Nearlyweds
| Nearlyweds | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | Seymour Kneitel |
| Produced by | Seymour Kneitel Isadore Sparber |
| Written by | Isadore Klein |
| Starring | Jack Mercer Mae Questel Jackson Beck |
| Music by | Winston Sharples |
| Animation by | Tom Johnson Frank Endres John Zago |
| Studio | Famous Studios |
| Distributed by | Paramount Pictures |
| Release date(s) | February 8, 1957 |
| Running time | 6:00 |
| Country | USA |
| Language | English |
| Preceded by | A Haul in One |
| Followed by | The Crystal Brawl |
| IMDb profile | |
Plot
Popeye proposes marriage to Olive Oyl at her house when Bluto stops by with a bouquet of flowers for Olive and he hears Popeye make his proposal. As Olive is about to accept, Bluto jumps in and also proposes to her. Flattered over both proposals, Olive covers her eyes and plays "Eeny, Meeny, Miny, Moe" to choose who to marry and she chooses Popeye, who is overjoyed at her acceptance. Bluto is displeased over losing out, but he pretends to congratulate Popeye on being Olive's choice before making a dramatic exit. After Popeye kisses Olive goodbye, he literally walks on air as he heads home to get ready for their wedding, which she has set for 3:00 p.m. that day.
Popeye runs a bath in his bathroom and jumps into the tub, then starts scrubbing his back while facing away from the bathroom window when Bluto launches his scheme to break up Popeye and Olive's engagement by pouring quick-drying cement into the tub. After the cement hardens, Popeye is forced to pry himself out of the tub, with the block of tub-shaped cement around his lower half, and jump over to his medicine cabinet, where he keeps an emergency can of spinach. The sailor grabs a leaf of spinach from the can and eats it, then destroys the block of cement and laughs while a bewildered Bluto looks on from outside. While getting dressed in his bedroom, Popeye accidentally rips the toe of one of his socks and does a quick repair job by tying the hole up while Bluto pranks him by nailing his shoes to the floor from the bedroom window, then moving the time on the wall clock ahead from 2:30 to 2:55. Seeing the time, Popeye thinks he is late and puts his shoes on, but he is unable to move them from the floor. While Popeye struggles with his shoes, Bluto pours glue onto the seat of the chair by the bedroom window. While Popeye sits down and frees himself from the floor (and discovers he is stuck to the chair), Bluto pranks him again by tying his tuxedo pant cuffs together, then breaks the hand mirror on Popeye's dresser with a brush and sticks the bristles through the hole in the mirror to make Popeye think he needs a shave. While Popeye uses his electric razor, Bluto sabotages the appliance by increasing the power to it from atop a power pole, causing the razor to go out of control and destroy Popeye's tuxedo.
Popeye quickly finds out Bluto's part in the sabotage when his rival taunts him from the window, and the sailor prepares to get his revenge when the clock strikes three, forcing him to leave for Olive's house dressed only in a barrel. Olive is getting ready for the wedding when Popeye arrives, but when she sees her fiancé wearing the barrel, she slams the door in his face, sending him rolling down the street in the barrel before a tuxedo-clad Bluto stops it and gloats at Popeye over getting the better of him before walking away laughing. When Bluto arrives at Olive's house and asks if she has changed her mind, the fickle Olive, within earshot of Popeye, spitefully declares that she has as they walk by him to a nearby justice of the peace for the wedding, causing Popeye to twirl his pipe in anger. At the justice's office moments later as Olive and Bluto stand before him, he asks Bluto if he promises to "Wash the windows, paint the house, mop the floors, obey your spouse" and a number of other questions that cause Bluto to get cold feet and change his mind about the wedding as he runs through the office wall to escape outside, with Olive chasing after him. The "justice of the peace" turns out to be Popeye, who removes his disguise and laughs as he savors his revenge.
Production notes
- Nearlyweds is one of a number of Famous Studios-produced Popeye the Sailor cartoons in the public domain in the United States.
- This is the final Popeye the Sailor cartoon to be produced under the Famous Studios banner before the company was renamed as Paramount Cartoon Studios.
- Nearlyweds is one of the few Popeye the Sailor cartoons where Popeye uses his smarts, rather than eating spinach to gain his strength, to defeat Bluto, when he disguises himself as the justice of the peace for his revenge prank to trick Bluto into rethinking his wedding plans. By extension, he also gets payback against Olive with the prank for her dumping him in favor of marrying Bluto because of Bluto's sabotage job against him.
External links
- Nearlyweds public domain cartoon at YouTube
