Swee'Pea

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Swee'Pea is a character in E.C. Segar's comic strip Thimble Theatre and in the "Popeye" cartoon series derived from it. His name suggests the flower known as the Sweat Pea.

In the comics, Swee'Pea is a baby found on Popeye's doorstep. Popeye adopts and raises him as his son, or, as he puts it "boy-kid". Initially Swee'Pea's speech consisted entirely of the sound "glop". As the years went on, Swee'Pea apparently aged enough to speak normally; however, his appearance remained that of a crawling baby.

In the animated "Popeye" cartoons produced by Max Fleischer and later by Famous Studios, Swee'Pea was portrayed as being in the care of Olive Oyl, although it was unclear whether he was her own child. In the feature film version, Swee'pea is found on the doorstep of the Oyl home where Popeye lives as a boarder. He proposes the name Swee'pea for the child; Olive objects, saying it sounds ridiculous, and he retorts "Well, what were you going to call him? Baby Oyl?"