Elzie Segar
Elzie Crisler Segar (also EC Segar ; born December 8, 1894 in Chester , Illinois , † October 13, 1938 in Santa Monica , California ) was an American comic artist and the inventor of the character of Popeye . His works he signed with a cigar ( English cigar ), his name rippled from.
Life
Segar was born the youngest of eight children. When he was 12, he found a job in a theater in his native Chester . This theater was converted into a movie theater and he chalked the key scenes of the movie on the sidewalk to attract visitors to the cinema. At the age of 18 he decided to become a cartoonist. He married Myrtle Annie Johnson (* 1895), with whom he had two children, Marie and Thomas (Tom). After several years of hardship, he got a job with the Herald in Chicago through the protection of Richard Felton Outcault , where he drew Charlie Chaplin's Comic Capers until the series was discontinued in 1917.
By William Randolph Hearst Segar was to New York brought where he from 1919 the Daily strip Thimble Theater in New York Journal could publish. Ten years later, in January 1929, the odd sailor Popeye made his debut in this series . Originally a minor character, Popeye would soon dominate the series and lead to great artistic and commercial success.
Inspired by the seaman who also served as a valve for Segar, the draftsman finally mastered his profession. With his anarchic ideas and the bizarre characters that he gradually added to the Thimble Theater , he exerted a great influence on other representatives of the medium. Greats like Carl Barks or André Franquin called his work a source of inspiration.
Elzie Segar passed away at the age of only 43. Liver cirrhosis is usually given as the cause of death, and occasionally leukemia . His final resting place is in the Woodlawn Memorial Cemetery in Santa Monica, California.
Web links
- Literature by and about Elzie Segar in the catalog of the German National Library
- The "Ur-Popeye" at Mare, a review with pictures and quotes from Segar
- 80 years Popeye birthday special
- E. C. Segar in the database of Find a Grave (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ Knigge, Andreas C .: Everything about comics A journey of discovery from the cave pictures to the manga, Europa Verlag, 2004, p. 159
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Segar, Elzie |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Segar, EC; Segar, Elzie Crisler (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American comic book artist and inventor of the character Popeye |
| DATE OF BIRTH | December 8, 1894 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Chester (Illinois) |
| DATE OF DEATH | October 13, 1938 |
| Place of death | Santa Monica |