A Balmy Swami (1949)

Popeye and Olive are taking in a variety show. Popeye enjoys the juggling seal very much, but he's followed by magician/hypnotist Bluto. Bluto spots Olive in her luxury box and immediate makes plans. First, he humiliates Popeye with a series of magic tricks. Next, he hypnotizes Olive, but while she's walking toward Bluto in a trance, Popeye points her the other way and goes after Bluto himself. Meanwhile, Olive has walked out the stage door and onto a construction site, and the boys race to save her. Popeye's efforts are hampered by Bluto's magic, like the instant brick wall he builds. Bluto awakens her, and she attacks him and then panics. Popeye throws her a hook to save her; it does, but it crashes through a window, bringing a piano (!) out with it. The piano crashes on the building, and Olive is catapulted by the strings to a distant platform. Another race to save her. As Popeye is trapped in a plummeting elevator, he breaks out the spinach.

Izzy SparberDirector