John C. Shaw, a reader of Alley Oop was recently disgruntled over whether Carol and Jack Bender who now do the Alley Oop strip, were using the word “abdominal” vs “abominable” correctly. He then claims that his mother, Jane, was the original inspiration for the character Ooola back before World War II.
John asked Jane to model for him so he could practice drawing Ooola.
Did she look a lot like Ooola then?
“No I did not,” she said, although “I had a better shape than I have now. I was not as pretty as she.”
Getting past the mix of individuals in the story – this article does shed some light on a strip that has been passed down from artist to artist for several decades.