Olive Oyl is a cartoon character created byE. C. Segar in 1919 for hiscomic stripThimble Theatre.[6] The strip was later renamedPopeye after the sailor character that became the most popular member of the cast; however, Olive Oyl was a main character for a decade before Popeye's 1929 appearance.[7]
Olive Oyl in her debut (strip printed December 19, 1919)
In the strip as written by Segar, Olive is a scrappy, headstrong young woman (her age varying between her late teens and 26) visually characterized by her exaggeratedly slim build (evolving from its previous more realistically proportioned form by the late 1920s) and her long black hair (usually presented as rolled in a neat bun, like her mother's). She is the youngest sibling of Castor Oyl and Crude Oyl.
Olive Oyl and Hamgravy in a 1921 "Thimble Theatre" strip
Debuting on December 19, 1919, Olive was the childhood sweetheart and more-or-less fiancée of originalThimble Theatre protagonistHarold Hamgravy (Ham Gravy), a "lounge lizard" orslacker type who did as little work as possible and was always borrowing money. His attraction to other women—particularly if they were rich—naturally incensed Olive, leading her to (in a storyline run in mid-1928) succumb to a fit of "lunaphobia" (a kind of angry madness) over one of his amours; when she recovered, she continued to pretend to have the disorder to win him back. She was not immune to flattery from other men, but remained committed to Hamgravy on-and-off until Popeye's appearance. Olive and Popeye initially greeted each other with animosity (her first words to him being "take your hooks offa me or I'll lay ya in a scupper"), leading them to fight bitterly for weeks before finally realizing that they had feelings for each other. Following a series of Sunday strips run in March 1930, Popeye would definitively supersede Ham as Olive's lover, a position he occupies within the comic into the present; Ham had largely vanished from the daily strip six months earlier, although Popeye and Olive's relationship would nonetheless not be emphasized within the daily strip's continuity until the height of the Clint Gore story arc in January 1931.
An early comic panel, prior to Olive and Popeye being established as lovers, in which Olive demands Castor throw Popeye overboard
The version of Olive Oyl most widely familiar is the coyer and more nervous version from the theatricalanimated cartoons created byFleischer Studios and continued byFamous Studios. Unlike most moderndamsels in distress, Olive Oyl is tall and skinny, with tightly wound hair and enormous feet (the latter sometimes used to comedic effect). Popeye's comment about her measurements is that she is a perfect 57... 19-19-19.
In the films and later television cartoons, Olive Oyl is usually Popeye'sgirlfriend, although she could be extremely fickle, depending on who could woo her the best or had the flashier possessions, and she was prone to become angry with Popeye over seemingly minor issues. She constantly gets kidnapped byBluto (aka Brutus), who is Popeye's arch-rival for her affections; when she gets angry with Popeye for whatever goes wrong, it's usually as a result of Bluto's trickery, but Popeye always rescues her and wins back her affection in the process.
In the cartoons, she helps take care of a baby namedSwee'Pea or she usually asks Popeye to take care of him if she's too busy; it's unknown if Swee'Pea is Olive Oyl's biological or adopted son. In the comics, Swee'Pea is afoundling under Popeye's care. Later sources (mostly in the cartoon series) say that Swee'Pea is Olive Oyl's cousin or nephew that she has to take care of from time to time.
Like Popeye, there are times where Olive gains superhuman strength from eatingspinach.
Olive Oyl is named afterolive oil, used commonly in cooking or in salads.[8] Segar's newspaper strips also featured a number of her relatives named after other oils, including her brother,Castor Oyl, their mother, Nana Oyl (after "banana oil", a mild slang phrase of the time used in the same way as "horsefeathers", i.e. "nonsense"), their father,Cole Oyl, and Castor's estranged wife,Cylinda Oyl; more recently, Olive's niecesDiesel Oyl andViolet Oyl have appeared in the cartoons. Also among Olive's family are her two uncles,Otto (Auto) Oyl and intrepid explorerLubry Kent Oyl. Lubry Kent's gift to Castor and Olive, a lucky Whiffle Hen, led them into the adventure where they met Popeye. WhenBobby London took over the strip from 1986 to 1992, he added the sultry blonde Sutra Oyl, Olive's cousin, andStandard Oyl, a distant relative who was an extremely wealthy corporate magnate.
In 1938,Margie Hines took over as the voice of Olive Oyl, starting with the cartoonBulldozing the Bull. Questel returned as her voice in 1944, starting with the cartoonThe Anvil Chorus Girl. Questel would remain so until after theKing Features Syndicate made-for-TVPopeye shorts in 1960.[12][10]
Marilyn Schreffler became the new voice of Olive whenHanna-Barbera obtained the rights to produce made-for-televisionPopeye cartoons forThe All-New Popeye Hour in 1978. Schreffler also voiced Olive inPopeye and Son. Questel auditioned to reprise her role, but was rejected in favor of Schreffler. Despite being officially replaced by Schreffler, Questel later returned to voice Olive Oyl for a 1983 commercial promoting thePopeye video game.[13][10]
In herFamous Studios appearance, Olive is given more hair, smaller feet, wider eyes, a more feminine face, a tomboyish streak and a slightly less silly personality. She has black hair with a red bow. She wears a red shirt with short sleeves, black skirt with a red line on the bottom and black pumps. In later animated cartoons from King Features and Hanna-Barbera, while they would occasionally retain aspects of her Famous Studios incarnation, such as her hairstyles, Olive generally reverted to her original enormous feet, pinned-back-with-a-bun hairdo, tall flat brown boots and white socks.
Olive Oyl is absent-minded, sweet, flirtatious, short-tempered, romantic, headstrong, foolish, shallow, pompous, sassy, inattentive, fickle, demanding, and selfish. She is usually depicted as a stereotypical "damsel-in-distress" character and often blames others for her own mistakes when confronted.
She frequently says "Oh, dear!" in a way that resembles film actressZaSu Pitts.
In the 1980live-action film directed byRobert Altman, Olive Oyl is played by actressShelley Duvall. Shelley Duvall has mentioned that she was teased in school as Olive Oyl because of her physical resemblance to the character.
In 1997–1998, Olive Oyl appeared in the video gamesPopeye and the Quest For the Woolly Mammoth,Popeye: The Rescue andPopeye and the Sunken Treasure, voiced byCheryl Chase.[1][2]
Olive Oyl (along with Popeye, Bluto, and Wimpy) was going to have acameo inWho Framed Roger Rabbit, but the rights to the characters could not be obtained.
In 2002, Olive Oyl appeared in the video gameSlots from Bally Gaming, voiced byLani Minella.[39]
In July 2007, alive-animation TV commercial starring Olive Oyl aired as part of an advertising campaign forCampbell Soup Company'sPregosauces. Olive's ad is one in a series of five different ads for Prego, which features Spice GirlEmma Bunton ("Baby Spice"), Olympic Silver MedalistLea Ann Parsley, an average American couple named Rosemary and Herb and an Englishman named Basil. In each 15-second commercial, the "flavorful" characters wonder aloud about what spice to add to their simmering pot of sauce. She was voiced byDiane Michelle.[44]
In the comic stripBizarro, the image of Olive Oyl (or occasionally the abbreviation "O2") began appearing as one of the hidden symbols in the artwork in May 2017.
InMAD Magazine No. 21 (1951), a parody of Olive called "Mazola Oil" appeared inPoopeye. Mazola supplies Poopeye with various spinach recipes to help Poopeye defeat other comic strip characters such as "Mammy Jokeum" (a parody of "Mammy Yokum" fromLi'l Abner), "Melvin of the Apes" (a parody ofTarzan) and "Superduperman" (a parody of Superman). The story was reprinted in the paperbackMAD Strikes Back (1962), which was later reprinted in a 50th Anniversary Edition (iBooks, Inc., New York,ISBN0-7434-4478-7).
^Taylor, James D. (2016).The Voice of Betty Boop, Mae Questel. Alford Publishing.ISBN978-1628942408. P.135-136. Retrieved December 18, 2018.
^LLC, New York Media (December 29, 1980)."New York Magazine". New York Media, LLC.Archived from the original on March 31, 2024. RetrievedAugust 17, 2017 – via Google Books.
