Popeye
© Thomas Wilson Shawcross 27 May 2005
"I bet the one legend that keeps recurring throughout history, in every culture, is the story of Popeye.” – Deep Thoughts (by Jack Handey)
As I was walking Peanut (the Bichon) in Delray Beach this afternoon, I started thinking once again about the Creative Process, and I found my thoughts turning, as they often do, to Popeye.
To me, Popeye is the archetypical example of how the Creative Process works. In real life, it seems that really good ideas need time to percolate – an incubation period, as it were. Popeye shows us this. Elzie Segar didn’t come up with Popeye until after he had spent ten years drawing comics.
Oh, I know what you are thinking: “But wait, Tom! Didn’t Nicola Tesla spontaneously invent the alternating current induction motor (and make a stick-on-sand sketch of it) when the setting sun reminded him of Goethe’s famous lines in Faust?":
The glow retreats, done is the day of toil;
It yonder hastens, new fields of life exploring;
Ah, that no wing can lift me from the soil
Upon its track to follow, follow soaring!
Well, yes, that did happen, but I am not talking about obvious inspirations, such as this connection between Faust and electric motors. Anyone could have done that! Likewise, given the proper inspirational circumstances, I am sure that all of us could have come up with any of his 700 patents. All right, all right, I give the man credit for inventing radio, fluorescent lights, remote control devices, hydro-electric power plants, the wireless transmission of electric current, the discovery of cosmic waves, the Tesla Coil, and, oh yes, the AC electric motor. But these inspired creations do not neatly fit into my “percolate” idea for how Great Ideas are born, so I shall ignore them.
So, if Great Ideas, such as Popeye, need to “percolate,” then what does this suggest to you? To me, it suggests that many great ideas were just one twist of the kaleidoscope dial from never falling into place! Scary, eh?
To be sure, that next twist of the kaleidoscope doesn’t always yield gold. Sometimes, instead of Popeye, we get Aquaman. Honestly, what kind of super hero is Aquaman? Ok, he can communicate directly with sea life and swim 100 miles per hour underwater, but how often is there a call for this (besides keeping our oceans safe from Nazis in WW II)?
Elzie Crisler Segar had been drawing the Thimble Theater comic strip for ten years before he got the storyline idea to have Castor Oyl and Ham Gravy travel to Dice Island. But, I am getting ahead of the story. At the time (1929), Thimble Theater was a modestly successful comic strip that ran in the Hearst newspaper syndicate. The “star” of the strip was Olive Oyl.
You see, Castor Oyl (Olive’s brother) and Ham Gravy (Olive’s boyfriend until Popeye came along) had come into the possession of Bernice the Whiffle Hen. Having determined that Bernice was a “lucky hen,” they decided to take her to Mr. Fadewell’s gambling casino on Dice Island.
For six thousand dollars, they bought a boat. As Castor noted to Ham Gravy, it was a fine boat that had only a few holes in its hull, and those were all below the waterline, so they wouldn’t show. All they needed was an experienced sailor “to drive the boat.” They hired Popeye, who made his first appearance in Thimble Theater on January 17, 1929.
Popeye had been invented for just that one story, but he proved to be so popular with the readers of the comic strip that he was brought back, Olive gave the boot to Ham Gravy, and the eventually the strip was renamed for Popeye. What makes this story even more goose-bumpy is that fact that Elzie Segar was sick with a bad cold on the day that he went into his office and drew Popeye for the first time. Mrs. Segar had begged him not to work that day, but he went in anyway. In later years, Elzie often wondered if he ever would have created Popeye if he hadn’t gone to work that day. Given his penchant for day-to-day inspirations (I mean “percolations”), he might have drawn a different sailor on another day.
The real-life model for Popeye was a colorful character from Chester, Illinois named Rocky Feigle. Elzie Crisler Segar had grown up in Chester, and many of his cartoon characters, including Olive Oyl and Wellington Wimpy, were inspired by real-life Chester people. I have been to some of Elzie’s old haunts there, and I feel a special attachment to him, as he is the only famous cartoonist who appears in my Shawcross gedcom file (posted at Rootsweb.com). Many of Elzie’s Crisler ancestors are in my file.
Popeye was undeniably a great invention. The Spinach Industry has credited Popeye with single-handedly increasing the US consumption of spinach by thirty-three percent in the years between 1931 and 1936.
But now I am feeling a little guilty about belittling the inventions of Nicola Tesla in comparison to Popeye, so I will close with this image that was sent to me by Liz Wadsworth, the horse owner and botanical expert who lives in Australia. This image, a satellite photo of the Earth at night, was first published by NASA as the picture of the day for Aug 22, 2004. They called it “Earth by Night.” The Tesla Memorial Society of New York lists it on their web site as “Tesla’s Electric Lights Over Continents.”
Earth by Night
a.k.a. Tesla’s Electric Lights Over Continents
I suppose the title depends on one’s point of view. I wouldn’t be surprised to discover some Russian publication listing this photo as the “Trans-Siberian Railway by Night.”
"I bet the one legend that keeps recurring throughout history, in every culture, is the story of Popeye.” – Deep Thoughts (by Jack Handey)
As I was walking Peanut (the Bichon) in Delray Beach this afternoon, I started thinking once again about the Creative Process, and I found my thoughts turning, as they often do, to Popeye.
To me, Popeye is the archetypical example of how the Creative Process works. In real life, it seems that really good ideas need time to percolate – an incubation period, as it were. Popeye shows us this. Elzie Segar didn’t come up with Popeye until after he had spent ten years drawing comics.
Oh, I know what you are thinking: “But wait, Tom! Didn’t Nicola Tesla spontaneously invent the alternating current induction motor (and make a stick-on-sand sketch of it) when the setting sun reminded him of Goethe’s famous lines in Faust?":
The glow retreats, done is the day of toil;
It yonder hastens, new fields of life exploring;
Ah, that no wing can lift me from the soil
Upon its track to follow, follow soaring!
Well, yes, that did happen, but I am not talking about obvious inspirations, such as this connection between Faust and electric motors. Anyone could have done that! Likewise, given the proper inspirational circumstances, I am sure that all of us could have come up with any of his 700 patents. All right, all right, I give the man credit for inventing radio, fluorescent lights, remote control devices, hydro-electric power plants, the wireless transmission of electric current, the discovery of cosmic waves, the Tesla Coil, and, oh yes, the AC electric motor. But these inspired creations do not neatly fit into my “percolate” idea for how Great Ideas are born, so I shall ignore them.
So, if Great Ideas, such as Popeye, need to “percolate,” then what does this suggest to you? To me, it suggests that many great ideas were just one twist of the kaleidoscope dial from never falling into place! Scary, eh?
To be sure, that next twist of the kaleidoscope doesn’t always yield gold. Sometimes, instead of Popeye, we get Aquaman. Honestly, what kind of super hero is Aquaman? Ok, he can communicate directly with sea life and swim 100 miles per hour underwater, but how often is there a call for this (besides keeping our oceans safe from Nazis in WW II)?
Elzie Crisler Segar had been drawing the Thimble Theater comic strip for ten years before he got the storyline idea to have Castor Oyl and Ham Gravy travel to Dice Island. But, I am getting ahead of the story. At the time (1929), Thimble Theater was a modestly successful comic strip that ran in the Hearst newspaper syndicate. The “star” of the strip was Olive Oyl.
You see, Castor Oyl (Olive’s brother) and Ham Gravy (Olive’s boyfriend until Popeye came along) had come into the possession of Bernice the Whiffle Hen. Having determined that Bernice was a “lucky hen,” they decided to take her to Mr. Fadewell’s gambling casino on Dice Island.
For six thousand dollars, they bought a boat. As Castor noted to Ham Gravy, it was a fine boat that had only a few holes in its hull, and those were all below the waterline, so they wouldn’t show. All they needed was an experienced sailor “to drive the boat.” They hired Popeye, who made his first appearance in Thimble Theater on January 17, 1929.
Popeye had been invented for just that one story, but he proved to be so popular with the readers of the comic strip that he was brought back, Olive gave the boot to Ham Gravy, and the eventually the strip was renamed for Popeye. What makes this story even more goose-bumpy is that fact that Elzie Segar was sick with a bad cold on the day that he went into his office and drew Popeye for the first time. Mrs. Segar had begged him not to work that day, but he went in anyway. In later years, Elzie often wondered if he ever would have created Popeye if he hadn’t gone to work that day. Given his penchant for day-to-day inspirations (I mean “percolations”), he might have drawn a different sailor on another day.
The real-life model for Popeye was a colorful character from Chester, Illinois named Rocky Feigle. Elzie Crisler Segar had grown up in Chester, and many of his cartoon characters, including Olive Oyl and Wellington Wimpy, were inspired by real-life Chester people. I have been to some of Elzie’s old haunts there, and I feel a special attachment to him, as he is the only famous cartoonist who appears in my Shawcross gedcom file (posted at Rootsweb.com). Many of Elzie’s Crisler ancestors are in my file.
Popeye was undeniably a great invention. The Spinach Industry has credited Popeye with single-handedly increasing the US consumption of spinach by thirty-three percent in the years between 1931 and 1936.
But now I am feeling a little guilty about belittling the inventions of Nicola Tesla in comparison to Popeye, so I will close with this image that was sent to me by Liz Wadsworth, the horse owner and botanical expert who lives in Australia. This image, a satellite photo of the Earth at night, was first published by NASA as the picture of the day for Aug 22, 2004. They called it “Earth by Night.” The Tesla Memorial Society of New York lists it on their web site as “Tesla’s Electric Lights Over Continents.”
Earth by Night
a.k.a. Tesla’s Electric Lights Over Continents
I suppose the title depends on one’s point of view. I wouldn’t be surprised to discover some Russian publication listing this photo as the “Trans-Siberian Railway by Night.”
posted by Tom Shawcross | 8:50 PM
2 Comments:
My grandfather created the idea of Popeye, but nobody gives him credit. He lived by the docks and saw a blond muscular sailor work there. He wrote stories for the towns paper once a week. One day he started writing about Popeye. Eventually someone came along and asked him for the idea. He wasnt paid and he didnt get credit.
Hi, Anonymous. That is interesting, I had not heard that before. Did your grandfather live in Chester, Illinois? I am wondering how Elzie Segar would have known him. Do you have a copy of any of the articles your grandfather wrote for the town paper about Popeye? I would like to read them.
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