The All New Popeye Hour

***The All New Popeye Hour*** is an American animated television series produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions and King Features Syndicate. Starring the comic strip character Popeye, the series aired from 1978 to 1983 on CBS.

## Production

The show was produced by the legendary studios of Hanna-Barbera, which tried to retain the style of the original *Thimble Theatre* comic strip while complying with the prevailing content restrictions on violence. Featured characters, aside from the popular main stars of Popeye, Bluto, Olive Oyl and Wimpy, were Swee'Pea, Poopdeck Pappy, Eugene the Jeep and Popeye's quadruplet nephews. Popeye's outfit reverted to his sailor's uniform, except for his cap, which was retained as the white Navy hat. Bluto's name was restored, as it had erroneously been changed to "Brutus" for the early 1960s *Popeye* cartoons. Olive Oyl also reverted to her 1930s look.

At the start, *The All-New Popeye Hour* had a number of regular components: "The Adventures of Popeye", "Popeye's Treasure Hunt" and "Dinky Dog" (a non-Popeye segment about the misadventures of an enormous sheepdog that was later spun off into its own show). In 1979, the show added "Popeye's Sports Parade" and "Popeye's Safety Tips".

Because of restrictions on violence on television cartoons for children at the time, Popeye did not throw punches in retaliation to Bluto; he often lifted him, with his own hands or with machinery, and hurled him away. The series marked the last time Jack Mercer would voice Popeye; he died on December 4, 1984, fifteen months after the show's cancellation.

Each episode also contains a PSA about things that include but are not limited to washing hands before dinner, brushing teeth, nutrition, crossing the street the right way, protection against sunburn, and spray paint safety. Some of the PSAs feature an anthropomorphic wolf named Mr. No-No who would engage in dangerous or destructive activities like like consuming toxic substances, drinking alcohol, and smoking. He would tend to get Pipeye, Peepeye, Poopeye, and Pupeye to do the same until he is either stopped in some way or turned away by Popeye.

*The All New Popeye Hour* ran on CBS until September 1981, when it was cut to a half-hour and retitled *The Popeye and Olive Comedy Show*. The truncated show added two new components. The first, "Prehistoric Popeye", transported the sailor to the prehistoric stone age of *The Flintstones*. The second new feature was "Private Olive Oyl", where Olive and Alice the Goon join the Army, then proceed to drive their drill sergeant, Sgt. Bertha Blast (voiced by Jo Anne Worley) nuts, yet impress the base commander, Col. Crumb (voiced by Hal Smith). This cartoon is based on the idea of *Private Benjamin*; Hanna-Barbera was also concurrently producing a virtually identical concept with sitcom characters Laverne and Shirley called *Laverne and Shirley in the Army* for rival network ABC at the time.

The show was removed from the CBS lineup in September 1983, and the cartoons were immediately sold to local stations in nationwide syndication. They have also been released on VHS and DVD. During the time these cartoons were in production, CBS aired *The Popeye Valentine Special: Sweethearts at Sea* on February 14, 1979 at 8:30 PM (Eastern). In the UK, the BBC aired a half-hour version of *The All New Popeye Show*, from the early-1980s to 2004. Unlike cartoon series produced by Hanna-Barbera in the 1970s, *The All New Popeye Hour* did not contain a laugh track.

The syndicated version can currently be seen on Prime Video (as "Popeye: The Continuing Adventures").

## Voice cast

In addition to providing many of the cartoon scripts, Jack Mercer reprised his voice as Popeye, while Marilyn Schreffler and Allan Melvin became the new voices of Olive Oyl and Bluto, respectively (Mae Questel auditioned for Hanna-Barbera to recreate Olive Oyl, but was rejected in favor of Schreffler).

### Main

* Jack Mercer as Popeye, Poopdeck Pappy, Pipeye, Peepeye
* Allan Melvin as Bluto
* Marilyn Schreffler as Olive Oyl, The Sea Hag, Swee'Pea, Alice the Goon, Poopeye, Pupeye
* Julie Bennett as Monica
* Daws Butler as Wimpy
* Jackie Joseph as Sandy
* Don Messick as Eugene the Jeep
* Frank Nelson as Uncle Dudley
* Hal Smith as Col. Crumb
* John Stephenson as Mr. NoasNo
* Frank Welker as Dinky
* Jo Anne Worley as Sgt. Bertha Blast

### Additional

* Roger Behr
* Ted Cassidy
* Richard Erdman
* Joan Gerber
* Ross Martin
* Virginia McSwain
* Pat Parris
* Barney Phillips
* Jane Roberts
* William Schallert
* Jean Vander Pyl
* Janet Waldo
* Lennie Weinrib