Cartoon a Day: I Eats My Spinach

I Eats My Spinach
1933
Directed by Dave Fleischer
Available on: Popeye the Sailor Vol. 1

The last four days were pretty wild. Everything from snow storms, to sci-fi conventions, to jigsaw puzzles with the kids. I have been watching my daily cartoons, so it will take a little time to catch up. Normally I might just skip the blogging, but I'm loving these Popeye cartoons so much, I just can't.

In "I Eats My Spinach," Popeye joins the ranks of many cartoon characters by participating in a bull fight. I did a whole week of bull fight cartoons awhile ago, this one begins with a simple visit to the rodeo only to have Popeye get roped into competing against the star of the event, Bluto. Eventually he must do battle with both Bluto and a bull. It's fun to watch Popeye show up Bluto in every way, shape and form. You've gotta wonder why the guy keeps on trying.

One of my favorite parts of this particular cartoon is fight where Popeye, Bluto and Olive all end up socking it out. I call this thing a "fight cloud," you see them in many Popeye cartoons. With the magic of DVD, it's fun to freeze frame these sequence and watch all the unique animation poses the characters end up in. I won't waste any more words...just check out this great sequence of images...