#just realized i pontificated about Popeye’s moral ease of access and also recommended Ali Baba’s 40 Thieves which is one of the rare

[ducktracy]

What's a good beginner Popeye short?

HMMMM HMM HMM.. you could realistically start anywhere, given the nature of these shorts! i’d say the peak of the Popeye shorts is around 1936-1938, so maybe something around there.. the first Popeye i ever saw was Clean Shaven Man (thanks Devon!) and it’s one of my absolute FAVORITES, so that could be potential!

i guess my “essential viewing” Popeye shorts in chronological order would be something like this: A Dream Walking, King of the Mardi Gras, A Clean Shaven Man, What--No Spinach?, Let's Get Movin', Hold the Wire, the 3 Popeye two-reelers (Meets Sinbad, Meets Ali Baba’s 40 Thieves… i.. i confess i have yet to see Aladdin and His Wonderful Lamp but have heard very good things about it/still important in a historical context), Let's Celebrake, Goonland, A Date to Skate, and Hello, How Am I?

some of my favorites in addition to the ones above are Shoein’ Hosses, Pleased to Meet Cha!, The Spinach Overture, The Spinach Roadster, Organ Grinder's Swing, and Fowl Play.

i confess that i myself have only seen up to around 1938 (save for a few exceptions) in the Popeye filmography, which is something i NEED to rectify! i got so attached to the voice trio of Jack Mercer/Mae Questel/Gus Wicke that the idea of not hearing them together was something i was REALLY hesitant to accept. i likewise don’t want to insinuate that the only worthwhile shorts are the ones with them in it! it’s a reason why i need to jump back into the shorts again.

BUT, Popeye i think is one of those rare series’ where you can watch it from the beginning and be relatively well off. the artistic evolution through the years is CERTAINLY there, and the first few years are not without their hiccups, but there are very few shorts pre 1936 that i find to be truly bad or really anything less than “that was quaint!”. it helps that the Fleischer shorts weren’t as vitriolic/racist as their contemporaries—doesn’t mean those moments aren’t there, but the only true reprehensible short i can think of off the top of my head is Big Chief Ugh-Amugh-Ugh. it’s much easier to dive into the filmography chronologically than something like LT (which i still would posit is worth doing—i don’t think it is a SANE thing to do, but) which, length aside, does also sometimes become a laundry list of “how many ethnicities can we make fun of in this short”

THIS IS SO LONG FOR A NON-ANSWER and i apologize!! but the truthful answer is that i don’t really have an answer! i think it’s safe enough to dive in at any point, really. you adopt the tone and gist of the shorts pretty quickly

#just realized i pontificated about Popeye’s moral ease of access and also recommended Ali Baba’s 40 Thieves which is one of the rare #instances where it is less than charitable HAHA. i do think it is a genuinely important piece of filmmaking and from a technical standpoint #Popeye at some of its absolute best #it is a really stunning film #(which is why it’s my header gif!) #notray1995