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Friday, July 20, 2018

Show Notes: Episode 4-11: Popeye Meets the Man Who Hated Laughter

*Popeye Meets the Man Who Hated Laughter aired as part of the ABC Saturday Superstar Movie series on October 7, 1972 at 9:30 A.M., likely up against The Houndcats and The Roman Holidays (NBC) and The New Scooby-Doo Movies  (CBS).

*Popeye was created by cartoonist E.C. Segar for his comic strip Thimble Theatre in 1929 and soon took over the strip.

*He appeared in various cartoon series of the years, the best of which were the theatrical short subjects produced by Fleischer studios. The Famous Studios package (1940s and 1950s theatricals) and the King Features toons (1960-1962, made for TV) were the foundations of many of the syndicated 'toon packages that would run on local stations during the BOTNS era.

*This movie was produced by Al Broadax, who was behind many of the earlier Popeye shorts as well as The Beatles cartoons and 1960s King Features efforts like Beetle Bailey.

*Here is the lineup of comic strip stars with their year of first appearance in the funny papers:
--The Phantom (1936)
--Mandrake (with Lothar) (1934)
--Flash Gordon (1934)
--Steve Canyon (1947)
--Tim Tyler (1928)
--Prince Valiant (1937)
--Tiger (1965)
--Blondie and Dagwood (1930)
--Hi and Lois (1954)
--Little Iodine (1943 as star of her own strip)
--The Katzenjammer Kids (1897)
--Quincy (1970)
--Beetle Bailey and Sarge (1950)
--Maggie and Jiggs from Bringing Up Father (1913)
--The Little King (1930)
--Snuffy Smith (1934) and Barney Google (with Spark Plug) (1919)
--Henry (1932)

*Ed Sullivan's CBS show was canceled in 1971.

*Wimpy is indeed a restaurant chain specializing in burgers, but it is not an officially licensed one nor affiliated with the Popeye rights holders.

*There was a Star Trek comic strip from 1979 to 1983, and one of the writers was Buck Rogers alum Marty Pasko.

*Mandrake the Magician's archrival is The Cobra--no relation to Cobra Commander, who we discussed in a previous episode. The Phantom has often fought with the Singh (later renamed Sengh) Brotherhood and also the Sky Band.

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