The Museum of Television & Radio Celebrates the 75th Anniversary of Popeye with the Gallery Exhibit Well, Blow Me Down!: 75 Years of Popeye
Tuesday, November 9, 2004
New York, NY—The Museum of Television & Radio in New York will celebrate the seventy-fifth anniversary of Popeye with the gallery exhibit Well, Blow Me Down!: 75 Years of Popeye, on display from November 13, 2004, to January 30, 2005. This is the first exhibit to bring together the history of Popeye from all media: newspaper, radio, theatrical shorts, and television, as well as vintage merchandising pieces, comic books, and theatrical poster art. Drawing material from private collections across the country, the Museum has curated an experience that shows the evolution of one of America's oldest pop culture icons, from a single frame in the comic strip Thimble Theatre to the 3-D enhanced CGI Popeye.
For a character initially conceived to make only a fleeting appearance in the already established comic strip Thimble Theatre in 1929, Popeye, the pipe-chomping, monocular sailor with an affinity for spinach, wound up having an impact on pop culture that his creator, E.C. (Elzie Crisler) Segar (1894-1938), could never have imagined.
Highlights of the Museum's exhibit include original B&W art for Segar's 1930s comic strip; original ‘30s and ‘40s storyboards, drawings, and cels from Fleischer and Famous Studios, including a B&W cel from what is widely considered the first animated short; cels and artwork from King Features Syndicate and Hanna-Barbera from the '60s to the '80; vintage toys; comic books; and lobby cards and poster art from the theatrical shorts.
The Museum will kick off the opening of the exhibit on November 13 with a family workshop, featuring a screening of the new 3-D CGI animated special Popeye's Voyage: The Quest for Pappy. Following the screening, participants will learn about the art of Popeye animation, have the chance to take photographs with Popeye, Olive Oyl, Bluto, and Wimpy, and participate in art activities. The screening and workshop will be held from 2:00 to 3:30 p.m. Popeye's Voyage: The Quest for Pappy, which premieres November 9 on DVD and will air on FOX December 17, was written by Paul Reiser and Jim Hardison, and features the voices of Billy West and Kathy Bates and music by Mark Mothersbaugh of Devo. After the event, the Museum will screen classic Popeye cartoons.
Popeye's History
Following an overwhelmingly favorable response to his appearance in Thimble Theatre, Popeye came to dominate the strip, which expanded its name in 1931 to Thimble Theatre ... Starring Popeye. Segar's creation took on a whole new life as the star of the longest-running series of talking animated short subjects in motion picture history. It was in these early short films, produced by Max Fleischer for Paramount Pictures, that the ingestion of spinach to enhance Popeye's strength became an indelible theme. Emphasizing the positive effect of eating spinach to build strength proved a boon to the product, with a reported thirty-three percent increase in U.S. spinach consumption during the 1930s. Popeye was also considered one of the first and most important characters in the merchandising industry, with Popeye toys, books, puzzles, and games flooding the market. There is little doubt that he ascended to iconic status within a few short years of his debut, becoming the first cartoon character to have a statue erected in his honor, in Crystal City, Texas, the "Spinach Capital of the World."
If fans could not get enough of Popeye in print and on theater screens, they could also tune in to hear him on NBC radio when Popeye the Sailor began airing on September 10, 1935. The program was sponsored not by a spinach company but Wheatena, which meant that the breakfast cereal now became Popeye's food of choice. Heard three days a week, the program had its final NBC broadcast on March 27, 1936. On August 31, 1936, the show moved to CBS and ran until February 26, 1937, returning for a final season from May 2 to July 29, 1938.
The sale of the theatrical shorts to television in 1956 brought Popeye into the consciousness of a whole new generation. The tremendous response that syndicated stations received from airing these shorts led to the production of a whole new series of Popeye cartoons from King Features. The combination of theatrical shorts and television episodes would run for years in syndication, but the impact of Popeye did not end there. He would return in two more cartoon series, in the 1970s and 80s, this time produced by Hanna Barbera; come to life in a full-length motion picture musical starring Robin Williams and Shelley Duvall; and star in his own video game. Popeye's image would be used to endorse everything from oatmeal to soft drinks; fan clubs and websites were created for his benefit; and he would receive the ultimate tribute when he was selected as one of the characters to appear on the U.S. Postal Service's "American Comic Classics" collection, celebrating the 100th anniversary of comic strips. To cap off his seventy-fifth anniversary year Popeye entered the world of computer-generated imagery for a brand-new television and home entertainment special, Popeye's Voyage: The Quest for Pappy.
Admission to Well, Blow Me Down!: 75 Years of Popeye and the family workshop is included with the Museum's suggested contribution: Members free; $10.00 for adults; $8.00 for senior citizens and students; and $5.00 for children under fourteen.
The Museum of Television & Radio, with locations in New York and Los Angeles, is a nonprofit organization founded by William S. Paley to collect and preserve television and radio programs and advertisements and to make them available to the public. Since opening in 1976, the Museum has organized exhibitions, screening and listening series, seminars, and education classes to showcase its collection of over 100,000 television and radio programs and advertisements. Programs in the Museum's permanent collection are selected for their artistic, cultral, and historic significance.
The Museum of Television & Radio in New York, located at 25 West 52 Street in Manhattan, is open Tuesdays through Sundays from noon to 6:00 p.m. and until 8:00 p.m. on Thursdays. The Museum of Television & Radio in California, located at 465 North Beverly Drive in Beverly Hills, is open Wednesdays through Sundays from noon to 5:00 p.m. Both Museums are closed on New Year's Day, Independence Day, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. Suggested contribution: Members free; $10.00 for adults; $8.00 for senior citizens and students; and $5.00 for children under fourteen. Admission is free in Los Angeles. The public areas in both Museums are accessible to wheelchairs, and assisted listening devices are available. Programs are subject to change. You may call the Museum in New York at (212) 621-6800, or in Los Angeles at (310) 786-1000. Visit the Museum's website at www.mtr.org.