George W. Geezil

George W. Geezil, also known as simply Geezil, is a comic strip character created by E.C. Segar for the Thimble Theatre (now Popeye) strip.

Comics

Geezil made his first appearance in the strips in 1932, as an unnamed patron in Roughhouse's cafe. He re-appeared in 1933 as a Russian accented cobbler (later pawn shop owner) and regular customer of Roughhouse who held a dislike for J. Wellington Wimpy, although until his fifth appearance he went unnamed.

Over time, he was named Mr. Geezer, Mr. Geezle, George G. Geezil, eventually settling as George W. Geezil by his 33rd appearance, in 1935.

Geezil is a tall, bald, gangly man dressed all in black, wearing a black derby hat. He wears glasses, and most distinctively, a long, wild, tangly black beard. He often talks in a choppy, disjointed and flustered manner "Did you asking me? / Could I have stood it?"

Geezil's loathing for Wimpy grew and soon became his defining character trait, and Geezil is not shy about telling the portly scamster how he feels about him. Wimpy, for his part, seems to largely ignore Geezil's hostility—although he has often subtly retaliated by flustering and confusing Geezil.

Other appearances

Geezil made a handful of appearances in the Popeye cartoons, including A Clean Shaven Man (1936, nonspeaking role), Olive's Boithday Presink (1941), and Wimpy the Moocher (1960).

In the 1980 Popeye film, Geezil was a greengrocer who was constantly arguing with Wimpy, but the two maintained a shaky friendship (at one point, he comments "Phooey! The Commodore! Besides Wimpy, I hate him best!"). Geezil was played by Richard Libertini.