Never Kick a Woman

When Popeye and Olive go by a storefront, a Mae West lookalike is offering to teach self defense. Popeye thinks it would be good for Olive to learn a bit. As it turns out, the proprietor has her eyes on Popeye. Olive has no boxing or defense skills and begins to do badly, while Mae comes on the our sailor man. But there is an equalizer that allows Olive Oyl to get back in the game. A very good Popeye episode with a feminist theme.

Probably the greatest ever Popeye cartoon. An off-the-wall, vaguely erotic plot line, with an original tin pan alley song ("Learn the Art of Self Defense") that deserves to be revived by some post-modern art band. A color computerized version is alleged to exist. Does anyone out there know where one can get it (or even a regular taped version)? It's criminal that King Syndicate will not release most of the Max Fleischer Popeye films.

A really fun role reversal love triangle when Olive Oyl finds her 'Bluto' in the form of a flirty female boxer/Mae West-type. Lots of great gags in this Popeye short.

IT is amazing looking back on this cartoon about Olive Oyl taking up boxing. It has taken many DECADES for the rest of society to catch up with this notion of women boxing.

Who would have thought that Olive Oyl was such a trailblazer.

Some subtle, and some not-so-subtle eroticism in this cartoon. The big blonde Mae West-type character is easily the sexiest woman ever in a Popeye cartoon, although Olive Oyl eventually changes that. There is both a black-and-white and a colorized version being shown on TV.