January 2026.
- See also: Dizzy Dishes (1930), Swing You Sinners! (1930).