The Man on the Flying Trapeze

Popeye the Sailor Man pilots his ship through a storm and a city. He's looking for Olive Oyl but she's not home. She has gone to see the man on the flying trapeze. Popeye is terribly jealous. Wimpy is the MC.

It's a little disappointing that the trapeze guy isn't Bluto. Jules Leotard was apparently a French trapeze artist from the 19th century. I've never heard of the guy. There's a song and his name becomes the garment. I learn something new everyday. There are three street kids and a cat. I don't know if any of them make another appearance. The biggest difference is the singing. There is lots of it and it adds something to the cartoon.

This is an unusual Popeye cartoon in that 98 percent of the dialog is sung - and all of it one song: "The Daring Young Man On The Flying Trepeze." It gets to be a little much after awhile and I'm glad this sort of thing wasn't the normal fare. In fact, I don't if it ever was done again in a Popeye animated short. You can't use any verbal jokes or add to the story when all you are doing is repeating verses of the same song over and over.

However, the sight gags are very good in the beginning before the "trapeze song" took over, as Popeye sails an ocean liner through the dock and down the main street of a big city, right to Olive's house. We also see something else unique (at least, I've never seen her): what looks to be Olive Oyl's mom. It's a shorter, fatter and older version of Olive. She sings to Popeye that Olive has run off with the "man in the flying...."

Fortunately, the circus is right across the street so Popeye takes a bunch of nearby street kids to the tent, watches the big musclebound guy on the trapeze swing a terrified Oliver around like a wet towel, and then goes to get his girl. The ending is funny and unexpected. Olive really took her lumps in this episode!

Popeye gets off the ship and heads over to see Olive Oyl, but her grandmother informs her she has gone with the title character. As a result, everyone sings the song, while ringmaster Wimpy eats a whistle and blows on a hamburger, while the acrobat uses Olive as a prop.

I's one of the great Popeye cartoons produced by the Fleischers, and makes fine use of the title song and the insistence on director Dave Fleischer on packing every cartoon with an enormous number of gags, big and little.

The song dates from 1867, and was inspired by acrobat Jules Leotard, who appeared in the garment that is still called by his name. And no, I don't mean the Jules.

Man on the Flying Trapeze, The (1934)

*** (out of 4)

Unusual Popeye cartoon has him sailing in to ask Olive Oyl out but she's left him for the title character. Popeye then goes to the circus to see the man and gets into a battle. This is a rather unusual short because the majority of the dialogue comes from singing. The songs in the film are very good and most of the charm comes from them. There's your typical nice animation and some very good direction in the storytelling and that includes some very good fight scenes in the air. There's also a funny sequence with a woman whom I'm guessing is Olive's mother. we also get Wimpy as the announcer at the circus. This isn't the best Popeye short I've seen but the strange musical numbers make it work watching.

While "The Man on the Flying Trapeze" features a villain other than Bluto, it is a substandard cartoon of the day. Much of this is because the title character is poorly animated and creepy looking. Additionally, I am not a huge fan of singing in cartoons--and there's a bit too much of it for my taste.

The story itself features perhaps the grandest entrance by Popeye ever. However, after all that, he finds that Olive Oyl isn't home--she's joined the circus. Popeye goes to investigate and finds her boss, the trapeze artist, is a bit of a Bluto-like character--so Popeye does his usual routing--taking spinach and delivering a huge butt-whipping. All in all, a decent cartoon but just not as well made as you'd expect.