Insect to Injury

Directed by  |  Dave Tendlar
Produced by  |  Seymour Kneitel
Isadore Sparber
Dave Tendlar
Written by  |  Isadore Klein
Starring  |  Jack Mercer
Music by  |  Winston Sharples
Animation by  |  Anton Loeb
Morey Reden
Thomas Moore
Studio  |  Famous Studios
Distributed by  |  Paramount Pictures
Release date(s)  |  August 10, 1956
Running time  |  6:00
Country  |  USA
Language  |  English
Preceded by  |  Assault and Flattery
Followed by  |  Parlez Vous Woo
IMDb profile
Insect to Injury is a Popeye the Sailor theatrical animated short produced by Famous Studios (the original animation unit of Paramount Pictures) and released on August 10, 1956.

## Plot[edit]

Popeye finishes builing a new house for himself but finds himself battling a horde of hungry termites who determine to get to his house by any means necessary, starting when the wood-eating bugs devour his mailbox post as he paints his name on the mailbox. Popeye pulls out a magnifying glass and observes the termites, who appear more simian-looking than insect-like. To Popeye's surprise, the termites eat the gate on his fence and then munch on the wooden walkway leading up to the house, so Popeye detours the pathway toward a garbage can and traps them inside. The termites manage to escape when they collectively form into a jack and boost the lid off the garbage can before continuing their path of destruction as they eat the entire fence surrounding the house.

The termites then continue on their way to the house when Popeye catches them by surprise with a garden roller and gives chase with the roller across a bridge, but the termites double back and eat the wooden bridge, causing Popeye to drop into the stream below. Popeye beats the termites back to his house, rapidly digs a moat around the house and fills it with water to block the outraged termites' path. As Popeye settles into his new house, the termites quickly get around the moat defence when they use a tin can to float across to the other side, then they start their attack on the house as they eat Popeye's chairside table, then move on to other furniture items, including his piano and the chair he was sitting in. The termites then eat the walls, causing the roof to fall on Popeye's head, then the roof and floor are eaten, leaving nothing but the house foundation as the sailor falls into a bathtub in what is left of the basement.

As the satisfied termites rest in the yard from their feast, Popeye pulls out a can of spinach from his overalls and proclaims that it will stop those "insect vultures" (as he calls them) before he eats its contents, then he runs off and returns with a huge pile of steel, which he uses to quickly rebuild his house. The termites discover the new house and rush to get to it, but they discover the hard way that they cannot eat steel. Popeye laughs as he sings his theme song, believing that he beat the termites - but the bugs still get the last laugh when they spot his corncob pipe and move to eat it. Popeye brushes off that minor setback and pulls out a steel corncob pipe to toot on.

## Production notes[edit]

* Insect to Injury is one of a number of Famous Studios/Paramount-produced Popeye the Sailor cartoons in the public domain in the United States.
* Popeye is the only human character to appear in this cartoon.

## External links[edit]

* Insect to Injury public domain cartoon at YouTube