Comments on: He’s Popeye the Pothead Man… (toot! toot!)

By: Roland A. Duby

Roland A. Duby — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 23:02:21 +0000

maybe y’all should read this

http://www.cannabisculture.com/articles/3568.html

By: Ampersand

Ampersand — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 15:44:46 +0000

Hoist on my own nit-picking petard! :-P

By: Daran

Daran — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 14:28:25 +0000

I thought it was ‘Bluto’ not ‘Brutus’. The straight dope confirms.

By: Ampersand

Ampersand — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 14:14:38 +0000

I haven’t read as much of the original strips as I wish; but I’ve read enough to be certain that you’re mistaken in just about every particular.

In the original 1920s comic strips, Popeye didn’t eat or smoke for strength; his superhuman strength came to him after he rubbed the head of a magic bird, which saved his life (he had been shot several times and was dying).

Olive was originally a relatively minor character; she was brought in as the sister of a more important character, Caster Oil (Caster later got written out). Olive got skinnier later, but wasn’t especially thin as originally drawn. And she wasn’t ugly within the context of how the cartoonist drew other characters.

And Brutus, who was just labeled “mean man” in a 1920s cast drawing by Segar (the cartoonist), was a thug, not an industrialist. He also wasn’t Popeye’s most important antagonist in the comic strip.

By: Roland A. Duby

Roland A. Duby — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 09:17:28 +0000

Popeye was originally representative of the struggle between the common man (popeye) and big industry (brutus) over the control of Olive Oil (which was used for many things as well as running diesel engines)

Olive was tall and skinny and ugly like an Olive tree.

When Popeye smoked spinach thru his pipe he got amazing strength.
This was a common theme in the news papers of the 20’s, they would report the amazing strength of the “blacks and mexicans while under the influence of the hemp”

By: Brittany

Brittany — Mon, 05 Dec 2005 04:36:28 +0000

ok so i totally agree with popeye being a pot head. one time he gets punched into this batch of ’spinach’ and he stated “aah what a strange weed this be.. thus it strengthens my Vitality” or something like that(im sayin that from memory so…… hah) also i have this dvd of him and like if you look in the background of like every scene there is like a crazy face and shit its seriously NUT. i love watchin it stoned its Freakkky!
ok im done ranting
peace

By: Morgaine Swann

Morgaine Swann — Sat, 19 Feb 2005 09:52:59 +0000

I knew there was something I liked about Popeye…

By: Shahryar

Shahryar — Sat, 19 Feb 2005 04:40:33 +0000

I was led to believe that “Popeye the sailorman” cartoon was devised to market spinach!

By: Kevin Moore

Kevin Moore — Tue, 15 Feb 2005 21:26:31 +0000

So, what about the fried chicken? The Popeye’s fast food chain sells better fried chicken than KFC. And no spinach. Remember: the egg in the frying pan was your brain on drugs. A whole fried chicken is one stoned bird, man.

By: jam

jam — Mon, 14 Feb 2005 17:46:27 +0000

Insistence on a subversive reading just smacks of desperation to me.

as opposed to what? the “correct” reading?

By: Ron O

Ron O — Fri, 11 Feb 2005 20:58:58 +0000

I knew a few stoners in college who used spinach as a euphamism for pot. My stoner group used ‘film’.

By: acm

acm — Fri, 11 Feb 2005 15:46:56 +0000

heh — pot may have miraculous powers, but I’ve never heard included among them any prod to action, let alone increased athleticism… maybe if Popeye sank into the cushions and exuded waves of “what’s the problem, dude?”…

By: Joan

Joan — Fri, 11 Feb 2005 03:39:27 +0000

Interesting. That’s the kind of thing I would have expected to see in a right-wing mag, not a stoner mag.

By: Jeff

Jeff — Fri, 11 Feb 2005 03:28:32 +0000

I basically regard the folks who find hidden marijuana references at best as something along the lines of gay references; sometimes it’s like Hooper X in Chasing Amy explaining that “Archie and Jughead were lovers,” and sometimes it’s like Jerry Falwell complaining about the Teletubbies. Insistence on a subversive reading just smacks of desperation to me.

By: Robert

Robert — Thu, 10 Feb 2005 21:27:18 +0000

I’m Popeye the Sailor Man
I get baked when’er I can…