I Yam What I Yam

By Noel Vera

Max and Dave Fleischer took E.C. Segar's popular cartoon
character "Popeye the Sailor" and ran away with it, creating a
series of shorts from 1933 to 1942 that rivaled Disney's Mickey
Mouse in popularity--which was amazing, considering Mickey was a
cute little mouse with big eyes and a squeaky voice, and Popeye was
a balding, one-eyed roughhouse who spoke questionable grammar with a
growl.

Perhaps the peak of the Fleischers' achievement (and possibly peak
achievement of animated art, period) were three two-reeler shorts
lasting almost twenty minutes, and in full color ("Popeye the Sailor
Meets Sinbad the Sailor" (1936); "Popeye the Sailor Meets Ali Baba
and the Forty Thieves" (1937); "Aladdin and His Wonderful Lamp"
(1939)), and perhaps the best of these was "Popeye the Sailor meets
Sinbad the Sailor."

From the opening upward pan, following a winding path as it crosses
ever more fearsome chained animals and monsters (tigers, gorillas,
dragons, etc.) to a castle on a mountaintop, to Sinbad's gruff
entrance through the castle doors ("Popeye" regular Bluto, playing
the famous sailor), slapping down a pair of chained lions on either
side of him and demanding "WHO'S the most re-MAR-kable extra-OR-
dinary fellow?" the short is a masterpiece of characterization.
Sinbad rants and roars, walking across his island kingdom and
showing off trophies from various adventures, including a roc (a
legendary bird the size of a B-52 Bomber) and a two-headed giant;
the animals roar in reply, fearfully agreeing with him.

Sinbad's kingdom is rendered all the more amazing by the
Fleischers' "stereoptical" process, basically cardboard cut-outs and
models on a turntable, the camera at table's edge shooting through a
pane of glass where the animated figure is placed; the result is 3-D
images with more depth and solidity than is possible with even
Disney's multiplane camera (a system where the camera shoots through
several layers of glass, developed for "Snow White and the Seven
Dwarfs" (1937)). The illusion of depth is reinforced by lights
shifting along with the animated figure, creating shadows that move
as the figure moves (the lights are colored, adding to the fabulous
atmosphere and sense of mystery). Island and song establish Sinbad
as a legendary and powerful adventurer, master of all he sees,
challenged by none--only suddenly, from far away at sea, someone is
singing…

Popeye's song as compared to Sinbad's is simpler, more direct: he
introduces himself, tells of the source of his strength (spinach),
and says he'll fight only those who aren't on the "up and square."
There's some bragging, but it's the bragging of a man with a reason--
to warn others to "keep on good behav'or"--and not necessarily to
promote himself. The exchange is echoed later, when Sinbad again
goes into his arrogant rhetoric, all the island's animals responding
in chorus (WHO's the most phe-NO-menal extra-SPE-cial kind of
fellow?" "YOOSE--Sinbad the Sailor!"), only on Sinbad's umpteenth
refrain, Popeye inserts a different answer: "Popeye the Sailor!"
Extravagant bombast trumped by quick-witted reply; Sinbad slaps his
face in frustration.

There are Popeye episodes that are more experimental ("Wotta
Nitemare" 1939), more thrilling ("Lost and Foundry" (1937) and "What-
-No Spinach?" (1936) come to mind) and perhaps funnier
("Hospitaliky" (1937), with its twist on the classic situation where
Popeye beats up Bluto), but I'd say none were as beautiful (the
background drawings here include trees with eyes and a screaming
mouth), or made as expressive use of animation, including
Fleischer's "stereoptical" process (Popeye walks through an
underground cavern that glows with jeweled light; an extra-long "3-
D" shot includes a giant rock in the shape of a skull); none set up
a villain as memorably or magnificently as Bluto's Sinbad, complete
with a menagerie of singing beasts and his own theme song (music by
Sammy Timberg, who sings the song himself).

It's possible to read Sinbad as representing all that is exotic and
threatening about the East--an anti-Oriental bias if you like--but
with Bluto playing him, the interpretation (or accusation) doesn't
quite hold: Bluto's too loud, with too much swagger to him--
too "American," with all the negative connotations that word
implies. Popeye on the other hand represents America's more positive
aspects, one-eyed homeliness and all; you think of bulldogs and
mastiffs, of grizzled men mangling the English language, all that
grit and leather hiding a heart of gold. And if Popeye is able to
cut through Sinbad/Bluto's bull, that's plainspoken American honesty
cutting through pretence with the help of a leafy vegetable
(Superman hails from another planet, Spider-Man was bitten by a
radioactive spider; Segar's is the only superhero to celebrate the
relatively more realistic virtues of good nutrition). "Popeye the
Sailor Meets Sinbad the Sailor" represents for me the epitome of
Yankee ingenuity and imagination and spirit--easily the greatest
piece of American animation ever made.

(First published in High Life Magazine, October 2005)

(Comments? Email me at noelbotevera@...)