Popeye & Olive Oyle 

Popeye was created by Elzie Segar a cartoonist who wrote the daily strip "Thimble Theatre" in the late teens and early twenties. This strip originally had the characters of Olive Oyle, Ham Gravy (Olive's first boyfriend), Cole and Nana Oyle (Olive's parents) and Castor Oyle. 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. The Fleischer brothers, Max and Dave turned him into a cartoon in the early 30s. His first screen appearance was July 14, 1933 in the cartoon Popeye the Sailor. The Fleischer Brothers also created Betty Boop, introducesd Popeye the Sailor long after (alas) Betty was forgotten, the Sailor stayed in our public consciousness. Popeye is portrayed as a 34 year old, five feet six inches in height, and weighs in at 154 pounds.

Popeye has his own TV Show Daily in Australia on PAY TV!

Popeye's LIVE  "Rock 'n Roll Show" & The All NEW Popeye Show are a fun filled nostalgia trips, with heaps of singing and dancing and audience involvement. In the shows Popeye is there on his entry into LIVE shows with his "goyl" OLIVE OYLE, but don't worry, there is a compere on hand to make sure things run smoothly on a half hour nautical "Rock 'n Roll" cruise through the tropics, but Popeye had better  beware as BLUTO is not too far away!

They are both fully produced half hour musical shows, Popeye and Olive Oyle also have songs for their shipmates. There is heaps of singing and dancing on stage and the audience get to join in.

Be a part of this history making voyage as Popeye and Olive Oyle weigh anchor and step off the Pay T.V. screens and dock live on the stage.


To book Popeye and Olive in Western Australia -  call Bill Hewison   at:- Characterland W.A.


Phone:  + 61 8 9307 2750
Facsimile:   + 61 8  9307 6946
Email:  info@characterlandwa.com.au

Book Early to avoid disappointment.

BLUTO or BRUTUS 

What is the difference between BLUTO and BRUTUS? - Which character was first - BLUTO or BRUTUS, and why were there two characters introduced? Okay,  - here is the answer.

Halfway through 1932, Segar wrote a narrative titled, "The Eighth Sea". A fearless fiend named, 'BLUTO the Terrible' was introduced into this story. He was treated as a 'throwaway' character - the same way that Segar had originally planned to handle POPEYE when he debuted in January of 1929. In the case of BLUTO - Segar never returned him - after POPEYE was allowed to engage him in a bloody battle and defeat him with his legendary 'twisker punch'.

The following year - POPEYE made his motion picture debut at the hands of Max and Dave Fleischer. To add some spice to the cartoon, OLIVE OYL was cast in the role of the jealous girlfriend, but the Fleischer's wanted to really spice things up - so they resurrected BLUTO to be POPEYE's on screen 'emeny'.  - he was immediately accepted as POPEYE's number one nemesis.

In 1956, the old theatrical cartoons were released to television. The 'POPEYE' phenomenon met an entirely new group of fans - the 'Baby Boomers'. POPEYE's popularity soared. The kiddies of the 'nifty fifties' were consuming the cartoons faster than POPEYE could open his can of spinach. King Features Syndicate recognized the potential of their animated adventurer - so 220 new cartoons were ordered - BUT there was a problem. KFS wasn't sure who owned BLUTO. To avoid legal hassles, BRUTUS made his screen debut in 1960's

For the next 18 years, BRUTUS was POPEYE's formidable foe. In 1978, Hanna-Barbera introduced, "The All New Adventures of POPEYE" - (aka "The POPEYE Hour"), and BLUTO was returned to the stories. Unfortunately, BRUTUS was not. It's too bad, because the cartoon series might have been fun with the two bad guys teaming-up against good guy POPEYE.

There you have it - BLUTO - BRUTUS - BLUTO.....

(Information courtesy of Official Popeye Fan Club)

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