How old are Popeye and Olive Oyl supposed to be?
Popeye is in his early 40’s. He’s around 42. In the Thimble Theater comic strip, Segar let readers know that Popeye was 42 years old. In the 1953 cartoon, Ace Of Space, when Popeye is made younger by that Martian “de-aging” machine, you’ll notice that the machine sets his present age at around “40.” Segar also established that Olive Oyl was in her twenties. Maybe this is partly why the Famous Studios creators adopted the “sweet young thing/Betty Boopish” personality for Ms. Oyl as time went on. One KFS cartoon took advantage of the characters’ age differences when, in Kiddie Capers, Olive tells Popeye that he’s too old for her. Popeye sure has more Vim, Vigor, And Vitaliky in his 40s than I do in mine! Must be the spinach. However, to further muddy the waters, Bud Sagendorf, who did the comic strip and Popeye comic books for years, said that Popeye is perpetually 34! Thanks to Shade Ford and Mike Brooks for help with this question.
