Happy Birthdaze (Popeye the Sailor)

Happy Birthdaze (episode 120)
How to ruin somebody's birthday and they get the blame for it all for nothing.
Directed by: Dan Gordon Written by: Carl Meyer Release date: July 16, 1943 Franchise: Popeye the Sailor Prequel: The Hungry Goat (previous short) Sequel: Wood-Peckin' (next short)

Happy Birthdaze is Popeye's 120th theatrical cartoon, animated by Famous Studios, which was released on July 16, 1943.

Unhappy Birthday Qualities

1. The cartoon depicts a torturous birthday for Popeye, marred by Shorty's mishaps and Olive Oyl's misplaced blame. Olive's inability to see the true source of the problems exacerbates the situation, resulting in her leaving the celebration and, apparently, her relationship with Popeye.
2. Shorty is pretty unlikeable as a character, as he comes off as this manchild who also acts somewhat like a troublemaker, but whenever he's all upset, he keeps on blaming himself to the point of wanting to kill himself until someone tries cheering him up, which almost makes him feel like some kind of stereotypical insecure character and/or attention seeker. Plus, his voice sounds really canned.
   • On top of that, each scene where Shorty attempts to commit suicide by shooting himself with a pistol, only to get spared from suicide by Popeye (twice) and Olive (once) are very dark and depressing. In fact, Shorty attempted to commit suicide three times in this short.
   • Fortunately, Seymour Knietel fixed his character in "The Marry-Go-Round". He has an interest in Dorothy Lamour and is surprisingly an expert on giving Popeye tips on how to propose to Olive. Shorty's normal voice on the other hand isn't saying much, but his personality changed from this short.
3. Olive Oyl is portrayed as particularly unlikeable in this short, as she unjustly accuses Popeye of every mishap, despite the fact that Shorty is to blame. She even goes so far as to crush the birthday cake into the hole that Popeye had prepared to prevent Shorty from causing further chaos, resulting in the cake smashing onto Popeye's face. This is especially egregious considering it is Popeye's own birthday celebration.
4. At the end of the short, Popeye literally murders Shorty after all the fuss he has put him through the cartoon. It feels pretty out of character for Popeye, especially considering how Bluto has done a lot worse things to Popeye, especially later on during the color Famous Studios era.
5. Shorty's birthday song to his friend, Popeye, "Happy Birthday to My Pal", is incredibly canned and uninteresting, as its song lyrics is basically the song's title repeated over and over to the tune "London Bridge Is Falling Down".

Happy Birthday Qualities

1. Decent voice acting for all of the short's characters, except Shorty.
2. Amazing animation during its time.
3. Passable musical score.
4. Shorty is more tolerable in his last two appearances and there aren't any suicidal jokes compared to this. His voice became less canned when Arnold Stang voiced the character in "Moving Aweigh".
5. Funny moments here and there, such as the neighbor "losing his footing" when Popeye and Shorty play hockey at Olive's house in one scene.

Trivia

• The entire ending where Popeye murders his navy buddy Shorty is often cut from television broadcasts such as Cartoon Network and Boomerang, due to the dark nature of the scene, suggesting murder despite that the whole scene is covered in the dark. Although, this scene remained uncut only on Cartoon Network's 2001 anthology series The Popeye Show.

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