If faced with a choice of soapy bath water as in POPEYE #50 (Dell Comics, Cover Date: October-December, 1959), or soapy wash water as in YOSEMITE SAM #27 (Gold Key Comics, Cover Date: April, 1975), what would YOU do to keep from dying of thirst?
The oddball thing about poor Sam's predicament is that Bugs Bunny DOESN'T WEAR ANY CLOTHES, so what is he washing?
9 comments:
To everyone… but Sergio and Achille in particular:
Due to the usual (and some UN-usual) factors, it took me an extraordinary amount to post and respond to your last two comments on the previous (Chilly Willy) post.
They are there now, should you wish to see them… and sorry for the extraordinary delay in processing them.
No worries, Joe... I hope all is well.
I saw your reply and enjoyed it, particularly your review of "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre." Your review has only deepened my interest in this film. I'm intrigued to learn that the film is based on a book by B. Traven, an author whose true identity is a mystery! Wow! Now I'll have to read the book and watch the movie someday.
I've always been fascinated by pseudonyms, especially whenn the true identity of the person behind them is unknown. In fact, I jointly run a blog about the Georgia Guidestones, a mysterious monument formerly located in Elberton, Georgia. It was quite an unusual monument, featuring 10 guidelines for humanity in a post-apocalyptic future. The guidelines were listed in 8 languages. The structure also had astronomical features. It could be used as a clock, calendar, and compass. The guidelines, which advocated population control and global governance, were controversial. In the Internet age, the Guidestones became linked to conspiracy theories.
The monument was mysterious because it was commissioned in 1979 by someone using the pseudonym R. C. Christian. Christian only revealed his true identity to one person: Wyatt Martin, the banker who handled the escrow account that financed the monument's construction. Martin swore to keep Christian's identity a secret, and he kept that vow until his death in 2021. This secrecy further contributed to the monument's controversy. In 2022, the monument was destroyed in an act of domestic terrorism. The identity of the culprit was never discovered.
That being said, we now know who R. C. Christian was. And no, contrary to popular belief, he wasn't Ted Turner. Check out my blog to learn more. (Actually, most of the research behind it is the work of Annetta Peneguy, but she's kind enough to let me help her run the blog. Alas, both of us are too "horrifically busy" to update it as often as we'd like!)
As to the issue at hand, I'd go with Popeye's situation. At least he knows Olive Oyl well and is intimate with her, so hopefully her bath water wouldn't be as dangerous as Bugs's wash water? Maybe? Or maybe not... it's a tough predicament, for sure. Why are Bugs and Olive Oyl not drinking the water themselves instead of contaminating it, anyway? Why, they don't seem the least bit fatigued, let alone dehydrated! They must be mirages, figments of Popeye's and Sam's imaginations!
Alternatively, one could cut an opening in the cactus plants and drink the water that flows out. That was going to be my smart-aleck answer, but the thought piqued my curiosity about cacti enough to have me consult ChatGPT, and ChatGPT says, "Drinking water from a desert cactus is usually not a good idea — most contain bitter or toxic compounds that can cause dehydration instead of relieving it."
Maybe I should use ChatGPT less often. It ruined a perfectly good smart-aleck answer. :(
It seems Bugs is washing socks, which is odd, to say the least. It would have made more sense to have him washing gloves, as that's the only article of clothing he wears, not counting the occasional disguise.
Well, Bugs does wear gloves...so it would have made sense if the artist had shown him hanging gloves on the cactus to dry. But no, he has hung up *socks* to dry! The only explanation I can come up with is that, like me, he wears socks to bed in the cold months!
Also, the color of the gloves he's wearing is interesting--why blue and not white? Maybe he's wearing plastic gloves to do the laundry? Most household plastic gloves are yellow, but in fact I do have a blue pair.
I’d like to imagine that Bugs was washing a dryer rack filled with plates and bottles from a gourmet (and live saving) meal.. that Bugs kept to himself to taunt Yosemite Sam. That seems like a classic Looney Tunes gag. Unfortunately the socks hanging on the cactus ruin under mind the plausibility of my imagination.
The premise of Popeye and Olive Oyl in the desert reminds me of Castor’s legendary sunday page desert trek. It’s been a few years since I’ve read any of EC Segar’s newspaper strips and this serves as a reminder to give em a re-read!
By the way Joe, have you seen any of the trailers for the new (and fully animated) Looney Tunes movie “The Day The Earth Blew Up”. The adventurous premise reminds me more of the adventures the Looney cast got up to in the dell comics than the classic cartoons. I’m quite excited to see how it turns out.
Sergio:
Re: "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre", you should definitely see the movie! It’s one of the all-time greats from Hollywood’s finest period, where stories mattered and actors were individually and singularly memorable! And, in my opinion at least, Warner Bros. was the best at making this sort of film! As you already know, they were also the best at making cartoon short subjects to accompany these films. And, in this case, both aspects of WB come together to form a whole that makes both feature film and short subject cumulatively more enjoyable!
I’ve never been a reader of novels, so I haven’t read the book, but the mystery author aspect would make it all the more interesting. But for now, I’m content to let Humphrey Bogart and Walter and John Huston tell me this truly great story in their own way. I highly recommend it to you – and any others unfamiliar with the film!
That Georgia Guidestones matter sounds fascinating, especially the part about “featuring 10 guidelines for humanity in a post-apocalyptic future.”! They better start issuing that in paperback form, because I fear we’re gonna need it! Odd that I’d never heard of it until you mentioned it… but, since things like this are always steeped in mystery, I’ll just add it to my list of “Things I Learned in 2025”.
Popeye might very well be seeing a mirage, as Olive Oyl is his “dream girl” and all-around sweet patootie, but Bugs is probably really there heckling Sam into madness.
As to where he got the socks, clothesline, and washboard, he probably just reached behind his back and produced them as he does with everything else! In fact, the whole thing might be nothing but a big joke on Sam. Bugs might have simply produced the “Last Chance Waterhole” sign, also from behind his back to drive Sam even more “desert dune-y”, and there’s another clean waterhole right over the next dune behind Bugs – just out of Sam’s (and our) sight!
“Maybe I should use ChatGPT less often. It ruined a perfectly good smart-aleck answer. :(”
Or maybe you should use ChatGPT less often – PERIOD! :-) RESIST! FIGHT THE MACHINE!
Elaine:
If Bugs were typically heckling Sam, as he so often does, he might just take any available prop of clothing to carry the gag. Socks, being associated with a sometimes “smelly” part of the body, and thus further polluting the water, would seem a more “editorially allowable” choice for a garment wrapping a potentially “smelly” part of the body than underwear!
Oh, and this being “true confession time”, I *do* wear socks to bed… year-round in fact… and have had pairs of blue disposable gloves – doesn’t everybody?!
Ryan:
Yes, the sumptuous meal fully consumed in the desert wastes *does* seem more Bugs’ style! Great observation!
But I think, regarding the practicalities of cover art illustration, the socks (no matter what lengths we go to – in this very thread, in fact – to apply even screwy logic to the gag) are just the clearer and more impulse-purchase eye-catchingly way to go!
…Besides Bugs can produce darned near anything at will. He could be using that precious water to scrub down a battleship, for that matter! In the final analysis, Bugs got what he needed to bedevil Sam, and *we* got a good “Separated at Mirth” out of it! …Everybody wins – except Sam and Popeye!
It’s ALWAYS good to re-read Segar, and Gottfredson, and Barks! No matter how many “new things” may come along to catch our fancy, they are always the “Gold Standard Pillars” the rest is built on!
I know little or nothing about “The Day the Earth Blew Up” beyond its title tribute to (1951’s) “The Day the Earth Stood Still”, one of the all-time sci-fi greats – though still behind the greatest of them all “Forbidden Planet” (1956)! But, if it’s “traditionally animated” (and not CGI), I might give it a look when it’s released to DVD/Blu-ray. Let me know your thoughts once you see it.
PS: TO RYAN:
I recently discovered an old e-mail you sent to me back around year-end that got lost among the many things that I try to keep track of! Blame more comics work than usual for some of that confusion – but that’s more of a “win” in the larger sense! Still my fault, though!
I deeply apologize for that, and hope to reply soon!
The Day The Earth Blew Up is, in fact traditionally animated in 2D.
Good! Then I *will* give it a look when it's out on DVD/Blu-ray! Thanks!
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