Nurse-Mates

Popeye and Bluto show up at Olive Oyl's cottage to take her to the movies. She, however, needs to get her hair done. So she leaves both of them there, with instructions on how to take care of Swee'pea.

It's a very nice set-up of gags as the two men compete over who gets to do what with the infink -- sorry, infant -- while trying to sock each other. I have some issues with Swe'pea's character design. It seems to be modeled more on Eugene the Jeep than the child in other Popeye cartoons. There's also one very creepy gag, where Swe'pea has ink on his face and Popeye uses spot remover to get it off, taking away the baby's eyes, nose and mouth with it.

Popeye and Bluto show up at Olive's door at the same time, wanting to take her to the movies. Because she needs to go to the beauty parlor, she enlists them to take care of Swee-pea. I have no idea what their relationship is. Anyway, she leaves a list of things they have to do. Of course, they don't have a clue what to do and end up in a fight over every actions. Of course, the baby has more brains and ingenuity than either of them, so things go bonkers. It is well paced and full of fun sight gags.

There's nothing awful about this one, just nothing really remarkable, save for Pinto Colvig (the voice of Goofy) as Bluto. I've seen it all in other (better) Popeye shorts. Fleischer almost always did visually fantastic cartoons and this one isn't bad. But I see signs of burnout here. They seem to have lost a bit of steam with this one. Oh, well, they can't all be great. Jack Mercer is fine as usual. Recommended for completeists.

Both Popeye and Bluto arrive at Olive Oyl's home at the same time. Neither is willing to give an inch. Both want to take her to the movies. She has to go to the beauty parlor and leaves the guys to take care of Swee'Pea. First, they fight over washing the baby and it goes downhill from there.

This is the classic trio with Swee'Pea. I like this combination and it also suggests that Olive Oyl is a single mother. The audience of that era probably didn't connect those dots in a cartoon. I would like Swee'Pea to cause more havoc. He eventually gets there. Finally, I would like to show the passing time. Olive Oyl didn't go to the beauty parlor for five minutes.

Here is a favorite Popeye cartoon from 1940. I have a very specific favorite cartoon from a certain year. This cartoon has plenty of witty dialogue that I enjoy. Dialogue-humor is what I call funny lines. And in this cartoon, it's Disney regular Pinto Colvig as Bluto's voice; I thought he was hilarious as the "big lug."

In this cartoon, Popeye and Bluto (simultaneously) ask Olive out to the movies. Olive has a hair appointment, so the guys will watch Swee'Pea. The two compete against each other to follow Olive's schedule of taking care of Swee'Pea: bathing, dressing, and putting him down for his nap. But it was one argument after another. I also love the 1937 Popeye cartoon "I Likes Babies and Infinks," where Popeye and Bluto argue over Swee'Pea. Of course, the two were trying to make Swee'Pea laugh. That is all I have to say about this cartoon. I don't have a favorite scene in this animated production, as I am enthralled by the entire work, from the initial frames to the climax. I give it a score out of ten for its excellent animation and hilarious conversational comedy.