Seeking sanctuary: Popeye, Roger Williams and the promise of Israel

It’s easy to research the history of Popeye and his playful planet, but I have a private perception of his spinach and his search. Created in 1929 by American Jewish cartoonist Elzie Crisler Segar he has a special place in my heart. I believe that he is the doppelganger of the Wandering Jew, keeping kosher, pursuing the love of his life, Olive Oyl, raising Swee’ Pea, and feeding his friend Wimpy proper burgers.

Comics were a Jewish invention to publish accounts of their quests...and their travels among the islands of hope and despair. An unemployed Jewish teacher from the Bronx, Maxwell Gaines (formerly Ginsberg) began putting humorous newspaper comic strips into a magazine format. I once read that “I yam what I yam” was, in the war of 1812, a Jewish-American sailor’s refusal to swear allegiance on the New Testament.

You may recall that Popeye’s father lives on another island far away, not unlike my own grandfather who left his dad when he became a footgoer, traveling across Europe and camping out in search of a job in England. Eventually he served as a stevedore in order to to cross the channel... and thus, his first-born, my own dad, was born in London. Having read about all the artists, illustrators and writers who created him, I have become increasingly inclined to think of Popeye as my role model, which explains, perhaps, why I offer this portrait of him to carry along on my travels.

My tribute to the sailor man may also be part of a celebration of our ocean state with multiple islands in our bays and its Hebrew names such Jerusalem and Galilee for our settlements. It even sheds light on the story of Roger Williams who sought refuge right here among what are now our streets and among our little hills and river valleys. Just as Williams found a haven in Rhode Island from the Puritan restrictions of Massachusetts, Israel is the place where Jews went and still go to escape intolerance and find a place to flourish...and both places played their parts in different versions of the American dream. Maybe Popeye is watching over you!

MIKE FINK (mfink33@aol.com) is a professor emeritus at the Rhode Island School of Design.