LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Popeye: Popeye Cartoons
built 664 days ago
In the cartoons, Popeye's nemesis was sometimes named Bluto and other times Brutus; no explanation is apparent in the cartoons for these vagaries (the results of a copyright dispute over the character's name). Several actors voiced Bluto/Brutus, Billy Bletcher and Pinto Colvig among them. On occasion Popeye fights an enemy that isn't Bluto, although there is a resemblance (cf. "Beach Peach", 1950) and "A Wolf In Sheik's Clothing" (1948). Other times Bluto simply goes by other names, as in "Sinbad the Sailor".
Source:
The movie's portrayal of Popeye's dislike of spinach was ... a theme used in the original comic strip by E.C. Segar. In fact, only once during the syndicated run of the comic did Popeye eat spinach (to boost his already considerable strength before a fight). It wasn't until Popeye appeared in animated cartoons that he was shown to actually love spinach and eat it regularly (probably more as a move on the part of his producers to promote the animated sailor as a positive role model for younger viewers than anything else). However, by the time of the movie's release, people were so well aware of Popeye's love for spinach and his eating it to augment his already amazing strength (especially with a Saturday cartoon of Popeye airing on CBS at the time), viewers and critics complained when the film portrayed Popeye as hating spinach.
Source:
Perhaps some of the hostility towards Popeye stems, as it certainly does for a film like Garfield, from an appreciation for the source material. The Popeye of Elzie Segar's Thimble Theater series existed for fifty years before a frame of the Paramount-Disney film was shot and anything with that kind of lasting power is sure to have a fervent fanbase. But even someone with no prior knowledge or fondness for the sailor of comics or cel animation could easily come away hating Popeye. The world of Sweethaven is populated by bright, larger-than-life characters, which is no strange thing for early 20th century cartoons and comics. Something is lost in translation, or maybe gained, so that the port village seems almost ordinary yet artificial on film.
Source:
In November 1932, King Features signed an agreement with Fleischer Studios, run by producer Max Fleischer and his brother, director Dave Fleischer, to have Popeye and the other Thimble Theatre characters begin appearing in a series of animated cartoons. The first cartoon in the series would be released in 1933, and Popeye cartoons, released by Paramount Pictures, would remain a staple of Paramount's release schedule for over 20 years.
Source:
Although he started out a minor character, Popeye quickly caught the attention of animation pioneer Max Fleischer who made a financial agreement with Segar and began his own series of cartoons that launched the unlikely hero to fame. First in a long line of Fleischer short features, Popeye the Sailor, a 1933 Betty Boop cartoon, marked Popeye's first silver screen appearance.
Source:
In November of 1932, Max Fleischer, one of the greatest animation pioneers, signed an agreement with Hearst's King Features Syndicate for the right to cast Popeye in his animated films. At the time, Max Fleischer, the head of the New York-based Fleischer Studios, which operated under Paramount Pictures, and his directing brother, Dave, were looking for a new cartoon "star" to compete with the growing popularity of other studios' animated products (mainly Disney's Mickey and Donald). Fleischer, whose creations included such popular cartoon characters as the mischievous Ko-Ko the Clown and Betty Boop, an internationally-recognized curly-haired flapper, was a big fan of Segar's comic strip. His instinct and Paramount's eagerness to use Popeye, an oddly unattractive character, as their new "star" proved to be terrific, since Popeye seems to have been destined to become an exceptionally popular cartoon hero. There are some conflicting historical accounts as to how exactly Popeye became a "movie star." Leslie Cabarga, for instance, maintains that this was primarily the result of Max Fleischer's strong desire to use Segar's sailor in his cartoons [See The Fleischer Story, Revised Edition (New York: DaCapo Press, 1988), p. 82].
Source:
MORE ABOUT
Popeye Cartoons