The one that started it all-Popeye the Sailor Man (1934)

 As promised, I'll take a you on a magnificent tour through nostalgia lane towards the most influential short of all time: POPEYE THE SAILOR. 

The original 1934 short made by Fleischer Studios.

Funny thing was that this film was not originally Popeye short. It was created as a Betty Boop short.

Why was that? Well if you remember back in my Hays Office post, Betty Boop's career was killed off due to the Hays Office clamping down on lewd subject matter and the office took offense to Betty's flapper girl characterization.

So no, it was not a result of Cartoons going to THREE-STRIP technicolor but rather it was the restrictions by a censorship bureau created by Hollywood themselves.

Knowing that Betty was pretty much done, Fleischer studios decided to create a new series by acquiring the license to E.C Segar's Thimble Theater comic series.

But they billed this short as a Betty Boop short because the Fleischer Brothers anticipated the demise of Betty Boop's popularity and were hopping the bandwagons hoping Popeye would take the reigns of being a popular character to which he did.

After an intro song, a newspaper article labeling Popeye as the Sailor with the Sock accepts his movie contract with Paramount ensues. 

And then Popeye sings a little self congratulatory song about why he's the best.

"I'm Popeye the sailor man! *Blows Pipe*"

During the song, He demonstrates his supernatural strength,

 and his creative side.

And reveals his girdle.

Well Blow me down. Also, back then, he wasn't performed by Jack Mercer but rather by Billy Costello, which explains his raspier and deeper voice in this short compared to the other Popeyes.

Also the Debut of his Girlfriend Olive Oyl. Funny thing was, Olive is much older than Popeye, debuting way back in 1919 and originally was the girlfriend of Ham Gravy

Yes, that Ham Gravy. And his presence always pissed off Olive's Diminutive brother Castor Oyl.

I have a crackpot theory that the reason why Max Fleischer chose Popeye instead of Ham Gravy is because Ham Gravy is so goddamn lame and Castor Oyl too much a curmudgeon that they don't work as characters in the eyes of Fleischer because it's formula and Fleischer hates formula. So Popeye worked out better.

Of course the reality is when Popeye showed up in the comics back in 1929 after being hired by Ham Gravy himself to hunt for treasure, the sailor man proved to be more successful than this lounge lizard would ever be. For Ham Gravy, it was all over for him but so was Castor Oyl since he no longer had someone to hurl insults at so he got the boot too.

Anyway back to Olive.

Also, just like Popeye, her voice was much deeper and had a noticeable Accent.

That was because she was performed by Bonnie Poe, not Mae Questel.

Also noticeable was the fact that in this short, Humans and anthropomorphic animals co-existed with each other. That's because Popeye originally was a Betty Boop Short which had anthropomorphic animals as well. This however was dropped when Popeye became it's own series and all the anthropomorphic animals were replaced with Cartoon humans.

"You're not Popeye. Get the hell out of here you stupid dog!"

And yes, this was also the debut of Popeye's nemesis Bluto.

(He actually debuted in the comics a good 2 years prior to this short.)

But as always, Popeye prevails and gets the girl.

OH SHIT. It looks as if Popeye has inadvertently pissed off Bluto.

To the point he'll do anything nasty to get his way.

Such as using an animal as an extra handle for a mallet.

Is Bluto trying to be friendly to Popeye?

Nope. In fact, he's demonstrating he doesn't need no stinking mallet.

"Let me show you how a real man plays this game!"

Ouch. That Hurts.

Angry sun from Super Mario Bros 3, eat your heart out 54 years from now.

Just to drive the point that this was originally a Betty Boop Short, the gal herself shows up in a scantily clad outfit and is about to perform a dance.

Of course, Popeye can't pass up the chance to dance with his colleague.

And Mess with snakes

Olive seems to be enjoying the performance but unbeknownst to her....

Bluto has the chance to grab the girl by force.

Betty, having had experience with film, notices Bluto's crime and points out to what's going on.

And my oh my, Popeye looks absolutely pissed off.

"Nobody steals my girl and lives!!!"

"I will defy the laws of physics just to save my Girl!"

"Even if it means to defy the laws of Cartoon Physics such as moving animation cels with both a rope and my muscles."

Also the debut of Popeye's famous spinach.

Funny thing is, his debut of his spinach wasn't because Popeye gets overpowered but rather, he was getting bored.

...

What a wonderful way to start a franchise in the 1930s.

If you can believe it, this cartoon would eventually get color but that wasn't until the 1980s.

Unfortunately, I can't recommend the color version. The colors used by Ted Turner are a misunderstanding of what 3 strip technicolor is. Nothing but Pastels and I can hazard a guess that Ted also demanded the line art be traced.

So yeah, I prefer the Black & White Original due to the original qualities of the original line art.

I'll get more into other Popeye shorts when I get the chance.