Elzie Crisler (E.C.) Segar (part 2)

New York

    Upon arriving in New York, Segar was given the plum assignment of creating a new comic strip and was told to call it "The Thimble Theatre". Segar's first Thimble Theatre strip appeared on December 19, 1919, just 11 days after his 25th birthday. For the background and history of the Thimble Theatre and to see the very first Thimble Theatre comic strip from December 19th, 1919, just click on the LINK.

     The Thimble Theatre began as a "gag a day" strip with each day's strip being self-contained. After a while Segar began to draw short continuities, a series of strips connected by a common theme into a longer story yet still giving a daily laugh. Segar's first continuity begun on July 31, 1922, was called "Great Gobs of Gold." In it Olive Oyl, Castor Oyl and Ham Gravy, the strip's three main characters, fly a hot air balloon to Africa in search of gold. They find the gold and become rich. The continuity lasts three weeks with another several weeks involved in their attempts at coping with their wealth. On October 2nd, 1922 the tax collector pays them a visit and relieves them of all but twenty-five cents, ending the continuity.

The Five Fifteen
    Segar was an avid sportsman his entire life. He loved to fish. On several occasions he and a fellow cartoonist would sneak out of the office and go fishing along the Hudson River. When the art director in the office began to notice that one of his workers was finishing his work early with plenty of time left to spend the afternoon drowning worms, he decided to put this extra time to company use. Segar was assigned a second comic strip to draw. It debuted on December 24th, 1920 and was called "The Five-Fifteen." For more on The Five-Fifteen just click on the LINK.

Influences
    With all due respect, it must be said that Elzie Segar was a fortunate man. There's no doubting his talent at storytelling and injecting humor into any situation. There's also no doubting the fact that he became proficient at drawing comic strips while "on the clock" so to speak. If ever there was an example of on the job training this would be it. Segar himself admits his early artistic shortcomings, as shown in the drawing below. The reference to "That fellow Butts" is a thinly veiled dig at himself.

  Segar had a lot of help from a lot of people. There was William Schuchert who gave him his first real job and encouraged him by paying for his correspondence course. There was R.F. Outcault who thought enough of Elzie to introduce him to his editor. But Segar's biggest break was in coming under the wing of William Randolph Hearst at a pivotal time. Hearst was undoubtedly the biggest promoter of the comic strip. They helped make him richer and in return he helped make many of the strip artists wealthy. Segar managed to come into a business which was still in its infancy. In todays comic strip business competition is incredible. A representative at King Features Syndicate once told this writer that their company receives conservatively over 200 comic strip ideas every year of which only a few ever see print. Segar entered the business at a time when the competition was less fierce and he was allowed to polish his craft for years. For that reason if no other Hearst deserves a vote of thanks.

    In the next few years Segar's ability and confidence grew as did the popularity of the Thimble Theatre. A Sunday page version of the comic strip was added in 1925. Thanks to Hearst's syndication system Segar's salary grew also. In the 1923 he left New York. Apparently city life wasn't exactly to his liking judging from all his fishing trips on company time. Segar took his family, now including daughter Marie, to Florida for a short time then to California where they settled in Santa Monica. There a second child was born, a son named Tom.

Popeye
In early 1929, after slightly over nine years of drawing the Thimble Theatre, Segar introduced Popeye to the comic. By now the Thimble Theatre daily strips had evolved into a series of longer and longer continuities and the gag a day format was gone. In the 1929 adventure Ham Gravy and Castor needed to get to an island off the coast of Africa. To get to the coast they required a ship and a crew. They bought a ship and hired the first sailor they saw loitering on the pier. This was Popeye. Popeye's very first comic strip appearance appears below.

     Popeye was intended to be just another throwaway character, to be used for one particular story and then be summarily dismissed. It had happened countless times before. But this time, fortunately for Segar, was different. Something about the character of the rough sailor struck a chord with the readers and apparently the only one to not realize it was his creator, Elzie Segar. When the storyline containing Popeye had run its course, Popeye said his goodbyes and left the strip. The conditions which caused Segar to bring him back are not clear. Some say Segar himself missed the rough-hewn sailor and brought him back. The more popular theory is that after Popeye's dismissal, the desk of Arthur Brisbane at King Features Syndicate was inundated with letters from readers bemoaning the absence of Popeye. Brisbane contacted Segar and either suggested or ordered Popeye's return. Whatever the reason, six weeks after he left Popeye was back, and that six weeks is not as long a period of time as it seems. Comic strip artists usually work five or six weeks ahead of the publication date for their strips. July's strips are drawn (hypothetically) in May. Popeye was dismissed in the June 27th strip and returned August 5th, five weeks later. If Segar was drawing the August strips in late June when the furor arose he could have immediately brought Popeye back that very day or the next. But the result wouldn't have been apparent to the readers for those five or six weeks.

     Popeye soon became the star of the strip, increasing demand from newspapers which may not have carried the Thimble Theatre initially. Each added newspaper subscribing would add to Hearst's and Segar's income. But even more than the direct money from the strip was the inevitable merchandising as in toys, books, dolls, animation, etc.. Popeye made Segar one of the wealthiest cartoonists in the business. Estimates are that he was making over $100,000 a year at the height of the great depression.

    Segar's success gave him the ability to indulge his love for outdoor activities. He spent much of his time fishing from the Santa Monica Pier or from a rowboat. he became a member of the Santa Monica Rod and Reel Club. He also joined the local skeet club eventually becoming captain of the team. Through his association with such clubs Segar became acquainted with the likes of Clark Gable, Gary Cooper and others and often bested them at shooting, billiards or both.

    In early 1938 Segar became ill and was diagnosed with liver disease. He spent several months being treated in the hospital while the comic strip was temporarily given to another artist to draw. Segar rallied sufficiently to take the strip back for a few months in the summer but again became ill and never drew another strip. The last Thimble Theatre strip drawn by Segar was dated August 27th (but was drawn weeks earlier). Segar died at home on October 13th, 1938, two months shy of his 44th birthday and is buried in Santa Monica California.

    In 1977 the citizens of Chester dedicated a riverside park to their favorite son. It's called Segar Memorial Park and overlooks the Mississippi river. In it on a granite pedestal is a six foot tall Bronze statue of Popeye the sailor.

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