Popeye

***Popeye the Sailor*** is an American animated series of short films based on the Popeye comic strip character created by E. C. Segar. In 1933, Max and Dave Fleischer's Fleischer Studios adapted Segar's characters into a series of theatrical cartoon shorts for Paramount Pictures. The plotlines in the animated cartoons tended to be simpler than those presented in the comic strips, and the characters slightly different. A villain, usually Bluto, makes a move on Popeye's "sweetie," Olive Oyl. The villain clobbers Popeye until he eats spinach, giving him superhuman strength. Thus empowered, Popeye the sailor makes short work of the villain.

The Fleischer cartoons, based in New York City, proved to be among the most popular of the 1930s, and would remain a staple of Paramount's release schedule for nearly 25 years. Paramount would take control of the studio in 1941 and rename it Famous Studios, ousting the Fleischer brothers and continuing production. The theatrical *Popeye* cartoons began airing on television in an altered form in 1956, and the *Popeye* theatrical series was discontinued in 1957. *Popeye the Sailor* in all produced 231 short subjects that were broadcast on television for several years.

The 1930s *Popeye* cartoons have been said by historians to have an urban feel, with the Fleischer's pioneering an East Coast animation scene that differed highly from their counterparts

## Fleischer Studios

Popeye made his film debut in *Popeye the Sailor*, a 1933 *Betty Boop* cartoon. Although Betty Boop has a small cameo appearance, the cartoon mostly introduces the main characters: Popeye's coming to rescue Olive Oyl after being kidnapped by Bluto. The triangle between Popeye, Olive and Bluto was set up from the beginning and soon became the template for most *Popeye* productions that would follow. The cartoon opens with a newspaper headline announcing Popeye as a movie star, reflecting the transition into film. *I Yam What I Yam* became the first entry in the regular *Popeye the Sailor* series.

Thanks to the animated shorts, Popeye became even more of a sensation than he had been in comic strips. As Betty Boop gradually declined in quality as a result of Hays Code enforcement in 1934, Popeye became the studio's star character by 1936. Popeye began to sell more tickets and became the most popular cartoon character in the country in the 1930s, surpassing Mickey Mouse. Paramount added to Popeye's profile by sponsoring the "Popeye Club" as part of their Saturday matinée program, in competition with Mickey Mouse Clubs. Popeye cartoons, including a sing-along special entitled *Let's Sing With Popeye*, were a regular part of the weekly meetings. For a 10-cent membership fee, club members were given a Popeye kazoo, a membership card, the chance to become elected as the Club's "Popeye" or "Olive Oyl," and the opportunity to win other gifts. Polls taken by theater owners proved Popeye more popular than Mickey, and Popeye upheld his position for the rest of the decade.

Fleischer cartoons differed highly from their counterparts at Walt Disney Productions and Warner Bros. Cartoons. The *Popeye* series, like other cartoons produced by the Fleischers, had a more urban feel (the Fleischers' studio was in Midtown Manhattan), had plaits that were variations on a simple formula, and featured the characters' (often improvised) under-the-breath mutterings. The voices for Fleischer cartoons produced during the early and mid-1930s were recorded after the animation was completed. The actors, Mercer in particular, would therefore improvise lines that were not on the storyboards or prepared for the lip-sync (generally word-play and clever puns). Even after the Fleischers began pre-recording dialog for lip-sync shortly after moving to Miami, Mercer and the other voice actors would record ad-libbed lines while watching a finished copy of the cartoon. Popeye lives in a dilapidated apartment building in *A Dream Walking* (1934), reflecting the urban feel and Depression-era hardships.

The Fleischers moved their studio to Miami, Florida in September 1938 in order to weaken union control and take advantage of tax breaks. The *Popeye* series continued production, although a marked change was seen in the Florida-produced shorts: they were brighter and less detailed in their artwork, with attempts to bring the character animation closer to a Disney style. Mae Questel, who started a family, refused to move to Florida, and Margie Hines, the wife of Jack Mercer, voiced Olive Oyl through the end of 1943. Several voice actors, among them Pinto Colvig (better known as the voice of Disney's Goofy), succeeded Gus Wickie as the voice of Bluto between 1938 and 1940.

Fleischer Studios produced 108 *Popeye* cartoons, 105 of them in black-and-white. The remaining three were two-reel (double-length) Technicolor adaptations of stories from the Arabian Nights billed as "Popeye Color Features": *Popeye the Sailor Meets Sindbad the Sailor* (1936), *Popeye the Sailor Meets Ali Baba's Forty Thieves* (1937), and *Aladdin and His Wonderful Lamp* (1939).

## Famous Studios

By the end of 1939, Max and Dave had stopped speaking to each other altogether, communicating solely by memo. In 1940, they found themselves at odds with Paramount over the control of their animation studio. The studio borrowed heavily from Paramount in order to move to Florida and expand into features, and *Gulliver's Travels* (1939) and *Mister Bug Goes to Town* (1941) were only moderate successes. In May 1941, Paramount Pictures assumed ownership of Fleischer Studios. Paramount fired the Fleischers and began reorganizing the studio, which they renamed Famous Studios. With Famous Studios headed by Sam Buchwald, Seymour Kneitel, Isadore Sparber and Dan Gordon, production continued on the *Popeye* shorts.

In 1941, with World War II becoming a greater concern in the United States, Popeye was enlisted into the U.S. Navy, as depicted in the 1941 short *The Mighty Navy*. His regular costume was changed from the dark blue shirt, red neckerchief and light blue jeans he wore in the original comics to an official white Navy sailor uniform, which he retained until the 1970s. Popeye becomes an ordinary, downtrodden, Naval seaman in the wartime entries, usually getting the blame for mishaps. Film historian Leonard Maltin notes that the studio did not intend to make light of the war, but instead make Popeye more relevant with the times and show him in action. The early Famous-era shorts were often World War II-themed, featuring Popeye fighting Nazis and Japanese soldiers, most notably the 1942 short *You're a Sap, Mr. Jap*. As Popeye was popular in South America, Famous Studios set the 1944 cartoon *We're on our Way to Rio* in Brazil, as part of a "good neighbor" policy between the U.S. government and the rest of the continent during the war.

In late 1943, the *Popeye* series was moved to Technicolor production, beginning with *Her Honor the Mare.* Though these cartoons were produced in full color, some films in the late-1940s period were released in less-expensive processes like Cinecolor and Polacolor. Paramount had begun moving the studio back to New York that January, and Mae Questel reassumed voice duties for Olive Oyl. Jack Mercer was drafted into the Navy during World War II, and scripts were stockpiled for Mercer to record when on leave. When Mercer was unavailable, Harry Welch stood in as the voice of Popeye (and *Shape Ahoy* had Mae Questel doing Popeye's voice as well as Olive's). New voice cast member Jackson Beck began voicing Bluto within a few years; he, Mercer, and Questel would continue to voice their respective characters into the 1960s. Over time, the Technicolor Famous shorts began to adhere even closer to the standard Popeye formula, and softened, rounder character designs – including an Olive Oyl design which gave the character high heels and an updated hairstyle – were evident by late 1946.

Many established Fleischer animators stayed with Famous Studios and produced these new *Popeye* cartoons, but the loss of the founders was evident. Throughout the 1940s, the production values on *Popeye* remained relatively high. Animation historian Jerry Beck notes that, however, the "gag sense and story sense fell into a bit of a rut." By the mid-50s, budgets at the studio became tight and staff downsized, while still producing the same number of cartoons per year. This was typical of most animation studios at the time, as many considered shutting their doors entirely due to the competition from television. Paramount renamed the studio Paramount Cartoon Studios in 1956 and continued the *Popeye* series for one more year, with *Spooky Swabs*, released in August 1957, being the last of the 125 Famous shorts in the series.