One drawing per frame.
Olive Oyl (Margie Hines) rings a fight bell. The fight stops in mid-air. This drawing is held for ten frames.
Tom Johnson was the head animator on this cartoon, and the other animation credit went to Lodowick Louis Rossner. He was a native of Allendale, New Jersey, born on October 26, 1906, and attended the Pratt Institute. He had left Fleischer’s by 1945, as he was then employed by Wilding Picture Productions, an industrial film company. In 1957, he and his wife were living in Tarzana, California. He died in Los Angeles on December 15, 1978.
Johnson was the head animator/de-facto director most into straight comedy at the Fleischer Studio. This was his first Popeye short in that role, and he immediately set about making Bluto less gruff and more of a comedic figure, a trend that would continue in his next effort, "Stealin' Ain't Honest". He'd end up as the main head animator on the Popeye series for Famous Studios after returning from military service during World War II, taking Jim Tyer's place as head animator.
ReplyDeleteSo he's responsible for ruining Popeye and Bluto. (This is also one of the first cartoons where Olive wears heels instead of her traditional high-button boots.) You'd never guess from these great frames.
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