TCM highlights for August

Now for something kind of helpful (I hope). Here’s a list of some of the films that will be shown on the Turner Classic Movies network this month. I don’t work for them, I just like some old movies.

It’s interesting to note that when you watch TCM, you’re not only getting a look at what old movies are like, but you’re getting a look at what old TV was like. Back when it first began, older movies pretty much ruled on local television stations. Let’s face it, there wasn’t much else to show! That’s sort of why the old Popeye and Bugs Bunny cartoons were shown so much in the early days. Today, there is so much more television programming to choose from that showing old movies (and cartoons) has become old hat. As an old movie fan, I’m glad TCM is around, and I’m glad we live in an age where I can "peek ahead" to see what will be shown.

This is by no means a complete list of all the "good" TCM films this month. I haven’t necessarily seen all of these yet myself. These are just the ones that stood out for me. Please check your local listings for the exact time and day in your area, and keep in mind that the schedule is subject to change.

August 4- Some Like it Hot
August 8 - Lady from Shanghai
August 10- Mata Hari; Grand Hotel
August 11- Lolita
August 14- G-Men
August 15- The Scarlet Letter (silent version)
August 17- Live a little, Love a little
August 19- North by Northwest
August 22- The Great Race
August 24- Inherit the Wind; A Guy named Joe
August 27- The Fountainhead
August 29- Casablanca

www.tcm.com

To be continued? Not again. . .

One of my silly home movies features a coloring book with a story that basically ends right in the middle. The hero gets captured, then the coloring book ends. Pretty stupid, huh? It just doesn’t seem right to end a story at such a point. And yet this is nothing new. Back in the day, buying or reading comic books was somewhat of a problem for me, since we never subscribed to them, and we weren’t always going down the street to buy them. So if a comic book ended with a cliffhanger (as most of them did), I hardly ever got to find out exactly what happened next. It was not until years later when comic collecting became more intense that I finally began to find out what happened to those characters.


But sometimes, we never found out. Fans of the old “Jack and Jill” magazine may recall the character of “Perky Puppet.” Perky and friends went on an adventure one day and were never heard from again. Another character (Rufus Crustbuster, somebody else you‘ve probably never heard of) took over the storyline, and Perky sort of disappeared into the ether. Sad. And very lazy writing. You may never have heard of Perky Puppet, but now a similar thing has happened to a character you probably have heard of.


The comic strip “Annie” came to an end on Sunday, June 13, 2010. But worse than the fact that Annie is ending is the fact that Annie ended on a CLIFFHANGER! We aren’t going to find out (right away) how Annie gets out of her latest predicament! The last panel in the last strip says “And this is where we leave our Annie. For now-” Great. Just great. Exactly WHEN and HOW we find out what happens to Annie is a complete mystery which I don’t think even Annie’s creators know for sure. Folks, this is not only lazy writing, it’s bad policy. It makes the readers angry. If you only got half of your hamburger when you paid for a whole one, you’d be upset. (Yes, I know we didn’t have to pay much to read Annie, but work with me here).


I’m thinking of some other major shows that have come to an end without everything being completely resolved- namely "Lois and Clark", “Lost” and “The Sopranos.” Is this the latest trend? End with MOST of the questions answered, but not all of them? Or end with some answered and some unanswered? Or, like Annie and so many other comics, end with nothing at all answered? There’s another great comic strip about a one-eyed sailor that has run for many years now. If Annie can end, why not Popeye? With Popeye it will probably be less painful, as the strip (to my knowledge) doesn’t use a storyline as much as it used to. So it likely won’t “end in the middle of the story,” because there isn’t a story.


But meanwhile, we still await word on both Perky Puppet and Annie. Maybe it’s because I’m a bit of a creative guy myself that I don’t like the characters (or the audience) being treated this way. But Kermit’s advice of “write your own ending” is sometimes very wise. And it could be that if you really want to know how Annie gets out of her latest predicament, you’ll have to discover it for yourself. Good luck, and let me know how it all turns out.

　
TV OR NOT TV: I’m in the middle of a grand experiment here at my place. It’s something I’ve thought about doing for a while now, and now I actually am doing it. For the past 2 months or so, I’ve dropped my cable company, and I haven’t been watching live TV. This actually isn’t the first time I’ve done it, but this is the first time I’ve done it where I wasn’t able/willing to have somebody else tape something for me. :) The good news is that I really don’t miss it that much. I’m not against TV at all, but it was getting foolish to spend money on something that was hardly ever used. As vital as we sometimes think it is, TV is a luxury. We sadly haven’t been using it as a luxury, but as a necessity. It’s time we changed that. We don’t have to watch something just because someone else says we should.

You’ve probably heard of Bruce Springsteen’s “57 channels and nothing on.” Actually, aside from the loads of junk, there’s a lot of fine stuff on TV. But for me, there’s not a lot on TV that makes me want to watch it- and a lot less that makes me want to pay the bills to watch it. I’ve actually “done the math” on this. If you’re paying $60 or more per month for television, and there are only three things on per month that you want to see, that’s like paying $20 to watch something on TV! Indeed, why not just buy the DVD if you can? It honestly is a good question to ask yourself as you’re lounging around complaining about the stupid show you’re watching. . .and then not changing the channel. You just sit there complaining about what’s going on. But you don’t do anything about it, even though you have the power to change things. You remind me of several people I know. Get up. Turn off tube. Do something better. Heck, you might even want to give up surfing the Internet if you really want to.
Wait, where are you going?

　
NO MORE HOT PANTS? A lot of comic book fans are feeling pretty patriotic these days. They're upset that Wonder Woman is losing her star-spangled blue shorts! I'm only a bit upset, as it has been pointed out that at least you can still see the outline of her legs. I suppose we haven't lost too much. Although I should point out that both WW and Captain America have seen some changes recently- and that both characters traditionally wear patriotic clothing. Are comic book writers turning against patriotism? Is this a plot to reduce the value of the red, white & blue? Well, actually, Wonder Woman changed her outfit for the same reason that Captain America died, and Superman died. To sell comics. I think we'll be seeing the hot pants again. Superman died, and we saw him again. Captain America will be starring in a movie, even though he died. Spider-Man changed his costume. Then he went back to the old one. Pardon my cynicism, but when you've seen it all before. . .It's just like Lady Gaga. I look at her and see Madonna. Some people look at Madonna and see Peggy Lee. Some people look at Peggy Lee and see whoever played the “provocative blonde solo singer” role before she did. I'm not sure who that was. I'm not quite that old. Close, though.


AT LAST WE KNOW: Oh, you lucky reader. I know you thought you were just wasting your time reading my blog, but I am going to reward you handsomely for your efforts. I am going to tell you THE MEANING OF LIFE! It isn't going to be as deep and profound as you'd hope, but it's going to be quite meaningful. I figured it out last week as I went to attend a meeting that I thought was taking place at a local library. I went to the library, but there was no meeting. Kind of reminded me of another event (check out the January 2006 archives for that one). So I decided to use my free time to do some shopping. Went to a store I wanted to go to for a while. It was closed. Went to another store nearby. It was closed. Went to Goodwill to shop and drop off a donation. They were closed - but the lady who was there was glad to take my donation. At this point I was getting mad. Why is nothing going right today? I thought about another nearby store, and immediately thought to myself, “Why bother? They're closed.” Which they were!


Now I realize that this seems like a petty thing to complain about in the big scheme of things. So what if I went out shopping and the stores were closed? Well, it's easy to say that now, because it's over. But it wasn't fun at the time. In the midst of my anger, I decided to stop in at Rite Aid and have a chocolate chip ice cream cone. It was good. Yum. I was reasonably happy again. As I walked along the parking lot eating the ice cream, the secret of life occurred to me. No, it's not ice cream. Life is making the best out of a bad situation. Think about all the people you know or have ever heard of. No matter how much they were blessed or cursed, no matter what they had to go through, they had to make the best they could out of a bad situation - life. Life has always been a challenge. It always will be. We meet the challenge every day and - even to a very small degree - we overcome the challenge. We don't overcome everything, but I think we should be proud of what we do overcome. Life gives us lemons, and we make lemonade. But we MAKE the lemonade. It doesn't appear naturally. The good that we find in this life comes only if we look for it. Most of us are only looking at the lemons and saying, “This sucks,” and going home. It never occurs to us that we have to do something. In a day filled with bad things, I did one thing to make me happy. I overcame. I made it a good day. I'll try to keep doing that, and hopefully next time I won't even need the ice cream.

　

Rare Sesame audio

Years before home video recording was possible, there was. . . home audio recording. And it was pretty low-tech (at least for me). It involved putting my tape recorder next to the TV set and recording the sound from the speaker. You had to be quiet so that your voice wouldn’t be recorded on the tape. This was not easy when you are a little kid with other people in the house who you have to tell to shut up. (And worse when those people wouldn’t.) But this was how I recorded many classic shows & clips from way back when. I have had a small collection of Sesame Street-related audio clips that I put onto my own CD. “Sesame Street Rarities” is its official title. Here’s the track list:

Selections from: SESAME STREET CAST ON EVENING AT POPS with Arthur Fiedler and the Boston Pops orchestra, circa 1971

1. Sesame Street theme/ Toy Symphony with Cookie Monster/ I’ve got two
2. ABC-DEF-GHI - Big Bird & the cast
3. Rubber Duckie/ Big Bird conducts/ Song of five/ Sesame St. theme reprise

RARE CLIPS
4. “Yes”- Judy Collins, Biff and Sully
5. Ernie and Bert imagine going their separate ways
6. Maria and Bert’s imaginary helicopter ride
7. “Snooky” (Beautiful Day monster) tries to go through a hoop (incomplete)

8. SESAME STREET FLIES: Audio clips from an episode circa 1982
Big Bird and Poco Loco the parrot talk; “Flying” by Joe Raposo; Music from film about building blocks (incomplete); Big Bird as an airplane; Cartoon- Counting planes on the runway; Grover’s airplane; Marlena, Kermit and Grover; Anything muppets - “Rocket”; Luis’ serenade /Pat the pilot cartoon (incomplete); Big Bird and Maria in a balloon - “I’m flying” song; Bald Eagle film (slightly different dialogue); “Danger” film music of man narrowly missing danger (incomplete); Dark clouds cartoon with scary cats (incomplete, unfortunately!); Pinball count- 12 (incomplete); Big Bird and Maria land.

With my slow connection, it has been impossible to share these tracks with others. Until now. The album is currently available to download on the Sesame Street Block Party site! As you can imagine, the audio quality is often not very good. But it is listenable, and it is a treasure for fans of these skits that are currently unavailable anywhere else.

This project has been a long-time coming due to my inability to share the files myself. But again, Bob at the “Sesame St. block party” Web site has been kind enough to post the files, and my friend Peter has been kind enough to upload the files. So very special thanks go out to Bob and Peter for making it all possible.

You can check out the album at the post below:
http://sesamestreetblockparty.blogspot.com/2009/12/sesame-street-old-school-tv-clips.html

To learn more about Sesame Street‘s appearance with the Boston Pops, click here:
http://muppet.wikia.com/wiki/Evening_at_Pops:_1971

From Sesame Street Unpaved: "According to Danny Epstein, musical coordinator for Sesame Street, when the cast played ["Rubber Duckie"] with the Boston Pops (Big Bird conducted), the musicians were not allowed to squeeze rubber duckies in addition to playing their own instruments unless they were paid extra. Apparently, a rubber duckie was considered to be a second instrument, and each musician was supposed to receive additional pay if they played a second instrument. When it came time for the actual performance, only the percussion players squeezed the ducks. It was determined that the rubber duck was to be considered a percussion instrument."

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UNCENSORED, BUT INCOMPLETE: In my Christmas shopping I came upon a book called “MTV Uncensored.” It is several years old now, but it seemed at first glance to be an excellent history of MTV’s early days. I thumbed through it, and it does seem like a great book, with many great historic photos. But there’s one important element missing. I thumbed through this thing looking for one person, but . . . Nope, I couldn’t find Carolyne Heldman in it anywhere! DANG! Not even her name seemed to be included in the book! This is particularly upsetting when you realize that several other Vjs, including others from the “Carolyne” era, are included in the book. That stinks, man. I hope I’m mistaken, but I really couldn’t find her mentioned in this book which is supposed to be “uncensored.” Phooey.

You know what this reminds me of? You know that person who you knew in high school but who somehow never got their picture taken for the yearbook? It’s like that. I know that person existed, but there’s no photographic proof. Despite the lack of evidence, I know that I am not mistaken in my memories. Yes Virginia, there is a Carolyne Heldman.

Just for revenge, I think we should go over to the Aspen Public Radio site and listen to Carolyne read from one of my favorite books of all time, “The Velveteen Rabbit” by Marjery Williams. There are plenty of other cool readings available at the site, too:
http://www.aspenpublicradio.org/storytime.php

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POPEYE ON GOOGLE: Hey, did you happen to catch Popeye’s appearance on the Google homepage? It’s been a pretty cool month for Google fans - first the Sesame Street muppets, now Popeye! His appearance was in celebration of the birthday of E.C. Segar, the cartoonist who created the legendary sailor. Read all about Popeye here:
http://heroshaven.blogspot.com/2007/04/popeye.html

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ANOTHER YEAR: Sigh. I had a good streak going there, didn’t I? I was posting at least once a week for several weeks. Then it stopped. Life happens, and it pushes blog posting way back on the list of things to do. That's true even as the blog celebrates its anniversary this week. No offense folks, but I hope that the blog will always be pushed back. I enjoy it a lot. . .but it’s not all I enjoy. Among other things are spending time with family and friends and wishing them. . .a very Merry Christmas!

Attack of the new Star Wars movie

"Hey Rocky, watch me pull a new Star Wars movie out of my hat!”

This is a bit of news that I definitely wasn’t expecting. Most die-hard Star Wars fans are aware that a new animated TV series featuring “Star Wars” characters was in the works. But to find out that another MOVIE is coming out later this year?! The same year that a new Indiana Jones movie is due to arrive? Amazing.

The movie, like the future TV series, will feature computer animation rather than real people in the roles. It takes place during the “Clone Wars,” after “Attack of the Clones” and before “Revenge of the Sith.” Apparently, while working on the series, George Lucas decided that it was possible to make a theatrical film out of it, and so he has done. I assume that the film will be able to stand on its own, and not be called “Episode 2 and a half.”

I have sort of mixed feelings at this point. Animation is great, but it’s not the same as “reality.” We may miss some of the dramatic tension that only a live actor or actress can give. But we shall see. It certainly sounds like a good time. Back when “Phantom Menace” came out, some radio Djs joked that the film would have made twice as much money if everyone who saw it hadn’t only bought one ticket. Ouch. Well, this “Clone Wars” film, along with “Indy 4”, changes all that. It means I’ll have to buy two movie tickets this year instead of one.

http://www.starwars.com/

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TAKE A BITE OUT OF CRIME: The latest installment of “Just My Show” has an interview with Jack Keil, the voice of McGruff, the crime dog. Here’s where you can listen - and be sure to check out some of their past shows in the reruns section!
http://www.justmyshow.com/PSA_Paradise.html

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DINKY:1, POPEYE 1: It looks like some episodes of “The All-New Popeye Hour” will be making it to DVD after all. Read all about it here:

http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/news/All-New-Popeye-Hour-Volume-1-Trailer/9171

And speaking of strong people, future seasons of “The Incredible Hulk” are coming your way:
http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/news/Incredible-Hulk-Seasons-3-and-4/9168

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NOT MARY ANN! Sigh. Dawn Wells, the actress who played Mary Ann on “Gilligan’s Island,” has been arrested on drug charges. Sigh. Ginger, I could understand, but not Mary Ann! The Skipper, maybe. But not Mary Ann. Sigh.
Read more about Gilligan’s Island at my post:

http://heroshaven.blogspot.com/2007/02/gingers-i-mean-gilligans-island.html

And attention K-Mart shoppers: You may have noticed that a “Complete Series” set of Gilligan’s Island is now available for purchase. It’s what we have to rely on until Gilligan returns to a TV set near you.
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CAROLYNE, YOGA AND YOU: As the unofficial leader of the “Carolyne Heldman fan club” (yes, I know there wasn’t any such thing until I made it up just now), I’m proud to announce that you can now watch clips of Carolyne online! No, not from her MTV days. This is the new Carolyne, the yoga instructor. She’s teaching yoga classes, and you can see her demonstrate some yoga moves on Expertvillage.com. Her series is on how to avoid common yoga injuries. The site has a brief biography of Carolyne since her post-MTV days:

In 2001, Carolyne Heldman discovered the healing and transformative powers of yoga. She soon became hooked and began studying with some of the preeminent teachers of our time: John Friend, Sean Corn, Ana Forrest and Rodney Yee. However, Heldman derives special inspiration from the teachings of Shiva Rea, director of yoga at Sacred Movement in Los Angeles. Carolyne teaches in three Denver-area yoga studios and has been teaching for two years.

http://www.expertvillage.com/video-series/4267_avoid-yoga-injuries.htm

I practice what I call “poor man’s yoga”. It’s basically just some simple stretching exercises. When it starts to hurt, I stop. I’m thinking that watching Carolyne’s videos will ensure that it never starts to hurt!

For more about Carolyne, click on “December 2007” in my archives.
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Larry and Dinky

Back in October, during the Southern California wildfires, I wrote that nobody I knew had lost their home. Unfortunately, I learned months later that I was wrong. Larry Himmel lost his home in the fires.

I've never met Larry, but like so many people growing up near San Diego, I feel as though I know him. Officially, Larry is a reporter for channel 8, the CBS affiliate in San Diego. But that's not exactly all of what Larry does. Think of Larry as a humor columnist for a television station. His fun commentary has been a part of San Diego newscasts since before my high school days.

Larry was the host and I think the head writer for “San Diego At Large,” a fun show that included comedy and parodies and featured many local celebrities and stories. Imagine a public access comedy show with a slightly higher-than-usual budget, and you've got “San Diego at Large.” The show ran for a few years in the 1980s and may (unfortunately) go down in history as one of the last locally produced entertainment shows in San Diego. Like just about every TV station in the nation, the local programming in San Diego is pretty much limited to news and PBS pledge breaks. That's it! Everything else on the air that isn't a commercial comes from Hollywood or from reruns. Larry is one of the few local celebrities to change the trend. That's pretty impressive, when you think about it. Even though the show is long-gone, the fact that it survived for as long as it did was impressive.

If you have a good memory, you may recall Larry being featured on a prime-time “bloopers” show hosted by Steve Allen. (It wasn’t officially a bloopers show, but essentially that’s what it was!) Larry is shown doing his best trying to get through one of his commentaries, but it being “one of those days,” he keeps making mistakes. At one point, about half way through, he asks, “Can we just end it there?”

If you have a really good memory, you may recall that Larry's co-stars on “San Diego at Large” included Rick Rockwell. Rick would later go on to infamy as the multi-millionaire in “Who wants to marry a Multi-millionaire?” Actually, the perfect title would be “Who wants to get married just so they can get TV exposure?”

If you have a REALLY REALLY good memory (and a good imagination), you may remember my appearance on “San Diego At Large.” Larry visited my high school back in 1985 for a show about the school's homecoming. I wasn't really visible, but the camera did pan over to the crowd of students where I was sitting. I can still point to where I “sort of” was. They actually got a better shot of one of my friends dancing the night away at the homecoming dance. And they interviewed old pal Darren from grade school! Way to go, Darren! That particular show is a real treasure for me, since it contains scenes of people and places from my high school days.

But Larry's reporting isn't always funny- like when he actually stood in front of his burning house while the cameras were rolling. It's not always good for a reporter to get “too involved” in a story. But in this case, can you blame him for wanting to be there? As the structure was overcome with flames, he turned to the camera and said, “Ordinarily I would say, 'Welcome to my home...'”

Thankfully Larry and his family were OK. After the fires were gone, they returned to their home site to look at what little had been left behind. There wasn't a lot to see. It's a scary situation that most of us hope never happens to us. But now it has happened to “someone I know,” and that brings it home. By this time, I assume Larry's life is slowly getting back to normal. But it definitely makes you realize that you can't take it with you. My best to you and yours, Larry. I'm glad the important things were saved (namely you and yours). Thanks for many years of fun times, and here's to many more.

Keep up with this story by reading Larry's blog:

http://www.cbs8.com/blog/?cat=6

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DINKY'S REVENGE: This portion of our post is dedicated to my Grandmother, who loved Dinky. Let's take a pop quiz. Which of these two characters would you expect more people to recognize?

Popeye the sailor
Dinky the dog.

I'm guessing most would pick number one. For the uninitiated, Dinky the dog started out as a tiny puppy who grew to gigantic proportions (not quite Clifford-size, but more like Barkley. And maybe just a step above Marmaduke). Dinky the dog was actually a “fill-in” during the “All new Popeye hour” on Saturday mornings. You know, kind of like the “Go-go gophers” or “Klondike Kat.” It was one of those shows that really was a “co-star” to the main event. So why, WHY is Dinky getting his OWN DVD RELEASE WITHOUT ANY POPEYE CARTOONS? Well, blow me down! According to the article at tvshowsondvd dot com, there was a "Dinky" series, but again, why Dinky and not Popeye?

Don't get me wrong- I'm not against this release at all. But Dinky seems so obscure compared to “Mr. P.” It's as if someone took all the veggies out of your dinner and just gave you the meat. Well, meat is fine, but without veggies, you can't get a healthy diet! Watching these Dinky cartoons won't be the same without Popeye!

The long answer I think has to do with copyright issues, but the short answer? Probably “because it's there.” Since they have access to these cartoons, why not release them? Sounds fine to me. I'm just wondering how successful this release will be without Popeye. It’s going to be an interesting experiment. Good luck, Dinky. Hope your sales don't match up to your name.

Read more about the Dinky issue below.

http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/news/All-New-Popeye-Hour-Complete-Series/8869

You prefer Popeye? Enjoy my post about him:

http://heroshaven.blogspot.com/2007/04/popeye.html

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ON YOUTUBE: THROUGH, THROUGH, THROUGH. A few days ago, I had never heard of Robert Cunniff. Now, thanks to a poster on the Muppet Central site, I know that he had much to do with the early "golden age" of Sesame Street. Sadly, he recently passed away. He also worked on many other classic TV shows. Apparently he had much to do with "The Ballad of Casey McPhee," which featured Cookie Monster trying to get the train through the dangerous mountain pass. For a limited time, that clip can be seen by clicking on it in my "favorites" folder on my YouTube page.

http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=sesameguy2000

Popeye

Two legends in one photograph. The man on the right is Tom Hatten. We’ll talk more about him later, but first let’s discuss that guy on the left. You may think you know him, but do you know it all? If you only know him through his cartoons on TV, then you probably have just scratched the surface. Popeye has quite a history.

The wonderful book “Popeye: the first 50 years” by Bud Sagendorf gave me a renewed appreciation of the character and the comic strip. In the history of the American newspaper comic strip, Popeye is legendary. The original strip by E.C. Segar is considered one of the greatest of them all. Why? Well, I’m sure part of the secret lies in the character himself. Popeye is unique. He’s not just a guy in a sailor suit. He’s a guy with limited intelligence but seemingly endless power. He’s a guy with morals. He’s a guy who isn’t afraid to beat the crap out of people if he has to.

The strip began as “Thimble Theater”, and featured the adventures of the Oyl family. (That’s right, before there was Popeye, there was Olive Oyl!) It was a fun strip, but in many ways not too unusual for its time. Then came Popeye, who quickly took over the strip. Kind of reminds me of Elmo. :) The point is that Popeye’s character alone was enough to bring out the best in the comic strip. Although many other great characters found life there, Popeye became the “stabilizing force” that kept everything flowing.

A few years ago, Fantagraphics books republished all the Segar Popeye strips, giving us a great view into Segar‘s genius. There is an extremely funny sequence in which Popeye finds an error in the dictionary. When trying to explain to someone that “I yam what I yam,” he opens up the dictionary to get a proper definition of the word “yam.” The dictionary explains that a yam is a kind of a sweet potato. Popeye realizes that this must be an error. “You wouldn’t expect me to say, ‘I sweet potato what I sweet potato, and that’s all that I sweet potato‘, would you?”

Then came the legendary animated cartoons, starting with the Fleisher black and whites, continuing on with the Famous Studios & Paramount colors, then the King Features TV series, then the Saturday morning series. When you add it all up, guess who has made more cartoons, Bugs Bunny or Popeye? POPEYE!

If you came to visit me in the afternoon when I was six years old, and I wasn’t watching PBS, I was probably watching a Popeye or Bugs Bunny cartoon. That was the fun stuff for kids in those days. Incidentally, I’ve always believed that a Popeye/Bugs Bunny team up would be one of the best cartoons of all time. Both characters are similar and could play well off of each other- after they get over their ego problems. “Now see here, rabbit! This is me ship, so you’d better do as I say.” “Oh, brudder.”

Popeye, like Batman, is the subject of one of the most popular folk songs of all time. You know the one. “I live in a garbage can. . .” are among the lyrics. I call it a folk song because it has been passed on through the oral tradition from one third-grader to another for the last several decades!

But perhaps Popeye’s most important contribution to comics was his role in the inspiration for Superman. Listen to this quote from Fred Grandinetti’s “Popeye: An illustrated history” :

Jerry Siegel, one of Superman’s creators (along with Joe Shuster), readily admits that the animated Popeye cartoons were a primary influence. He envisioned similar fast-paced action turning on the hero’s superhuman strength, but played straight instead of for laughs. With the addition of a few other influential types - notably Tarzan, very popular at the time - Superman was the inevitable result.

Like so many other legends (including Bugs), the character of Popeye was not created solely for children. He was created to entertain. But he has been thrust into the category of “children’s entertainment.” That’s why you don’t see him cursing today like he did in the comics (with the little squiggle balloons, of course). And his pipe? “I keeps it to toot,” he tells his nephews in one of the TV cartoons. One time I even saw a metal poster of Popeye (sans pipe) saying “No smoking!”

Popeye isn’t even in the Navy! Check out this site from the official Popeye fan club:
http://www.popeyethesailor.com/club/opf9.htm

Well, we shouldn’t be surprised at this. Perhaps the time has come for the world to know the truth. There is something about Popeye that I first joked about in one of my silly audio tape stories (they were the precursor to my silly home movies). It is, of course, just a joke, but it’s so much fun to think about that I thought I’d share it with you all. Ladies and gentlemen, Popeye is faking it.

He doesn’t like spinach.

Think about it. Have you ever heard him say that he likes spinach? No, of course not. Why is he always eating it? Because he’s always in trouble! If spinach gave you colossal super-strength, wouldn’t you eat it if you had to? If you had to rescue your favorite sweetie from the clutches of an evil villain, wouldn’t you be willing to eat virtually ANYTHING to do it?

Watch the cartoons. When does he eat the spinach? Not when he first gets hurt or insulted. It’s when he absolutely has to! When he has no other choice! What does he say before he eats it? “THAT’S ALL I CAN STANDS, I CAN’T STANDS NO MORE!” Does that sound like someone who likes to eat spinach? In the comic strip, he virtually never ate spinach! And again, when he did, it was only when he had no other choice.

In the movie, Popeye makes it clear that he does not like spinach. The only time he eats it is when Brutus forces him to. Could it be that this is how Popeye first learned of the power of Spinach? Remember folks, the song doesn’t go “I’m strong to the finich because I like spinach!”
This silly theory somehow makes Popeye an even more engaging character. The fact that he would pretend to be something that he really isn’t makes him somehow even more powerful. And more human.

I’m sure that the National Enquirer is going to use this information to the detriment of Popeye someday. Until then, please keep this a secret. If Popeye finds out about this, he’s going to blarst me into the next dimension. The next thing you know, we’ll all find out that he really has two eyes. . .

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Now you know about Popeye, but what about Tom Hatten? Well, Tom Hatten and Popeye are old friends, and if you grew up in the Los Angeles/San Diego area, you probably think they are the same person! Tom hosted the Popeye cartoon show on KTLA in Los Angeles for many years. I remember watching the show in the late 1970s early 1980s, when it included both the black & white and color Popeye cartoons, along with Super chicken, Tom Slick and George of the Jungle! What more could a kid want?

Tom has a great history as well. You can read all about it on this great tribute page:

http://latvlegends.com/TomHatten/TOMHAT.htm

Mickey Mouse and Popeye are approximately the same age. Both arrived on the scene in 1929. When Mickey Mouse turned 50, he got a prime-time special featuring several stars. Popeye turned 50, KTLA had a show featuring Tom interviewing Shelly Duvall (from the Popeye movie) and a bunch of kids singing “happy birthday!” Sorry, Mr. Eye, that’s the best you can get. But don’t feel too bad. We heard virtually NOTHING when Mickey or Popeye turned 75! Hey, age discrimination is bad enough when it’s among people! We shouldn’t be ashamed to let our fictional characters grow old.

If you have any video tapes of Tom Hatten’s Popeye show, please contact me for a possible trade! I’d love to see it again. You can reach me through my e-mail, or by messaging “Sesameguy” at Muppet Central forum, or the Square One TV forums.

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What brought about this Popeye post? Simply the news that the Fleisher cartoons are coming to DVD! There are already some fine Popeye collections out there, but this one sounds like it will be more geared toward the Fleisher fans. Here’s the link from tvshowsondvd.com:
http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/newsitem.cfm?NewsID=7112

And speaking of George of the Jungle, it looks like George may be swinging into DVD himself, soon. (I’d qualify this only as a possible future release, since we don’t have anything definite other than one person who said it is on the way. A good journalist relies on more than one source! ) Here’s the post:
http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/newsitem.cfm?NewsID=7131

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If you REALLY want to get into Popeye, there’s one book that will just about cover it all. Fred Grandinetti’s “Popeye: An illustrated history” has a terrific overview of the character and a guide to all his cartoons. Whew! It is a few years old now, but if you’re a die-hard Popeye fan, it’s worth finding a copy.

Popeye has a fan club! It’s full of people who love the character and love collecting memorabilia about him. They meet in Chester, Illinois every year to share their appreciation of the sailor. (Chester is the hometown of E.C. Segar.) Here’s their web page:
http://www.popeyethesailor.com/club/