Betty Boop's Birthday

Happy Birthday to Betty Boop, who made her first appearance on this date, August 9, 1930.

The King of the Jungle Jive!

On this date back in 1933, Vincent T. Hamlin introduced his caveman creation to the newspaper reading public, Alley Oop. In the land of Moo, Alley and his pet dinosaur Dinny got into all kinds of different adventures with his girlfriend Ooola and friend Foozy (who talked in ryhme) in the prehistoric past. He would also go on missions for King Guzzle (Guz) and Queen Umpateedle (Umpa) rulers of Moo.
In 1939 Hamlin introduced the modern day scientisit/inventor, Dr. Elbert Wonmug into the strip. Wonmug invented a time machine and when he first tested it, he brought Alley and Ooola to the future. After a series of mis-adventures, Alley became friends with the scientist and shared many adventures through out time.
In 1960 the doo wop group, The Hollywood Argyles had a hit record, "Alley Oop", based on the comic strip caveman. Remembered for it's infectous background singing "Oop, Oop, Oop, Oop-oop" and lyrics about the "bad motor scooter and mean go-getter", the single went to number one on the Billboard Pop Charts.
Alley Oop is still produced and published today by Jack and Carol Bender.

Happy Birthday Annie

Happy Anniversary to Little Orphan Annie who made her first appearance on this date in 1924. Created by Harold Gray, Annie was one of the first strips to tell a dramatic story line in a newspaper strip.
One of the first successful strips to crossover into other media, Little Orphan Annie has had a popular radio series, Broadway play, and musical film. Also plenty of merchandising with books, toys, lunch boxes, etc. One piece of merchandising that is fondly remembered is her"secret decoder" that you got when you sent in the premiums from her radio shows sponsor, Ovaltine. most time when the secret code was given on the radio, it was an add to buy more Ovaltine!
Annie is still published today with a whole new look and has grand adventures that would make Indiana Jones proud.

Above is an old sketch that I did of Annie and her ever faithful dog, Sandy.