Wimpy

Wimpy was created by newspaper cartoonist Elzie Crisler Segar. He became one of the dominant characters in the newspaper strips. When "Popeye" was adapted as an animated cartoon series by Fleischer Studios Wimpy was made a more minor character, as Dave Fleischer said that the character in the Segar cartoons was "too intellectual" to be used in film cartoons.

Wimpy is Popeye's friend. In the animated cartoons he mainly plays the role of the "straight man" to Popeye's outbursts and wild antics. Wimpy is very intelligent, and well educated, but very lazy and gluttonous. Wimpy is also somewhat of a scam artist and (especially in the newspaper cartoons) can be shockingly underhanded at times.

Wimpy loves to eat hamburgers, but is usually too cheap to pay for them. A recurring joke is Wimpy's attempts to con other members of the diner into buying him burgers. Wimpy often tries to outwit fellow patrons with his convoluted logic. His famous line is "I'd gladly pay you Thursday for a hamburger today".

There is a chain of Wimpy hamburger restaurants which are named after him.

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