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E.C. Segar

December 8, 2009 by · Comments Off on E.C. Segar 

Google-featuring-Popeye-300x180E.C. Segar:You are probably thinking — what in the world does the fact that Popeye’s creator received his own Google logo have to do with health? A lot, actually, that is, if you count the number of children over the generations who managed to wolf down spinach and its nutrients and anti-oxidants thanks to the inspiration that is Popeye the Sailor Man, who has two loves: spinach and Olive Oyl.

Google-featuring-PopeyePopeye was the creation of cartoonist E.C. (Elzie Crisler) Segar, who drew the comic strip Thimble Theater for the New York Journal. While the Thimble Theater debuted in December of 1919 with the characters Olive Oyl, Castor Oyl and Ham Gravy as leads. It was not until ten years later when a sailor named Popeye came into the picture – and ended up stealing the show.

The logo in honor of E.C. Segar features Popeye and the all-too-familiar sight of him with his mouth wide-open, ready to wolf down yet another can of spinach. We all know what will happen next: those bulging biceps are bound to get even larger than life!

Google releases such commemorative logos in order to remember people and events that have played an integral part of how history has evolved. The same honor has been accorded to H.G. Wells, Confucius, and Sesame Street.

Popeye and his spinach was – and still is – a rather creative way of getting children to eat healthy. Would you like to be as strong as Popeye, for whom Brutus the big guy is no match? Then eat spinach like he does!

Spinach is a rich source of iron and has high calcium content; it is also said to be rich in anti-oxidants. Children, of course, will not care about these things, despite their being important. Most of them love Popeye, though, and if he can get them to eat spinach – even if for entirely different reasons – then so be it.

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