Google Doodle celebrates E.C. Segar’s birthday.
Google Doodle celebrates E.C. Segar’s 115th birthday. Some of you might be wondering E.C. Segar who?
Some of us might not know much about E.C Segar but we have all seen his creations – Popeye, the sailor. Google celebrates the birthday of a cartoonist who created one of the legendary cartoon characters of our childhood times. Popeye the sailor is famously known for his spinach to which he attributed his strength. Popeye, the sailor first appeared in newspaper in January 1929. The cartoon graced the cartoon column of E.C. Segar which published under the title Thimble Theatre. Popeye disappeared from the cartoon column once Segar finished its sequence in the column but on the requests of his readers, Segar made it reappear.
Interestingly, the spinach-eating cartoon Popeye made many to believe that spinach provides ten times the iron than the amount it actually contains and hence the strength-giving spinach facts were revised in following sequences. Olive Oyl accompanied Popeye in the sequences as his girl-friend while Bluto appeared as Popeye’s love rival.
E.C Segar was an American cartoonist. He was born on December 8, 1894 in Chester, Illinois. Since his childhood, Segar used his creativity in many projects. He used to assist his father in house painting and also provided musical assistance to many film projects. He was a skilled drummer. E.C. Segar knew that he wanted to be a cartoonist at the age of 18 and hence took a cartooning course. He later moved to Chicago where he met another cartoonist who introduced him to Chicago Herald, a local newspaper. E.C. Segar published his first comic in March 1916 under the title Charlie Chaplin’s Comedy Capers. He joined Chicago’s Evening American in 1918. The manager of Chicago’s Evening American sent Segar to New York as he thought that New York would bring more success to him. Segar started drawing Thimble Theatre for New York Journal, a cartoon strip which revolved around Olive Oyl and Castor Oyl. In January of 1929, during a sequence of Thimble Theatre, Olive Oyl needed a sailor who could sail her ship to an island and that’s when Segar created Popeye.
E.C. Segar died in October, 1938
E.C. Segar
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