{"id":58032,"date":"2020-05-04T00:01:57","date_gmt":"2020-05-04T07:01:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cartoonresearch.com\/?p=58032"},"modified":"2021-12-14T08:57:28","modified_gmt":"2021-12-14T16:57:28","slug":"the-popeye-specials-that-could-have-been","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cartoonresearch.com\/index.php\/the-popeye-specials-that-could-have-been\/","title":{"rendered":"The Popeye Specials That Could Have Been"},"content":{"rendered":"\"\"\n

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The year 1940 was a major turning point for Fleischer Studios on several levels. BETTY BOOP and SCREEN SONGS had long run their course. And the studio, with Dave Fleischer in charge of production was struggling to find relevancy for the new decade. Trade plants announced a proposed series, SALLY SWING based on the pilot BETTY BOOP cartoon of the same title. But Dave cancelled these plans in favor of the STONE AGE series. A series of one shots emulating Warner cartoons was attempted in the ANIMATED ANTICS series, with a sub series starring supporting characters from GULLIVER\u2019S TRAVELS, Twinkle Toes and The Three Spies. Even a series with GULLIVER\u2019S Gabby was attempted. But its reception was so bad that his series was cancelled after eight entries in spite of being produced in Technicolor.<\/p>\n

These new cartoons coming from the Miami Plant were not well received, and theater operators complained, stating that only the Popeye cartoons had box office value. Considering the hits Fleischer Studios had with the two-reel Popeye epic adventures, a return to that format would have seemed to be a good move at this time. And with a staff of over 700 geared for feature production they had the personnel to carry it out. <\/p>\n

After exploring the Arabian Knights stories, other heroic tales were considered as Popeye vehicles. But their scope was unfortunately too small. Popeye Meets William Tell<\/strong>, directed by Shamus Culhane had great potential, but was a sadly misguided concept in spite of Culhane\u2019s contributions. In his book, Talking Animals And Other People<\/em> he recalled:<\/p>\n

\u201cPopeye Meets William Tell was a good example of my efforts to take a typical lusty Fleischer Popeye script and superimpose some Hollywood finesse in acting and cutting. The result was something like putting a lace sunbonnet on a wild boar.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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Model Sheet for William Tell (author\u2019s collection).<\/p><\/div>\n

In spite of Culhane\u2019s good intensions, Popeye Meets William Tell<\/em> totally misses the fantasy\/adventure that could have made this another robust and exciting two-reel Technicolor \u201cPopeye Feature\u201d. Unlike Sindbad<\/em> and Ali Baba<\/em> where Popeye was the heroic figure, this one-reel black and white short places him in a silly and embarrassing role, pretending to be William Tell\u2019s son. Imagine the possibilities if it had been played straight as \u201cPopeye Tell.\u201d The obvious casting would place Swee\u2019 Pea as his \u201cson,\u201d and Bluto as the evil Governor. The supporting characters could have been cast as well. But the main problem is that the Culhane version contains no real sense of threat or motivated revenge that was the root of the best Popeye cartoons.<\/p>\n