Toon Rock: Let's Sing With Popeye (1934)

There's a reason why this Popeye short isn't part of the syndicated package we watched when we were kids.

For one thing, "Let's Sing With Popeye", released in 1934, is only 2 minutes long. Secondly, it's part of the Screen Songs series that Paramount was running concurrently with the Popeye series. More than half the time is devoted to that bouncing little ball that would return some years later in a series of Famous Studios shorts that did make it to TV.

Anyway, William Costello, the original voice of Popeye, croons (if you can call that crooning) his theme song, all the while demonstrating feats of animated strength.



I think another reason we don't see this anymore is that educators would rather not have children learning to spell using Popeye's fractured English.

Rating: B.