June 18, 2005
Finding Popeye's Mom. At Last, The Reunion!
Most of us, at least those with any sense of humor or who had a childhood beginning before 1965 or so remember the phrase "That's all's I can stands 'cause I can't stands no more!" Ahh, the immortal words of Popeye. Most of us don't know how Popeye came to be. Originally, he was an added character in ...
"The Thimble Theatre was the original E. C. Segar's comic strip began in 1919. The original characters were Olive Oyl, Castor Oyl, Ham Gravy, (Olive's Original boyfriend), Hotfoot, King Bozo, Whiffle Hen and more. Popeye came on the scene in this 10 year old newspaper comic strip to sail Olive's ship. After that initial episode, shown on the right, Popeye was dropped out of the strip. Segar never intended for Popeye to remain in the strip. But Popeye's fans demand an immediate return. Within two years of his introduction, Popeye became a national hit, found in at least one paper of every American city of any size. Wimpy was added to the cast in 1932, and Swee'pea was found in 1936.Most Popeye fans also know that Popeye's pappy was Poopdeck Pappy. But, ne'er a word about his mom. Here is a drawing of the original Popeye as it appeared in 1929:
by the late 60's early 70's, Popeye was a little more sophisticated as you will note here: 
But again, though we know how he looks, and how his "pappy" looks, no word was heard about his mom. We searched high and low, we looked in the strips of Dick Tracey, Brenda Starr, Lil Lulu, Nancy & Pogo and many other strips including Dilbert. All to no avail. Wanted posters were spread over the internet and on milk cartons. His mom had to be found. Then, one day, while visiting a friend in a nursing home, I walked by a little old lady and voila. She has been found.
Comments
No offense but she actually looks like popeyes mom I laughes for ten minutes
Posted by Amber at October 24, 2005 01:35 PM
