Popeye was created by Elzie Segar a cartoonist who wrote the strip Thimble Theatre in the late teens and early twenties. This strip originally had the characters of Olive Oyl, Ham Gravy (Olive's first boyfriend), Cole and Nana Oyl (Olive's parents) and Castor Oyl. On January 17, 1929, Popeye made his first appearance in the strip. His first words, a reply to the question, "Are you a sailor?" ; were "Ja think I'm a cowboy!" Needless to say, Popeye went on to be the most popular character in the strip and one of the greatest comic characters ever. In the thirties, the Fleischer Brothers (who created Betty Boop) introduced Popeye as a character in Popeye the Sailor Long after (alas) Betty was forgotten the Sailor stayed in our public consciousness.
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