| Wigwam Whoopee | |
| Number 153 | |
 | |
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Wigwam Whoopee is Popeye's 153rd theatrical short. It was produced by Famous Studios and released on February 27, 1948. It parodies the real-life story of Pocahontas.
Plot[]
A Capt. John Smith-like Popeye arrives at the New World on the Mayflower - or rather, rowing a small boat behind it. He explores the wilderness where Native American princess Pocahontas (Olive Oyl) is taking a cold shower in her bikini with the aid of a waterfall while singing "By a Waterfall". When she comes out, she bumps into the appreciative, pale stranger. After hastily getting dressed, she tries to shoot him with an arrow, only to end up shooting herself into the barrel of Popeye's blunderbuss, then shot upwards again. This all ends with their lips meeting and love blooming.
Not far away, at the village, chief Shmohawk smokes contentedly while dreaming of his bride-to-be: Pocahontas. Then he notices her lying beside her new paramour and promptly moves to eliminate the competition, aided by a young assistant that tries to cut Popeye's two hairs - but is stopped by the chief, who instead attempts to club him out of his scalp. Pocahontas swiftly stops his hand and introduces the foreigner to chief Shmohawk; the latter tries to strike again but his sneak attacks are easily countered. He turns to deceit, inviting Popeye to become a tribesman but using the nighttime ceremony to tie him to a pole, then igniting gasoline around him. Pocahontas, who had been sent away to cook, sees this and tries to extinguish the fire, but ends up chased by the lustful Shmohawk.
This devolves into the big chief's trying to cause the girl to fall to her death, prompting Popeye to struggle until able to get his spinach can out, gaining elongated toenails to cut himself free and the ability to scare the flames away. He promptly rescues the native beauty, deals with Shmohawk's fiercest warriors, then the buffalo-riding chief himself. The paleface hero is made the new chief, venerated by the remaining tribesmen and kissed by the princess. Not even the young warrior's tomahawk can disturb the few strands of his hair.
Gallery[]
.png "Wigwam Whoopee (2).png (2.24 MB)")
Trivia[]
- First Popeye cartoon filmed in Polacolor.
- The cartoon is similar to Big Chief Ugh-Amugh-Ugh in that Olive has a Native American suitor. The difference is that here Olive is Native American as well.
- In real life, Pocahontas was a young child when she met John Smith. She later moved to London, England and married John Rolfe.
- This marks the final cartoon to use the original 1943 theme before it was edited that same year for the next short.
- This cartoon, as a whole, is rarely seen on American television since the mid-2000s due to Native American stereotyping and Olive Oyl portraying a Native American princess with depicted skin color, along with the various uses of risqué humor. Despite this, the cartoon was available uncut on the Boomerang streaming app until it was reportedly removed in late-2021.
Goofs[]
- In the title screen for this cartoon, the Roman numerals indicating the copyright year are incorrectly written. "1948" should appear as "MCMXLVIII" but it is shown here as "MCMXVLIII."
External links[]
- Wigwam Whoopee at the Internet Movie Database