What I’ve Learned

What I admire about Popeye is his unpretentious manner.

“I yam what I yam and that’s all what I yam,” he’d say.

Popeye was created in 1928 by Elzie Crisler Segar for his Thimble Theatre comic strip.

In 1933, characters from Thimble Theatre were adapted into a series of Popeye the Sailor cartoons, shown in theaters before the main movies. The cartoons
were popular in the 1930s, and since then, Popeye has starred in hundreds of comic books, TV cartoons, video games, and so on.

Here are a few highlights from the cartoon sailor’s life.

Popeye’s father was Poopdeck Pappy. His mother is unknown. Shortly after his birth, Poopdeck left and was never seen again. Popeye ended up in an orphanage.

When around four, he ran away and was a homeless urchin living on the street and wearing a flour sack for clothes. Down at the docks, a man named Whaler Joe took him in and cared for him.

At age six, Popeye got into fights with local bullies, knocking them out with a quick left-right combination.

When Whaler Joe fell on hard times, young Popeye went to sea in a little boat to try his hand at catching whales. A large whale made the mistake of spraying the boy with a powerful jet of water. Popeye punched the whale so hard it died. That whale and an entire pod were brought back to port and given to Whaler Joe.

When he was twelve, someone drugged Popeye’s “sodie pop.” He lost consciousness and woke up at sea aboard the Josie Lee. At some point, the cook, a large and cruel man, antagonized the boy and in the ensuing fight, Popeye lost an eye. However, that defeat didn’t stop him from serving as a sailor on the Josie Lee.

As a teenager, Popeye developed a chivalrous streak that began when an albatross landed on deck and was snatched up by the cook. The boy noticed that the bird was wearing a small pair of lady’s shoes. He saved her by knocking the cook out with a mighty blow to the jaw.

According to a Popeye fan site, “Popeye apologetically bowed before the little bird and said “maybe you is somebody’s sister, tha’s a fact! Nobody but a criminal would do a hurt to anybody’s sister!’”

Early on, Popeye is a rough and tumble man of enormous strength. In later cartoons, his natural strength is less, until boosted – da-da-da-daht-ti-da – by spinach. Word is that spinach was chosen because of its high Vitamin A content. Regardless, spinach consumption shot up among children thanks to its depiction in the cartoons.

When Popeye was around 34, he became associated with Castor Oyl and his sidekick, Ham Gravy. Through them, he met Castor’s sister, Olive.

At first, Popeye and Olive disliked each other intensely, but in time, they fell in love and became one of the most recognized couples in cartoon history.

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