''Popeye the Sailor'' is an American

animated Animation is a method by which still figures are manipulated to appear as moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Today, most ani ...

series of

short film A short film is any motion picture that is short enough in running time not to be considered a feature film. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences defines a short film as "an original motion picture that has a running time of 40 minutes ...

s based on the

Popeye Popeye the Sailor Man is a fictional cartoon character created by E. C. Segar, Elzie Crisler Segar.comic strip character created by

E. C. Segar Elzie Crisler Segar (; December 8, 1894 – October 13, 1938), known by the pen name E. C. Segar, was an American cartoonist best known as the creator of Popeye, a pop culture character who first appeared in 1929 in Segar's comic strip ''Thimbl ...

. In 1933,

Max Max or MAX may refer to: Animals * Max (dog) (1983–2013), at one time purported to be the world's oldest living dog * Max (English Springer Spaniel), the first pet dog to win the PDSA Order of Merit (animal equivalent of OBE) * Max (gorilla) ...

and

Dave Fleischer Dave Fleischer (; July 14, 1894 – June 25, 1979) was an American film director and producer, best known as a co-owner of Fleischer Studios with his older brother Max Fleischer. He was a native of New York City. Biography Fleischer was the ...

Fleischer Studios Fleischer Studios () is an American animation studio founded in 1929 by brothers Max and Dave Fleischer, who ran the pioneering company from its inception until its acquisition by Paramount Pictures, the parent company and the distributor of i ...

adapted Segar's characters into a series of theatrical cartoon shorts for

Paramount Pictures Paramount Pictures Corporation is an American film and television production company, production and Distribution (marketing), distribution company and the main namesake division of Paramount Global (formerly ViacomCBS). It is the fifth-oldes ...

. 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 Olive Oyl is a cartoon character created by E. C. Segar in 1919 for his comic strip '' Thimble Theatre''. The strip was later renamed ''Popeye'' after the sailor character that became the most popular member of the cast; however, Olive Oyl was ...

. The villain clobbers Popeye until he eats

spinach Spinach (''Spinacia oleracea'') is a leafy green flowering plant native to central and western Asia. It is of the order Caryophyllales, family Amaranthaceae, subfamily Chenopodioideae. Its leaves are a common edible vegetable consumed eith ...

, giving him superhuman strength. Thus empowered, Popeye the sailor makes short work of the villain. The Fleischer cartoons, based in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...

, 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 Famous Studios (renamed Paramount Cartoon Studios in 1956) was the first animation division of the film studio Paramount Pictures from 1942 to 1967. Famous was founded as a successor company to Fleischer Studios, after Paramount seized control ...

, 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 Fleischers pioneering an East Coast animation scene that differed highly from their counterparts.

Early history

Popeye the Sailor, created by E.C. Segar, debuted in 1929 in his

King Features Syndicate King Features Syndicate, Inc. is a American content distribution and animation studio, consumer product licensing and print syndication company owned by Hearst Communications that distributes about 150 comic strips, newspaper columns, editoria ...

-distributed comic strip, ''Thimble Theatre''. The character was growing in popularity by the 1930s and there was "hardly a newspaper reader of the Great Depression that did not know his name." It was obvious, however, that stars of a larger magnitude were being launched from animated cartoons, with the success of Mickey Mouse. In November 1932, King Features signed an agreement with

, run by producer Max Fleischer and his brother, director

, to have Popeye and the other ''Thimble Theatre'' characters begin appearing in a series of animated cartoons. The first cartoon in the series was released in 1933, and ''Popeye'' cartoons, released by

, would remain a staple of Paramount's release schedule for nearly 25 years. One source of inspiration for the Fleischers were newspapers and comic strips, and they saw potential in Popeye as an animated star, thinking the humor would translate well onscreen. When the Fleischers needed more characters, they turned to Segar's strip:

Wimpy Wimpey may refer to: *Wimpey Homes, a defunct housebuilding company based in England * Taylor Wimpey, housebuilding company based in England Wimpy may refer to: *J. Wellington Wimpy, a hamburger-loving character from the Popeye cartoons *Wimpy ( ...

debuted in the first regular ''Popeye'' cartoon,

Swee'Pea Swee'Pea (alternatively spelled Swee'pea and Sweapea on some titles and once called Sweep Pea) is a character in E. C. Segar's comic strip ''Thimble Theatre''/''Popeye'' and in the cartoon series derived from it. His name refers to the flower kn ...

, Poopdeck Pappy, the Goons, and Eugene the Jeep arrived onscreen by the late 1930s. Popeye was also given more family exclusive to the shorts, specifically his look-alike nephews Pipeye, Peepeye, Pupeye, and Poopeye. Spinach became a main component of the ''Popeye'' cartoons and was used for the energetic finale in each of them. Eventually, the Fleischers paired Popeye and spinach together far more than Segar ever did. In 1934, a statistic was released noting that spinach sales had increased 33% since the creation of the ''Popeye'' cartoons. Segar received crates of spinach at his home because of the ''Popeye'' association. The huge child following ''Popeye'' received eventually prompted Segar's boss,

William Randolph Hearst William Randolph Hearst Sr. (; April 29, 1863 – August 14, 1951) was an American businessman, newspaper publisher, and politician known for developing the nation's largest newspaper chain and media company, Hearst Communications. His flamboya ...

, to order Segar to tone down the humor and violence. Segar was not ready to compromise, believing there would be "nothing funny about a sissy sailor."

Voice cast

Many voice artists worked on the ''Popeye'' shorts over the two decades of production; this list is based on the most comprehensive artists. *

William "Billy" Costello William Arnold Costello (February 2, 1898 – October 9, 1971), commonly known as "Red Pepper Sam", was an American actor and the original voice of ''Popeye the Sailor'' in animated cartoons. Life and career Costello was born on February ...

, Jack Mercer as Popeye the Sailor (substitutes: Floyd Buckley, Harry Foster Welch,

Mae Questel Mae Questel (born Mae Kwestel, September 13, 1908 – January 4, 1998) was an American actress. She was best known for providing the voices for the animated characters Betty Boop (from 1931) and Olive Oyl (from 1933). She began in vaudeville, ...

Tom Kenny Thomas James Kenny (born July 13, 1962) is an American actor and comedian. He is known for voicing the titular character in ''SpongeBob SquarePants'' and associated media. Kenny has voiced many other characters, including Heffer Wolfe in '' ...

). Costello had a gruff, gravelly quality in voicing the character. It is generally thought that Costello became difficult to work with after becoming overly confident from the success of the first few cartoons. Jack Mercer was working in the in-between department of Fleischer Studios doing imitations of Costello, and, after practicing at home for a week, replaced Costello as the voice of Popeye beginning with ''King of the Mardi Gras'' (1935). Historians believe the character came into his own when Mercer became the voice artist, employing acting and emotion into the character. Mercer voiced the character until his death in 1984. Mae Questel, Floyd Buckley and Harry Welch substituted in several wartime cartoons, when Mercer left to serve in World War II.Erickson, Ha
Allmovie: Overview
/ref> * Bonnie Poe,

, Margie Hines as

. Questel was the voice of Betty Boop when she was brought in early on to play Olive Oyl, and she based the character voice on ZaSu Pitts. Questel voiced Olive Oyl until 1938, when Fleischer operations shifted to Florida. Hines, who was Mercer's wife, voiced the character until 1943. Paramount moved the studio back to New York the following year and Questel reassumed voice acting duties until the series' end in 1957. * William Pennell, Gus Wickie and Jackson Beck as Bluto (substitutes:

Dave Barry David McAlister Barry (born July 3, 1947) is an American author and columnist who wrote a nationally syndicated humor column for the '' Miami Herald'' from 1983 to 2005. He has also written numerous books of humor and parody, as well as comi ...

, Jack Mercer, Pinto Colvig, Tedd Pierce,

Clancy Brown Clarence John "Clancy" Brown III (born January 5, 1959) is an American actor. Prolific in film and television since the 1980s, Brown is often cast in villainous and authoritative roles. Brown's film roles include Viking Lofgren in ''Bad Boys'' ...

). William Pennell was the first to voice the Bluto character from 1933 to 1935's ''The Hyp-Nut-Tist''. Gus Wickie is generally considered the most memorable voice actor by fans and historians. Wickie voiced Bluto until Fleischer left New York in 1938, his last work being the voice of the "Chief" in ''Big Chief Ugh-A-Mug-Ugh''. Several other actors were employed to voice Bluto from then on (including Mercer, Pierce, Colvig and Barry). When Famous Studios took over production and moved back to New York City, Jackson Beck took over the role until 1962.

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 The kazoo is an American musical instrument that adds a "buzzing" timbral quality to a player's voice when the player vocalizes into it. It is a type of '' mirliton'' (which itself is a membranophone), one of a class of instruments which modif ...

, 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 The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October 1 ...

and

Warner Bros. Cartoons Warner Bros. Cartoons, Inc. was an American animation studio, serving as the in-house animation division of Warner Bros. during the Golden Age of American animation. One of the most successful animation studios in American media history, it was ...

. 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 Improvisation is the activity of making or doing something not planned beforehand, using whatever can be found. Improvisation in the performing arts is a very spontaneous performance without specific or scripted preparation. The skills of impr ...

lines that were not on the storyboards or prepared for the

lip-sync Lip sync or lip synch (pronounced , the same as the word ''sink'', short for lip synchronization) is a technical term for matching a speaking or singing person's lip movements with sung or spoken vocals. Audio for lip syncing is generated thr ...

(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 Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at th ...

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 Goofy is a cartoon character created by The Walt Disney Company. He is a tall, anthropomorphic dog who typically wears a turtle neck and vest, with pants, shoes, white gloves, and a tall hat originally designed as a rumpled fedora. Goofy is a ...

), 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 Black-and-white (B&W or B/W) images combine black and white in a continuous spectrum, producing a range of shades of grey. Media The history of various visual media began with black and white, and as technology improved, altered to color. ...

. The remaining three were two-reel (double-length)

Technicolor Technicolor is a series of color motion picture processes, the first version dating back to 1916, and followed by improved versions over several decades. Definitive Technicolor movies using three black and white films running through a special ...

adaptations of stories from the

Arabian Nights ''One Thousand and One Nights'' ( ar, أَلْفُ لَيْلَةٍ وَلَيْلَةٌ, italic=yes, ) is a collection of Middle Eastern folk tales compiled in Arabic during the Islamic Golden Age. It is often known in English as the ''Arabian ...

billed as "Popeye Color Features": ''

Popeye the Sailor Meets Sindbad the Sailor ''Popeye the Sailor Meets Sindbad the Sailor'' is a 1936 two-reel animated cartoon short subject film in the '' Popeye Color Feature'' series, produced in Technicolor and released to theatres on November 27, 1936 by Paramount Pictures. It was pr ...

'' (1936), ''

Popeye the Sailor Meets Ali Baba's Forty Thieves ''Popeye the Sailor Meets Ali Baba's Forty Thieves'' is a two-reel animated cartoon short subject in the '' Popeye Color Feature'' series, produced in Technicolor and released to theatres on November 26, 1937 by Paramount Pictures. It was prod ...

'' (1937), and ''

Aladdin and His Wonderful Lamp ''Aladdin and His Wonderful Lamp'' is a two-reel animated cartoon short subject in the '' Popeye Color Specials'' series, produced in Technicolor and released to theaters on April 7, 1939, by Paramount Pictures. It was produced by Max Fleischer ...

'' (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 ''Gulliver's Travels'', or ''Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. In Four Parts. By Lemuel Gulliver, First a Surgeon, and then a Captain of Several Ships'' is a 1726 prose satire by the Anglo-Irish writer and clergyman Jonathan ...

'' (1939) and '' Mister Bug Goes to Town'' (1941) were only moderate successes.Barrier, Michael (1999). ''Hollywood Cartoons''. New York: Oxford University Press. Pgs. 303–305. . In May 1941, Paramount Pictures assumed ownership of Fleischer Studios. Paramount fired the Fleischers and began reorganizing the studio, which they renamed

. With Famous Studios headed by Sam Buchwald,

Seymour Kneitel Seymour Kneitel (March 16, 1908 – July 30, 1964) was an American animator, best known for his work with Fleischer Studios and its successor, Famous Studios. Early years Kneitel was born in New York City where he graduated from P.S. 10 in Manh ...

Isadore Sparber Isadore Sparber (March 7, 1906 - August 29, 1958) was an American storyboard artist, writer, director and producer of animated films. He is best known for his work with Fleischer Studios and its successor, Famous Studios. When credited, his wo ...

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 Leonard Michael Maltin (born December 18, 1950) is an American film critic and film historian, as well as an author of several mainstream books on cinema, focusing on nostalgic, celebratory narratives. He is perhaps best known for his book of f ...

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 Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hit ...

and Japanese soldiers, most notably the 1942 short ''

You're a Sap, Mr. Jap ''You're a Sap, Mr. Jap'' is a 1942 one-reel Popeye the Sailor animated cartoon short subject released by Paramount Pictures on August 7, 1942. It was the first cartoon short to be produced by Famous Studios. It is one of the best-known American ...

''. As Popeye was popular in South America, Famous Studios set the 1944 cartoon ''We're on our Way to Rio'' in

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

, 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 Cinecolor was an early subtractive color-model two-color motion picture process that was based upon the Prizma system of the 1910s and 1920s and the Multicolor system of the late 1920s and the 1930s. It was developed by William T. Crispinel an ...

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 Jerry Beck (born February 9, 1955, in New York City) is an American animation historian, author, blogger, and video producer. Beck wrote or edited several books on classic American animation and classic characters, including '' The 50 Greates ...

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.

Music and theme song

Popeye's signature theme song was composed by Sammy Lerner and premiered in the first ''Popeye'' cartoon in 1933 sung by Popeye himself. For the first few cartoons, the opening credits music consists of a short instrumental excerpt of " The Sailor's Hornpipe", a traditional

sea shanty A sea shanty, chantey, or chanty () is a genre of traditional folk song that was once commonly sung as a work song to accompany rhythmical labor aboard large merchant sailing vessels. The term ''shanty'' most accurately refers to a specific st ...

dating to no later than the 1700s, playing over the Paramount logo, followed by a vocal variation on

Andrew B. Sterling Andrew B. Sterling (August 26, 1874 – August 11, 1955) was an American lyricist. Biography Born in New York City, after he graduated from high school, he began writing songs and vaudevilles. An important event was his meeting with the compo ...

and Charles B. Ward's "Strike Up the Band (Here Comes a Sailor)", substituting the words "for Popeye the Sailor" in the latter phrase. An instrumental of Popeye's theme replaced the latter beginning with the third short, " Blow Me Down!". Cartoon music historian Daniel Goldmark writes that Popeye is one of few cartoon characters of the time to have a theme; composer Carl Stalling, who worked at

Disney The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...

and Warner Bros., and MGM's

Scott Bradley Scott Bradley may refer to: * Scott Bradley (composer) (1891–1977), American composer, pianist, and conductor * Scott Bradley (baseball) (born 1960), American baseball catcher * Scott Bradley (politician) (born 1952), American politician and u ...

disliked themes and phased them out quickly.

Winston Sharples Winston Singleton Sharples (March 1, 1909 – April 3, 1978) was an American composer known for his work with animated short subjects, especially those created by the animation department at Paramount Pictures. In his 35-year career, Sharples s ...

and

Sammy Timberg Samuel Timberg (May 21, 1903 – August 26, 1992) was an American musician and composer for the stage, film studios, and television. Biography Timberg was born in New York City to a Jewish family originating in Austria, youngest son of Israel and ...

composed most of the music for the ''Popeye'' shorts. Timberg also composed the themes to the Fleischers' '' Betty Boop'' and '' Superman'' cartoons, but asked Lerner to write Popeye's theme song because he had a date that night. The music of ''Popeye'' is described as a mix of "sunny

show tune A show tune is a song originally written as part of the score of a work of musical theatre or musical film, especially if the piece in question has become a standard, more or less detached in most people's minds from the original context. ...

s and music from the street." Being located on Broadway, the Fleischers were well placed for popular music developments in the 1930s. Director Eric Goldberg notes a very urban feel to the music of ''Popeye'', reflecting "the type of cartoons they were making." The Fleischers were big fans of

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a majo ...

and would approach local jazz musicians to work on the cartoons, most of whom were more than happy to oblige. The use of jazz and very contemporary popular music highlighted how audiences were fascinated by new music. Tight on a budget, the producers took advantage of their free access to the Paramount music library, including hit songs that would be introduced in feature films. Many cartoons, such as ''It's the Natural Thing to Do'' (1939), take their titles from popular songs of the time. Staff songwriters would also write original songs for the shorts, such as in 1936's ''Brotherly Love'' and ''I Wanna Be a Lifeguard''; the studio would hire outside songwriters to compose originals in addition. With the onset of World War II, the music in ''Popeye'' became more lush, fully orchestrated and patriotic. For generations, the iconic ''Popeye'' theme song became an instantly recognizable musical bookmark, further propelling the character's stardom.

Theatrical ''Popeye'' cartoons on television

The original 1932 agreement with the syndicate called for any films made within 10 years and any elements of them to be destroyed in 1942. This would have destroyed all of the Fleischer ''Popeye'' shorts. King was not sure what effect the cartoons would have on the strip; if the effect was very negative, King was very eager to erase any memory of the cartoons by destroying them. Paramount knew that the ''Popeye'' cartoons were among their best-selling and most popular, and they held them separately for future distribution, seeing television as a rising outlet. In 1955, Paramount put their cartoon and shorts library up for television sale. U.M. & M. TV Corporation acquired the majority of all theatrical shorts. However, the ''Popeye'' cartoons were sold separately at a higher price. In June 1956, Paramount sold the black and white cartoons to television syndicator Associated Artists Productions (a.a.p.), one of the biggest distributors of the time, for release to television stations, with the color cartoons being sold a year later. However, unlike the pre-August 1948 Warner Bros. cartoons they were distributing, a.a.p. was asked to remove the Paramount logos and "Paramount presents" title cards, so the cartoons were given an a.a.p. opening title card similar to the Warner Bros. cartoons, using a version of the Popeye theme music introduced sometime in 1943; the episodes closed with a piece first used in '' Olive Oyl For President'' in 1948. Yet Paramount's imprint was still noted in the a.a.p. prints, which referenced Fleischer and Famous Studios and left Paramount's credits and copyright tags intact. Once they began airing these cartoons were enormously popular. Jerry Beck likens ''Popeye'' television success to a "new lease on life," noting that the character had not been as popular since the 1930s. King Features realized the potential for success and began distributing ''Popeye''-based merchandise, which in turn led to a new series of ''Popeye'' short made for TV beginning in 1960. These shorts were farmed out to numerous studios and are of generally lower quality, employing limited animation, and many artists were unhappy with the quality of such cartoons. By the 1970s, the original Fleischer and Famous ''Popeye'' cartoons were syndicated to various stations and channels across the globe. In the intervening years, however, the theatrical ''Popeye'' cartoons slowly disappeared from the airwaves in favor of newer television editions. a.a.p. was sold to

United Artists United Artists Corporation (UA), currently doing business as United Artists Digital Studios, is an American digital production company. Founded in 1919 by D. W. Griffith, Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, and Douglas Fairbanks, the stu ...

in 1958, which was absorbed into

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Studios Inc., also known as Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures and abbreviated as MGM, is an American film, television production, distribution and media company owned by Amazon through MGM Holdings, founded on April 17, 1924 ...

to create MGM/UA in 1981.

Ted Turner Robert Edward "Ted" Turner III (born November 19, 1938) is an American entrepreneur, television producer, media proprietor, and philanthropist. He founded the Cable News Network (CNN), the first 24-hour cable news channel. In addition, he ...

purchased MGM/UA in 1986, gaining control of all theatrical ''Popeye'' shorts. Although Turner sold MGM back to Kirk Kerkorian some months later, Turner retained the film catalog.

Turner Entertainment Turner Entertainment Company is an American multimedia company founded by Ted Turner in 1986. Purchased by Time Warner in 1996 as part of its acquisition of Turner Broadcasting System (TBS), the company was largely responsible for overseeing t ...

(currently owned by Warner Bros. Discovery) therefore controls the rights to the ''Popeye'' shorts. After the Turner acquisition, the black-and-white ''Popeye'' shorts were shipped to South Korea, where artists retraced them into color. The process was intended to make the shorts more marketable in the modern television era, but prevented the viewers from seeing the original Fleischer pen-and-ink work, as well as the three-dimensional backgrounds created by Fleischer's "Stereoptical" process. Every other frame was traced, changing the animation from being "on ones" (24 frame/s) to being "on twos" (12 frame/s), and softening the pace of the films. These colorized shorts began airing on Superstation WTBS in 1986 during their ''Tom & Jerry and Friends'' 90-minute weekday morning and hour-long weekday afternoon shows. The retraced shorts were syndicated in 1987 on a barter basis, and remained available until the early 1990s. When Cartoon Network began in 1992, they mostly ran cartoons from the MGM/UA library, which included ''Popeye''. For many decades, viewers could only see a majority of the classic ''Popeye'' cartoons with the a.a.p.-altered opening and closing credits. In 2001, Cartoon Network, under the supervision of animation historian

, launched '' The Popeye Show''. The show aired the Fleischer and Famous Studios ''Popeye'' shorts in their complete, uncut original theatrical versions direct from prints that contained the original front-and-end Paramount credits, or, where those were unavailable, in versions approximating their original theatrical releases by replacing the a.a.p. opening and closing credits with ones that recreated the originals using various sources. The series, which aired 135 ''Popeye'' shorts over 45 episodes, also featured segments offering

trivia Trivia is information and data that are considered to be of little value. It can be contrasted with general knowledge and common sense. Latin Etymology The ancient Romans used the word ''triviae'' to describe where one road split or forke ...

about the characters, voice actors, and animators. The program aired on Cartoon Network until March 2004. Cartoon Network's spin-off network

Boomerang A boomerang () is a thrown tool, typically constructed with aerofoil sections and designed to spin about an axis perpendicular to the direction of its flight. A returning boomerang is designed to return to the thrower, while a non-returning b ...

aired reruns of it after that, along with half-hour afternoon airings of Paramount ''Popeye'' cartoons that sometimes included the color-traced versions from the 1980s. In 2012, ''Popeye'' reruns ceased until 2019, when Popeye cartoons returned to TV on

Turner Classic Movies Turner Classic Movies (TCM) is an American movie-oriented pay-TV network owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched in 1994, Turner Classic Movies is headquartered at Turner's Techwood broadcasting campus in the Midtown business district of ...

as single 7-minute shorts in March 2018, usually shown on Saturday mornings. It is also periodically pre-empted by special month-long or seasonal scheduling themes, such as February's "

31 Days of Oscar Turner Classic Movies (TCM) is an American movie-oriented pay-TV network owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. Launched in 1994, Turner Classic Movies is headquartered at Turner's Techwood broadcasting campus in the Midtown business district of Atl ...

" film series and the month-long "Summer Under the Stars". In November 2020, Boomerang aired ''Popeye'' again as part of the Boomerang Thanksgiving Feast.

MeTV MeTV, an acronym for Memorable Entertainment Television, is an American broadcast television network owned by Weigel Broadcasting. Marketed as "The Definitive Destination for Classic TV", the network airs a variety of classic television program ...

announced that they will air a Saturday morning cartoon block which includes the Fleischer/Famous ''Popeye'' cartoons beginning in January 2021. In the UK, ''Popeye'' aired on Cartoon Network from 1993 to 2001 and on Boomerang from 2000 to 2005. Since February 2021,

Talking Pictures TV Talking Pictures TV (TPTV) is a British free-to-air vintage-film and nostalgia television channel. It was launched on 26 May 2015 on Sky channel 343, but later also became available on Freeview, Freesat, and Virgin Media. It is on air for 24 ...

has aired the cartoons during their Saturday morning pictures block.

Home video

There were legal problems between King Features Syndicate and United Artists in the early 1980s regarding the availability of ''Popeye'' on home video. United Artists had television rights, but King Features disputed whether that included home video distribution. In 1983, MGM/UA Home Video attempted to release a collection of Popeye cartoons on

Betamax Betamax (also known as Beta, as in its logo) is a consumer-level analog recording and cassette format of magnetic tape for video, commonly known as a video cassette recorder. It was developed by Sony and was released in Japan on May 10, 197 ...

and VHS tapes titled ''The Best of Popeye, Vol. 1'', but the release was canceled after MGM/UA received a

cease and desist A cease and desist letter is a document sent to an individual or business to stop alleged illegal activity. The phrase "cease and desist" is a legal doublet, made up of two near-synonyms. The letter may warn that, if the recipient does not dis ...

letter from King Features Syndicate, which claimed that they only had the legal rights to release the collection on video. While King Features owned the rights, material, comics, and merchandizing to Popeye's character, King Features did not have ownership to the cartoons themselves. Throughout the years, there have been many VHS cassettes and DVDs featuring

public domain The public domain (PD) consists of all the creative work to which no exclusive intellectual property rights apply. Those rights may have expired, been forfeited, expressly waived, or may be inapplicable. Because those rights have expired, ...

''Popeye'' cartoons, where the copyright had lapsed. While most of the Paramount ''Popeye'' catalog remained unavailable on VHS tape, a handful of shorts fell into the public domain and were found on numerous low-budget VHS tapes and DVDs. Most used a.a.p. prints from the 1950s, which were in very poor shape, thus resulting in very poor image quality. These cartoons were seven B&W 1930s and 1940s cartoons, 24 Famous Studios cartoons from the 1950s (many of which fell to the public domain after the MGM/UA merger), and all three ''Popeye'' color specials (although some copyrighted ''Popeye'' cartoons turned up on public domain VHS tapes and DVDs). In 1997 (by which time the Popeye cartoons had come under ownership of Turner), home video rights to the MGM film library were reassigned from MGM/UA Home Video to

Warner Home Video Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Inc. (formerly known as Warner Home Video and WCI Home Video and sometimes credited as Warner Home Entertainment) is the home video distribution division of Warner Bros. It was founded in 1978 as WCI Home Vide ...

. It was reported in 2002 that WB/Turner and King Features parent Hearst Corporation were working on a deal to release Popeye's cartoons on home video. Over 1,000 people signed an online petition asking WB and King Features to release the theatrical Popeye cartoons on DVDs. ''Popeye'' cartoons were never officially released in any form until the late 2000s. In 2006,

, King Features Syndicate, and Hearst Entertainment finally reached an agreement allowing for the release of the theatrical ''Popeye'' cartoons on home video.

allowed Warner Bros. to restore the original Paramount logos on the cartoons as part of a cross-licensing deal between the two companies (which also permitted the use of the "WB Shield" logo on certain films produced by John Wayne's Batjac Productions that were originally released by Warner Bros. but are now distributed by Paramount) thus preserving the artistic integrity of the original theatrical releases. Three volumes were produced between 2007 and 2008, released in the order the cartoons were released to theaters. The first of WB's ''Popeye'' DVD sets, covering the cartoons released from 1933 until early 1938, was released on July 31, 2007. ''Popeye the Sailor: 1933–1938, Volume 1'', a four-disc collector's edition DVD, contains the first 60 Fleischer ''Popeye'' cartoons, including the color specials ''Popeye the Sailor Meets Sindbad the Sailor'' and ''Popeye the Sailor Meets Ali Baba's Forty Thieves''. Volume 1 and 3 of the series Have the "Intended For Adult Collector And May Not Be Suitable For Children" advisory warning on the back of the box- with a text disclaimer at the beginning of each disc warning that certain shorts "...may reflect certain racist, sexist and ethnic prejudices that were commonplace in American society at the time"- similar to that seen on the ''

Looney Tunes Golden Collection The ''Looney Tunes Golden Collection'' is a series of six four-disc DVD box sets from Warner Home Video, each containing about 60 ''Looney Tunes'' and '' Merrie Melodies'' animated shorts. The series began on October 28, 2003, and ended on Oct ...

'' DVDs. The shorts were digitally restored and featured numerous bonus features; including audio commentary tracks and documentary featurettes. Historians supervised the release as consultants, assuring no colorized versions of unrestored prints were used. The first volume was included, either erroneously or through somewhat fraudulent means, in a batch of boxed sets sold in discount outlets for $3 or less in the summer of 2009. Initially, there were four volumes of 4-Disc ''Popeye'' sets were planned: the second volume would feature the remaining Black & White ''Popeye'' cartoons from 1938 to 1943, with the third and fourth volumes covering the color Famous Studios cartoons released between 1943 and 1957. However, due to the 2007-2008 Global Financial Crisis, Warner Home Video was forced to re-worked the second volume into a series of two-disc sets. ''Popeye the Sailor: 1938–1940, Volume 2'' was released on June 17, 2008, and includes the final color Popeye special ''Aladdin and His Wonderful Lamp''. ''Popeye the Sailor: 1941–1943, Volume 3'' was released on November 4, 2008, and includes Popeye's three seldom shown wartime cartoons: ''

'' (1942), ''

Scrap the Japs ''Scrap the Japs'' is a 1942 American anti-Japanese cartoon with the popular character Popeye as protagonist. It follows his adventures after being sent for punishment on a ship and running into Japanese sailors. The film was released on Novembe ...

'' (1942), and '' Seein' Red, White 'N' Blue'' (1943). Like ''Volume 1'' these sets contained a plethora of bonus material. The remaining volumes featuring the color Famous Studios cartoons were abandoned due to the higher costs of restoring color cartoons and the low sales of the previous volumes due to the recession in the late 2000s. In 2018,

Warner Archive Collection The Warner Archive Collection is a home video division for releasing classic and cult films from Warner Bros.' library. It started as a manufactured-on-demand (MOD) DVD series by Warner Bros. Home Entertainment on March 23, 2009, with the inte ...

announced they were releasing a series of single-disc

Blu-ray The Blu-ray Disc (BD), often known simply as Blu-ray, is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 2005 and released on June 20, 2006 worldwide. It is designed to supersede the DVD format, and capable of s ...

sets entitled ''Popeye the Sailor: The 1940s'' which continued where the previous DVD sets left off almost a decade earlier. Unlike the previous DVD sets the Blu-rays did not feature any bonus material, but the shorts were digitally restored and uncut. ''Popeye the Sailor: The 1940s, Volume 1'' was released on December 11, 2018, and contained 14 color ''Popeye'' shorts released from 1943 to 1945. ''Popeye the Sailor: The 1940s, Volume 2'' was released in June 2019 featuring the next 15 ''Popeye'' cartoons from 1946 to 1947. ''Popeye the Sailor: The 1940s, Volume 3'' was released in September 2019 and featured the remaining 17 ''Popeye'' cartoons of the decade released from 1948 to the end of 1949. In January 2020, Warner Archive announced they were "taking a break" from producing ''Popeye'' sets to focus on other classic animated titles, such as '' Tex Avery Screwball Classics''. As of 2022, the remaining 62 ''Popeye'' cartoons released between 1950 and 1957 have yet to be released.

DVD collections

* ''Popeye the Sailor: 1933–1938, Volume 1'' (released July 31, 2007) features cartoons released from 1933 to early 1938 and contains the color Popeye specials ''

'' and ''

''. * ''Popeye the Sailor: 1938–1940, Volume 2'' (released June 17, 2008) features cartoons released from late 1938 to 1940 and includes the last color Popeye special ''

''. * ''Popeye the Sailor: 1941–1943, Volume 3'' (released November 4, 2008) features the remaining black-and-white Popeye cartoons released from 1941 to 1943 and covers the transition from Fleischer Studios to Famous Studios producing the cartoons. * ''Popeye the Sailor: The 1940s, Volume 1'' (released December 11, 2018) features the first 14 color Popeye shorts produced by Famous Studios from 1943 to 1945. The set was made available on Blu-ray and DVD. * ''Popeye the Sailor: The 1940s, Volume 2'' (released June 18, 2019) features the next 15 color Popeye shorts produced by Famous Studios from 1946 to 1947. The set was made available on Blu-ray and DVD. * ''Popeye the Sailor: The 1940s, Volume 3'' (released September 17, 2019) features the next 17 color Popeye shorts produced by Famous Studios from 1948 to 1949. The set was made available on Blu-ray and DVD.

Filmography

* Popeye the Sailor filmography (Fleischer Studios) * Popeye the Sailor filmography (Famous Studios)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Popeye The Sailor (Film Series) Film series introduced in 1933 Popeye the Sailor theatrical cartoons