Little Swee'pea

I never did understand in what relation was this baby to Popeye. Was he (it is a boy, is it not?), Olive Oyl's illegitimate kid? She seemed to hang around the docks a lot, she dated both Bluto and Popeye, heck, she could have dated (wink, wink) the whole 7th fleet for all we know!! But, I digress. This cartoon is a cute one about Popeye taking Swee Pea to the zoo. Swee Pea decides to climb out of his stroller and get inside various animal cages. Swee Pea gets inside the elephant, alligator, hippo cages and is seen riding the leopard out of the zoo before being caught by Popeye and delivered back to Olive Oyl.

But, this is a funny little cartoon from the Fleischer Studios.

I grew up watching this Popeye and unlike the heroes the kids have to look up to today he was honest, truthful and always did the right thing even when it meant more trouble for his "predicamink". Granted Popeye never took himself to seriously but that's just another factor that endeared him for me. Just simply a great cartoon as all the old Popeye cartoons are. Oh and for those of you asking about Swee'Pea and where he came from, he was an orphan. One legend has it that Popeye found him in the Swee'Pea vines, thus the name. The other legend says he was left on the Oyle family's' doorstep. According to this version when first introduced to Popeye he "socked" him right in the eye and Popeye said he "layed me in the Swee'Peas!" Thus another origin for the name. Olive seemed to have became his adoptive Mother. So take your pick of origin legends but please allow this to put to rest any notion of Swee'Pea being an illegitimate child once and for all. Let us not tarnish the long standing respect for Popeye and his world.

Like cartoon producer Max Fleischer's star character Popeye the Sailor, Swee'Pea first appeared in E.C. Segar's comic strip THIMBLE THEATRE. In the baby's animated debut, LITTLE SWEE'PEA, he is an effective foil for Popeye. Here, the sailor takes the baby to the zoo. However, Swee'pea escapes from his carriage and wanders along the cages of various large and dangerous animals. The bulk of the cartoon concerns Popeye's efforts to rescue Swee'pea from these beasts while trying to avoid being mauled himself.

As in most of the Max Fleischer Popeye cartoons I have seen, LITTLE SWEE'PEA has a lot of clever and enjoyable gags. One particularly inventive sequence has Popeye searching for Swee'pea in a hippo's cage only to find the baby right inside the hippo when the beast opens its mouth. One wonders why this particular zoo lacks any staff to prevent babies like Swee'pea from entering these cages. Then again, if anybody was around to stop Swee'pea we'd be denied the joy of seeing Popeye struggle with the animals, wouldn't we? For this cartoon, the Fleischer staff used live-action backgrounds. The results are impressive, creation a 3-D illusion. I've never seen the colorized version of LITTLE SWEE'PEA, nor do I desire to. From what I hear, the people who recolored this black-and-white cartoon obliterated these attractive backgrounds.

And there's always the joy of listening to Jack Mercer as Popeye. He provides an ideal voice characterization, a deep gravelly voice that nevertheless conveys a jovial warmth, revealing the sailor's golden heart beneath his rough exterior. One also gets to hear Mercer's muttered ad-libs, although in my opinion there aren't enough in this particular cartoon.

LITTLE SWEE'PEA, like most of the Max Fleischer Popeye cartoons I've seen, remains fresh and funny after over sixty years. Like all fine cartoons, this is essential family entertainment, testifying to the greatness of both the Max Fleischer studio and Jack Mercer.

I remember Little See'pea as the debut cartoon for the Segar-created baby Swee'Pea. (Sock-a-Bye Baby was not Swee'pea's debut, though I at first thought that the babe whom Popeye was baby-sitting WAS Swee'pea.) This cartoon showed what Swee'Pea was like; when Popeye took him to the zoo (because Olive Oyl was too busy with housecleaning to go with Popeye), Swee'Pea crawled in and out of mischief, with Popeye in pursuit. With the aid of spinach, he spanked the hippo and threw him into the ground, then twirled a leopard, which lost its spots. The punching of the crocodile into suitcases, seen in several other Popeyes, was absent. At the end, Popeye gave Swee'pea a toy monkey, which led him to SQUALL! Olive Oyl thought that Popeye had FRIGHTENED Swee'pea, hit him with her broom. The REAL nitty-gritty was that Swee'Pea was squalling because he did not have his way. This was seen in later Popeyes featuring Swee'Pea, like Baby Wants a Bottleship and Thrill of Fair. All in all, a fine cartoon debut for Swee'Pea.

in this animated short,Popeye takes Swee' Pea to the zoo,and of course chaos and hi jinx ensue,with Popeye being pretty much oblivious.this is the 1st Popeye short i have seen,and i thought it was quite funny,and of course absurd.this is one of the short films from the Fleisher studio,who also did a number of Superman animated shorts,17 in all,i think.one of the funniest things about Popeye is his strange way of speaking,or mumbling rather.that and the fact that he always has a can of spinach on him no matter where he goes.of course,as soon as the can of spinach is drained,Popeye becomes super strong.in just over 7 minutes,there is a lot packed into this short.i really enjoyed it.for me,Popeye:Little Swee'Pea is an 8/10