Here's something you might not know.
During my recent dinner with Bedoya and his family, I was reminded of this picture and the story behind it, an anecdote that was somehow stored deep within my memory banks for years and years.
When I was a small child and before I even heard of Batman, I was obsessed with Popeye. I don't really know where the obsession stemmed from, but he was my hero and I idolized him. I literally wanted to be him. So much so that I started eating spinach. I hated the taste of it, but I would eat it and then try to beat my dad up. I would walk around the block saying my name was Popeye. I even had one eye closed all the time and would laugh like Popeye. It got to such a point that my friends from school, and their mothers, knew me as Popeye. Which was great for me because I was immediately associated with my hero but sucked for my mother who had to chase me down the street as I attempted to lift a moving car over my head after eating spinach like I had seen Popeye do.
So when some mom's commitee was organizing the yearly "comparsa" (something like a community show made up of various sketches of varying quality where kids dress up and do skits and chorogreaphed dances), they were doing one with all these different cartoon characters. And when they suggested a Popeye, this one lady who knew my mom said "I got just the kid for that", called my mom up and cast me as Popeye. As it turned out Popeye's part became the lead character after the kid who was playing Aladdin turned out to be something of a fruitcake. I was really excited about playing my favorite character. Went to rehearsals every day for several weeks. Got fitted for the costumes. Worked incessantly on my Popeye face. Ate lots of spinach.
The night of the show finally came and although I was really nervous I was driven by the desire to do Popeye proud. So I did it and the show went by in a flash. I got all my moves (there was dancing) right and beat up the bad guys. The audience loved it because I was really into it. And at the end, I was so thrilled by the cheer of the audience, that, when it was time to leave the stage so the next act could come up, I wouldn't leave. I actually had to be dragged by our director lady, which of course generated big laughs in that Jumbo theater.
I finally budged and my mom and dad were backstage to congratulate me, but I just wasn't having it. I had tasted the applause and I wanted more. So out comes the next act, some lame Smurfs-themed thing, and during the middle of it I sneak back into the stage in my Popeye costume and start beating on the kid dressed as Gargamel. The entire crowd (well, except the Gargamel kid's parents) exploded in applause when they saw Popeye suddenly pop back into the scene. I was promptly dragged offstage and severely scolded but it didn't matter. Popeye had saved the day.
Nobody could take that away from me.