Fighting is Kosher

Popeye doesn’t just have Bluto to worry about in “I Eats My Spinach” (1933). It’s a bullfighting cartoon so after Popeye predictably chows down on spinach and dispatches the bad guy, he’s got a charging bull to worry about.

The bull is a train, with a steam-whistle sound and smoke coming from its horns.



One punch is all it takes (we are talking Popeye, after all) to deal with the bull. One drawing per frame.












And back down comes the bull. The punch has turned him into a meat market. Here are some of the drawings. You can see how the words “Dog Bones” develop from a scrawl.







And, of course, the meat indicates it is kosher. Early ‘30s cartoons on both coasts seemed to like to use kosher food gags.

The animation credits on screen go to Seymour Kneitel and Doc Crandall.