Mid-Missouri Comics Collective

Alley Oop 75th anniversary exhibit and events in September

Posted by Winter on August 7, 2008

The newspaper comic strip Alley Oop is celebrating it’s 75th anniversary this year and a few local events are coming up to celebrate the milestone. The comic strip has ties to Mid-Missouri since the creator V.T. Hamlin and current artist Jack Bender attended MU. The MU Libraries holds a lot of original work by Hamlin as well.

Because of the local connection, the MU Libraries Special Collections division is organizing an Alley Oop exhibit (September 10th -30th) and several events related to the anniversary.

At this time here are the events:

• September 10, 2008
  EXHIBIT OPENING, w/ Keynote Address: Inventing Our Own Alley Oop
  Speakers: Jack and Carole Bender, current artists of Alley Oop
  Location: Ellis Auditorium & Ellis Library Colonnade
  Time: 5:30 PM
• September 11, 2008
  Caveman: V.T. Hamlin and Alley Oop - Film Screening and Q&A
  Speakers: Jack and Carole Bender, Frank Stack, and Mark Lambert, Producer
  Location: Ragtag Cinema
  Time: 7:30 PM
• September 14, 2008
  Nice Work if You Can Get It: Comic Artists in the Digital Age
  Speakers: Artists Matt Kindt, Mardou, Ted May, Jeff Zwirek & Moderator: Dr. Kristin Schwain
  Location: Columbia Public Library
  Time: 2:00 PM
  Co-Sponsor: Columbia Public Library
• September 17, 2008 See You In The Funny Papers: The Rich Tradition of St. Louis Cartooning
  Speakers: Dan Martin
  Location: Ellis Library Colonnade
  Time: 2:00 PM
• September 18, 2008 From Gags to Graphic Novels: Alley Oop in the History of Narrative Comics
  Speakers: Dr. Andrew Hoberek
  Location: Ellis Library Colonnade
  Time: 1:00 PM
  Co-Sponsor: MU Libraries Faculty Speakers Series
• September 24, 2008 Grad Student Panel
  Speakers: Stephanie Kartalopoulos and Daniel Conner
  Location: Ellis Library Colonnade
  Time: 2:00 PM
• September 25, 2008 Alley Oop and the New World: a talk and Q&A with legendary underground caroonist and MU Professor Emeritus of Art Frank Stack
  Speakers: Frank Stack
  Location: Ellis Library Colonnade
  Time: 1:00 PM

We’ll be writing separate posts about these events when the dates get closer.

According to an Editor and Publisher article, other anniversary events are also taking place at the Iowa Historical Museum in Des Moines Iowa, the Alley Oop Fantasy Land Park in Iraan Texas, the Pawnee County Historical Society in Pawnee Oklahoma, and the Toy & Action Figure Museum in Pauls Valley Oklahoma. In addition to these events you can also celebrate the anniversary by getting some official 75th anniversary memorab-ilia if you’re interested.

(updated 09-23-08)

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