Popeye the Sailor: 24 Classic Cartoons

On January 17, 1929, a new hero was born—a sailor to be exact. He wasn't too bright, too handsome, or too strong. His name? Popeye. The lovable cowboy of the high seas made his debut on Elzie Seagar's ten-year-old comic strip, "The Thimble Theater," which revolved around Olive Oyl's family. Popeye quickly eclipsed the cartoon's other characters and became the star of the strip. The tattooed sailor with the corncob pipe became the world's most beloved underdog, who, with a swig from a can of spinach, could take on anyone or anything. Popeye had a long fuse and a sharp sense of fairness, and spinach was only a last resort when he reached his breaking point—often indicated by the proclamation, "Thas' all I can stands, and I can't stands no more!" Along with Popeye came a number of other beloved characters such as his eternal "damsel in distress," Olive Oyl; Popeye's adopted "infink," Swee' Pea; J. Wellington Wimpy, the hamburger-obsessed moocher; and the grisly titan, Brutus, to name a few. After his introduction into the cartoon comic strip, Popeye made his first animated appearance in Betty Boop Meets Popeye the Sailor (1933). He then went on to star in movie shorts that were shown in syndication on television in 1956. The baby-boomers of the fifties immediately fell in love with the squinty-eyed sailor, and by 1960, he had his own television show called Popeye the Sailor that featured entirely new Popeye cartoons. The All New Popeye Hour was created for TV in 1978, a Popeye movie was made in 1980, and in 1981, a Saturday morning show featuring Popeye, Olive Oyl, Bluto, and Wimpy called The Popeye and Olive Show was televised. For over seventy-five years, and with almost six hundred cartoons under his belt, Popeye has entertained audiences everywhere. Nearly every minute of every day, Popeye cartoons are airing somewhere in the world, and he remains one of the most widely recognized and best loved cartoon characters in history. After all, who doesn't recognize the catchy lyrics from Popeye's theme song: "I'm strong to the finich, 'cause I eats me spinach, I'm Popeye the sailorman." Toot-toot! FEATURING 24 CLASSIC CARTOONS

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