In 1960, King Features Syndicate brought forth “Popeye the Sailor,” an animated television series featuring new misadventures of the beloved spinach-chomping hero and his wacky circle of friends and foes. A total of 220 short cartoons were created for the series by multiple animation studios, and most them were forgettable. But there was one short that stood out for being an extraordinary detour from the usual Popeye-fueled knockabout.
The 1960 “Coffee House” from Jack Kinney Productions put Popeye in the unlikeliest of environments: the then-prevalent beatnik subculture. The concept was pure old-school Popeye, with Olive Oyl being lured into an unlikely setting by a rival suitor – in this case, the big bully Brutus – with Popeye trying to extract her and bring her back to reality.
However, in “Coffee House” things are very different. For starters, Olive is not in any real danger from Brutus. Indeed, Popeye comes across as the aggressor for violently trying to break up Olive’s shared beatnik lifestyle with Brutus. But rather than take her out of a dangerous surrounding, Popeye himself goes beatnik, declaring in a hipster tone, “Like, I am what I am.”
The production has a lot of fun spoofing the beatnik scene. Olive, Brutus, and the other denizens of the eponymous venue wear beatnik-appropriate turtlenecks, berets, and oversized glasses. The cartoon’s soundtrack is a light jazzy instrumental played by a flute and bongo drums, a pure beatnik sound. And the characters speak in the hipster jargon of this scene, with a lot of “Daddy-o” talk and the chanting of “cool” in approval positive happenings. Even Popeye’s strength source is beatnik friendly: a can of “cultured spinach.”
Brutus recites a beat-inspired poem called “Ode to an Onion” which would probably make Allen Ginsberg howl. It has to be shared:
O Onion, Onion
You are the gone-est
So green yet so honest
O Onion, Onion
Like, I dig you the mostest
O green and lovely hostess
Hip! Hip! Hip! And crazy-daisy
Like, your breath just leaves me hazy
O brave and noble Onion
Green stem and creamy bunion
Your personality is hallion
Live! Grow! Breathe!
O gracious scallion!
The Popeye-Brutus brawling is very funny. Brutus initially gets the best of Popeye by shoving him head-first into a television set while sneering, “Hi-Fi, 3D, in color with a square picture tube.” Even more zany is their fight in the coffee house, where Brutus runs face-first into Popeye’s extended fist.
Unlike the earlier incarnations of the Popeye characters that played theatrically for viewing by both adults and children, “Coffee House” is most unusual because the “Popeye the Sailor” series was aimed at the kiddie audience. Were the children back in 1960 to get the parody references in this short? I believe that I first saw this either when I was in high school or college back in the 1980s and my reaction was one of total disbelief that something so wildly out of context was made.
It is a shame that the other 219 cartoons in this series came nowhere near this offering for style and imagination. But, hey, at least have this one true gem to savor.