“I’m starvin’ like Marvin” (Starvin’ Marvin)

“Starvin’ Marvin” is a name that rhymes, like “Stormin’ Norman.” “Starvin’ Marvin” was used in an ad in the Hartford (CT) Courant on May 1, 1952.
 
A pig-like character in the newspaper comic strip “Felix the Cat” in 1961 was called “Starvin’ Marvin.”  Speedway SuperAmerica gas stations called its convenience stores “Starvin’ Marvin,” trademarked from 1975. An Ethiopian child character in the television show South Park in 1997 was called “Starvin’ Marvin.”
 
Filmmaker Spike Lee has used “starvin’ like Marvin” since the 1980s.
   
   
Wikipedia: Starvin’ Marvin
Starvin’ Marvin can refer to any of the following:
 
. A jewelry designer loved by rap artists, http://www.intljewelers.com/retailers/marvin/index.htm
. Starvin’ Marvin’s, a chain of gas stations in the United States
. Starvin Marvin, an album from The Color Changin’ Click
 
South Park
The name “Starvin’ Marvin” has also come up a few times on the Comedy Central series South Park as:

. The character Starvin’ Marvin, an Ethiopian child adopted by the main characters.
.. “Starvin’ Marvin”, the first season episode where he’s introduced.
. .“Starvin’ Marvin in Space”, the third season episode where he returns.
 
Wikipedia: Starvin’ Marvin’s
Starvin’ Marvin’s is a brand name of gas station in the United States of America.
 
In the 1990s Starvin’ Marvin’s was acquired by the Speedway SuperAmerica chain, but as of 2004 some stations still display signs identifying them as Starvin’ Marvin’s.
   
Wikipedia: Starvin’ Marvin (South Park)
“Starvin’ Marvin” is the ninth episode of the first season of the American animated television series South Park. It originally aired on Comedy Central in the United States on November 19, 1997. In this episode, Cartman, Kenny, Kyle and Stan send money to an African charity hoping to get a sports watch, but they are instead sent the Ethiopian child Starvin’ Marvin. Cartman is accidentally sent to Ethiopia, where he learns activist Sally Struthers is hoarding the charity’s food for herself. Meanwhile, genetically engineered turkeys attack South Park residents while Chef rallies the residents to fight back, in a parody of the film Braveheart. 
 
WikiAnswers
Where did the saying starvin’ like marvin come from?
Answer
The phrase “I’m starvin’ like Marvin” goes back to at least the the late 1980’s because I heard it and was using it with my friends in high school. I can’t remember which of us heard it first or from where, but it certainly didn’t originate with us. It wasn’t a reference to any particular person named Marvin and the name Marvin simply rhymed with the slang pronunciation of the word ‘starving’.
 
The animated show South Park has an episode where a very hungry character (Marvin) is trying to find food for himself and his people. The main characters on the show try to help ‘starvin Marvin’.
   
Newspapers.com
1 May 1952, Hartford (CT) Courant, pg. 26, col. 2 ad:
SEE
STARVIN’ MARVIN
For Tops In
LOW COST
TRANSPORTATION
 
Newspapers.com
19 June 1955, The Argus-Leader (Sioux Falls, SD), pg. B1, col. 8:
FINE FIELD READY FOR RACE TODAY
(...)
‘Starvin’ Marvin” Copple of Lincoln, Neb., so named because of his hard luck recently, will tool a 1955 Chevrolet.
 
5 October 1955, Newsday (Long Island, NY), pg. 69, col. 2 ad:
“STARVIN” MARVIN
sez
WE ARE “FULL” OF USED CARS BUT—STARVING OF CUSTOMERS
(Montauk Pontiac.—ed.)

Newspapers.com
17 February 1957, Akron (OH) Beacon Journal, pg. B26, col. 5 ad:
The Story of Starvin’ Marvin
Yes, Marvin was starvin’—for a home!
(Day Swift Homes, Inc.—ed.)
 
Newspapers.com
1 November 1957, Minneapolis (MN) Morning Tribune, “After Last Night” by Will Jones, pg. 38, col. 8:
He doesn’t object at all when an emcee uses an introduction like “Starvin’ Marvin, the singin’ Indian.”
 
18 March 1961, Bedford (PA) Gazette, ‘Felix the Cat” cartoon by Joe Oriolo, pg. 7:
FELIX THE CAT: INKY TELLS ME YOU’RE ON THE TRACK TEAM, STARVIN’ MARVIN!
     
Google Books
Social Welfare:
Institution and process
By Helen M. Crampton and Kenneth K. Keiser
New York, NY: Random House
1970
Pg. 55:
Then there’s Starvin’ Marvin, what a dumbbell! (...) That kid is so dumb he thinks I’ve said something nice when I call him Starvin’ Marvin.
   
23 May 1978, Los Angeles (CA) Times, “World War II’s Contribution to Sports; Hydroplaning’s 40-Year-Old Engines Are Right Out of the Battle of Britain” by Shav Glick, Pg. E2:
Marvin Reinke, a hydro Walter Mitty, hopes to buy the old boat. Reinke, who calls himself “Starvin’ Marvin,” is a boilermaker from Everett, Wash., an unabashed idolizer of boats and drivers for 20 years.
 
Google Books
Spike Lee’s Gotta Have It:
Inside guerrilla filmmaking 
By Spike Lee
New York, NY: Simon & Schuster
1987  
Pg. 244:
I’m flat broke, STARVIN’ like MARVIN.
 
Google Books
Do the Right Thing
By Spike Lee
New York, NY: Simon * Schuster
1989
Pg. 162:   
This is ya Love Daddy talkin’ to ya, starvin’ like Marvin.
 
Google Books
Monkey Business
By Virginia Vail
New York, NY: Scholastic
1989  
Pg. 21:
Everybody was by then “starvin’ like Marvin,” as Teddy often said, so they bought hot dogs, sausages, cotton candy, and candy apples, as well as soda and…
 
Google Books
Good Hair: a novel
By Benilde Little
New York, NY: Simon & Schuster
1996
Pg. ?
“I’m starvin’ like Marvin. I’m gonna order something.”
 
Urban Dictionary
starvin marvin
To be hungry beyond the nth degree.
Popularised by the character in South Park of the same name.
Tony: Bill, do you fancy a bite?
Bill: Bloody oath Tony! I’m absolutely starvin marvin! I’m almost ready to eat my elbow.
by Anth Jun 9, 2004
   
Urban Dictionary
starvin like marvin
basically saying your very hungry and need to eat
man i aint eat all day im “starvin like marvin’
by e boy Jan 1, 2009
 
(Trademark)
Word Mark STARVIN MARVIN $$$$
Goods and Services (EXPIRED) IC 042. US 101. G & S: RETAIL GROCERY STORE FOOD SERVICES. FIRST USE: 19750701. FIRST USE IN COMMERCE: 19750701
Mark Drawing Code (3) DESIGN PLUS WORDS, LETTERS, AND/OR NUMBERS
Design Search Code 02.01.18 - Farmers (men); Hobos (men); Men, farmers, hobos and other men wearing overalls; Overalls (men wearing)
02.01.25 - Archers (men); Hunters (men); Men, hunters, archers and other men with a significantly prominent weapon.; Weapons (men carrying)
02.01.31 - Men, stylized, including men depicted in caricature form
14.05.05 - Axes; Hatchets; Tomahawks
24.17.03 - Dollar symbol ($)
Serial Number 73069154
Filing Date November 14, 1975
Current Filing Basis 1A
Original Filing Basis 1A
Registration Number 1046544
Registration Date August 17, 1976
Owner (REGISTRANT) GLOBE OIL, INC. CORPORATION GEORGIA 6393 BUFORD HIGHWAY DORAVILLE GEORGIA 30340
Assignment Recorded ASSIGNMENT RECORDED
Type of Mark SERVICE MARK
Register PRINCIPAL
Affidavit Text SECT 15. SECT 8 (6-YR).
Live/Dead Indicator DEAD
 
(Trademark)
Word Mark STARVIN’ MARVIN
Goods and Services IC 042. US 101. G & S: Retail Grocery Store Food Services. FIRST USE: 19750701. FIRST USE IN COMMERCE: 19750701
Mark Drawing Code (1) TYPED DRAWING
Serial Number 73209196
Filing Date March 27, 1979
Current Filing Basis 1A
Original Filing Basis 1A
Published for Opposition September 30, 1980
Registration Number 1145943
Registration Date January 13, 1981
Owner (REGISTRANT) Globe Oil Company, U.S.A. CORPORATION GEORGIA 6393 Buford Hwy. Doraville GEORGIA 30340
(LAST LISTED OWNER) SPEEDWAY SUPERAMERICA LLC LTD LIAB CO BY ASSIGNMENT, BY ASSIGNMENT, BY ASSIGNMENT, BY MERGER DELAWARE 500 SPEEDWAY DRIVE ENON OHIO 453231056
Assignment Recorded ASSIGNMENT RECORDED
Prior Registrations 1046544
Type of Mark SERVICE MARK
Register PRINCIPAL
Affidavit Text SECT 15. SECT 8 (6-YR). SECTION 8(10-YR) 20010429.
Renewal 1ST RENEWAL 20010429
Live/Dead Indicator LIVE