What was the name of Popeye's nemesis? - Sitcoms Online Message Boards

Brian Damage · 08-23-2008, 04:49 PM

Was it Bluto or Brutus?

GARFIELDKOOL · 08-23-2008, 06:05 PM

From what I know, it was initally Brutus, but then it became what we all know as Bluto.

Brian Damage · 08-23-2008, 06:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GARFIELDKOOL

From what I know, it was initally Brutus, but then it became what we all know as Bluto.

Thanks KOOL, interesting, I wonder why the name switch?

GARFIELDKOOL · 08-23-2008, 06:37 PM

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bluto

tv star collector · 08-23-2008, 06:51 PM

Bud Sagendorf--"Popeye" creator Elzie C. Segar's first and only assistant,
who succeeded Segar and drew Popeye comic strips and comic books for many, many years--discussed this topic in his 1979 book, Popeye: The
First Fifty Years:

"The monstrous Brutus, with his overwhelming desire to defeat Popeye, was
created by Segar for animated films in the mid-thirties. The animation studio
needed a continuing villain to form a triangle with Olive and the sailor--someone who would be there to compete for love of the fair Olive. When the
studio requested a new character, it fell to me to research all the tough men
Popeye had fought in the newspaper strips. Then, with a pile of defeated characters in front of him, Segar created a composite villain--one big enough
to afford Popeye a continuing rival.

"In films and television, Brutus is called Bluto. In the fifties, after a disagreement over the orgin of the name, he became known as Brutus--in
comic books and newspaper strips. Because of his tremendous popularity, the
bearded giant was made a member of the cast in the newspaper feature and
continues his record of losing fights on a regular basis."

[The full story is a bit more complicated than that. In 1961, a new series of
made-for-TV Popeye cartoons were produced by King Features. In that
series, the villain was named Brutus (because King Features didn't own the
rights to the name "Bluto"). But then, in 1981, yet another Popeye series
was produced jointly by Hanna-Barbera and King Features; and in that series,
Popeye's nemesis was again Bluto.]

Brian Damage · 08-23-2008, 06:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tv star collector

Bud Sagendorf--"Popeye" creator Elzie C. Segar's first and only assistant,
who succeeded Segar and drew Popeye comic strips and comic books for many, many years--discussed this topic in his 1979 book, Popeye: The
First Fifty Years:

"The monstrous Brutus, with his overwhelming desire to defeat Popeye, was
created by Segar for animated films in the mid-thirties. The animation studio
needed a continuing villain to form a triangle with Olive and the sailor--someone who would be there to compete for love of the fair Olive. When the
studio requested a new character, it fell to me to research all the tough men
Popeye had fought in the newspaper strips. Then, with a pile of defeated characters in front of him, Segar created a composite villain--one big enough
to afford Popeye a continuing rival.

"In films and television, Brutus is called Bluto. In the fifties, after a disagreement over the orgin of the name, he became known as Brutus--in
comic books and newspaper strips. Because of his tremendous popularity, the
bearded giant was made a member of the cast in the newspaper feature and
continues his record of losing fights on a regular basis."

[The full story is a bit more complicated than that. In 1961, a new series of
made-for-TV Popeye cartoons were produced by King Features. In that
series, the villain was named Brutus (because King Features didn't own the
rights to the name "Bluto"). But then, in 1981, yet another Popeye series
was produced jointly by Hanna-Barbera and King Features; and in that series,
Popeye's nemesis was again Bluto.]

Interesting stuff, I guess he is named both, depending who you talk to. lol

Steve Carras · 08-25-2008, 05:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tv star collector

Bud Sagendorf--"Popeye" creator Elzie C. Segar's first and only assistant,
who succeeded Segar and drew Popeye comic strips and comic books for many, many years--discussed this topic in his 1979 book, Popeye: The
First Fifty Years:
"In films and television, Brutus is called Bluto. In the fifties, after a disagreement over the orgin of the name, he became known as Brutus--in
comic books and newspaper strips. Because of his tremendous popularity, the
bearded giant was made a member of the cast in the newspaper feature and
continues his record of losing fights on a regular basis."

As briefly as possible:
King Features Syndicate originated Bluto (as created by Segar), as called, but on a one time basis, while Paramount, the distributor (Fleishcer) and eventually starting in 1942 the producer of Popeye, popularized, and made a regular annoyance to Popeye(!!!) of Bluto, then it was so established as a character who'd originated via Fleischer/Paramount that KFS (when doing those debated Tv series) THOUGHT that Bluto DID in fact star there, and that King could not use him, ergo entereth Brutus (but they found out when it was too late!)

So in a true nutshell, then:
Bluto almost DIDN'T make it into King Features due to his one-shot wonder status in Segar/King, while Fleischer/Paramount then King continued him alongside Paramount, thus the mixup.

So it was no wonder we had Brutus.

Some more fun facts:
1) 1942, the middle of the war, not only Paramount themselves took over producing for Fleisahcer (read: forced them out) BUT Segar died, and Sagendorf took over and OFFICIALLY brought back Blutoi, due to hius ten plus year caroton appearance, whcih BTW first started right after the animated Popeye got underway.

2) After the realiziation during produciton through close to ten studios (including Paramount, and also Disney director Jack Kinney dfoing the big load with Larry Harmon and othe rnotables and not so well knowns handling the balance of the load...) ..King USED Brutus AND Bluto (introduced as a TWIN BROTHER!LOL) Some how erronously guessed the name similiarity between Disney's Pluto and Bluto was enough and, with Disney as the ?evil empire who sues", that wouldn't be surpsing. (Anyway, King was soon doing Krazy Kat and Ignatz, mostly by Gene DDeitch who'd also done Popes, and some by Paramount, an enitre series of Snufyf Smiths all done by paramount, and their co-work on Beetle Bailey with Deitch and some others as part of the Comic Kings. Wow...Famous/harvey/Paramount strudios only did the entirety of one of those Comics Kings.)

Schmoopie · 08-25-2008, 10:00 PM

Wow, that's weird. I had forgotten that there were two different names! It's been YEARS since I've seen a Popeye cartoon, but I used to love those! That is a great way to get kids to eat spinach, although it's probably not wise to teach them that it's okay to beat the crap out of someone!

Andrea

BarneyFife · 08-25-2008, 11:30 PM

Was he the one who loved to eat Hamburgers, or am i thinking of someone else?

tv star collector · 08-26-2008, 08:02 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BarneyFife

Was he the one who loved to eat Hamburgers, or am i thinking of someone else?

You're thinking of J. Wellington Wimpy, the moocher who would "gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today."

Chocoholic · 08-26-2008, 01:18 PM

I always thought Disney made them change the name from Bluto because it was too close to Pluto.

Wasn't there a commercial a few years ago that showed Popeye and Bluto as good friends?

Schmoopie · 08-27-2008, 03:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tv star collector

You're thinking of J. Wellington Wimpy, the moocher who would "gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today."

When I was in NYC back in 1987 my dad, brother and I went to Blimpie's sub shop for lunch. At the time, there weren't any in my home state of Texas and for some reason when I saw the name I automatically thought of "Wimpy" from Popeye. Weird, huh?

Andrea

Mikado · 08-27-2008, 04:18 PM

The truth is , that Segar created Captain Bluto the notorious , for the 1933 Thimble Theatre (Popeye) story about the Black Chinese parrot: Popeye receives an ancient Chinese parrot who knows how to find the fabulous treasure of the Chinese pirates, so Popeye buys an old schooner and heads for the sea of China, not realising that the schooner is an old smuggling ship with a secret room, where hides Bluto and his men, with intent to kill Popeye and take his treasure; in the end, Popeye defeats the larger man in a fight that took litterally weeks (in newspaper time) and comes home with his treasure; the Fleisher studios were looking for a villain for their new series of animated cartoons and brought Bluto into the fold. As mentioned earlier, someone at King Features forgot to do their homework, and assumed that Bluto was the property of the Fleisher animation studio, and created the similar Brutus to avoid getting sued! (Had they checked this out properly, theyd have known Bluto WAS a Segar creation, and Brutus would never have existed!)

08-23-2008, 04:49 PM	#1
Brian Damage I'm Rich Bitch Forum Icon Join Date: Feb 03, 2002 Location: What Ain't No Country I Ever Heard Of...They Speak English in What? Posts: 63,107	What was the name of Popeye's nemesis? Was it Bluto or Brutus?
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08-25-2008, 10:00 PM	#8
Schmoopie Keep Calm and Love Snoopy Forum Star Join Date: Jul 13, 2008 Location: Lynnwood, Washington Posts: 15,697	Wow, that's weird. I had forgotten that there were two different names! It's been YEARS since I've seen a Popeye cartoon, but I used to love those! That is a great way to get kids to eat spinach, although it's probably not wise to teach them that it's okay to beat the crap out of someone! Andrea
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08-25-2008, 11:30 PM	#9
BarneyFife Retired Forum Fanatic Join Date: Mar 02, 2008 Posts: 8,460	Was he the one who loved to eat Hamburgers, or am i thinking of someone else?
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08-23-2008, 06:05 PM	#2
GARFIELDKOOL Member Forum Veteran Join Date: Sep 02, 2004 Location: Rochester, NY Posts: 7,204	From what I know, it was initally Brutus, but then it became what we all know as Bluto.

08-23-2008, 06:37 PM	#4
GARFIELDKOOL Member Forum Veteran Join Date: Sep 02, 2004 Location: Rochester, NY Posts: 7,204	http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bluto

08-23-2008, 06:51 PM	#5
tv star collector I Love Susie Forum 4000 Club Member Join Date: Oct 18, 2005 Location: South Carolina Posts: 4,487	Bud Sagendorf--"Popeye" creator Elzie C. Segar's first and only assistant, who succeeded Segar and drew Popeye comic strips and comic books for many, many years--discussed this topic in his 1979 book, Popeye: The First Fifty Years: "The monstrous Brutus, with his overwhelming desire to defeat Popeye, was created by Segar for animated films in the mid-thirties. The animation studio needed a continuing villain to form a triangle with Olive and the sailor--someone who would be there to compete for love of the fair Olive. When the studio requested a new character, it fell to me to research all the tough men Popeye had fought in the newspaper strips. Then, with a pile of defeated characters in front of him, Segar created a composite villain--one big enough to afford Popeye a continuing rival. "In films and television, Brutus is called Bluto. In the fifties, after a disagreement over the orgin of the name, he became known as Brutus--in comic books and newspaper strips. Because of his tremendous popularity, the bearded giant was made a member of the cast in the newspaper feature and continues his record of losing fights on a regular basis." [The full story is a bit more complicated than that. In 1961, a new series of made-for-TV Popeye cartoons were produced by King Features. In that series, the villain was named Brutus (because King Features didn't own the rights to the name "Bluto"). But then, in 1981, yet another Popeye series was produced jointly by Hanna-Barbera and King Features; and in that series, Popeye's nemesis was again Bluto.]

08-26-2008, 01:18 PM	#11
Chocoholic Member Forum Star Join Date: Dec 01, 2000 Location: Between a rock and a hard place. Posts: 11,235	I always thought Disney made them change the name from Bluto because it was too close to Pluto. Wasn't there a commercial a few years ago that showed Popeye and Bluto as good friends?

08-27-2008, 04:18 PM	#13
Mikado Main st bridge Forum Superstar Join Date: Jul 06, 2005 Posts: 25,892	The truth is , that Segar created Captain Bluto the notorious , for the 1933 Thimble Theatre (Popeye) story about the Black Chinese parrot: Popeye receives an ancient Chinese parrot who knows how to find the fabulous treasure of the Chinese pirates, so Popeye buys an old schooner and heads for the sea of China, not realising that the schooner is an old smuggling ship with a secret room, where hides Bluto and his men, with intent to kill Popeye and take his treasure; in the end, Popeye defeats the larger man in a fight that took litterally weeks (in newspaper time) and comes home with his treasure; the Fleisher studios were looking for a villain for their new series of animated cartoons and brought Bluto into the fold. As mentioned earlier, someone at King Features forgot to do their homework, and assumed that Bluto was the property of the Fleisher animation studio, and created the similar Brutus to avoid getting sued! (Had they checked this out properly, theyd have known Bluto WAS a Segar creation, and Brutus would never have existed!)