Voice Evolution of POPEYE THE SAILOR - 90 years Compared & Explained | CARTOON EVOLUTION
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 8 ก.พ. 2025
- CARTOON EVOLUTION #7.5
Created as a companion video to my series of CARTOON EVOLUTION videos (specifically 'Evolution of POPEYE THE SAILOR, Over 90 Years (1929-2019) Explained'), I take a look at the vocal evolution of Popeye as I compare his official voice actors over time, including the likes of William "Red Pepper Sam" Costello, Jack Mercer, Robin Williams, Maurice LaMarche, Jim Cummings, Jeff Bergman, Billy West, Tom Kenny, Scott Innes, Detmar Poppen, Floyd Buckley, Mae Questel and Harry Welch.
Here's my look at Popeye the Sailor's Voice Through the Years!
#Popeye #PopeyeTheSailor
CLASSIC POPEYE SHORTS FEATURED:
Popeye the Sailor with Betty Boop
I Eats My Spinach
I Yam What I Yam
Axe Me Another
Can You Take It
Let's You and Him Fight
Shiver Me Timbers
Shoein' Hosses
Strong to the Finich
The Two-Alarm Fire
Beware of Barnacle Bill
You Gotta Be a Football Hero
Be Kind to Aminals
King of the Mardi Gras
A Clean Shaven Man
Hold the Wire
I Wanna Be a Life Guard
Popeye Meets Sinbad the Sailor
What No Spinach
Hospitaliky
The Football Toucher Downer
Bulldozing the Bull
Goonland
The Mighty Navy
Happy Birthdaze
Spinach Fer Britain
Puppet Love
She-Sick Sailors
Shape Ahoy
House Tricks
Klondike Casanova
Rocket to Mars
Rodeo Romeo
For Better or Nurse
Abusement Park
Peep in the Deep
The Royal Flour-Flusher
Spinach vs Hamburgers
Punch and Judo
Popalong Popeye
Spooky Swabs
OTHER POPEYE MEDIA FEATURED:
Popeye the Sailor (1960 - 1962)
The Man Who Hated Laughter
All-New Popeye Hour / Popeye and Olive Comedy Show
Valentine Special: Sweethearts at See
1980 Live action, Robin Williams
Popeye and Son
The Popeye Show
Popeye’s Voyage: The Quest for Pappy
Sony Animation Test
Campbell's Soup Commercial
Cocoa Puffs Commercial
Quaker Oats Commercial
Minute Maid Commercial
The Popeye Radio Show
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I was always amazed how Robin Williams was able to stay perfectly in character to the point of having his eye closed consistently through the movie, and yet most of the other actors in live action cartoon remakes can't even bother to look like the characters they represent, let alone act and sound like them. I'm lookin' at you, Mathew Broderick as Inspector Gadget.
HEY ME AND OTHER PEOBLE LOVED THAT MOVIE AS A KID
Popeye, which though underappreciated managed to perfectly craft a cartoon world in live action, or Inspector Gadget which was a contractual obligation farted out by someone who had no love or respect or even bothered to watch an episode of the original? Popeye was a love letter, Gadget was junk mail. Even Speed Racer, which has many, MANY flaws managed to be made by people who loved the original.
@@mightyfilm Hey Hey Hey watch The langue pal some of liked it stubid harsh hater
And people like the Zach Snyder DC movies. Doesn't make them good. The Gadget movie was an insult to fans of the original cartoon, and it was made way too early to be considered a nostalgic cashgrab. It was made because Disney and DIC had a partnership at the time, but all it amounted to was a home video deal, the right to broadcast the Sabrina cartoon series on ABC, this stupid movie, the second slightly better but still off movie, and NOT distributing the new Gadget and the Gadgetinis cartoon in the US. THis movie is my personal Dragonball Evolution. A contractual obligation that was made at the last minute before the deal expired by someone who didn't care about the source material who THOUGHT they were clever by tossing lame tropes into a movie while disregarding the tropes of the original project. Only Dragonball at LEAST had 2 bootlegged movies made by someone who actually watched an episode. Besides, live action versions of cartoon shows, even when done right, are all titanic box office bombs. Just because there was a money making, competent Flintstones movie that one time, doesn't mean that everyone and their mother had to buy up all the cartoon show rights. And at least with The Flintstones, there was care and effort put into it.
@@mightyfilm stop hating stuff other peoble acselly like
The little mumbles have always been my favorite Popeye quirk. I like to imagine they’re his inner thoughts since his mouth doesn’t always move when he does it.
Mine too! 😂
Then he often exclaims, "WHOAAOWWW!"
Oh, and he also does a sort of scat-singing as he walks along, skiddle-y-boppin' and skeetin'-scattin'.
Jack Mercer was the true Popeye.
Nostalgia
You are certainly correct, my good sir.
Chunky Soup commercial pretty good👏
Yeah
William Castello and Jack Mercer both sound like the popeye voice I know
Wait, what? A woman voicing Popeye?! She is amazing!
Breaking boundries and opening doors to many more voice actors.
Like Bob's burgers having 2 men voice female leads on the show. Voice acting is amazing!
She truly is talented for being able to voice Popeye
She looks like Betty Boop.
@@icecreamhero2375 ) she is.
That's really amazing that a woman voiced gravelly Popeye when her natural voice is high pitched!
Mae Questel really did an awesome job!
Agreed
I wished she continued voicing Popeye while Jack was away.
@@stephenholloway6893 Yeah and Candy Candido would have been awesome too! Look under his version of the Popeye theme, It's pretty cool.
Jack Mercer's Popeye just sounds natural to me.
I’ve been trying to find the examples of when the Olive Oil’s actress voiced Popeye ever since learning that bit of trivia.
It should (1933-2021)
3:55
4:00"
4:15
4:46
In case everyone is wondering how to do Popeye's voice, you have to learn a technique called Throat Singing. Everyone that uses that method sounds like Popeye, if you look it up. If you look up women doing it, they also sound like him, which is why woman was able to do his voice as well. Pretty interesting.
Jim Cummings, Scott Innes, and Tom Kenny are all legendary voice actors in their own right, and they all do a great job!!
Tom kenny sucks to Popeye, I need Eric Bauza to voice Popeye
@@ScroogeKamaziMD Good Idea
Another great video-!
Side note, Jack Mercer also provided the voice of Popeye in the Robert Altman movie. The opening is a take on the old Fleischer cartoons, with an animated Popeye on board a ship saying "Hey w'as this? One of Bluto's tricks? I'm in the wrong movie!"
Since Paramount Pictures was essentially a Theatrical rights for Popeye at that time in 1980 by the hands of Paramount Pictures archives, while Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer through United Artists and Associated Artists Productions remains the TV rights for Popeye cartoons since it was supposed to be released the Popeye cartoons on VHS, but despite of cease and decist order from King Features, the VHS of Popeye cartoons released by MGM Home Entertainment was cancelled. But thankfully, Warner Bros. Discovery through Turner Entertainment now currently owns the rights for classic Popeye cartoons originated from Paramount Pictures itself as well as Hanna-Barbera-produced Popeye TV series such as All New Popeye Hour and Popeye and Son. Coincidentally and ironically, both WB and Paramount Pictures are cross-licensed each other's logos due to involvement for John Wayne movies originally released by Warner Bros., Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971 film), Friday the 13th series, among others.
R.I.P.
Jack Mercer, William Costelo and Robin Williams
While the Segar Popeye is far and away better than any animated version, Fleisher studios deserves tons of credit for having given the character a voice that is so distinctive it is impossible to read the collections of the strip without mentally inserting Popeye's animated voice into the dialogue. On a side note, Fleisher studio deserves credit for giving Superman flight, another distinguishing characteristic that is impossible to picture the character not having. Fleisher studios actually added to the licensed properties they adapted.
Okay?
I always thought Jack Mercer mumbling and talking fast was funny
HOW DOES THAT FEMALE DO IT?!?!? #GirlPower Also Tom Kenny reminds me of Spongebob imitating Mr Krabs
Me too
Or did a bit of Jack Mercer voice impression.
Thanks for the voice evolution!
OK, be prepared, this is a long one.
While I think the voice is often a huge factor in the success of certain cartoon characters, if only one voice actor really deserves credit for establishing a character's personality, it's Jack Mercer. Mercer's experiences as a writer really helped him with his improvisational skills. His witty comments are sometimes the best parts of the old Fleischer cartoons.
Costello didn't have the same ad libbing skills that Mercer had (or Questel when she was voicing Olive Oyl). The voice itself is fine, maybe a bit deep, but not to a ridiculous extreme, and he does get some credit for being the original.
Of the radio voices, Poppen was a bit better and actually sounded fairly close to Costello. Buckley is way too deep.
The 1945-1947 voices are where it gets really complicated. IMDb lists Welch for all of them except for Shape Ahoy and Mess Production, but a really close examination shows that Welch is only the voice in some of them. Based off of Welch's existing album for Golden Records, it sounds like he's voicing him at 7:29, 7:33 (although most of that cartoon is actually Mercer), 7:58, and possibly 7:47. Of the replacement voices during that period, I think he actually sounds the closest to Mercer. The voice in Shape Ahoy (possibly Questel slowed down) is a bit deep, but not to an extreme point. The other voices have the same problem as Buckley in sounding too deep (the voice at 7:44 might even be Buckley. There's an interview with Michael Barrier in Mercer's official biography in which Mercer claimed Buckley was one of his replacements during this period). Sadly, lack of official information in books as to which voice was which makes it hard to confirm the voices during this period.
OK, now that that's over, let's move on to the post-Mercer replacements: Bergman and the voice in the Cocoa Puffs commercial sound the closest to Mercer. I can hear bits of West's and Kenny's other voices in their portrayals, but they still get the voice down for most of it. LaMarche also is a bit inconsistent but usually tends to sound right. Williams was good, but I'm not including him in my ranking since his was a live-action performance.
My final ranking:
1. Jack Mercer
2. Jeff Bergman
3. Cocoa Puffs Commercial (Possibly Jim Cummings)
4. Billy West
5. Tom Kenny
6. William Costello
7. Harry Welch
8. Maurice LaMarche
9. Mae Questel(?)
10. Detmar Poppen
11. Scott Innes
12. Unknown mid-1940s voices
13. Floyd Buckley
EDIT: Welch's album was made for Peter Pan Records, not Golden. My mistake.
the problem with LaMarche's Popeye was his version of the Popeye laugh
Plus, I think according to some sources, while I'm not sure if this is true or not, but from what I heard, Jackson Beck (the main voice actor of Bluto from the mid-40s to the the 60s (yes I'm counting Brutus from the 60s Popeye TV series in this) voiced Popeye in House Tricks? and Peep in the Deep
AzUrArInG I don’t remember where it was, but I remember reading a source that suggested Buckley was the voice in House Tricks, and there was at least one part that I thought kind of sounded like him (when Popeye yells, “Hey, stupid! That’s my steam pipe!”). I think in some of these cartoons, they might have even had multiple voice actors. In Rodeo Romeo, it sounds like three different voices. The ending sounds like Welch, some parts might be archival recordings of Mercer, and then in that scene at 7:44 of this video, there’s a weird voice that sounds nothing like Popeye (again, possibly Buckley).
6:11 "Well, that's the funniest duck I've ever tried to eat."😅
Odd,I heard both the alcoholism being a factor in William Costello's firing and I also heard he had a massive ego that made him unbearable to be around. I mostly heard the story about his ego being what lead to him being fired.
I feel like Floyd Buckley wasn't even trying.
Yeah, Me too
So do I and my dad
I agree
True
Even the woman voice actor sounds more accurate
Fun facts: Jack Mercer will provide the voice of Popeye at the opening animated sequence of Popeye 1980 feature produced by Paramount Pictures (the same company who also produced the original Popeye cartoons from 1933-1957) and Walt Disney Pictures (the company who also produced Aladdin where Robin Williams also voiced as Genie) starring late Robin Williams since making Mercer's final film role before his death in 1984.
Mae Questel was crazy talented to pull off that voice.
5:57 I love his mumbles here, they're so amusing and charming :)
The ones that are truly tough to the finish in my opinion are Jack, William, Billy, Tom and Jim (if that is him in fact), and Mae was surprisingly good too!
These Popeye ones were well worth the wait! I would've liked to seen a clip of Mercer doing the mumbling voice c. 1937 or so when he used a lighter, more sing-songy version of it. The witticisms were even funnier done in that voice, actually.
When I was six I got a Popeye record for Christmas and the names given for the voices were Jack Mercer and Mae Questal. Now I know Jack Mercer voiced Popeye up till the early Hanna-Barbera days until his death in 1985.
It's actually 1984
Dang! Mae Questel did an amazing job with Popeye!
I love these type of videos
Me: Mom can we have some Popeye?
Mom: No, we have Popeye at home!
Popeye at home: 4:33
Ain't that the truth
Lol
I'm fascinated by Mae Questel's rendition. The nasality is definitely hers, and I can imagine her doing the raucous register, but I want to say that the performance was slightly slowed down to get down to Popeye's pitch (kinda like Tweety Bird was sped up from a male voice).
Questel did claim that there was some engineering work done on her voice performance for Popeye. If you look up Questel on TH-cam, there’s at least one video of her doing her rendition of the Popeye voice.
Thanks for pointing it out, found the interview. She also seemed like a genuinely lovable person, a rarity these days.
I agree, she always did come across as being very nice in her interviews.
@@BeastOfSoda She truly was.
Fun facts: Rocket to Mars (1946) is the only Popeye cartoon when Jack Mercer returns to voice as Popeye but he did in 3/4th and Harry Foster Welch voiced as Popeye in the final scene.
Jack Mercer: the best voice of Popeye ever!
And even he also doing ad-libs in Popeye Cartoons.
12:51
Tom Kenny, SpongeBob SquarePants' voice actor who voiced Popeye alongside Grey DeLisle-Griffin as Olive Oyl.
Imagine if Eric Bauza will voice Popeye in the comeback of the Popeye movie or a reboot series by a Kids next door director
Detmar’s As Popeye and singing that music of the lyrics Creeps me out when it’s on a loud radio
Jack Mercer will always be the definitive Popeye. He didn't originate the role but he perfected it.
The exact same with Mel Blanc as Porky Pig.
What the hell was Floyd Buckley doing
I'm just as confused as you
I think he thought he was voicing Bluto and not Popeye. Or maybe he was just really drunk or something when they recorded?
I have no idea
He was trying to hard 🤣🤣🤣
Floyd would had been an better Bluto then Popeye.
Whoever gets casted in the Genndy Tartakovsky Popeye film hopefully will able to fill Jack Mercer's shoes. He really made the character what he is.
The post-Mercer VA's seem to mostly nail the gruffness or the vocals, but not quite both.
Mae Questel actually did a great job, I had no idea she ever voiced him, and I likely wouldn't ever have guessed if I wasn't told.
Jack Mercer has to be my favorite. It cracks me up everytime Popeye will say something in his gravely voice, and then change his voice when hes thinking or talking to himself LOL!!! Mae Questel once said in an interview that alot of ad libbing went into these and was so much fun to do.
Jack Mercer all the way. He's the Popeye I think of when I think of the character.
Popeye's Voyage: The Quest for Pappy introduced me to the character
Jack Mercer truly made the character special with his added mumblings
5:43 I love the way Popeye says, “Oh, yeah?”
Jack Mercer honestly did the best Popeye voice. His Popeye voice got deeper and gruffer starting with the late 1940s.
I have a suggestion. Can you do evolution videos of bluto and olive oyl as well? I really love your videos and it would be cool to see ones of them.
Ironically, Floyd sounded more like Bluto to me than Popeye. That can't be a good sign.
Uh oh
I don't know what they were thinking when they hired that guy. The Olive Oyl actress did a better job than he did.
The last part was so funny lol 😂
Jack's voice has changed since the early 80s
Who thinks we need more Popeye in this generation?
Only if they do it right.
Tom Kenny?!
That's the same voice actor who voiced Spongebob Squarepants!
Mae Questel did an excellent job voicing Popeye the sailor.🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩❤❤❤❤❤❤❤👍👍👍👍👍👍👍
It's amazing to me that David Coulier has never once officially been the voice of Popeye.
Thank Darkseid, we were saved from that evil
Awesome!
Jack Mercer appeared on I've got a secret in the mid 60s. Several on the panel guessed Mercer was Popeye's voice because Mercer made several remarks revealing a knowledge of animation. (The show is viewable on TH-cam.)
I think that was To Tell The Truth.
Hoping that WarnerMedia will restore the remaining 50s Popeye cartoons in 4K scans HD restoration with the original Paramount Pictures titles and original end music cue as well since they already restored the 40s colored Popeye Cartoons.
Well, I don't think it's happening...... because of the copyrighted animation
But we'll see
So Popeye eats healthy, loves animals, respects family and friends and is hardworking even in a father role, yet I feel like if the Popeye movie had released there would be articles about "toxic masculinity" or whatever because he doesn't take sh*t from Bluto.
The ironic thing would be that in the past he's voiced by a woman; which adds their weird area of women voicing toxic masculinity.
Would be funny to see how they tackle that!
ok boomer
Yeah, no there wouldn't.
The "loves animals" part has not been consistent throughout his history.
Yes, someone would definitely complain because they always complain about everything.
9:29 I remember that on Cartoon Network as a kid.
I really enjoy the video.
Wow.
And cool facts.
10:55
For some reason Popeye sounds like Grunkle Stan here and that amuses me. XD
i didn't know he can laugh like mr. krabs
*mr. krabs can laugh like popeye
Well. No one can beat Jack Mercer as Popeye. He is the Best, But Billy West and Tom Kenny are close second
Yeah, although I'd put tom as third as his voice is slightly higher than the others. But compared to the other actors before him there's literally nobody better than those 3. (except jim cummings)
I actually thought Jim Cummings (if that was actually him) in the Coco Puffs commercial sounded the most Mercerian. I thought Billy West was the most difficult of the modern voices to listen to.
My Personal Ranking
1. William Costello
2. Jack Mercer
3. Jim Cummings
4. Detmar Poppen
5. Jeff Bergman
6. Billy West
7. Scott Innes
8. Robin Williams
9. Tom Kenny
10. Mae Questel
11. Harry Welch
12. Maurice LaMarche
13. Floyd Buckley
Me: mom can we have popeye
Mom: no we have popeye at home . The popeye at home 6:16
YAY! New Popeye content!
6:52 Well blow me down.
2:48-2:53 Popeye laughed.
6:42 8:24
The Accent of Hov and Bugs Bunny.
Guess you could say Mae Questel was... 😎...flirting with herself.
ROGER DALTREY NO JUTSU!!!
Did you hear Matt Hurwitz as Popeye yet? He did it for Project Runway Allstars and I think World of Warships as of late.
RW:Jack Mercer ,best Popeye voice always cracked me up.😁😂
Sounds like Poppen was a combination of Mercer and Costello's take on Popeye's voice.
Costello was the originator. T'was his concept on how Popeye should sound. However, Mercer took it and ran with it. Mercer had more energy, and more "verskatility" !!!
Great Video! You should do Sylvester the Cat and Tweaty Bird next
He already did that video
7:20 - 7:24 His eyes went from black dot to average cartoon eye _instantly_.
I just noticed that
I have two Cartoon Evolution Suggestions.
Rocky and Bullwinkle & Yogi Bear
Floyd Buckley sounds like your drunk uncle who thinks he can do a good Popeye voice.
6:35 The best one yet but ever could been
Do the care Bears next
RIP robin william
And in just 3 weeks... The original Thimble Theatre version enters the public domain!
He's been PD in Europe since 2009, but I've held off on trying to do something with the character until he would be PD in the original USA as well.
Could you please have a video of The voices evolution of Strawberry Shortcake
No, sorry - a little bit outside my demographic.
Jack Marcers era was the best
I've been looking forward to seeing my favorite cartoon character Popeye get his own Evolution video since I discovered your channel and you didn't disappoint. That Popeye movie being put on "hiatus" for the Emoji Movie still hurts.
Thank you! That's awesome to hear!
Every one of those actors had to gargle afterwards to soothe their sore throats.
3:02 “anyone who doesn’t like spinach is my emeny”
Question: are you going to make Cartoon Evolution The Simpsons?
@ShadowKid 727 Well, I'm hoping he'll talk about more than just that like replacing ink-and-paint to digital.
6:57 wait a female voice actress as Popeye 🤯
The one & only Mae Questel.🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩🤩❤❤❤❤❤❤❤
Cool. Jack Mercer was my favorite voice actor for Popeye. I laughed though when Popeye said "She ain't no woman. She's just Olive." And the live action movie couldn't have been that bad. It actually looked quite intrested. But I still hope Sony makes that Popeye movie from 2014. Please.
The live action one has its moments, worth watching once for sure
4:00-4:33 I’m Popeye the sailor man!
Popeye and Son should be about Swee’pea when he was older
I wish Eric Bauza will voice Popeye
My mom and dad wont shut up about Popeye and here I am.
A wise decision for them not to stop talking about him.
6:47 Let me just say that hearing one of your childhood heroes chanting "Hail Hitler" can hurt you on a level that very little people truly understand.
Thank you
Why did they even bother with Floyd Buckley? It’s like he didn’t even try to sound like Popeye.
I don’t know if the clips were chronological
But Harry Welch felt really inconsistent
They were chronological by year, but not exactly by release order. Many of them would have been recorded out of order anyway.
He was VERY inconsistent with his portrayal.
Although Harry Welch is listed on IMDb for most of those cartoons, most of the voices during that period were actually several different actors. Of them, Welch actually sounds the closest to Mercer (which admittedly is not saying much).
4:33-4:36 Okay!
Jack Mercer.
I like Billy West and Maurice Lamarche and Tom Kenny and Jeff Bergman cause they are the best
12:42-12:46 All aboard!
Great
Costello and Mercer...no one else