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E. C. Segar POPEYE & Olive Oyl 4 Panel Comic Strip 1931 King Syndicate Exhibited Original Illustration Cartoon Newspaper Pen and Ink Drawing
Four panel script showing Olive Oyl’s brother, Castor Oyl riding horseback in the desert to the rescue the lost Popeye and Olive Oyl as the resourceful Popeye manages to ‘konk’ a "rabbik" to eat with a rock he’s greeted by Olive Oly proclaiming him a ‘Hero and a Real Provider’ when a vulture snatches their meal and takes flight.
Signed lower right, Segar with his signature drawing of a cigar (read below). ©1931, King Features Syndicate. Inc., Great Britain rights reserves label applied bottom 4th panel with syndication identification label bottom center, 1369 – “Popeye” by E. C. Segar with Charles L. Howard exhibition label applied verso: Exhibited Avoca School Wilmette Ill, January and February 1942, Greeley School, Winnetka, Ill 1943, and South School Glencoe, Ill 1946.
Segar, Elzie Crisler (1894-1938): American cartoonist best known as the creator of the Popeye character who first appeared in his 1929 comic strip “Thimble Theatre”. When asked how to say his name, he told The Literary Digest it was "SEE-gar". He commonly signed his work simply Segar or E. Segar above a drawing of a cigar as seen in this strip lower right.
The state of preservation of these original illustration drawings that are on average over 65 years old is quite exceptional. Very, very few have any creases, tears or losses to the paper and the ink has remained uniformly vivid thanks to the family’s dry flat storage. Given that these were working drawings from which prints were made the expected edge annotations, highlighting, inscriptions, pasted labels, tack holes, staples, glue residues and scattered corrections can be found variously on the examples as illustrated in the photographs. These all add to the authenticity and immediacy of the Wartime newsroom and pressroom atmosphere, serving to reinforce the iconic status of these rare surviving testimonies to the political illustrator’s art. In a few examples additional notations have been made in the description section of the catalogue text for significant damage, however the condition sensitive collector is encouraged to contact our sale expert for additional lot details in advance of the auction date.
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| Estimate | $3,000 - $5,000 |
| Starting Bid | $500 |
