The creator of Popeye, Elzie Crisler Segar, grew up in Chester and, as a young man, met Rocky at the tavern and would sit for hours listening to the old sailor’s amazing ‘sea’ stories.’ Years later, Segar became a cartoonist and developed a comic strip called ‘Thimble Theater.’ He honored Fiegel by asking if he could model his new comic strip character, ‘Popeye the Sailor Man,’ after him Naturally Fiegel was flattered and agreed.  

Segar claimed that ‘Olive Oyl,’ along with other characters, was also loosely based on an actual person. She was Dora Paskel, owner of a small grocery store in Chester. She apparently actually looked much like the Olive Oyl character in his comics. He claimed she even dressed much the same way..  

ED NOTE: Who didn't love the cartoons? We watched them religiously. So funny. Each story had a good ending. Wonder if kids these days even KNOW who Popeye is? And who knew he was an actual real person?

Two television shows in the late Fifties and early Sixties were guaranteed to give a kid goosebumps, make him gulp, or at least make him think twice about what’s around the corner.

Rod Serling’s “Twilight Zone” delivered sci-fi with a with with a twist on Friday nights then a season on Thursday. Alfred Hitchcock, the master of suspense, aired dramas and mysteries Sunday nights, then Tuesday nights.

And part of one season, 1962-63, “The Twilight Zone” and “Alfred Hitchcock” aired back-to-back: Thursday nights on CBS.

I think those were the tandem that once sent Dan McCarty to bed with a nightmare. I don’t know if it was “The Twilight Zone” at 9 or “Alfred Hitchcock” at 10 that got to Dan, but he was only around 7 or 8 years old, and I must have been around 14.

But in the middle of the night, I awoke in the top bunk to hear Dan in a loud whisper calling, “Michael. Michael.” I looked across at Dan who also was in the top bunk.

“What?” I whispered back loudly.

There was a long pause, then Dan whispered, “Michael, you don’t have any skin.”

There is one other possibility: Maybe Dan somehow saw or got wind of a scene in 1959’s “House on Haunted Hill,” where someone falls into a vat of acid. Yes, this was one of William Castle’s campy horror movies. This one starred Vincent Price and Richard Long.

But Dan would have been only 3 years old when the flick came out. So, I’m sticking with my “Twilight Zone” and “Alfred Hitchcock Presents” theory. By the way, Rick could do an awesome Alfred Hitchcock imitation in the opening.