Popeye the Sailorman

1.The live-action Popeye movie was Robin Williams' first starring role in a film.

2. Popeye the sailor made his comic strip debut in January of 1929. Popeye was originally just one of the many characters in a comic series drawn by Elzie Segar called Thimble Theater, which had been around for about 10 years before Popeye showed up. Popeye was a one-eyed, 34-year-old (born in a typhoon in Santa Monica, California), semi-deformed-looking sailor with a severe speech impediment. The Popeye character quickly became so popular, the strip was re-christened Thimble Theater Starring Popeye and then later just called Popeye, the same title it carries to this day.

3.Although Popeye became a very popular comic strip character in his own right, it is as a movie cartoon star that most people know and remember him from. Popeye’s first appearance on film was in a 1933 Betty Boop Paramount cartoon called Popeye the Sailor. The Paramount Popeye cartoons were so popular that in 1937, the city of Crystal City, Texas, erected an official “Popeye” statue, marking the first time in world history a city had erected a statue in honor of a cartoon character.

4.Spinach not only gave Popeye superhuman strength, but also endowed the sailor with abilities like virtuoso dancing or playing piano. The Popeye cartoons were so popular during the Depression, sales of spinach in America increased by 33%, and it briefly slotted in as the third most popular kids food after ice cream and turkey. “Popeye” spinach is still the second largest-selling brand of spinach in America.

5.In the comic, Popeye’s one-eye facial feature is attributed to “The mos’ ‘arful battle”. It is later a bit unclear whether Popeye actually only has one eye or is just squinting (although in at least one cartoon, Bluto calls him a “one-eyed runt”).