POPEYE CHARACTER TRAIL TOUR (Revised 2/5/20)
Welcome to Chester, Illinois! We are the home of Popeye the Sailor Man!
Popeye was created by Elzie Crisler Segar. Segar was born in Chester on December 8, 1894.
From an early age, Segar wanted to make money, and he knew that cartoonists did just that. He began working at the age of 12 at the Chester Opera House in 1906. Silent motion pictures were shown at the Opera House. He changed the weekly movie posters around town and drew cartoons with colored chalk on the sidewalk to advertise the week’s movie. His job grew until he became the projectionist. As films he had seen multiple times would run, he would grow bored and spend time creating cartoons. His supervisor, William Schuchert, recognized his talent and paid for a correspondence course in cartooning for Elzie. This course led to his moving to Chicago for a career as a cartoonist.
Segar’s drawing and humor caught the eye of Arthur Brisbane, a great newspaper man with the Hearst organization. He offered Segar a job in New York with King Features Syndicate. In New York he was told to create a comic strip based upon the title “Thimble Theatre.” (1919). It featured the Oyl family – Cole; Nana; Olive; Castor; and Olive’s beau, Ham Gravy.
Popeye’s first cartoon exposure was in the “Thimble Theatre” strip on January 17, 1929, when two of the regular characters—Castor Oyl and Ham Gravy—were searching for a sailor to pilot their boat. They see Popeye who is dressed like a sailor on the dock and ask, “Are you a sailor?” Popeye answers, “Ja think I am a cowboy?” Audiences loved Popeye and soon Segar promoted him to the star of the strip as Olive’s beau and all-around good guy. That led to the strip’s name change to “Popeye.” The legend was born!
Elzie Segar died October 13, 1938 at age 43 in Santa Monica, California as a result of Leukemia and liver disease.
His Popeye cartoon is still a world favorite.
