Jack Mercer

Jack Mercer (1909-1984) began his work in cartoons as an inbetweener, an apprentice animator at Fleicher Studios. When William Costello, the original cartoon voice of Popeye (1933-35), became difficult to work with, he was dismissed. Several individuals filled the role of Popeye until Lou Fleischer heard Mercer singing the Popeye song. Mercer's first cartoon was King of the Mardi Gras. Mercer continued to voice the one-eyed sailor for the Fleischers, for Paramount's Famous Studios cartoons (1942-57), for a series of television cartoons for King Features, and for a Saturday morning cartoon show (1978) produced by Joe Barbara and Bill Hanna. Mercer also did other cartoon voices, including all the voices for a series of Felix the Cat cartoons produced in 1959-60. Mercer also did the voices of Wimpy, Poppdeck Pappy, Popeye's nephews, King Little in Fleischer's Gulliver's Travels, and a number of voices for Fleischer's Mr. Bug Goes To Town.