Popeye the Sailor: The 1960s TV Cartoons
By Fred M. Grandinetti
230 pages/$30 hardcover $20 softcover/Bear Manor Media
Like author Fred M. Grandinetti, I was a child of the 60s and was exposed to all the Popeye cartoons, and it took time for me to understand that some were excellent, some were good, and some were outright bad. It slowly became clear to me that the best was the theatrical shorts made in the 1930s by the Fleischer Studio. What was less clear was who made the others of varying quality.
Thankfully, Grandinetti provides us with a handy guide, breaking down which animation house did what, all in an attempt to corner the syndicated cartoon market when there were hours upon hours of time to fill.
Elzie Segar’s Thimble Theater featured the Oyl family, with new characters coming and going as needed for each serialized adventure. On January 17, 1929, readers met Popeye,...
By Fred M. Grandinetti
230 pages/$30 hardcover $20 softcover/Bear Manor Media
Like author Fred M. Grandinetti, I was a child of the 60s and was exposed to all the Popeye cartoons, and it took time for me to understand that some were excellent, some were good, and some were outright bad. It slowly became clear to me that the best was the theatrical shorts made in the 1930s by the Fleischer Studio. What was less clear was who made the others of varying quality.
Thankfully, Grandinetti provides us with a handy guide, breaking down which animation house did what, all in an attempt to corner the syndicated cartoon market when there were hours upon hours of time to fill.
Elzie Segar’s Thimble Theater featured the Oyl family, with new characters coming and going as needed for each serialized adventure. On January 17, 1929, readers met Popeye,...
- 7/31/2023
- by Robert Greenberger
- Comicmix.com
Burbank, CA – Warner Bros. Discovery has meticulously remastered Max Fleischer’s treasured set of 17 animated Superman shorts from the original 35mm source elements. Max Fleischer’s Superman 1941-1943 will be available to purchase Digitally on HD and on Blu-ray May 16, 2023.
Superman made his comic book debut in 1938, appearing in Action Comics #1, and the Man of Steel’s popularity grew with his subsequent radio program. Max Fleischer gave the world’s first Super Hero his initial animated spotlight, producing 17 theatrical animated shorts from September 1941 to July 1943 that further elevated the character’s profile, and added many significant aspects to his canon – including coining many of Superman’s patented catchphrases and attributes.
Warner Bros. Discovery’s advanced remastering process began with a 4K, 16-bit scan of Fleischer’s original 35mm successive exposure negative. Staying true to the original theatrical aspect ratio of 1.37-to-1, the highest quality raw image was then scanned and...
Superman made his comic book debut in 1938, appearing in Action Comics #1, and the Man of Steel’s popularity grew with his subsequent radio program. Max Fleischer gave the world’s first Super Hero his initial animated spotlight, producing 17 theatrical animated shorts from September 1941 to July 1943 that further elevated the character’s profile, and added many significant aspects to his canon – including coining many of Superman’s patented catchphrases and attributes.
Warner Bros. Discovery’s advanced remastering process began with a 4K, 16-bit scan of Fleischer’s original 35mm successive exposure negative. Staying true to the original theatrical aspect ratio of 1.37-to-1, the highest quality raw image was then scanned and...
- 3/9/2023
- by ComicMix Staff
- Comicmix.com
The Famous Studios’ cartoon short "Popeye: Cookin' With Gags" (1954) was directed by Izzy Sparber and Thomas Johnson, starring Jack Mercer as ‘Popeye’, Jackson Beck as ‘Bluto’ and May Questel as ‘Olive Oyl’:
"...'Popeye' and 'Bluto' take 'Olive' on a picnic. It's April 1, and Bluto plays a series of gags on 'Popeye', including pouring gasoline on the fire he asks 'Popeye' to light and swapping a beehive for the lemonade. Bluto then launches a cruel joke against Olive, frames Popeye, replaces Popeye's spinach with a joke can and runs off with Olive..."
Click the images to enlarge...
"...'Popeye' and 'Bluto' take 'Olive' on a picnic. It's April 1, and Bluto plays a series of gags on 'Popeye', including pouring gasoline on the fire he asks 'Popeye' to light and swapping a beehive for the lemonade. Bluto then launches a cruel joke against Olive, frames Popeye, replaces Popeye's spinach with a joke can and runs off with Olive..."
Click the images to enlarge...
- 4/1/2022
- by Unknown
- SneakPeek
Popeye the Sailor: The 1940s – Volume 3
Blu ray
Warner Archive
1948-49/ 1.33:1 / 121 min.
Starring Jack Mercer, Mae Questel, Jackson Beck
Directed by Izzy Sparber
E. C. Segar’s Popeye made his newspaper debut in 1929 and his first animated appearance in 1933 with Max Fleischer’s Popeye the Sailor. By the time he reached Famous Studios a decade later the ornery bar-fighter had become respectable – safely homogenized for the delicate sensibilities of an audience that existed only for over-cautious suits in the front office.
None of that should stop Popeye fans and animation completists from scooping up Popeye the Sailor: The 1940s – Volume 3, Warner Archive’s third and final round-up of Popeye’s post-war adventures. The glossy veneer of these brightly colored cartoons was tailor made for high def scrutiny.
The set opens with one of the studio’s most memorable productions, the schizoid feminist fantasy, Olive Oyl for President. What at...
Blu ray
Warner Archive
1948-49/ 1.33:1 / 121 min.
Starring Jack Mercer, Mae Questel, Jackson Beck
Directed by Izzy Sparber
E. C. Segar’s Popeye made his newspaper debut in 1929 and his first animated appearance in 1933 with Max Fleischer’s Popeye the Sailor. By the time he reached Famous Studios a decade later the ornery bar-fighter had become respectable – safely homogenized for the delicate sensibilities of an audience that existed only for over-cautious suits in the front office.
None of that should stop Popeye fans and animation completists from scooping up Popeye the Sailor: The 1940s – Volume 3, Warner Archive’s third and final round-up of Popeye’s post-war adventures. The glossy veneer of these brightly colored cartoons was tailor made for high def scrutiny.
The set opens with one of the studio’s most memorable productions, the schizoid feminist fantasy, Olive Oyl for President. What at...
- 9/28/2019
- by Charlie Largent
- Trailers from Hell
Popeye The Sailor: The 1940s Volume 1
Blu ray
Warner Archive
1943 – 45 / 1.33:1 / Street Date – December 11, 2018
Starring Jack Mercer, Harry Foster Welch (Popeye), Margie Hines , Mae Questel (Olive Oyl), William Pennell, Jackson Beck (Bluto)
Directed by Dan Gordon, I. Sparber, Seymour Kneitel
The most animated of the great philosophers, Popeye relied on his fists to express his unapologetic mantra – “I am what I am.” Created by newspaper cartoonist E.C. Segar in 1929, the cantankerous but big-hearted sailor was brought to the screen by Max Fleischer and his brother Dave in a series of blissfully rowdy cartoons running from 1933 till 1942 – which is when everything went south.
1942 was the year that Max’s relationships with both Dave and Paramount fell apart – leading to the brothers’ exit and the beginning of Famous Studios, an in-house animation factory at Paramount staffed by Fleischer’s former creative team. But it may have been the sailor at the...
Blu ray
Warner Archive
1943 – 45 / 1.33:1 / Street Date – December 11, 2018
Starring Jack Mercer, Harry Foster Welch (Popeye), Margie Hines , Mae Questel (Olive Oyl), William Pennell, Jackson Beck (Bluto)
Directed by Dan Gordon, I. Sparber, Seymour Kneitel
The most animated of the great philosophers, Popeye relied on his fists to express his unapologetic mantra – “I am what I am.” Created by newspaper cartoonist E.C. Segar in 1929, the cantankerous but big-hearted sailor was brought to the screen by Max Fleischer and his brother Dave in a series of blissfully rowdy cartoons running from 1933 till 1942 – which is when everything went south.
1942 was the year that Max’s relationships with both Dave and Paramount fell apart – leading to the brothers’ exit and the beginning of Famous Studios, an in-house animation factory at Paramount staffed by Fleischer’s former creative team. But it may have been the sailor at the...
- 1/14/2019
- by Charlie Largent
- Trailers from Hell
“This Is A Holdup?”
By Raymond Benson
Woody Allen’s very first directorial effort was the low budget, no frills Take the Money and Run, released in the summer of 1969 to an unsuspecting audience. While Allen was already somewhat familiar to the public via his numerous television talk show and stand-up appearances, as well as his small roles in three late-60s motion pictures, no one was quite prepared for the zany, nebbish onscreen persona that Allen debuted in Take the Money. It was a cinematic guise he would keep to the present day.
The intellectual Jewish nerd that Allen presented (here his character’s name is Virgil Starkwell) quickly became the guy whom we all thought Woody Allen really is. Some folks might have said, “Oh, he’s just playing himself.” Perhaps certain characteristics of the real Woody Allen may have been a part of Virgil Starkwell, or Fielding Mellish,...
By Raymond Benson
Woody Allen’s very first directorial effort was the low budget, no frills Take the Money and Run, released in the summer of 1969 to an unsuspecting audience. While Allen was already somewhat familiar to the public via his numerous television talk show and stand-up appearances, as well as his small roles in three late-60s motion pictures, no one was quite prepared for the zany, nebbish onscreen persona that Allen debuted in Take the Money. It was a cinematic guise he would keep to the present day.
The intellectual Jewish nerd that Allen presented (here his character’s name is Virgil Starkwell) quickly became the guy whom we all thought Woody Allen really is. Some folks might have said, “Oh, he’s just playing himself.” Perhaps certain characteristics of the real Woody Allen may have been a part of Virgil Starkwell, or Fielding Mellish,...
- 9/21/2017
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
January 1929 was a very good month for comic strip readers. On the 7th they got to see the arrival of Tarzan and Buck Rogers while ten days later, fans of Thimble Theater met a brand new character named Popeye. The sailor was never intended to take over the strip but his popularity with readers encouraged E.C. Segar to keep him around until he finally shoved the Oyl family from the spotlight.
Burnishing his reputation were the brilliantly execute black and white theatrical shorts produced by Max and Dave Fleischer. After they shuttered operations, others took over the cartoon production, keeping Popeye a mainstay for generations of fans. Many of my generation were treated to the somewhat inferior Associated Artists Productions cartoons which completed their run in 1957. Not to be undone, King Features Syndicate hired Al Brodax to oversee a new round of cartoons aimed for the burgeoning television syndication market.
Burnishing his reputation were the brilliantly execute black and white theatrical shorts produced by Max and Dave Fleischer. After they shuttered operations, others took over the cartoon production, keeping Popeye a mainstay for generations of fans. Many of my generation were treated to the somewhat inferior Associated Artists Productions cartoons which completed their run in 1957. Not to be undone, King Features Syndicate hired Al Brodax to oversee a new round of cartoons aimed for the burgeoning television syndication market.
- 5/18/2013
- by Robert Greenberger
- Comicmix.com
With "Midnight in Paris," Woody Allen's comic look at nostalgia and its limitations, having earned four Oscar nominations last week (including nods for Best Picture, Allen's direction and his original screenplay), it's a good time to take a look back at Allen's 1987 comedy "Radio Days." Another comic take on nostalgia, "Radio Days" is now officially a golden oldie itself, having been released exactly 25 years ago, on January 30, 1987. A fond look, filtered through memory, of a 1940s New York childhood, the radio broadcasts that captivated audiences back then, and the behind-the-scenes gossip about the performers who voiced them, "Radio Days" may be best known today for launching the career of Seth Green -- then a 12-year-old who played the Allen-like narrator as a boy. But there's also a wealth of little-known true stories behind the film, some of them from Allen's own life, some from classic radio lore, and some...
- 1/30/2012
- by Gary Susman
- Moviefone
As far back in my life as I can remember, I was reading comics. Of course my tastes have evolved over the course of my life, but sometimes I wonder, what would I think today of the comics I loved when I was in early grade school or even kindergarten?
The new collection, The Toon Treasury of Classic Children’s Comics, selected and edited by Art Spiegelman and Francoise Mouly, and published by Harry N. Abrams’ ComicArts imprint, provides me with an opportunity to find out. It is a superb anthology of stories aimed at small children from comic books published in the period from the 1940s into the mid-1960s, including comics that Baby Boomers like myself grew up with. I intend to devote a number of “Comics in Context” columns to the work of various comics creators that appear in this book.
The first stories I turned to...
The new collection, The Toon Treasury of Classic Children’s Comics, selected and edited by Art Spiegelman and Francoise Mouly, and published by Harry N. Abrams’ ComicArts imprint, provides me with an opportunity to find out. It is a superb anthology of stories aimed at small children from comic books published in the period from the 1940s into the mid-1960s, including comics that Baby Boomers like myself grew up with. I intend to devote a number of “Comics in Context” columns to the work of various comics creators that appear in this book.
The first stories I turned to...
- 1/19/2010
- by Peter Sanderson
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