Can of Allens Popeye cut leaf spinach
Object Details
- date made
- 2007
- Description
- Can of Allens Popeye brand cut leaf spinach, fancy grade, 14 oz. Metal can with paper label. Label features image of Popeye with a pipe in his mouth and crossing his arms above a photograph of spinach leaves. Popeye has long been associated with his strength-enhancing consumption of spinach, and it’s been reported that the character helped increase American spinach consumption by 33% since his debut. Cans of cooked spinach like this, featuring a colorful cartoon endorsement by Popeye himself, have been staples of supermarket shelves across the United States for the past 50 years. In 1966, the Arkansas-based Steele Canning Company licensed the Popeye character for its canned spinach and created a full-color label for the product featuring an illustration of Popeye eating spinach. At a press conference at the Americana Hotel in New York in December 1965, company founder Joe Steele outlined his hope that the popular character would help boost American spinach consumption. "It is our belief that the introduction of the Popeye label will create a larger consumer interest in spinach," Steele said. "Spinach ranks seventh in annual vegetable sales, and we think it should be higher than this." The branded spinach rolled out with a national press campaign, including visits to Arkansas sites by Popeye live action actor Herb Messinger, and was successful nationally as well as locally. Arkansas residents, so proud of the state’s association with Popeye, erected statues of the character in Alma and Springdale. In remarks on the floor of the House of Representatives in 1983, Arkansas representative John P. Hammerschmidt commended the Allen family for their wise association of the state’s spinach industry with Popeye. In 1978, the Arkansas-based Allen Canning Company acquired the Popeye spinach brand, which was then acquired by Del Monte in 2015, then McCall Farms in 2018.
- Popeye the Sailor Man is one of the most recognizable and long-lived comic strip characters in American history. The character has been featured in adaptations in a variety of media and used as a notable spokesperson for consumer products, licensed toys and other goods, and political and social causes. Popeye has been a remarkably popular comic character from his first appearance in 1929 to today, loved by his fans for his anti-authoritarian sense of justice, self-reliant courage under fire, and his confident, good-humored authenticity. From his use as a mascot during World War II, through fans’ proud self-identification in purchasing Popeye merchandise, to his use as a spokesperson for social causes, Popeye has become a representation of American values and spirit, both at home and abroad.
- The Popeye character was created by Elzie Crisler Segar, who first wrote him in to a storyline in his King Features comic strip Thimble Theatre on January 17, 1929. Popeye is a sailor, usually depicted with a sailor’s cap, pipe, prominent cleft chin, one squinty eye, and bulging forearms bearing anchor tattoos. He is distinguished by the superhuman strength and combat prowess he gains from eating spinach. Popeye is often depicted as unsophisticated, his working class New Jersey accent peppered with humorous malapropisms, but he possesses a strong moral compass and seeks to right wrongs and defend and champion underdogs from bullies and unjust authority. Popeye courts the lanky, headstrong Olive Oyl, often rescuing her from the brutish sometimes-romantic rival Bluto, and is occasionally shown caring for a child named Swee-Pea said to be either a founding, relative, or son of Olive Oyl.
- Popeye proved to be a fan favorite and breakout star of Thimble Theatre, making the strip one of the most popular in the country by the early 1930s, with Popeye ranked Fortune magazine readers’ second favorite comic character after Little Orphan Annie in a 1937 poll. The strip – renamed Popeye in the 1970s, continued to be published daily until 1992, after which it continued as a Sunday strip to today, making it one of the longest running comic strips in American history.
- Fleischer Studios licensed Popeye and the other Thimble Theatre characters for a series of animated shorts released by Paramount Pictures from the 1930s-1950s, and these popular cartoons expanded the character’s universe and popularity. The shorts introduced Popeye’s theme song (“I'm strong to the ‘finich’, 'cause I eats me spinach! I’m Popeye the sailor man!”) and cemented his reputation as a brave and virtuous brawler; many 1940s entries in the series featured Popeye fighting the Axis Powers on behalf of the United States. The cartoon series was adapted for television as Popeye the Sailor, which aired from 1960-1962, and has been revived several times in the decades since. Popeye has also been the star of a number of comic book series, web comics, radio programs, video games, and a 1980 live action musical film by Director Robert Altman starring Robin Williams as Popeye and Shelley Duval as Olive Oyl.
- associated subject
- Packaging
- See more items in
- Culture and the Arts: Entertainment
- Popular Entertainment
- Food
- American comedy
- Credit Line
- Gift of King Features Syndicate
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History
- ID Number
- 2024.0153.02
- accession number
- 2024.0153
- catalog number
- 2024.0153.02
- Object Name
- spinach, can of
- Physical Description
- metal (overall material)
- paper (overall material)
- ink (overall material)
- spinach (contents material)
- Measurements
- overall: 4 3/8 in x 2 7/8 in; 11.1125 cm x 7.3025 cm
- Record ID
- nmah_2043395