Popeye the Sailor: 1933-1938, Volume 1

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Popeye the Sailor: 1933-1938, Volume 1
Popeye the Sailor: 1933-1938, Volume 1

Popeye the Sailor: 1933-1938, Volume 1 is the first authorized collection of theatrical Popeye cartoons on home video. This four DVD set with 60 theatrical Popeye cartoons was released on July 31, 2007. Also included inside this box is a booklet of 1936 vintage Popeye comic strips titled "The S'prise Fight!" and a recipe sheet with 25 cents off coupon for two cans of Allens' Popeye Spinach. These cartoons are fully restored with the original Paramount Pictures logos at the beginning and ending of each cartoon. They are arranged in the order they were released to theaters. This collection was released by Warner Home Video.

Because these uncut and uncensored 1930s vintage cartoons contain material which may be considered politically incorrect today, each disc in this collection includes a title card disclaimer which summarizes that the cartoons depict sexist, ethnic and racist stereotypes that may be offensive to modern audiences.[1]

Contents

[edit] Background

The character of Popeye, associated characters and merchandising rights are owned by the Hearst Corporation through its King Features Syndicate subsidiary. The cartoons themselves are the property of Time Warner through its Turner Entertainment subsidiary.

These cartoons were produced by Fleischer Studios (by arrangement with Elzie Segar and King Features Syndicate) and distributed to theaters by Paramount Pictures. In 1942, Paramount took over Fleischer Studios and the animation studio was reorganized into Famous Studios which took over the Popeye series.

In 1956, Paramount sold the black and white cartoons to television syndicator Associated Artists Productions for release to television stations. Shown with a.a.p. logos replacing the Paramount logos, these cartoons were enormously popular.[2] The color Popeye cartoons were sold to a.a.p. in 1957 at which point the theatrical Popeye series was discontinued. In 1958, a.a.p. was sold to United Artists. UA was absorbed into Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer to create MGM/UA in 1981.

In 1983, MGM/UA Home Video attempted to release a collection of Popeye cartoons on Betamax and VHS tapes, but the release was canceled after MGM/UA received a cease and desist letter from King Features Syndicate.[3] After Ted Turner's unsuccessful attempt in 1986 to absorb MGM/UA, Turner sold the production and distribution operations and kept the MGM film library including the a.a.p. library. Time Warner bought Turner in 1996.

In 1999, home video rights to the the Turner film library were reassigned from MGM/UA Home Video to Warner Home Video. Through the years, both Turner and Warner were unsuccessful in convincing King Features to allow the cartoons to be issued on home video.[4] Unauthorized public domain and King Features authorized made for TV Popeye cartoons were issued in the meantime on DVDs. Over 1,000 people signed an online petition asking Warner and King Features to release the theatrical Popeye cartoons on DVDs.[5]

In 2006, Warner Home Video and King Features Syndicate along with KFS' parent company Hearst Entertainment finally reached agreement allowing for the release of the theatrical Popeye cartoons on home video.[6] The original Paramount logos appear on these cartoons because Warner Bros. and Paramount Pictures cross-licensed each others' logos in a deal which also involved Paramount-distributed John Wayne movies originally released by Warner Bros., and therefore preserving the artistic integrity of the original theatrical releases.[7]

As for background on the cartoons in this collection, the first Popeye cartoon was released as a Betty Boop cartoon. Paramount held the copyright for every Fleischer cartoon. Early Popeye cartoons ended with the Fleischer "Out of the Inkwell" ending in which the mouth of the ink bottle zoomed out, places itself on the desk then the cap somersauts itself back on the bottle. The final Popeye cartoon with this ending was the 1934 cartoon "Let's You and Him Fight." The rest of the 1934 Popeye cartoons had the standard Paramount end card. Beginning with the 1935 Popeye cartoon "Beware of Barnacle Bill", the Popeye cartoons had a new end card featuring a large anchor which was used for all subsequent Fleischer produced Popeye cartoons. The anchor title was retained when a.a.p. distributed the Popeye cartoons to television stations. Until the 1934 Popeye cartoon Strong to the Finich, the titles bore the words "Max Fleischer presents..." Beginning with the next 1934 Popeye cartoon Shiver Me Timbers!, the titles bore the words "Adolph Zukor presents a Max Fleischer cartoon." Zukor was president of Paramount Pictures.

[edit] DVD listing

Unless otherwise indicated, these are one reel black and white cartoons.
Dave Fleischer received director credit on every cartoon in this set.

[edit] Disc one

[edit] 1933

[edit] 1934

  • Sock-a-Bye Baby
  • Let's You and Him Fight
  • The Man on the Flying Trapeze
  • Can You Take It?
  • Shoein' Hosses
  • Strong to The Finich
  • Shiver Me Timbers!
  • Axe Me Another
  • A Dream Walking

[edit] Special features

[edit] Disc two

[edit] 1934

  • The Two Alarm Fire
  • The Dance Contest
  • We Aim to Please

[edit] 1935

  • Beware of Barnacle Bill
  • Be Kind to Aminals
  • Pleased to Meet Cha!
  • The Hyp-Nut-Tist
  • Choose Yer Weppins
  • For Better or Worser
  • Dizzy Divers
  • You Gotta Be a Footbal Hero
  • King of the Mardi Gras
  • Adventures of Popeye (compilation film, partial live-action)
  • The Spinach Overture

[edit] 1936

  • Vim, Vigor and Vitaliky

[edit] Special features

  • Retrospective documentary: "Forging the Frame: The Roots of Animation 1900-1920"
  • Popeye Popumentaries: "Wimpy the Moocher: Ode to the Burgermeister", "Sailor's Hornpipes: The Voices of Popeye"
  • From the vault: Three Bray Productions/Sullivan Studios shorts: "Bobby Bumps Puts a Beanery on the Bum" (1918), "Feline Follies" (1919), "The Tantalizing Fly" (1919)

[edit] Disc three

[edit] 1936

  • A Clean Shaven Man
  • Brotherly Love
  • I-Ski Love-Ski You-Ski
  • Bridge Ahoy!
  • What-No Spinach?
  • I Wanna Be a Lifeguard
  • Let's Get Movin'
  • Never Kick a Woman
  • Popeye the Sailor with Little Swee' Pea
  • Hold The Wire
  • The Spinach Roadster
  • Popeye the Sailor Meets Sindbad the Sailor in Technicolor (two reel, fully restored with its original theatrical titles)
  • I'm In The Army Now (compilation film)

[edit] 1937

  • The Paneless Window Washer
  • Organ Grinder's Swing

[edit] Special features

  • Popeye Popumentaries: "Blow Me Down! The Music of Popeye", "Popeye in Living Color: A Look at the Color Two-Reelers"
  • From the vault: Six Out of the Inkwell shorts: "Modeling" (1921), "Invisible Ink" (1921), "Bubbles" (1922), "Jumping Beans" (1922), "Bedtime" (1923), "Trapped (1923)

[edit] Disc four

[edit] 1937

  • My Artistical Temperature
  • Hospitaliky
  • The Twisker Pitcher
  • Morning, Noon and Nightclub
  • Lost and Foundry
  • I Never Changes My Altitude
  • I Likes Babies and Infinks
  • The Football Toucher Downer
  • Proteck The Weakerist
  • Popeye the Sailor Meets Ali Baba's Forty Thieves in Technicolor (two reel, fully restored with its original theatrical titles)
  • Fowl Play

[edit] 1938

  • Let's Celebrake
  • Learn Polikeness
  • The House Builder Upper
  • Big Chief Ugh-A-Mugh-Ugh

[edit] Special features

  • Popeye Popumentaries: "Me Lil' Swee'Pea: Whose Kid is He Anyway?", "Et Tu, Bluto? Cartoondom's Heavist Heavy"
  • From the vault: Four Out of the Inkwell/Fleischer Studio shorts: "A Trip to Mars" (1924), "Koko Trains 'Em" (1925), "Koko Back Tracks" (1927), "Let's Sing with Popeye" (1934)

[edit] Future releases

While Volume One is a four-disc set, Warner Home Video has 'retooled' its release schedule so the next release will be a two-disc set. The second set of Fleischer Popeye cartoons will be released with Popeye the Sailor: 1938-1940, Volume 2 scheduled for release on June 17, 2008. The reason speculated is that the restoration of the later black-and-white cartoons is taking longer than expected. If sales go well, the third volume of cartoons titled Popeye the Sailor: 1941-1943, Volume 3 will be released between late 2008 and mid-2009 to wrap up the black-and-white cartoons. [8]

[edit] See also