DVD: Popeye the Sailor Volume 1: 1933-1938 7.31.2007

[Michel Weisnor]

More Fleischer greatness   

http://tvshowsondvd.com/newsitem.cfm?NewsID=7112

http://www.cartoonbrew.com/wp-content/uploads/popeyeblad1.jpg

As a kid, I remember Popeye eating spinach then whistling out of his eye! I recall laughing and thinking that's crazy. I'm sold.   

[nightwing]

I'm on board for this, too.

Speaking of odd childhood memories, I used to watch one of those afternoon kid shows built around the Fleischer Popeyes, and connecting them were little vignettes starring real kids.  I recall one had a bully terrorizing a little girl on her daily walk home from school, until she dug into a can of spinach, punched the bully in the bean and sent him hurtling from the sidewalk, up about 30 feet into the air and through the window of an abandoned house.

Yikes.  I'm no fan of the censorship of cartoons that happened in the early 70s, but it wasn't too hard to see where parents' groups might've been disturbed by skits like this, which showed a pretty fundamental understanding of Popeye's appeal...and it wasn't his singing. 

[JulianPerez]

It's been a priveledge of mine, several times in my life, to encounter some people that worked in the Fleischer Studios here in South Florida and Miami, where the studio was based.

Amusingly, the Biltmore Hotel (the very same "haunted" hotel where, according to Hollywood legend, a young Desi Arnaz met a pretty redhead named Lucille) periodically has reunions of the Fleischer Studios workers in the ballroom. A friend of mine and I have been talking about crashing it for years. One thing is certain: we'll bring a cell-phone camera. 

[Super Monkey]

These are the holy grails of animation DVDS!

I have been waiting for these since DVDs 1st appeared.

and his singing was pretty sweet

[Gangbuster]

Alright! 

[nightwing]

and his singing was pretty sweet

My favorite bits were the little mumbled mutterings Popeye would make under his breath.  Some of them were hilarious and they always seemed ad-libbed.  Every now and then he'd even put down Olive Oyl with his grumblings, which was always fun as I liked her even less than I did Lois Lane.

[Super Monkey]

I believe that they were ad-libbed, the 1st and only time it's happen in cartoons.

 

[Composite Superman]

Popeye was probably my favorite cartoon character as a kid (animated, not comic book). I still occasionally hum the theme, especially when I'm in a good mood.