Not to be confused with For Better or Nurse.
| For Better or Worser | |
| Number 23 | |
 | |
| Guide | |
| previous Choose Your 'Weppins' |
next Dizzy Divers |
For Better or Worser, released on June 28, 1935, is the 23rd Fleischer Studios Popeye cartoon.
Plot[]
At a men's only apartment, Popeye is trying to cook a dinner consisting of cooked spinach, eggs, coffee and the main course, chicken, with disastrous results. When Popeye sees his chicken burned and shrunk, he finally exclaims "It's no use, I hafta get me a wife" and sets off to the nearby Matrimonial Agency. Popeye demands service from the clerk (Oscar), who tells him to choose from a selection of pictures and Popeye, at the same time as another customer (Bluto), picks the photo of candidate No. 13, whom is only pictured from the back. Upstairs, the brides-to-be await. Number 13 (Olive Oyl) is elated to hear she has been chosen and applies heavy makeup and fake eyelashes. She puts her veil over her face and comes down. Each of the potential grooms tries to take her his way, which results in a tug of war. Bluto punches Popeye over the wall of portraits and runs off with her. When Popeye catches up, he tries to grab Olive by her foot, but it does not work so he instead grabs her hand. Popeye and Bluto both lose Olive in a tree. When Bluto punches Popeye near a telephone pole, they are both knocked out by it. Olive walks off, tree and all, then Popeye frees her from it. The tables are turned with Bluto coming down on his sailor rival with a string of punches and leaving him encased in concrete. Bluto then takes the bride to the Justice of the Peace, none other than the hamburger-hoarding J. Wellington Wimpy. Popeye, freed from the concrete but left in bad shape, arrives before the couple can be married. Eating his spinach allows him to pummel his competitor and trap him in a desk. Wimpy proceeds with the marriage vows. When Olive says "I do", she reveals her face to be unexpectedly unnatractive, due to excess makeup. Upon seeing this, Popeye yells "I do not!", and goes back to his place. Popeye concludes the cartoon by singing a song about being single.
Trivia[]
- This is the first cartoon where Gus Wickie voices Bluto.
- First cartoon to use the stereoptical process camera for its three-dimensional backgrounds. The effect was lost in the retraced color edition.
- First cartoon with a marriage theme.
- First cartoon in which Olive wears lipstick.
- When Popeye and Olive are about to get married, they are still wearing their regular clothes, although the latter is wearing a veil.
- This cartoon is similar to the Screen Songs entry Little Annie Rooney, starring Bimbo the Dog, in that Popeye dumps Olive because of her unexpectedly unnatractive face. The difference is that Bimbo changes his mind about being single, while Popeye stays single in the end.
External links[]
- For Better or Worser at the Internet Movie Database