Popeye: The Sailor is an integral piece of the early history of animation and cartooning in the United States, ultimately providing animation enthusiasts with a multitude of creative and technical accomplishments with which to perceive the evolution of an increasingly artistic medium. Proudly exhibiting the grit, strength and integrity one would anticipate from a man constantly reaffirming that "I yam what I yam, and that's all what I yam,"
Popeye: The Sailor in many ways, is as culturally significant and artistically influential as it is a historical landmark. Now, with the release of
Popeye: The Sailor: 1933-1938 from Warner Home Video, the animation community is ecstatic over the exposure this classic cartoon is finally receiving.
Animation Insider recently had the opportunity to deliver several questions in the direction of Fred M. Grandinetti, a highly active
Popeye: The Sailor historian and author of the landmark publication,
Popeye: An Illustrated Cultural History (McFarland & Company, 2nd ed. 2004). Grandinetti, co-founder of the International Popeye Fan Club, has been a key proponent for the home video release of
Popeye over the years. He's dedicated to preserving one of western animation's earliest heroes in theatrical animation as well as to enabling contemporary cartoon viewers to take in the exciting adventures of the indomitable pipe-chomping sailor.
An experienced artist, writer and researcher of comics and animation, Grandinetti is a confidant media analyst in addition to being a connoisseur of classic cartoons. His writings have appeared in the well known
Comic's Buyers Guide,
Skwigly Animation Magazine, the
New England Entertainment Digest,
Filmfax and
Antiques & Collecting Magazine among several others. Fred M. Grandinetti is currently writing a book on the life and work of Jack Mercer, the voice of Popeye, whose career spanned from the 1930s to the 1980s.
The following interview details Mr. Grandinetti's impressions of the awesome release of
Popeye: The Sailor: 1933-1938 in addition to a conversation on the developing relationship the animation community has with classic cartoons. Grandinetti speaks on
Popeye cartoons from all eras of animation, from the Fleischer/Famous Studios productions to the King Features television cartoons. For more information on the quality release of the digitally remastered and uncut
Popeye: The Sailor animations, check out the following AnimationInsider.net article:
Original 'Popeye' Animation on DVD.
