Popeye and Betty Boop (lost pornographic short; existence unconfirmed; 1938)

This article has been tagged as NSFW due to its pornographic subject matter.

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A still from the very first Popeye cartoon, released in 1933.

Status: Existence Unconfirmed

Popeye The Sailor is a cartoon character, originally created by Elzie Crisler Segar for the comic strip published by King Features, titled "Thimble Theatre". The character is famous for gaining super-human strength after downing a can of spinach. The comic strip was adapted into a series of cartoons by Fleischer Studios from 1933 to 1957 when production was shifted to Associated Artists Productions and MGM.

The original Fleischer shorts were distributed by Paramount Pictures and would become a staple in their catalogue for many years. However, supposedly, there is a missing pornographic short that was only ever shown once, and never again.

Story

According to a 2003 Jim Hill article entitled "Why For?", in September of 1938, Max Fleischer, creator of Betty Boop and Popeye, wanted to thank animators who had moved from New York to their new Florida studio by having a "Welcome to Miami" party. According to the animators who attended that were interviewed by Hill, there was a special thank you film shown to the guest with Popeye and Betty Boop, that was fully animated with complete backgrounds, voice actors, a music score and a stylized Florida landscaping. The film is said to be very humorous, starting with Popeye coming to visit Betty in Miami where she gives him an "extremely warm welcome", one of the scenes includes Popeye wearing down after an extremely strenuous session with Betty and eating spinach in typical Popeye fashion to finish the job.

After the party, the film was locked into a safe at Fleischer Studios in Florida never publicly being seen again and only being shown to the special guest of Fleischer. In 1942, the Fleischer brothers were kicked out of their studio by Paramount executives, and ultimately, the one-reel short had vanished. In 2003, when the information was discovered, a ToonZone forum appeared and sparked interest in the short. Some users have claimed they had seen the short in animated pornography tapes in the 1980s. It is unknown what happened to the film, and it is unknown where Jim Hill found the information in question. To this day, it is unknown whether it existed or not, and remains shrouded in mystery.

See Also

• Jiminy Cricket and Tinker Bell (lost pornographic Disney pencil sketch; existence unconfirmed; late 1950s-early 1960s)
• Mickey and Minnie Mouse (lost unauthorized pornographic animated short film; existence unconfirmed; 1936)

Other Popeye media

• Popeye and the Pirates (lost deleted scene from animated short; 1947)
• Popeye (found unfinished cancelled animated film based on comic strip; 2010s)'

Other Boop media

• The Betty Boop Movie (partially found production material for cancelled MGM animated film; 1993)
• Betty Boop - "Honest Love and True" and "At the Concert" (found animated shorts; 1938)