Morning, Noon and Night Club

Popito and Olivita dance nightly at Wimpy's Cafe. Bluto hates Popito and punches out his faces on the posters. Bluto keeps pursuing Olivita and disrupt their show.

It's a black and white Popeye cartoon short. There are some cultural issues with the modern audience but it's rather understandable for its time. Otherwise, it's the standard trio doing their thing with Wimpy adding his voice. It's standard Popeye.

Popeye and Olive Oyl dance nightly at Wimpy's Cafe; it's a Spanish dance act. When Miss Oyl refuses to go on a date with Bluto, he tries to sabotage the act.

There's some superb animation of the dance routines by Willard Bowsky and George Germanetti, and an unusually large number of characters from Segar's Thimble Theater comic strip can be glimpsed looking out of windows at an apartment house. For some reason, there's an abandonment of the rule of three here, with the kicker coming on the fourth iteration in a couple of places. Still and all, a fine and funny addition to the list of the Fleischer Brothers' excellent cartoons.

Bluto was determined to ruin the floor show scheduled at nearby night club, with Wimpy as proprietor. He punched Popeye's face at all the billboards, was determined, after Olive's rightfully saying NO! to his advances, to get even. Behind the LAST Popeye face that he punched, out came a goat! BAAAAAA! The floor show was entertaining, Olive's singing "Why Am I So Beautiful", after which Bluto rudely booed her and turned on radiator valve to create hiss. Then Bluto tried to spoil the couples' dance act, Popito and Olivita; finally, came the best part when Popeye ate his spinach and, in Russian dance act, let Bluto have it! That evened up THAT score!

Who are the dance sensations at Wimpy's Cafe? Well, the duo of "Popito and Olivita," of course!

Highlights of this very humorous Popeye cartoon included Bluto "scatting" down the street as he punches out Popeye's face on every billboard he sees; his comments when he looks at Olive's face on those billboards ("What a sweet mama! Boy, she's got something!"); nightclub emcee Wimpy with a top hat that is converted to a grill to make hamburgers; and much more.

The story revolves around Bluto trying to ruin the dancing pair's act. That comes after the brute getting the brushoff from Olive on the way in the nightclub. Bluto vows revenge.

I'm not a big fan of the fickle Olive Oyl but I had laugh out loud at some of the lyrics in her opening song, modestly called "Why I Am So Beautiful?" One example: "Can it be my grace or form divine? Can it be my face or these pretty feet of mine? Whooo!!" Mae Questel does a hilarious job singing the song.

What happens afterward is different in that all the violence is done while Popeye and Bluto are dancing with each other. You have to see it to believe it. The Russian dancing at the end is the best part - just an incredible hoot to watch.

This an outstanding cartoon, another of the best in perhaps the best years of Popeye: the mid-to-late 1930s.

Morning, Noon, and Nightclub (1937)

*** (out of 4)

Popito and Olivita are in Wimpy's club doing a dance number when Bluto decides to come in and cause trouble after the woman refused his date request. Soon Bluto is booing the couple and you just know a fight is going to break out.

MORNING, NOON AND NIGHTCLUB is another fun short in the Popeye series. While I'd fall short of calling this a classic, the film still offers up enough fun action to make it worth watching. The highlight of the film is when Bluto is watching Olive Oyl dance and begins to boo her. Her facial reaction to it was quite funny. Once the dancing begins we get a few funny site gags that help keep the film moving at a nice pace.