DECEMBER 8 -PERSON OF THE DAY -ELZIE CRISLER SEGAR

"I am what I am,

and that's all that

I am"

                                               -Popeye,the sailor

We often do not realize that the pleasure we enjoy is created by the sweat and hardship of many others. We often fail to respect the person  who deserve it. 

Today is the birthday of Elzie Crisler Segar. You may wonder who this is?? But, I say most of you know him virtually.

Elzie Crisler Segar, known professionally as E. C. Segar, was an American cartoonist, best known as the creator of Popeye, a pop culture character who first appeared in 1929 in Segar's comic strip Thimble Theater. Yes.. He is the father of Popeye,one of our favourite cartoon character.. Who does not love his mighty muscular body and the pipe(through with he occasionally take spinach too)..?? He took a correspondence course in cartooning from W. L. Evans of Cleveland, Ohio and was introduce at Chicago Herald. On March 12, 1916 they published his first cartoon, Charlie Chaplin's Comedy Capers.

Evening American Managing editor William Curley thought Segar could succeed in New York, so he sent him to King Features Syndicate, where Segar worked for many years. He began by drawing Thimble Theatre for the New York Journal. The strip made its debut on December 19, 1919, featuring the characters Olive Oyl, Castor Oyl and Horace Hamgravy, whose name was quickly shortened in the strip to simply "Ham Gravy". They were the strip's leads for about a decade. On January 17, 1929, when Castor Oyl needed a mariner to navigate his ship to Dice Island, Castor picked up an old salt down by the docks named Popeye. Popeye's first line in the strip, upon being asked if he was a sailor, was "'Ja think I'm a cowboy?" The character stole the show and became the permanent star. Some of the other notable characters Segar created include J. Wellington Wimpy and Eugene the Jeep.

Its strange that the creators are not known sometimes..but the characters live. They are immortal...

Take care..