Alley Oop
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Alleyoop.jpg
Alley Oop was a character created in 1932 by American cartoonist V. T. Hamlin.
He was a sturdy citizen of the prehistoric kingdom of Moo who rode a dinosaur, carried a stone war hammer, dressed in nothing but a pair of fur shorts, and obviously would rather fight dinosaurs in the jungle than deal with his fellow countrymen in Moo's capital (and only) cave-town.
In spite of these exotic settings, the stories were mostly satires of American suburban life, directed to an adult public. The first stories centered on his dealings with his fellow cavemen -- his friend Foozy and his girlfriend Ooola, Moo's King Guz and Queen Oompah, the King's Grand Wizer, and assorted citizens -- and occasional skirmishes with the rival kingdom of Lem. (The names Moo and Lem are probably references to the fabled lost continents of Mu and Lemuria.)
In later stories he was taken to the 20th century by a time machine, built by Dr. Wonmug. Modern characters included the sometimes villian, sometimes hero G. Oscar Boom. Alley Oop was hardly upset by the move, and became a sort of "test pilot" for Dr. Wonmug. As such he was sent on expeditions to various periods and places in history, such as Ancient Egypt, Arthurian England and the American Old West.
The syndicated cartoon strip sharing his name was first published on December 5, 1932. The strip was taken over, starting in 1967, by Hamlin's assistant Dave Graue, then in 1991 by Jack Bender, who was later joined by his wife Carol Bender.
In 1995, the strip was one of 20 included in the Comic Strip Classics series of commemorative postage stamps.
He was also immortalized in a one-hit-wonder song, "Alley Oop" by the Hollywood Argyles:
- There's a man in the funny papers we all know:
- Alley Oop Oop Oop, Oop Oop.
- He lived way back a long time ago.
- Alley Oop Oop Oop, Oop Oop.
According to this song "he [has] got a big ugly club"; arguably this describes not his war-hammer, with its stone head tied to a shaft, but a more typical cartoon caveman's rough conical wood club, such as is carried by his own king.
His name comes from a slang phrase to tell someone to climb, referring to what he has to do to ride his dinosaur. It ultimately comes from "allez oup," a lingua franca phrase of French mixed either with English or some other Germanic language.
The strip was initially a daily strip which began 5 DEC 32 and ran until 3 JAN 33. Then, like the later Pogo, it had a second beginning, reworking the early material for a larger audience, on 7 AUG 33. A Sunday full page began 9 SEPT 34. The Sunday also appeared in half page, tabloid, and half tab formats, which were smaller and/or dropped panels. During World War II, the full page vanished, due to the drive to conserve paper, and a third (comic strip) was added. The last daily by creator V. T. Hamlin was 31 DEC 72, his last Sunday was 1 APR 73. The strip still appears, both Sunday and daily, by another artist.
Many Alley Oop daily strips, and a few Sundays, have been reprinted by Dragon Lady Press, Comics Revue, Kitchen Sink. Manuscript Press, and SPEC.
External links
- Alley Oop (http://www.comics.com/comics/alleyoop/html/about_comic.html)
- at Toonopedia entry (http://www.toonopedia.com/oop.htm)
- fan-page by Clark J. Holloway (http://home.comcast.net/~cjh5801/Alley.htm)