Bill Zaboly, born as Bela Zaboly, was one of the many artist who worked on the 'Thimble Theatre' comic strip, created originally by Elzie Segar. Initially a painter, printmaker and illustrator, Zaboly exhibited his art in both Cleveland and Chicago in the early 1930s. During the 1930s, he also assisted Roy Crane on the comic strip 'Wash Tubbs' and between 1936 and 1938, he continued Gene Ahern's 'Our Boarding House'.
By this time, he began signing with Bill Zaboly and he became one of the main artists on the classic newspaper strip 'Thimble Theatre', starring the sailor Popeye, in the period after Segar's death in 1938. Zaboly worked on the strip with writer Tom Sims, and later Ralph Stein, until Bud Sagendorf assumed control over it in 1958. Zaboly signed his 'Popeye' strips using the figure of a bee. He also worked on a Sunday character created by Segar, called 'Sappo'.
