>>10580286>I'm lazy, so i can't find a source for why they went public, but i remember reading long ago that one of the holding companies let the rights expire either cuz theyre lazy or weren't aware they owned them.me being a popeye fag I can give you the TDLR. basically fleischer studios gets bought out by paramount and is rebranded "famous studios". because paramount's animation division was so low rung they didnt bother renewing copyrights as they just didnt value what they had. as a result all the classic fleischer popeye, betty boop, and superman shorts enter the public domain sometime in the mid 50s. By then they had started to revitalize Popeye for post-war America and because there was such a demand for color cartoons the old stuff was considered worthless. You also have to keep in mind that Popeye's star had kind of faded by then too and most of Paramount's focus was going into their harveytoons series (Casper, Audrey, Baby Huey, etc) since those were more popular with kids. If not for King Features stepping in to reassert their ownership over the Famous shorts (and popeye at large) they would also be in the public domain by now. Then television became the norm and that set the stage for 30 years of cheaply made saturday morning popeye cartoons.
That said there's not much limiting you to the Segar first appearance look. Fleischer's design is still the defacto look for Popeye and now that Popeye's literary appearances are lapsing they'll be free to use just like Fleischer Superman will be when Superman lapses. Aside from the B&W look Popeye sported across his many serial appearances you could also make use of his Aladdin, Sinbad, and Alibaba looks.
