MovieChat Forums > Popeye the Sailor Discussion > The eternal question,,,whose baby was Sw...

The eternal question,,,whose baby was Swee' Pea?


Arsenio Hall once posed this question on his chat show some 20 years ago. Great minds continue to be stumped.

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All I know is that on the movie "Popeye" (not animated) starring Robin Williams, the story was that Swee'pea was an abandoned baby Popeye found and adopted, and Olive also took care of the baby. Not sure if that was the case on the cartoon or comic strip or not.

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Lol...I don't think the the 1960s animated series - which I'm most familiar with - ever made it clear. Not sure if Swee' Pea existed in the early theatrical shorts.

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Yeah, Swee'pea was in the Thimble Theatre Comic Strips, and I've seen him in the old black-and-white theatrical shorts. Anyway, I just looked it up on Wikipedia, and it tells the whole story. Sounds like the writer of the 1980 movie did his or her research:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweepea
"In the comics, Swee'Pea is a baby found on Popeye's doorstep (actually delivered to him in a box) in a 1933 strip. Popeye adopts and raises him as his son, or, as he puts it "boy-kid". Initially, Swee'Pea's speech consisted entirely of the sound "glop". As the years went on, Swee'Pea apparently aged enough to speak normally, and could throw punches if necessary; however, his appearance remained that of a crawling baby. In the strip for August 17, 1933, Popeye christens Swee'Pea as 'Scooner Seawell Georgia Washenting Christiffer Columbia Daniel Boom'. Although Swee'Pea remains his most common sobriquet, he is occasionally referred to as Scooner by Popeye and others in later strips."

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Thanks, although the vintage theatrical shorts I recall are in color. I do wish the 1960s series would pop up more in syndication. I remember it so fondly from childhood, watching reruns before school in the late 1970s.

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I love the 1960's shorts, and I don't think I'll ever outgrow them. I believe they colorized the theatrical shorts later, so you are probably younger than me, if I remember the black-and-white ones LOL

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I'm 46. Color animation was the norm as early as the 1940s, and I don't think the early Popeye shorts were produced any earlier than that. If some were shot in b & w, the budget must have been meager. Some years back, the early shorts aired on cable during the wee hours of the morning, but I can't recall which channel.

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Actually, they were produced earlier than that.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Popeye_the_Sailor_filmography_(Fleischer_Studios)
Popeye the Sailor series

All cartoons are one-reel (6 to 10 minutes) and in black and white, except for the three Popeye Color Specials (Popeye the Sailor Meets Sindbad the Sailor from 1936, Popeye the Sailor Meets Ali Baba's Forty Thieves from 1937, and Aladdin and His Wonderful Lamp from 1939), which are two-reels (20 minutes) long and in Technicolor.

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Yes, the Wiki article was so lengthy, I skimmed over it a bit.

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Here's the deal: the theatrical shorts were produced from 1933 to 1957 - long time! I suppose the earlier ones were shot in black-and-white, and as you mentioned, have since been colorized. Cartoon Network aired them during late night from 2001-04, and their offshoot Boomerang has broadcast them occasionally since. Critics prefer them to the simply-animated 1960-62 TV series, but I'm partial to the latter.

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Oh OK, I should have read ahead. I like both the shorts and the 60-62 TV series. I'm just not fond of any Popeye cartoons made in the 70's or later.

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Lol..I'm not even aware of any post-1960s Popeye cartoons.

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Be very glad! The worst was Popeye and Son! I think that came out in '87 LOL
There was also another weird one in the 70's that would show short clips of Olive in the Army...I think they were trying to copy Private Benjamin.

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"Popeye and Son"? Lol..I'm guessing that was a Saturday morning program, but I outgrew Saturday cartoons in 1980, so I have no clue what aired during the 80s.

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<sigh> I wish I could have outgrown them, but that'll never happen.

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You still watch Saturday morning cartoons? How old are you?

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Not comfortable with sharing private info with strangers, but suffice it to say that I am an adult. And yes, I still watch classic cartoons, although they don't air on Saturday morning anymore. Most of them are on Youtube.

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And what's wrong with watching cartoons? I don't watch any current cartoons, but if I can catch an old cartoon I grew up with, then yes, I too, watch cartoons. There's nothing wrong with that. As I said in another thread, originally cartoons were for adults anyway, not kids.


EMOTICONS ARE BACK! YAY!   

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And what's wrong with watching cartoons?



Thank you Satai!

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