| Never Kick a Woman | |
| Number 37 | |
 | |
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Never Kick a Woman is Popeye's 37th theatrical cartoon, produced by Fleischer Studios and released on August 28, 1936. In this cartoon, Olive is the protagonist and Popeye is the deuteragonist. The then-unnamed Mae is the antagonist.
Plot[]
Popeye and Olive are watching through a sporting goods store window. Inside, an athletic saleswoman (a Mae West caricature) is throwing punches at a speed bag, displaying her well-built shape. Popeye insists Olive should learn the art of self defense, but she refuses, so Popeye forces her to go in. Popeye puts some boxing gloves on his and Olive's hands, then the saleswoman welcomes the duo to a boxing lesson and ogles Popeye him seductively, making it clear that she likes him. Popeye demonstrates some boxing movements while Olive shows to be much less adept, and the woman mockingly laughs at her. As Popeye also laughs, the woman starts getting close to him. She caresses his hair, complimenting his curls, making Popeye blush. Olive realizes that the boxing woman has taken Popeye away from her, and manages to get over her fear of boxing. She challenges the boxing woman into a match, and the latter accepts it. The lady puts on her boxing gloves and punches Olive on the nose, making her snarl. Afterwards, they begin to fight, with the boxer changing Olive's hairstyle with each knock. Olive is easily dominated and slowly brought to the ground by the athletic woman, and the latter goes back to snuggling Popeye. Olive slowly gets up and has a better idea on how to defeat the boxer. She manages to crawl near Popeye's spinach can and, upon gulping down the greens, she becomes cat-like and launches into a rematch with her adversary, who is soon trounced, winning Popeye back. When Popeye congratulates Olive for learning self-defense, he receives his own dose of punches, until Olive calms down. At the end, Olive imitates Popeye when his hat and pipe land on her, complete with singing a variation of Popeye's theme song.
Trivia[]
- This is one of a few cartoons where the "love triangle" setup seen in several others is inverted, with Popeye as the object of desire in place of Olive. In this case, the female boxer plays Bluto's role while Olive plays Popeye's.
- The cartoon was recorded in a live mix like a radio show. There are times when there is a slight overlap of the two female characters, indicating that Olive's voice actress Mae Questel did not do the other voice.
- First time another character eats Popeye's spinach. The first character to do so was Olive.
- First time Olive toots Popeye's pipe.
- First cartoon in which Olive is the protagonist.
- Popeye being smitten with the Mae West-like boxer is similar to Olive being smitten with Bluto in several cartoons.
- First cartoon in which a character sings Popeye's theme song other than himself.
Gallery[]
External links[]
- Never Kick a Woman at the Internet Movie Database