January 17, 1929: Popeye Debuts

January 17, 1929: Popeye the Sailor Man debuts, in the King Features comic strip Thimble Theatre. He was drawn by Elzie Segar.

The sailor, with his perpetual wink, corncob pipe, tiny biceps but huge forearms, proved to be so popular that, in 1933, Max Fleischer made cartoon shorts about him. Borrowed from the comic strips would be his penchant for eating spinach, which gave him super strength; his skinny girlfriend, Olive Oyl; his infant ward, Swee'Pea; and Bluto (sometimes named "Brutus"), the big, bearded rival of Popeye for Olive's affections.

As it turns out, spinach does little for building muscle. It is, however, good for the eyes, making me wonder why Popeye always had one eye closed. And Popeye never married Olive Oyl, so, given the mores of the time, like Batman with his sidekick Robin, Swee'Pea was always his "ward," never his "son," natural or adopted.

Only once has the character been filmed in live-action, in 1980, directed by Robert Altman, starring Robin Williams, with Shelley Duvall as Olive Oyl. The film tanked, and no live version of Popeye has been attempted since. Nevertheless, the character remains popular, still appearing in comic strips and cartoons.

In 1982, a Popeye game appeared in video arcades: The character can punch things thrown at him to gain points, but, if he doesn't punch them, and gets hit by them, he "loses a life." He can only punch Bluto after punching, and thus "eating," a can of spinach. In 1987, the sitcom Full House premiered on ABC, and Dave Coulier played Joey Gladstone, a comedian whose impressions included Popeye: "Well, blow me down! Uck uck uck uck!"

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January 17, 1929 was a Thursday. Baseball and football were out of season. The NBA hadn't been founded yet. There were 4 games played in the NHL:

* The New York Rangers beat the Chicago Black Hawks, 1-0 at Madison Square Garden. Though relatively new then, this was the building that would eventually be known as "The Old Garden," replaced by "The New Garden" in 1968.

* The New York Americans played the Montreal Maroons to a tie, 0-0 at the Montreal Forum. The Maroons folded in 1938; the Amerks, in 1942.

* The Montreal Canadiens played the Toronto Maple Leafs to a tie, 1-1 at Maple Leaf Gardens in Toronto.

* And the Boston Bruins played the Detroit Cougars to a tie, 1-1 at the Olympia Stadium in Detroit. The Cougars became the Detroit Falcons in 1930, and the Detroit Red Wings in 1932.

This was a big day in hockey for another reason, although it wouldn't be known for many years: Jacques Plante was born, and would go on to become a Hall of Fame goaltender for the Canadiens, as well as the 1st goalie to regularly wear a mask.