Max and Dave: 1940 – Way Back When…
Replacing the Betty Boop cartoons, the Fleischer’s began a series set in the stone age, combining modern-day situations in a pre-historic setting. Sound familiar?
Replacing the Betty Boop cartoons, the Fleischer’s began a series set in the stone age, combining modern-day situations in a pre-historic setting. Sound familiar?
Boop by this time was frequently relegated to second chair, taking a definite back seat to her supporting cast.
There was less pressure from Paramount to include songs from their features in the cartoons, though some would still show up.
Even if her cartoons could be broken down into sub-series (Pudgy, Grampy, etc.), Betty was still expected to do her songs.
Never mind what the feature was, it was Popeye the audiences wanted… accompanied by great songs!
The conventional wisdom is there is something missing from these cartoons than those in the pre-code years. But the music was just as lively.
The Fleischers, now in their new home in Miami, tried to make stars out of the relatively colorless Hunky and Spunky.
The trade magazines of 1936-37, confirm that Max Fleischer’s Popeye cartoons were the most popular shorts on the market.
If some viewers missed the spice of the earlier Boop cartoons, at least the folks at Paramount seemed to be happy.
While Fleischer attempted to spice up his color efforts with a string of original songs, they did not cross over to the hit parade, and produced little, if any, saleable material.