Popeye Day Date in the current year: January 17, 2024

Popeye the Sailor is a pop culture character created by American cartoonist Elzie Crisler Segar for his cartoon strip Thimble Theatre, which debuted in the New York Journal in December 1919. Popeye wasn’t one of the original characters; he made his debut as a minor character on January 17, 1929, when the strip was already in its tenth year.

Popeye debuted as a sailor hired by Thimble Theatre’s main characters, Ham Gravy and Castor Oyl, to crew a ship for a voyage to a casino on Dice Island. Once the adventure involving Popeye was over, he left the strip, but Segar brought him back several weeks later due to positive audience reaction.

Ultimately, Popeye became so popular that Segar gave him a much larger role, which resulted in the strip being published by many more newspapers. Eventually Ham Gravy’s girlfriend Olive Oyl left him for Popeye, and Ham and Castor gradually faded from the strip as Popeye became the main character. Owing to Popeye’s popularity, Thimble Theatre was running in half a thousand newspapers by the late 1930s. Following Segar’s death in 1938, several artists and writers were hired to continue the strip.

The first animated cartoon featuring Popeye was released by Fleischer Studios in 1933. The series of Popeye the Sailor theatrical animated cartoons was very popular during the 1930s, and Fleischer Studios and its successor Famous Studios continued producing them until 1957. Production didn’t cease even during World War II; in wartime, Popeye cartoons were used for Allied propaganda.

Over the years, Popeye the Sailor has also appeared in a number of comic books released by various publishers, webcomics, animated television series and specials (Popeye the Sailor, The All New Popeye Hour, Popeye and Son, Popeye’s Voyage: The Quest for Pappy), web series, radio programs, a live-action musical feature film, and video and pinball games.

The character’s story and characterization vary by medium, but one of Popeye’s most consistent features is his strength and endurance. Popeye originally obtained his strength by rubbing the head of Bernice the Whiffle Hen, but it didn’t last long; spinach became the main source of his strength, endurance, and even other abilities like playing the piano or dancing in 1933. Thanks to Popeye, sales of spinach in the United States increased by one third during the Great Depression.

The origins of Popeye Day are unclear, but there is no doubt that this amazing character deserves to be celebrated. There are many ways to observe Popeye Day: you can read Popeye comic books, watch or re-watch Popeye cartoons, watch the 1980 live-action film Popeye starring Robin Williams as the title character, throw a Popeye-themed party, eat some spinach for lunch, and spread the word about the holiday on social media with the hashtag #PopeyeDay.