Existing comment:
(68) Thimble Theatre Starring Popeye. "I'll bet poor Wimpy has desert madness--probably raving around saying poetry," 1935. Published by King Features Syndicate,
Inc., May 12, 1935.
Ink over graphite underdrawing with paste-ons.
Art Wood Collection of Cartoon and Caricature
Prints and Photographs Division
LC-DIG-ppmsca-03468 (68)
In this comic strip, self-absorbed J. Wellington Wimpy pulls a flower growing from the eye of a cow skull and begins to wax poetic. His utterances are reminiscent of Shakespeare's Hamlet, but they are purely the work of creator Elzie Segar (1894-1938). Segar trained as a cartoonist through a correspondence course while working in the Chester Opera House in Chester, Illinois. He introduced the world to Thimble Theatre in 1919. His days in vaudeville had given him a gift for storytelling, an ear for language, and a rich vocabulary. Bud Sagendorf continued the comic strip in 1938, and Max Fleischer popularized the characters with his animated short films. |