For starters, the real life Rocky Fiegel was not a sailor. He was a bartender who was well known for performing odd jobs around Chester, and was most often seen in the town saloons. As recounted by Fred Gardinetti, Rocky would often start drinking once the day’s work was finished and nap in the afternoon sun outside. Children walking home from school would play pranks on the sleeping barman, and if awoken too soon he would jump up and immediately be itching for a fight.
Although it is true that Frank “Rocky” Fiegel served as a direct inspiration for Popeye, many people online have mistakenly attributed his story to an anonymous sailor from HMS Rodney, who was photographed in 1940. The sailor in question certainly looks the part with his cartoonishly prominent jaw and pipe, but according to the Imperial War Museum this sailor had actually earned the nickname “Popeye” for his resemblance to the character – not the other way around. A real image of Rocky was published in the Southern Illinoisan on April 8, 1979, and shows the infamous Chester resident (pipe similarly jutting out from his angular jaw) side by side with a picture of Popeye.
While some of the more overtly cartoonish aspects of Popeye must certainly come from E.C. Seger’s own imagination, it’s clear that the prolific cartoonist based much and more of the character on Chester’s very own pipe-smoking, fight-loving Rocky Fiegel.
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