Elzie Crisler Segar

After several odd jobs, Elzie Crisler Segar (E.C. Segar) began working as the film projectionist in a movie house. Inspired by seeing the humorous movies of Charlie Chaplin, he created a few comics copying the same situations. These had no success, until Segar met Richard Felton Outcault, creator of 'The Yellow Kid', who encouraged him to carry on and introduced him at the Chicago Herald.

The Herald published Segar's first comic, 'Charlie Chaplin's Comedy Capers' from March 1916. Two years later, he moved on to the Chicago Evening American, for which he created 'Looping the Loop'.

In 1919, Elzie Segar's work attracted the attention of King Features Syndicate. For them, he created 'The Five-Fifteen' in 1920 (renamed 'Sappo' in 1926) and 'The Thimble Theatre', published in the New York Journal. This series features the rail-thin Olive Oyl, her brother Castor and their friend Ham Gravy.

Ten years later, the sailor Popeye was introduced to the comic, immediately becoming the star of the show and capturing a large, world-wide audience. After the death of their creator from liver disease in 1938, Popeye and Olive continued on, but unfortunately lost most of their ingenious and provocative edge, which was uniquely characteristic of Segar's brilliant, inimitable style.