Popeye the Sailor (TV series)

This article is about the television series. For other meanings, see Popeye the Sailor (disambiguation).

Popeye the Sailor is an animated TV series produced by King Features Syndicate consisting of 220 episodes produced between 1960 and 1962 for first-run syndication. A majority of the cartoons consist of Popeye and his girlfriend Olive Oyl facing off against rival Brutus and foes like the Sea Hag. The executive producer of the series was Al Brodax. Production of the series was split between six studios: Larry Harmon Pictures, Rembrandt Films (with Halas and Batchelor producing six cartoons for Rembrandt), TV Spots, Jack Kinney Productions and Paramount Cartoon Studios. This was Popeye's first television series, being the only one so far in which the sailor could be shown punching his enemies.

History

Following the end of production on the theatrical Popeye cartoon series, the copyrights to the shorts were sold to Associated Artists Productions in June 1956 to be played on television. In this format, the cartoons reached an even larger audience than they ever received in theaters, consistently topping the charts of most popular packages in syndication.

With this new success came a new slew of licensed products featuring the sailor; while King Features Syndicate received royalties from these products and from when the cartoons were originally sold to AAP, they did not receive royalties when the package itself was sold to a station. As such, in June 1959, KFS announced they would be creating their own package of Popeye cartoons made specifically for television. Production on the cartoons began in August 1959, with Al Brodax as executive producer.

The package originally consisted of 220 cartoons. Production on the cartoons were split between six studios:

• Jack Kinney Productions produced the largest number of the cartoons, producing 101 of them, including the first pilot, "Barbecue for Two". Kinney was chosen by Brodax to produce so many of the cartoons due to his experience as director of many cartoons for Walt Disney.
• Paramount Pictures Cartoon Studios, whose predecessor Famous Studios had produced the Popeye theatrical shorts, was chosen to produce 63 cartoons. Many of the crew who worked on the theatrical shorts also worked on these cartoons.
• Rembrandt Films, a studio begun by William L. Snyder as an importer of European films to the United States, produced 22 cartoons. Production on Rembrandt's cartoons was overseen by Gene Deitch, an American-born animator living in Prague. The storyboarding and recording was done in the US, but the animation was done in Czechoslovakia and Italy. Rembrandt was originally chosen due to the lower cost of animating in Europe, but by the time production began costs had risen to be equal to animating domestically. Despite having a budget of $14,000 per short to the other studios' $15,000, Brodax considered these cartoons to have "substantially more animation" than the ones done domestically. Deitch was a huge fan of the original Thimble Theatre comic strip, but disliked the Fleischer series due to them simplifying the series into "a cliche formula" and lacking many of the characters from the comics. As such, Dietch insisted that the cartoons have more of the characters from the comics.
• Halas and Batchelor Cartoon Films, a studio in Great Britain, produced 6 cartoons, subcontracted for the work by Rembrandt.
• Larry Harmon Pictures, a studio begun by Bozo the Clown owner Larry Harmon, produced 18 of the cartoons.
• TV Spots, which produced animation for TV advertisements and was headed by former Disney animator Gerald Ray, produced 10 cartoons. Ray would go on to also produce Krazy Kat and Beetle Bailey cartoons for KFS.

Due to the much smaller budget and the quick turnaround time needed, the animation of the cartoons was more limited than the theatrical series; the overall quality in animation vastly varied between studios, and even individual animation directors. All animation studios other than TV Spots had actual composers. The Gerald Ray-produced episodes used stock music.

The episodes featured many characters from the original Thimble Theatre comic strip not seen in the theatrical series, including the Sea Hag, Toar, Rough House and King Blozo, and even Sappo's Professor Wotasnozzle.

Also notable about the series was the renaming of Popeye's rival Bluto to Brutus. This was due to KFS believing that Bluto had been created for the theatrical shorts, and as such belonged to AAP. This turned out to be untrue, as Bluto had actually debuted in Thimble Theatre as a one-off villain. Brutus served the exact same purpose as Bluto, shared many of his characteristics, and was performed by the same voice actor, Jackson Beck. Notably, Popeye the Sailor marked the final time Mae Questel would voice Olive Oyl.

The series was released to the market on January 1, 1960, and proved extremely successful for King Features, grossing about $6,000,000 in sales and running in 137 markets by 1964. Even nearly 30 years later, the series was still the "second-highest-rated syndicated cartoon series in both the February and May Nielsens (of 1988)". The series would continue to be syndicated well into the 1990s.

Episodes

Larry Harmon Pictures

• "Muskels Shmuskels"
• "Hoppy Jalopy"
• "Dead-Eye Popeye"
• "Mueller's Mad Monster"
• "Caveman Capers"
• "Bullfighter Bully"
• "Ace of Space"
• "College of Hard Knocks"
• "Abdominal Snowman"
• "Ski-Jump Chump"
• "Irate Pirate"
• "Foola-Foola Bird"
• "Uranium on the Cranium"
• "Two-Faced Paleface"
• "Childhood Daze"
• "Sheepish Sheep-Herder"
• "Track Meet Cheat"
• "Crystal Ball Brawl"

Rembrandt Films/Halas and Batchelor

• "Interrupted Lullaby"
• "Sea No Evil"
• "From Way Out"
• "Seeing Double"
• "Swee'Pea Soup"
• "Hag Way Robbery"
• "The Lost City of Bubble-Lon"
• "There's No Space Like Home"
• "Potent Lotion"
• "Astro-Nut"
• "Goon with the Wind"
• "Insultin' the Sultan"
• "Dog-Gone Dog-Catcher"
• "Voice from the Deep!"
• "Matinée Idol Popeye"
• "Beaver or Not"
• "The Billionaire"
• "Model Muddle"
• "Which Is Witch"
• "Disguise the Limit"
• "Spoil Sport"
• "Have Time, Will Travel"
• "Intellectual Interlude"
• "Partial Post"
• "Weight for Me"
• "Canine Caprice"
• "Roger"
• "Tooth Be or Not Tooth Be"

TV Spots

• "Where There's a Will"
• "Take It Easel"
• "I Bin Sculped"
• "Fleas a Crowd"
• "Popeye's Junior Headache"
• "Egypt Us"
• "The Big Sneeze"
• "The Last Resort"
• "Jeopardy Sheriff"
• "Baby Phase"

Jack Kinney Productions

• "Battery Up"
• "Deserted Desert"
• "Skinned Divers"
• "Popeye's Service Station"
• "Coffee House"
• "Popeye's Pep-Up Emporium"
• "Bird Watcher Popeye"
• "Time Marches Backwards"
• "Popeye's Pet Store"
• "Ballet de Spinach"
• "Sea Hagracy"
• "Spinach Shortage"
• "Popeye and the Dragon"
• "Popeye the Fireman"
• "Popeye's Pizza Palace"
• "Down the Hatch"
• "Lighthouse Keeping"
• "Popeye and the Phantom"
• "Popeye's Picnic"
• "Out of This World"
• "Madam Salami"
• "Timber Toppers"
• "Skyscraper Capers"
• "Private Eye Popeye" (also the name of a 1954 Popeye theatrical cartoon)
• "Little Olive Riding Hood"
• "Popeye's Hypnotic Glance"
• "Popeye's Trojan Horse"
• "Frozen Feuds"
• "Popeye's Corn-Certo"
• "Westward Ho-Ho"
• "Popeye's Cool Pool"
• "Jeep Jeep"
• "Popeye's Museum Piece"
• "Golf Brawl"
• "Wimpy's Lunch Wagon"
• "Weather Watchers"
• "Popeye and the Magic Hat"
• "Popeye and the Giant"
• "Hill Billy Dilly"
• "Pest of the Pecos"
• "The Blubbering Whaler"
• "Popeye and the Spinach Stalk"
• "Shoot the Chutes"
• "Tiger Burger"
• "Bottom Gun"
• "Olive Drab and the Seven Sweapeas"
• "Blinkin' Beacon"
• "Azteck Wreck"
• "The Green Dancin' Shoes"
• "Spare Dat Tree"
• "The Glad Gladiator"
• "The Golden Touch"
• "Hamburger Fishing"
• "Popeye the Popular Mechanic"
• "Popeye's Folly"
• "Popeye's Used Car"
• "Spinachonara"
• "Popeye and the Polite Dragon"
• "Popeye the Ugly Ducklin"
• "Popeye's Tea Party"
• "The Troll Wot Got Gruff"
• "Popeye the Lifeguard"
• "Popeye in the Woods"
• "After the Ball Went Over"
• "Popeye and Buddy Brutus"
• "Popeye's Car Wash"
• "Camel Aires"
• "Plumbers Pipe Dream"
• "Popeye and the Herring Snatcher"
• "Invisible Popeye"
• "The Square Egg"
• "Old Salt Tale"
• "Jeep Tale"
• "The Super Duper Market"
• "Golden-Type Fleece"
• "Popeye the White Collar Man"
• "Sweapea Thru the Looking Glass"
• "The Black Knight"
• "Jingle Jangle Jungle"
• "The Day Silky Went Blozo"
• "Rip Van Popeye"
• "Mississippi Sissy"
• "Double Cross Country Feet Race"
• "Fashion Fotography"
• "I Yam Wot I Yamnesia"
• "Paper Pasting Pandemonium"
• "Coach Popeye"
• "Popeyed Columbus"
• "Popeye Revere"
• "Popeye in Haweye"
• "Forever Ambergris"
• "Popeye de Leon"
• "Popeyed Fisherman"
• "Popeye in the Grand Steeple Chase"
• "Uncivil War"
• "Popeye the Piano Mover"
• "Popeye's Testimonial Dinner"
• "Around the World in Eighty Ways"
• "Popeye's Fixit Shop"
• "Bell Hop Popeye"
• "Barbecue for Two" (original pilot)

Paramount Cartoon Studios

• "Hits and Missiles" (second pilot)
• "The Ghost Host"
• "Strikes, Spares an' Spinach"
• "Jeep Is Jeep"
• "The Spinach Scholar"
• "Psychiatricks"
• "Rags to Riches to Rags"
• "Hair Cut-Ups"
• "Poppa Popeye"
• "Quick Change Olie"
• "The Valley of the Goons"
• "Me Quest for Poopdeck Pappy"
• "Moby Hick"
• "Mirror Magic"
• "It Only Hurts When They Laughs"
• "Wimpy the Moocher"
• "Voo-Doo to You Too"
• "Popeye Goes Sale-ing"
• "Popeye's Travels"
• "Incident at Missile City"
• "Dog Catcher Popeye"
• "What's News"
• "Spinach Greetings"
• "The Baby Contest"
• "Oil's Well That Ends Well"
• "Motor Knocks"
• "Amusement Park"
• "Duel to the Finish"
• "Gem Jam"
• "The Bathing Beasts"
• "The Rain Breaker"
• "Messin' Up the Mississippi"
• "Love Birds"
• "Sea Serpent"
• "Boardering on Trouble"
• "Aladdin's Lamp"
• "Butler Up"
• "The Leprechaun"
• "County Fair"
• "Hamburgers Aweigh"
• "Popeye's Double Trouble"
• "Kiddie Kapers"
• "The Mark of Zero"
• "Myskery Melody"
• "Scairdy Cat"
• "Operation Ice-Tickle"
• "The Cure"
• "William Won't Tell"
• "Pop Goes the Whistle"
• "Autographically Yours"
• "A Poil for Olive Oyl"
• "My Fair Olive"
• "Giddy Gold"
• "Strange Things Are Happening"
• "The Medicine Man"
• "A Mite of Trouble"
• "Who's Kiddin' Zoo"
• "Robot Popeye"
• "Sneaking Peeking"
• "Seer-Ring Is Believer-Ring"
• "The Wiffle Bird's Revenge"
• "Going... Boing.. Gone"
• "Popeye Thumb"

Trivia

• Most of the characters return to their classic designs.
  • For example, Swee'Pea returns to his original design after it being used last in Baby Wants a Bottleship.
• Swee'Pea is portrayed as Popeye's nephew in this TV series. This also marks the boy's first speaking role.
  • Swee'Pea talking and living with Popeye is closer to the comics.
• Olive has gone back to wearing her original outfit, although she keeps her Famous Studios design, while Popeye continues to use the Navy uniform that he wore since the late Fleischer era.
  • In the pilots, Olive is in her Fleischer design in "Barbecue for Two" and in her Famous design in "Hits and Missiles".
• Pappy appears in this series wearing a different outfit, which resembles Popeye's blue Navy uniform. There is however one episode in which Pappy wears Popeye's Navy whites.
• Pipeye, Peepeye, Poopeye and Pupeye are absent from the series.
• Many characters from the comic strip appear in animated form for the first time.
• Elements from the Fleischer and Famous cartoons are still used for the intro, like the spinning star, with some differences such as background color or the new credits for the show.
• Music from the theatrical shorts was reused, such as the spinach power-up theme from Patriotic Popeye.
• Some episodes of this series entered the public domain due to the copyright mistakenly indicating 1940 instead of 1960.
• This series does not have a unique intro or end credits, as it imitates the theatrical cartoons. It is the only television series to do so.
• Final time Mae Questel voiced Olive before she passed away.
  • Notably, Olive sounds like an older woman due to Questel's age.
• Jackson Beck's final Popeye work before he passed away.
• An original character from the TV series is Olive's niece Deezil Oyl, a similar concept to Popeye's nephews in the theatrical shorts.

External links

• Popeye the Sailor at the Internet Movie Database