fbpx
Wikipedia

Popeye

May 02, 2023

"Popeye the Sailor" redirects here. For the cartoon series, see Popeye the Sailor (film series). For the cartoon starring this character, see Popeye the Sailor (film).
For the fast-food chain, see Popeyes. For other uses, see Popeye (disambiguation).

Popeye the Sailor Man is a fictional cartoon character created by Elzie Crisler Segar.[37][38][39][40] The character first appeared on January 17, 1929, in the daily King Features comic strip Thimble Theatre. The strip was in its tenth year when Popeye made his debut, but the one-eyed sailor quickly became the lead character, and Thimble Theatre became one of King Features' most popular properties during the 1930s. After Segar died in 1938, Thimble Theatre was continued by several writers and artists, most notably Segar's assistant Bud Sagendorf. It was formally renamed Popeye. The strip continues to appear in first-run instalments on Sundays, written and drawn by R.K. Milholland. The daily strips are reprints of old Sagendorf stories.[39]

Popeye the Sailor Man
Thimble Theatre/Popeye character
Popeye with spinach

I'm strong to the "finich", 'cause I eats me spinach.

— lyric from "I'm Popeye the Sailor Man"
First appearanceThimble Theatre (1929)
Created byE. C. Segar
Portrayed byGus Wickie (1933–1939 public appearances)[1]
Harry Foster Welch (1934–1940s public events and amusement parks, Pleasure Island)[2]
Robin Williams (1980 film)
Voiced by
List
In-universe information
Full namePopeye the Sailor
SpeciesHuman
GenderMale
OccupationSailor
FamilyPoopdeck Pappy (father)
Significant otherOlive Oyl
ChildrenSwee'Pea (adoptive son)
RelativesPatcheye (great-grandfather)
Aunt Jones (aunt)
Pipeye, Peepeye, Poopeye and Pupeye (nephews)

In 1933, Max Fleischer adapted the Thimble Theatre characters into a series of Popeye the Sailor theatrical cartoon shorts for Paramount Pictures.[41] These cartoons proved to be among the most popular of the 1930s, and Fleischer Studios, which later became Paramount's own Famous Studios, continued production through 1957. Cartoons produced during World War II included Allied propaganda, as was common among cartoons of the time.[42] These cartoon shorts are now owned by Turner Entertainment and distributed by its sister company Warner Bros.[43]

Over the years, Popeye has also appeared in comic books, television cartoons, video games, hundreds of advertisements,[39] peripheral products ranging from spinach to candy cigarettes, and the 1980 live-action film directed by Robert Altman and starring Robin Williams as Popeye.

Charles M. Schulz said, "I think Popeye was a perfect comic strip, consistent in drawing and humor".[44] In 2002, TV Guide ranked Popeye number 20 on its "50 Greatest Cartoon Characters of All Time" list.[45]

Fictional character and story

Popeye's story and characterization vary depending on the medium. In his debut storyline, Popeye's superhumanly-proportioned strength and endurance stemmed from the "luck" he acquired by rubbing the feathers of the head of Bernice, a "whiffle hen", thus enabling him to survive fifteen gunshot wounds. By the end of 1929, however, Popeye's strength had become a regularized fixture of his character, with spinach, by 1932, becoming the primary repository of his prowess.[46] Swee'Pea is Popeye's ward in the comic strips, but his custody is inconsistent in cartoons.

There is no absolute sense of continuity in the stories, although certain plot and presentation elements remain mostly constant, including purposeful contradictions in Popeye's capabilities. Popeye seems bereft of manners and uneducated, yet he often comes up with solutions to problems that seem insurmountable to the police or the scientific community. He has displayed Sherlock Holmes-like investigative prowess, scientific ingenuity, and successful diplomatic arguments. In the animated cartoons his pipe also proves to be highly versatile. Among other things, it has served as a cutting torch, jet engine, propeller, periscope, musical instrument, and a whistle with which he produces his trademark toot. He also eats spinach through his pipe, sometimes sucking in the can along with the contents. Since the 1970s, Popeye is seldom depicted using his pipe to smoke tobacco.[39]

Popeye's exploits are also enhanced by a few recurring plot elements. One is the love triangle among Popeye, Olive, and Bluto (sometimes called Brutus), and Bluto's endless machinations to claim Olive at Popeye's expense. Another is his near-saintly perseverance in overcoming any obstacle to please Olive, who often (if temporarily) renounces Popeye for Bluto.[citation needed]

Thimble Theatre and Popeye comic strips

Thimble Theatre/Popeye
 
Author(s)E. C. Segar (creator, December 1919–December 1937, May-August 1938)
Doc Winner (December 1937-May 1938)
Tom Sims & Doc Winner (August 1938-December 1939)
Tom Sims & Bela Zaboly (December 1939-December 1954 (daily strip), December 1939-September 1959 (Sunday strip))
Ralph Stein & Bela Zaboly (December 1954-August 1959, daily strip only)
Bud Sagendorf (August 1959-February 1986 (daily strip), September 1959-September 1994 (Sunday strip))
Bobby London (February 1986-July 1992, daily strip only)
Hy Eisman (September 1994-May 2022, Sunday strip only)
R. K. Milholland (June 2022–present, Sunday strip only)
Websitepopeye.com
comicskingdom.com/popeye
Current status/scheduleNew strips on Sundays, reprints Monday through Saturday
Launch dateDecember 19, 1919
End dateJuly 30, 1992 (last first-run daily strip, Sunday strips continue)
Syndicate(s)King Features Syndicate
Publisher(s)King Features Syndicate
Genre(s)Humor, adventure

Segar's Thimble Theatre debuted in the New York Journal on December 19, 1919. The paper's owner, William Randolph Hearst, also owned King Features Syndicate, which syndicated the strip. Thimble Theatre was intended as a replacement for Midget Movies by Ed Wheelan (Wheelan having recently resigned from King Features).[47] While initially failing to attract a large audience, the strip nonetheless increasingly accumulated a modest following as the 1920s continued. At the end of its first decade, the strip resultantly appeared in over a dozen newspapers and had acquired a corresponding Sunday strip (which had debuted on January 25, 1925 within the Hearst-owned New York American paper).

 
The original cast of "Thimble Theatre" in a 1925 Sunday strip. Left to right: Castor Oyl, Ham Gravy and Olive Oyl

Thimble Theatre's first main characters were the lanky, long-nosed slacker Harold Hamgravy (rapidly shortened to simply "Ham Gravy") and his scrappy, headstrong girlfriend Olive Oyl. In its earliest weeks, the strip featured the duo, alongside a rotating cast of primarily one-shot characters, acting out various stories and scenarios in a parodic theatrical style (hence the strip's name). As its first year progressed, however, numerous elements of this premise would be relinquished (including the recurring character "Willie Wormwood", introduced as a parody of melodrama villainy), soon rendering the strip a series of episodic comic anecdotes depicting the daily life and dysfunctional romantic exploits of Ham Gravy and Olive Oyl. It could be classified as a gag-a-day comic during this period.[47] In mid-1922, Segar began to increasingly engage in lengthier (often months-long) storylines; by the end of the following year, the strip had effectively transitioned fully into a comedy-adventure style focalizing Ham, Olive, and Olive's ambitious-but-myopic diminutive brother Castor Oyl, initially a minor character yet arguably the protagonist of the strip by 1924. Castor and Olive's parents Cole and Nana Oyl also made frequent appearances beginning in the mid-1920s.[38] By the late 1920s, the strip had likewise acquired a number of notable characters beyond the sphere of Ham Gravy and the Oyl family, including Castor Oyl's wife Cylinda (to whom he was married from 1926 to 1928), her wealthy, misanthropic father Mr. Lotts and Castor's fighting cockerel Blizzard, all of whom had exited the strip by the close of 1928 (although Cylinda would eventually martially reunite with Castor under R.K. Milholland's authorship almost a century later).

Popeye first appeared in the strip on January 17, 1929, as a minor character. He was initially hired by Castor Oyl and Ham Gravy to crew a ship for a voyage to Dice Island, the location of a casino owned by the crooked gambler Fadewell. Castor intended to break the bank at the casino using the unbeatable good luck conferred by stroking the hairs on the head of Bernice the Whiffle Hen.[48] Weeks later, on the trip back, Popeye was shot many times by Jack Snork, an undercover stooge of Fadewell's, but survived by rubbing Bernice's head. After the adventure, Popeye left the strip, but, owing to reader reaction, he was brought back after an absence of only five weeks.[39][47]

Ultimately, the Popeye character became so popular that he was given a larger role by the following year, and the strip was taken up by many more newspapers as a result. Initial strips presented Olive as being less than impressed with Popeye, but she eventually left Ham to become Popeye's girlfriend in March 1930, precipitating Ham's exit as a regular weeks later. Over the years, however, she has often displayed a fickle attitude towards the sailor. Initially, Castor Oyl continued to come up with get-rich-quick schemes and enlisted Popeye in his misadventures. By the end of 1931, however, he settled down as a detective and later on bought a ranch out west. Castor's appearances have resultantly become sparser over time. As Castor faded from the strip, J. Wellington Wimpy, a soft-spoken and eloquent yet cowardly hamburger-loving moocher who would "gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today" was introduced into the Sunday strip, in which he became a fixture by late 1932. After first appearing in the daily strip in March 1933, Wimpy became a full-time major character alongside Popeye and Olive.

In July 1933, Popeye received a foundling baby in the mail whom he adopted and named Swee'Pea. Other regular characters introduced into the strip following its retool in 1930 were George W. Geezil, an irascible cobbler who spoke in a heavily affected accent and habitually attempted to murder or wish death upon Wimpy; Rough-House, the temperamental owner of a budget diner who served as a long-suffering foil to Wimpy; Eugene the Jeep, a yellow, vaguely doglike animal from Africa with magical powers; the Sea Hag, a terrible pirate and the last witch on Earth; Alice the Goon, a monstrous creature who entered the strip as the Sea Hag's henchwoman and continued as Swee'Pea's babysitter; the hapless, perpetually anxious King Blozo; Blozo's unintelligent lackey Oscar; Popeye's lecherous, superannuated father Poopdeck Pappy; and Toar, an ageless, dim-witted caveman.[40][38]

Segar's strip was quite different from the theatrical cartoons that followed. The stories were more complex (often spanning months or even years), with a heavier emphasis on verbal comedy and many characters that never appeared in the cartoons (among them King Blozo, Toar, and Rough-House). Spinach usage, a trait introduced in July 1931, was comparatively infrequent, and Bluto appeared in only one story arc. Segar signed some of his early Popeye comic strips with a cigar, his last name being a homophone of "cigar" (pronounced SEE-gar). Comics historian Brian Walker stated: "Segar offered up a masterful blend of comedy, fantasy, satire and suspense in Thimble Theater Starring Popeye".[40]

Owing to Popeye's increasingly high profile, Thimble Theatre became one of King Features' most popular strips during the 1930s. A poll of adult comic strip readers in the April 1937 issue of Fortune magazine voted Popeye their second-favorite comic strip (after Little Orphan Annie).[40] By 1938, Thimble Theatre was running in 500 newspapers, and over 600 licensed "Popeye" products were on sale.[40] The success of the strip meant Segar was earning $100,000 a year at the time of his death.[40] The strip continued after Segar's death in 1938 under a succession of artists and writers. Following an eventual name change to Popeye in the 1970s and the cancellation of the daily strip in 1992 (in favor of reprints), the comic, now solely a Sunday strip, remains one of the longest-running strips in syndication today.

Toppers

Thimble Theatre had a number of topper strips on the Sunday page during its run; the main topper, Sappo, ran for 21 years, from February 28, 1926, to May 18, 1947. (Sappo was a revival of an earlier Segar daily strip called The Five-Fifteen, aka Sappo the Commuter, which ran from December 24, 1920, to February 17, 1925.) For seven weeks in 1936, Segar replaced Sappo with Pete and Pansy – For Kids Only (Sept 27 - Nov 8, 1936).[49]

There were also a series of topper panel strips that ran next to Sappo. Segar drew one of them, Popeye's Cartoon Club (April 8, 1934 – May 5, 1935). The rest were produced by Joe Musial and Bud Sagendorf: Wiggle Line Movie (September 11 – November 13, 1938), Wimpy's Zoo's Who (November 20, 1938 – December 1, 1940), Play-Store (December 8, 1940 – July 18, 1943), Popeye's Army and Navy (July 25 – September 12, 1943), Pinup Jeep (September 19, 1943 - April 2, 1944), and Me Life by Popeye (April 9, 1944-?).[49]

Artists after Segar

 
Tom Sims and Bill Zaboly's Thimble Theatre (December 2, 1951)

Following Segar's illness and eventual death in 1938 (with his final Thimble Theatre strip appearing October 2 of that year), numerous people were hired to draw and write the strip. Tom Sims, the son of a Coosa River channel-boat captain, acted as the writer for Thimble Theatre beginning in August 1938 and established the Popeye the Sailorman spin-off. Doc Winner, who had previously filled in for Segar between January and May 1938, initially acted as Sims' artist, with Bela Zaboly[50] succeeding him by December 1939. In 1954, Sims relinquished writing duties on the daily strip to Ralph Stein, who would continue to collaborate with Zaboly until both the daily and Sunday strips were taken over by Bud Sagendorf in 1959.

Sagendorf wrote and drew the daily strip until 1986, and continued to write and draw the Sunday strip until his death in 1994.[49] Sagendorf, who had been Segar's assistant, made a definite effort to retain much of Segar's classic style, although his art is instantly discernible. Sagendorf continued to use many obscure characters from the Segar years, especially O. G. Wotasnozzle and King Blozo. Sagendorf's new characters, such as the Thung, also had a very Segar-like quality.[51] What set Sagendorf apart from Segar more than anything else was his sense of pacing. Where plotlines moved very quickly with Segar, it sometimes took an entire week of Sagendorf's daily strips for the plot to be advanced even a small amount.

From 1986 to 1992, the daily strip was written and drawn by Bobby London, who, after some controversy, was fired from the strip for a story that could be taken to satirize abortion.[52] London's strips put Popeye and his friends in updated situations, but kept the spirit of Segar's original. One classic storyline, titled "The Return of Bluto", showed the sailor battling every version of the bearded bully from the comic strip, comic books, and animated films. The Sunday edition of the comic strip was drawn by Hy Eisman from 1994 to 2022. Following Eisman's retirement, the Sunday strip was taken over by R.K. Milholland, who had previously contributed Popeye cartoons to the web-only feature Popeye's Cartoon Club in 2019 and 2020.[53] The daily strip has featured reruns of Sagendorf's strips since London's firing.[39]

On January 1, 2009, 70 years since the death of his creator, Segar's comic strips (though not the various films, TV shows, theme music, and other media based on them) became public domain[54] in most countries, but remain under copyright in the United States. Because Segar was an employee of King Features Syndicate when he created the Thimble Theatre strip, it is treated as a work for hire under U.S. copyright law. Works for hire are protected for 95 years from publication or 120 years from creation, whichever is shorter.[55] As of 2023, Thimble Theatre comic strips from 1919 through 1927 have entered the public domain, none of which feature Popeye. Even after the strips enter the public domain, trademarks regarding Popeye remain with King Features, as trademarks do not expire unless they cease to be used, and King Features has used the trademark continuously since the character's debut.

Reprints

  • Popeye the Sailor, Nostalgia Press, 1971, reprints three daily stories from 1936.
  • Thimble Theatre, Hyperion Press, 1977, ISBN 0-88355-663-4, reprints daily from September 10, 1928, missing 11 dailies which are included in the Fantagraphics reprints.
  • Popeye: The First Fifty Years by Bud Sagendorf, Workman Publishing, 1979 ISBN 0-89480-066-3, the only Popeye reprint in full color.
  • The Complete E. C. Segar Popeye, Fantagraphics, 1980s, reprints all Segar Sundays featuring Popeye in four volumes, all Segar dailies featuring Popeye in seven volumes, missing four dailies which are included in the Hyperion reprint, November 20–22, 1928, August 22, 1929.
  • Popeye: The 60th Anniversary Collection, Hawk Books Limited, 1989, ISBN 0-948248-86-6 featuring reprints, a selection of strips, and stories from the first newspaper strip in 1929 onwards, along with articles on Popeye in comics, books, collectables, etc.
  • E. C. Segar's Popeye, between 2006 and 2011, Fantagraphics Books published six oversized hardcover volumes, reprinting all dailies and Sundays (in color, along with Sappo) featuring Popeye, plus various extras.
    • Vol. 1: I Yam What I Yam – covers September 1928 - December 1930 (dailies) and March 1930 - February 1931 (Sundays) (November 22, 2006, ISBN 978-1-56097-779-7)
    • Vol. 2: Well Blow Me Down! – covers December 1930 - June 1932 (dailies) and March 1931 - October 1932 (Sundays) (December 19, 2007, ISBN 978-1-56097-874-9)
    • Vol. 3: Let's You and Him Fight! – covers June 1932 - December 1933 (dailies) and October 1932 - November 1933 (Sundays) (November 15, 2008, ISBN 978-1-56097-962-3)
    • Vol. 4: Plunder Island – covers December 1933 - July 1935 (dailies) and December 1933 - April 1935 (Sundays) (December 22, 2009, ISBN 978-1-60699-169-5)
    • Vol. 5: Wha's a Jeep – covers July 1935 - December 1936 (dailies) and April 1935 - September 1936 (Sundays) (March 21, 2011, ISBN 978-1-60699-404-7)
    • Vol. 6: Me Li'l Swee'Pea – covers December 1936 - August 1938 (dailies) and September 1936 - October 1938 (Sundays) (November 15, 2011, ISBN 978-1-60699-483-2)
  • Thimble Theatre and the pre-Popeye comics of E.C. Segar, Sunday Press Books, 2018 (ISBN 978-0-98355-045-7), an oversized collection of Thimble Theatre Sunday pages spanning from January 1925 to March 1930 (marking Popeye's earliest appearance in the strip's Sunday continuity), including the entirety of a two-year storyline (March 1928 to March 1930) featuring Castor Oyl and Hamgravy within a caricatured American West.

Comic books

 
Bud Sagendorf's cover of Popeye #50 (Oct.–Dec. 1959) shows Popeye with his corncob pipe, single good eye and girlfriend Olive Oyl.

There have been a number of Popeye comic books, from Dell, King Comics, Gold Key Comics, Charlton Comics, and others, originally written and illustrated by Bud Sagendorf. In the Dell comics, Popeye became something of a crimefighter, thwarting evil organizations and Bluto's criminal activities. The new villains included the numerous Misermite dwarfs, who were all identical.

Popeye appeared in the British TV Comic becoming the cover story in 1960 with stories written and drawn by "Chick" Henderson. Bluto was referred to as Brutus and was Popeye's only nemesis throughout the entire run.

A variety of artists have created Popeye comic book stories since then; for example, George Wildman drew Popeye stories for Charlton Comics from 1969 until the late 1970s. The Gold Key series was illustrated by Wildman and scripted by Bill Pearson, with some issues written by Nick Cuti.

Popeye even had his own Manga series, published by Shōnen Gahōsha and done by Robotan and Marude Dameo creator Kenji Morita, that ran from 1961 to 1965.[56][57][58]

In 1988, Ocean Comics released the Popeye Special written by Ron Fortier with art by Ben Dunn. The story presented Popeye's origin story, including his given name of "Ugly Kidd"[59] and attempted to tell more of a lighthearted adventure story as opposed to using typical comic strip style humor. The story also featured a more realistic art style and was edited by Bill Pearson, who also lettered and inked the story as well as the front cover.[60] A second issue, by the same creative team, followed in 1988. The second issue introduced the idea that Bluto and Brutus were actually twin brothers and not the same person,[61] an idea also used in the comic strip on December 28, 2008, and April 5, 2009.[62][63] In 1999, to celebrate Popeye's 70th anniversary, Ocean Comics revisited the franchise with a one-shot comic book, The Wedding of Popeye and Olive Oyl, written by Peter David. The comic book brought together a large portion of the casts of both the comic strip and the animated shorts, and Popeye and Olive Oyl were finally wed after decades of courtship. However, this marriage has not been reflected in all media since the comic was published.

In 1989, a special series of short Popeye comic books were included in specially marked boxes of Instant Quaker Oatmeal, and Popeye also appeared in three TV commercials for Quaker Oatmeal.[64] The plots were similar to those of the cartoon shorts: Popeye loses either Olive Oyl or Swee'Pea to a musclebound antagonist, eats something invigorating, and proceeds to save the day. In this case, however, the invigorating elixir was not his usual spinach, but rather one of four flavors of Quaker Oatmeal[64] (a different flavor was showcased with each mini-comic). The comics ended with the sailor saying, "I'm Popeye the Quaker Man!", which offended members of the Religious Society of Friends (a.k.a. Quakers).[65] The Quaker Oatmeal company apologized and removed the "Popeye the Quaker Man" reference from commercials and future comic book printings.[65]

In 2012, writer Roger Langridge teamed with cartoonists Bruce Ozella, Ken Wheaton, and Tom Neely (among others) to revive the spirit of Segar in a 12-issue comic book miniseries published by IDW Publishing. Critic PS Hayes in reviewing the series stated:

Langridge writes a story with a lot of dialogue (compared to your average comic book) and it's all necessary, funny, and entertaining. Bruce Ozella draws the perfect Popeye. Not only Popeye, but Popeye's whole world. Everything looks like it should, cartoony and goofy. Plus, he brings an unusual amount of detail to something that doesn't really need it. You'll swear that you're looking at an old Whitman Comics issue of Popeye, only it's better. Ozella is a great storyteller and even though the issue is jam packed with dialog, the panels never look cramped at all.[66]

In late 2012, IDW began reprinting the original 1940s–1950s Sagendorf Popeye comic books under the title of Classic Popeye.

Webcomics

In January 2019, in celebration of its 90 years of character, King Feature Syndicate launched the webcomic Popeye's Cartoon Club. In a series of Sunday-format comics, a wide assortment of artists depicted the characters in their own styles in one comic each, including Alex Hallatt, Erica Henderson, Tom Neely, Roger Langridge, Larry deSouza, Robert Sikoryak, Jeffrey Brown, Jim Engel, Liniers, Jay Fosgitt, Carol Lay, and Randy Milholland.[67] At the end of the year, Milholland's Cartoon Club comic was declared the number one comic of the year on King Features' website, Comics Kingdom.[68] From February through April 2020, Cartoon Club ran an additional five comics by Milholland.[69][70][71][72][73]

From May 28 through July 6, 2020, Popeye's Cartoon Club ran daily comics from Randy Milholland,[74] making Milholland the first person to write a daily-update Popeye comic for King Features since 1994.

Theatrical animated cartoons

Main article: Popeye the Sailor (film series)

In November 1932, King Features signed an agreement with Fleischer Studios to have Popeye and the other Thimble Theatre characters begin appearing in a series of animated cartoons released by Paramount Pictures. The first cartoon in the series was released in 1933, and Popeye cartoons remained a staple of Paramount's release schedule for nearly 25 years.[41] William Costello was the original voice of Popeye, a voice that was replicated by later performers, such as Jack Mercer and even Mae Questel. Many of the Thimble Theatre characters, including Wimpy, Poopdeck Pappy, and Eugene the Jeep, eventually made appearances in the Paramount cartoons, though Olive Oyl's extended family and Ham Gravy were mostly absent. Thanks to the animated-short series, Popeye became even more of a sensation than he had been in comic strips, and by 1938, polls showed that the sailor was Hollywood's most popular cartoon character.[75][76]

Although Segar may have used spinach as a prop a few times, it was Max Fleischer who realized its potential as a trademark. In almost every Popeye cartoon, the sailor is invariably put into what seems like a hopeless situation, upon which (usually after a beating), a can of spinach becomes available, and Popeye quickly opens the can and consumes its contents. Upon swallowing the spinach, Popeye's physical strength immediately becomes superhuman, and he is easily able to save the day, and very often rescue Olive Oyl from a dire situation. It did not stop there, as spinach could also give Popeye the skills and powers he needed, as in The Man on the Flying Trapeze, where it gave him acrobatic skills.

Bride and Gloom

In May 1942, Paramount Pictures assumed ownership of Fleischer Studios, fired the Fleischers and began reorganizing the studio, which they renamed Famous Studios. The early Famous-era shorts were often World War II-themed, featuring Popeye fighting Nazi Germans and Japanese soldiers, most notably the 1942 short You're a Sap, Mr. Jap. In late 1943, the Popeye series began to be produced in Technicolor, beginning with Her Honor the Mare. Famous/Paramount continued producing the Popeye series until 1957, with Spooky Swabs being the last of the 125 Famous shorts in the series. Paramount then sold the Popeye film catalog to Associated Artists Productions, which was bought out by United Artists in 1958. Through various mergers, the rights are currently controlled by Warner Bros. Discovery.

In 2001, Cartoon Network, under the supervision of animation historian Jerry Beck, created a new incarnation of The Popeye Show. The show aired the Fleischer and Famous Studios Popeye shorts in versions approximating their original theatrical releases by editing copies of the original opening and closing credits (taken or recreated from various sources) onto the beginnings and ends of each cartoon, or in some cases, in their complete, uncut original theatrical versions direct from such prints that originally contained the front-and-end Paramount credits. The series aired 135 Popeye shorts over 45 episodes, until March 2004. The Popeye Show continued to air on Cartoon Network's spin-off network Boomerang.

While many of the Paramount Popeye cartoons remained unavailable on video, a handful of those cartoons had fallen into public domain and were found on numerous low budget VHS tapes and later DVDs. When Turner Entertainment acquired the cartoons in 1986, a long and laborious legal struggle with King Features kept the majority of the original Popeye shorts from official video releases for more than 20 years. King Features instead opted to release a DVD boxed set of the 1960s made-for-television Popeye the Sailor cartoons, to which it retained the rights, in 2004. In the meantime, home video rights to the Associated Artists Productions library were transferred from CBS/Fox Video to MGM/UA Home Video in 1986, and eventually to Warner Home Video in 1999. In 2006, Warner Home Video announced it would release all of the Popeye cartoons produced for theatrical release between 1933 and 1957 on DVD, restored and uncut. Three volumes were released between 2007 and 2008, covering all of the black-and-white cartoons produced from 1933 to 1943. In December 2018, a fourth volume featuring the first 14 color shorts from 1943 to 1945 was released on DVD and Blu-ray from Warner Home Video through the Warner Archive Collection.

Original television cartoons

In 1960, King Features Syndicate commissioned a new series of cartoons titled Popeye the Sailor, but this time for television syndication. Al Brodax served as executive producer of the cartoons for King Features. Jack Mercer, Mae Questel, and Jackson Beck returned for this series, which was produced by a number of companies, including Jack Kinney Productions, Rembrandt Films (William L. Snyder and Gene Deitch), Larry Harmon Productions, Halas and Batchelor, Paramount Cartoon Studios (formerly Famous Studios), and Southern Star Entertainment (formerly Southern Star Productions). The artwork was streamlined and simplified for the television budgets, and 220 cartoons were produced in only two years, with the first set of them premiering in the autumn of 1960, and the last of them debuting during the 1961–1962 television season. For these cartoons, Bluto's name was changed to "Brutus", as King Features believed at the time that Paramount owned the rights to the name "Bluto". Many of the cartoons made by Paramount used plots and storylines taken directly from the comic strip sequences – as well as characters like King Blozo and the Sea Hag.[77] Since King Features has exclusive rights to these Popeye cartoons, they have been released on home video, with 85 of them included in a 75th anniversary Popeye DVD boxed set in 2004.

Popeye, Olive Oyl, Swee'Pea and Wimpy were featured prominently in the cartoon movie "Popeye Meets the Man Who Hated Laughter", which debuted on October 7, 1972, as one of the episodes of The ABC Saturday Superstar Movie. In this cartoon, Brutus also appears as a turban-wearing employee of the nemesis, Dr. Morbid Grimsby.

On September 9, 1978, The All New Popeye Hour debuted on the CBS Saturday morning lineup. It was an hour-long animated series produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions, which tried its best to retain the style of the original comic strip (Popeye returned to his original costume and Brutus to his original name of Bluto), while complying with the prevailing content restrictions on violence. In addition to providing many of the cartoon scripts, Mercer continued to voice Popeye, while Marilyn Schreffler and Allan Melvin became the new voices of Olive Oyl and Bluto, respectively. The All New Popeye Hour ran on CBS until September 1981, when it was cut to a half-hour and retitled The Popeye and Olive Comedy Show. It was removed from the CBS lineup in September 1983, the year before Jack Mercer's death. These cartoons have also been released on VHS and DVD.

During the time these cartoons were in production, CBS aired The Popeye Valentine's Day Special – Sweethearts at Sea on February 14, 1979.

Popeye briefly returned to CBS in 1987 for Popeye and Son, another Hanna-Barbera series, which featured Popeye and Olive as a married couple with a son named Popeye Jr., who hates the taste of spinach, but eats it to boost his strength. Maurice LaMarche performed Popeye's voice as Mercer had died in 1984. The show lasted for one season. USA Network later picked up reruns of the series after CBS's cancellation.

In 2004, Lionsgate produced a computer-animated television special, Popeye's Voyage: The Quest for Pappy to coincide with the 75th anniversary of Popeye. Billy West performed the voice of Popeye, describing the production as "the hardest job I ever did, ever" and the voice of Popeye as "like a buzzsaw on your throat".[78] The uncut version was released on DVD on November 9, 2004; and was aired in a re-edited version on Fox on December 17, 2004, and again on December 30, 2005. Its style was influenced by the 1930s Fleischer cartoons, and featured Swee'Pea, Wimpy, Bluto, Olive Oyl, Poopdeck Pappy, and the Sea Hag as its characters. On November 6, 2007, Lionsgate re-released Popeye's Voyage on DVD with redesigned cover art.

Web series

On December 2, 2018, a Popeye web series named Popeye's Island Adventures produced by WildBrain subsidiary WildBrain Spark Studios premiered on the official Popeye YouTube channel. With intent on drawing in a younger, contemporary, international audience, the new series has updated the Popeye characters to fit the times. For instance, Popeye grows his own spinach and has replaced his corncob pipe with a bosun's whistle. Bluto no longer sports a beard and focuses his time on stealing Popeye's spinach rather than his girlfriend. Olive Oyl is shown as an inventor and engineer. The characters are drawn to appear younger than typically done, save Swea'pea, and no words are spoken, with all actions mimed.[79][80]

Theme song

"I'm Popeye the Sailor Man"
Song by William Costello
later by Jack Mercer
Released1933
Recorded1933
Composer(s)Sammy Lerner

I'm Popeye the Sailor Man
I'm Popeye the Sailor Man
I'm strong to the "finich"
'cause I eats me spinach
I'm Popeye the Sailor Man

Popeye's theme song, titled "I'm Popeye The Sailor Man", composed by Sammy Lerner in 1933 for Fleischer's first Popeye the Sailor cartoon,[81] has become forever associated with the sailor. "The Sailor's Hornpipe" has often been used as an introduction to Popeye's theme song.

A cover of the theme song, performed by Face to Face, is included on the 1995 tribute album Saturday Morning: Cartoons' Greatest Hits, produced by Ralph Sall for MCA Records. A jazz version, performed by Ted Kooshian's Standard Orbit Quartet, appears on their 2009 Summit Records release Underdog and Other Stories.

Playground song parodies of the theme have become part of children's street culture around the world,[82][83] usually interpolating "frying pan" or "garbage can" into the lyrics as Popeye's dwelling place[84][85] and ascribing to the character various unsavory actions or habits[86][87][88][89] that transform the character into an "Anti-Popeye", and changing his exemplary spinach-based diet into an inedible morass of worms, onions, flies, tortillas and snot.[90]

Other media

The success of Popeye as a comic-strip and animated character has led to appearances in many other forms. For more than 20 years, Stephen DeStefano has been the artist drawing Popeye for King Features licensing.[91]

Radio

Popeye was adapted to radio in several series broadcast over three different networks by two sponsors from 1935 to 1938. Popeye and most of the major supporting characters were first featured in a thrice-weekly 15-minute radio program, Popeye the Sailor, which starred Detmar Poppen as Popeye, along with most of the major supporting characters—Olive Oyl (Olive Lamoy), Wimpy (Charles Lawrence), Bluto (Jackson Beck) and Swee'Pea (Mae Questel).[92] In the first episode, Popeye adopted Sonny (Jimmy Donnelly), a character later known as Matey the Newsboy. This program was broadcast Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday nights at 7:15pm. September 10, 1935, through March 28, 1936, on the NBC Red Network (87 episodes), initially sponsored by Wheatena, a whole-wheat breakfast cereal, which routinely replaced the spinach references. Music was provided by Victor Irwin's Cartoonland Band. Announcer Kelvin Keech sang (to composer Lerner's "Popeye" theme) "Wheatena is his diet / He asks you to try it / With Popeye the sailor man." Wheatena paid King Features Syndicate $1,200 per week.

The show was next broadcast Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 7:15 to 7:30pm on WABC and ran from August 31, 1936, to February 26, 1937 (78 episodes). Floyd Buckley played Popeye, and Miriam Wolfe portrayed both Olive Oyl and the Sea Hag. Once again, reference to spinach was conspicuously absent. Instead, Popeye sang, "Wheatena's me diet / I ax ya to try it / I'm Popeye the Sailor Man".[93]

The third series was sponsored by the maker of Popsicles three nights a week for 15 minutes at 6:15 pm on CBS from May 2, 1938, through July 29, 1938.

Of the three series, only 20 of the 204 episodes are known to be preserved.

Feature films

Popeye (1980)

 
Popeye Village in Malta, built as a location set for the feature film
Main article: Popeye (film)

Director Robert Altman used the character in Popeye, a 1980 live-action musical feature film, starring Robin Williams as Popeye. A co-production of Paramount Pictures and Walt Disney Productions, the movie was filmed almost entirely on Malta, in the village of Mellieħa on the northwest coast of the island. The set is now a tourist attraction called Popeye Village. The U.S. box office earnings were double the film's budget, making it a financial success. However, the film received mostly negative reviews.

Canceled animated film

In March 2010, it was reported that Sony Pictures Animation was developing a 3D computer-animated Popeye film, with Avi Arad producing it.[94] In November 2011, Sony Pictures Animation announced that Jay Scherick and David Ronn, the writers of The Smurfs, are writing the screenplay for the film.[95] In June 2012, it was reported that Genndy Tartakovsky had been set to direct the feature,[96] which he planned to make "as artful and unrealistic as possible."[97] In November 2012, Sony Pictures Animation set the release date for September 26, 2014,[98] which was, in May 2013, pushed back to 2015.[99] In March 2014, Sony Pictures Animation updated its slate, scheduling the film for 2016, and announcing Tartakovsky as the director of Hotel Transylvania 2, which he was directing concurrently with Popeye.[100] On September 18, 2014, Tartakovsky revealed an "animation test" footage, about which he said, "It's just something that kind of represents what we want to do. I couldn't be more excited by how it turned out."[101] In March 2015, Tartakovsky announced that despite the well-received test footage, he was no longer working on the project, and would instead direct Can You Imagine?, which is based on his own original idea,[102] but it too was cancelled.[103] Nevertheless, Sony Pictures Animation stated the project still remains in active development.[104] In January 2016, it was announced that T.J. Fixman would write the film.[105] On May 11, 2020, it was announced that a Popeye movie is in development at King Features Syndicate with Genndy Tartakovsky coming back to the project.[106] However, on July 21, 2022, Genndy has said the project was dead.[107] An animatic for the movie was later leaked onto the internet on July 22, 2022.[108]

Video and pinball games

  • When Donkey Kong, which was originally conceived as a Popeye video game by Shigeru Miyamoto,[109] proved to be a big success, King Features agreed to license the characters to Nintendo to create a Popeye arcade game in 1982. It was later ported to various home gaming platforms, including the Commodore 64, Intellivision, Atari 2600, Atari 8-bit family, ColecoVision, Odyssey2, and Nintendo Entertainment System. The goal was to avoid Brutus and the Sea Hag while collecting items produced by Olive Oyl such as hearts, musical notes, or the letters in the word "help" (depending on the level). Hitting a can of spinach gave Popeye a brief chance to strike back at Brutus. Other characters such as Wimpy and Swee'Pea appeared in the game, but did not greatly affect gameplay. A board game based on the video game was released by Parker Brothers.
  • Nintendo also released two Game & Watch units featuring Popeye.
  • Nintendo created another Popeye game for the Famicom, Popeye no Eigo Asobi, in 1983. This was an educational game designed to teach Japanese children English words.
  • A different Popeye game was developed for the ZX Spectrum by Don Priestley and first released by DK'Tronics in 1985. The game achieved critical success due to its huge, colorful sprites; amongst the largest seen on the Spectrum platform.[110][111] This distinct graphical style was due to King Features' insistence that any game had to include fair representations of the central cartoon characters. The game was ported to Commodore 64 and Amstrad CPC in 1986. After releasing the budget version of this game, Alternative Software developed another two licensed games, Popeye 2 (1991) and Popeye 3: Wrestle Crazy (1992) on the same platforms.
  • Sigma Enterprises published two Popeye games for the Game Boy. The first, titled simply Popeye, was released exclusively in Japan in 1990, while Popeye 2 was released in Japan in 1991, North America in 1993, and Europe in 1994 by Activision.
  • In 1994, Technos Japan released Popeye Beach Volleyball for the Game Gear, and Popeye: Volume of the Malicious Witch Seahag (Popeye: Ijiwaru Majo Shihaggu no Maki) for the Japanese Super Famicom. A side scrolling adventure game that was mixed with a board game, the game never saw U.S. release. It featured many characters from the Thimble Theatre series as well. In the game, Popeye had to recover magical hearts scattered across the level to restore his frozen friends as part of a spell cast upon them by the Sea Hag in order to get revenge on Popeye.
  • Midway (under the Bally label) released Popeye Saves the Earth, a SuperPin pinball game, in 1994.
  • A Sega Genesis Popeye game was planned but never released.[112][113][114]
  • In 2003, Nova Productions released a strength tester called Popeye Strength Tester.
  • In 2005, Bandai Namco released a Game Boy Advance video game called Popeye: Rush for Spinach.
  • Released June 2007, the video game The Darkness featured televisions that played full-length films and television shows that had expired copyrights. Most of the cartoons viewable on the "Toon TV" channel are Famous Studios Popeye shorts.
  • In fall 2007, Namco Networks released the original Nintendo Popeye arcade game for mobile phones with new features including enhanced graphics and new levels.
  • In November 2021, independent developer Sabec LTD released what it called the "official Popeye game"[115] for the Nintendo Switch, featuring a three-dimensional adaptation of the "classic arcade game."

Parodies

Marketing, tie-ins, and endorsements

From early on, Popeye was heavily merchandised. Everything from soap to razor blades to spinach was available with Popeye's likeness on it. Most of these items are rare and sought by collectors, but some merchandise is still produced.

Restaurants
  • Wimpy's name was borrowed for the Wimpy restaurant chain, one of the first international fast food restaurants featuring hamburgers, which they call "Wimpy Burgers".[116]
  • The popular fast-food chain Popeyes was found on June 12, 1972, and is the second-largest "quick-service chicken restaurant group" behind Kentucky Fried Chicken. It was not named for the sailor, but some Popeye references were featured in a few commercials throughout its early years as part of a licensing deal with King Features.
  • Wimpy has also appeared in commercials for Burger King and Carl's Jr. hamburgers.
Retail foods and beverages
  • Allen Canning Company produces its own line of canned "Popeye Spinach" in multiple varieties. The cartoon Popeye serves as the mascot on the can.[117]
  • Since 1989, "Popeye's Supplements" has been a chain of Canadian Sports Nutrition Stores.[118]
  • In 1989, Popeye endorsed Instant Quaker Oatmeal, citing it as a better food than spinach to provide strength.[64] The commercials had the tagline "Can the spinach, I wants me Quaker Oatmeal!" or "Popeye wants a Quaker". The Religious Society of Friends (also known as the Quakers) was offended by the promotion, given the physical aggression from "Popeye the Quaker man" and also the excessive submissiveness of Olive Oyl.[65]
  • In 2001, Popeye (along with Bluto, Olive, and twin Wimpys) appeared in a television commercial for Minute Maid Orange juice. The commercial, produced by Leo Burnett Co, showed Popeye and Bluto as friends, due to their having had Minute Maid Orange Juice that morning. The ad agency's intention was to show that even the notable enemies would be in a good mood after their juice, but some, including Robert Knight of the Culture and Family Institute, felt the commercial's intent was to portray the pair in a homosexual romantic relationship; even so, it is a suggestion that Minute Maid denies. Knight was interviewed by Stephen Colbert on Comedy Central's The Daily Show about this issue.
  • World Candies Inc. produced Popeye-branded "candy cigarettes", which were small sugar sticks with red dye at the end to simulate embers. They were sold in a small box, similar to a cigarette pack. The company still produces the item, but has since changed the name to "Popeye Candy Sticks" and has ceased putting the red dye at the end.
Sports
  • Starting in 1940, Popeye became the mascot of Clube de Regatas do Flamengo in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The mascot of the soccer club is currently a cartoon vulture.[119]
 
Popeye on a Spanish Republican Air Force Polikarpov I-16. Museo del Aire
Other
  • In 1987, Stabur Graphics commissioned artist Will Elder to paint "Popeye's Wedding" as oil on masonite. Released was a stamped, numbered, and signed Limited Edition lithograph, an edition size of 395. The lithograph shows Popeye slipping a lifesaver-ring onto Olive's finger along with Nana Oyl, Alice the Goon, Swee'Pea (cradled in Popeye's free arm), Wimpy, Granny, Eugene the Jeep, and Brutus (holding a large cauldron of steaming, cooked rice). Twenty-one other characters watch from the pews. The litho is titled "Wit Dis Lifesaver, I Dee Wed!" and is pictured on page 83 of the book "Chicken Fat" by Will Elder (Fantagraphics, 2006).
  • In 1990, Popeye appeared in a public service announcement which was tied to the maritime nature of the character, warning of the harmful effects of coastal pollution. Bluto carelessly dumps garbage over the side of his boat, to which Olive reacts in horror as seagulls and other sea creatures are caught in six pack ring holders. Popeye eats spinach and blows a tornado from his pipe, which cleans up Bluto's garbage and dumps it on him; however, when some more plastic garbage sails by Popeye's boat, he says unsurprisingly, "I can't do it all meself, peoples!" and encourages viewers to be careful about littering at sea.
  • In 1995, the Popeye comic strip was one of 20 included in the Comic Strip Classics series of commemorative U.S. postage stamps.
  • From 1996 to 1999, the Darien Lake theme park in Western New York operated a "Popeye's Seaport" in the park. It was rebranded as "Looney Tunes Seaport" after Darien Lake came under the Six Flags banner.
  • In Universal Studios Orlando Resort's island theme park, Universal's Islands of Adventure, there is a river rafting water ride, Popeye and Bluto's Bilge-Rat Barges, themed after Popeye the Sailor saving Olive Oyl from Bluto. There is also a kids' playground, Me Ship, the Olive, built in and around Popeye's ship. The three levels of the ship all contain a variety of interactive elements including cannons and hoses which can further soak riders on the Popeye and Bluto's Bilge-Rat Barge ride.

Popeye & Friends Character Trail

Chester, Illinois, Segar's hometown, erected a statue of Popeye in Segar's honor in 1977 and began the Popeye & Friends Character Trail in 2006, adding new statues honoring the other Thimble Theater characters each year.

This Character Trail is spread throughout Chester and includes (with unveiling dates):

  • Popeye (1977)[38]
  • J. Wellington Wimpy (2006)[38]
  • Olive Oyl, Swee'Pea, and Jeep (2007)[38]
  • Bluto (2008)[38]
  • Castor Oyl and Whiffle Hen (2009)[38]
  • Sea Hag and Bernard (2010)[38]
  • Cole Oyl (2011)[38]
  • Alice the Goon and her Goon-child (2012)[38]
  • Poopdeck Pappy (2013)[38]
  • Professor Wotasnozzle (2014)[38]
  • RoughHouse (2015)[38]
  • Pipeye, Pupeye, Peepeye, and Poopeye, Popeye's four nephews (2016)[38]
  • King Blozo (2017)[38]
  • Nana Oyl (2018)[120][38]
  • Popeye's Pups (September 2019)[38]
  • Sherlock & Segar (December 2019)[38]
  • Toar (2020)[38]
  • Harold Hamgravy (2021)[38]
  • Oscar (scheduled for 2022)[38]

Frank "Rocky" Fiegel (born in Chester, Illinois, January 27, 1868) was the real-life inspiration for the character Popeye. His parents Bartłomiej and Anna H. Fiegiel had come from the area of the Greater Poland Voivodeship, then part of Prussia, and migrated to the United States. He had a prominent chin, sinewy physique, characteristic pipe, and a propensity and agile skill for fist-fighting.[121][122][123] Fiegel died on March 24, 1947, never having married. His gravestone has an image of Popeye engraved on it.[124] E. C. Segar regularly sent money to Fiegel (as a thank you for the inspiration) according to Segar's assistant and successor, Bud Sagendorf and Popeye historian Michael Brooks.[38]

Additional hometown residents of Chester have served as inspiration for other Segar characters, including Dora Paskel, an uncommonly tall, angular lady who ran a general store in town, who was the origin for Popeye's gal, Olive Oyl. She even wore a hair bun close to her neckline. William "Windy Bill" Schuchert, a rather rotund man who owned the local opera house (and was Segar's early employer), was the seed for the character J. Wellington Wimpy. He even sent out his employees to purchase hamburgers for him between performances at a local tavern named Wiebusch's, the same tavern that Fiegel frequented and where he engaged in fistfights.[122][125][38]

Conjecture presented in a 2009 book raised the idea that while living in Santa Monica, Segar might have based some of Popeye's language on a local fisherman; even though the article never made a definitive claim.[126]

Cultural influences

Culturally,[127] many consider Popeye a precursor to the superheroes who eventually dominated U.S. comic books.[128]

Such has been Popeye's cultural impact that the medical profession sometimes refers to the biceps bulge symptomatic of a tendon rupture as the "Popeye muscle."[129][130]

In 1973, Cary Bates created Captain Strong, a takeoff of Popeye, for DC Comics,[131] as a way of having two cultural icons – Superman and (a proxy of) Popeye – meet.[132]

The 1981 Nintendo videogame Donkey Kong, which introduced its eponymous character and Nintendo's unofficial company mascot Mario to the world, was originally planned to be a Popeye game. Mario (then known as Jumpman) was originally supposed to be Popeye, Donkey Kong was originally Bluto, and the character Pauline was originally Olive Oyl, but when Nintendo was unable to acquire the rights to use the actual franchise characters, it decided to create original characters instead.[133]

The 1988 Walt Disney/Touchstone Pictures film Who Framed Roger Rabbit featured many classic cartoon characters, and the absence of Popeye was noted by some critics. Popeye (along with Olive Oyl, Bluto, and Wimpy) actually had a cameo role planned for the film. However, Disney could not obtain the rights in time and Popeye's cameo was dropped from the film.[134]

The Popeye dance

The Popeye was a popular dance in the dance craze era of the late 1950s and early 1960s. Originating in New Orleans around 1962, the Popeye was performed by shuffling and moving one's arms, placing one arm behind and one arm in front and alternating them, going through the motion of raising a pipe up to the mouth, and alternate sliding or pushing one foot back in the manner of ice skating, similar to motions exhibited by the cartoon character. According to music historian Robert Pruter, the Popeye was even more popular than the Twist in New Orleans.[135] The dance was associated with and/or referenced to in several songs, including Eddie Bo's "Check Mr. Popeye," Chris Kenner's "Something You Got" and "Land of a Thousand Dances," Frankie Ford's "You Talk Too Much," Ernie K-Doe's "Popeye Joe," Huey "Piano" Smith's "Popeye," and Harvey Fuqua's "Any Way You Wanta." A compilation of 23 Popeye dance songs was released in 1996 under the title New Orleans Popeye Party.[136]

Spinach

Initially Popeye's chief superhuman characteristic was his indestructibility, rather than super strength, which was attributed to his having rubbed the head of Bernice the Whiffle Hen numerous times after being shot. Popeye later attributed his strength to spinach.[137][138] The popularity of Popeye helped boost spinach sales. Using Popeye as a role model for healthier eating may work; a 2010 study revealed that children increased their vegetable consumption after watching Popeye cartoons.[139] The spinach-growing community of Crystal City, Texas, erected a statue of the character in recognition of Popeye's positive effects on the spinach industry. There are also statues in Springdale and Alma, Arkansas (which claims to be "The Spinach Capital of the World"), at canning plants of Allen Canning, which markets Popeye-branded canned spinach. In addition to Allen Canning's Popeye spinach, Popeye Fresh Foods markets bagged, fresh spinach with Popeye characters on the package. In 2006, when spinach contaminated with E. coli was accidentally sold to the public, many editorial cartoonists lampooned the affair by featuring Popeye in their cartoons.[140]

A frequently circulated story claims that Fleischer's choice of spinach to give Popeye strength was based on faulty calculations of its iron content. In the story, a scientist misplaced a decimal point in an 1870 measurement of spinach's iron content, leading to an iron value ten times higher than it should have been.[141][142][143] The error was not a slipped decimal point but a measurement error which was corrected in the 1930s, however the myth of extraordinarily high iron content persisted.[141][144]

Word coinages

The strip is also responsible for popularizing, although not inventing, the word "goon" (meaning a thug or lackey); goons in Popeye's world were large humanoids with indistinctly drawn faces that were particularly known for being used as muscle and slave labor by Popeye's nemesis, the Sea Hag. One particular goon, the aforementioned female named Alice, was an occasional recurring character in the animated shorts, but she was usually a fairly nice character.

Eugene the Jeep was introduced in the comic strip on March 13, 1936. Two years later the term "jeep wagons" was in use, later shortened to simply "jeep" with widespread World War II usage and then trademarked by Willys-Overland as "Jeep".[145]

Events and honors

The Popeye Picnic is held every year in Chester, Illinois, on the weekend after Labor Day. Popeye fans attend from across the globe, including a visit by a film crew from South Korea in 2004. The one-eyed sailor's hometown strives to entertain devotees of all ages.[146]

In honor of Popeye's 75th anniversary, the Empire State Building illuminated its notable tower lights green the weekend of January 16–18, 2004 as a tribute to the icon's love of spinach. This special lighting marked the only time the Empire State Building ever celebrated the anniversary/birthday of a comic strip character.[147]

Thimble Theatre/Popeye characters

Characters originating in comic strips by E. C. Segar

Characters originating in the cartoons

  • Peepeye, Poopeye, Pupeye and Pipeye (Popeye's identical nephews in the Fleischer Studio shorts)
  • Shorty (Popeye's shipmate in three World War II-era in the Famous Studios shorts)
  • Popeye, Jr. (son of Popeye and Olive Oyl, exclusive of the series Popeye and Son)
  • Tank (son of Bluto, exclusive of the series Popeye and Son)

Filmography

Theatrical

Television

Television specials

DVD collections

Theatrical cartoons

TV cartoons

  • Popeye the Sailor: The 1960s Classics, Volume 1 (released May 7, 2013)[152] A DVD-R release by Warner Archive Collection consisting mostly of made for TV cartoons produced for King Features Television by Paramount Cartoon Studios and Gerald Ray Studios.

References

  1. ^ "Gus Wicke, An Appreciation". cartoonresearch.com. Retrieved December 14, 2020.
  2. ^ a b c "Who Is Harry Welch – and Was He Ever The Voice of Popeye?". cartoonresearch.com. Retrieved August 28, 2020.
  3. ^ "Sing Me A Cartoon #16: More Sailor Man Rhythm". cartoonresearch.com. Retrieved August 28, 2020.
  4. ^ "Mae Questel--Voice of Betty Boop and Olive Oyl, 1978 TV". YouTube. Archived from the original on October 30, 2021. Retrieved June 22, 2021.
  5. ^ "Paramount Sales News #52". cartoonresearch.com. Retrieved June 22, 2021. "Shape Ahoy" is notable for being the cartoon where Mae Questel did Popeye's voice (Jack Mercer having enlisted and only being sporadically on tap). We know that Questel claimed to have supplied the voice on occasion, and that she did her Popeye for Leonard Maltin and he was impressed. Some have said that if her voice was ever used, it must have been slowed down, but that's unlikely in my opinion, and I see no reason why the voice heard in "Shape Ahoy", which is almost like a prolonged belch, couldn't have been done by a woman. So I vote Mae, for that title at least.
  6. ^ . YouTube. Archived from the original on October 12, 2021. Retrieved September 27, 2020.
  7. ^ "Popeye Records – with the mysterious Harry F. Welch". cartoonresearch.com. Retrieved August 28, 2020.
  8. ^ "Candy Candido - I'm Popeye The Sailor Man / The Little White Duck (Shellac)". Discogs. Retrieved August 30, 2020.
  9. ^ "Popeye Records with "Captain Allen Swift"". cartoonresearch.com. Retrieved August 28, 2020.[permanent dead link]
  10. ^ "Voice(s) of Popeye in Start". Behind The Voice Actors. Retrieved July 11, 2020.
  11. ^ "Cocoa Puffs with Popeye 1987". YouTube. Archived from the original on October 30, 2021. Retrieved June 9, 2021.
  12. ^ "Tex Brashear- The Man of 3000 Voices". YouTube. Archived from the original on October 30, 2021. Retrieved June 9, 2021.
  13. ^ "Quaker Oats". Behind The Voice Actors. Retrieved July 11, 2020.
  14. ^ "United States Postal Service". Behind The Voice Actors. Retrieved February 9, 2022.
  15. ^ "Dickinson Theatres". Behind The Voice Actors. Retrieved July 11, 2020.
  16. ^ "Popeye Saves the Earth". Behind The Voice Actors. Retrieved July 15, 2020.
  17. ^ . Behind The Voice Actors. Archived from the original on January 16, 2020. Retrieved August 27, 2020.
  18. ^ "Popeye and the Sunken Treasure". Behind The Voice Actors. Retrieved August 27, 2020.
  19. ^ . Behind The Voice Actors. Archived from the original on October 5, 2016. Retrieved July 11, 2020.
  20. ^ Scott, Keith. . Archived from the original on May 25, 2019. Retrieved September 25, 2016.
  21. ^ . Behind The Voice Actors. Archived from the original on December 6, 2019. Retrieved August 27, 2020.
  22. ^ "Toon Lagoon Pandemonium Cartoon Circus (1999)". YouTube. Archived from the original on October 30, 2021. Retrieved May 9, 2021.
  23. ^ "Voice of Popeye in Drawn Together". Behind The Voice Actors. Retrieved August 27, 2020.
  24. ^ "Slots from Bally Gaming". Behind The Voice Actors. Retrieved September 18, 2020.
  25. ^ . Archived from the original on September 14, 2015. Retrieved September 18, 2020.
  26. ^ "Sammy Timberg - Boop-Oop-A-Dooin' The Songs Of Sammy Timberg From Betty Boop, Popeye, Superman And Other Musical Classics (2004, CD)". Discogs. Retrieved May 16, 2021.
  27. ^ "Boop-Oop-A-Dooin' by Fred Seibert". SoundCloud. Retrieved May 16, 2021.
  28. ^ "Voice Overs". Brian Blunt. Retrieved May 25, 2021.
  29. ^ "Voice of Popeye in South Park". Behind The Voice Actors. Retrieved July 11, 2020.
  30. ^ "Mad". Behind The Voice Actors. Retrieved July 11, 2020.
  31. ^ "Popeye (2016)". Behind the Voice Actors. Retrieved September 12, 2015.
  32. ^ "Popeye on PROJECT RUNWAY". YouTube. Archived from the original on October 30, 2021. Retrieved June 9, 2021.
  33. ^ ""Project Runway All Stars" Thrown for a Loop by Betty Boop (TV Episode 2018)". IMDb.
  34. ^ "Matt Hurwitz". FilmFreeway. Retrieved July 28, 2020.
  35. ^ "Matt Hurwitz - Freelance Entertainment Writer/Journalist". LinkedIn. Retrieved June 9, 2021.
  36. ^ "Popeye's Island Adventures". Behind the Voice Actors. Retrieved February 24, 2021.
  37. ^ Segar, Elzie (Crisler) – Encyclopædia Britannica Article. Britannica.com. Retrieved on March 29, 2013.
  38. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x "Character Trail". City of Chester website. Retrieved January 5, 2019.
  39. ^ a b c d e f Goulart, Ron, "Popeye", St. James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture. Detroit: St. James Press, 2000. (Volume 4, pp. 87-8).ISBN 9781558624047
  40. ^ a b c d e f Walker, Brian. The Comics: The Complete Collection. New York: Abrams ComicArts, 2011. (pp. 188-9,191, 238-243) ISBN 9780810995956
  41. ^ a b Lenburg, Jeff (1999). The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons. Checkmark Books. pp. 121–124. ISBN 0-8160-3831-7. Retrieved June 6, 2020.
  42. ^ "Popeye". The Irish Times.
  43. ^ . Archived from the original on March 18, 2017. Retrieved March 18, 2017.
  44. ^ Mendelson, Lee and Schulz, Charles M., Charlie Brown and Charlie Schulz: in celebration of the 20th anniversary of "Peanuts". New York: New American Library, 1971. (p. 35)
  45. ^ TV Guide Book of Lists. Running Press. 2007. p. 158. ISBN 978-0-7624-3007-9.
  46. ^ "13 Interesting Popeye the Sailorman Facts". todayifoundout.com. December 3, 2012.
  47. ^ a b c Clark, Alan and Laurel. Comics: An Illustrated History. London, Green Wood Publishing, 1992. ISBN 9781872532554 (p.54)
  48. ^ Rovin, Jeff (1991). The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Cartoon Animals. Prentice Hall Press. p. 24. ISBN 0-13-275561-0. Retrieved April 8, 2020.
  49. ^ a b c Holtz, Allan (2012). American Newspaper Comics: An Encyclopedic Reference Guide. Ann Arbor, Michigan: The University of Michigan Press. ISBN 9780472117567.
  50. ^ "Comic creator: Bill Zaboly". Lambiek.net. June 16, 2007. Retrieved November 30, 2009.
  51. ^ Grandinetti, Fred (2004). Popeye: An Illustrated Cultural History. McFarland & Co. pp. 14–16. ISBN 9780786416059.
  52. ^ . comic-art.com. Archived from the original on January 25, 2010. Retrieved March 29, 2013.
  53. ^ Cavna, Michael (June 3, 2022). "Popeye is getting a makeover at age 93". Washington Post.
  54. ^ "Popeye, Grey Owl and Robert Service join the public domain". cbc.ca. CBC News. January 12, 2009. Retrieved March 29, 2013.
  55. ^ Quinn, Gene (January 5, 2009). "Popeye Falls into Public Domain in Europe". IPWatchdog.com. Retrieved March 11, 2011.
  56. ^ Flynn, Bob [@bobjinx] (February 6, 2021). "I learned today that Popeye manga was a thing" (Tweet). Retrieved September 21, 2022 – via Twitter.
  57. ^ Brubaker, Charles [@bakertoons] (March 25, 2019). "Was looking up Kenji Morita, and I have to say I like his style!" (Tweet). Retrieved September 21, 2022 – via Twitter.
  58. ^ Brubaker, Charles [@bakertoons] (March 25, 2019). "Yep, he drew the Popeye manga from 1961-65 (not the '50s as I stated in the post. Oops)" (Tweet). Retrieved September 21, 2022 – via Twitter.
  59. ^ Sterling, Mike (September 20, 2012). "I Sorta Do and Sorta Don't Want This to Be Officially Part of Popeye's Backstory". Progressive Ruin. Retrieved December 11, 2013.
  60. ^ Fortier, Ron (w), Dunn, Ben (p), Pearson, Bill (i). "Borned to the Sea" Popeye Special 1 (June 1987), Ocean Comics
  61. ^ Fortier, Ron (w), Dunn, Ben, Grummett, Tom, Kato, Gary (p), Barras, Dell (i). "Double Trouble Down Under" Popeye Special 2 (September 1988), Ocean Comics
  62. ^ Popeye, December 28, 2008
  63. ^ Popeye, April 5, 2009
  64. ^ a b c "Popeye snubs his spinach for oatmeal". March 28, 1990. p. 22. Retrieved August 29, 2013.
  65. ^ a b c Stieg, Bill (April 24, 1990). "Popeye's pugnacity steams up Quakers". p. 6. Retrieved August 29, 2013.
  66. ^ "Review: Popeye #1". Geeksofdoom.com. April 25, 2012. Retrieved March 29, 2013.
  67. ^ "Popeye's Cartoon Club debuts January 17". The Daily Cartoonist. January 17, 2019.
  68. ^ @PopeyeTweetsk (December 31, 2019). "Popeye's Cartoon Club by Randy Milholland on Jun. 1 topped Comics Kingdom Top 10 Comics of the Year! 💪⚓--- Get…" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  69. ^ @PopeyeTweetsk (February 16, 2020). "In a special bonus series of #PopeyesCartoonClub, Popeye realizes somethin' about his nephews...Brought to you by…" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  70. ^ @PopeyeTweetsk (February 23, 2020). "In a special bonus series of #PopeyesCartoonClub, Olive Oyl meets Snake Oyl?Brought to you by Randy Milholland (…" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  71. ^ @PopeyeTweetsk (March 1, 2020). "In a special bonus series of #PopeyesCartoonClub, Popeye shows Sweet Pea the photo album of orphans.Brought to yo…" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  72. ^ @PopeyeTweetsk (March 8, 2020). "In a special bonus series of #PopeyesCartoonClub, Bluto and Brutus have a chat about Popeye.Brought to you by Ran…" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  73. ^ @PopeyeTweetsk (April 30, 2020). "✨ In a special comic by Randy Milholland (@choochoobear), Popeye pays a visit to Sea Hag to make sure she's hanging…" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  74. ^ "Popeye's Cartoon Club". Comics Kingdom. May 28, 2020.
  75. ^ . Forums.goldenagecartoons.com. Archived from the original on July 11, 2011. Retrieved November 30, 2009.
  76. ^ "Popeye From Strip To Screen". awn.com. Retrieved November 30, 2009.
  77. ^ Ian (December 31, 1969). "The S Dope Mailbag: Is Popeye's nemesis named Bluto or Brutus?". Straightdope.com. The Straight Dope. Retrieved November 30, 2009.
  78. ^ West, Billy (August 9, 2012). "The many voices of Billy West". Penn's Sunday School. Archived from the original on October 30, 2021 – via YouTube.
  79. ^ Gene Gustines, George (December 2, 2018). "New Popeye Videos Show What 90 Years of Spinach Can Do for a Guy". The New York Times.
  80. ^ "New Popeye Animated Short Series Premieres On YouTube". ScreenRant. December 4, 2018.
  81. ^ CD liner notes: Saturday Morning: Cartoons' Greatest Hits, 1995 MCA Records
  82. ^ "Popeye the Sailor Man". www.fresnostate.edu.
  83. ^ Dance, Daryl Cumber (1985). Folklore from Contemporary Jamaicans. ISBN 9780870495663.
  84. ^ . Archived from the original on April 27, 2015. Retrieved April 20, 2015.
  85. ^ . Archived from the original on January 5, 2015.
  86. ^ Jemie, Onwuchekwa (2003). Yo Mama!: New Raps, Toasts, Dozens, Jokes, and Children's Rhymes from Urban Black America. ISBN 9781592130290.
  87. ^ Opie, Iona Archibald; Opie, Peter (2001). The Lore and Language of Schoolchildren. ISBN 9780940322691. ...for some reason he chiefly features in verses which are obscene.
  88. ^ Bronner, Simon J. (1988). American Children's Folklore. august house. p. 109. ISBN 9780874830682.
  89. ^ Mansour, David (June 1, 2011). From Abba to Zoom: A Pop Culture Encyclopedia of the Late 20th Century. ISBN 9780740793073.
  90. ^ Sutton-Smith, Brian; Mechling, Jay; Johnson, Thomas W.; McMahon, Felicia (October 12, 2012). Children's Folklore: A SourceBook. ISBN 9781136546112. Each parody creates a fictive world that stands as a miniature rite of rebellion, a vision of a counter-factual world inhabited by worm-eating garbage-can residents, and tortilla-wielding aunt-killers. The exemplary Popeye is converted into an anti-Popeye, exhibiting filthy and murderous qualities obviously anathema to the conventional etiquette.
  91. ^ "A Clean Shaven Man", July 2010. Fullecirclestuff.blogspot.com. Retrieved on March 29, 2013.
  92. ^ "Gus Wicke, An Appreciation". cartoonresearch.com. Retrieved June 22, 2021.
  93. ^ 1930s Popeye the Sailor Wheatena audio clip.
  94. ^ "Sony making a CG Popeye Film". comingsoon.net. March 23, 2010.
  95. ^ "Sony Pictures Animation and Arad Productions Set Jay Scherick & David Ronn to Write Animated POPEYE". Sony Pictures Animation "via" PR Newswire. November 3, 2011. Retrieved November 3, 2011.
  96. ^ Abrams, Rachel (June 25, 2012). "Helmer moves Sony's 3D 'Popeye' forward". Variety. Retrieved June 26, 2012.
  97. ^ Keegan, Rebecca (August 25, 2012). "Genndy Tartakovsky gets 'Hotel Transylvania' open for business". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved August 28, 2012.
  98. ^ Kit, Borys (November 9, 2012). "'Hotel Transylvania 2' in the Works for 2015 Release". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved November 10, 2012.
  99. ^ Jardine, William (May 17, 2013). "Sony Pushes Genndy Tartakovsky's Popeye Back to 2015". A113Animation. Retrieved May 22, 2013.
  100. ^ Kit, Borys (March 12, 2014). "Sony Animation Sets Slate: 'Smurfs', 'Transylvania 2,' More (Exclusive)". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved May 3, 2014.
  101. ^ McMillan, Graeme (September 18, 2014). "Sony Pictures Releases First Glimpse of Genndy Tartakovsky's 'Popeye'". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved March 14, 2015.
  102. ^ Han, Angie (March 13, 2015). "Genndy Tartakovsky Exits Sony's 'Popeye'". /Film. Retrieved March 14, 2015.
  103. ^ Scott Wills (July 8, 2017). "Story pitch art for a Genndy Tartakovsky feature that didn't get made". Instagram. Archived from the original on December 23, 2021. Retrieved July 26, 2018.
  104. ^ Khatchatourian, Maane (March 14, 2015). "Sony's 'Popeye' Loses Director Genndy Tartakovsky". Variety. Retrieved March 14, 2015.
  105. ^ Jaafar, Ali (January 22, 2016). "Sony Pictures Animation Brings In T. J. Fixman To Write 'Popeye'". Deadline.
  106. ^ Milligan, Mercedes (May 11, 2020). "Genndy Tartakovsky's 'Popeye' Movie Afloat with King Features". Animation Magazine.
  107. ^ "'Primal' Season 2 on HBO Max: Genndy Tartakovsky Interview". Decider.com. July 21, 2022. Retrieved August 5, 2022.
  108. ^ Brew, Cartoon (July 26, 2022). "Full Animatic For Genndy Tartakovsky's 'Popeye' Leaked Online". Cartoonbrew.com. Retrieved August 5, 2022.
  109. ^ "Iwata Asks: New Super Mario Bros. Wii – Mario Couldn't Jump At First". Nintendo. Retrieved April 28, 2022.
  110. ^ Popeye review from CRASH issue 20, September 1985; retrieved from CRASH The Online Edition
  111. ^ Popeye review from Your Spectrum issue 19, October 1985
  112. ^ "More Up 'n' Coming Titles". Mega. No. 18. Future Publishing. March 1994. p. 93.
  113. ^ "News: CES Showtime". Mean Machines Sega. No. 17. EMAP. March 1994. pp. 10–22.
  114. ^ Merritt, Steve (August 1995). "News: E3 - The Future Is Here". Mean Machines Sega. No. 34. EMAP. pp. 8–18.
  115. ^ "Popeye". Nintendo.com. Sabec LTD. November 2021.
  116. ^ "Wimpy Burger – Junk Food Health Advice – Wimpy Burgers, learn the truth". wimpyburgers.co.uk.
  117. ^ "Popeye Spinach". Popeye Spinach. Retrieved November 30, 2009.
  118. ^ "Popeye's Supplements Canada ~ Over 120 Locations Across Canada!—History". popeyescanada.com.
  119. ^ Club mascots (in Portuguese). Flamengo official website. Retrieved January 18, 2010.
  120. ^ "Nana Oyl To Join Statues On Character Trail".
  121. ^ Grandinetti, p. 4.
  122. ^ a b "Where They Really Knew Popeye and Co". The New York Times. Associated Press. January 18, 2004.
  123. ^ Fishman, Julie (January 28, 2015). . mom.me. Archived from the original on September 15, 2018. Retrieved June 2, 2021.
  124. ^ Grandinetti, Fred M. (December 31, 2003). Popeye: An Illustrated Cultural History, 2d ed. McFarland. ISBN 9780786426874 – via Google Books.
  125. ^ "Real Life Inspirations For Famous Cartoon Characters | Orrec". orrec.com.
  126. ^ Harris, Book (2009). Santa Monica Pier: A Century of the Last Great Pleasure Pier. USA: Angel City Press. ISBN 9781883318826.
  127. ^ Popeye: The First Fifty Years. New York: Workman Publishing. Pages 44–45.
  128. ^ Blackbeard, Bill, "The First (arf, arf!) Superhero of Them All". In Dick Lupoff & Don Thompson, ed., All In Color For A Dime Arlington House, 1970.
  129. ^ Rolnick, Sharon J.; Buss, Daniel D.; Fongemie, Allen E. (February 15, 1998). . American Family Physician. 57 (4): 667–74, 680–2. PMID 9490991. Archived from the original on June 6, 2011. Retrieved November 30, 2009.
  130. ^ . Guideline.gov. Archived from the original on October 12, 2007. Retrieved November 30, 2009.
  131. ^ Action Comics #421[permanent dead link] at OddballComics.com.
  132. ^ Superman and Cap'n Strong April 10, 2010, at the Wayback Machine at the Quarter Bin.
  133. ^ East, Tom (November 25, 2009). . Official Nintendo Magazine. Official Nintendo Magazine. Archived from the original on November 10, 2014. Retrieved February 28, 2013. Miyamoto says Nintendo's main monkey might not have existed.
  134. ^ O'Connor, John J. (2007). . Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times. Archived from the original on November 2, 2007. Retrieved November 30, 2009.
  135. ^ Robert Pruter. Chicago Soul. p. 196.
  136. ^ "Various Artists—New Orleans Popeye Party". allmusic.com. Retrieved June 11, 2017.
  137. ^ Bill Blackbeard, "The First (arf, arf) Superhero of Them All". In All in Color for a Dime, ed. by Dick Lupoff and Don Thompson, Ace, 1970.
  138. ^ Laurence Maslon; Michael Kantor. Superheroes!:Capes cowls and the creation of comic book culture. p. 16.
  139. ^ Hewitt, Katie (August 16, 2010) How to win the kids v. veggies battle, Toronto Globe and Mail
  140. ^ "No Eats Me Spinach!". Cagle.com. Retrieved November 30, 2009.
  141. ^ a b Hamblin, T.J. (1981). "Fake". BMJ. 283 (6307): 1671–4. doi:10.1136/bmj.283.6307.1671. PMC 1507475. PMID 6797607.
  142. ^ Gabbatt, Adam (December 8, 2009). "E.C. Segar, Popeye's creator, celebrated with a Google doodle". guardian.co.uk. London. Retrieved May 5, 2010.
  143. ^ della Quercia, Jacopo (May 3, 2010). "The 7 Most Disastrous Typos Of All Time". Cracked.com. Retrieved May 5, 2010.
  144. ^ Arbesman, Samuel (September 27, 2012). "Paradox of Hoaxes: How Errors Persist, Even When Corrected". Wired magazine. Retrieved June 29, 2019.
  145. ^ Jeep March 28, 2010, at the Wayback Machine. wordorigins.org
  146. ^ . Popeye Picnic. Archived from the original on January 24, 2010. Retrieved November 30, 2009.
  147. ^ "Welcome to King Features Syndicate". Kingfeatures.com. November 17, 2008. Retrieved November 30, 2009.
  148. ^ "July 29, 2015 Popeye comic strip". Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Retrieved July 29, 2015.
  149. ^ "July 30, 2015 Popeye comic strip". Seattle Post-Intelligencer. Retrieved July 30, 2015.
  150. ^ "Popeye the Sailor: The 1940s Vol. 1 (Warner Archive Collection) 12/18/2018 Pre-order—Blu-ray Forum".
  151. ^ @WarnerArchive (May 17, 2019). "Pop open another can of spinach with #Popeye the Sailor: The 1940s Volume 2 - coming to Blu-ray next month! List of…" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  152. ^ . tvshowsondvd.com. Archived from the original on September 10, 2013.

Further reading

  • Grandinetti, Fred M. Popeye: An Illustrated Cultural History. 2nd ed. McFarland, 2004. ISBN 0-7864-1605-X

External links

 
Wikiquote has quotations related to Popeye.
 
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Popeye.

May 02, 2023
popeye, sailor, redirects, here, cartoon, series, sailor, film, series, cartoon, starring, this, character, sailor, film, fast, food, chain, other, uses, disambiguation, sailor, fictional, cartoon, character, created, elzie, crisler, segar, character, first, a. Popeye the Sailor redirects here For the cartoon series see Popeye the Sailor film series For the cartoon starring this character see Popeye the Sailor film For the fast food chain see Popeyes For other uses see Popeye disambiguation Popeye the Sailor Man is a fictional cartoon character created by Elzie Crisler Segar 37 38 39 40 The character first appeared on January 17 1929 in the daily King Features comic strip Thimble Theatre The strip was in its tenth year when Popeye made his debut but the one eyed sailor quickly became the lead character and Thimble Theatre became one of King Features most popular properties during the 1930s After Segar died in 1938 Thimble Theatre was continued by several writers and artists most notably Segar s assistant Bud Sagendorf It was formally renamed Popeye The strip continues to appear in first run instalments on Sundays written and drawn by R K Milholland The daily strips are reprints of old Sagendorf stories 39 Popeye the Sailor ManThimble Theatre Popeye characterPopeye with spinachI m strong to the finich cause I eats me spinach lyric from I m Popeye the Sailor Man First appearanceThimble Theatre 1929 Created byE C SegarPortrayed byGus Wickie 1933 1939 public appearances 1 Harry Foster Welch 1934 1940s public events and amusement parks Pleasure Island 2 Robin Williams 1980 film Voiced byList William Costello 1933 1935 Detmar Poppen 1935 1936 radio only Floyd Buckley Be Kind To Aminals 1936 1937 radio appearances 1937 Bluebird Records records 1945 1946 cartoons 3 2 Jack Mercer 1935 1945 1947 1984 Mae Questel 1945 1961 4 5 6 Harry Foster Welch 1946 1947 1960s Peter Pan Records records 2 7 Candy Candido I m Popeye The Sailor Man The Little White Duck 8 Allen Swift Official TV Popeye Record Album Popeye s Favorite Sea Shanties Start commercial 9 10 Tex Brashear Cocoa Puffs commercials 11 12 Maurice LaMarche 1987 1990 Jeff Bergman 1989 1996 commercials 13 14 Sonny Melendrez Dickinson Theatres commercials 15 Tim Kitzrow Popeye Saves the Earth 16 Wally Wingert Popeye and the Quest For the Woolly Mammoth Popeye and the Sunken Treasure 17 18 Scott Innes Campbell s Soup commercial 19 Keith Scott Popeye and Bluto s Bilge Rat Barges Pandemonium Cartoon Circus 20 21 22 Billy West Minute Maid commercial Popeye s Voyage The Quest for Pappy Drawn Together 23 Marc Biagi Slots from Bally Gaming 24 25 Richard Halpern Boop Oop a Dooin 26 27 Allen Enlow United States Power Squadrons radio spots 28 Trey Parker South Park 29 Kevin Shinick Mad 30 Tom Kenny 2014 animation test 2016 present 31 Matt Hurwitz Project Runway All Stars 32 33 34 35 Joe Newton Popeye s Island Adventures 36 In universe informationFull namePopeye the SailorSpeciesHumanGenderMaleOccupationSailorFamilyPoopdeck Pappy father Significant otherOlive OylChildrenSwee Pea adoptive son RelativesPatcheye great grandfather Aunt Jones aunt Pipeye Peepeye Poopeye and Pupeye nephews In 1933 Max Fleischer adapted the Thimble Theatre characters into a series of Popeye the Sailor theatrical cartoon shorts for Paramount Pictures 41 These cartoons proved to be among the most popular of the 1930s and Fleischer Studios which later became Paramount s own Famous Studios continued production through 1957 Cartoons produced during World War II included Allied propaganda as was common among cartoons of the time 42 These cartoon shorts are now owned by Turner Entertainment and distributed by its sister company Warner Bros 43 Over the years Popeye has also appeared in comic books television cartoons video games hundreds of advertisements 39 peripheral products ranging from spinach to candy cigarettes and the 1980 live action film directed by Robert Altman and starring Robin Williams as Popeye Charles M Schulz said I think Popeye was a perfect comic strip consistent in drawing and humor 44 In 2002 TV Guide ranked Popeye number 20 on its 50 Greatest Cartoon Characters of All Time list 45 Contents 1 Fictional character and story 2 Thimble Theatre and Popeye comic strips 2 1 Toppers 2 2 Artists after Segar 2 3 Reprints 3 Comic books 4 Webcomics 5 Theatrical animated cartoons 6 Original television cartoons 7 Web series 8 Theme song 9 Other media 9 1 Radio 9 2 Feature films 9 2 1 Popeye 1980 9 2 2 Canceled animated film 9 3 Video and pinball games 9 4 Parodies 9 5 Marketing tie ins and endorsements 9 6 Popeye amp Friends Character Trail 9 7 Cultural influences 9 8 The Popeye dance 9 9 Spinach 9 10 Word coinages 9 11 Events and honors 10 Thimble Theatre Popeye characters 10 1 Characters originating in comic strips by E C Segar 10 2 Characters originating in the cartoons 11 Filmography 11 1 Theatrical 11 2 Television 11 3 Television specials 11 4 DVD collections 12 References 13 Further reading 14 External linksFictional character and story EditPopeye s story and characterization vary depending on the medium In his debut storyline Popeye s superhumanly proportioned strength and endurance stemmed from the luck he acquired by rubbing the feathers of the head of Bernice a whiffle hen thus enabling him to survive fifteen gunshot wounds By the end of 1929 however Popeye s strength had become a regularized fixture of his character with spinach by 1932 becoming the primary repository of his prowess 46 Swee Pea is Popeye s ward in the comic strips but his custody is inconsistent in cartoons There is no absolute sense of continuity in the stories although certain plot and presentation elements remain mostly constant including purposeful contradictions in Popeye s capabilities Popeye seems bereft of manners and uneducated yet he often comes up with solutions to problems that seem insurmountable to the police or the scientific community He has displayed Sherlock Holmes like investigative prowess scientific ingenuity and successful diplomatic arguments In the animated cartoons his pipe also proves to be highly versatile Among other things it has served as a cutting torch jet engine propeller periscope musical instrument and a whistle with which he produces his trademark toot He also eats spinach through his pipe sometimes sucking in the can along with the contents Since the 1970s Popeye is seldom depicted using his pipe to smoke tobacco 39 Popeye s exploits are also enhanced by a few recurring plot elements One is the love triangle among Popeye Olive and Bluto sometimes called Brutus and Bluto s endless machinations to claim Olive at Popeye s expense Another is his near saintly perseverance in overcoming any obstacle to please Olive who often if temporarily renounces Popeye for Bluto citation needed Thimble Theatre and Popeye comic strips EditThimble Theatre Popeye Author s E C Segar creator December 1919 December 1937 May August 1938 Doc Winner December 1937 May 1938 Tom Sims amp Doc Winner August 1938 December 1939 Tom Sims amp Bela Zaboly December 1939 December 1954 daily strip December 1939 September 1959 Sunday strip Ralph Stein amp Bela Zaboly December 1954 August 1959 daily strip only Bud Sagendorf August 1959 February 1986 daily strip September 1959 September 1994 Sunday strip Bobby London February 1986 July 1992 daily strip only Hy Eisman September 1994 May 2022 Sunday strip only R K Milholland June 2022 present Sunday strip only Websitepopeye wbr com comicskingdom wbr com wbr popeyeCurrent status scheduleNew strips on Sundays reprints Monday through SaturdayLaunch dateDecember 19 1919End dateJuly 30 1992 last first run daily strip Sunday strips continue Syndicate s King Features SyndicatePublisher s King Features SyndicateGenre s Humor adventureSegar s Thimble Theatre debuted in the New York Journal on December 19 1919 The paper s owner William Randolph Hearst also owned King Features Syndicate which syndicated the strip Thimble Theatre was intended as a replacement for Midget Movies by Ed Wheelan Wheelan having recently resigned from King Features 47 While initially failing to attract a large audience the strip nonetheless increasingly accumulated a modest following as the 1920s continued At the end of its first decade the strip resultantly appeared in over a dozen newspapers and had acquired a corresponding Sunday strip which had debuted on January 25 1925 within the Hearst owned New York American paper The original cast of Thimble Theatre in a 1925 Sunday strip Left to right Castor Oyl Ham Gravy and Olive Oyl Thimble Theatre s first main characters were the lanky long nosed slacker Harold Hamgravy rapidly shortened to simply Ham Gravy and his scrappy headstrong girlfriend Olive Oyl In its earliest weeks the strip featured the duo alongside a rotating cast of primarily one shot characters acting out various stories and scenarios in a parodic theatrical style hence the strip s name As its first year progressed however numerous elements of this premise would be relinquished including the recurring character Willie Wormwood introduced as a parody of melodrama villainy soon rendering the strip a series of episodic comic anecdotes depicting the daily life and dysfunctional romantic exploits of Ham Gravy and Olive Oyl It could be classified as a gag a day comic during this period 47 In mid 1922 Segar began to increasingly engage in lengthier often months long storylines by the end of the following year the strip had effectively transitioned fully into a comedy adventure style focalizing Ham Olive and Olive s ambitious but myopic diminutive brother Castor Oyl initially a minor character yet arguably the protagonist of the strip by 1924 Castor and Olive s parents Cole and Nana Oyl also made frequent appearances beginning in the mid 1920s 38 By the late 1920s the strip had likewise acquired a number of notable characters beyond the sphere of Ham Gravy and the Oyl family including Castor Oyl s wife Cylinda to whom he was married from 1926 to 1928 her wealthy misanthropic father Mr Lotts and Castor s fighting cockerel Blizzard all of whom had exited the strip by the close of 1928 although Cylinda would eventually martially reunite with Castor under R K Milholland s authorship almost a century later Popeye first appeared in the strip on January 17 1929 as a minor character He was initially hired by Castor Oyl and Ham Gravy to crew a ship for a voyage to Dice Island the location of a casino owned by the crooked gambler Fadewell Castor intended to break the bank at the casino using the unbeatable good luck conferred by stroking the hairs on the head of Bernice the Whiffle Hen 48 Weeks later on the trip back Popeye was shot many times by Jack Snork an undercover stooge of Fadewell s but survived by rubbing Bernice s head After the adventure Popeye left the strip but owing to reader reaction he was brought back after an absence of only five weeks 39 47 Ultimately the Popeye character became so popular that he was given a larger role by the following year and the strip was taken up by many more newspapers as a result Initial strips presented Olive as being less than impressed with Popeye but she eventually left Ham to become Popeye s girlfriend in March 1930 precipitating Ham s exit as a regular weeks later Over the years however she has often displayed a fickle attitude towards the sailor Initially Castor Oyl continued to come up with get rich quick schemes and enlisted Popeye in his misadventures By the end of 1931 however he settled down as a detective and later on bought a ranch out west Castor s appearances have resultantly become sparser over time As Castor faded from the strip J Wellington Wimpy a soft spoken and eloquent yet cowardly hamburger loving moocher who would gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today was introduced into the Sunday strip in which he became a fixture by late 1932 After first appearing in the daily strip in March 1933 Wimpy became a full time major character alongside Popeye and Olive In July 1933 Popeye received a foundling baby in the mail whom he adopted and named Swee Pea Other regular characters introduced into the strip following its retool in 1930 were George W Geezil an irascible cobbler who spoke in a heavily affected accent and habitually attempted to murder or wish death upon Wimpy Rough House the temperamental owner of a budget diner who served as a long suffering foil to Wimpy Eugene the Jeep a yellow vaguely doglike animal from Africa with magical powers the Sea Hag a terrible pirate and the last witch on Earth Alice the Goon a monstrous creature who entered the strip as the Sea Hag s henchwoman and continued as Swee Pea s babysitter the hapless perpetually anxious King Blozo Blozo s unintelligent lackey Oscar Popeye s lecherous superannuated father Poopdeck Pappy and Toar an ageless dim witted caveman 40 38 Segar s strip was quite different from the theatrical cartoons that followed The stories were more complex often spanning months or even years with a heavier emphasis on verbal comedy and many characters that never appeared in the cartoons among them King Blozo Toar and Rough House Spinach usage a trait introduced in July 1931 was comparatively infrequent and Bluto appeared in only one story arc Segar signed some of his early Popeye comic strips with a cigar his last name being a homophone of cigar pronounced SEE gar Comics historian Brian Walker stated Segar offered up a masterful blend of comedy fantasy satire and suspense in Thimble Theater Starring Popeye 40 Owing to Popeye s increasingly high profile Thimble Theatre became one of King Features most popular strips during the 1930s A poll of adult comic strip readers in the April 1937 issue of Fortune magazine voted Popeye their second favorite comic strip after Little Orphan Annie 40 By 1938 Thimble Theatre was running in 500 newspapers and over 600 licensed Popeye products were on sale 40 The success of the strip meant Segar was earning 100 000 a year at the time of his death 40 The strip continued after Segar s death in 1938 under a succession of artists and writers Following an eventual name change to Popeye in the 1970s and the cancellation of the daily strip in 1992 in favor of reprints the comic now solely a Sunday strip remains one of the longest running strips in syndication today Toppers Edit Thimble Theatre had a number of topper strips on the Sunday page during its run the main topper Sappo ran for 21 years from February 28 1926 to May 18 1947 Sappo was a revival of an earlier Segar daily strip called The Five Fifteen aka Sappo the Commuter which ran from December 24 1920 to February 17 1925 For seven weeks in 1936 Segar replaced Sappo with Pete and Pansy For Kids Only Sept 27 Nov 8 1936 49 There were also a series of topper panel strips that ran next to Sappo Segar drew one of them Popeye s Cartoon Club April 8 1934 May 5 1935 The rest were produced by Joe Musial and Bud Sagendorf Wiggle Line Movie September 11 November 13 1938 Wimpy s Zoo s Who November 20 1938 December 1 1940 Play Store December 8 1940 July 18 1943 Popeye s Army and Navy July 25 September 12 1943 Pinup Jeep September 19 1943 April 2 1944 and Me Life by Popeye April 9 1944 49 Artists after Segar Edit Tom Sims and Bill Zaboly s Thimble Theatre December 2 1951 Following Segar s illness and eventual death in 1938 with his final Thimble Theatre strip appearing October 2 of that year numerous people were hired to draw and write the strip Tom Sims the son of a Coosa River channel boat captain acted as the writer for Thimble Theatre beginning in August 1938 and established the Popeye the Sailorman spin off Doc Winner who had previously filled in for Segar between January and May 1938 initially acted as Sims artist with Bela Zaboly 50 succeeding him by December 1939 In 1954 Sims relinquished writing duties on the daily strip to Ralph Stein who would continue to collaborate with Zaboly until both the daily and Sunday strips were taken over by Bud Sagendorf in 1959 Sagendorf wrote and drew the daily strip until 1986 and continued to write and draw the Sunday strip until his death in 1994 49 Sagendorf who had been Segar s assistant made a definite effort to retain much of Segar s classic style although his art is instantly discernible Sagendorf continued to use many obscure characters from the Segar years especially O G Wotasnozzle and King Blozo Sagendorf s new characters such as the Thung also had a very Segar like quality 51 What set Sagendorf apart from Segar more than anything else was his sense of pacing Where plotlines moved very quickly with Segar it sometimes took an entire week of Sagendorf s daily strips for the plot to be advanced even a small amount From 1986 to 1992 the daily strip was written and drawn by Bobby London who after some controversy was fired from the strip for a story that could be taken to satirize abortion 52 London s strips put Popeye and his friends in updated situations but kept the spirit of Segar s original One classic storyline titled The Return of Bluto showed the sailor battling every version of the bearded bully from the comic strip comic books and animated films The Sunday edition of the comic strip was drawn by Hy Eisman from 1994 to 2022 Following Eisman s retirement the Sunday strip was taken over by R K Milholland who had previously contributed Popeye cartoons to the web only feature Popeye s Cartoon Club in 2019 and 2020 53 The daily strip has featured reruns of Sagendorf s strips since London s firing 39 On January 1 2009 70 years since the death of his creator Segar s comic strips though not the various films TV shows theme music and other media based on them became public domain 54 in most countries but remain under copyright in the United States Because Segar was an employee of King Features Syndicate when he created the Thimble Theatre strip it is treated as a work for hire under U S copyright law Works for hire are protected for 95 years from publication or 120 years from creation whichever is shorter 55 As of 2023 Thimble Theatre comic strips from 1919 through 1927 have entered the public domain none of which feature Popeye Even after the strips enter the public domain trademarks regarding Popeye remain with King Features as trademarks do not expire unless they cease to be used and King Features has used the trademark continuously since the character s debut Reprints Edit Popeye the Sailor Nostalgia Press 1971 reprints three daily stories from 1936 Thimble Theatre Hyperion Press 1977 ISBN 0 88355 663 4 reprints daily from September 10 1928 missing 11 dailies which are included in the Fantagraphics reprints Popeye The First Fifty Years by Bud Sagendorf Workman Publishing 1979 ISBN 0 89480 066 3 the only Popeye reprint in full color The Complete E C Segar Popeye Fantagraphics 1980s reprints all Segar Sundays featuring Popeye in four volumes all Segar dailies featuring Popeye in seven volumes missing four dailies which are included in the Hyperion reprint November 20 22 1928 August 22 1929 Popeye The 60th Anniversary Collection Hawk Books Limited 1989 ISBN 0 948248 86 6 featuring reprints a selection of strips and stories from the first newspaper strip in 1929 onwards along with articles on Popeye in comics books collectables etc E C Segar s Popeye between 2006 and 2011 Fantagraphics Books published six oversized hardcover volumes reprinting all dailies and Sundays in color along with Sappo featuring Popeye plus various extras Vol 1 I Yam What I Yam covers September 1928 December 1930 dailies and March 1930 February 1931 Sundays November 22 2006 ISBN 978 1 56097 779 7 Vol 2 Well Blow Me Down covers December 1930 June 1932 dailies and March 1931 October 1932 Sundays December 19 2007 ISBN 978 1 56097 874 9 Vol 3 Let s You and Him Fight covers June 1932 December 1933 dailies and October 1932 November 1933 Sundays November 15 2008 ISBN 978 1 56097 962 3 Vol 4 Plunder Island covers December 1933 July 1935 dailies and December 1933 April 1935 Sundays December 22 2009 ISBN 978 1 60699 169 5 Vol 5 Wha s a Jeep covers July 1935 December 1936 dailies and April 1935 September 1936 Sundays March 21 2011 ISBN 978 1 60699 404 7 Vol 6 Me Li l Swee Pea covers December 1936 August 1938 dailies and September 1936 October 1938 Sundays November 15 2011 ISBN 978 1 60699 483 2 Thimble Theatre and the pre Popeye comics of E C Segar Sunday Press Books 2018 ISBN 978 0 98355 045 7 an oversized collection of Thimble Theatre Sunday pages spanning from January 1925 to March 1930 marking Popeye s earliest appearance in the strip s Sunday continuity including the entirety of a two year storyline March 1928 to March 1930 featuring Castor Oyl and Hamgravy within a caricatured American West Comic books Edit Bud Sagendorf s cover of Popeye 50 Oct Dec 1959 shows Popeye with his corncob pipe single good eye and girlfriend Olive Oyl There have been a number of Popeye comic books from Dell King Comics Gold Key Comics Charlton Comics and others originally written and illustrated by Bud Sagendorf In the Dell comics Popeye became something of a crimefighter thwarting evil organizations and Bluto s criminal activities The new villains included the numerous Misermite dwarfs who were all identical Popeye appeared in the British TV Comic becoming the cover story in 1960 with stories written and drawn by Chick Henderson Bluto was referred to as Brutus and was Popeye s only nemesis throughout the entire run A variety of artists have created Popeye comic book stories since then for example George Wildman drew Popeye stories for Charlton Comics from 1969 until the late 1970s The Gold Key series was illustrated by Wildman and scripted by Bill Pearson with some issues written by Nick Cuti Popeye even had his own Manga series published by Shōnen Gahōsha and done by Robotan and Marude Dameo creator Kenji Morita that ran from 1961 to 1965 56 57 58 In 1988 Ocean Comics released the Popeye Special written by Ron Fortier with art by Ben Dunn The story presented Popeye s origin story including his given name of Ugly Kidd 59 and attempted to tell more of a lighthearted adventure story as opposed to using typical comic strip style humor The story also featured a more realistic art style and was edited by Bill Pearson who also lettered and inked the story as well as the front cover 60 A second issue by the same creative team followed in 1988 The second issue introduced the idea that Bluto and Brutus were actually twin brothers and not the same person 61 an idea also used in the comic strip on December 28 2008 and April 5 2009 62 63 In 1999 to celebrate Popeye s 70th anniversary Ocean Comics revisited the franchise with a one shot comic book The Wedding of Popeye and Olive Oyl written by Peter David The comic book brought together a large portion of the casts of both the comic strip and the animated shorts and Popeye and Olive Oyl were finally wed after decades of courtship However this marriage has not been reflected in all media since the comic was published In 1989 a special series of short Popeye comic books were included in specially marked boxes of Instant Quaker Oatmeal and Popeye also appeared in three TV commercials for Quaker Oatmeal 64 The plots were similar to those of the cartoon shorts Popeye loses either Olive Oyl or Swee Pea to a musclebound antagonist eats something invigorating and proceeds to save the day In this case however the invigorating elixir was not his usual spinach but rather one of four flavors of Quaker Oatmeal 64 a different flavor was showcased with each mini comic The comics ended with the sailor saying I m Popeye the Quaker Man which offended members of the Religious Society of Friends a k a Quakers 65 The Quaker Oatmeal company apologized and removed the Popeye the Quaker Man reference from commercials and future comic book printings 65 In 2012 writer Roger Langridge teamed with cartoonists Bruce Ozella Ken Wheaton and Tom Neely among others to revive the spirit of Segar in a 12 issue comic book miniseries published by IDW Publishing Critic PS Hayes in reviewing the series stated Langridge writes a story with a lot of dialogue compared to your average comic book and it s all necessary funny and entertaining Bruce Ozella draws the perfect Popeye Not only Popeye but Popeye s whole world Everything looks like it should cartoony and goofy Plus he brings an unusual amount of detail to something that doesn t really need it You ll swear that you re looking at an old Whitman Comics issue of Popeye only it s better Ozella is a great storyteller and even though the issue is jam packed with dialog the panels never look cramped at all 66 In late 2012 IDW began reprinting the original 1940s 1950s Sagendorf Popeye comic books under the title of Classic Popeye Webcomics EditIn January 2019 in celebration of its 90 years of character King Feature Syndicate launched the webcomic Popeye s Cartoon Club In a series of Sunday format comics a wide assortment of artists depicted the characters in their own styles in one comic each including Alex Hallatt Erica Henderson Tom Neely Roger Langridge Larry deSouza Robert Sikoryak Jeffrey Brown Jim Engel Liniers Jay Fosgitt Carol Lay and Randy Milholland 67 At the end of the year Milholland s Cartoon Club comic was declared the number one comic of the year on King Features website Comics Kingdom 68 From February through April 2020 Cartoon Club ran an additional five comics by Milholland 69 70 71 72 73 From May 28 through July 6 2020 Popeye s Cartoon Club ran daily comics from Randy Milholland 74 making Milholland the first person to write a daily update Popeye comic for King Features since 1994 Theatrical animated cartoons EditThis section needs additional citations for verification Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources in this section Unsourced material may be challenged and removed Find sources Popeye news newspapers books scholar JSTOR January 2021 Learn how and when to remove this template message Main article Popeye the Sailor film series source source source source source source source source source source source source source source track track track Popeye the Sailor Meets Sindbad the Sailor source source source source source source source source source source source source Popeye the Sailor Meets Ali Baba s Forty Thieves In November 1932 King Features signed an agreement with Fleischer Studios to have Popeye and the other Thimble Theatre characters begin appearing in a series of animated cartoons released by Paramount Pictures The first cartoon in the series was released in 1933 and Popeye cartoons remained a staple of Paramount s release schedule for nearly 25 years 41 William Costello was the original voice of Popeye a voice that was replicated by later performers such as Jack Mercer and even Mae Questel Many of the Thimble Theatre characters including Wimpy Poopdeck Pappy and Eugene the Jeep eventually made appearances in the Paramount cartoons though Olive Oyl s extended family and Ham Gravy were mostly absent Thanks to the animated short series Popeye became even more of a sensation than he had been in comic strips and by 1938 polls showed that the sailor was Hollywood s most popular cartoon character 75 76 Although Segar may have used spinach as a prop a few times it was Max Fleischer who realized its potential as a trademark In almost every Popeye cartoon the sailor is invariably put into what seems like a hopeless situation upon which usually after a beating a can of spinach becomes available and Popeye quickly opens the can and consumes its contents Upon swallowing the spinach Popeye s physical strength immediately becomes superhuman and he is easily able to save the day and very often rescue Olive Oyl from a dire situation It did not stop there as spinach could also give Popeye the skills and powers he needed as in The Man on the Flying Trapeze where it gave him acrobatic skills source source source source source source Bride and Gloom In May 1942 Paramount Pictures assumed ownership of Fleischer Studios fired the Fleischers and began reorganizing the studio which they renamed Famous Studios The early Famous era shorts were often World War II themed featuring Popeye fighting Nazi Germans and Japanese soldiers most notably the 1942 short You re a Sap Mr Jap In late 1943 the Popeye series began to be produced in Technicolor beginning with Her Honor the Mare Famous Paramount continued producing the Popeye series until 1957 with Spooky Swabs being the last of the 125 Famous shorts in the series Paramount then sold the Popeye film catalog to Associated Artists Productions which was bought out by United Artists in 1958 Through various mergers the rights are currently controlled by Warner Bros Discovery In 2001 Cartoon Network under the supervision of animation historian Jerry Beck created a new incarnation of The Popeye Show The show aired the Fleischer and Famous Studios Popeye shorts in versions approximating their original theatrical releases by editing copies of the original opening and closing credits taken or recreated from various sources onto the beginnings and ends of each cartoon or in some cases in their complete uncut original theatrical versions direct from such prints that originally contained the front and end Paramount credits The series aired 135 Popeye shorts over 45 episodes until March 2004 The Popeye Show continued to air on Cartoon Network s spin off network Boomerang While many of the Paramount Popeye cartoons remained unavailable on video a handful of those cartoons had fallen into public domain and were found on numerous low budget VHS tapes and later DVDs When Turner Entertainment acquired the cartoons in 1986 a long and laborious legal struggle with King Features kept the majority of the original Popeye shorts from official video releases for more than 20 years King Features instead opted to release a DVD boxed set of the 1960s made for television Popeye the Sailor cartoons to which it retained the rights in 2004 In the meantime home video rights to the Associated Artists Productions library were transferred from CBS Fox Video to MGM UA Home Video in 1986 and eventually to Warner Home Video in 1999 In 2006 Warner Home Video announced it would release all of the Popeye cartoons produced for theatrical release between 1933 and 1957 on DVD restored and uncut Three volumes were released between 2007 and 2008 covering all of the black and white cartoons produced from 1933 to 1943 In December 2018 a fourth volume featuring the first 14 color shorts from 1943 to 1945 was released on DVD and Blu ray from Warner Home Video through the Warner Archive Collection Original television cartoons EditIn 1960 King Features Syndicate commissioned a new series of cartoons titled Popeye the Sailor but this time for television syndication Al Brodax served as executive producer of the cartoons for King Features Jack Mercer Mae Questel and Jackson Beck returned for this series which was produced by a number of companies including Jack Kinney Productions Rembrandt Films William L Snyder and Gene Deitch Larry Harmon Productions Halas and Batchelor Paramount Cartoon Studios formerly Famous Studios and Southern Star Entertainment formerly Southern Star Productions The artwork was streamlined and simplified for the television budgets and 220 cartoons were produced in only two years with the first set of them premiering in the autumn of 1960 and the last of them debuting during the 1961 1962 television season For these cartoons Bluto s name was changed to Brutus as King Features believed at the time that Paramount owned the rights to the name Bluto Many of the cartoons made by Paramount used plots and storylines taken directly from the comic strip sequences as well as characters like King Blozo and the Sea Hag 77 Since King Features has exclusive rights to these Popeye cartoons they have been released on home video with 85 of them included in a 75th anniversary Popeye DVD boxed set in 2004 Popeye Olive Oyl Swee Pea and Wimpy were featured prominently in the cartoon movie Popeye Meets the Man Who Hated Laughter which debuted on October 7 1972 as one of the episodes of The ABC Saturday Superstar Movie In this cartoon Brutus also appears as a turban wearing employee of the nemesis Dr Morbid Grimsby On September 9 1978 The All New Popeye Hour debuted on the CBS Saturday morning lineup It was an hour long animated series produced by Hanna Barbera Productions which tried its best to retain the style of the original comic strip Popeye returned to his original costume and Brutus to his original name of Bluto while complying with the prevailing content restrictions on violence In addition to providing many of the cartoon scripts Mercer continued to voice Popeye while Marilyn Schreffler and Allan Melvin became the new voices of Olive Oyl and Bluto respectively The All New Popeye Hour ran on CBS until September 1981 when it was cut to a half hour and retitled The Popeye and Olive Comedy Show It was removed from the CBS lineup in September 1983 the year before Jack Mercer s death These cartoons have also been released on VHS and DVD During the time these cartoons were in production CBS aired The Popeye Valentine s Day Special Sweethearts at Sea on February 14 1979 Popeye briefly returned to CBS in 1987 for Popeye and Son another Hanna Barbera series which featured Popeye and Olive as a married couple with a son named Popeye Jr who hates the taste of spinach but eats it to boost his strength Maurice LaMarche performed Popeye s voice as Mercer had died in 1984 The show lasted for one season USA Network later picked up reruns of the series after CBS s cancellation In 2004 Lionsgate produced a computer animated television special Popeye s Voyage The Quest for Pappy to coincide with the 75th anniversary of Popeye Billy West performed the voice of Popeye describing the production as the hardest job I ever did ever and the voice of Popeye as like a buzzsaw on your throat 78 The uncut version was released on DVD on November 9 2004 and was aired in a re edited version on Fox on December 17 2004 and again on December 30 2005 Its style was influenced by the 1930s Fleischer cartoons and featured Swee Pea Wimpy Bluto Olive Oyl Poopdeck Pappy and the Sea Hag as its characters On November 6 2007 Lionsgate re released Popeye s Voyage on DVD with redesigned cover art Web series EditOn December 2 2018 a Popeye web series named Popeye s Island Adventures produced by WildBrain subsidiary WildBrain Spark Studios premiered on the official Popeye YouTube channel With intent on drawing in a younger contemporary international audience the new series has updated the Popeye characters to fit the times For instance Popeye grows his own spinach and has replaced his corncob pipe with a bosun s whistle Bluto no longer sports a beard and focuses his time on stealing Popeye s spinach rather than his girlfriend Olive Oyl is shown as an inventor and engineer The characters are drawn to appear younger than typically done save Swea pea and no words are spoken with all actions mimed 79 80 Theme song Edit I m Popeye the Sailor Man Song by William Costellolater by Jack MercerReleased1933Recorded1933Composer s Sammy LernerI m Popeye the Sailor ManI m Popeye the Sailor ManI m strong to the finich cause I eats me spinachI m Popeye the Sailor Man Popeye s theme song titled I m Popeye The Sailor Man composed by Sammy Lerner in 1933 for Fleischer s first Popeye the Sailor cartoon 81 has become forever associated with the sailor The Sailor s Hornpipe has often been used as an introduction to Popeye s theme song A cover of the theme song performed by Face to Face is included on the 1995 tribute album Saturday Morning Cartoons Greatest Hits produced by Ralph Sall for MCA Records A jazz version performed by Ted Kooshian s Standard Orbit Quartet appears on their 2009 Summit Records release Underdog and Other Stories Playground song parodies of the theme have become part of children s street culture around the world 82 83 usually interpolating frying pan or garbage can into the lyrics as Popeye s dwelling place 84 85 and ascribing to the character various unsavory actions or habits 86 87 88 89 that transform the character into an Anti Popeye and changing his exemplary spinach based diet into an inedible morass of worms onions flies tortillas and snot 90 Other media EditThe success of Popeye as a comic strip and animated character has led to appearances in many other forms For more than 20 years Stephen DeStefano has been the artist drawing Popeye for King Features licensing 91 Radio Edit Popeye was adapted to radio in several series broadcast over three different networks by two sponsors from 1935 to 1938 Popeye and most of the major supporting characters were first featured in a thrice weekly 15 minute radio program Popeye the Sailor which starred Detmar Poppen as Popeye along with most of the major supporting characters Olive Oyl Olive Lamoy Wimpy Charles Lawrence Bluto Jackson Beck and Swee Pea Mae Questel 92 In the first episode Popeye adopted Sonny Jimmy Donnelly a character later known as Matey the Newsboy This program was broadcast Tuesday Thursday and Saturday nights at 7 15pm September 10 1935 through March 28 1936 on the NBC Red Network 87 episodes initially sponsored by Wheatena a whole wheat breakfast cereal which routinely replaced the spinach references Music was provided by Victor Irwin s Cartoonland Band Announcer Kelvin Keech sang to composer Lerner s Popeye theme Wheatena is his diet He asks you to try it With Popeye the sailor man Wheatena paid King Features Syndicate 1 200 per week The show was next broadcast Mondays Wednesdays and Fridays from 7 15 to 7 30pm on WABC and ran from August 31 1936 to February 26 1937 78 episodes Floyd Buckley played Popeye and Miriam Wolfe portrayed both Olive Oyl and the Sea Hag Once again reference to spinach was conspicuously absent Instead Popeye sang Wheatena s me diet I ax ya to try it I m Popeye the Sailor Man 93 The third series was sponsored by the maker of Popsicles three nights a week for 15 minutes at 6 15 pm on CBS from May 2 1938 through July 29 1938 Of the three series only 20 of the 204 episodes are known to be preserved Feature films Edit Popeye 1980 Edit Popeye Village in Malta built as a location set for the feature film Main article Popeye film Director Robert Altman used the character in Popeye a 1980 live action musical feature film starring Robin Williams as Popeye A co production of Paramount Pictures and Walt Disney Productions the movie was filmed almost entirely on Malta in the village of Mellieħa on the northwest coast of the island The set is now a tourist attraction called Popeye Village The U S box office earnings were double the film s budget making it a financial success However the film received mostly negative reviews Canceled animated film Edit In March 2010 it was reported that Sony Pictures Animation was developing a 3D computer animated Popeye film with Avi Arad producing it 94 In November 2011 Sony Pictures Animation announced that Jay Scherick and David Ronn the writers of The Smurfs are writing the screenplay for the film 95 In June 2012 it was reported that Genndy Tartakovsky had been set to direct the feature 96 which he planned to make as artful and unrealistic as possible 97 In November 2012 Sony Pictures Animation set the release date for September 26 2014 98 which was in May 2013 pushed back to 2015 99 In March 2014 Sony Pictures Animation updated its slate scheduling the film for 2016 and announcing Tartakovsky as the director of Hotel Transylvania 2 which he was directing concurrently with Popeye 100 On September 18 2014 Tartakovsky revealed an animation test footage about which he said It s just something that kind of represents what we want to do I couldn t be more excited by how it turned out 101 In March 2015 Tartakovsky announced that despite the well received test footage he was no longer working on the project and would instead direct Can You Imagine which is based on his own original idea 102 but it too was cancelled 103 Nevertheless Sony Pictures Animation stated the project still remains in active development 104 In January 2016 it was announced that T J Fixman would write the film 105 On May 11 2020 it was announced that a Popeye movie is in development at King Features Syndicate with Genndy Tartakovsky coming back to the project 106 However on July 21 2022 Genndy has said the project was dead 107 An animatic for the movie was later leaked onto the internet on July 22 2022 108 Video and pinball games Edit When Donkey Kong which was originally conceived as a Popeye video game by Shigeru Miyamoto 109 proved to be a big success King Features agreed to license the characters to Nintendo to create a Popeye arcade game in 1982 It was later ported to various home gaming platforms including the Commodore 64 Intellivision Atari 2600 Atari 8 bit family ColecoVision Odyssey2 and Nintendo Entertainment System The goal was to avoid Brutus and the Sea Hag while collecting items produced by Olive Oyl such as hearts musical notes or the letters in the word help depending on the level Hitting a can of spinach gave Popeye a brief chance to strike back at Brutus Other characters such as Wimpy and Swee Pea appeared in the game but did not greatly affect gameplay A board game based on the video game was released by Parker Brothers Nintendo also released two Game amp Watch units featuring Popeye Nintendo created another Popeye game for the Famicom Popeye no Eigo Asobi in 1983 This was an educational game designed to teach Japanese children English words A different Popeye game was developed for the ZX Spectrum by Don Priestley and first released by DK Tronics in 1985 The game achieved critical success due to its huge colorful sprites amongst the largest seen on the Spectrum platform 110 111 This distinct graphical style was due to King Features insistence that any game had to include fair representations of the central cartoon characters The game was ported to Commodore 64 and Amstrad CPC in 1986 After releasing the budget version of this game Alternative Software developed another two licensed games Popeye 2 1991 and Popeye 3 Wrestle Crazy 1992 on the same platforms Sigma Enterprises published two Popeye games for the Game Boy The first titled simply Popeye was released exclusively in Japan in 1990 while Popeye 2 was released in Japan in 1991 North America in 1993 and Europe in 1994 by Activision In 1994 Technos Japan released Popeye Beach Volleyball for the Game Gear and Popeye Volume of the Malicious Witch Seahag Popeye Ijiwaru Majo Shihaggu no Maki for the Japanese Super Famicom A side scrolling adventure game that was mixed with a board game the game never saw U S release It featured many characters from the Thimble Theatre series as well In the game Popeye had to recover magical hearts scattered across the level to restore his frozen friends as part of a spell cast upon them by the Sea Hag in order to get revenge on Popeye Midway under the Bally label released Popeye Saves the Earth a SuperPin pinball game in 1994 A Sega Genesis Popeye game was planned but never released 112 113 114 In 2003 Nova Productions released a strength tester called Popeye Strength Tester In 2005 Bandai Namco released a Game Boy Advance video game called Popeye Rush for Spinach Released June 2007 the video game The Darkness featured televisions that played full length films and television shows that had expired copyrights Most of the cartoons viewable on the Toon TV channel are Famous Studios Popeye shorts In fall 2007 Namco Networks released the original Nintendo Popeye arcade game for mobile phones with new features including enhanced graphics and new levels In November 2021 independent developer Sabec LTD released what it called the official Popeye game 115 for the Nintendo Switch featuring a three dimensional adaptation of the classic arcade game Parodies Edit Parody versions of Popeye and Bluto make an appearance in Solo Ex Mutants 2 Eternity Comics 1988 In EC Comics original Mad comic book the satire Poopeye had him set up to fight other comic characters even defeating Superman in the end Popeye made a one second appearance on an unfinished production Bring Me the Head of Charlie Brown by the California Institute of the Arts in 1986 He was seen punching Rocky Balboa in the face Marketing tie ins and endorsements Edit From early on Popeye was heavily merchandised Everything from soap to razor blades to spinach was available with Popeye s likeness on it Most of these items are rare and sought by collectors but some merchandise is still produced RestaurantsWimpy s name was borrowed for the Wimpy restaurant chain one of the first international fast food restaurants featuring hamburgers which they call Wimpy Burgers 116 The popular fast food chain Popeyes was found on June 12 1972 and is the second largest quick service chicken restaurant group behind Kentucky Fried Chicken It was not named for the sailor but some Popeye references were featured in a few commercials throughout its early years as part of a licensing deal with King Features Wimpy has also appeared in commercials for Burger King and Carl s Jr hamburgers Retail foods and beveragesAllen Canning Company produces its own line of canned Popeye Spinach in multiple varieties The cartoon Popeye serves as the mascot on the can 117 Since 1989 Popeye s Supplements has been a chain of Canadian Sports Nutrition Stores 118 In 1989 Popeye endorsed Instant Quaker Oatmeal citing it as a better food than spinach to provide strength 64 The commercials had the tagline Can the spinach I wants me Quaker Oatmeal or Popeye wants a Quaker The Religious Society of Friends also known as the Quakers was offended by the promotion given the physical aggression from Popeye the Quaker man and also the excessive submissiveness of Olive Oyl 65 In 2001 Popeye along with Bluto Olive and twin Wimpys appeared in a television commercial for Minute Maid Orange juice The commercial produced by Leo Burnett Co showed Popeye and Bluto as friends due to their having had Minute Maid Orange Juice that morning The ad agency s intention was to show that even the notable enemies would be in a good mood after their juice but some including Robert Knight of the Culture and Family Institute felt the commercial s intent was to portray the pair in a homosexual romantic relationship even so it is a suggestion that Minute Maid denies Knight was interviewed by Stephen Colbert on Comedy Central s The Daily Show about this issue World Candies Inc produced Popeye branded candy cigarettes which were small sugar sticks with red dye at the end to simulate embers They were sold in a small box similar to a cigarette pack The company still produces the item but has since changed the name to Popeye Candy Sticks and has ceased putting the red dye at the end SportsStarting in 1940 Popeye became the mascot of Clube de Regatas do Flamengo in Rio de Janeiro Brazil The mascot of the soccer club is currently a cartoon vulture 119 Popeye on a Spanish Republican Air Force Polikarpov I 16 Museo del Aire OtherIn 1987 Stabur Graphics commissioned artist Will Elder to paint Popeye s Wedding as oil on masonite Released was a stamped numbered and signed Limited Edition lithograph an edition size of 395 The lithograph shows Popeye slipping a lifesaver ring onto Olive s finger along with Nana Oyl Alice the Goon Swee Pea cradled in Popeye s free arm Wimpy Granny Eugene the Jeep and Brutus holding a large cauldron of steaming cooked rice Twenty one other characters watch from the pews The litho is titled Wit Dis Lifesaver I Dee Wed and is pictured on page 83 of the book Chicken Fat by Will Elder Fantagraphics 2006 In 1990 Popeye appeared in a public service announcement which was tied to the maritime nature of the character warning of the harmful effects of coastal pollution Bluto carelessly dumps garbage over the side of his boat to which Olive reacts in horror as seagulls and other sea creatures are caught in six pack ring holders Popeye eats spinach and blows a tornado from his pipe which cleans up Bluto s garbage and dumps it on him however when some more plastic garbage sails by Popeye s boat he says unsurprisingly I can t do it all meself peoples and encourages viewers to be careful about littering at sea In 1995 the Popeye comic strip was one of 20 included in the Comic Strip Classics series of commemorative U S postage stamps From 1996 to 1999 the Darien Lake theme park in Western New York operated a Popeye s Seaport in the park It was rebranded as Looney Tunes Seaport after Darien Lake came under the Six Flags banner In Universal Studios Orlando Resort s island theme park Universal s Islands of Adventure there is a river rafting water ride Popeye and Bluto s Bilge Rat Barges themed after Popeye the Sailor saving Olive Oyl from Bluto There is also a kids playground Me Ship the Olive built in and around Popeye s ship The three levels of the ship all contain a variety of interactive elements including cannons and hoses which can further soak riders on the Popeye and Bluto s Bilge Rat Barge ride Popeye amp Friends Character Trail Edit Chester Illinois Segar s hometown erected a statue of Popeye in Segar s honor in 1977 and began the Popeye amp Friends Character Trail in 2006 adding new statues honoring the other Thimble Theater characters each year This Character Trail is spread throughout Chester and includes with unveiling dates Popeye 1977 38 J Wellington Wimpy 2006 38 Olive Oyl Swee Pea and Jeep 2007 38 Bluto 2008 38 Castor Oyl and Whiffle Hen 2009 38 Sea Hag and Bernard 2010 38 Cole Oyl 2011 38 Alice the Goon and her Goon child 2012 38 Poopdeck Pappy 2013 38 Professor Wotasnozzle 2014 38 RoughHouse 2015 38 Pipeye Pupeye Peepeye and Poopeye Popeye s four nephews 2016 38 King Blozo 2017 38 Nana Oyl 2018 120 38 Popeye s Pups September 2019 38 Sherlock amp Segar December 2019 38 Toar 2020 38 Harold Hamgravy 2021 38 Oscar scheduled for 2022 38 Frank Rocky Fiegel born in Chester Illinois January 27 1868 was the real life inspiration for the character Popeye His parents Bartlomiej and Anna H Fiegiel had come from the area of the Greater Poland Voivodeship then part of Prussia and migrated to the United States He had a prominent chin sinewy physique characteristic pipe and a propensity and agile skill for fist fighting 121 122 123 Fiegel died on March 24 1947 never having married His gravestone has an image of Popeye engraved on it 124 E C Segar regularly sent money to Fiegel as a thank you for the inspiration according to Segar s assistant and successor Bud Sagendorf and Popeye historian Michael Brooks 38 Additional hometown residents of Chester have served as inspiration for other Segar characters including Dora Paskel an uncommonly tall angular lady who ran a general store in town who was the origin for Popeye s gal Olive Oyl She even wore a hair bun close to her neckline William Windy Bill Schuchert a rather rotund man who owned the local opera house and was Segar s early employer was the seed for the character J Wellington Wimpy He even sent out his employees to purchase hamburgers for him between performances at a local tavern named Wiebusch s the same tavern that Fiegel frequented and where he engaged in fistfights 122 125 38 Conjecture presented in a 2009 book raised the idea that while living in Santa Monica Segar might have based some of Popeye s language on a local fisherman even though the article never made a definitive claim 126 Cultural influences Edit Culturally 127 many consider Popeye a precursor to the superheroes who eventually dominated U S comic books 128 Such has been Popeye s cultural impact that the medical profession sometimes refers to the biceps bulge symptomatic of a tendon rupture as the Popeye muscle 129 130 In 1973 Cary Bates created Captain Strong a takeoff of Popeye for DC Comics 131 as a way of having two cultural icons Superman and a proxy of Popeye meet 132 The 1981 Nintendo videogame Donkey Kong which introduced its eponymous character and Nintendo s unofficial company mascot Mario to the world was originally planned to be a Popeye game Mario then known as Jumpman was originally supposed to be Popeye Donkey Kong was originally Bluto and the character Pauline was originally Olive Oyl but when Nintendo was unable to acquire the rights to use the actual franchise characters it decided to create original characters instead 133 The 1988 Walt Disney Touchstone Pictures film Who Framed Roger Rabbit featured many classic cartoon characters and the absence of Popeye was noted by some critics Popeye along with Olive Oyl Bluto and Wimpy actually had a cameo role planned for the film However Disney could not obtain the rights in time and Popeye s cameo was dropped from the film 134 The Popeye dance Edit The Popeye was a popular dance in the dance craze era of the late 1950s and early 1960s Originating in New Orleans around 1962 the Popeye was performed by shuffling and moving one s arms placing one arm behind and one arm in front and alternating them going through the motion of raising a pipe up to the mouth and alternate sliding or pushing one foot back in the manner of ice skating similar to motions exhibited by the cartoon character According to music historian Robert Pruter the Popeye was even more popular than the Twist in New Orleans 135 The dance was associated with and or referenced to in several songs including Eddie Bo s Check Mr Popeye Chris Kenner s Something You Got and Land of a Thousand Dances Frankie Ford s You Talk Too Much Ernie K Doe s Popeye Joe Huey Piano Smith s Popeye and Harvey Fuqua s Any Way You Wanta A compilation of 23 Popeye dance songs was released in 1996 under the title New Orleans Popeye Party 136 Spinach Edit Initially Popeye s chief superhuman characteristic was his indestructibility rather than super strength which was attributed to his having rubbed the head of Bernice the Whiffle Hen numerous times after being shot Popeye later attributed his strength to spinach 137 138 The popularity of Popeye helped boost spinach sales Using Popeye as a role model for healthier eating may work a 2010 study revealed that children increased their vegetable consumption after watching Popeye cartoons 139 The spinach growing community of Crystal City Texas erected a statue of the character in recognition of Popeye s positive effects on the spinach industry There are also statues in Springdale and Alma Arkansas which claims to be The Spinach Capital of the World at canning plants of Allen Canning which markets Popeye branded canned spinach In addition to Allen Canning s Popeye spinach Popeye Fresh Foods markets bagged fresh spinach with Popeye characters on the package In 2006 when spinach contaminated with E coli was accidentally sold to the public many editorial cartoonists lampooned the affair by featuring Popeye in their cartoons 140 A frequently circulated story claims that Fleischer s choice of spinach to give Popeye strength was based on faulty calculations of its iron content In the story a scientist misplaced a decimal point in an 1870 measurement of spinach s iron content leading to an iron value ten times higher than it should have been 141 142 143 The error was not a slipped decimal point but a measurement error which was corrected in the 1930s however the myth of extraordinarily high iron content persisted 141 144 Word coinages Edit The strip is also responsible for popularizing although not inventing the word goon meaning a thug or lackey goons in Popeye s world were large humanoids with indistinctly drawn faces that were particularly known for being used as muscle and slave labor by Popeye s nemesis the Sea Hag One particular goon the aforementioned female named Alice was an occasional recurring character in the animated shorts but she was usually a fairly nice character Eugene the Jeep was introduced in the comic strip on March 13 1936 Two years later the term jeep wagons was in use later shortened to simply jeep with widespread World War II usage and then trademarked by Willys Overland as Jeep 145 Events and honors Edit The Popeye Picnic is held every year in Chester Illinois on the weekend after Labor Day Popeye fans attend from across the globe including a visit by a film crew from South Korea in 2004 The one eyed sailor s hometown strives to entertain devotees of all ages 146 In honor of Popeye s 75th anniversary the Empire State Building illuminated its notable tower lights green the weekend of January 16 18 2004 as a tribute to the icon s love of spinach This special lighting marked the only time the Empire State Building ever celebrated the anniversary birthday of a comic strip character 147 Thimble Theatre Popeye characters EditCharacters originating in comic strips by E C Segar Edit Popeye the Sailor Man Olive Oyl Swee Pea Popeye s adopted baby son in the comics Olive s cousin in the cartoons J Wellington Wimpy Bluto Brutus Eugene the Jeep The Sea Hag The Sea Hag s vultures including her favorite Bernard Alice the Goon and the other Goons Rough House a cook who runs a local restaurant the Rough House George W Geezil the local cobbler who hates Wimpy Ham Gravy full name Harold Hamgravy Olive Oyl s original boyfriend Castor Oyl Olive Oyl s brother Cole Oyl Olive Oyl s father Nana Oyl Olive Oyl s mother Poopdeck Pappy Popeye s 99 year old long lost father also a sailor Professor O G Watasnozzle 148 149 a character with a large nose as his name indicates Characters originating in the cartoons Edit Peepeye Poopeye Pupeye and Pipeye Popeye s identical nephews in the Fleischer Studio shorts Shorty Popeye s shipmate in three World War II era in the Famous Studios shorts Popeye Jr son of Popeye and Olive Oyl exclusive of the series Popeye and Son Tank son of Bluto exclusive of the series Popeye and Son Filmography EditTheatrical Edit Popeye the Sailor 1933 1942 produced by Fleischer Studios 109 cartoons Popeye the Sailor 1942 1957 produced by Famous Studios 122 cartoons Popeye 1980 produced by Paramount Pictures and Walt Disney Pictures directed by Robert Altman live action Television Edit Popeye the Sailor 1960 1962 ABC produced by Larry Harmon Pictures Rembrandt Films Halas and Batchelor Gerald Ray Studios Jack Kinney Productions Paramount Cartoon Studios and Corona Cinematografica for King Features Syndicate 220 cartoons The All New Popeye Hour 1978 1983 CBS produced by Hanna Barbera Productions 167 cartoons Known as The Popeye and Olive Comedy Show for its final season Popeye and Son 1987 1988 CBS produced by Hanna Barbera Productions 26 cartoons Television specials Edit Popeye Meets the Man Who Hated Laughter 1972 ABC produced by Hal Seeger Productions The Popeye Valentine Special Sweethearts at Sea 1979 CBS produced by Hanna Barbera Productions Popeye s Voyage The Quest for Pappy 2004 Fox produced by Mainframe Entertainment for King Features DVD collections Edit Theatrical cartoons Popeye the Sailor 1933 1938 Volume 1 released July 31 2007 features Fleischer cartoons released from 1933 through early 1938 and contains the color Popeye specials Popeye the Sailor Meets Sindbad the Sailor and Popeye the Sailor Meets Ali Baba s Forty Thieves Popeye the Sailor 1938 1940 Volume 2 released June 17 2008 features Fleischer cartoons released from mid 1938 through 1940 and includes the last color Popeye special Aladdin and His Wonderful Lamp Popeye the Sailor 1941 1943 Volume 3 released November 4 2008 features the remaining black and white Popeye cartoons released from 1941 to 1943 including the final Fleischer produced and earliest Famous produced entries in the series Popeye the Sailor The 1940s Volume 1 released December 11 2018 features the first 14 color Popeye shorts produced by Famous Studios The set was made available on Blu ray and DVD and the shorts were sourced from 4K masters scanned from the original nitrate negatives 150 Popeye the Sailor The 1940s Volume 2 released June 18 2019 features the next 15 color Popeye shorts produced by Famous Studios The set was made available on Blu ray and DVD and the shorts were sourced from 4K masters scanned from the original nitrate negatives 151 Popeye the Sailor The 1940s Volume 3 released September 17 2019 features the next 17 color Popeye shorts produced by Famous Studios The set was made available on Blu ray and DVD and the shorts were sourced from 4K masters scanned from the original nitrate negatives TV cartoons Popeye the Sailor The 1960s Classics Volume 1 released May 7 2013 152 A DVD R release by Warner Archive Collection consisting mostly of made for TV cartoons produced for King Features Television by Paramount Cartoon Studios and Gerald Ray Studios References Edit Gus Wicke An Appreciation cartoonresearch com Retrieved December 14 2020 a b c Who Is Harry Welch and Was He Ever The Voice of Popeye cartoonresearch com Retrieved August 28 2020 Sing Me A Cartoon 16 More Sailor Man Rhythm cartoonresearch com Retrieved August 28 2020 Mae Questel Voice of Betty Boop and Olive Oyl 1978 TV YouTube Archived from the original on October 30 2021 Retrieved June 22 2021 Paramount Sales News 52 cartoonresearch com Retrieved June 22 2021 Shape Ahoy is notable for being the cartoon where Mae Questel did Popeye s voice Jack Mercer having enlisted and only being sporadically on tap We know that Questel claimed to have supplied the voice on occasion and that she did her Popeye for Leonard Maltin and he was impressed Some have said that if her voice was ever used it must have been slowed down but that s unlikely in my opinion and I see no reason why the voice heard in Shape Ahoy which is almost like a prolonged belch couldn t have been done by a woman So I vote Mae for that title at least Popeye Season 02 Episode 012 Seer ing Is Believer ring YouTube Archived from the original on October 12 2021 Retrieved September 27 2020 Popeye Records with the mysterious Harry F Welch cartoonresearch com Retrieved August 28 2020 Candy Candido I m Popeye The Sailor Man The Little White Duck Shellac Discogs Retrieved August 30 2020 Popeye Records with Captain Allen Swift cartoonresearch com Retrieved August 28 2020 permanent dead link Voice s of Popeye in Start Behind The Voice Actors Retrieved July 11 2020 Cocoa Puffs with Popeye 1987 YouTube Archived from the original on October 30 2021 Retrieved June 9 2021 Tex Brashear The Man of 3000 Voices YouTube Archived from the original on October 30 2021 Retrieved June 9 2021 Quaker Oats Behind The Voice Actors Retrieved July 11 2020 United States Postal Service Behind The Voice Actors Retrieved February 9 2022 Dickinson Theatres Behind The Voice Actors Retrieved July 11 2020 Popeye Saves the Earth Behind The Voice Actors Retrieved July 15 2020 Popeye and the Quest For the Woolly Mammoth Behind The Voice Actors Archived from the original on January 16 2020 Retrieved August 27 2020 Popeye and the Sunken Treasure Behind The Voice Actors Retrieved August 27 2020 Campbells Soup Behind The Voice Actors Archived from the original on October 5 2016 Retrieved July 11 2020 Scott Keith Popeye s Bilge Rat Barges Archived from the original on May 25 2019 Retrieved September 25 2016 Popeye and Bluto s Bilge Rat Barges Behind The Voice Actors Archived from the original on December 6 2019 Retrieved August 27 2020 Toon Lagoon Pandemonium Cartoon Circus 1999 YouTube Archived from the original on October 30 2021 Retrieved May 9 2021 Voice of Popeye in Drawn Together Behind The Voice Actors Retrieved August 27 2020 Slots from Bally Gaming Behind The Voice Actors Retrieved September 18 2020 Credits The Many Worlds of Marc Biagi Archived from the original on September 14 2015 Retrieved September 18 2020 Sammy Timberg Boop Oop A Dooin The Songs Of Sammy Timberg From Betty Boop Popeye Superman And Other Musical Classics 2004 CD Discogs Retrieved May 16 2021 Boop Oop A Dooin by Fred Seibert SoundCloud Retrieved May 16 2021 Voice Overs Brian Blunt Retrieved May 25 2021 Voice of Popeye in South Park Behind The Voice Actors Retrieved July 11 2020 Mad Behind The Voice Actors Retrieved July 11 2020 Popeye 2016 Behind the Voice Actors Retrieved September 12 2015 Popeye on PROJECT RUNWAY YouTube Archived from the original on October 30 2021 Retrieved June 9 2021 Project Runway All Stars Thrown for a Loop by Betty Boop TV Episode 2018 IMDb Matt Hurwitz FilmFreeway Retrieved July 28 2020 Matt Hurwitz Freelance Entertainment Writer Journalist LinkedIn Retrieved June 9 2021 Popeye s Island Adventures Behind the Voice Actors Retrieved February 24 2021 Segar Elzie Crisler Encyclopaedia Britannica Article Britannica com Retrieved on March 29 2013 a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x Character Trail City of Chester website Retrieved January 5 2019 a b c d e f Goulart Ron Popeye St James Encyclopedia of Popular Culture Detroit St James Press 2000 Volume 4 pp 87 8 ISBN 9781558624047 a b c d e f Walker Brian The Comics The Complete Collection New York Abrams ComicArts 2011 pp 188 9 191 238 243 ISBN 9780810995956 a b Lenburg Jeff 1999 The Encyclopedia of Animated Cartoons Checkmark Books pp 121 124 ISBN 0 8160 3831 7 Retrieved June 6 2020 Popeye The Irish Times Popeye comes to DVD from Warner Home Video Archived from the original on March 18 2017 Retrieved March 18 2017 Mendelson Lee and Schulz Charles M Charlie Brown and Charlie Schulz in celebration of the 20th anniversary of Peanuts New York New American Library 1971 p 35 TV Guide Book of Lists Running Press 2007 p 158 ISBN 978 0 7624 3007 9 13 Interesting Popeye the Sailorman Facts todayifoundout com December 3 2012 a b c Clark Alan and Laurel Comics An Illustrated History London Green Wood Publishing 1992 ISBN 9781872532554 p 54 Rovin Jeff 1991 The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Cartoon Animals Prentice Hall Press p 24 ISBN 0 13 275561 0 Retrieved April 8 2020 a b c Holtz Allan 2012 American Newspaper Comics An Encyclopedic Reference Guide Ann Arbor Michigan The University of Michigan Press ISBN 9780472117567 Comic creator Bill Zaboly Lambiek net June 16 2007 Retrieved November 30 2009 Grandinetti Fred 2004 Popeye An Illustrated Cultural History McFarland amp Co pp 14 16 ISBN 9780786416059 Bobby London Interview comic art com Archived from the original on January 25 2010 Retrieved March 29 2013 Cavna Michael June 3 2022 Popeye is getting a makeover at age 93 Washington Post Popeye Grey Owl and Robert Service join the public domain cbc ca CBC News January 12 2009 Retrieved March 29 2013 Quinn Gene January 5 2009 Popeye Falls into Public Domain in Europe IPWatchdog com Retrieved March 11 2011 Flynn Bob bobjinx February 6 2021 I learned today that Popeye manga was a thing Tweet Retrieved September 21 2022 via Twitter Brubaker Charles bakertoons March 25 2019 Was looking up Kenji Morita and I have to say I like his style Tweet Retrieved September 21 2022 via Twitter Brubaker Charles bakertoons March 25 2019 Yep he drew the Popeye manga from 1961 65 not the 50s as I stated in the post Oops Tweet Retrieved September 21 2022 via Twitter Sterling Mike September 20 2012 I Sorta Do and Sorta Don t Want This to Be Officially Part of Popeye s Backstory Progressive Ruin Retrieved December 11 2013 Fortier Ron w Dunn Ben p Pearson Bill i Borned to the Sea Popeye Special 1 June 1987 Ocean Comics Fortier Ron w Dunn Ben Grummett Tom Kato Gary p Barras Dell i Double Trouble Down Under Popeye Special 2 September 1988 Ocean Comics Popeye December 28 2008 Popeye April 5 2009 a b c Popeye snubs his spinach for oatmeal March 28 1990 p 22 Retrieved August 29 2013 a b c Stieg Bill April 24 1990 Popeye s pugnacity steams up Quakers p 6 Retrieved August 29 2013 Review Popeye 1 Geeksofdoom com April 25 2012 Retrieved March 29 2013 Popeye s Cartoon Club debuts January 17 The Daily Cartoonist January 17 2019 PopeyeTweetsk December 31 2019 Popeye s Cartoon Club by Randy Milholland on Jun 1 topped Comics Kingdom Top 10 Comics of the Year Get Tweet via Twitter PopeyeTweetsk February 16 2020 In a special bonus series of PopeyesCartoonClub Popeye realizes somethin about his nephews Brought to you by Tweet via Twitter PopeyeTweetsk February 23 2020 In a special bonus series of PopeyesCartoonClub Olive Oyl meets Snake Oyl Brought to you by Randy Milholland Tweet via Twitter PopeyeTweetsk March 1 2020 In a special bonus series of PopeyesCartoonClub Popeye shows Sweet Pea the photo album of orphans Brought to yo Tweet via Twitter PopeyeTweetsk March 8 2020 In a special bonus series of PopeyesCartoonClub Bluto and Brutus have a chat about Popeye Brought to you by Ran Tweet via Twitter PopeyeTweetsk April 30 2020 In a special comic by Randy Milholland choochoobear Popeye pays a visit to Sea Hag to make sure she s hanging Tweet via Twitter Popeye s Cartoon Club Comics Kingdom May 28 2020 GAC Forums Popeye s Popularity Article from 1935 Forums goldenagecartoons com Archived from the original on July 11 2011 Retrieved November 30 2009 Popeye From Strip To Screen awn com Retrieved November 30 2009 Ian December 31 1969 The S Dope Mailbag Is Popeye s nemesis named Bluto or Brutus Straightdope com The Straight Dope Retrieved November 30 2009 West Billy August 9 2012 The many voices of Billy West Penn s Sunday School Archived from the original on October 30 2021 via YouTube Gene Gustines George December 2 2018 New Popeye Videos Show What 90 Years of Spinach Can Do for a Guy The New York Times New Popeye Animated Short Series Premieres On YouTube ScreenRant December 4 2018 CD liner notes Saturday Morning Cartoons Greatest Hits 1995 MCA Records Popeye the Sailor Man www fresnostate edu Dance Daryl Cumber 1985 Folklore from Contemporary Jamaicans ISBN 9780870495663 popeye the sailor man Archived from the original on April 27 2015 Retrieved April 20 2015 Im Popeye the Sailor Man Archived from the original on January 5 2015 Jemie Onwuchekwa 2003 Yo Mama New Raps Toasts Dozens Jokes and Children s Rhymes from Urban Black America ISBN 9781592130290 Opie Iona Archibald Opie Peter 2001 The Lore and Language of Schoolchildren ISBN 9780940322691 for some reason he chiefly features in verses which are obscene Bronner Simon J 1988 American Children s Folklore august house p 109 ISBN 9780874830682 Mansour David June 1 2011 From Abba to Zoom A Pop Culture Encyclopedia of the Late 20th Century ISBN 9780740793073 Sutton Smith Brian Mechling Jay Johnson Thomas W McMahon Felicia October 12 2012 Children s Folklore A SourceBook ISBN 9781136546112 Each parody creates a fictive world that stands as a miniature rite of rebellion a vision of a counter factual world inhabited by worm eating garbage can residents and tortilla wielding aunt killers The exemplary Popeye is converted into an anti Popeye exhibiting filthy and murderous qualities obviously anathema to the conventional etiquette A Clean Shaven Man July 2010 Fullecirclestuff blogspot com Retrieved on March 29 2013 Gus Wicke An Appreciation cartoonresearch com Retrieved June 22 2021 1930s Popeye the Sailor Wheatena audio clip Sony making a CG Popeye Film comingsoon net March 23 2010 Sony Pictures Animation and Arad Productions Set Jay Scherick amp David Ronn to Write Animated POPEYE Sony Pictures Animation via PR Newswire November 3 2011 Retrieved November 3 2011 Abrams Rachel June 25 2012 Helmer moves Sony s 3D Popeye forward Variety Retrieved June 26 2012 Keegan Rebecca August 25 2012 Genndy Tartakovsky gets Hotel Transylvania open for business Los Angeles Times Retrieved August 28 2012 Kit Borys November 9 2012 Hotel Transylvania 2 in the Works for 2015 Release The Hollywood Reporter Retrieved November 10 2012 Jardine William May 17 2013 Sony Pushes Genndy Tartakovsky s Popeye Back to 2015 A113Animation Retrieved May 22 2013 Kit Borys March 12 2014 Sony Animation Sets Slate Smurfs Transylvania 2 More Exclusive The Hollywood Reporter Retrieved May 3 2014 McMillan Graeme September 18 2014 Sony Pictures Releases First Glimpse of Genndy Tartakovsky s Popeye The Hollywood Reporter Retrieved March 14 2015 Han Angie March 13 2015 Genndy Tartakovsky Exits Sony s Popeye Film Retrieved March 14 2015 Scott Wills July 8 2017 Story pitch art for a Genndy Tartakovsky feature that didn t get made Instagram Archived from the original on December 23 2021 Retrieved July 26 2018 Khatchatourian Maane March 14 2015 Sony s Popeye Loses Director Genndy Tartakovsky Variety Retrieved March 14 2015 Jaafar Ali January 22 2016 Sony Pictures Animation Brings In T J Fixman To Write Popeye Deadline Milligan Mercedes May 11 2020 Genndy Tartakovsky s Popeye Movie Afloat with King Features Animation Magazine Primal Season 2 on HBO Max Genndy Tartakovsky Interview Decider com July 21 2022 Retrieved August 5 2022 Brew Cartoon July 26 2022 Full Animatic For Genndy Tartakovsky s Popeye Leaked Online Cartoonbrew com Retrieved August 5 2022 Iwata Asks New Super Mario Bros Wii Mario Couldn t Jump At First Nintendo Retrieved April 28 2022 Popeye review from CRASH issue 20 September 1985 retrieved from CRASH The Online Edition Popeye review from Your Spectrum issue 19 October 1985 More Up n Coming Titles Mega No 18 Future Publishing March 1994 p 93 News CES Showtime Mean Machines Sega No 17 EMAP March 1994 pp 10 22 Merritt Steve August 1995 News E3 The Future Is Here Mean Machines Sega No 34 EMAP pp 8 18 Popeye Nintendo com Sabec LTD November 2021 Wimpy Burger Junk Food Health Advice Wimpy Burgers learn the truth wimpyburgers co uk Popeye Spinach Popeye Spinach Retrieved November 30 2009 Popeye s Supplements Canada Over 120 Locations Across Canada History popeyescanada com Club mascots in Portuguese Flamengo official website Retrieved January 18 2010 Nana Oyl To Join Statues On Character Trail Grandinetti p 4 a b Where They Really Knew Popeye and Co The New York Times Associated Press January 18 2004 Fishman Julie January 28 2015 The Real People Behind Famous Children s Characters Frank Rocky Fiegel Popeye mom me Archived from the original on September 15 2018 Retrieved June 2 2021 Grandinetti Fred M December 31 2003 Popeye An Illustrated Cultural History 2d ed McFarland ISBN 9780786426874 via Google Books Real Life Inspirations For Famous Cartoon Characters Orrec orrec com Harris Book 2009 Santa Monica Pier A Century of the Last Great Pleasure Pier USA Angel City Press ISBN 9781883318826 Popeye The First Fifty Years New York Workman Publishing Pages 44 45 Blackbeard Bill The First arf arf Superhero of Them All In Dick Lupoff amp Don Thompson ed All In Color For A Dime Arlington House 1970 Rolnick Sharon J Buss Daniel D Fongemie Allen E February 15 1998 Management of Shoulder Impingement Syndrome and Rotator Cuff Tears February 15 1998 American Family Physician American Family Physician 57 4 667 74 680 2 PMID 9490991 Archived from the original on June 6 2011 Retrieved November 30 2009 Guideline not published Guideline gov Archived from the original on October 12 2007 Retrieved November 30 2009 Action Comics 421 permanent dead link at OddballComics com Superman and Cap n Strong Archived April 10 2010 at the Wayback Machine at the Quarter Bin East Tom November 25 2009 Donkey Kong Was Originally A Popeye Game Official Nintendo Magazine Official Nintendo Magazine Archived from the original on November 10 2014 Retrieved February 28 2013 Miyamoto says Nintendo s main monkey might not have existed O Connor John J 2007 Who Framed Roger Rabbit Trailer Cast Showtimes Movies amp TV Dept The New York Times Archived from the original on November 2 2007 Retrieved November 30 2009 Robert Pruter Chicago Soul p 196 Various Artists New Orleans Popeye Party allmusic com Retrieved June 11 2017 Bill Blackbeard The First arf arf Superhero of Them All In All in Color for a Dime ed by Dick Lupoff and Don Thompson Ace 1970 Laurence Maslon Michael Kantor Superheroes Capes cowls and the creation of comic book culture p 16 Hewitt Katie August 16 2010 How to win the kids v veggies battle Toronto Globe and Mail No Eats Me Spinach Cagle com Retrieved November 30 2009 a b Hamblin T J 1981 Fake BMJ 283 6307 1671 4 doi 10 1136 bmj 283 6307 1671 PMC 1507475 PMID 6797607 Gabbatt Adam December 8 2009 E C Segar Popeye s creator celebrated with a Google doodle guardian co uk London Retrieved May 5 2010 della Quercia Jacopo May 3 2010 The 7 Most Disastrous Typos Of All Time Cracked com Retrieved May 5 2010 Arbesman Samuel September 27 2012 Paradox of Hoaxes How Errors Persist Even When Corrected Wired magazine Retrieved June 29 2019 Jeep Archived March 28 2010 at the Wayback Machine wordorigins org Chester Illinois Official Website Popeye Picnic Archived from the original on January 24 2010 Retrieved November 30 2009 Welcome to King Features Syndicate Kingfeatures com November 17 2008 Retrieved November 30 2009 July 29 2015 Popeye comic strip Seattle Post Intelligencer Retrieved July 29 2015 July 30 2015 Popeye comic strip Seattle Post Intelligencer Retrieved July 30 2015 Popeye the Sailor The 1940s Vol 1 Warner Archive Collection 12 18 2018 Pre order Blu ray Forum WarnerArchive May 17 2019 Pop open another can of spinach with Popeye the Sailor The 1940s Volume 2 coming to Blu ray next month List of Tweet via Twitter Popeye The Sailor The 1960s Classics Vol 1 tvshowsondvd com Archived from the original on September 10 2013 Further reading EditGrandinetti Fred M Popeye An Illustrated Cultural History 2nd ed McFarland 2004 ISBN 0 7864 1605 XExternal links Edit Wikiquote has quotations related to Popeye Wikimedia Commons has media related to Popeye Official website Popeye at Comics Kingdom Portals Comics Film United States Cartoon Children s literature Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Popeye amp oldid 1152301621, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

article

, read, download, free, free download, mp3, video, mp4, 3gp, jpg, jpeg, gif, png, picture, music, song, movie, book, game, games.