The character, in fact, predates the cartoons by many years as the main subject in a very popular series of jokes, some quite dirty, that harken back as far as the First World War. Typically, the jokes would end with her "laughing and laughing" at some big disaster, usually of Little Audrey's own making. She was so popular that during World War II a tank was named after her, and hers was a common name of allied bombers.