Popeye & My First Paid Gig

Today’s libraries contain not only a wealth of literature and magazines, but also movies, videos, audio books, Internet services, and other resources. Libraries are a microcosm of the culture and I love them. I constantly thank the checkout people at the two libraries I frequent, and you should too.

Yesterday I watched a couple Popeye cartoons that were on a DVD I checked out from our Duluth library. Oh the memories. Most of us are familiar with the Popeye character, his bulging forearms with anchor tattoos, corncob pipe and sailor’s cap. And you no doubt remember his adversary Brutus, as well as his tall skinny girl friend, Olive Oyl.

According to Wikipedia, these King Features Syndicate cartoons were created for television in 1960. I was eight at the time and remember them well… or so I thought. Watching the two cartoons yesterday brought back a few forgotten memories. First, I had forgotten how much Popeye muttered to himself. He’s really quite a strange guy. Maybe that’s what sailors become, isolated and disconnected from place and society. His mumblings are seldom to communicate to others. The effect is comical though. And he is no master of pronunciation.

Popeye had first gone to film in 1933, in the golden age of theater when cartoons opened for features and sometimes even double features. The theater versions of the cartoon had Popeye’s adversary as the tough guy Bluto. But King Features was unable to obtain the rights to this name when they started making the cartoons for TV and changed his name. Alas, trademark disputes are nothing new.

One of the favorite characters in Popeye was Wimpy, who famously repeated, “I will gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today.”

Popeye himself had a few signature lines, including, “I y’ams what I y’am, and that’s all that I y’am.” And of course the classic, "I'm strong to the finich when I eats my spinach, I'm Popeye the sailor man."

He was strong for his size, but when it came to a crunch where he needed more strength, he reached for his spinach. It’s funny how I never knew what spinach was because my dad disliked it so much we never had it in the house. Personally, I like spinach, but it does not seem to give me the superpowers it gave Popeye.

In 1980 Robin Williams starred in a feature film about Popeye. I do not recall much enthusiasm for the flick amongst my peers when it came out. At the time, I did not know it was a Robert Altman film or that the music was written by Harry Nilsson (a friend of John Lennon who famously penned the “Everybody’s Talkin’” theme from the movie Midnight Cowboy.) I will probably make an effort to obtain it now, for its historicity if nothing else.

My First Paid Gig
These past two days the Twin Ports has been on the receiving end of two major snow storms. Not a lot of fun to deal with, but if you want to live here there are few alternatives other than to deal with it.

As noted in earlier posts I have been making music with the Elliot Brothers. Despite the risks involved, I managed to get downtown to play harmonicas, percussion and sing with the team of Elliot Silberman and Ted Gay. The roads were not pretty, and the crowds were probably wise to stay home, but we’d made a commitment and had fun making some sweet sounds.

At the end of the night Elliot handed Ted and I each a twenty dollar bill. Whoa! What a nice surprise. I was just there to have fun. But it immediately brought back memories of my first freelance article for which I received payment. It, too, was for twenty dollars, in the form of a check from the Standard Publishing Company, Sept 1983. From that modest beginning unexpected things evolved. Eventually, writing became a career.

Don’t worry, friends. I’m not planning to quit my day job…