Blake Hall
America’s favorite spinach-eating, forearm-bulging “sailor” man was living a lie when he first entered the service in the mid 1930s (after he was first animated in 1933 by King Features, Fleischer Studios and Paramount Pictures). Contrary to popular belief — and his own poor description — back then Popeye wasn’t in the United States Navy at all.
He was in the Coast Guard.
That’s right. He was in the Coast Guard.
Don’t believe it? There’s proof …
Here’s one of the first moving features Popeye starred in called “Popeye the Sailor Meets Sindbad the Sailor” where his nemesis is (what looks like) either a strange iteration of Bluto or Bluto playing a character. See the uniform Popeye is wearing in the screencap? Take note of it.
Here’s a photograph of an authentic U.S. Coast Guard uniform from the 1930s:
Look familiar?
Oh, and here’s another photograph of Coast Guardsmen circa the same decade in which Popeye made his film debut:
And here’s the smoking gun, a screenshot of a 1937 short film called “Popeye the Sailor Meets Ali Baba’s Forty Thieves”, which can be viewed in its entirety if you keep scrolling downward:
According to Wikipedia, Popeye didn’t enlist in the Navy and become a true “sailor” until 1941, when he appeared in the animated classic “The Mighty Navy”.
**Somewhat related interesting bit of trivia: During World War II, “Wimpy” was the nickname given to the Vickers Wellington bomber, due to the fact that Popeye’s hamburger-addicted pal’s Christian name was “J. Wellington Wimpy”.**