Warner Home Video has become the official distributor of not only the original theatrical Popeye animated shorts produced by both Fleischer Studios and Famous Studios, but also Popeye's TV series such as The Continuing Adventures of Popeye and Popeye and Son. The result is hundreds of animated shorts featuring the lovable but unintelligible sailor man getting their first legitimate release since the character first appeared on movie screens in the early 1930s. Popeye actually started out even earlier as a breakout character in E.C. Segar's "Thimble Theater" comic strip. Currently, Warner Home Video is working on restoring the cartoons, but no word on exactly when the DVDs will be available, other than some time in 2007. I just hope they release the theatrical shorts separately from the TV shows, as I'm not quite as interested in his made-for-TV stuff. Nevertheless, this is a very cool thing, and fans should be thrilled.
fleischer-related stories
Popeye coming to DVD in 2007
Watch old Superman cartoons
I quite enjoy many of the old cartoons from the Fleischer brothers, such as Betty Boop and Popeye, but their Superman cartoons, which aired in the early forties and are now available on DVD, never really turned me on. I think they were well-made, I was just never a big fan of Superman, I felt he lacked the vulnerability that made other heroes so interesting. Vintage Tooncast, one of many animation podcasts I subscribe to, has been showing a ton of these old Superman cartoons, so if you liked them, mosey on over and root through the archive. The other cartoons he has up are all worth checking out, as well.Animator Myron Waldman dead at 97
Myron Waldman, a
notable figure from the Fleischer Animation Studio, passed away Saturday at the age of 97 of congestive heart
failure.
Waldman worked on such classic Fleischer cartoons as Betty Boop, Popeye, and Superman. For Betty Boop he created her dog Pudgy and two donkeys, Hunky and Spunky. He also helped to develop Betty Boop from a dog-like creature into the surreal and sexy flapper we know today. He began work at the studio in the 1930s when it was still a force to be reckoned with and had yet to be overshadowed by Disney. Fleishcer Studios was later reorganized into Famous Studios in New York, where Waldman continued to work on cartoons like Casper the Friendly Ghost and Little Lulu.
Cartoon Brew has a nice little tribute to the late animator, which you can read here.
It's okay, Betty Boop is here
Hey, it's Saturday, are you bored? Yeah, me too. If you're a fan of "old timey" cartoons like I am, the Internet Archive has a collection of over twenty Betty Boop
short films to help you kill the daytime (or nighttime) boredom. They're all public domain, and free to view
online. I've been an admirer of the Fleischer brother's distorted, kinetic animation style for some time, and
these shorts are both engaging and fascinatingly surreal. Also included in the archive are some of the Fleischer's Popeye shorts.
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