E. C. Segar
E. C. Segar | |
---|---|
Born | Elzie Crisler Segar December 8, 1894 Chester, Illinois, U.S. |
Died | October 13, 1938 Santa Monica, California, U.S. | (aged 43)
Area(s) | Cartoonist |
Notable works | Popeye (1929–1938) |
Elzie Crisler Segar (
Charles M. Schulz said of Segar's work: "I think Popeye was a perfect comic strip, consistent in drawing and humor".[4] Carl Barks described Segar as "the unbridled genius as far as I was concerned".[5]
Early life
Segar was born on December 8, 1894, and raised in
Asked how to say his name, he told The Literary Digest it was "SEE-gar".[1] He commonly signed his work simply Segar or E. Segar above a drawing of a cigar.
Early work
Segar moved to
Thimble Theatre, Sappo and Popeye
Evening American
Segar also created The Five-Fifteen for King Features in 1920; it was retitled Sappo in 1926, although numerous newspapers had already retitled the strip 'Sappo the Commuter' by 1924. The Five-Fifteen started its run as a Monday-through-Saturday strip, concluding its initial daily run in February 1925. In 1926, the strip, now officially retitled, was revived as a Sunday-only topper to the Thimble Theatre Sunday pages. Initially, this strip revolved about the exploits of suburban couple John and Myrtle Sappo. In May 1932, however, Segar introduced the eccentric scientist and inventor (and self-proclaimed "genius") O.G. Wotasnozzle into the strip as a regular. Wotasnozzle's bizarre machines soon became the focus of the strip, with John Sappo frequently cast as his test subject and straight man.[2][17]
On January 17, 1929, when Castor Oyl needed a mariner to navigate his ship to Dice Island, Castor picked up a weatherbeaten sailor named Popeye in the docks. Popeye's first line in the strip, upon being asked if he was a sailor, was "'Ja think I'm a cowboy?"[18] At first Segar intended Popeye to be a once-off character, but after large numbers of newspaper readers wrote in requesting the character's return, Segar reintroduced Popeye as a full-time regular in August 1929, eventually enabling the sailor to become the focal point of the strip.[3] Segar initially depicted Popeye as a quarrelling antihero.[2] Segar's storylines for the Popeye-focused Thimble Theatre drew on several fictional genres, including Westerns, pirate swashbucklers, Sports stories, and fantasy stories.[2][3] Some of the other notable characters Segar created include J. Wellington Wimpy and Eugene the Jeep.[2]
In 1929, Segar and his friend, screenwriter Norton S. Parker, began work on The Sea Hag, a prose novel for adults that would have featured both Popeye and the villainess the Sea Hag. However, King Features refused to grant Segar and Parker permission to publish the novel. The Sea Hag has never been put into print.[16]
In 1934, King Features (noting the increasing popularity of the Popeye character with children) ordered Segar to tone down Popeye's swearing and brawling.[16] Although irritated by the order, Segar complied, and made Popeye more of a straightforward hero, more ubiquitously emphasizing his already-established affinity for aiding children and animals rather than his more violent and irascible tendencies, which persisted in a somewhat reduced form.[2][16] Segar continued to produce Thimble Theatre, published in five hundred newspapers globally by 1938, until his death. Beginning in 1933, Popeye was adapted into a series of cartoons by the Fleischer Studios, which exponentially increased the character's already-ascendant popularity further.[2] Popeye was also licensed by King Features for hundreds of toys, games and other products.[2] The commercial success of these products ensured King Features paid Segar highly for his work; by 1938, the syndicate was giving Segar a salary of $100,000 a year.[2]
Later life and death
Segar later moved to
Legacy and reprints
Segar was among the first cartoonists to combine humorous situations with long-running adventures.[2]
Comics creators who cited E.C. Segar's work as an influence included Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster, Boody Rogers, Charles M. Schulz, Carl Barks, Robert Crumb, and Stephen Hillenburg.[20][21][22]
A revival of interest in Segar's creations began with Woody Gelman's Nostalgia Press. Robert Altman's live-action film Popeye (1980) is adapted from E. C. Segar's Thimble Theatre comic strip. The screenplay by Jules Feiffer was based directly on Gelman's Thimble Theatre Starring Popeye the Sailor, a hardcover reprint collection of 1936–37 Segar strips published in 1971 by Nostalgia Press.[23] In 2006, Fantagraphics published the first of a six-volume book set reprinting all Thimble Theatre daily and Sunday strips from 1928 to 1938, beginning with the adventure that introduced Popeye.
In 1971, the
In 2012, cartoonists Roger Langridge and Bruce Ozella teamed to revive the spirit of Segar in a 12-issue limited series, Popeye, published by IDW.
In 2018, Sunday Press Books published Thimble Theatre & The Pre-Popeye Comics of E.C. Segar, collecting Segar's early comic strip work,[25] primarily the Thimble Theatre Sunday pages published between 1925 and 1930.
Timeline
Title | Start date | End date |
---|---|---|
Charlie Chaplin's Comic Capers | March 1916 | April 1917 |
The Mistakes of Mr. Muddle | March 1917 ? | April 1918 |
And They Get By With It | March 1917 ? | April 1918 |
Barry the Boob | April 1917 | April 1918 |
Looping the Loop | June 1918 | December 1919 |
Thimble Theatre (Popeye) | December 1919 | October 1938 |
The Five-Fifteen (Sappo) | December 1920 | October 1938 |
Popeye & Friends Character Trail
In 1977, Segar's hometown of Chester, Illinois, named a park in his honor. The park contains a six-foot-tall bronze statue of Popeye. The annual Popeye Picnic, a weekend-long event that celebrates the character with a parade, film festival and other activities, is held the first weekend after Labor Day.[26] In 2006, Chester launched the "Popeye & Friends Character Trail", which links a series of statues of Segar's characters located throughout town.[27] Each stands on a base inscribed with the names of donors who contributed to its cost and is unveiled and dedicated during the Popeye Picnic. The 2006 debut sculpture of hamburger-loving Wimpy stands in Gazebo Park. A statue of Olive Oyl, Swee'Pea and the Jeep, located near the Randolph County Courthouse, followed in 2007. In 2008, a Bluto statue was dedicated at the corner of Swanwick and W. Holmes Streets, in front of Buena Vista Bank. The 2009 statue of Castor Oyl and Bernice the Whiffle Hen stands in front of Chester Memorial Hospital. One additional statue has been unveiled each year.
Year | Character(s) | Location |
---|---|---|
2010 | SeaHag/Bernard | McDonald's/Walmart |
2011 | Cole Oyl | Chester Public Library |
2012 | Alice the Goon | Chester Center |
2013 | Poopdeck Pappy | Cohen Complex |
2014 | Prof. Watasnozzle | Chester High School |
2015 | RoughHouse | Reids' Harvest House |
2016 | Nephews-Peepeye/Poopeye/Pipeye/Pupeye | Chester Grade School |
2017 | King Blozo | Chester City Hall |
2018 | Nana Oyl | Manor at Craig's Farm |
2019 | Popeye's Pups | Chester Firehouse |
2019 | Sherlock & Segar | Baskerville Hall on Swanwick Street |
2020 | Toar | St Nicholas Landmark |
2021 | Harold Hamgravy | Randolph County Courthouse |
Spinach Can Collectibles/Popeye Museum is located in the center of the city.(Opera House)[28]
On December 8, 2009, Google celebrated Segar's 115th birthday with a Google Doodle of Popeye. The doodle used Popeye's body as the 'g', had 'oogl', drawn to resemble Segar's drawing style, and a spinach can as the 'e', and featured Popeye punching the 'oogl' to cause the spinach to fly at him through the air.
References
- ^ a b Funk, Charles Earle. What's the Name, Please?, Funk & Wagnalls, 1936.
- ^ ISBN 9780810995956
- ^ ISBN 9781684051878(pp. 158-179)
- ^ Mendelson, Lee and Schulz, Charles M., Charlie Brown and Charlie Schulz: in celebration of the 20th anniversary of "Peanuts". New York: New American Library, 1971. (p. 35)
- ISBN 9781578065011(p. 133).
- ^ a b Grandinetti 2004, p. 2.
- ^ ISBN 9780821217566(p.186-187)
- ISBN 9780786481507.
- ^ "The Secret Jewish History of Popeye the Sailor Man". May 31, 2019.
- ^ a b Gabbatt, Adam (December 8, 2009). "E.C. Segar, Popeye's creator, celebrated with a Google doodle". London: Guardian. Retrieved May 12, 2011.
- ISBN 9780061733000(p.320).
- ^ "Cartoonist Segar, Popeye Creator (Obituary)". The New York Times. Associated Press. October 14, 1938. p. 23. Retrieved October 6, 2015 – via ProQuest Historical Newspapers.
- ^ "The Early Works of E.C. Segar". Archived from the original on November 10, 2013. Retrieved June 24, 2012.
- ^ "The Thimble Theatre Comic Strip starring Popeye". Archived from the original on November 8, 2012. Retrieved June 24, 2012.
- ISBN 9781872532554(p.54)
- ^ a b c d e "E.C. Segar's Knockouts of 1925 (and Low Blows Before and After) : The Unknown Thimble Theatre Period" in NEMO :The Classic Comics Library no. 3, October 1983 (pgs. 6-25).
- ISBN 9781560973683(pp.52-3)
- ISBN 9780914466031(p.117)
- ^ "Ed Black's Cartoon Flashback". Ncs-glc.com. Archived from the original on May 16, 2011. Retrieved May 12, 2011.
- ISBN 9781440854835(p.213)
- ISBN 9780520960022(p.146).
- ISBN 9781606997888(p.25)
- ISBN 978-0-8021-1939-1
- ^ "NCS Awards". Reuben.org. September 22, 1965. Retrieved May 12, 2011.
- ^ Young, Frank M. "Review: Thimble Theatre & The Pre-Popeye Comics of E.C. Segar" The Comics Journal, November 30, 2018. Retrieved March 2, 2022.
- ^ "City of Chester, Illinois .::. Home of Popeye – Segar Park". Chesterill.com. Retrieved May 12, 2011.
- ^ "City of Chester, Illinois: Popeye Character Trail". Chesterill.com. Retrieved August 21, 2013.
- ^ "City of Chester, Illinois .::. Home of Popeye – Character Trail Page". Chesterill.com. Retrieved May 12, 2011.
Works cited
- Grandinetti, Fred (2004). Popeye: An Illustrated Cultural History. McFarland. ISBN 978-0-7864-1605-9. Retrieved June 24, 2012.
Further reading
- Fantagraphics Books: 6–25.
External links
- Media related to E. C. Segar at Wikimedia Commons
- Official site for Popeye & Friends Character Trail
- "E.C. Segar" by Ed Black
- "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" by Zak Sally Minneapolis City Pages
- Lambiek Comiclopedia article about E.C. Segar
- E.C. Segar Gallery
- "Popeye's Pop EC Segar"
- E.C. Segar's 115th Birthday Doodle in Google Logo Museum
- E. C. Segar at Find a Grave