September-October 1941 We’re in the homestretch of the Fleischers’ reign now. There’s a fascinating history behind how Paramount got the deal to do the Superman cartoons (a series the Fleischers…
The hawking of Popeye’s Navy pictures is now in full-swing. At this point, the sales department gave up on putting a positive spin on the Fleischers’ original characters and concepts….
Despite the earlier reassurance he was too valuable to send to war, Popeye did indeed enter the service, donning a white Navy uniform and retaining it for the rest of…
March-April 1941 Not much to boast this week. The misfires were unfortunately becoming prevalent in the Popeye series. Flies Ain’t Human (released on April 4th) set a standard for appropriating…
As we enter the final year of Max and Dave Fleischer’s studio, we find the disappointing Animated Antics getting top billing in these little spaces. To be a fly on…
Tired of Gabby? Too bad! Perhaps the ever-optimistic Gabby became an atheist after his prayers went nowhere and his “fan mail” were really death threats. (Or maybe because he’s the…
There’s something rather unsettling about Gabby advertised as a laugh provoker equal to Popeye. And there’s something downright disturbing about Gabby’s face plastered over the globe (solve Sept. 18’s puzzle)….
Back to the bread-and-butter, the Popeye series, in this one-eyed sailor batch. I think most readers will agree that Popeye began to lose his sheen once the Fleischer studio was…
As we enter the decade that quickly heralded the fall of the Fleischers, “all’s well,” as Gabby might say. Except for the little matter of the Stone Age series bombing…
“Hey, did these include ones for Gulliver?” “Are you going to get to Gulliver?” “Where’s Gulliver?” Right here, man. Starting in October 1939, Paramount Sales News started to heavily promote…
