Swee Pea: Fun facts

Now that MeTV is airing classic cartoons on Toon in with me, I am enjoying so many of my favorite animated programs from childhood. This morning I viewed Popeye the Sailor in “ We Aim to Please”. In this episode, Popeye and Olive Oyl open a restaurant and Wimpy shows up. He had no money and says his famous signature line: “ I’ll gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today.” As a child, I would laugh when my great aunt Gladys would utter these words.

In this episode, Popeye refers to Olive as “Sweet Pea” and I thought of the baby girl of the same name who would be on this program when I was watching it as a young child. Imagine my surprise when I did a little research and found that the baby’s name is not Sweet Pea, but Swee Pea and he is a boy. This would mean that Popeye referred to Olive as Swee Pea and I had misunderstood. For the longest time, when I saw the baby crawling the song “ Come on Sweet Pea" came to mind. Tommy Roe's Sweet Pea was a girl as was one of my childhood friends. We used to sing the hit 1966 song to her all the time.

Oh Sweet Pea, come on and dance with me

Come on, come on, come on and dance with me

Oh Sweet Pea, won't you be my girl?

Won't you? Won't you? Won't you be my girl?

Swee' Pee first appeared in 1936 in the episode Little Swee'pea. I noticed in the video that the child is wearing a sailor hat and looks like a boy but I guess I did not pay attention before. Popeye picks the baby of from Olive Oyl's house which seems to imply the child is hers. The writers of the Rug Rats must have taken a page from Swee Pea's book because the similarities are astounding. Just like Tommy, Phil, and Lil, Little Swee Pee gets away from adult supervision and has his own adventures,

Popeye's Swee Pea has also been spelled Swee'pea and Sweapea and once was called Sweep Pea. This cute little character is from E. C. Segar's comic strip Thimble Theatre/Popeye and the cartoon series that came from it. The name refers to the flower known as the sweet pea. Baby Swee'Pea is left in a box on Popeye's doorstep in the comic strip.(actually delivered to him in a box) in a July 24, 1933 strip. Popeye adopts the child and initially, the only sound he makes is "glop". In later episodes, Swee Pea could speak also throw punches when necessary. He never grew and was always crawling with the tail of his gown hanging out. This is one reason I thought the baby was a girl.

In the August 17, 1933 comic strip Popeye christens Swee'Pea as "Scooner Seawell Georgia Washenting Christiffer Columbia Daniel Boom". A few times in later comics Popeye refers to the baby as Scooner and in a couple of episodes, Olive Oyl says Swee Pea is her cousin. In animated Popeye cartoons produced by Max Fleischer and later by Famous Studios, Swee'Pea it was implied that Swee Pea was in the care of Olive Oyl. Some may have assumed this was her child, but nothing was said about a husband or her being a widow. Olive being an unwed mother probably was not the intention in those days. In the early 1960's King Features cartoons portrayed Swee'Pea as Popeye's nephew.

From 1936–1938 Mae Questel provided the voice for Swee'Pea until voice actress Margie Hines took over from 1938 to 1943. In the 1960s Mae Questel resumed the voice of the tike in Popeye shorts. During the 1970s-1980s Marilyn Schreffler was Swee'Pea's voice. Corinne Orr had the role of Swee'Pea in 1972's Popeye Meets The Man Who Hated Laughter. Swee'Pea was voiced by Tabitha St. Germain in 2004 in Popeye's Voyage The Quest for Pappy. Five women lending their voices to the role may be another reason that some believed the baby to be a girl.