Organ Grinder's Swing

The Organ Grinders Swing (1937)

*** (out of 4)

Wimpy and his pet monkey are in the streets paying music in exchange for hamburgers. Popeye hooks him up but Bluto hates the music so instead he decides to play a cruel trick on them. Soon Bluto and Popeye are fighting over whether Wimpy can play music.

THE ORGAN GRINDERS SWING is another clever and fun Popeye short that manages to be fast-paced and contain plenty of violence. As you'd expect, the animation itself is excellent and I think a really strong case could be made that these were some of the greatest looking animated shorts ever. This short benefits from plenty of great fights between the two leads and a rather mean but hilarious joke played on the monkey by Bluto.

Wimpy, of all people, is an organ grinder, and he's trained his little monkey to feed him a hamburger every few seconds or so while he grinds away on the musical instrument.

Olive Oyl, Popeye and Bluto all live in upper-floor rooms at this nearby hotel and are being entertained by the music and monkey below. The monkey climbs up and gets a little treat from both Olive and Popeye. However, Bluto opens his window and yells at them to go away. He throws a heated coin at the monkey, who grabs it and is burned. Wow, talk about sadistic!

Well, of course, Popeye comes to the rescue of the music maker and his little friend, who start to run away as Bluto throws more objects down on them.

There is a song that is played throughout this cartoon. I can't recall the name of it but I remember it from a Shirley Temple film. She and Bill Robinson danced to this number, and it was one of their better numbers together.

Anyway, Popeye makes Bluto play for spanking - so to speak - the monkey! It's nothing super, but it was another entertaining cartoon from the mid '30s.

Wimpy is an organ grinder with a monkey. He is performing outside an apartment building. Popeye and Olive Oyl are neighbors enjoying the music. They pay the money. In fact, Popeye pays with hamburgers. Mean-spirited neighbor Bluto starts attacking Wimpy and Popeye fights back. As Bluto gains the upper hand, the monkey finds the spinach.

This has most of the classic Popeye characters plus a monkey. It is always nice to add a monkey to the cartoon. I would like Olive to get more involved in the fight. It is interesting that the characters are neighbors. This is a solid episode if not necessarily one of the classics.

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.

'Organ Grinder's Swing' is not quite classic Popeye the Sailor. It nonetheless is very well done, hugely enjoyable from the start up to the finish 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. 'Organ Grinder's Swing' 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, avoiding the trap of repetition. The part with the heated coin is perhaps a bit on the cruel side, even for Bluto, but it didn't come over as too distasteful.

All the featured 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 'Organ Grinder's Swing' with great energy and gusto. Popeye is always amusing and likeable but for me Bluto is here the funnier and more interesting character.

Wimpy is also very entertaining as usual while the cute and funny monkey, who one also feels sorry for, nearly steals the cartoon.

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, very good. 8/10 Bethany Cox

Wimpy J. Wellington and his monkey have taken up post in the apartment building's back yard. While the monkey collects money, Wimpy plays the title tune on his barrel organ. Olive Oyl and Popeye like the music. Bluto does not. Popeye and Bluto fight.

It's the standard plot of the majority of the Popeye cartoons for more than twenty years, although since they're fighting over Wimpy's music instead of the voluptuous Miss Oyl, I'm happy to give it a pass on that ground. The gags are frequently violent, since Popeye and Bluto do damage freely to each other, but also Bluto burns the monkey with a heated coin.