In September of 2026 the theatrical Popeye cartoon series celebrates the 70th anniversary of its television debut. These films, produced by Fleischer and Famous Studios, were an overwhelming success. They have never been off the air and continue to play somewhere in the world.
This led King Features Syndicate, who owned the rights to the characters but not the theatrical shorts, to have 220 new Popeye cartoons produced in color. King Features reaped the financial gain these films would achieve in syndication. They made millions of dollars and were enjoyed by children. Today adults have an intense hatred for them or remember the cartoons as a source of enjoyment during their youth.
The cartoons were rushed into production. King’s executive producer, Al Brodax, hired several different animation studios to create on these new Popeye adventures in record time.
I was asked to come up with, what I feel, are the ten best Popeye cartoons from this series. I included at least one from each studio. The animation, in the episodes selected, won’t cause the viewers to cringe. Each contain entertaining stories and no audio or visual errors.
#10-Caveman Capers (Larry Harmon, 1960)- While picnicking Olive Oyl notices all the food contains some kind of spinach. She asks Popeye how his spinach diet started and he spins a tale regarding his great, great, great grand-pappy, Prehistoric Popeye. Popeye fights caveman Brutus to win the affection of cavegirl Olive Oyl. During the battle Popeye discovers a dinosaur eating green weeds. It turns out to be spinach! He consumes it and ends up defeating Brutus. At the conclusion of Popeye’s story Olive Oyl likes the idea of hitting someone over the head with a club to catch their mate. She bops Popeye and says, “That’s one way to get a man!”
#9-Egypt Us (Gerald Ray, 1960)-Popeye, Olive Oyl and Wimpy are heading to Cony Island but end up in Africa. Wimpy is in charge of cooking the hamburgers. Popeye has to rescue Olive Oyl who has been selected to be an Aztek Princess. The sailor keeps running back and forth in his attempts to save Olive plus stop Wimpy from eating all of the burgers. Once Olive is saved Popeye begins to recite his “strong to the finich” song. However, he remembers Wimpy and the hamburgers! Rushing back to Wimpy he sees him with a plump stomach! The hamburger fiend sings “It’s bad to be tardy to a hamburger party says Wimpy the Burger Man!” His two shirt buttons pop off.
#8-The Billionaire (Gene Deitch with animation by Halas & Batchelor, 1960)-This cartoon took its inspiration from The Millionaire television series (1955 to 1960). A wealthy Popeye gives a million dollars to Olive Oyl, Wimpy and Swee’pea providing they all spend the money on a good cause. Brutus pretends to be friends with Popeye so he can collect his loot. Olive buys a beauty salon so she can become beautiful which will force Popeye to marry her. Wimpy buys a herd of cows but doesn’t have the heart to grind them into hamburgers. Swee’pea makes candy bars and personally samples each one. Brutus buys up all the spinach farms and had each plowed under. The bearded brute tells Popeye, “There ain’t none left know where!” Brutus shoves dollar bills, which he calls lettuce, into the sailor’s mouth. Popeye swallows the bills and regains his strength. It turns out the money was printed with green spinach ink! Brutus gets punched and eventually turns into a pile of change. Olive emerges from her beauty salon as a lovely blonde with a bust! Popeye says she looks like a puppet and her new look cracks apart. When the foursome ask for another million Popeye says he’s given the remaining money to the sailor’s relief.
#7-Coffee House (Jack Kinney, 1960)- Olive Oyl has become a beatnik and greets her date, Brutus. She thinks he’s the “coolest, daddy-o!” The pair go to a coffee house where Brutus recites a poem, Ode to an Onion:
O Onion, Onion
You are the gone-est
So green yet so honest
O Onion, Onion
Like, I dig you the mostest
O green and lovely hostess
Hip! Hip! Hip! And crazy-daisy
Like, your breath just leaves me hazy
O brave and noble Onion
Green stem and creamy bunion
Your personality is hallion
Live! Grow! Breathe!
O gracious scallion
Popeye decides to break up the pair and swallows a can of “Cultured Spinach” The sailor puts up a sign which says “Dance of the pugilist in the arena”. While Brutus gets clobbered the audience chants, “Cool, Cool.” Olive Oyl praises her boyfriend and he replies, “Like I am what I am.”
#6-It Only Hurts When They Laughs (Paramount Cartoon Studios, 1960)- This story was based upon a Sunday page from E.C. Segar’s Thimble Theatre comic strip. Segar created Popeye on January 17th, 1929. Writer, Seymour Kneitel (who also directed the episodes produced by Paramount), created many cartoons using the comic strip as source material. Brutus and Popeye head for Olive Oyl’s house. When the pair start fighting Olive demands they laugh instead. While she’s in the kitchen washing dishes she hears the boy’s laughter. However, the laughs soon turn into a destructive battle. Though the laughs continue so does the fighting. The pair combat each other using items in Olive’s house and in the process destroys it. When Olive Oyl sees what happens she shouts, “Oh, look what you rough necks have done!” Popeye and Brutus jointly sing, “You’re not a riff- raff if ya fights and ya laugh with Popeye the Sailor Man.”
#5-Myskery Melody (Paramount Cartoon Studios, 1961)-This episode was based on a daily storyline from E.C. Segar’s Thimble Theatre comic strip. A witch, her face covered by a hood, plays a haunting melody on a flute. Poopdeck Pappy explains to Popeye and Olive Oyl what happened when he was younger. Before the sailor was married, he courted Rose of the Sea. The romance was suddenly halted when she revealed her true identity! Rose of the Sea was really The Sea Hag! She swore revenge on Pappy for jilting her! With the help of the hag’s evil vulture the old sailor gets locked in a castle. Eugene, the Jeep aids Popeye and Pappy is rescued. As in the comic strip Eugene takes care of The Sea Hag by shooting her with electricity coming from his tale.
#4-Gem Jam (Paramount Cartoon Studios, 1960)-Popeye and Olive Oyl are in India. The Sea Hag is also there, and she puts Olive in a trance. Popeye’s girlfriend steals a sacred emerald from the crown of a jaded idol. However, the person who steals it gets cursed! Popeye ends up saving his gal from what he believes to be accidents. The Sea Hag appears and attempts to grab the idol! The witch is scared off by Popeye. One of the curses creates a hole which Olive falls into it. Popeye follows her and pulls off a rescue. Now, in the hole, Popeye pulls out a can of spinach. However, The Sea Hag tosses a stone at the can, and it falls to the ground. Olive pours some spinach into the hole and Popeye springs out! He grabs The Sea Hag but his sailor’s code won’t allow him to sock her. Olive eats the rest of the spinach and throttles her (off screen). Popeye throws the gem back on the idol.
#3-County Fair (Paramount Cartoon Studios, 1961)-Farmers Brutus and Popeye compete in a series of events for the best of show and the blue ribbon. Despite Brutus’ tricks Popeye always seems to tie up the score. Wimpy announces the final event is the spinach eating contest and the test to prove its strength. Brutus extends his hand to shake Popeyes. He says, “What ya say Popeye let’s keep this contest fair?” Once he has the one-eyed farmer’s hand the brute tosses him away. Brutus breaks the fourth wall and says to the viewers, “You didn’t think I was gonna play fair with that runt and take a chance against his spinach? “Brutus gobbles down some of the spinach and flings the rest in Popeye’s direction. Popeye chomps on the remaining pieces and heads towards his opponent. Brutus, holding two horses, is about to get the blue ribbon when Popeye socks him. The horses and Brutus land on Popeye’s one finger! He is awarded the prize and sings, “Brutus was beaten because he was cheaten says Popeye the Farmer Man!”
#2-Barbecue For Two (Jack Kinney, 1960)-This was one of two pilot episodes for the series. Popeye tries to keep Wimpy, Swee’pea and his bearded neighbor away from his barbecue with Olive Oyl. While the story is fast moving and enjoyable I selected it due to the character designs. This is the only television cartoon where Popeye and Olive Oyl look like their comic strip counterparts. Popeye wears his dark shirt, red collar and captain’s hat. His pants are green rather than blue but that’s a minor quibble. While Olive Oyl wears her comic strip attire in the series this is the only cartoon where her face has the homely look originated by E.C. Segar.
#1-Valley of the Goons (Paramount Cartoon Studios, 1960)- This is another story which has its roots in E.C. Segar’s daily Thimble Theatre comic strip. Popeye is shanghaied by a bunch of pirates who want goon skins! The evil crewmen land in Goon Valley, The Backwards Country. Gags include a Goon being robbed but the criminal gives back the money to his intended victim. The pirates use carrots as bait and capture the gentle creatures! A furious Popeye eats his spinach and, with his twirling pipe, travels to Goon Valley. Rather than Popeye defeating the gang himself he feeds spinach to each bound Goon. The Goons use their chins to knock out their captors. However, the ship’s captain heads towards Popeye with a club. The sailor socks him back to his ship. With a mighty puff of the sailor’s breath the craft, with the beaten crew, sails away. A baby Goon eats some spinach and uses its breath to push Popeye’s boat back home. The sailor sings, “They’ll be strong to the finch cause they learned to eat spinach from Popeye the Sailor Man!”
I grew up watching these on a show from Providence Rhode Island called Popeye and The 3 Stooges and didn’t notice all the animation errors. To me, as with many other children, it was just more of the sailor to watch. When I was fourteen, after watching a few cartoons from Jack Kinney’s studio, I was aghast how sloppy the animation was. Yet, several good cartoons came from his studio. As I got older, and researched the series, I realized each episode has to be judged on their own merits. Some personnel were able to adapt easier to limited animation than others. These can’t be compared to the theatrical Popeyes. Those were given much more time and a bigger budget. If these TV Popeyes brought smiles to children, worldwide, I think they count for something positive.
Fred M. Grandinetti is the author of five Popeye related books and a number of articles on the one-eyed sailor. Other topics by Grandinetti published in newspapers, magazines and the web include The original Batwoman (Kathy Kane), I Dream of Jeannie, Tara King (from The Avengers), The Mighty Hercules, the Batman television series and Bozo the Clown. Fred, along with Cuyle Carvin and David Hudon, produced the anti-bullying graphic novel, Different Worlds, Best of Friends. Fred is also the host of the award-winning cable access series, Drawing With Fred.
These are the Popeye Cartoons of my childhood. I remember this particular cast of characters. In those days I barely noticed that the animation wasn’t very fluid or that the cartoons relied more on voice work than on visual action. It wasn’t until visiting relatives on the East Coast that I saw some of the older Popeye Cartoons, and these would have been part of the Famous theatrical releases. I was confused to hear Brutus referred to as Bluto! And because these older ones did not have the look or sound of the ones I was used to, they did not seem “better” to me, only different. And as for the black and white Fleischer cartoons, those I didn’t encounter until I was in college and was better able to appreciate the artistry. Now, of course, I have a better perspective on Popeye’s cinematic history as well as his comic strip origins. I can understand why some prefer the Fleischer cartoons and by extension the Famous cartoons, and why the television ones might be looked down upon.
However, the TV version has a few things in its favor. The voice work is clearer and more definite because it has to be–Popeye’s mumblings and mutterings have to have a purpose in the storytelling because the animation doesn’t tell the whole story. This may or may not be considered as an auditory advantage over the theatrical shorts. But what really sets the TV version apart is the use of characters from the original comic strip–such as Eugene the Jeep (although the character did appear in some of the theatricals), Alice the Goon, Roughhouse, and the Sea Hag (although her appearance differed from how she looked in the comics).
Today, Popeye fans have a smorgasbord to choose from–the Fleischer series, the Famous series, the TV cartoons, the many later iterations of the characters in various formats, plus many of the comic strips and comic books are available in reprint form. Thus, if one format is preferable to others, there are plenty of choices. As Popeye would say, “I yam what I yam, an’ that’s all I yam!”
Great article! I appreciate the time taken to find ten diamonds in the rough. I especially like your concluding thought. Indeed, if these cartoons brought joy to children, then it was worth the effort.
Yay for #6! I love this cartoon!
I got the vibe that Jack Kinney was part of the team that created the Harvey/Paramount/Famous Studios productions. Much like Hanna Barbara with Ruff and Reddy, and Huckleberry Hound, there seemed to be a contest going on on how low of a budget could a cartoon for TV be made. As a child I noticed the cheapness in using a still shot and just animating the lips and eyes. or maybe just one arm. I saw some of the cels from that era. they did not draw the whole body, and the backgrounds were as cheap, and re-used in several different episodes. I noticed this when I was no more than 3 to 4 years old. HB was blessed with fantastic writers, and voice actors. I did notice some of the BOZO cartoons using those Popeye artists, and low budget styles in that same era.
I doubt Jack’s studio was involved with Paramount’s own separate TV cartoons as I can tell the difference between the artwork and designs (Martin Taras’ work is unmistakable).
Plus, let’s be honest; by this point, Paramount’s theatrical cartoons were as extremely low budgeted, and I have hard time telling the difference in quality between those products. Heck, some of the animators were animating a little bit of both! I feel like this is what their theatrical Popeye shorts would’ve been like had they continued the series in the early 60’s.
Fred: I won’t quibble with your choices, as you know these KFS POPEYE cartoons generally better than I do! The adaptions of E.C. Segar’s original storylines from the comic strips to the animated cartoon series, certainly is a “plus factor.” So is the fact that many of the scripts were written (or co-written) by Jack Mercer (who voiced the character since 1935 and co-wrote many scripts at Famous Studio) and who continued to do the voice for “Popeye” as well. Supporting Mercer (as you know) was Jackson Beck voicing Bluto’s brother Brutus (having voiced “Bluto” since 1944) and Mae Questel voicing “Olive Oyl” since – roughly – much of the 1930s. The integrity of the characters were generally kept up to a high standard by these three performers and that elevated the cartoon series pretty highly. The animation quality certainly declined from the theatrical cartoon series – but it could have been far worse!
A decent list. I always thought the Paramount and Gerald Ray shorts were the best of the bunch (and to a lesser extent, some of Deitch, but he seemed to fair way better with “Krazy Kat” a year later). I did wish they went with Hal Seeger’s studio instead of Kinney’s (considering that Hal was a Fleischer alumni), but I’m guessing Hal was already busy with doing cartoons based on another Fleischer related series, “Out of the Inkwell” (who own the rights to that?).
I watched many of those cartoons in the 1980’s on channel 5 in New York, then called WNEW-TV (now Fox 5 WNYW). They would come on at 2:15 PM, a most unusual time. But with 45 minutes of Popeye how could you go wrong? Sometimes, 5 would mix in some of the Famous color theatricals, many with the AAP plastering. The only Fleischer cartoon they would air would be the b&w “Seasin’s Greetinks” usually after airing the Alastar Sim version of “Scrooge” at Christmas time.
I have been saying about these 1960’s features, they have their charm. The Paramount ones are the best IMO because they seem like the theatricals before them, even down to the music by Winston Sharples. The Kinney ones had limited animation and the further down the names you go the lower the quality. How Larry “Bozo the Clown” Harmon got his hands on Popeye I will NEVER know. But as Frederick said, “the TV version has a few things in its favor.” The voices of Jack Mercer, Mae Questel and Jackson Beck would truly be three of those things.
“the best”!??? That’s a comedy line, yes??
The comparison between these shorts, and the theatricals is an inevitable one. Whether that’s fair or not is a question for reasonable people to discuss, and debate.
Great article, Fred! I agree that these early 60s TV cartoons have some very worthwhile episodes! They are all very interesting to me, even the ones with the animation goofs. To me, if it’s a Popeye cartoon, I’m in! We haven’t had new Popeye cartoons in decades, which makes these old cartoons even more special!
Some years ago, a local library had a disc release featuring approximately 70 of these Brodax Popeye cartoons.
Does anyone have a complete list of the 220 titles?
As soon as I finished writing I saw the ad for both the forthcoming volume 1 and Fred’s new book.
Al Brodax employed a questionable stunt producing Cool McCool in 1966. He supplied the same short twice and slapped a different title card on it.
Is there any likelihood of this in 220 Popeyes?
Disregard comment about Brodax putting new title on existing cartoon. Reference comes from a broadcast where the TV print has the title card for “The odd boxes caper” on the cartoon “Two fats and a fink”.
You broke your promise— I just cringed! I really can’t warm up to these things, they’re only (yet) some more evidence of how ill-served the classic cartoon characters of the 30’s and 40’s were by the relentlessly hungry maw of television, which demanded enormous amounts of footage. Never mind the quality of such footage…
Hanna-Barbera, Jay Ward, and Gene Deitch (while at Terrytoons) all realized that it was better, under near-shoestring budgets, to invent new characters and depend on witty scripts and talented voice actors more than on animation to create entertaining films for what became known back then as “the electronic babysitter.”
In spite of all the veteran directors, writers, and animators from a wide variety of backgrounds who worked on these Popeyes, they display a dreary, cookie-cutter uniformity of style. It’s almost as though there was some sort of “master style book” that was used to make them all come out equally tedious! Was there such a book? Who knows?
American television animation of the 60’s was, generally speaking, in a severe slump (with some exceptions like the aforementioned ones). Everyone who’d been around since the 30’s (Seymour Kneitel and Jack Kinney, for example) was getting near retirement age, and some of these series have a distinct aura (or odor) of, “We’re only in this for the paychecks.”
The late Looney Tunes from the same era are equally perfunctory, repetitious, desperately unfunny, and all of these cynical products are, sorry to say, meant mainly as Saturday morning “kiddie fodder,” i.e., filler between the regular avalanche of cereal, candy, and toy commercials.
Thanks for this post— it was certainly worth watching these wretched things once, but, truth be told, I couldn’t get all the way through the list.
Geez, I can take these more than those late 80’s Korean color redrawn imposters. Those are way worse (and unlike the former, I can’t think of any good ones). Just be glad Warners hasn’t released those on DVD/Blu-Ray yet.
Also, the H&B-animated shorts seem to have much better animation than Paramount or Kinney.
Fred, these are good choices! Many of these would be in my Top Ten, too! The hilarious Egypt Us, the weird and wonderful Coffee House and Barbecue For Two, the Segar-inspired Myskery Melody which haunted me a kid, and the Valley Of The Goons which fascinated me. There are valuable KFS cartoons! As an adult, I still enjoy visiting the good ones.
When it comes to Popeye cartoons, nothing beats the Fleischer studios 1930s era, but that’s pretty neat that some of these adapted strips from Segar and included characters like the Sea Hag
An underrated aspect of the Kinney Popeyes is their colour style — with Jules Engel on staff there were bound to be some good-looking scenes. The title cards are always imaginative and in some cases so visually striking (“Popeye and the Giant,” “The Black Knight,” etc) that you’d think the cartoon might have won an award. “Old Salt Tale” has one of the most cheerful-looking cards. The Kinney unit excelled at conveying atmosphere — compare Gerald Ray’s “The Big Sneeze” with Kinney’s “Frozen Feuds” — the latter, thanks to brighter, blue-shadowed backgrounds, does a much better job of conveying winter’s nip. I can’t imagine “Spinachonara” looking as good if it had been made by one of the other studios.
Fred, one of my favorites is the one where Popeye and Brutus fight over painting a flower…mainly because my dad brought it home on super 8 film for the family to enjoy. That was a thrill.
I remember when I was about 12 or 13, I got into the classic Brutus vs. Bluto debate with my dad, who grew up watching Fleischer Popeyes in the theater. I had never seen a Fleischer or Famous Popeye up to that point, so I had no clue about Bluto (or Max Fleischer). Then a non-local UHF station started airing a package of AAP Popeyes, which had many of the 1933-41 and 1949-56 shorts, which I watched religiously for a couple of years, often behind a blizzard of analog snow. I think the three 1956 shorts in the package still had the Paramount titles intact. The other interesting factoid I remember was that Adolph Zukor was still alive at the time I was watching these shorts.
Intellectual Interlude is one of my favorites, It has a very distinct feel specifically with its character designs aside from Popeye and Olive Oyl due to the animation being handled by Zagreb.
The Billionaire has always been my favorite 60s Popeye, particularly for the wonderful expressions and animation courtesy of Halas & Bachelor mainstay Harold Whitaker, a legendary animator in his own right.