The time has come to face some of the hard facts of my childhood. I watched a lot of Popeye cartoons. I think I've seen all of the Max Fleischer Popeyes and most, if not all of the Famous Studio cartoons.
I grew up in Rockland County. I used to belong to one of those Facebook groups that talked about days gone by in our old neighborhoods. Sadly, a thinly veiled racist comment would come through, basically stating how lovely things were, until SOME people, won't say who, came into town, committing crimes and starting up a bunch of single-parent households. I'm not going to get into the veracity of these statements, but they have an origin...
Popeye.
In these cartoons and in the comic Thimble Theatre, he is an unmarried sailor, which is absolutely no crime. Along comes Swee'Pea. Master Pea is, according to the strip, an infant left on Popeye's doorstep. Sad, but no sin. It's a bit of an eyebrow-raiser that Olive Oyl minds him more than Popeye tends to. In his first appearance "...with Little Swee'Pea" (1936), notice whose house he is emerging from:
In "Lost and Foundry" (1937) there is no denying this:
Later that year, he is definitely at Popeye's house, but what kind of man takes a full year to mind his own foundling? This still is from "The Football Toucher Downer" (1937). I won't discount his obviously and his ahead-of-his-time vegan lifestyle.
Which, truth be told, leaves him TOOTHLESS.
What concerns me MUCH more are his "nephews". I must make the case here that these are his sons. In "Wimmin is a Myskery" (1940) they are presented his children. However, this is Olive Oyl's DREAM of marriage to Popeye. To show you how pervasive sexism is, in HER dream, she doesn't merit a mantlepiece picture!
Two years later, when cold reality sets in, this 1942 cartoon named for the boys shows the "nephews" living with their "uncle". No Oyl to be had.
The Famous years proved...well, let's back off of the word "fatal", but I will say mysterious. Count the "nephews" in 1952:
Five years later in "Patriotic Popeye", they are either protecting themselves from an imminent explosion, or they are justifiably fearful that they are now down to a duo and must find a safe haven any way they can (no pun intended):
Folks, how can these quadrup... tripl... twins be anything else but his sons? Popeye, in the comic strip, in these cartoons, HAS NO BROTHER OR SISTER. These are his SONS. THIS is where the seed for single parenthood was planted. He has, truth be told, a fairly bad model. Poopdeck Pappy not only deserts him as a baby, but, in "Goonland", he is not the least bit happy to see him after roughly forty years of estrangement. Also, there is no mention of a Mom. With that kind of shaky foundation:
Popeye, unabashed vegan, career bachelor, was a rolling stone.
Don't blame us POC.
Sources: Youtube, Daily Motion and Popeye the Sailorpedia
