Recently Dave Mantour decided to pass along to me a letter he received from VT Hamlin, creator of Alley Oop, in 1964 when he was a high school senior. With his permission, I've transcribed the letter as seen below. Hamlin provides some basic information about his background and how he works on the strip. Hamin appears to have written the letter with red crayon.
Vincent T. Hamlin
1670 Bay View Drive
Sarasota, Florida
6-23-'64
David Mantor
Dear David: your letter of some time ago bears no date so I don't know how overdue this answer is - but it's plenty I'm sure. Actually I have a mind that is scientifically oriented, but my training is journalistic. However, my imagination is supplemented by exhaustive reading - and when ever I need technical advice, which is often and in many fields, I go ask an expert - and don't you think I don't get them up a tree ever so often. My son is a graduate of Colorado Mines and that covers a lot of territory in Science and he also has a degree from Florida U. and Electronics - he helps plenty. I hold no degrees, I am a practical geologist, paleontologist and I stomp around in anthropology with some assurance. I am 64. I created AlleyOop in 1930. I have no complete record of my caveman's many adventures. How this knowledge can be of a to you, I don't know... But you're welcome.
Regards
Non Probare Offendit
The highly-contrasted scan below shows the text a little more clearly. Full-size scans and a downloadable pdf are on the Internet Archive.
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Other letters of Hamlin's can presumably be found in the University of Missouri Special Collections which has a Comic Art Collection which includes V.T. Hamlin Collections and an online exhibit about him.
