Let's Sing with Popeye

Let's Sing with Popeye is one of Fleischer Studios's Screen Songs animated shorts, directed by Dave Fleischer in 1934. It was later re-released by Official Films in the 1950s.

The song featured in this cartoon was the Popeye theme song, "I'm Popeye the Sailor Man", written by Sammy Lerner. The animation for this film is taken from the first Popeye cartoon, Popeye the Sailor, which was originally presented as part of the Betty Boop series.

The entire cartoon is approximately 2 minutes long, with over half of that given to the credits and the bouncing ball. This shorter-than-normal cartoon was produced as a regular weekly feature for Paramount's Saturday morning matinee "Popeye Club".

Plot

An excerpt from Popeye the Sailor: Popeye is singing his theme song as he strolls along the deck of a sailing ship. He punctuates the lines of the song with three demonstrations of his strength. With a single punch, he reduces the ship's anchor to a pile of fishhooks. The large ship's clock meets a similar fate, ending as an assortment of watches and alarm clocks. Finally, a small mast is reduced to clothespins.

Then, after about 45 seconds, the animated portion ends and the rest of the cartoon presents the words of the song and the "famous bouncing ball", so that the audience can "sing with Popeye".

Notes

In 1935, Paramount added to Popeye's popularity by sponsoring the Popeye Club as part of their Saturday morning matinee program. Let's Sing With Popeye was a regular part of the weekly meetings, along with other cartoons, movies, prize giveaways and other activities. Paramount provided a manual to theater owners, telling them how to organize a Popeye Club, but the specific details were left to the local theater owners and varied from one theater to another.

Availability

This cartoon with the original Paramount mountain logo opening title and the original Paramount inkwell closing title is available on DVD as a special feature on disc four of the DVD collection Popeye the Sailor 1933-1938.

External links

• Let's Sing with Popeye at the Internet Movie Database