| Let's Stalk Spinach | |
| Number 183 | |
 | |
| Guide | |
| previous Pilgrim Popeye |
next Punch and Judo |
Let's Stalk Spinach is Popeye's 183rd theatrical cartoon, produced by Famous Studios and released on October 19, 1951. Like the earlier Ration Fer the Duration from the same studio, it presents an adaptation of the fairy tale Jack and the Beanstalk, however, this time as a story told to Popeye's nephews instead of a propaganda-laced dream.
Plot[]
Uncle Popeye prepares lunch for himself and his nephews at their picnic outing, and serves spinach sandwiches. While enjoying the picnic, the boys are disgusted to taste that their sandwiches are filled with said vegetable, so Popeye proceeds to tell them that he also once disliked it - until it saved his life. In the ensuing flashback, Popeye's mother sends the younger protagonist to sell their old jalopy in order to get food, but Popeye is only paid a can of spinach for it. When his angry mother throws the can to the ground, a gigantic spinach-stalk sprouts from it, then Popeye climbs it to explore the heavens. Up there, he finds a giant living in a castle on the clouds. The monster owns a golden egg-laying hen, which is forced to work extra hard. When Popeye tries to rescue the bird, the giant blows him out of the castle, yet he lands into a magically-grown can atop the spinach-stalk. Strengthened after eating its contents, he attacks the giant, whose attempts to swallow, squish and snatch him only end with the colossus thrown out of the castle and to the Earth far below, crashing with a great explosion. As Popeye finishes his story, he and his nephews see that the battered giant still inhabits the hole nearby. The boys eagerly devour their sandwiches. Popeye laughs in excitement at the nephews learning that spinach sandwiches are healthy.
Trivia[]
- First cartoon appearance of Popeye's mother.
- Although Popeye's mother appears in this cartoon, this is a fanciful story which is mostly at odds with other accounts of hers and Popeye's life.
- First cartoon to use the 1951 theme.
- The way Popeye laughs in this cartoon is similar to how Little Audrey laughs in her cartoons.
- This cartoon uses a variant of the children hating spinach plot. In this case, Popeye serves his nephews spinach sandwiches.
See also[]
External links[]
- Let's Stalk Spinach at the Internet Movie Database