Questions And Answers
(in no particular order)
| 1.What
are the names of Popeye's nephews? |
Pip-Eye, Pup-Eye, Poop-Eye,
and Peep-Eye.
(And you thought you were made
fun of in school!) |
| 2.
What
was the name of Popeye's dog/cat? |
A dog-like
animal hung out with Popeye in the comic strip, comic books, and in the
Fleischer and KFS toons. He was a magical, fourth dimensional creature
named Eugene The Jeep. I know a few people thought he looked
like a cat. He always looked like a dog to me.
In the comic strips and comic
books, Popeye also had a dog during the 1960s named Birdseed. More
recently, he has one named Chester, after the birthplace of Popeye's creator,
E.C. Segar.
The Hanna-Barbera Popeye show
featured "Dinky Dog" cartoons, but Dinky didn't belong to Popeye, and neither
The Sailorman, nor any of his supporting cast members, ever appeared in
these segments. |
| 3.
Whose
baby is Swee-Pea? |
In the comic strips and comic
books, Swee'Pea is Popeye's adopted son. It was always unclear
to me in the Fleischer cartoons who he belonged to. The Famous Studio's
cartoons said that he was Olive Oyl's cousin. In the KFS toons, he
always seemed to be Popeye's adopted son, though I'm not sure if that was
ever stated or not. Swee'Pea didn't appear in the Hanna-Barbera cartoons. |
| 4.
Why
did the KFS cartoons change Bluto's name to Brutus? |
When the Fleischer brothers
wanted to use Popeye in animated cartoons during the 1930s, they asked
Popeye's creator, E.C. Segar, to create a villain that could become Popeye's
continuing, long-standing nemesis. Segar created a pirate, Bluto
The Terrible, and used him in his comic strip before the animated films
ever came out. After the introductory adventure, Segar never used
the character again. The Fleischer brothers and later Famous Studios
(a division of Paramount Pictures) produced cartoons featuring Bluto up
through the 1950s. In the early 60s, King Features Syndicate, the
distributor of Popeye's comic strip, commissioned several different animation
studios to produce made-for-TV Popeye toons. They mistakenly believed
that Paramount Pictures had the copyright to the name Bluto, forgetting
that the character first appeared in their (KFS's) comic strips.
So the same character was used in the TV toons, only his name was changed
to Brutus. Around this same time, the character began appearing in
comic books and the comic strip by one of Segar's successors under the
name of Brutus. About two decades later, the character reappeared
in the comic strip as Bluto and then Hanna-Barbera made-for-TV toons featured
Bluto. (For more on Bluto, see the Bluto
page!) |
| 5.
Who is that monster-like lady who appears in some of the cartoons? |
Alice The Goon. Her
race appeared in a Fleischer cartoon, "Goonland", and she was in several
KFS toons. She became a supporting character in Hanna-Barbera's "Private
Olive Oyl" cartoons. Alice never appeared in a Famous Studios' film.
E.C. Segar created her for the Thimble Theater comic strip, first as an
enemy of Popeye, then later, as a friend and Swee'Pea's babysitter. |
| 6.
What are the lyrics to the Popeye theme song and what is the name of the
sailor's song that gets mixed in with the theme song during the credits
and reappears throughout the cartoons? |
The lyrics are:
I'm Popeye the Sailor Man
I'm Popeye the Sailor Man
I'm strong to the "Finich"
'Cause I eats me spinach
I'm Popeye the Sailor Man.
I'm one tough Gazookus
Which hates all Palookas
Wot ain't on the up and square
I biffs 'em and buffs 'em
An' always out-roughs 'em
an' none of 'em gits no-where.
If anyone dasses to risk
My "Fisk" it's "Boff" an'
It's "Wham" un 'erstan'?
So, keep "Good Behavor"
That's your one life saver
With Popeye the Sailor Man.
>>> Written by Sammy Lerner, quoted
in Popeye: The First
Fifty Years by Bud Sagendorf.
The sailor's song that is mixed
in with the theme song during the credits and reappears throughout the
cartoons is entitled, "The Sailor's Hornpipe." |
| 7.
What's the name of Popeye's boat? |
According to Bud Sagendorf,
one of the creators of the Popeye comic strips and comic books over the
years, it's The Olive. |
| 8.
Do you have any pictures of Swee'Pea, Alice, Sea Hag, The Jeep, etc.? |
What you see is what you get!
The only pictures I have available to the public are the ones that are
up throughout my website. Right clicking on any of them should enable
you to save them off in files. You can find more pictures by visiting
other people's websites that I've linked to from my Popeye
Links section. I regret that I don't have the time to personally
fulfill requests for pictures. |
| 9.
Can you send me some pictures of my favorite Popeye cast member? |
Sorry, but no. I'd like
to, but I simply don't have the time. You can right click on the
pictures that are up throughout my site and save them in your own files. |
| 10.
Do you sell any Popeye merchandise or have any freebies to give out? |
My site isn't a commercial
site. It's a fan site. Therefore I don't have anything to sell
or have any samples to give away. Check out Spinach Can Collectibles,
though (see Popeye Links). |
| 11.
Where can I get tapes or DVDs of the Popeye cartoons? |
Unfortunately, most of the
vast Popeye library has not been released. A few cartoons from the
Fleischers and Famous Studios that are in the public domain are available
along with some from the KFS and Hanna-Barbera years. Check out Spinach
Can Collectibles (see
Popeye
Links), Amazon.com, and ebay.
Another way to get some of the toons is to record them off Boomerang and
Cartoon Network. I have no tapes to sell, as I'm not a commercial
site. And, unfortunately, I haven't the time or the equipment to
make copies for everyone either. Sorry! I understand your frustration!
Let's just hope for the day when the toons will be available for home entertainment.
You can watch some of the public domain cartoons online at Liketelevision. |
| 12.
Do you have any ideas for costumes of Popeye, Olive, etc.? |
Check the pictures up all
throughout my site for pictures of the Famous Studios' Popeye, Olive Oyl,
and Bluto. A classic FS Olive Oyl pose and outfit is on my Drab
To Fab page. For other versions of the characters, check out
the other web pages I'm linked to from the Popeye
Links section.
Here are some catchphrases you can use to
get into character:
Popeye:
"Well, blow me down!"
"That's all I can stands cause I can't
stands no more!"
"I'm strong to the finich, cause I
eats me spinach!"
Olive:
"Ohhhhhhhhhh, Popeye!"
"I've had enough and enough is too
much."
"Keep your hands to yourself, you,
you, you, that's what you are!"
"Help! Popeye!" |
| 13.
Why isn't my favorite Popeye cartoon, "_____," mentioned on your site? |
Many different studios have
made Popeye cartoons over the years. My site concentrates on my favorites,
which were made by Paramount/Famous Studios, and has some material about
the KFS cartoons (but I'm not an expert on them and haven't even looked
at many of them in years). Maybe your favorite was made by another
studio or is a KFS cartoon I'm not that familiar with. |
| 14.
Who are Olive Oyl's relatives? |
In the comic strips and comic
books, her parents are Cole and Nana Oyl, her brother is Castor Oyl, her
cousin is Sutra Oyl, her Uncles are Lubry Kent Oyl and Otto Oyl, and in
the KFS animated cartoons her niece is Deezil Oyl. |
| 15.
Who were the voice actors in the Famous Studios' Popeye cartoons and are
they still alive today? |
Jack Mercer did the voices
of Popeye, Wimpy, Poopdeck Pappy, and some minor characters. Mae
Questel voiced Olive Oyl, Swee'Pea, and some children and background female
characters. Jackson Beck was Bluto, Pierre, the sheik, the lifeguard,
etc. He was also the narrator in cartoons which used one, and voiced
some minor characters as well. Jackson Beck, the last living "voice,"
died in 2004. So, none are alive today. |
| 16.
What branch of service were Popeye & his friends members of? |
The comic strip Popeye created
by Segar was never in the Armed Forces. The animated cartoons put Popeye
and Bluto both in the navy because of WWII. Although in one Fleischer
cartoon,
Many Tanks, and one Famous Studios' toon, Spinach-Packin'
Popeye, Bluto was in the army!! As was Popeye in Fleischer's
I'm
In The Army Now!! Fleischer's Popeye Meets Ali Baba's Forty
Thieves
found Popeye serving in the Coast Guard, as did a KFS cartoon
(I think - maybe it was a Hanna-Barbara one) where he fought the Sea Hag.
(Thanks, Terah and CPO Matthew Boyle, for that Coast Guard info!) After
the war, it was never clearly stated what branch of the service the boys
were in, though they kept their white sailor uniforms. In a few cartoons,
they were pictured aboard the living quarters on a ship, or disembarking
after a tour at sea. In the majority of the cartoons, the whole Armed
Services theme was never brought up.
The Ocean comic books, which
most fans view as apocryphal because they changed so much of Popeye's back
story, put Popeye, Bluto, AND Wimpy in the Navy.
People in every branch of the
military have claimed Popeye and Bluto as their own throughout the years,
due in part, perhaps to promotional or fan material produced by some of
the cartoonists and the fact that servicemen have put their pictures on
aircraft, ships, etc.
For more comments from military
people themselves (or their fans), see my Popeye
And The Armed Forces page. |
| 17.
What did Popeye eat to make him strong BEFORE spinach? |
In the comic strip Thimble
Theater where Popeye debuted, Segar originally didn't give any explanation
for why Popeye was so tough. Later, as he kept getting queries about
the Sailorman's strength, he had Popeye explain it by saying that he had
eaten spinach every day from the time he was a lad. (At the time,
articles were appearing touting the benefits of eating spinach.)
So, in the "canonical" Popeye sources, he never ate anything else to get
strong.
However, in the Famous Studios'
cartoon,
Greek Mirthology, Popeye tells his nephews the story of
his great, great, great, great grandfather Hercules. In a flashback,
Hercules was seen sniffing garlic and gaining super strength. By
the end of the cartoon, though, he had discovered spinach and switched
over to it. Whether the story was "real" or whether Popeye was just
trying to get his nephews to eat the green veggie is open to debate.
|
| 18.
What ethnicity were Popeye and the other characters supposed to have? |
This is all speculation, but
I've always thought that the animated cartoon Popeye was a New Englander.
In the cartoon, She-Sick Sailors, there's a sign at the train
station near Olive's house that says Bridgeport, Connecticut.
In the Famous Studios' cartoons, Olive sometimes has a slight New York
Jewish accent. Maybe Olive's ancestors were Russian Jews who came
to America.
An emailer pointed out to me
that in the live-action movie, the Oyls sounded sort of Slavic. I
don't know that Popeye's creator, E.C. Segar, ever really said what ethnic
group the Oyls or Popeye himself belonged to.
And in the Famous Studios'
cartoons, Bluto is said to be from Brooklyn, and many Fleischer cartoons
certainly take place in Depression-era NYC, with all the characters living
there.
So Bluto and Olive seem to
be New Yorkers, now (during the Famous Studios' time frame) living in Connecticut,
while Popeye seems to be a New Englander, who once lived in the Big Apple.
And in some Famous Studios' cartoons, they all seem to be back in NYC (maybe
for a visit or to conduct business). See The Royal Four-Flusher
and Symphony In Spinach for example. |
| 19.
How did you retain so much info on the cartoons? |
When I was growing up, in
the days before Cable and Satellite TV were common, we lived between Rochester
and Syracuse, NY and received TV broadcasts from both cities. If
the conditions were right, we could also get one from Canada and, once
in a great while, a station from Buffalo. This was during the time
period when Popeye was the most popular cartoon character on TV and almost
every city had at least one station that ran Fleischer, Famous Studios,
and/or KFS toons. So when I was young, I often could, and did, see
Popeye cartoons every day of the week, sometimes several times during a
day. Even up through my college years, Popeye was shown in the region
and I would occasionally catch one of his shows. While I was in seminary,
and then pastoring my first church, in the New England area, there were
stations out of Boston that broadcast the cartoons. I would sometimes
tune in when as I was trying to wake up in the morning or when I was relaxing
after work before supper. As a result, over my lifetime, I must have
seen a cartoon like Snow Place Like Home hundreds of times.
And when Cable TV, Cartoon Network, Superstations, and VCRs came along,
I began recording and collecting the cartoons.
Friends I've met through the
Internet have also helped.
The
Official Popeye Fanclub has proved to be a great source of information
for me as well as a way to meet many nice, knowledgeable people.
Fred Grandinetti's books on
Popeye (see the review on his latest on my Popeye
Book Review page!) have also been a help to me, as well as books on
animation history in general by various authors. |
| 20.
What are Olive Oyl's vital statistics? |
Please see my Olive
Oyl FAQ page. |
| 21.
What day of the week did Wimpy always claim he would pay for his hamburgers
on? |
Tuesday.
"I will gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger
today." |
| 22.
How old are Popeye and Olive Oyl supposed to be? |
Popeye is in his early 40's.
He's around 42. In the Thimble Theater comic strip, Segar let readers
know that Popeye was 42 years old. In the 1953 cartoon, Ace Of
Space, when Popeye is made younger by that Martian "de-aging" machine,
you'll notice that the machine sets his present age at around "40."
Segar also established that Olive Oyl was in her twenties. Maybe
this is partly why the Famous Studios creators adopted the "sweet young
thing/Betty Boopish" personality for Ms. Oyl as time went on. One
KFS cartoon took advantage of the characters' age differences when, in
Kiddie
Capers, Olive tells Popeye that he's too old for her. Popeye
sure has more Vim, Vigor, And Vitaliky in his 40s than I do in mine!
Must be the spinach. However, to further muddy the waters, Bud Sagendorf,
who did the comic strip and Popeye comic books for years, said that Popeye
is perpetually 34! Thanks to Shade
Ford and Mike Brooks for help with this question. |
| 23.
Who were Olive Oyl's boyfriends prior to Popeye? |
In the original comic strip,
Olive's former boyfriend was Ham Gravy. Then she was wooed by Julius
J. Herringbone and accidently kissed Popeye thinking he was her lover.
In one KFS made-for-TV cartoon, we find out that Brutus was Olive's college
beau!!! In the Famous Studios cartoons Silly Hillbilly and
Wigwam Whoopee Olive's pre-Popeye boyfriends were Bluto and the Indian
Chief, respectively. |
| 24.
Who is the large, muscular, mannish woman in the Popeye cartoons? |
The character's name you are
looking for is Possum Pearl. Famous Studios even put her in her own
non-Popeye related cartoon once. And some fans believe that Olive's
police sergeant in Cops Is Tops was her, too. |
| 25.
Did Popeye originate in the country of Malta? |
The Popeye movie was filmed
in Malta, but the character was created in the United States, and, in the
fictional universe he inhabits, he was born in a typhoon off the coast
of Santa Monica, California. |
| 26.
What is Popeye's last name? |
He was never given one in
Segar's comics, nor in the animated cartoons. His Pappy said he couldn't
remember it. |
| 27.
Does Popeye have only ONE eye? |
The answer isn't simple, I'm
afraid. The traditional Popeye that appeared in the comic strips
and in the Fleischer cartoons only had one eye. Popeye's creator
said that Popeye lost his eye during the most terrible fight of his life.
But later, in the cartoons made by Famous Studios and KFS, Popeye would
occasionally be drawn with two eyes wide open when he was expressing surprise
or frustration, giving viewers the impression that he usually is just keeping
the one closed or squinting all the time. |
| 28.
What is the name of Popeye's fictional home town? |
Some sources call it Sweetwater,
some call it Sweethaven. |
| 29.
What is Wimpy's full name? |
J. Wellington Wimpy |
| 30.
How long did Popeye's spinach "fix" last? |
The Popeye cartoons were never
consistent in depicting exactly when Popeye needed spinach and how long
the effects would last. In many, many cartoons, he is able to do
superhuman stunts, withstand lots of punishment, and escape dangerous situations
BEFORE he eats any spinach! And in other cartoons, like Rodeo
Romeo, Popeye The Ace Of Space, and Toreadorable, he is taking
"booster shots" of spinach throughout the film in order to do anything
extraordinary, so obviously, spinach must wear off!!! Segar's original
comic strips made more sense in this regard. In them, Popeye was
just always super strong and invulnerable because he had eaten spinach
all his life. (At the time, spinach was being touted in the papers
as a healthy food and a good source of iron. Segar picked up on that,
so when he was asked, "Why is Popeye so strong?" he answered, "Because
he eats spinach.") Only rarely, in EXTREME situations, did Segar's
Popeye ever need to eat spinach "on camera." |
| 31.
Didn't Popeye start out as a character in the Thimble Theater comic strip
by E.C. Segar? |
Yes! The strip was originally
about the Oyl family. Popeye was introduced as a throwaway character
necessary for a sailing story line. Then Segar dropped him.
But Popeye was so popular, he was brought back and eventually took over
the strip. |
|