Dear Otus,
I grew up in Springdale, but moved away in 1984. I recently came back for the holidays and was shocked to discover there is no longer a statue of Popeye in front of Allen Canning on Thompson Street. There's just an empty pedestal.
It's like part of my childhood has been ripped from my heart and it makes me sad. Now I live with regrets over the bittersweet loss of innocence, the red track of the moon upon the lake, the inability to return and do it again.
I weep for the passage of time.
-- John Geddes,
Santa Monica, Calif.
Dear John,
It was wholly a pleasure to hear from you and to note that you have, indeed, been gone a long, long time. To quote Ovid, "Omnia mutantur; nihil interit."
Yes, the 7-foot fiberglass Popeye statue is gone from in front of Allen Canning. In fact, Allen Canning is also gone, having been acquired by an outfit that changed the name to Sager Creek Vegetable Co.
It's fortunate you didn't return for a visit a couple of years ago. You would have been shocked at the state of disrepair into which Popeye had fallen. Evidently the statue received little maintenance since it was erected in 1966 and the ravages of time and weather had taken its toll.
Fortunately, Sager Creek has restored the statue and it's now on display in front of the company headquarters on Main Street in Siloam Springs. Popeye is mounted on a crate that sports the company slogan, "Eat your Veggies."
Sager Creek still markets the old Allen brands such as Veg-All, Freshlike, Trappey's, Princella, Allen's Butterfield, Royal Prince and Sugary Sam.
It also still cans Allen's Popeye Spinach, undaunted in the face of a vicious anti-spinach publicity assault by the recently sprouted anti-Popeye forces, in collusion with the powerful and influential Kale Conglomerate.
"Kale is the new spinach" is their rallying cry. Also, "Borecole uber alles!"
That kale has become the darling of the militant vegan fringe and has arrived as America's latest culinary fad is remarkable given that kale is largely inedible and looks like something you'd weed whack out of the ditch in the backyard.
Sager Creek is just the latest in a long line of canning companies to inherit the Popeye conundrum. It all began in January 1966 when Springdale's Steele Canning Co. introduced Popeye brand spinach. Spinach sales soared.
Steele Canning was later sold to another company that was in turn sold to Allen, which was eventually bought by Sager Creek.
Granted, Popeye was not always a problem, but the kale forces have besmirched and denigrated the once-beloved spinach-loving cartoon character in an attempt to corner the leafy green vegetable market.
It was on today's very date in 1929 that Popeye the Sailor Man, a cartoon character created by Elzie Segar, first appeared in the daily King Features Thimble Theatre comic strip. Popeye went on to animated glory in 1933 when Fleischer Studios adapted the characters into a series of Popeye the Sailor theatrical cartoon shorts for Paramount Pictures.
With such beloved characters as Bluto, Olive Oyl, Swee'Pea and Wimpy, the cartoons became an American staple.
The cartoons are now owned by Turner Entertainment, but we may never see them again thanks to the efforts of the anti-Popeye movement.
In addition to the kale lobby, there are the proponents of the Stolen Valor Act of 2013 that makes it a crime for a person "to fraudulently claim military service with the intention of obtaining money, property or other tangible benefits."
It seems Popeye the Sailor, despite his forearm anchor tattoo and nautical accoutrements, can't prove that he was ever in the U.S. Navy. Navy veterans are outraged he would claim such service.
Then there is the Graves Disease Anti-defamation League that insists Popeye's bulging left eye is a sign of hyperthyroidism and unilateral exophthalmos and should not be the subject of levity or amusement.
The anti-tobacco industry finds fault with Popeye's corncob pipe, despite the fact he typically only uses the device to blow the musical notes, "toot-toot."
Finally, in a 2012 study, the Karolinska Institute in Sweden reported that although spinach may contain beneficial nitrates, downing an entire can (13.5 ounces) in one gulp will not give one instant bulging biceps. The Food and Drug Administration subsequently banned the cartoons as false advertising.
Until next time, Kalaka reminds you that the 12-foot-tall chicken and turkey that used to be on East Robinson in Springdale are now in front of Preferred Poultry Supply on U.S. 62 in Lincoln.
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Fayetteville-born Otus the Head Cat's award-winning column of humorous fabrication appears every Saturday. Email:
HomeStyle on 01/17/2015