Trivia

Gus Wickie was the baritone of a vocal quartet used by Paramount. He is best known as the early voice of Bluto in the classic Fleischer Popeye shorts. His deep voice and heartily wicked laugh made his the signature voice for the Popeye villain. Sadly, he died in 1947 after appearing in only 28 of the classic shorts.

Wickie, a New York-based entertainer, ceased voicing Bluto after the Fleischer Studios relocated to Miami in 1938. It's a tribute to the impact Wickie had in the role that the character was rarely seen in the Popeye cartoons for some years. When the reorganized Famous Studios moved back to NYC in the early 1940s and revived Bluto as a series regular, they chose a much younger actor to play him, Jackson Beck.