22nd March: Popeye

Today is the 100th anniversary of the birth of Bud Sagendorf, the US cartoonist, who drew Popeye. Here are 10 things you might not know about Popeye.

1. Popeye wasn't always the star of his own comic strip. He started off as a minor character in a story featuring a Harold Hamgravy's voyage to Dice Island. Popeye became so popular that he kind of took over, including stealing Hamgravy's girlfriend, Olive Oyl.
2. Olive Oyl has a brother called Castor Oyl.
3. In Spain, Olive is called Rosario because they see the name Olive Oyl as an insult to olive trees.
4. Popeye didn't always get his amazing abilities from eating Spinach. At first, it was from rubbing the feathers of a whiffle hen.
5. When the spinach thing became a feature of the strips though, sales of the vegetable increased significantly. Even as recently as 2010, researchers found that children ate more vegetables after watching Popeye cartoons. The effect was significant enough that spinach-growers in Crystal City, Texas, erected a statue of the character in 1937 - the first time in history that a city had honoured a cartoon character with a statue.
6. Popeye and Olive were based on real people. Popeye was based on a character from creator Elzie Segar's hometown of Chester, Illinois – a one-eyed man named Frank 'Rocky' Fiegal. Fiegal was flattered by this. He died in 1947 and had the words "inspiration for Popeye" inscribed on his tombstone. Olive was based on Segar's neighbour Dora Paskel, who was tall and slim and wore her hair in a bun.
7. In the Popeye cartoons, Popeye was voiced by Jack Mercer from 1935. In 1938, he married Margie Hynes, who provided the voice for Olive Oyl.
8. The live action film in 1980 saw Robin Williams in his first starring film role. The set, in Malta, became a Popeye-themed theme park.
9. The Popeye cartoons introduced several words to the English language. Dufus (or doofus) meaning a stupid person comes from a character in the strip who was Popeye's nephew. Jeep, for the army general purpose vehicle possibly came from Popeye's dog, Eugene the Jeep as much as from the abbreviation GP for "general purpose". References to Popeye cartoons were thought to be big morale busters for the troops. The word wimp derives from J. Wellington Wimpy who is apathetic, overweight and fond of Hamburgers. It's possible the UK hamburger chain "Wimpy's" was named after this character, too. The word goon, meaning a criminal or thug, however, didn't originate with Popeye, but the Goon Family certainly helped boost the word's popularity.
10. In 2004 the Empire State Building was floodlit in Green light (to symbolise spinach) for Popeye's 75th anniversary. This is the only time the Empire State Building has ever celebrated the anniversary/birthday of a comic strip character.