The Voices of Popeye the Sailor

My favorite cartoon character when I was a kid was Popeye the Sailor. Particularly, the cartoons from Max Fleischer Studio.

Did you know that Popeye was voiced by two different men? Well, blow me down! It's true!

Popeye's distinctive voice was originated by Billy Costello. But he was replaced by Jack Mercer after Costello made too many demands. Listen to the following and compare them.

According to Wikipedia:

William Arnold Costello (February 2, 1898 – October 9, 1971), commonly known as "Red Pepper Sam", was an American actor and the original voice of Popeye the Sailor in animated cartoons.

Although he never received onscreen credit, Costello knew of Popeye's international popularity and reputedly became difficult to work with, demanding more money and days off in the middle of a recording session. He was replaced with Jack Mercer, who was working in the studio. Costello's final appearance as Popeye was in You Gotta Be a Football Hero (1935).

Here's a recording of Costello's voicing of Popeye:

Following Costello's departure, Jack Mercer took over the voicing of Popeye.

From Wikipedia:

Winfield Bennett Mercer (January 31, 1910 – December 7, 1984), known professionally as Jack Mercer, was an American voice actor. He is best known as the voice of cartoon characters Popeye the Sailor Man and Felix the Cat. The son of vaudeville and Broadway performers, he also performed on the vaudeville and legitimate stages.

When his predecessor William Costello, the original cartoon voice of Popeye (1933–1935), became difficult to work with, he was dismissed. Mercer had begun imitating Costello's interpretation of Popeye, and he practiced it until his voice "cracked" just right and he had it down. Searching for a replacement for Costello, Lou Fleischer heard Mercer singing the Popeye theme song and gave him the job of doing the voice. Mercer's first cartoon was 1935's King of the Mardi Gras.

 Here's Mercer's voicing of Popeye:

Karen Bass As Supergirl

 

Do You Remember "Space Angel"?

Space Angel was an animated series that ran from 1962 to 1964. 

Synopsys: 

The series chronicled the adventures of three astronauts working for the Earth Bureau of Investigation's Interplanetary Space Force on board the spaceship Starduster: Captain/Pilot Scott McCloud, also known as "The Space Angel" (voiced by Ned Lefebver), Electronics/Communications expert Crystal Mace (voiced by Margaret Kerry), and the immensely strong Scottish born Gunner/Engineer Taurus (voiced by Hal Smith).Scott McCloud / Space Angel (Ned LeFebver) 

Major designer on this series was renowned comic book artist Alex Toth. This series marked the beginning of his career in animation.

 Here is an episode:

There was another space animated show that was broadcast in the early 1960s. I cannot remember its name but it was well illustrated and it was on that show that I learned the names of the moons of Mars, Phobos and Deimos. If I remember right, it played like a serial. Anyone remember it and its name?

Cartoonist Michael Ramirez Skewers Gov. Grisham

It is nice to see that political cartoonist Michael Ramirez is still in top form. I used to enjoy his cartoons in the Los Angeles Times when I was a California resident.

Here's one poking at New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham:

 

NEW Spiderman Movie PUSHES TRANS Flag On CHILDREN!

I am generally a "live and let live" and "whatever floats your boat" kind of person. I really don't care what someone does in the privacy of their bedroom. But pushing agendas of deviant behavior on people, especially barrages of it on children, that's where I draw the line.

According to the video below, a new Spider Man movie by Marvel is coming out that displays a trans flag. It is a cartoon and guess who mainly watches cartoons: children!  

Why can't children be left alone and let them be children? Is that too much to ask for these days?

Putin Nuking Russian Economy

 

Nothing's Sacred: Popeye Turns Woke

Above, Popeye by Segar.

In today's insane world, culture, along with a lot of other things, is being perverted by wokeness.

The latest is Popeye the Sailor.

As this morning's post in The Federalist blog reports, Popeye has been around for nearly 100 years. He began as a side character in Segar's "Thimble Theater" comic strip and ended up taking over the strip. Popeye became so popular that he has received several animated cartoon series, most notably (and the best) the Max and Dave Fleischer cartoons of the 1930s.

According to Breitbart (via The Federalist):

After nearly a hundred years in existence, the Popeye comic strip is reportedly getting a woke makeover, with the strip’s latest cartoonist promising more ethnic diversity and “more characters who aren’t heterosexual.”

Cartoonist Randal K. Milholland described the Popeye character as being “gender fluid,” citing old episodes in which the plot required Popeye to dress in drag.

“I [want] to bring in more characters who aren’t heterosexual,” Milholland said in an interview with the San Antonio Express-News. “I don’t live in that purely straight white world, and I don’t think a lot of other people do either.”

In one of the strip’s biggest changes, Olive Oyl’s sister-in-law Cylinda Oyl is now Afro-Latina. Cylinda has traditionally been portrayed as a white woman with dark, bobbed hair.

No doubt Segar and the Fleischers are spinning in their graves.

To read more, go here.

Cartoon of the Day

 

The Cuomo Saga Simplified

 

Daddy Mario must be spinning in his grave!

How Democrats Like Their Power

 

Sheeple: So Much Truth

 

Why stupid people shouldn't be allowed to vote!

Coup Klutz Clan

"Red Flag" Laws: What Can Go Wrong?

"Popeye's Island Adventures", A Miserable Remake

When I was a young kid, Popeye the Sailor was my favorite cartoon character, especially the cartoon shorts of the 1930s by Max and Dave Fleischer.

While the character has been around over the succeeding decades, and the quality of the cartoons diminished, yet the characters were kept true. Even the Robin Williams Popeye movie was palatable and the Bud Sagendorf newspaper comic strip was good.
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Now, Popeye is being revived as "Popeye's Island Adventures" as a YouTube channel. Just looking at the re-vamped characters (above) tells me to stay away.

Cartoon Brew said it best:

Unfortunately there’s not much positive to say about this miserable misguided attempt at resurrecting the character, though one can’t help but be impressed by how wildly they’ve failed at capturing the spirit of the character. It’s almost as if King Features sat down and wrote a list of everything that makes Popeye fun and entertaining to watch, and then systematically eliminated those elements one by one from this new production. 

Popeye is now younger, though King Features doesn’t seem to be exactly clear on how many years they’ve shaved off, which is not a good sign considering that they’ve commissioned Wildbrain to make 25 two-minute shorts. “He’s younger, but you can’t tell how old he is,” C. J. Kettler, president of King Features, told the New York Times. “He’s not an old guy, he’s not a young guy, he’s somewhere in between.”  

Instead of sporting a pipe in his mouth, Popeye now carries a whistle. (Perhaps he’ll referee a football game in a future episode.) And spinach gives him superpowers, like ear-flying, which is probably intended as a substitute for the physical comedy of the classic cartoons from the 1930s and ’40s.

A freaking whistle?! Egads!

To read more, go here.

Cartoonist Mike Ramirez Scores A Bullseye!

Adam West Tributes

Since the passing of Adam West was announced this morning, there have many tributes posted for television's Batman.

Here's some:

Vicious Sid's Cat

A shelf and clothing bar collapsed in my bedroom closet last week. Today, the building's maintenance people came and fixed it.

Before they could start work, we had to empty the closet.

After they were done, I was going through some boxes and found this cartoon I drew around 23 years ago about E Clampus Vitus XSNGH Sid Blumner, a noted ham radio enthusiast: