Popeye the Sailor Man

by

On Popeye

It’s Saturday morning, so this is a perfect time for a post about a cartoon. After all, did you watch cartoons on Saturday morning?

I watched many cartoons during my youth – not only on Saturday morning, but 4 pm Monday-through-Friday’s local cartoon show (Mr. Cartoon on WSAZ). I also recall going to the theater when a cartoon preceded the main feature.

Since it has been too long since I’ve posted about a classic cartoon character from my youth, I dedicate this post to one of my favorites, Popeye – and include a cartoon at the end of the post. For more tributes, visit Categories > Entertainment > Classic Cartoons or click here.

Popeye first appeared in the Thimble Theater comic strip on January 17, 1929.

Fleisher Studios adapted Thimble Theater characters for cartoon short films, which debuted in 1933 in a Betty Boop film.

Popeye has appeared in comic books, television, commercials, arcade and video games, and films.

Popeye’s one good eye is blue and his hair is red.

Popeye is 34 years old and was born in a typhoon off Santa Monica, California.

In the original comic strip, Popeye gained his extra strength not from eating spinach, but by rubbing the head of the rare Whiffle Hen.

Sammy Learner composed I’m Popeye the Sailor Man as the theme song in 1933.

753 Popeye cartoon segments exist.

Other characters include Bluto, Olive Oyl, Poopdeck Pappy, four nephews (Peepeye, Pupeye, Pipeye, and Poopeye), Wimpy, Swee’Pea (Popeye’s adopted child), Eugene the Jeep, Alice the Goon, Sea Hag with Bernard (her pet buzzard), Toar (caveman), and George W. Geezil.

Tributes

  • Statues of Popeye are at Universal Orlando Resort; Crystal City, Texas; Chester, Illinois; and Alma, Arkansas
  • Popeye Picnic in Chester, Illinois on the weekend after Labor Day
  • Popeye is the only comic strip character honored by a special lighting celebration at the Empire State Building (January 16-18, 2004 for Popeye’s 75th anniversary)

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