Popeye the Sailor is a fictional cartoon character created byElzie Crisler Segar.[17][18][19][20] The character first appeared on January 17, 1929, in the dailyKing Features comic stripThimble Theatre. The strip was in its tenth year when Popeye made his debut, but the one-eyed sailor quickly became the lead character, andThimble Theatre became one of King Features' most popular properties during the 1930s. Following Segar's death in 1938,Thimble Theatre (later renamedPopeye) was continued by several writers and artists, most notably Segar's assistantBud Sagendorf. The strip continues to appear in first-run installments on Sundays, written and drawn byR. K. Milholland. The daily strips are reprints of old Sagendorf stories.[19]
In 1933,Max Fleischer adapted theThimble Theatre characters into a series ofPopeye the Sailor theatrical cartoon shorts forParamount Pictures.[21] These cartoons proved to be among the most popular of the 1930s, andFleischer Studios, which later became Paramount's ownFamous Studios, continued production through 1957. Cartoons produced during World War II included Allied propaganda, as was common among cartoons of the time.[22] These cartoon shorts are now owned byTurner Entertainment and distributed by its sister companyWarner Bros.[23]
Over the years, Popeye has also appeared in comic books, television cartoons, video games, hundreds of advertisements,[19] peripheral products ranging from spinach tocandy cigarettes, and the1980 live-action film directed byRobert Altman and starringRobin Williams as Popeye.
Charles M. Schulz said, "I thinkPopeye was a perfect comic strip, consistent in drawing and humor."[24] In 2002,TV Guide ranked Popeye number 20 on its "50 Greatest Cartoon Characters of All Time" list.[25]
The person believed to have inspired Popeye was Polish born Frank "Rocky" Fiegel, a tough laborer fromChester, Illinois who was always getting in fights. It was believed he could have been a professional boxer. However, he also gave out candy and treats to children,[26] including E.C. Segar, who remembered Fiegel when he created Popeye. Fiegel was described as "just like the fictional spinach-loving mariner ... a one-eyed, pipe-smoking curmudgeon with a jutting chin."[27]
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 regular fixture of his character, with spinach, by 1932, becoming the primary repository of his prowess.[28]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 displayedSherlock 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.[19]
Popeye's exploits are also enhanced by a few recurring plot elements. One is the love triangle among Popeye,Olive Oyl, andBluto (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]
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) Bela Zaboly & Tom Sims (December 1939 – December 1954 (daily strip), December 1939 – September 1959 (Sunday strip)) Bela Zaboly &Ralph Stein (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)
Segar'sThimble Theatre debuted in theNew York Journal on December 19, 1919. The paper's owner,William Randolph Hearst, also ownedKing Features Syndicate, which syndicated the strip.Thimble Theatre was intended as one of several Hearst-commissioned replacements forMidget Movies byEd Wheelan (Wheelan having recently resigned from King Features).[29] 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-ownedNew York American paper[30]).
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 slackerHarold 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 parodictheatrical 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 agag-a-day comic during this period.[29]
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 changed fully into a comedy-adventure style focusing on Ham, Olive, and Olive's ambitious-but-myopic diminutive brotherCastor Oyl, initially a minor character yet arguably the protagonist of the strip by 1925. Castor and Olive's parents Cole and Nana Oyl also made frequent appearances beginning in the mid-1920s.[18] 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'sfighting cockerel Blizzard, all of whom had exited the strip by the close of 1928 (although Cylinda would eventually maritally reunite with Castor underR. K. Milholland's authorship almost a century later).
Popeye in his first appearance
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 head feathers of Bernice the Whiffle Hen.[31] 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's conclusion in June, Popeye left the strip, but, owing to reader reaction, he was brought back after an absence of only five weeks.[19][29]
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 withget-rich-quick schemes and enlisted Popeye in his misadventures. By the end of 1931, however, he settled down as adetective and later on bought aranch 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 cowardlyhamburger-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.
Thimble Theatre was renamedThimble Theatre Starring Popeye in 1931.[32] It was eventually renamed simplyPopeye, the name under which the strip continues to run.
In July 1933, Popeye received a foundling baby in the mail whom he adopted and namedSwee'Pea. Other regular characters introduced into the strip following its retool in 1930 wereGeorge W. Geezil, an irasciblecobbler who spoke in a heavily affected accent and habitually attempted to murder or wish death upon Wimpy; Rough-House, the temperamental owner of a budgetdiner who served as a long-suffering foil to Wimpy;Eugene the Jeep, a yellow, vaguely doglike animal from Africa withmagical powers; theSea Hag, a terriblepirate and the lastwitch on Earth;Alice the Goon, a monstrous creature who entered the strip as the Sea Hag's henchwoman and continued as Swee'Pea'sbabysitter; the hapless, perpetually anxious King Blozo; Blozo's unintelligent lackey Oscar; Popeye's lecherous, scheming fatherPoopdeck Pappy; and Toar, an ageless, dim-witted caveman.[20][18]
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, andBluto appeared in only one story arc. Segar signed some of his early Popeye comic strips with acigar, his last name being ahomophone of "cigar" (pronounced SEE-gar). Comics historian Brian Walker stated: "Segar offered up a masterful blend of comedy, fantasy, satire and suspense inThimble Theater Starring Popeye".[20]
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 ofFortune magazine votedPopeye their second-favorite comic strip (afterLittle Orphan Annie).[20] By 1938,Thimble Theatre was running in 500 newspapers, and over 600 licensed "Popeye" products were on sale.[20] The success of the strip meant Segar was earning $100,000 a year at the time of his death.[20] The strip continued after Segar's death in 1938 under a succession of artists and writers. Following an eventual name change toPopeye 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.
Thimble Theatre had a number oftopper 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 calledThe Five-Fifteen, akaSappo the Commuter, which ran from December 24, 1920, to February 17, 1925.) For seven weeks in 1936, Segar replacedSappo withPete and Pansy – For Kids Only (Sept 27 - Nov 8, 1936).[33]
There were also a series of topper panel strips that ran next toSappo. Segar drew one of them,Popeye's Cartoon Club (April 8, 1934 – May 5, 1935). The rest were produced byJoe Musial andBud 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), andMe Life by Popeye (April 9, 1944-?).[33]
Tom Sims and Bill Zaboly'sThimble Theatre (December 2, 1951)
Following Segar's illness and eventual death in 1938 (with his finalThimble Theatre strip appearing October 2 of that year), numerous people were hired to draw and write the strip. Tom Sims, the son of aCoosa River channel-boat captain, acted as the writer forThimble Theatre beginning in August 1938 and established thePopeye the Sailorman spin-off.Doc Winner, who had previously filled in for Segar between January and May 1938, initially acted as Sims' artist, withBela Zaboly[34] 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 byBud Sagendorf in 1959.
Sagendorf wrote and drew the daily strip until 1986, and continued to write and draw theSunday strip until his death in 1994.[33] 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.[35] 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 byBobby London, who, after some controversy, was fired from the strip for a story that could be taken to satirizeabortion.[36] 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 byHy Eisman from 1994 to 2022. Following Eisman's retirement, the Sunday strip was taken over byR. K. Milholland, who had previously contributedPopeye cartoons to the web-only featurePopeye's Cartoon Club in 2019 and 2020.[37] The daily strip has featured reruns of Sagendorf's strips since London's firing.[19]
According to a 1992 case in Japan, Popeye's copyright expired in May 1990 in the country.[38] 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) becamepublic domain in most countries,[39] but remained undercopyright in the United States. Because Segar was an employee of King Features Syndicate when he created theThimble Theatre strip, it is treated as awork 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.[40] On January 1, 2025, theThimble Theatre strip that introduced Popeye entered the public domain.[41] Certain elements of Popeye's character had already lapsed into public domain due to inconsistent copyright registrations and renewals on the strip and animated films; the first mention of Popeye eating spinach as a source of strength was in a 1931 strip in which the copyright was not renewed.[42] However, even after Popeye's debut strips entered the public domain, King Features still retainstrademarks regarding Popeye's name and image. Unlike copyright, trademarks do not expire unless they cease to be used, and King Features has used the Popeye trademark continuously since registering it in 1931.[43][44]
There have been a number of Popeye comic books, with his main series running continuously from 1948 to 1984 published in turn byDell Comics,Gold Key Comics,King Comics,Charlton Comics, and back to Gold Key. The series was originally written and illustrated byBud Sagendorf. In the series, 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 BritishTV 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 createdPopeye 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 byBill Pearson, with some issues written byNick Cuti.
In 1988, Ocean Comics released thePopeye Special written byRon Fortier with art byBen Dunn. The story presented Popeye's origin story, including his given name of "Ugly Kidd"[48] 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.[49] 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,[50] an idea also used in the comic strip on December 28, 2008, and April 5, 2009.[51][52] 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 byPeter 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 2012, writerRoger Langridge teamed with cartoonistsBruce Ozella, Ken Wheaton, and Tom Neely (among others) to revive the spirit of Segar in a 12-issue comic book miniseries published byIDW Publishing. Critic PS Hayes in reviewing the series stated:
Langridge writes a story with alot 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.[53]
In late 2012, IDW began reprinting the original 1940s–1950s Sagendorf Popeye comic books under the title ofClassic Popeye.
In November 2022, the publication of a newmanga-inspired series calledEye Lie Popeye by Marcus Williams was announced,[54] the series would be published in 2024 by Massive Publishing.[55]
In January 2019, in celebration of its 90 years of character, King Feature Syndicate launched thewebcomicPopeye'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, includingAlex Hallatt,Erica Henderson, Tom Neely,Roger Langridge, Larry deSouza,Robert Sikoryak,Jeffrey Brown, Jim Engel,Liniers, Jay Fosgitt,Carol Lay, and Randy Milholland.[56] At the end of the year, Milholland'sCartoon Club comic was declared the number one comic of the year on King Features' website, Comics Kingdom.[57]
From February through April 2020,Cartoon Club ran an additional five comics by Milholland,[58][59][60][61][62] which was followed by an extended run from May 28 through July 6, 2020,[63] making Milholland the first person to write a daily-updatePopeye comic for King Features since 1992.
In August 2022, a new twice-weekly (Tuesdays and Thursdays) webcomic titledOlive & Popeye debuted. Milholland writes and draws the Thursday strips, which focus on Popeye and his extended family, while Tuesday strips focus on Olive and her own adventures. These were initially drawn by Shadia Amin, who was later replaced by Emi Burdge in October 2023. The two storylines run in parallel and occasionally intersect.[64]
In November 1932, King Features signed an agreement withFleischer Studios to have Popeye and the otherThimble Theatre characters begin appearing in a series of animated cartoons released byParamount Pictures. The first cartoon in the series was released in 1933, andPopeye cartoons remained a staple of Paramount's release schedule for nearly 25 years.[21]Billy Costello was the original voice of Popeye, a voice that was replicated by later performers, such asJack Mercer and evenMae Questel. Many of theThimble 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 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.[65][66]
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 inThe Man on the Flying Trapeze, where it gave him acrobatic skills. This cartoon, incidentally, was the only appearance of Olive Oyl's mother, Nana.
In May 1942, Paramount Pictures assumed ownership of Fleischer Studios, fired the Fleischers and began reorganizing the studio, which they renamedFamous Studios. The early Famous-era shorts were often World War II-themed, featuring Popeye fightingNazi Germans andJapanese soldiers, most notably the 1942 shortYou're a Sap, Mr. Jap. In late 1943, thePopeye series began to be produced inTechnicolor, beginning withHer Honor the Mare. Famous/Paramount continued producing thePopeye series until 1957, withSpooky Swabs being the last of the 125 Famous shorts in the series. Paramount then sold thePopeye film catalog toAssociated Artists Productions, which was bought out byUnited Artists in 1958. Through various mergers, the rights are currently controlled byWarner Bros. Discovery.
In 2001,Cartoon Network, under the supervision of animation historianJerry Beck, created a new incarnation ofThe Popeye Show. The show aired the Fleischer and Famous StudiosPopeye 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 135Popeye shorts over 45 episodes, until March 2004.The Popeye Show continued to air on Cartoon Network's spin-off networkBoomerang.
While many of the ParamountPopeye cartoons remained unavailable on video, a handful of those cartoons had fallen intopublic domain and were found on numerous low budget VHS tapes and later DVDs. WhenTurner 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-televisionPopeye 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 fromCBS/Fox Video toMGM/UA Home Video in 1986, and eventually toWarner Home Video in 1999. In 2006, Warner Home Video announced it would release all of thePopeye 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 andBlu-ray from Warner Home Video through theWarner Archive Collection.
In 1960, King Features Syndicate commissioned a new series of cartoons titledPopeye the Sailor, but this time for television syndication.Al Brodax served as executive producer of the cartoons for King Features.Jack Mercer,Mae Questel, andJackson Beck returned for this series, which was produced by a number of companies, includingJack Kinney Productions,Rembrandt Films,Larry Harmon Productions,Halas and Batchelor, andParamount Cartoon Studios (formerly Famous Studios). 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.[67] Since King Features has exclusive rights to thesePopeye cartoons, they have been released on home video, with 85 of them included in a 75th anniversaryPopeye DVD boxed set in 2004.
Popeye, Olive Oyl, Swee'Pea and Wimpy were featured prominently in the cartoon moviePopeye Meets the Man Who Hated Laughter, which debuted on October 7, 1972, as one of the episodes ofThe 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 theCBS Saturday morning lineup. It was an hour-long animated series produced byHanna-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, whileMarilyn Schreffler andAllan 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 retitledThe 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 airedThe Popeye Valentine's Day Special – Sweethearts at Sea on February 14, 1979.
Popeye briefly returned to CBS in 1987 forPopeye and Son, anotherHanna-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. Additionally, the series aired onThe Family Channel from 1994 until 1995.
In 2004,Lionsgate produced an 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".[68] The uncut version was released on DVD on November 9, 2004; and was aired in a re-edited version onFox 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-releasedPopeye's Voyage on DVD with redesigned cover art.
On December 2, 2018, a Popeye web series namedPopeye's Island Adventures produced byWildBrain subsidiaryWildBrain Spark Studios premiered on the official PopeyeYouTube 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 hiscorncob pipe with abosun's whistle. Bluto no longer sports abeard and focuses his time on stealing Popeye'sspinach 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.[69][70]
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 bySammy Lerner in 1933 for Fleischer's firstPopeye the Sailor cartoon,[71] has become forever associated with the sailor. "The Sailor's Hornpipe" has often been used as an introduction to Popeye's theme song.
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.[108]
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-minuteradio 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).[81] 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 theNBCRed Network (87 episodes), initially sponsored byWheatena, a whole-wheatbreakfast cereal, which routinely replaced the spinach references. Music was provided by Victor Irwin's Cartoonland Band. AnnouncerKelvin 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 onWABC and ran from August 31, 1936, to February 26, 1937 (78 episodes). Floyd Buckley played Popeye, andMiriam 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".[109]
The third series was sponsored by the maker ofPopsicles 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.
DirectorRobert Altman used the character inPopeye, a 1980 live-action musical feature film, starringRobin Williams as Popeye. A co-production ofParamount Pictures andWalt Disney Productions, the movie was filmed almost entirely onMalta, in the village ofMellieħa on the northwest coast of the island. The set is now a tourist attraction calledPopeye Village. The U.S. box office earnings were double the film's budget, making it a financial success. While the film received mostly negative reviews at the time, critical reception has improved over the years upon reassessment.
In March 2010, it was reported thatSony Pictures Animation was developing an animated Popeye film, withAvi Arad producing it.[110] In November 2011, Sony Pictures Animation announced that Jay Scherick and David Ronn, the writers ofThe Smurfs, are writing the screenplay for the film.[111] In June 2012, it was reported thatGenndy Tartakovsky had been set to direct the feature,[112] which he planned to make "as artful and unrealistic as possible."[113] In November 2012, Sony Pictures Animation set the release date for September 26, 2014,[114] which was, in May 2013, pushed back to 2015.[115] In March 2014, Sony Pictures Animation updated its slate, scheduling the film for 2016, and announcing Tartakovsky as the director ofHotel Transylvania 2, which he was directing concurrently withPopeye.[116] 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."[117] In March 2015, Tartakovsky announced that despite the well-received test footage, he was no longer working on the project, and would instead directCan You Imagine?, which is based on his own original idea,[118] but it too was cancelled.[119]Nevertheless, Sony Pictures Animation stated the project still remains in active development.[120] In January 2016, it was announced that T.J. Fixman would write the film.[121] On May 11, 2020, it was announced that aPopeye movie is in development atKing Features Syndicate with Genndy Tartakovsky coming back to the project.[122] However, on July 21, 2022, Tartakovsky said the project was cancelled.[123] An animatic for the film was later leaked onto the internet on July 22, 2022.[124]
On March 19, 2024, it was announced that a new live actionPopeye film is being developed atChernin Entertainment with a screenplay written by Michael Caleo for King Features.[125]
In late 2024, it was announced that a live action horror movie, titledPopeye the Slayer Man, was in development. It will revolve around a group of friends who sneak into an abandoned spinach factory, but are now haunted by Popeye, played by Jason Robert Stephens. The film is set to release in March 2025, which is when the character became public domain in the United States.[126]
British filmPopeye's Revenge released in February 2025 directed William Stead. Popeye was played by Steven Murphy.[127]
A horror comedy film calledShiver Me Timbers is scheduled to release on April 1, 2025, and Tony Greer played the role of Popeye.[128]
WhenDonkey Kong, which was originally conceived as aPopeye video game byShigeru Miyamoto,[129] proved to be a big success, King Features agreed to license the characters toNintendo to create aPopeye arcade game in 1982. It was later ported to various home gaming platforms, including theCommodore 64,Intellivision,Atari 2600, Atari 8-bit family,ColecoVision,Odyssey2, andNintendo Entertainment System. The goal was to avoid Brutus and the Sea Hag while collecting items produced by Olive Oyl such ashearts,musical notes, or theletters 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. Aboard game based on the video game was released byParker Brothers.
Nintendo also released twoGame & Watch units featuring Popeye.
Nintendo created another Popeye game for the JapaneseFamicom,Popeye no Eigo Asobi, in 1983. This was an educational game designed to teach Japanese children English words.
A differentPopeye game was developed for theZX Spectrum byDon Priestley and first released byDK'Tronics in 1985. The game achieved critical success due to its huge, colorful sprites; amongst the largest seen on the Spectrum platform.[130][131] 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 toCommodore 64 andAmstrad CPC in 1986. After releasing the budget version of this game,Alternative Software developed another two licensed games,Popeye 2 (1991) andPopeye 3: Wrestle Crazy (1992) on the same platforms.
Sigma Enterprises published two Popeye games for theGame Boy. The first, titled simplyPopeye, was released exclusively in Japan in 1990, whilePopeye 2 was released in Japan in 1991, North America in 1993, and Europe in 1994 byActivision.
In 1994,Technos Japan releasedPopeye Beach Volleyball for theGame Gear, andPopeye: Tale of the Wicked Witch Sea Hag (Popeye: Ijiwaru Majo Shihaggu no Maki) for theSuper Famicom, both exclusively in Japan. The latter is a side-scrolling adventure game mixed with a board game, which features many characters from theThimble Theatre series as well. In the game, Popeye has to recover magical hearts scattered across the level to restore his friends, who have been turned to stone as part of a spell cast upon them by the Sea Hag.
In fall 2007, Namco Networks released the original NintendoPopeye arcade game for mobile phones with new features including enhanced graphics and a new level.[135]
In November 2021, independent developerSabec LTD released what it called the "officialPopeye game"[136] for theNintendo Switch, featuring a three-dimensional adaptation of the "classic arcade game".
Popeye and Bluto were introduced as playable characters in the sea combat gameWorld of Warships.[106]
From early on, Popeye was heavily merchandised. Everything from soap torazor 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 theWimpy restaurant chain, one of the first international fast food restaurants featuring hamburgers, which they call "Wimpy Burgers".[137]
The popular fast-food chainPopeyes was found on June 12, 1972, and is the second-largest "quick-service chicken restaurant group" behindKentucky 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 (the chain was actually named after a fictional detective from the 1971 filmThe French Connection namedJimmy "Popeye" Doyle).
Allen Canning Company produces its own line of canned "Popeye Spinach" in multiple varieties. The cartoon Popeye serves as themascot on the can.[138]
Since 1989, "Popeye's Supplements" has been a chain of Canadian Sports Nutrition Stores.[139]
In 1989, Popeye endorsed Instant Quaker Oatmeal, citing it as a better food than spinach to provide strength.[140] The commercials had the tagline "Can the spinach, I wants me Quaker Oatmeal!" or "Popeye wants a Quaker". TheReligious 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.[141]
In 2001, Popeye (along with Bluto, Olive, and twin Wimpys) appeared in a television commercial forMinute MaidOrange juice. The commercial, produced byLeo 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 byStephen Colbert onComedy Central'sThe 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 ofClube de Regatas do Flamengo in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The mascot of the soccer club is currently a cartoon vulture.[142]
In 1987, Stabur Graphics commissioned artistWill 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 apublic 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 asseagulls and other sea creatures are caught insix-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, thePopeye comic strip was one of 20 included in theComic Strip Classics series of commemorative U.S. postage stamps.
From 1996 to 1999, theDarien 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 theSix Flags banner.
InUniversal Studios Orlando Resort'sislandtheme park,Universal's Islands of Adventure, there is a river rafting water ride,Popeye & 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 thePopeye and Bluto's Bilge-Rat Barge ride.
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):
Frank "Rocky" Fiegel was the real-life inspiration for the character Popeye. His parents, Bartłomiej and Anna H. Fiegiel, had come from the area of theGreater Poland Voivodeship, then part ofPrussia, and migrated to the United States. He had a prominent chin, sinewy physique, characteristic pipe, and a propensity and agile skill for fist-fighting.[145][146][147] Fiegel died on March 24, 1947, never having married. His gravestone has an image of Popeye engraved on it.[148] Segar regularly sent money to Fiegel (as a thank you for the inspiration[failed verification]) according toSegar's assistant and successor,Bud Sagendorf and[failed verification] Popeye historian Michael Brooks.[149][18]
Additional hometown residents of Chester have inspired other Segar characters, including Dora Paskel, an uncommonly tall, angular lady who ran a general store in town and 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 Fiegel frequented and where he engaged in fistfights.[146][150][18]
A 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 has yet to make a definitive claim.[151]
The 1981Nintendo videogameDonkey Kong, which introducedits eponymous character and Nintendo's unofficial company mascotMario 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 originallyBluto, and the character Pauline was originallyOlive Oyl, but when Nintendo was unable to acquire the rights to use the actual franchise characters, it decided to create original characters instead.[157][158]
The 1988 Walt Disney/Touchstone Pictures filmWho 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.[159]
The Popeye was a popular dance in thedance craze era of the late 1950s and early 1960s. Originating inNew 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 theTwist in New Orleans.[160] The dance was associated with and/or referenced to in several songs, includingEddie Bo's "Check Mr. Popeye",Chris Kenner's "Something You Got" and "Land of a Thousand Dances",Chubby Checker's "Popeye The Hitchhiker",Frankie Ford's "You Talk Too Much",Ernie K-Doe's "Popeye Joe",Huey "Piano" Smith's "Popeye",The Sherrys "Pop Pop Pop-Pie", andHarvey Fuqua's "Any Way You Wanta". A compilation of 23 Popeye dance songs was released in 1996 under the titleNew Orleans Popeye Party.[161]
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.[162][163] The popularity of Popeye helped boostspinach 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.[164] The spinach-growing community ofCrystal City, Texas, erected astatue of the character in recognition of Popeye's positive effects on the spinach industry. There are also statues inSpringdale andAlma, 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 withE. coli wasaccidentally sold to the public, many editorial cartoonists lampooned the affair by featuring Popeye in their cartoons.[165]
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.[166][167][168] The error was not a slipped decimal point but a measurement error that was corrected in the 1930s; however, the myth of extraordinarily high iron content persisted.[166][169] Additionally, in one 1932 episode Popeye claims he eats spinach because it is "full of Vitamin A" without mentioning its iron content.[170]
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, theSea 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 byWillys-Overland as "Jeep".[171]
The Popeye Picnic is held every year inChester, Illinois, on the weekend afterLabor Day. Popeye fans attend from across the globe, including a visit by afilm crew from South Korea in 2004. The one-eyed sailor's hometown strives to entertain devotees of all ages.[172]
In honor of Popeye's 75th anniversary, theEmpire 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.[173]
Popeye the Sailor: 1941–1943, Volume 3 (released November 4, 2008) features the remaining black-and-whitePopeye 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.[176]
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.[177]
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)[178] A DVD-R release byWarner Archive Collection consisting mostly of made for TV cartoons produced for King Features Television by Paramount Cartoon Studios and Gerald Ray Studios.
^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)
^Fred M. Grandinetti,Popeye: An Illustrated Cultural History, McFarland, 2004, p. 5.
^abcHoltz, Allan (2012).American Newspaper Comics: An Encyclopedic Reference Guide. Ann Arbor, Michigan: The University of Michigan Press.ISBN9780472117567.
^Opie, Iona Archibald; Opie, Peter (2001).The Lore and Language of Schoolchildren. New York Review of Books.ISBN9780940322691.Archived from the original on March 31, 2024. RetrievedApril 20, 2015....for some reason he chiefly features in verses which are obscene.
^Sutton-Smith, Brian; Mechling, Jay; Johnson, Thomas W.; McMahon, Felicia (October 12, 2012).Children's Folklore: A SourceBook. Routledge.ISBN9781136546112.Archived from the original on March 31, 2024. RetrievedApril 20, 2015.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.
