| The Spinach Overture | |
| Number 28 | |
 | |
| Guide | |
| previous Adventures of Popeye |
next Vim, Vigor and Vitaliky |
The Spinach Overture is Popeye's 28th cartoon, produced by Fleischer Studios and released on December 7, 1935. It contains a rare animated appearance by Castor Oyl, while Oscar makes one of his usual cameo appearances.
Plot[]
Popeye's ensemble is rehearsing the opening of the Poet and Peasant Overture (with snippets from the Popeye theme and "The Sailor's Hornpipe"). The band consists of Olive as the harp player and her brother Castor Oyl as the clarinet player, Wimpy as the drum set player and Oscar as the trombone player, with the sailor in the role of conductor. Next door stands Maestro Bluto before his own orchestra. He pays a visit to the competing group, laughing, and shoves Popeye aside to demonstrate how it should be done. He conducts at the same time as he aptly plays the violin, which Popeye then attempts to replicate with less success. Olive, Wimpy and the other musicians laugh uproarously at Popeye along with Bluto. The Maestro now does it with the piano, and the sailor's subsequent attempt ends with his fingers tied. His laughing musicians are led away to join Bluto's orchestra. As the hero sits before the piano in frustration, he takes out his can of spinach from inside it and takes a bite. He soon realizes the greens turn him into a virtuoso, so he rushes to the next room where he proceeds to punch Bluto out of his post and his conductor wig, and puts on an impressive display while easily deflecting Bluto's attempts at revenge via various instruments. Although disrupted by the beaten body of the former maestro crashing into it, the orchestra succesfully ends the piece, with an excerpt from "I'm Popeye the Sailor Man".
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- Only cartoon appearance of Castor Oyl. He goes unnamed.
- Only cartoon in which everyone else favors Bluto over Popeye, in addition to Olive. These are Wimpy, Oscar, and one-time guest star Castor.
- Bluto's depiction as a music conductor resembles Leopold Stokowski.
- A similar orchestra story would later be used in the Color Classics entry A Car-Tune Portrait (1937).
External links[]
- The Spinach Overture at the Internet Movie Database