POPEYE

At the start of one episode of Tony Robinson's "Stay Tooned", Robinson said that he got letters of complaint from kids whenever they put on a Popeye cartoon (the classic 30's ones) because they said "it was wierd and he keeps mumbling all the time". I was annoyed. Then he said this episode was going to be a Popeye special, and it was. I was happy.

The movie version was strange and missed the mark, apart from the bit where Wimpy asked for a bit of soup poured into a hamburger roll because "times are tough".

Also the old Fleischer cartoons are terrific, of course.

"What is the difference between BLUTO and BRUTUS? - Which character was first - BLUTO or BRUTUS, and why were there two characters introduced? Okay, - here is the answer.

Halfway through 1932, Segar wrote a narrative titled, "The Eighth Sea". A fearless fiend named, 'BLUTO the Terrible' was introduced into this story. He was treated as a 'throwaway' character - the same way that Segar had originally planned to handle POPEYE when he debuted in January of 1929. In the case of BLUTO - Segar never returned him - after POPEYE was allowed to engage him in a bloody battle and defeat him with his legendary 'twisker punch'.

The following year - POPEYE made his motion picture debut at the hands of Max and Dave Fleischer. To add some spice to the cartoon, OLIVE OYL was cast in the role of the jealous girlfriend, but the Fleischer's wanted to really spice things up - so they resurrected BLUTO to be POPEYE's on screen 'emeny'. - he was immediately accepted as POPEYE's number one nemesis.

In 1956, the old theatrical cartoons were released to television. The 'POPEYE' phenomenon met an entirely new group of fans - the 'Baby Boomers'. POPEYE's popularity soared. The kiddies of the 'nifty fifties' were consuming the cartoons faster than POPEYE could open his can of spinach. King Features Syndicate recognized the potential of their animated adventurer - so 220 new cartoons were ordered - BUT there was a problem. KFS wasn't sure who owned BLUTO. To avoid legal hassles, BRUTUS made his screen debut in 1960's

For the next 18 years, BRUTUS was POPEYE's formidable foe. In 1978, Hanna-Barbera introduced, "The All New Adventures of POPEYE" - (aka "The POPEYE Hour"), and BLUTO was returned to the stories. Unfortunately, BRUTUS was not. It's too bad, because the cartoon series might have been fun with the two bad guys teaming-up against good guy POPEYE.

There you have it - BLUTO - BRUTUS - BLUTO..... "

I've read that spinach sales tripled during the strip's early years, and I believe there was a statue erected of Popeye in some major spinach growing area, but I've never seen a suggestion that Segar was paid to do this.

Ace!

Fleischer popeye's (the black and whites) = some of the best animation ever made. Popeye was more popular than Mickey Mouse until 1939. Post 1944, King features and shit TV cartoons were garbage. They fucked him up big time. The rights have been passed back and forth so many times and so polluted that many people don't know how good he was was and there are no decent collections of the classics out there because of all the legal wrangling over royalties. I had an animation history class where I got to see some rare old ones tho. Classic. Also love the movie w/robin williams by Robert Altman (I love how it was shot on location in Malta!! And all the ad-libs.) Popeye + avante-garde = awesome.

This is the only goon things I could find, but I have some animators model sheets cool!

http://www.theneitherworld.com/popeye/chars/pics/alice1.gif

Yes that one's named Alice it is a she!

http://classic-cinema.com/posters/PopGoon.jpg

Good god i just re-watched this the other day and it is still AMAZING. The music is incredible, the casting is brilliant. Every scene is so full of life and has people in the background doing silly live-action cartoon stunts.

One thing i noticed was how working-class it is, which is something I'm sure Nilsson loved about it. I love how the whole town erupts into joy when Popeye knocks the taxman into the water.

Also, this song is CLASSIC
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oz884EUAqi4

I'm talking about the movie, not the cartoons, of course. The movie very faithfully pulls off that cartoon feel!

"Once it lived on an an-i-mule
Now it walks along with you!"

Also "He's Large" is pretty dope:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cRUa_E1CugU

I loved this as a kid and have recently debated showing it to my own child but haven't gotten around to it... I remember the ending being sorta stupid/anticlimactic but loving everything that takes place in town

The ending is awesome! I mean, kind of stupid, in that it's obviously a fake rubber octopus, but i find it extremely charming. The bit where Bluto forces him to eat spinach is awesome, has some cool low budget underwater cartoon tricks, and ends with the whole cast singing a short and triumphant version of the main theme song. It's a great movie, and I think it'd be wonderful for kids, even if they can't understand what Popeye is saying most of the time.

Any doubters out there, the Fantagraphics reprints of Thimble Theatre have been in my top 5 comics-related things in any given year. Essential stuff.

http://cghub.com/files/Image/295001-296000/295586/725_large.jpg

http://cghub.com/images/view/295586/

A+

that is one of the most horrible things i have ever seen

Worse than realistic Homer or realistic Beavis & Butthead?

Shitty economy + out of work graphic designers

yuck, and i am clearly a live action popeye apologist

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7239/7367592488_45e8c510f0_n.jpg

I want to see this guy's take on realistic Olive Oil and Bluto.

nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo

booooo on you haters

I'm too scared to hate

I mean LOOK AT HIS HANDS

those are throat-crushing hands

cmon don't talk about my adorable baby hands that way

That graphic totally misses the mark. Look how Popeye acts with Sweet Pea or the Jeep and you won't begin to find that spirit in that graphic.

What accent does Popeye have? What ethnicity is he? Often wondered, and if he isn't a specific one, all the more impressive for the 1930s.

real-world popeye would be nothing like that picture. he's more like a scrawny disheveled malnourished sailor who just sort of mysteriously happens to be invulnerable.

having just read the first four fantagraphics reprint books i have to say segar's 'thimble theatre' is very close to topping my list of the best comic strips ever.

spinach makes him strong, remember?

the number of times popeye gets shot, beat up, and otherwise mangled in the first volume alone is jaw-dropping.

also i have been under the impression that he was an east coast tough guy of pugilistic irish descent? i only know the popeye from the movie and the cartoons, not the books.

Now I'm curious. I really haven't thought much about Popeye at all since I was a kid (other than the occasions I eat spinach). I'll have to look into these. xp

New York Irish?

"I'm strong to the finich/Cause I eat me spinach" has an Irish lilt to it.

NY or Boston turn of the century +/-? based on women's fashion and behavior in sweethaven? both were by the water and bustling with activity/hooliganism, right? i mean i think i formed this opinion when i was a little kid, so i have no idea if it's true or not. just guessing!

1910s? WWI era? I dunno.

This is making me want to rewatch the movie again.

How about this demo of "Everything is Food"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oz884EUAqi4

Shit, wrong one!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ml8ZBYfh-jQ

Hah i love that demo, it's so sloppy and unfinished, but still damn fun. That scene is so great. I love when that guy gets his chair taken out from under him and he maintains a perfect sitting position as if the chair was still there.

I just watched the Harry Nilsson doc, and had forgotten he did the Popeye music. Apparently he and Robin Williams did some hardcore partying on Malta.

spinach makes him strong, remember?

― these albatrosses have no fear of man (La Lechera), Tuesday, 16 October 2012 05:43 (3 hours ago)

no, this is some hollywood revisionism

(he likes it in in the strip, but he's just str8-up tough.) (oh man the sequence in Plunder Island where he gets his neck broken in two places, so he sticks a broomstick down his shirt because the popping of his neckcones is distracting him while he fights)

did not know! as i said, my thoughts about popeye fossilized in 1982 or so.

Segar died in '38!

what's crazy is that popeye might not even be the best character in 'thimble theatre':

http://salon.glenrose.net/img/wimpyhamburger.jpg

that's far from crazy

Wimpy!!

You must be mistaken -- his name is Jones, one of the Jones boys.

'come up to the house some time for a duck dinner...'

The Fanta reprints are a joy from start to finish and everyone should own them. The anticipation of them coming out has been the highlight of my comics year and it feels wrong that there's not another one due (although Pogo instead, so whatever). I sometimes think his first ever panel is my favourite:

http://popeye.com/files/2011/12/1-first-stripcropped2.jpg

Was Wimpy ever called "Hamburger Happy"?? IS THERE A PRECEDENT FOR THIS ALLEGATION

The music is incredible,

had to sit through the movie recently (1st time since I was a kid) and my god the songs are the absolute worst.

this link might still work for a swathe of less-produced demos and takes by Nilsson