Question about incorrect Famous Popeye titles

[Jon Cooke]

How can you tell which of the Famous Studios Popeye cartoons have the incorrect opening/closing titles? It is obvious on some titles ("Tops in the Big Top" and "Double-Cross Country Race" come to mind --- somebody goofed on the version of "Double-Cross Country Race". It opens with Paramount titles, but somebody forgot to take off the a.a.p. closing!). Others seem to have ending cards tacked on from other cartoons. How can you tell which is which?

-Jon

[Patrick McCart]

1. No AAP logo, Technicolor Popeye (usually.)

2. Popeye/Paramount logo looks good, but red credits card moves up and down.

3. Popeye theme ends abruptly before cartoon starts.

4. Also, if the end has "sudden" starting sound...

:D

[Jack]

Did Paramount redo the titles every year like WB did? If they did, then that could be an indication. Maybe if the cartoons have production numbers on thier titles, you could try to match things up.





Jack:D
Don't forget the Polarcolor cartoons with TECHNICOLOR titles....

[J Lee]

The color Popeyes began with the Paramount mountain and a red background for the 1943-45 season, with the "A Famous Studios Production" as part of the main title credits.

For the 1945-46 season, they changed to a blue background, and at the start of 1946, the "Famous Studios" logo got it's own seperate image as part of the opening titles. At the same time -- either to save costs or because Technicolor was backlogged -- Paramount started releasing the Popeye cartoons in Cinecolor, while the Noveltoons remained in Technicolor (the opposite tact that Warner's took with it's biggest star -- no stinkin' Cinecolor for Bugs!)

That stayed the same through the 1946-47 release season. In 1948, the artists at Paramount added clouds to the opening and closing blue logo background. They also went to Polacolor for the cartoons and shortened the opening title music slightly (this had to be to save money, since they did it on the Noveltoons as well, and made the cartoons all of three seconds shorter).

The cloud background and Polacolor lasted about two years, after which Paramount returned to the glories of Technicolor for all its cartoons.

Then in late 1953 or early 1954, at about the same time Warners was introducing its "tighter" concentric circles and opening titles, Paramount did the same with the Popeye series, along with intruducing a modified theme music from Winston Sharples. This is the Paramount logo AAP never removed from the last two years of Popeye cartoons when they went into syndication in 1957, and it's also the one the Turner people generally used to reattach to the opening and closing titles over the AAP logos. Oh, and during that time, Famous Studios was disolved, so the last few Popeyes are minus that title card, and some of those were used in the "retitling" of some of the other cartoons.

Just off the top of my head, "She Sick Sailors," "Shape Ahoy" "A Peep In the Deep" "Rocket To Mars" "Olive Oyl for President" "Popeye Meets Hurcules" "Alpine for You" and whatever the tiitle was of that cartoon where Popeye plays Robin Hood are the ones that actually had their original Paramount titles restored. All the others between Nov. 1943 and Nov. 1955 have titles taken from other cartoons.

[Argus Sventon]

Also, the size and position of the words "A Paramount Picture" and stars did vary as well.

[J Lee]

Also, "Abusement Park," "All's Fair at the Fair," "The Royal Four Flusher" and I believe "A Wolf in Shiek's Clothing" also had their orginial titles restored in the late 1980s, along with the others I listed in my other post (I went back and looked at the book last night)

[Argus Sventon]

Which book?

[J Lee]

Sorry. I just meant the list in Leonard Maltin's book, which I went over last night just to jog my memory. AFAIK there's no published list of which Popeyes had their original titles restored.

[BobChief]

...last published in 1982 (?), by New American Library, now part of Penguin Putnam Inc.

Jerry Beck (cartoonresearch.com) was his chief researcher.

According to JB, a "final" edition is in the works, he didn't say when it would be out.

[Bobby B]

She-Sick Sailors

Shape Ahoy

Peep in the Deep (Cinecolor)

Rocket to Mars (Cinecolor)-current CN version has partial later opening title music

Abusement Park (Cinecolor)

All's Fair at the Fair (Cinecolor)

Olive Oyl for President (Cinecolor)-the source of the end music used with aap titles

Wigwam Whoopee (Polacolor)

Popeye Meets Hercules (Polacolor)

A Wolf in Sheik's Clothing (Polacolor)

Robin Hoodwinked (Polacolor)

Symphony in Spinach (Polacolor)

Alpine for You

Mister and Mistletoe

Cops is Tops

A Job for a Gob

Hillbilling and Cooing

Popeye for President

Out to Punch

Assault and Flattery

Insect to Injury

Parlez Vous Woo

I Don't Scare

A Haul in One

Nearly Weds

The Crystal Brawl

Patriotic Popeye

Spree Lunch

Spooky Swabs

[Argus Sventon]

Don't forget Protek the Weakerist a B&W/redrawn Fleischer cartoon also has original Paramount logos.