# Thimble Theater before Popeye **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** comic-strips\ **Created:** [May 17, 2021, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thimble-theater-before-popeye/942262 "2021-05-17T04:01:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2021, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thimble-theater-before-popeye/942262/21 "2021-05-17T19:33:17Z")
Could it be the storyline “Olive’s False Lover” from June-Sept 1929? That would have been just before the introduction of Popeye. [http://www.dimensionedelta.net/jones/popeye/pop\_d\_it.html](http://www.dimensionedelta.net/jones/popeye/pop_d_it.html) ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2021, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thimble-theater-before-popeye/942262/22 "2021-05-17T19:35:55Z")
Dice Island was the first Popeye story, and the story I’m looking for preceded that. I have to admit it’s fun talking about Thimble Theater. ---
**Author:** ![XOldiesJock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/ec9cab/32.png) [@XOldiesJock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XOldiesJock)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2021, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thimble-theater-before-popeye/942262/23 "2021-05-18T01:39:37Z")
Haven’t heard of Thimble Theater in years. That conversion to Cinerama never paid off. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2021, 3:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thimble-theater-before-popeye/942262/24 "2021-05-18T03:21:42Z")
> [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](#): > > I believe most of the prePopeye stories involved Olive’s brother Castor. Ham Gravy was her nominal boyfriend. At the very beginning, [back in 1919](https://www.barnaclepress.com/comic/Thimble%20Theatre/), Harold Hamgravy was the main character. He competed with the strip’s villain, Willie Wormwood. One of the issues they competed over was trying to win the affection of Olive Oyl. Olive’s brother, Castor Oyl, was introduced a few weeks into the strip but was not initially a major character. ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2021, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thimble-theater-before-popeye/942262/25 "2021-05-18T04:40:08Z")
When segars assistant made a history of the popeye strip he said mainly the strip before popeye was various treasure hunts and this page seems to back that up but heres a list of almost all of the story lines > **[List of Thimble Theatre storylines](https://popeye.fandom.com/wiki/List_of_Thimble_Theatre_storylines)** > > Thimble Theatre was created by King Features Syndicate comic writer/artist E.C. Segar, and was his third published strip. The strip first appeared in the New York Journal, a newspaper operated by King Features owner William Randolph Hearst, on... you might try this also: \* [Thimble Theatre](https://www.comicskingdom.com/thimble-theater) comic strips at [Comics Kingdom](https://www.comicskingdom.com/) (Classic strips by Segar; complete archive available via premium membership) ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2021, 4:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thimble-theater-before-popeye/942262/26 "2021-05-18T04:53:11Z")
heres some very early strips … to bad the blog is dead tho [Screwball Comics: 12 Batty Pre-Popeye Thimble Theatre Strips by Segar (1920)](http://screwballcomics.blogspot.com/2012/03/12-batty-pre-popeye-thimble-theatre.html) ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2021, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thimble-theater-before-popeye/942262/27 "2021-05-18T05:10:18Z")
the price for this is for collectors only … > **[Amazon.com: Thimble Theatre and the pre-Popeye Comics of E.C. Segar:...](https://www.amazon.com/Thimble-Theatre-Pre-Popeye-Cartoons-Segar/dp/0983550468)** > > Amazon.com: Thimble Theatre and the pre-Popeye Comics of E.C. Segar: 9780983550464: Segar, E.C., Maresca, Peter, Tisserand, Michael, Heer, Jeet: Books ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2021, 5:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thimble-theater-before-popeye/942262/28 "2021-05-18T05:22:10Z")
> [@nightshadea](#): > > the price for this is for collectors only … > > [https://www.amazon.com/Thimble-Theatre-Pre-Popeye-Cartoons-Segar/dp/0983550468](https://www.amazon.com/Thimble-Theatre-Pre-Popeye-Cartoons-Segar/dp/0983550468) I’m glad I got it when it first came out. It’s a big deluxe book. ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2021, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thimble-theater-before-popeye/942262/29 "2021-05-18T05:26:14Z")
I wonder if the library could get it … they had a series of books on the old donald duck strips done by banks but they couldnt be checked out … ---
**Author:** ![gewise7397](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/839c29/32.png) [@gewise7397](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gewise7397)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2023, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thimble-theater-before-popeye/942262/30 "2023-04-21T14:43:33Z")
I wonder why Fantagraphics hasn’t published a companion set of books of pre-Popeye Thimble Theatre to supplement the excellent Complete Popeye. I hope that happens! ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2023, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thimble-theater-before-popeye/942262/31 "2023-04-21T15:42:14Z")
I forgot about this thread. Sorry. Anyway, I found the story! It was driving me crazy that I couldn’t find it. It was reprinted in the Comics Journal #271, 2005. It’s good ish with a lot of good stuff besides the TT story. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2023, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thimble-theater-before-popeye/942262/32 "2023-04-21T16:51:44Z")
When King Features Syndicate launched a new line of Popeye animated cartoons in the early 1960s, they made a point of reintroducing several minor characters that would only have been familiar to readers of the classic comic strip. For crowd scenes showing a random assemblage of people they included unnamed references to old Thimble Theater characters including Ham Gravy. ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2023, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thimble-theater-before-popeye/942262/33 "2023-04-21T17:28:56Z")
It seems Snidely Whiplash drew heavily from Bondo Bitter. Also, “Edison was a piker” 😂 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/thimble-theater-before-popeye/942262.md?page=1)