"The Crystal Brawl" [1957]

[oldgreypole]

In the Popeye cartoon called "The Crystal Brawl" [1957], I notice that the characters seem to have been redesigned a bit. For example, the sailor hats on Popeye and Bluto are drawn differently. I am guessing that this may have been the last theatrical Popeye in production. Anyone have any comments?

[Thad Komorowski]

The most likely answer is that ALL Famous Studio cartoons were beginning to have more 'limited' animation, although this is one of the few exceptions where the Popeye cartoons were effected...

The last theatrical Popeye was actually "Spooky Swabs", though I'm not sure production wise.

Be lucky Popeye wasn't around long enough to suffer the horrific animation Casper the Friendly Ghost and Herman & Katnip would suffer between 1957-1959! :eek: :(

[J Lee]

In the Popeye cartoon called "The Crystal Brawl" [1957], I notice that the characters seem to have been redesigned a bit. For example, the sailor hats on Popeye and Bluto are drawn differently. I am guessing that this may have been the last theatrical Popeye in production. Anyone have any comments?

"The Crystal Brawl" was one of many Famous Studio cartoons from the mid 1950s that included very angular designs, usually the work of head animator Al Eugster. He began putting angles on characters' clothes, elbows, knees, etc., and making the takes more rigid around 1953, apparently in response to the stylizations of UPA on the West Coast.

While the designs were nowhere near as obvious as, say, Jim Tyer's fold, spindle, mutliate animation at Famous of the mid-40s, given the sameness most of the studio's animation had settled into by 1949, Eugster's variations at least made his drawing stand out amid the rest of the Famous output.

By 1957, when "The Crytal Brawl" was made, the rest of Famous' output had been paired down to very limited animation, where such angular images were the rule instead of the exception (it's interesting to watch the final year of the Popeye theatricals and compare them to the Casper, Herman and Katnip, Baby Huey or other Noveltoons coming out at the same time -- the Popeyes boast far more fluid and rounded animation than the other series). Such things as Popeye and Bluto's hats or Olive's "take" when she sees Bluto running at her are new to the series, but had become pretty common by 1957 in Famous' other cartoons.

"A Haul in One" is another late Popeye that contains some of Eugster's angular drawings, and some earlier non-Popeyes that sport the same look include "Fido Beta Kappa," "Crazytown," "Sir Irivng and Jeames" and "News Hound."

[rodney]

I like the design of those later Popeye shorts. I see a good bit of UPA influence. Unfortunatly, by 1956 every studio was showing UPA influence, and it was old hat.