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Popeye the sailor man

Posted by Masakim on January 05, 2003

In Reply to: Popeye the sailor man posted by masakim on January 05, 2003

: : : : Anyone know popeye's first name? starts with an E.
: : : : thx

: : : I suspect his name was just Popeye. A few minutes of searching failed to turn up any other name for him even though some other characters in Thimble Theatre had full names--J. Wellington Wimpy, for instance. The original artist was Elzie Segar. There was an animal character called Eugene the Jeep.

: : What an interesting question. And I have no idea what the answer is.

: Popeye. The muscle-bound sailor man came into the cartoon world in 1929 when the comic strip artist Elzie Segar created him for his classic strip, _Thimble Theatre_. He was at first known as Ham Gravy, but soon acquired his familiar sobriquet. [...]
: From Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable

Sorry.
Ham Gravy is NOT Popeye, but Olive's ex-boyfriend.

A Short History of the Thimble Theatre Cast
Olive Oyl and Ham Gravy debuted in Thimble Theatre in December 1919. The next month her brother Castor Oyl was added to the strip and their parents Nana and Cole Oyl showed up on the scene in 1920 as well. Castor began to dominate the strip in the mid 1920s with tales of get rich quick schemes. Castor was an untrustworthy scoundrel and was usually accompanied on his half-baked adventures by the lazy, always jobless Ham when he wasn't loafing or courting Olive. And, of course, the curtain rose on Popeye in January 1929, and he proceeded to take center stage over the next year. Ham was beaten up by Popeye and disappeared from the strip in March 1930. Castor's role also quickly changed from star to extra as time went on.
home.earthlink.net/~thimbletheatre/theatrecast.html

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