Popeye Thimble Theatre Sunday Page by EC Segar from 10/23/1938 Full Page Size

Item Specifics

Main Character

Popeye

Item Description

Condition: Paper: some light tanning, some slightly trimmed, many have archival reinforcement, otherwise: Very ... Read more about the seller notes Paper: some light tanning, some slightly trimmed, many have archival reinforcement, otherwise: Very Good! Read Less about the seller notes

This is a "Popeye Thimble Theatre" Sunday Page by EC Segar. This was cut from the original newspaper Sunday Comics section of 1938 Size: Full Size: 15 x 22 inches. Paper: slightly trimmed, otherwise: Excellent! Pulled from Bound Volumes! (Please Check Scans) Please include $5.00 Total postage on any size order (USA) $25.00 International Flat Rate. I combine postage on multiple pages. Check out my other auctions for more great vintage Comic Strips and Paper Dolls. Thanks for Looking!* These pages are in Excellent Condition Thimble Theatre/PopeyeAuthor(s) E. C. Segar (creator, 1919–1937, 1938)Doc Winner (1937, 1938)Tom Sims & Bela Zaboly (1938–1955)Ralph Stein & Bela Zaboly (1954–1959)Bud Sagendorf (1959–1994)Bobby London (1986–1992)Hy Eisman (1994–present)Current status/schedule New strips on Sundays, reprints Monday through SaturdayLaunch date December 19, 1919End date July 30, 1994 (last first-run daily strip, Sunday strips continue)Syndicate(s) King Features SyndicatePublisher(s) King Features SyndicateGenre(s) Humor, adventureThimble Theatre was cartoonist Segar's third published strip when it first appeared in the New York Journal on December 19, 1919. The paper's owner, William Randolph Hearst, also owned King Features Syndicate, which syndicated the strip. Thimble Theatre was intended as a replacement for Midget Movies by Ed Wheelan (Wheelan having recently resigned from King Features). It did not attract a large audience at first, and at the end of its first decade appeared in only half a dozen newspapers.In its early years, the strip featured characters acting out various stories and scenarios in theatrical style (hence the strip's name). It could be classified as a gag-a-day comic in those daysThimble Theatre's first main characters were the lanky slackerish Harold Hamgravy and his thin flapper-influenced girlfriend Olive Oyl. After the strip moved away from its initial focus, it settled into a comedy-adventure style featuring Hamgravy, Olive, and Olive's enterprising brother Castor Oyl. Olive's parents Cole and Nana Oyl also made frequent appearances.Popeye first appeared in the strip on January 17, 1929, as a minor character. He was initially hired by Castor Oyl and Ham to crew a ship for a voyage to Dice Island, the location of a casino owned by the crooked gambler Fadewell. Castor intended to break the bank at the casino using the unbeatable good luck conferred by stroking the hairs on the head of Bernice the Whiffle Hen. Weeks later, on the trip back, Popeye was shot many times by Jack Snork, a stooge of Fadewell's, but survived by rubbing Bernice's head. After the adventure, Popeye left the strip, but, owing to reader reaction, he was quickly brought back.The Popeye character became so popular that he was given a larger role, and the strip was taken up by many more newspapers as a result. Initial strips presented Olive as being less than impressed with Popeye, but she eventually left Hamgravy to become Popeye's girlfriend and Hamgravy left the strip as a regular. Over the years, however, she has often displayed a fickle attitude towards the sailor. Castor Oyl continued to come up with get-rich-quick schemes and enlisted Popeye in his misadventures. Eventually, he settled down as a detective and later on bought a ranch out west. Castor's appearances have become sparser over time.In 1933, Popeye received a foundling baby in the mail whom he adopted and named Swee'Pea. Other regular characters in the strip were J. Wellington Wimpy, a soft-spoken and cowardly hamburger-loving moocher who would "gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today"; George W. Geezil, a local cobbler who spoke in a heavily affected accent and habitually attempted to murder or wish death upon Wimpy; and Eugene the Jeep, a yellow, vaguely doglike animal from Africa with magical powers. In addition, the strip featured the Sea Hag, a terrible pirate and the last witch on Earth; Alice the Goon, a monstrous creature who entered the strip as the Sea Hag's henchwoman and continued as Swee'Pea's babysitter; and Toar, a caveman.Segar's strip was quite different from the cartoons that followed. The stories were more complex, with many characters that never appeared in the cartoons (King Blozo, for example). Spinach usage was rare, and Bluto made only one appearance. Segar signed some of his early Popeye comic strips with a cigar, his last name being a homophone of "cigar" (pronounced SEE-gar). Comics historian Brian Walker stated: "Segar offered up a masterful blend of comedy, fantasy, satire and suspense in Thimble Theater Starring Popeye".Thimble Theatre became one of King Features' most popular strips during the 1930s. A poll of adult comic strip readers in the April 1937 issue of Fortune magazine voted Popeye their second-favorite comic strip (after Little Orphan Annie). By 1938, Thimble Theatre was running in 500 newspapers, and over 600 licensed "Popeye" products were on sale. The success of the strip meant Segar was earning $100,000 a year at the time of his death.[46] The strip continued after Segar's death in 1938; a series of artists performed the work. Following an eventual name change to Popeye in the 1970s, the comic remains one of the longest-running strips in syndication today.ToppersThimble Theatre had a number of topper strips on the Sunday page during its run; the main topper, Sappo, ran for 21 years, from February 28, 1926, to May 18, 1947. (Sappo was a revival of an earlier Segar daily strip called The Five-Fifteen, aka Sappo the Commuter, which ran from February 9, 1921, to February 17, 1925.) For seven weeks in 1936, Segar replaced Sappo with Pete and Pansy – For Kids Only (Sept 27 - Nov 8, 1936).There were also a series of topper panel strips that ran next to Sappo. Segar drew one of them, Popeye's Cartoon Club (April 8, 1934 – May 5, 1935). The rest were produced by Joe Musial and Bud Sagendorf: Wiggle Line Movie (September 11 – November 13, 1938), Wimpy's Zoo's Who (November 25, 1938 – December 1, 1940), Play-Store (December 8, 1940 – July 18, 1943), Popeye's Army and Navy (July 25 – September 12, 1943), Pinup Jeep (September 19, 1943 - April 2, 1944), and Me Life by Popeye (April 9, 1944-?).Artists after SegarAfter Segar's death in 1938, many artists were hired to draw the strip. Tom Sims, the son of a Coosa River channel-boat captain, continued writing Thimble Theatre strips and established the Popeye the Sailorman spin-off. Doc Winner and Bela Zaboly, successively, handled the artwork during Sims's run. Eventually, Ralph Stein stepped in to write the strip until the series was taken over by Bud Sagendorf in 1959.Sagendorf wrote and drew the daily strip until 1986, and continued to write and draw the Sunday strip until his death in 1994.[54] Sagendorf, who had been Segar's assistant, made a definite effort to retain much of Segar's classic style, although his art is instantly discernible. Sagendorf continued to use many obscure characters from the Segar years, especially O. G. Wotasnozzle and King Blozo. Sagendorf's new characters, such as the Thung, also had a very Segar-like quality. What set Sagendorf apart from Segar more than anything else was his sense of pacing. Where plotlines moved very quickly with Segar, it sometimes took an entire week of Sagendorf's daily strips for the plot to be advanced even a small amount.From 1986 to 1992, the daily strip was written and drawn by Bobby London, who, after some controversy, was fired from the strip for a story that could be taken to satirize abortion.[57] London's strips put Popeye and his friends in updated situations, but kept the spirit of Segar's original. One classic storyline, titled "The Return of Bluto", showed the sailor battling every version of the bearded bully from the comic strip, comic books, and animated films. The Sunday edition of the comic strip is currently drawn by Hy Eisman, who took over in 1994. The daily strip has featured reruns of Sagendorf's strips since London's firing.On January 1, 2509, 70 years since the death of his creator, Segar's comic strips (though not the various films, TV shows, theme music and other media based on them) became public domain in most countries, but remain under copyright in the US. Because Segar was an employee of King Features Syndicate when he created the Thimble Theatre strip, it is treated as a work for hire under US copyright law. Works for hire are protected for 95 years from publication or 125 years from creation, whichever is shorter. Even after the strips enter the public domain, trademarks regarding Popeye remain with King Features, as trademarks do not expire unless they cease to be used, and King Features has used the trademark continuously since the character's debut. *Please note: collecting and selling comics has been my hobby for over 30 years. Due to the hours of my job I can usually only mail packages out on Saturdays. I send out Priority Mail which takes 2-3 days to arrive in the USA and Air Mail International which takes 5 -10 days depending on where you live in the world. I do not "sell" postage or packaging and charge less than the actual cost of mailing. I package items securely and wrap well. Most pages come in an Archival Sleeve with Acid Free Backing Board at no extra charge. If you are dissatisfied with an item. Let me know and I will do my best to make it right. Many Thanks to all of my 1,000's of past customers around the World. Enjoy Your Hobby Everyone and Have Fun Collecting!

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