| ||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||
Willie Wormwood (or Willy Wormwood), also known as Bondo Bitter, is the original antagonist of Thimble Theatre. A parody of the lanky, mustachioed and darkly-clad antagonists archetypical within the silent cinema and stage melodramas of the early 20th century, Wormwood, while initially one of three central "actors" within the early strip (alongside Harold Hamgravy and Olive Oyl), would prove short-lived, vanishing within less than three months as E. C. Segar modified the strip's premise into a form in which Wormwood's narrative and satirical functions were increasingly incompatible.
Character history[]
Creation and Development for Thimble Theatre[]
Willie Wormwood was created by E. C. Segar for Thimble Theatre in December 1919, then primarily a satire of the archetypical characters and narrative devices populating the theatrical dramas and silent cinema of the era. Resultantly, Wormwood was depicted as an actor typically cast as the conniving villain to Harold Hamgravy's hero and Olive Oyl's damsel. Following Segar's disposal of much of the strip's theatrical satire in January 1920, however, Wormwood (now depicted as a similarly-scheming antagonist "offstage") became an increasingly minor figure, possibly owing to his growing incompatibility with the comic's newfound focus on the more grounded and anecdotal dysfunctionality of Olive and the slightly-renamed Ham Gravy's relationship. Despite undergoing a redesign rendering him more visually reminiscent of a Mexican bandit (complete with sombrero and a slightly burlier physiognomy), Wormwood's final appearance ultimately occurred on March 9, 1920, less than three months following the strip's debut (and, coincidentally, exactly a decade before the final regular speaking appearance of his fellow early co-star, Ham Gravy).
Willie's character was an old-fashioned villain, suave, well-dressed and mustachioed, having been Segar's own take of the iconic and archetypical stock "Villain" character that has existed since the 18th century in Victorian stage melodrama who was used as the embodiment of villainy and the evil nature of man in many of said stage shows, as well as in Vaudeville acts and classic silent film shorts, such as the 1913 short film Barney Oldfield's Race for a Life. However, he was eventually dropped from the series as more popular characters were being introduced (like Castor Oyl).
Famous Studios[]
Roger Blackleg in Cartoons Ain't Human
While Wormwood himself (owing to his obscurity and his significantly predating Popeye's introduction) never appeared in any animated Popeye media, a character who was also based on Wormwood's villainous archetype appeared in the 1943 Famous Studios animated short Cartoons Ain't Human, known as Roger Blackleg who, much like Wormwood himself, was also a suave and sinister villain with a top hat and prominent mustache. In the cartoon, Blackleg served as the main antagonist yet, unlike Wormwood, he was not a real person within the story but simply a cartoon character made by Popeye for his own animated short.
Revivals[]
After nearly a century, Willie finally made a return appearance as late as 2012 in the second issue of IDW Publishing's Popeye comic series. In the story "The Worm Returns", he appears as a vaudeville actor who vies with Popeye for Olive's affections, with ulterior criminal motives.
Biography[]
Past[]
Willie Wormwood was a dastardly villain who sought to win the hand of the naive and young damsel Olive Oyl (who would often fall for the sinister villain's suave words and cunning tricks) by any means necessary, even using her in his nefarious plots, but each time he would be bested by the odd efforts of a young Harold Hamgravy. Eventually, Willie was scared off for good and never bothered the young Olive and Harold again.
"The Worm Returns"[]
Much time had passed since Willie Wormwood's disappearance and Olive was now in a relationship with the man of her dreams, Popeye. One day, Olive decided to move closer to Popeye's house and it was then that she would encounter the suave Mr. Wormwood with no recollection of their past misadventures. Wormwood claimed to be a famous vaudeville actor and offered to help Olive and her family move in. Upon arriving at Olive's house, Popeye immediately grew jealous of Wormwood's "fancy talk" and his subtle wooing of Olive, until Ms. Oyl directed Popeye to leave. Later on, J. Wellington Wimpy overheard a conversation between Wormwood and a man named McSkeever, and discovered that Wormwood was still a nefarious crook who had only been trying to court Olive in order to find the location of a set of stolen oil paintings that were hidden away under the floorboards of Olive's new house. When Wimpy told Popeye this, the sailor confronted Wormwood and let him have it, much to Olive's disapproval.
Popeye and Wormwood (and eventually McSkeever) fought in an all out brawl as Olive rejected Popeye. She then decided to check under the floorboards to prove Popeye wrong, only to realize that there was indeed a treasure trove of rare paintings under the house. The now furious Olive went outside and helped the discouraged Popeye by whaling on Wormwood and McSkeever herself. Popeye then dealt a mighty finishing blow to Wormwood that knocked the dastardly villain out instantly, and the two nefarious crooks were taken away by the police, never to spoil another day again.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- Willie being portrayed as a Vaudeville actor may be a reference to the fact that he is based on the stock villain character who was used frequently in said stage shows, as well as their predecessor the Victorian stage melodrama.
External links[]
[]
