By the end of 1939, Max and Dave Fleischer had stopped speaking to each other altogether, communicating solely by memo. In 1940, they found themselves at odds with Paramount over the control of their animation studio. In May 1941, Paramount assumed ownership of Fleischer Studios. The Fleischer's left by the turn of the year, and Paramount began reorganizing the studio, which they renamed
Famous Studios. With Famous Studios headed by Sam Buchwald,
Seymour Kneitel,
I. Sparber and
Dan Gordon, production continued on the
Popeye shorts. With World War II becoming a greater concern in the United States, Popeye enlisted into the
U.S. Navy, as depicted in the 1941 short
The Mighty Navy. His regular outfit was changed from the dark blue shirt with red-trimmed sailor collar and light blue bell-bottomed dungarees he wore in the original comics to an official US Navy sailor's white uniform, which he retained until the 1970s. Popeye becomes an ordinary, downtrodden, naval seaman in the wartime entries, usually getting the blame for mishaps. Film historian
Leonard Maltin notes that the studio did not intend to make light of the war, but instead make Popeye more relevant with the times and show him in action. The early Famous-era shorts were often World War II-themed, featuring Popeye fighting
Nazis and
Japanese soldiers, most notably the 1942 short ''
You're a Sap, Mr. Jap. As Popeye was popular in South America, Famous Studios set the 1944 cartoon W'ere on our Way to Rio'' in
Brazil, as part of a "good neighbor" policy between the U.S. government and the rest of the hemisphere during the war. In late 1943, the
Popeye series was moved to
Technicolor production, beginning with
Her Honor the Mare. Though these cartoons were produced in full color, some films in the late 1940s period were released in less-expensive processes like
Cinecolor and
Polacolor. In January, 1944, Paramount had begun to move the studio back to New York, with Mae Questel resuming voice duties for Olive Oyl. Jack Mercer had been drafted into the Navy during World War II, and scripts were stockpiled for him to record while on leave. When Mercer was unavailable, Floyd Buckley and Harry Welch stood in as the voice of Popeye (
Shape Ahoy had Mae Questel voicing Popeye, as well as Olive Oyl). New voice cast member
Jackson Beck began voicing Bluto within a few years; he, Mercer, and Questel would continue to voice their respective characters into the 1960s. Over time, the Technicolor Famous shorts began to adhere even closer to the standard Popeye formula, and softened, rounder character designs - including an updated Olive Oyl which gave the character a current hairstyle and high heels - were evident by 1946. Many established Fleischer animators stayed with Famous Studios and produced these new
Popeye cartoons, but the loss of the founders was evident. Throughout the 1940s, the production values on
Popeye remained relatively high. Animation historian
Jerry Beck notes that, however, the "gag sense and story sense fell into a bit of a rut." Most of the cartoons made during the Famous era were either stories revolving around a
love triangle story between Popeye, Bluto and Olive, Popeye and Olive meeting a Bluto-like antagonist similar to the Fleischer's two-reel color cartoons, or remakes of older Popeye cartoons made during the Fleischer-era. Other recurring characters such as Popeye's nephews,
Wimpy, and
Poopdeck Pappy were scarcely used.
Eugene the Jeep, who was used in three Fleischer cartoons, would not reappear in this era at all. By the mid 1950s, the budget at the studio became tight and the staff downsized, while still producing the same number of cartoons per year; this was typical of most animation studios at that time, due to the increasing competition from television. Many studios considered shutting their doors entirely. Paramount renamed the studio Paramount Cartoon Studios in 1956 and continued the
Popeye series for one more year, with
Spooky Swabs, released in August 1957, being the last of the 125 Famous shorts in the series. == Music and theme song ==