Query: Origin of "oops"

[Benjamin Zimmer]

Larry Horn:
>
>Well, that seems pretty convincing, or at least plausible.  Speaking
>of "oops", does anyone have anything on the first cites of "uh-oh",
>the "interjection expressing alarm, foreboding, or dismay", as the
>AHD puts it?  There's no OED entry for ":uh-oh" at all, which is
>pretty remarkable considering its frequency--as a rough index, for
>example, there are 749,000 google hits.

John Baker:
>
>I previously wrote (11/30/2004):
>
>I'm surprised to see that Merriam-Webster has such late dates for
>these words:  1889 for uh-huh, circa 1924 for uh-uh, and, implausibly,
>1971 for uh-oh.
[...]
>For uh-oh, I can take it back to 1942, describing events of 1940:
>"The witness then testified in substance that she had been gazing in
>that direction (towards the west field) since the car began its ascent
>of the hill; that she looked back when Mr. Rubart said 'Uh Oh!' and she
>then saw the truck."  Roushar v. Dixon, 231 Iowa 993, 995, 2 N.W.2d
>660, 661 (Mar. 10, 1942).

And in that same thread I wrote:

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Hard to search for "uh-oh" on newspaperarchive or other databases, since
poor scanning results in lots of false matches.  But I did find a 1930
cite:

   Van Wert (Ohio) Times Bulletin, August 19, 1930
   The Featherheads [comic strip]
   Uh-oh!

This is the title to a strip featuring Mr. Featherhead and his boss:

   Boss: Mr. Featherhead - have you got all the figures in on that Riggs
   deal?  You want to get along that job, you know...
   Boss: If we get the contract, my boy... it will be a feather in your
   cap! A fine thing for you... yes sir!
   [Mr. Featherhead beams.]
   Boss: And if we don't get it... you'll probably be fired!
   Mr. Featherhead: !

I suspect earlier cites can be found in comic strips of the '20s.
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--Ben Zimmer