Calling All Popeye Clubbers

Some of us used to meet on once-a-month Saturdays with a collecting old-timer in Concord, NC who’d lately been privy to 16mm prints being dumped out of nearby TV stations. Prior to share of his bounty, we’d sit in a Shoney’s off I-85 where Bill would polish off a Slim Jim Special whilst regaling us with memories of a film going  youth. Many were references to The Popeye Club, of which he’d been a proud member fifty years prior. Anytown USA might have been the group’s address, for chapters sprung up everywhere once Popeye caught on in 1933. This was a craze born and reborn with succeeding generations. When the cartoon backlog went to television in 1956, what exploded in the thirties did so all over again, and we’ve since had Popeye released on DVD. Bill’s gone now, and so I suspect are most members of the original Popeye clubs. It began as a grass roots exhibiting phenomenon. Betty Boop introduced Popeye, but he quickly put her in the shade. Betty was more for adult consumption anyway, and enjoyed not his kid drawing power. Suddenly Paramount had their own Mickey Mouse, and as Disney’s rodent boasted matinee clubs in his name, why not Popeye? Mouse meetings were a model for weekly programs that would restore strength to Saturday ticket counters surely as spinach did for Paramount’s animated star. Co-ops were a natural for Popeye. The Colfax Theatre’s Guy Martin had a sure bet when he tied up with South Bend (Indiana) News Times for boosting between comic strips in the daily and cartoons on the Colfax’s screen. Gratis three column ten inch ads (one shown here) in the Times trumpeted club meetings, and special trailers following each Popeye cartoon at the Colfax led child patrons back to the paper’s strip. Each matinee was a down home extravaganza highlighting talent from neighborhoods and city blocks where kids with musical instruments and tap shoes were encouraged to parlay performance into cash/toy prizes.

Shows began with a call to order and the singing of The Star Spangled Banner, with organ accompaniment and a screen projected American flag. Popeye salutes and handshakes traveled along rows, front to back. Dad had Lions and Civitans, but this was Junior’s own fraternal order. I’m betting a lot of those youngsters made friends they would not have met but for attending Popeye Club. There were three theme songs, with lyrics geared to local people and events plugged into melodies of Hail, Hail (The Gang’s All Here) and East Side, West Side. The live portion continued with song and dance, recitation, magic acts, all performed by kids from the audience trying their luck. In an era of child stars and stage mad moppets, interest (and talent) came in abundance. There was even a Popeye Club Band, with twelve members, and according to Colfax management, growing by the week. Within a short time, we will be presenting one of the finest musical aggregations of its kind in the city. Special mid-week Popeye Club Follies brought performers to the attention of adult patrons, and were greeted as important local events. Almost an afterthought were screen offerings in the wake of such entertainment, but these too were stellar as might be expected. The ad here promises, in addition to Popeye, a Terrytoon, Betty Boop, Charley Chase, plus news and sport reels, followed by Metro’s Trouble For Two, a still enjoyable thriller with Robert Montgomery. Admission for all was a dime. Kids with birthdays that week got in free. Postcard updates went out regularly to the membership. Other theatres devised bally and ritual of their own. The Park Theatre in Roselle Park, New Jersey gave each child a pipe along with his/her member card (but did they comp tobacco as well?). There were jingle contests, harmonica eliminations, and bring your (preferably tethered) dog promotions. By way of gaining support from parents, local PTA and Police Departments were invited to supply weekly tips on safety and citizenship. We can say on one hand how reflective of simple times this was, but who or what is drawing youth to fill thousand seat theatres today? I’ve thought (and written) of how lucky I was to grow up with cartoons on fifties and sixties television, and yes, we can look at Popeye DVD’s and approximate our discovery of them, but even memories sweet as these would be hard pressed to compete with glories that Popeye Clubbers routinely enjoyed.