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Shakespearian Spinach
By far the oddest and most obscure choice on our list, itʼs also the one we’ve relished doing since landing on it (which goes hand in hand with the strangeness of this choice if we’re being honest).
Tyler Clark
June 14, 2023
Good morning Consumers. This is Please Consume, the Film newsletter that loves you more than Ben Affleck loves being from Boston.
Shakespearian Spinach
June 14th, 2023 - Written by Tyler Clark
By far the oddest and most obscure choice on our list, itʼs also the one we’ve relished doing since landing on it (which goes hand in hand with the strangeness of this choice if we’re being honest).
Today we’re going way back in time and looking at a classic Popeye short called Shakespearian Spinach.
Put some respect on his name
If you think Popeye is just some old irrelevant cartoon from the 40s it turns out you’d be dead wrong. Popeye has had a long storied history that has crossed over into many mediums in his ninety-four years of existence.
Starting as a character, not on screen, but on the page in the funnies, making an appearance in Thimble Theatre and from there he was off to the races.
Making his debut in theaters in 1933 with Popeye the Sailor, he would later go onto also have his own radio program, a comic book, a saturday morning cartoon, a Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade Balloon, and a 1980 film starring Robin Williams and Shelley Duvall that was directed by Robert Fucking Altman.
And in 1961 Andy Warhol introduced the world to the concept of pop art with pieces like Before and After, Superman, Campbell's Soup Cans, and right next to them, sure enough, there was Saturday’s Popeye.
If none of that convinces you of the cultural significance of the sailor man then how do you explain that the spinach industry credits their 33% sales boost between the years of 1931 to 1936 to Popeye?
If Only William Shakespeare was Here
Today’s scene is from the 1940 short film Shakespearean Spinach (we also have the full six minute short linked if you’d like to just watch the whole thing) .
It was directed by Dave Fliescher, a legend in the world of serial shorts from the 30s and 40s with work like this, Betty Boop, and some incredible Superman shorts that are 110% worth checking out.
Fleischer had such a love for the animation medium was an early pioneer of it. He had the heart of a poet and the chops of a clown and this short is a perfect example of the two worlds colliding.
Adapting the material to a slap-stick narrative, Dave took a property that is so well known and lovingly messed with its iconography in inventive and kinetic ways.
This is also a wonderful early example of what we’ll call the cartoon trench coat effect, named after every cartoon character who ever wore a trench coat and fedora to parody Humprey Bogarrt in Casablanca.
Itʼs a joke that gets lost in the echo chamber so one day when adults watch Casablanca they go, OOOOh, that’s why the Ninja Turtles wore trench coats when they left the sewers.
For many, we’re sure this was their introduction to this iconic story. We thank you Fliescher and I’m sure Billy Shakes would too!
Today’s Scene
Stream It
If you want to watch Popeye at home, you can find it here.
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