Problem Pappy

Problem Pappy, (which showed a question mark with the title and copyright date MCMXLI[1941]), was very fittingly titled. It showed just how cantankerous Popeye's 99-year-old father was, as did several other Fleischer produced and directed cartoons of the 1940-41 period. At half past noon time, Popeye, loving son as he was, knocked on Pappy's bedroom door to find a note: "I wuzzent in last night. Pappy". Popeye made a frantic search, found the salty old sailor sitting and juggling on a flagpole atop a skyscraper! Popeye sternly warned him to come down "..before I sends for a hospital to come and get you!" (By that, he meant committing Pappy to a mental hospital, which, in the 1940's, could be done more easily than today.) Pappy refused, so Popeye said "If you ain't coming DOWN, I'M COMING UP! Pappy still refused, and greased the flagpole. Only an electrical storm, accompanied by score from Rossini's William Tell Overture, led Pappy to come down, with a lightning bolt opening spinach can for Popeye, who swung with his father on lightning bolts to safety. Popeye tucked the cantankerous old man in bed, and brought milk but found Pappy sleeping on a flagpole! An excellent example of how cantankerous Poopdeck Pappy was.