| Castor Oyl | |
|---|---|
 | |
|
Real name |
Castor Oyl |
|
First appearance |
Syndicated comic strip The Thimble Theatre (14 January 1920) |
|
Original publisher |
King Features Syndicate |
|
Created by |
E. C. Segar |
Origin[]
Castor Oyl is Olive Oyl's brother and became the other protagonist of the Thimble Theatre comic strip. He would sometimes get involved with money schemes with Olive's boyfriend Ham Gravy. His parents are Cole Oyl and Nana Oyl.
In 1926, Castor met and fell in love with Cylinda Lotts, the spoiled, attractive, adult daughter of I. Caniford Lotts. Eventually Castor and Cylinda would be married for two years within the strip, from 1926 to 1928 with the stories in that year's Sundays would be the sort of domestic foibles of newlyweds common in comic strips of that time, with Mr. Lotts as a regular, disapproving father-in-law/antagonist to Castor.
In the June 1, 1928 strip, Castor would come home only to see a strange man there, studio executive Mr. Flimbo, offering Cylinda thousands of dollars to move to Hollywood to become a movie actress, "and leave that sap husband behind." Cylinda immediately accepted, declaring she had always wanted to be an actress (even though she had never expressed that desire in her entire two years in the strip). Castor tried to forbid it, but she just ignored him. Finally, Castor tearfully told Cylinda he was leaving her and wished her good luck on her film career. Cylinda, who took the moment to bring up how tired she was of housework, and her eagerness to get her film career started, did not seem to mind.
In the December 23 strip, Castor realized it had been a while since he had written to his wife, and decided to do some Christmas shopping for her at a local store. There, Castor noticed a radio on display and used it to pick up a broadcast from his hometown's radio station two thousand miles away, just in time to hear the news announcement that, "wife of Castor Oyl gets divorce on grounds of desertion", which shocked and angered him.
Later Castor obtains Bernice, an 'African escape hen', from his uncle, Lubry Kent Oyl, who raised her from the egg as, he explains, such a bird cannot be caught, and proceeds to showcase her escaping abilities. Uncle Lubry goes on to offer Castor one thousand dollars if he is able to kill the hen. Castor fails at every attempt, even as Bernice grows attached to her new master and does not leave him alone, staying with Castor after Uncle Lubry leaves.
Castor Oyl and his sidekick Ham Gravy, who sought Popeye's services in order to travel to the gambling paradise of Dice Island and make it big using the luck-enhancing powers of their mysterious pet, Bernice the Whiffle Hen, and through them he would meet Castor's sister, Olive Oyl who at first was not too fond of the sailor and vice versa. Even her first words to him were harsh: "Take your hooks offa me or I'll lay ya in a scupper", and they fought bitterly---and hilariously---for months.
Now fabulously wealthy from the trio's excursion to Dice Island, Olive is sought and courted by the shady equivocator Julius Herringbone, inciting Ham's envy and leading Castor to enlist Popeye to apprehend Herringbone.
Astonished by Popeye's unorthodox manner of speech and lack of academic knowledge, Castor enlists a private tutor to give Popeye a formal education (despite the sailor's simultaneous bewilderment by and adamant refusal to be contained by the tutor's routines and methods).
Having successfully apprehended Herringbone, Castor, Olive and Ham (in his final regular speaking role within the daily continuity) regain their fortunes from Dice Island. Castor proceeds to spend the entirety of his finances on purchasing a "brass mine" (despite Cole Oyl and Nana Oyl's repeated insistence on the fictionality of such an entity) and, accompanied by Popeye and Bernice, sets out to lay claim to the "mine" (to ultimately and predictably unsuccessful results).
Following the exposure of the "brass mine" scam, Popeye falls into a skirmish with a policeman (having first confronted one another in the prior storyline), leading to his and Castor's subsequent arrest; disdainful of Popeye punching a jailer (to unconsciousness), Castor attempts to encourage the sailor to swear off fighting to no avail. Glib and Blabber, the duo of equivocators responsible for the brass mine scam, are arrested soon afterwards and placed into the same cell as Castor and Popeye. While the muscular Blabber attempts to assault Popeye with a knife, the sailor, following a confrontation, finally defeats him with a single abnormally-intense punch, which in turn breaks his arm. Popeye, despite his injury, subsequently warps the bars of the cell, enabling him and Castor to easily escape imprisonment. Pursued by the policeman for reincarceration, the duo are eventually cornered on a coastal clifftop but escape via leaping into the water below, a feat enabled by Popeye's virtual indestructibility.
The pair subsequently purloin a small boat and row into deeper water to evade the policeman, seeking refuge on a ship Popeye suspects to be the Black Barnacle, owned by the malevolent and allegedly-mythical Sea Hag. Despite the sailor's fear of the Hag and "evil spiriks" occupying the vessel, Popeye and Castor board the ship and are soon cornered by the policeman.
Public Domain Comic Strip Appearances[]
- Thimble Theater (1920–1929)
Public Domain Literary Appearances[]
- All the Funny Folks (1926)
Notes[]
- In the early days of Thimble Theatre Ham Gravy, Olive Oyl, and Willie Wormwood were portrayed as performers in different roles. By the time Castor was introduced, the strip had already dropped the changing roles, and Castor was introduced as Olive's brother and remained that way.
- In the 1935 short The Spinach Overture, Castor appeared as a non-speaking member of Popeye's orchestra. This marks his only appearance in any Popeye animated material.