We Aim to Please

We Aim to Please (1934)

*** 1/2 (out of 4)

Popeye and Olive Oyl open a new diner but things get a little rough when Bluto walks in and refuses to pay. This short contains all the greatness that the series had to offer in that it's fast, hilarious and action packed. There are countless laughs to be found here with the biggest coming from a trick Popeye plays a Bluto, which involves a napkins around his eyes. The action scenes are also very well done with some great fights and a hilarious ending. Wimpy is once again featured here and I believe this was the first short where he asked for a hamburger only to pay next Tuesday.

Olive Oyl and Popeye start up a diner. They do a song and dance. Olive suggests moving to the busier corner and Popeye gives their diner a push. Wimpy and Bluto are a couple of bums. They eat but they don't pay. Popeye fights it out with Bluto.

It's a standard Popeye cartoon although they are not sailors. It's got all the Popeye moves. I wouldn't mind for some more imaginative scamming especially from Wimpy. He still doesn't have his catch phrase. It does have the standard Popeye Bluto fight. It should have been a food fight where Wimpy can grab his share. That's the regular move with that story.

Popeye and Olive Oyl open a restaurant. Unfortunately, their first customer is Bluto, who eats a bunch of food and then stiffs them on the bill. This leads to the usual fisticuffs with Popeye getting pummeled until you know what. Not too much suspense here.

Make no mistake-although officially Popeye's cartoon, one J. Wellington Wimpy is the star here. Wimpy is (or should be) the icon for the American approach to consumerism-"I'd gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today." Wimpy never worries about that far off Tuesday, when his hamburgers will come home to roost (no doubt with indigestion not far behind), he just wants his hamburger today and hang Tuesday. Wimpy reminds me a lot of W. C. Fields' persona-he too was always concerned with current results, regardless of future consequences. Both also have just a touch of larceny in their heart. Wimpy is my favorite character in the series and his appearances were always too brief and too rare for my taste. Much better sidekick than the rather annoying Shorty ever was or could be. Here's to you, Wimpy, wherever you are. May all your days be Wednesdays. Well worth seeking out. Most Recommended.

Popeye and Olive Oyl open a diner. Their first customer is Wimpy, who bums a hamburger and leaves, promising, as always, to pay on Tuesday. This encourages Bluto also order and try to stiff the proprietors. As usual, a fight ensues.

There are no bad Popeye cartoons in this period, when the Fleischers and their staff were figuring out what they could do with the character, as long as they obeyed Dave Fleischer's rule to put as many gags into a cartoon as possible. That's what goes on here. There are big gags, like how Popeye changes the location of the diner, and there are medium gags, like how Olive makes sandwiches, and tiny gags like the menu.