|
|
|
|
|
Page last updated on 10-06-2008.
|
|
Honorable Mention "Olive Oyl is Beautiful" Moments
|
||
|
"Courting Weirdness" In The KFS Cartoons - Not On The Mouth! |
||
|
"Courting Weirdness" In The KFS Cartoons - Women! Who needs 'em? |
|
|
The Guys Go Crazy This Olive can use her pretty eyes and attractive personality to flirt and the guys still go crazy over her, even though their actions and reactions are much toned-down from the libidinous Famous Studios' males. They do double-takes when they first see her (at times having their eyes briefly bulge or pop out), stare at her enraptured, and give her wolf whistles.
Here's a partial list of her suitors and guys
that noticed her:
Even though most of these characters were portrayed by Brutus or Popeye (the ones that weren't are marked with a *), the effect on us was still the same. We were convinced that Olive was desirable. (See a list of "The Things KFS Males Said About And To Olive Oyl" below. Also a gallery of Olive's suitors.) It didn't hurt to learn that Olive Oyl was voted the prettiest girl in her college class, either. Or to discover that she was interested in being cool and hip, professed a love for rock-and-roll, and had a "thing" for Elvis Presley. (As a concession to the times, Frank Sinatra was out. Sorry Frank!) Olive, The "Can-Do" Woman As in the Famous Studios' toons, Olive Oyl was a
competent, can-do woman. Here's a partial listing of her professions
and/or hobbies:
The KFS toons, chronologically following as they did the Famous Studios' cartoons, and in many TV markets being shown alongside of the Paramount Popeyes, ensured Olive Oyl's place in our hearts, reinforcing the ideas and feelings about Ms. Oyl that the earlier cartoons called forth in us.
|
|
Bud Sagendorf's Olive Oyl deserves special mention on this page because she seems to show the influence of the Famous Studios' cartoons. Sagendorf, an assistant of Segar, who drew the daily Popeye comic strip from 1959 until the 80s and did the comic books from about 1947 to 1969 (he worked with the Sailor during the years when the Famous Studios toons were popular, first in theaters and then on TV, and during the initial years of the KFS toon broadcasts), has said that, although Olive Oyl lacks the looks of femme fatales such as Raquel Welch and Marilyn Monroe, inside she's 101 per cent pure woman. And he's right about the attitudes of all the various incarnations of Ms. Oyl. However, in his comic strip universe, he sometimes treated Olive as though she was Ms. Monroe. He often had guys flirt with her. When Sagendorf took Popeye and Olive out west, a crowd of love-struck cowboys surrounded her. When the Thimble Theater cast went after "The Boodle Book," a ghost was attracted to her and tried to get her to switch sides so he could date her. And the ghost of Popeye's ancestor, Patcheye The Pirate, admired her looks and invited her to join his new crew. After Sea Hag had made Popeye Tom Thumb-sized in another story, Olive decided she needed a new boyfriend and seemed completely confidant that she could easily find one. And sure enough, less than a day passed and she was already walking arm-in-arm with a delighted suitor. A hotdog vendor once came on to her big time right in front of Popeye. A film director wanted to put her beauty up on the silver screen where it belonged for all the world to see. (Granted, he was an eccentric, but still...) And when she and Wimpy once though that Popeye was gone, the moocher himself even made a play for her! King Features Syndicate, which is reprinting Sagendorf's daily strips, called Olive Oyl "the least likely of sex symbols," but notice that they did call her a sex symbol, and indeed she seems to be one for the men of Sagendorf's universe. In the Popeye comic books, Sagendorf sometimes used "romance plots" like "The Girl Guard" (which Richard Ranke alerted me to - Thanks, Richard!) where Popeye needs Swee'Pea to keep all the men away from Olive while he's away (incidentally, she winds up happily with Brutus at the end of the story!). Sagendorf's successors sometimes followed suit. An example is one story from Popeye #118, drawn by George Wildman, where Brutus and Olive spend time flirting at the ice rink and on the ski slopes of a winter resort. There's no Popeye in the story at all!! And if not for all the slapstick shenanigans that happen, Olive and Brutus would have remained a couple in the last panel. While Sagendorf always drew Olive Oyl like Segar did, he sometimes treated her as if she was the Famous Studios' Olive Oyl, probably as a concession to the popularity of the animated cartoons and realizing that people who had watched them (and the KFS toons) would think that being irresistible to men was part of Olive's character. Other times, though, he harkened
back to other interpretations of Ms. Oyl, making fun of her looks (as when
King Blozo was looking for a bride) and making it seem as though nobody but
Popeye and Brutus would ever want her. |
|
Here are some quick thoughts on
the non-Famous Studios'
|
|
|
|
"Courting Weirdness" In The KFS Cartoons
Though definitely not as romantic or as sexy as their Famous Studios' predecessors, the KFS cartoons nonetheless had plots in which guys were pursuing Olive and she was definitely letting them. In fact, in a number of KFS toons, Olive never rejects her ardent suitor or calls for help from Popeye, once! In Barbecue For Two, it's actually Popeye who has been rejected and Olive and Popeye's neighbor are the new happy couple. You can't really blame Olive for dumping our hero because, in this cartoon, he is a selfish lout and his out-and-out theft of his neighbor's flowers starts the feud in the first place!
At the end of the film, Popeye eats spinach, calls his rival out and punches him to the other side of the world, which causes the globe to tilt so that Olive slides into The Sailorman's arms again. Another film finds Popeye dropping over to Olive Oyl's house only to find her getting ready for a date with Brutus to go the Coffee House. Popeye keeps trying unsuccessfully to horn in on their date, but Olive is real gone on beatnik Brutus. Of course, spinach finally lets Popeye butt in and eliminate his rival.
After Popeye has been thoroughly dispatched by the doctor in The Medicine Man, Olive is alone with the MD in his office listening to his proposal that they became partners in more ways than one. But a spinach-revived Popeye rushes in and starts operating.
When Popeye and Olive drive into Brutus' service station in the cartoon Motor Knocks, Ms. Oyl and the proprietor enjoy flirting with each other immensely. She even defends Brutus when Popeye attempts to get rough. And after Brutus' sabotage has its desired effect and Popeye's car breaks down, she likes it when Brutus carries her to his tow truck where she'll be safe. Though she expresses concern over Popeye's fate, she nonetheless drives away with Brutus. True, she has a wary look on her face, but the Famous Studios' Olive Oyl would have been trying to jump out of the truck, or beating on Brutus, or yelling, "You let me out of here, you masher mechanic! You...you...you amorous automobiler, that's what you are!" The Olive in this cartoon just sits there, easily giving the impression that she might be thinking that Brutus' stated goal of "losing Popeye" isn't so bad. Bell Hop Popeye and his boss, hotel manager Brutus, both have an equal chance with visiting foreign dignitary Olive Oyl. If not for the intervention of her pet tiger, Brutus would have also received a kiss as Popeye did. In After The Ball Went Over, although Olive tells Brutus not to rush her, she never outright rejects his advances and seems as interested in him as she is in Popeye. Popeye fares the worst in this cartoon, prompting him at the end to request that the writers put spinach back into his films! In fact, technically (although this point is never explored) Brutus won the table tennis match and should be getting the prize Olive promised to the winner - a kiss! We find out in Butler Up that Brutus was Olive's boyfriend in college! Imagine four years of Brutus and Olive young, alone, and romantically involved - without a Popeye in sight! At the conclusion of Mueleer's Mad Monster, Olive winds up with "Elvis" - and this time it's Popeye's doing! In Astro-Nut, Olive spends some happy days with Brutus and the impression is given that he's winning her heart.
Unlike in the Famous Studios' cartoons, the KFS
creators rarely permitted any of Popeye's rivals to kiss Olive Oyl on the
lips or vice versa. While Popeye's rivals in the KFS cartoons kissed
Olive on the hand, arms, shoulders, etc., to my knowledge, only the Goon King
(he stole one quickly) in Goon With The Wind and tour guide Brutus (he
had Olive immobilized with a seat belt) in Popeye In Hawkeye ever even
kissed her on the cheek anywhere near her mouth, and in both of theses cases,
Olive was unwilling (again, unlike in the Famous Studios cartoons where Olive
wanted the sheik, the Count, Pierre, Bluto, and others to kiss her). A
very close call was when Brutus moved in on an unresisting and
uncomprehending Olive Oyl in I Yam What I Yamnesia,
only to have his lips touch the hamburger and bun that Olive has stuffed in
her mouth.
To hazard a guess, I'd say this ban on osculation was because the cartoons were aimed more at children than the theatrical releases had been and the powers that be probably thought it would be too traumatic for the little ones to see Olive liplocking with any guy but Popeye. This led to some rather bizarre situations. In Matinee Idol Popeye, director Brutus finally has dispatched Popeye and has a helpless movie star Olive Oyl in his arms. He can have his way with her, so he - throws her up in the air and yells, "Whoopee!" and then catches her again! Well, after all, he can't kiss her! In Scairdy Cat, Olive rejects Popeye and she and Brutus go into her house. The couple is alone at last! And what does Brutus want to do? Watch the fights on TV! He and Olive don't even sit together! The Famous Studios' Bluto knew exactly what to do when he was alone with Ms. Oyl - and it didn't involve watching TV at all! Popeye's Hypnotic Glance finds a hypnotized Olive claiming to be in love with Brutus and at his command. He gets her alone and - has her repeat endlessly, "I love Brutus," and ..... feed him!?!?!!? In Astro-Nut, Popeye is locked in a space capsule for 60 days. Brutus has Olive all to himself. While we see them having fun together (and Mae Questel's rendition of Olive's breathy, intense, full-of-the-joy-of-living swooning and gushing on the roller coaster leads us to believe she's falling for Brutus, as well as recapturing her sexy Famous Studios and Betty Boop vocalizations), we never see Brutus being romantic. We do see him stealing her purse at the racetrack, though! In the black-and-white world of children's morality, it had to be crystal clear what side Brutus was on, I guess. As in the Famous Studios' cartoons, often before a magic moment could occur between Olive and Brutus, Popeye would interrupt, one time even hitting a ball to plug |
