Vintage cartoons make more sense if the technology of the time is connected. The tuba-shaped objects on ship decks are the vents over what's called a dorade box. It's a ventilation opening. In a ship galleys-- what we landlubbers call the kitchen -- this vent is sometimes called a "Charlie Noble." Back in the day, waterfront restaurants and bars were often named "Charlie Noble's" for that reason.
In cartoons, the dorade vent often serves as a loudspeaker (a very loud speaker!) through which the ship's captain, or an anonymous but deep-voiced authority) yells at the people on deck. The tuba-shaped vent often bends or flexes or ripples with the shouted orders or reprimands, right?
But sometimes the dorade vent cover is an audio speaker, as for an old phonograph. In this still from a Popeye cartoon, the horn-shaped speaker actually belongs to an old-fashioned radio. In the early 1930s, radio technology was just moving from crystal sets to tubes. On old crystal sets, people used headsets but on tube radios, the demand was for speakers which let the whole family hear the radio. By the middle 30s, speakers were built into the radio cabinet and put behind a grille cloth, but older radios used a loudspeaker wired to the radio, as in the photo above.
So it makes sense, in the Popeye cartoon, that the droade vent cover is giving Popeye and Wimpy an amplified news broadcast from the radio.
