Vim, Vigor and Vitaliky

Popeye has a gymnasium with health classes for women. He is teaching a small class with a few lady students. Bluto owns a cabaret next door. Olive Oyl refuses to drink with Bluto and goes to Popeye's gym instead. Bluto does some cross-dressing to infiltrate Popeye's class.

It is rather modern to have a ladies only fitness class. This is a Popeye cartoon most noted for an ugly cross-dressing Bluto and he/she is really ugly. That is good comedic fun. I really like the simple premise. The cross-dressing is a little surprising in a very good way. This is a little different and a good Popeye short.

This was a very funny Popeye cartoon, right from the start before anyone said anything. Check out the spelling outside Popeye's gymnasium: "Healt Classes For Wimmen," "Vitaliky Is Personaliky" and Healt Is Wealt." Oddly, he spelled "Gymnasium" correctly. Figure that out!

Bluto, who owns the cabaret next door, sees Olive head into the gym and stops here. "Hey, getting healthy is the bum. Come out with me and have a good time." Olive tells him to scram, so this brute really is jealous of his neighbor, who is getting all the customers while he is getting none.

That sets up the normal conflict between these two rivals once again, except this has a twist. Bluto shaves, puts on a wig and heels and walks into Popeye's women's fitness class. Nobody knows each other in this episode. Olive calls Popeye "professor" as he leads an aerobics class (well, the 1930s version).

Bluto disrupts the class, of course, and....well, I can't say without spoiling things but there are some outstanding sight gags in here and some funny mumbles by Popeye as this overgrown, muscular "woman" is causing havoc and Popeye won't fight back because a gentleman doesn't hit a woman.

Whoever did Bluto's voice deserves accolades but he's not listed here. A guess is that it is Gus Wickie, who did most of the Popeye cartoons in the '30s.

Dave Fleischer was responsible for many gems. Ones that were amusing and charming, though over-cuteness did come through in some efforts and the stories were always pretty thin, with appealing characters, outstanding music and visuals that were inventive and with innovative animation techniques.

'Vim, Vigour and Vitaliky' is classic Popeye the Sailor. It is extremely well done and never less than very funny, its best parts being hilarious. Have always enjoyed many of the Popeye cartoons a good deal and like Popeye very much, Fleischer's efforts were always well animated and scored with lots of entertainment value and great chemistry between Popeye, Olive Oyl and Bluto. 'Vim, Vigour and Vitaliky' has everything that makes the Popeye series so appealing in its prime era and does nothing to waste the three main characters or make them less interesting.

The story is an interesting and beautifully paced one, never being dull, if formulaic (not uncommon with the Popeye cartoons). The humour and gags make it even more entertaining, 'Vim, Vigour and Vitaliky' makes something stressful like battling for strength fun to watch and interesting, avoiding the trap of repetition.

All three characters are great, though Olive Oyl is a bit underused and her material not as great as Popeye and Bluto's. Those two are spot on and their chemistry drives 'Vim, Vigour and Vitaliky' and has so much energy. If you haven't seen Bluto in drag, a sight to behold, then you haven't lived. Popeye is always amusing and likeable but for me Bluto is here the funnier and more interesting character.

Furthermore, the animation is beautifully drawn and with enough visual detail to not make it cluttered or static and lively and smooth movement. The music is also outstanding, lots of merry energy and lush orchestration, adding a lot to the action and making the impact even better without being too cartoonish. Fleischer's direction is always accomplished and his style is all over it.

Voice acting is dynamic and of very good quality, Mae Questel is a good fit for Olive Oyl, the voice that most sticks in my mind for the character and who voiced her the best, but Jack Mercer and Gus Wickie are even better and give Popeye and Bluto so much life.

Overall, terrific. 9/10 Bethany Cox

Vim, Vigor and Vitaliky (1936)

*** (out of 4)

Popeye opens up a fitness club for women, which soon starts to take business away from Bluto's restaurant. Bluto dresses in drag to beat Popeye to a pulp so that he can claim Popeye shouldn't be training women. seeing Bluto dressed in drag is certainly the highlight of the film as he has to be one of the ugliest women in the history of cinema. Popeyes claims that no woman is stronger than him makes for some nice fights between him and Bluto. I'm sure this film would be called sexist today, which might explain the warning when the Warner DVD comes on, but it still remains fun.

Popeye's gymnasium for ladies is drawing away all of Bluto's cabaret customers. So Bluto dresses as a woman and proceeds to beat up Popeye without worrying he will counterattack... The Popster is, after all, a gentleman.

It's a nice assortment of gags as Bluto uses gym equipment to show off his strength, which Popeye, of course, immediately does better. Gus Wicke does the Bluto voice as a woman very effectively, and lead animators Roland Crandall and Seymour Kneitel handle the flouncing very nicely.

Of course, it all develops into an all-out fight once Bluto's wig slips and Popeye eats the spinach he keeps for emergencies.