Posted By Dan Greenfield on Dec 15, 2025 | 0 comments

MORRISON MONDAYS meets TOYHEM — again!

By BILL MORRISON

Well blow me down! December is the birth month of Elzie Crisler Segar, the creator of Popeye the Sailor! Over the decades, Segar’s comic strip, Thimble Theatre Starring Popeye, along with the Fleischer brothers’ (and later, Famous Studios’) cartoons, generated an incalculable number of laughs, and possibly an equally multitudinous amount of toys.

I was introduced to the one-eyed sailor through Popeye and His Pals, a local TV show from Windsor, Ontario, that we picked up across the Detroit River in the Motor City. The show was emceed by two sailor-themed kiddie show hosts, Captain Jolly on weekdays, and Poopdeck Paul on the weekends. I was plopped down in front of the TV set pretty much every day to watch that show, and it made me an avid Popeye fan, so naturally, Popeye toys were a part of my childhood. But it was as a young professional artist that I began collecting Popeye toys and other merchandise, due to a more serious interest in the Fleischer cartoons, and to reading the early comic strips in a series of books published by Fantagraphics.

Captain Jolly and Poopdeck Paul

My accumulation of Popeye stuff has always competed for attention with my Batman collection, so it’s modest at best. But since December is not only Segar’s birth month (he was born Dec. 8, 1894) but also the annual TOYHEM! celebration here at 13th Dimension, I thought it would be fun to show 13 FAVORITE POPEYE TOYS from my collection!

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This rubber jointed Popeye doll was made by Cameo in the 1950s. I’m still on the hunt for the missing pipe!

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In the 1960s Soaky bubble bath always made bath time fun. A few decades ago, I had a huge collection of Soaky bottles featuring just about every cartoon character you can imagine, from Huckleberry Hound to Jiminy Cricket. That collection took up a lot of space, so I ended up selling most of it. But of course, along with Batman, Robin, Superman, and the Universal Monsters, I kept this wonderfully off-model Popeye bottle.

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Before Spotify and iTunes, and even before Walkmans, kids took their music with them via transistor AM radios. This cool Popeye radio, complete with carry strap and wooden pipe, was made in the swingin’ ’70s by Philgee International in Hong Kong.

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This doll is a bit of a mystery. I got it in a trade several years ago, and the previous owner didn’t know much about it. It’s probably from Europe, maybe Italian, and is made of felt over a wire frame covered in foam rubber. I’m always looking for information about this doll, but nothing ever seems to surface.

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Like most kids, I hated wearing ties, but having one with a cartoon character on it could make it bearable, if not downright cool. I love that this tie came with a pipe! This gives me an idea for a future TOYHEM! article — toys from the past that encouraged smoking! (NOTE From Dan: I’ll take it!) This is probably from the 1950s.

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Speaking of play-time pseudo tobacco-use for kids, here’s a Popeye pipe toy from 1958 that both lights up (to look like real tobacco burning!) and toots!

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I don’t know if banks really qualify as toys, but here’s a small collection of them from various decades. The heavy, cast iron Wimpy bank doubles as a doorstop here at stately Morrison Manor, and is probably from the 1930s or ’40s. The metal daily dime bank with built-in counter is from 1956, and the ceramic Popeye bank was manufactured in 1980.

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This Popeye Party Game is a riff on the birthday party standard, “pin the tail on the donkey.” In this case, party-going kids were blindfolded and had to pin the pipe on Popeye. This is from Whitman, manufactured in 1937. I love the airbrushed art of Popeye on the poster so much, I had it framed.

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I’ve always loved Colorforms! This Popeye Cartoon Kit features Popeye, Brutus, and Olive Oyl, with art based on the lackluster, made-for-TV cartoons of the late 1950s. As an adult, I don’t enjoy the low production values of those shorts, nor the cheap-looking art on these Colorforms, but as a kid, it was Popeye, and that was enough to get me excited. I do love the box art on this 1957 kit!

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Based on the box design, I’d say this Collegeville Popeye costume is from the 1950s, but it doesn’t have a date. It also doesn’t have the plastic spinach can prop that originally came with this cool and unusual Halloween outfit.

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Tom Sims and Bill Zaboly were the writer and artist, respectively, on the Thimble Theatre comic strip when this “Color and Re-color” book was published in 1957. It’s nice to see that these talented and often forgotten Popeye creators were able to pick up some dough on the side by working on merchandise.

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This unused Popeye Pipe Toss Game, manufactured by the Rosebud Art Company, is the oldest piece in my collection, dating to 1935.

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I saved this one for last because of its curious nature. Maybe it’s just me, but I find it sort of amazing that nobody at Aladdin Industries in 1980 thought that a kids’ lunchbox showing Olive Oyl, battered and mangled at the hands of Popeye and Bluto was problematic.

The image on the front is very nice, showing the core Thimble Theatre cast with the two rivals for Olive’s affection engaged in a harmless arm wrestling contest. But that cringe back image… ouch! I can’t even see the shared word balloon “She’s mine!” passing muster today.

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— A CHARLIE BROWN CHRISTMAS at 60: 13 SECRETS Behind the Holiday Classic. Click here.

— Dig These 13 Fab BATMAN MODEL KITS From the ’60s to the ’90s. Click here.