Acme Hour - 7/1/01

[Jon Cooke]

Theme: Popeye

"Klondike Casanova"
"Penny Antics"
"We're On Our Way to Rio"
"Let's Stalk Spinach"
"Olive Oyl For President"
"Car-azy Drivers"
"Spooky Swabs"
"Punch and Judo"
"Floor Flusher"
"Bride and Gloom"
"I-Ski Love-Ski You-Ski" - redrawn
"Baby Wants a Battle" - aap opening & closing
"Lunch With a Punch"
"Fireman's Brawl"


-Jon

[J Lee]

They probably meant to show "I'll be Skiing Ya" instead of "I Ski Love Ski You Ski" since it except for that it was an all-Technicolor show. Unfortunately, there were too many late (1949-57) color Popeyes (the bad ones) and not enough of the good ones (1943-48), which meant just one Jim Tyer-supervised one -- "We're on Our Way to Rio" and a ton of Tom Johnsons, who was head animator on most of the late, unfunny ones.

[Patrick McCart]

FUN FACT: "Olive Oyl For President" is a remake of a much earlier cartoon, "Betty Boop For President." Some scenes are identical to scenes from "BBFP" like the scene with the Republicans and Democrats...I like the original scene better though. :D

[Sveven Dvorking]

Have they ever shown 14 cartoons on a Saturday night 2-hour Acme Hour before, or is this a first time?

Anyway, That was nice. I needed some color popeyes.

[Jon Cooke]

Originally posted by Sveven Dvorking
Have they ever shown 14 cartoons on a Saturday night 2-hour Acme Hour before, or is this a first time?

Anyway, That was nice. I needed some color popeyes.


I also enjoyed last night's all-Popeye Acme Hour. Popeye doesn't get too much airtime during the week these days (usually one cartoon per day on Acme Hour). They also aired four cartoons I needed in my Popeye collection. Of course, it would have been cool if somebody was brave and slipped in something like "Popeye's Pappy" or "The Island Fling".

Also, is there anything "un-PC" in "Safari So Good"? I don't think I've ever seen that one on TV before.


-Jon

[lislebartman]

I thought it was a pretty good Popeye ACME HOUR. I give CN/AOL-Time Warner credit for attempting to reinstall Paramount titles back to AAP-logoed Popeye cartoons, but one can tell they were lifted from other cartoons.

The only one which had its original opening titles was "Olive Oyl for President", one of the few Popeye cartoons released in Cinecolor. There were a couple released in Polacolor, such as "Wolf in Sheik's Clothing" Also, "Let's Stalk Spinach" was time-compressed. Popeye's nephews sounded like Alvin & the Chipmunks!!

[Pietro]

Originally posted by Patrick McCart
FUN FACT: "Olive Oyl For President" is a remake of a much earlier cartoon, "Betty Boop For President." Some scenes are identical to scenes from "BBFP" like the scene with the Republicans and Democrats...I like the original scene better though. :D

Doesn't Olive even sing, "If I were president" the same song Betty sings in "Betty Boop For President"?

-Pietro

[Jack]

I don't know about the Boop cartoon, but yes, Olive sings "If I were President." She sings about putting up screens arround fire hydrants (so the dogs have privacy) and all that.




Jack:D

[J Lee]

The original "Betty Boop For President" has some of the same song in it as in "Olive Oyl for President," but it is much shorter and not as fleshed out as in the remake.

The bulk of the former cartoon details Betty's campaign against "Mr. Nobody" (who has his own song) and the spot gags about what she would do if elected president (including, as we find out at the end, re-legalizing alcoholic beverage sales). Unlike "Olive Oyl for President," the spot gags are not part of the song.

Unlike some of the later Famous remakes, the studio in 1948 still had enough imagination to redo the cartoon and put in enough new things to make "Olive Oyl for President" something that wasn't just a going-through-the-motions cartoon. And while I'm tough on Tom Johnson further up in this thread about his crappy 1950s Popeyes, he did do this one as well and did others during the 1940s for Fleischer and Famous that were pretty good.

[Jon Cooke]

Another quick note about "Olive Oyl For President": Famous Studios' own Little Audrey makes a cameo (as the little girl taking licks off the giant ice cream cone).


-Jon

[Thad Komorowski]

It was nice seeing "We're On Our Way to Rio" uncut. I don't see what was so offensive about the line. Popeye always mispronounces things ("elephinks"), but I guess it was a joke referring to a little African American boy.....

-Thad:D

[Sveven Dvorking]

Rating: 10.2 of 14 It is unusual for me to actually watch most of the Acme Hour. Unfortunately, this was a wasted chance for rare cartoons. The redrawn cartoon did not fit in.

[Bobby B]

Originally posted by Jon Cooke
Also, is there anything "un-PC" in "Safari So Good"? I don't think I've ever seen that one on TV before.


No, nothing un-PC, unless you count Popeye punching animals into fur coats, an alligator into luggage, etc. The plot is similar to "Pre-Hysterical Man", with Olive falling for a Blutolike Tarzan.