Popeye fans get animated in DVD debate

WATERTOWN -- The spinach-scarfing, pipe-chomping sailorman known as Popeye is turning 75 this year, having survived innumerable brawls with Bluto (later renamed Brutus), a turbulent romance with the trouble-prone Olive Oyl, and even an incoherent 1980 live-action film starring Robin Williams.

But it's not quite a happy anniversary for Fred M. Grandinetti and some other Popeye fans. Eventually, perhaps, but not yet.

Grandinetti, 42, is cofounder of the 1,600-member International Popeye Fan Club and author of "Popeye: An Illustrated Cultural History." As such, he was eagerly awaiting the release of this year's 75th anniversary compilation of "Popeye" cartoons on DVD. But to his consternation, when the DVD was released recently, it contained only "Popeye" cartoons that aired on television in the early 1960s, and not the short black-and-white films that debuted in the 1930s -- and that connoisseurs consider the best and truest representation of the sailor with the wizened mug and the bulging forearms.

In the immortal words of Popeye himself, Grandinetti has had all he can stands, and he can't stands no more. "If this were Bugs Bunny or Mickey Mouse or even Woody Woodpecker, you know darn well that the studio would have that stuff available out there," fumed Grandinetti during a break from his job at the Watertown Free Public Library. "Instead, what we're offered are these cheap TV cartoons."

He acknowledges that not all fit that invidious description; around 25 of the 86 cartoons on the recently released "Popeye: 75th Anniversary Collector's Edition," he concedes, are "very good." But the others, he maintains, are inferior and slapdash compared to the short films made by Fleischer Studios and its successor company, Famous Studios. He says he gets as many as 275 e-mails a week from fans complaining about the absence of the short films from the DVD shelves. "What is appalling is that on the 75th anniversary, you cannot walk into a video store and get a collection of his work," he says.

But the reality is that the early "Popeye" films cannot be released on DVD unless King Features Syndicate -- which controls the rights to Popeye and the other characters -- gives a green light to Warner Brothers, which owns the rights to the old films.

Claudia Smith, director of advertising and public relations for King Features, suggested that many fans have greeted the new DVD collection with enthusiasm. Smith says the company is "in discussion with Warner Brothers about how to continue to bring out different elements and maximize Popeye's popularity in different ways for the home-entertainment marketplace." Smith declined to say whether those discussions are focused specifically on the Fleischer Studios films. However, when asked whether the outcome of those talks might mollify irate Popeye fans, Smith replied: "They might." Melissa Hufjay, a spokesperson for Warner Home Video, said she could not confirm that the two companies are talking and said there are no plans "at this time" to release the Fleischer Studios films on DVD.

To be sure, not all fans are as irate as Grandinetti and those who he says have e-mailed him to express their displeasure. Take Debbie Brooks, who founded the fan club with Grandinetti and her husband, Mike, in 1989 and now runs a Popeye merchandise store in Chester, Ill., called Spinach Can Collectibles. Brooks acknowledges the superiority of the Fleischer Studios "Popeye" films, but she voiced confidence that King Features will eventually find a way to release the old short films on DVD.

In the meantime, she said, "at least they're doing something. I'm glad they're doing stuff. I don't have a problem, and I tell Fred that all the time." Nor has she received the kind of e-mail complaints that Grandinetti has, she said.

Whether or not the old "Popeye" shorts make it to DVD, it is clear how much passion fans of animation bring to the genre and how fervently they mobilize behind what they view as neglected classics. The early "Popeye" films are entirely deserving of that kind of fervor, in the view of Jerry Beck, a cartoon expert who runs a website called CartoonResearch.com.

"Popeye was the character of the 1930s, representing America, the American spirit," said Beck. (In other words, Popeye was usually not spoiling for a fight, but when he was provoked -- usually by Bluto's attempts to steal Olive Oyl -- he fought back hard.) In terms of popularity, Beck said, the early Popeye cartoons "were like `The Simpsons' of their day."

"If they ever put out those original cartoons, it's going to cause a lot of attention," Beck predicted. "They'll be rediscovered." The TV version of Popeye, by contrast, was "really lesser quality," he said. "That's unfortunately most people's memory of Popeye. And that breaks the heart of all of us who love this character because that's probably the worst version of the character."

Popeye first surfaced in January 1929 in E. C. Segar's newspaper comic strip, "Segar's Thimble Theatre," which revolved around Olive Oyl and her family. Segar intended Popeye to make a one-time appearance, Grandinetti says, but "the newspaper reading public fell in love with him. Here was a character who stood up for his morals and his values and didn't take any guff. And this was during the Depression, so you really needed to see that back then."

Animators Max and Dave Fleischer, who also created Betty Boop, began making animated film shorts starring Popeye in 1933. The Fleischers were "innovators," Grandinetti says, who mobilized their imaginations to create inventive stories, songs, and "just an outstanding quality of cartoons." From 1933 to 1957, he says, the "Popeye" films were Paramount Pictures' highest-grossing animated film short series. The black-and-white films also gained popularity on television in the 1950s.

That TV success prompted the hasty production in 1960 and 1961 of 220 cartoons for television syndication. Grandinetti says that some were of good quality but the majority were not; it is those shows that form the basis for the current DVD collection. "Popeye" cartoons were produced sporadically after 1961; the last one came out in 1988.

However, a new "Popeye" is now in store. Later this year, a new 3-D, computer-animated special, "Popeye's Voyage: The Quest for Pappy," will air on Fox. It will be part of what Smith, of King Features, calls the syndicate's "yearlong celebration" of Popeye's 75th anniversary. In January, the tower lights of the Empire State Building flashed green (for spinach) in his honor. On July 3, Popeye will be featured on a race car at the NASCAR Nextel Cup Night Race at Daytona International Speedway.

Grandinetti, meanwhile, will keep waiting and watching for those old "Popeye" films to materialize on DVD. He plans to keep the pressure on, and to keep updating other Popeye fans on a regular basis. He does not own a DVD player and does not intend to buy one until the old "Popeye" films are released on DVD. "I hope they just come to their senses," he says. "It seems to be leaning that way, but having this DVD out and people still waiting doesn't help their cause in promoting the 75th anniversary. I don't know if they understand that."

Don Aucoin can be reached at aucoin@globe.com.