Possum Pearl

Evil-doer
Full Name	Possum Pearl
Alias	Pearl
Origin	Popeye the Sailor Man
Occupation	Singer
Powers / Skills	Brute strength Expertise with playing the Guitar
Goals	Find a man (Failed)
Crimes	Kidnapping Stalking
Type of Villain	Obsessed Kidnapper

“	Wahoo! A man!	„
	~ Possum Pearl's catchphrase.

Possum Pearl is a one-time villain from the Fleischer Studios cartoon Popeye the Sailor Man, only appearing in the episode "Hill-Billing and Cooing", as well as the main character of her own eponymous spin-off series, Possum Pearl, which got canceled after only one episode. Possum Pearl is a big, muscular folk singer, who is dead set on finding love with a man. However, Possum Pearl comes on way too strong and drives all of her love interests away.

Possum Pearl is essentially the female version of Bluto, as her main schtick is stealing Popeye away from Olive, only to get beaten up by her later. However, her main difference is that she has a more delightful personality and a passion for singing folk music as she commits her crimes.

She is voiced by Judy Canova.

Biography

Popeye the Sailor Man

Possum Pearl made her first and only appearance in the episode, "Hill-Billing and Cooing", where she sat atop a mountain and sang about getting a boyfriend. Just then, she noticed Popeye in a hot rod with Olive and fell immediately smitten. Possum Pearl ran up to the cat and snatched Popeye right out of it, claiming to have got herself a man. Popeye refused to go out with her but Possum Pearl considered him to be her boyfriend anyway. Olive came up to her and told her to let go of Popeye, as he was her boyfriend but Possum Pearl just smacked her away and tried to kiss Popeye. Olive came back and smacked Possum Pearl with her gun and took Popeye back to the car so she could drive off with him. When Olive was driving into a tunnel, Possum Pearl turned the tunnel around and got the car to drive back so she could kidnap Popeye again and slam him into a boat. Possum Pearl sailed off with Popeye and sang him a love song, while Olive paddled after her on a log and knocked her into the water only for Pearl to pick up the boat, take it to land, and throw Olive off. Popeye jumped into a tree to hide but Pearl chopped it down. Olive used a lasso to snatch Pearl's ax away and fight her. Possum Pearl picked up Olive by the hair and slapped her so that she could spin around like a drill, allowing for her to drill Olive into a tree stump and trap her there. Popeye tried to get out his spinach but Possum Pearl shook the tree to make him fall out and drop it, landing the can next to Olive, who used the spinach for herself to break out of the tree stump and save Popeye. Olive grabbed Pearl by the ponytails and swung her around and then hurled her into outer space, where she landed on a star. In space, there was no way she would be able to get back to Earth but luckily for her, Possum Pearl noticed the moon (who was anthropomorphic) and fell in love with him. Pearl's final appearance on the show was her chasing after the moon through space and trying to make him her new man.

Possum Pearl

Possum Pearl was the main character of her spin-off series, Possum Pearl. In the pilot episode of the show, also titled Possum Pearl, it was shown that Pearl lived in a log cabin out in the woods, where she played many musical instruments and sang songs about finding a man. All of the men who lived nearby recognized Possum Pearl and haven many times fallen victim to her kidnapping and forced romances, knew to run like mad and save themselves, whenever they heard her voice or saw her coming their way.

Appearance

Possum Pearl is a muscular woman with raven hair worn in braids with yellow bows, Caucasian skin, a yellow hat, and a red dress. She is over six and a half feet tall, with shoulders over three feet wide, and a 50" chest, and buff biceps, strongly built legs, a fat plump face and she's always barefoot.

Personality

Possum Pearl is a crazy woman, who is obsessed with finding a man, as it's all she ever talks about. She expresses her desire to find a man through her music, which she plays on the guitar and sings aloud. Possum Pearl is very impulsive and will jump on the opportunity to snatch up any guy she sees. However, she comes on way too strong and never even asks her love interests for permission before capturing them and proclaiming them to be her boyfriends. No matter how much a man denies her love and tries to escape, Possum Pearl still chases after them and tries to force their relationship to work. It's possible that Possum Pearl is either delusional and does not know that her love interests hate her or if she knows they don't love her and she just chooses to ignore it. Either way, what she's doing is creepy and horrifying and gross. Possum Pearl never really settles on one single love interest, as whenever she officially loses one of her love interests, she immediately moves onto someone else. She is also implied to be a repeat offender to some men, as the pilot episode of her show depicts several guys recognizing Possum Pearl and staying out of her way, as they're familiar with her amatory antics.

Lovers

• Popeye the Sailor Man
• The Moon
• Slippery Sam
• Police Officer

Gallery

Trivia

• Possum Pearl holds the distinction of being the only secondary Popeye the Sailor Man character to be spun-off into a cartoon of her own. She appeared in her first and only short, also titled Possum Pearl. Seymour Kneitel was constantly "testing" new characters to see if they could become part of the Noveltoons rotation. After Pearl's appearance in Popeye's Hill-billing and Cooing in 1956, he gave her a chance to headline her own cartoon, yet it was not successful enough with audiences to warrant another one.