# Popeye cartoons 1933-38 **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [December 24, 2007, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/popeye-cartoons-1933-38/431073 "2007-12-24T00:09:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2007, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/popeye-cartoons-1933-38/431073/1 "2007-12-24T00:09:57Z")
We’ve been watching [volume 1 of the complete Popeye cartoons](http://www.amazon.com/Popeye-Sailor-1933-1938-Vol-1/dp/B000P296AS/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1198454836&sr=1-1), which are great fun. There are some interesting commentary tracks as well… although some of the commentary tracks are just plain annoying, with this woman with a high-pitched squealing laugh who obviously hadn’t watched the cartoons in advance and thinks that just giggling and squeaking constitutes “commentary.” ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2007, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/popeye-cartoons-1933-38/431073/2 "2007-12-24T01:15:05Z")
Yeah, they’re pretty cool. Haven’t seem them all yet, but will probably work through them eventually. ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2007, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/popeye-cartoons-1933-38/431073/3 "2007-12-24T01:46:16Z")
Are these the black and white ones, where the credits at the start consist of a door on a ship’s deck opening and closing to change the titles, and end with the film shrinking itself into an inkwell? ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2007, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/popeye-cartoons-1933-38/431073/4 "2007-12-24T01:55:17Z")
[QUOTE=C K Dexter Haven] There are some interesting commentary tracks as well… although some of the commentary tracks are just plain annoying, with this woman with a high-pitched squealing laugh who obviously hadn’t watched the cartoons in advance and thinks that just giggling and squeaking constitutes “commentary.” [/QUOTE] Sounds like Kali Fontechio, John K.'s girlfriend. I can tolerate her, but Eddie Fitzgerald ogling Olive Oyl gets tired pretty fast. > [@squeegee](#): > > Are these the black and white ones, where the credits at the start consist of a door on a ship’s deck opening and closing to change the titles, and end with the film shrinking itself into an inkwell? They sure are! This is the first offishul release of klassic Paramount Popeye kartoons- and it’s a must buy. This is a great DVD set, and I was delighted when _Entertainment Weekly_ named it one of the top 10 DVDs of 2007. These cartoons are very well-done, and I’m especially big on the music and any time the Fleischers bring out their patented (literally) 3-D backgrounds. (Coincidentially, last night I was watching some of these and listening to the music through headphones- for 75-year-old monoral cartoons, they still sound quite good. I’d love to see an album of Popeye’s greatest hits- _Strike Up The Band For Popeye the Sailor, I’ll Do Anything That You Do, Sindbad the Sailor…_) And the Technicolor cartoons are gorgeous. Of course, Popeye got his birth in the E.C. Segar comics, but it’s the cartoon Popeye most of us are familiar with. The Popeye cartoons follow a basic formula everyone is familar with, but somehow the Fleischers were always able to make it funny. Sometimes, when it seemed it was getting tired, they’d throw a curveball into the mix- and it always came out interesting (one of my favorites of this example is _Hospitaliky_, in which in order to be treated on by Nurse Olive Oyl, Popeye fails to injure himself, but comes up with the clever idea to feed spinach to Bluto and have him beat Popeye to a pulp.) By far the most interesting thing about the set is watching the cartoons in chronological order and see how Popeye evolved from a lifeless character who doesn’t have any personality traits except “punches things” and “eats spinach to help punch things” to a true vigilante like-character- a man of the people who always helps those in need, and defending those who can’t defend themselves. He never starts a fight, and only fights when someone starts- and that someone is usually Bluto. (I think the midway point of this evolution is the bizarre _Sock-A-Bye Baby_, in which Popeye attempts to keep a baby quiet by getting rid of all sorts of noise by eradicating the source with his fists), even going so far as killing Harpo Marx. Truly a very disturbing side of Popeye. I’m sorry I’ve talked too much- but these kartoons are _that good_. Do yerself a favor an’ go an’ buy this set. Believe me, you won’t be diskapointed. And visit [this website](http://otherstuff.laurelandhardycentral.com/popeye.html), a good look at the Popeye kartoons inkluded on this set (a second volume 1938-1942 was planned for later this year, but will most likely come out in 2008). Just be fairly warned that this set has the unfortunate side effekt of makin’ you write and sound like Popeye- but confidenskially, that’s a risk you should willing to take. Be strong to the finishk and watch him eat spinachk. He’s Popeye the Sailor man! (Toot toot!) Ah gah gah gah gah! ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2007, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/popeye-cartoons-1933-38/431073/5 "2007-12-24T02:26:25Z")
Yeah, the black and whites were the only “true” Popeyes, 'Ceptin that colorized 3D one with Popeye in Badgag with Ali Bluto (or however they mangled the name in that one)… “Open… Sez me!” Awesome stuff. _He floats thru da air with da greatest of eez. yadayadayada and my luv he has takin away!_ ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2007, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/popeye-cartoons-1933-38/431073/6 "2007-12-24T02:30:27Z")
[QUOTE=squeegee] 'Ceptin that colorized 3D one with Popeye in Badgag with Ali Bluto (or however they mangled the name in that one)… “Open… Sez me!” Awesome stuff. [/QUOTE] Popeye was Ali Baba. Bluto was the villain, Abu Hassan. (Popeye, stealing Abu’s underwear: “Abu Hassan’t got 'em anymore!”) The Fleischers did three Technicolor shorts, the first two of which appear on this set- _Ali Baba_ and _Sindbad_, the latter of which (which is the first of the three, actually) is the only Popeye cartoon to be chosen by the Library of Congress’s national film registry- and for good reason. After all, he _is_ the most remarkable, extra-ordinary fella. ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2007, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/popeye-cartoons-1933-38/431073/7 "2007-12-24T02:39:37Z")
Heh, it’s been a few decades, I’m not surprised if I’m conflating some of the shorts with each other. The color ones had a really unique look, but the same patented Popeye wisecracks. ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2007, 8:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/popeye-cartoons-1933-38/431073/8 "2007-12-24T08:27:15Z")
One thing I was surprised to discover about this set is that many of the opening titles are recreated- they no longer exist in their original form. (When the cartoons were sold for television, the distributor, Associated Artists, removed the Paramount logo from the cartoons and replaced it with their own). Although the recreated titles are not perfect, they’re pretty good. (There are a few mistakes here and there, for those of you who want to get anal about it- the patent notice sometimes is absent from cartoons using the 3-D process and sometimes appears on cartoons that _don’t_ use it, and the cartoon _Organ Grinder’s Swing_ has the wrong animators credited- the same ones who are incorrectly credited in Carbarga’s _Fleischer Story_. The credits for _Swing_ appears to have been taken from _The Paneless Window Washer_, since the MPAA number is the same on both.) ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2007, 9:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/popeye-cartoons-1933-38/431073/9 "2007-12-24T09:31:33Z")
Some of these cartoons and their contemporaries are in the public domain and are downloadable from here: [http://www.archive.org/details/classic\_cartoons](http://www.archive.org/details/classic_cartoons) ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2007, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/popeye-cartoons-1933-38/431073/10 "2007-12-24T19:30:14Z")
**Mangetout** – unless I’m misusing the search engine, all the cartoons up there appear to be 1950’s era Popeye. ETA: one of them appears to contain 1930’s era footage from the Sinbad (or whatever the correct name is) feature. ---
**Author:** ![squeegee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/squeegee/32/14537_2.png) [@squeegee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/squeegee)\ **Post date:** [December 24, 2007, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/popeye-cartoons-1933-38/431073/11 "2007-12-24T19:59:35Z")
Hmm, I think Popeye’s nephews (peep-eye, poop-eye, pip-eye) should also be nominated in the [most annoying sidekick](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=448479) thread. But the entire 1950’s run of the cartoon probably isn’t canon in any case. ---
**Author:** ![ThisSpaceForRent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thisspaceforrent/32/345_2.png) [@ThisSpaceForRent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThisSpaceForRent)\ **Post date:** [December 25, 2007, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/popeye-cartoons-1933-38/431073/12 "2007-12-25T02:43:31Z")
Just a little 411… [Chester IL](http://www.chesterill.com/) FTA… \*Chester, Illinois, is the “Home of Popeye” where a six-foot, 900 lb. bronze statue of Popeye stands in Elzie C. Segar Memorial Park, which also honors Popeye’s creator Elzie Segar. The park is located next to the Chester Bridge. Several of Mr. Segar’s characters were created from experiences with people of Chester. Chester’s big event is its annual Popeye picnic and parade, held the weekend after Labor Day. Dates this year are September 7, 8 & 9, and will be the 28th year for the picnic. Popeye fans travel from all over the United States to partake in the weekend activities. \* tsfr