Pop Culture, Cartoons, and Popeye the Sailor

Visiting Popeye and His Hometown Pals

Popeye the Sailor Man’s creator grew up in Chester, Illinois

Popeye the Sailor statue at Segar Memorial Park in Chester, Illinois. © Randy Runtsch.

As a boy, I watched cartoons on weekdays after school and on Saturday mornings. Some of my favorites included the Jetsons, Scooby-Doo, and any Looney Toons cartoons, including Bugs Bunny, Elmer Fudd, Porky Pig, Road Runner, and the rest of the gang.

Olive Oyl holds Swee’Pea with Eugene the Jeep by her side. © Randy Runtsch.

But another cartoon series earned a place near the top of my favorites list: Popeye the Sailor.

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, I don’t remember watching Popeye on Saturdays. But Bartley “Bart” Curran, of CBS affiliate TV station KGLO Channel 3 in Mason City, Iowa, featured Popeye the Sailor cartoons on his Bart’s Clubhouse weekday afternoon show.

Mural in Chester, Illinois. From left to right, Wimpy, Brutus, Olive Oyl, Swee’Pea, and Popeye. © Randy Runtsch.

In the late 1980s, my wife and I lived in the St. Louis, Missouri, area. One weekend, on a road trip to southern Illinois, we visited Metropolis, which calls itself the home of Superman. Then we drove to Chester, Illinois, where we found the statue of Popeye featured in the title photo.

Bluto, also known as Brutus, is Popeye’s archenemy. © Randy Runtsch.

Recently, I returned to Chester to revisit the Popeye statue. To my surprise, statues of characters from the Popeye stories have popped up all over town.

J. Wellington Wimpy, better known as Wimpy, loves hamburgers. He will gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today. © Randy Runtsch.

Chester native Elzie Crisler Segar (1894–1938) worked in the local opera house in his youth, including as its film projectionist. He then demonstrated talent as an illustrator, so he took a cartooning correspondence course.

Popeye and E.C. Segar mural in Chester. © Randy Runtsch.

Segar launched the Thimble Theater comic strip under the King Features Syndicate subsidiary of Hearst Communications. It highlighted the Oyl family’s misadventures. Ten years later, on January 17, 1929, he debuted with Popeye the Sailor in the strip. Popeye became one of King’s biggest stars of the 1930s.

Sea Hag and Bernard. Sea Hag, a pirate and the last witch on Earth, is Popeye’s most fearsome nemesis. © Randy Runtsch.

In 1933, Max Fleischer featured Popeye and other Thimble Theatre characters in a series of theatrical Popeye the Sailor cartoon shorts for Paramount Pictures. They became hits, and production continued until 1957.

Popeye’s nephews, Pupeye, Pipeye, Peepeye, and Poopeye. © Randy Runtsch.

Over the years, Popeye and his friends were featured in comic books, video games, advertisements, and many products, including candy cigarettes. In 1980, actor Robin Williams starred as Popeye in a live-action film alongside Shelley Duval, who played Olive Oyl.

Oscar stands in Chester’s Cole Memorial Park. © Randy Runtsch.

Chester resident Frank “Rockey” Fiegel (1868–1947), a local scrapper, inspired Segar’s Popeye character. Reports show he had a prominent chin, ever-present pipe, and keen fist-fighting skills. Segal regularly sent money to Fiegal to thank him for inspiring his famous character.

Professor Watasnozzle stands outside Chester High School. © Randy Runtsch.

Chester erected the first Popeye statue above the east bank of the Mississippi River in 1977. In 2006, it launched the Popeye and Friends Character Trail.

Popeye’s pups, Chester and Fido. © Randy Runtsch.

So far, the trail features 19 statues spread around the town.

King Blozo the Third. © Randy Runtsch.

If you have watched Popeye cartoons, you know he builds up strength to fight by gulping down a can of spinach. Then, he punches Bluto. If he can’t find spinach, he eats garlic instead.

Many Popeye the Sailor episodes feature a love triangle in which Popeye and Bluto vie for Olive Oyl’s affection. In the end, Popeye gets his “goil.”

The Spinach Can Collectibles store on State Street in Chester sells Popeye-related souvenirs and features the Popeye Museum. Around the corner, Gazebo Park is decorated with murals of Popeye and his friends.

Castor Oyl and Bernice. © Randy Runtsch.

Popeye even has his own theme song, “Popeye the Sailor Man.” In it, he claims that spinach gives him his strength.

[embed]“Popeye the Sailor Man” theme song.

According to polls, Popeye was Hollywood’s number-one cartoon character in 1938.

Harold Hamgravy, better known as Ham Gravy. © Randy Runtsch.

Popeye has influenced culture. Here are some examples:

• The medical term for a bulge in the forearm is called a “Popeye sign.”
• Nintendo originally intended to feature Popeye cartoon characters in its Donkey Kong video games.
• The Popeye was a dance craze in the late 1950s and early 1960s. It involved shuffling, alternately placing one arm before the other, and moving an invisible smoking pipe to the mouth.

Cole Oyl. © Randy Runtsch.

Popeye has made business connections, too. Consider these:

• Popeye’s Fried Chicken is a fast-food restaurant chain.
• The Wimpy fast-food restaurant chain started in the United States but succeeded in the United Kingdom and South Africa.
• Wimpy has appeared in commercials for Burger King and Carl’s Jr. fast-food chains.

Popeye the Sailor’s second statue in Chester. © Randy Runtsch.

If you are a Popeye fan and are ever in the Chester, Illinois, area, I highly recommend viewing the statues along the Popeye and Friends Character Trail. The quality and quantity of the sculptures and murals will entertain you. And, if you eat your spinach, you might feel like you were a kid again, too.

Sadly, Popeye creator E. C. Segal, who was 43 years old, succumbed to leukemia in 1938. Although he is long gone, the characters and stories he crafted still bring joy and laughter to children of all ages.

Copyright © 2024 Randy Runtsch. All rights reserved.

References:

• Popeye / Character Trail | Chester, Illinois (chesterill.com)
• Popeye | Timeline — History
• Popeye — Wikipedia
• Full character list | Popeye the Sailorpedia | Fandom