Bluto was the
villain character in most of
Paramount's
Popeye cartoon shorts, produced by
Max Fleischer, which carried on the adventures of the popular
Popeye comic book characters, starting in
1933. Bluto did not always play the same character, exactly, though. In a way, those shorts were quite similar to more
critically respected
dramatic pieces, especially in the sense that they relied quite heavily on
stock characters in their stories. Although the idea behind both Bluto and Popeye was that they were each
sailors who often fought over the
love of
Olive Oyl, the creators of the
cartoon were able to change the exact role of each character according to the theme of each
individual cartoon. For example, in order to carry off a
caveman cartoon, Bluto and Popeye would become
rival cavemen--therefore changing some important parts of their respective
characterizations, such as their
clothing,
speech, and
professions, while retaining certain
identifying characteristics, such as Popeye's
pronounced
forearms,
corncob pipe, and
affinity for
spinach and Bluto's
rotund build and
beard. In this way, the Popeye shorts carried on a practice of
stock character use that can be traced to the
Commedia del Arte performances of
Renaissance Italy and even further back to the plays of
Ancient Greece and
Rome.
Also, Bluto was a fat guy who wore a hat and had a beard. He fought with Popeye, usually over Olive Oyl, as previously stated.