I Yam what I Yam!

[blogslut]

Seen the Google logo today?



Happy Birthday to Popeye creator E.C. Segar:

Elzie Crisler Segar might not be a household name, but the Popeye creator has become the latest person to be honoured with his own Google Doodle.

The internet search giant has depicted the rambunctious cartoon seaman in typically feisty pose on what would have been Segar's 115th birthday.

Popeye the Sailor – who famously attributed his strength "to the finish" to his consumption "of spinach" – first entered the public consciousness in January 1929, in Segar's newspaper comic strip Thimble Theatre.

The cartoonist was born in Illinois, US, on 8 December 1894, and showed a talent for drawing at a young age. Segar worked as a film projectionist while studying a correspondence course in cartooning, eventually moving to Chicago to pursue his career.

According to cartoon expert Ed Black, Popeye originally appeared as a supporting character in Thimble Theatre, which had already been running for ten years with a certain Olive Oyl as its heroine...

more at: http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2009/dec/08/ec-segar-popeye-google-doodle

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. My dear blogslut!

I did see it! I keep Google as my homepage, and I was fascinated by Popeye's cartoon...

I think it's great that Google is doing this sort of thing. I had no knowledge of Popeye's creator, had never thought about him.

Happy Birthday to Popeye creator E.C. Segar!


:party:

[Tobin S.]

2. Popeye was one of my favorites as a boy

As well as the original Loony Toons.

[blogslut]

3. Hey, you guys

If you're Popeye fan then archive.org is your treasure box. They've got a major collection of old Popeye cartoons, dating back as far as the 1930's. They're free to watch and even to download and keep:

http://www.archive.org/search.php?query=popeye%20AND%20collection%3Aanimationandcartoons

[rebel with a cause]

4. Segar was born and raised in Chester Illinois.

He supposedly based his character 'Popeye' on a character he knew growing up in the Mississippi river town. I already knew some of this stuff because I live in Southern Illinois but I will take a quote from Wikipedia because it is easier. ;)

"In 1977, Segar's hometown of Chester, Illinois honored its native son with a park named in his honor. The park is home to a six-foot-tall bronze statue of Popeye, and since 1980 has been the site of the annual Popeye Picnic, a weekend-long event that celebrates the character with a parade, film festival and other activities.<5> In 2006, Chester launched the ambitious "Popeye & Friends Character Trail," which links a series of statues of Segar's characters located throughout town.<6> 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 downtown 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. An additional 11 statues will be unveiled at the rate of one per year until 2019, when a bust of Segar at his birthplace will mark the cartoonist's 125th birthday. To keep the slate on schedule, one year will feature two dedications, with the Sea Hag as the "wild card."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E._C._Segar

Just remember we also have Metropolis Illinois, home of the Superman statue and festival. (That is where Obama posted with Superman behind him.)

I am so proud...I never go to either of these events and have only went to Metropolis perhaps once and don't ever remember going to Chester though that does not mean I have never done so. Chester is also home to Menard Correction Center which was formally known as Menard Illinois State Penitentiary and before that as Southern Illinois Penitentiary. You will hear it mentioned in any gangster (of the thirties) movies set in Chicago.