Barney Google
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Barney Google and Snuffy Smith, originally Barney Google, is a long-running American comic strip. When the strip began in 1919 its title character, a little guy with big eyes, was a sportsman involved in horse racing and boxing. In 1922, the strip took a huge turn in popularity with the addition of a race horse named "Spark Plug", a nag who seldom raced and was typically seen almost totally covered by his horse blanket. In 1934, an even greater change took place when Barney and the horse visited the North Carolina mountains and met a moonshiner named Snuffy Smith. The strip increasingly focused on stereotypical humor about the hillbillies of southern Appalachia, with Snuffy as the main character. Locals in the strip are extremely suspicious of any outsiders, referred to as "flatlanders," or, even worse, "revenooers" (federal revenue agents). Snuffy was so popular that his name was added to the strip's title in the late 1930s, and Barney Google himself virtually disappeared after the 1950s.
The comic was created by Billy DeBeck in 1919, first appearing in the sports section of the Chicago Herald and Examiner as Take Barney Google, F'rinstance. By October 1919, the strip was syndicated by King Features, allowing it to appear in newspapers all across the country. Fred Lasswell, DeBeck's lifelong assistant, took over Barney Google in 1942. Lasswell drew the strip until his death on March 3, 2001. John Rose, who inked the strip for Lasswell, draws the comic today.
The strip won for Lasswell the National Cartoonist Society Humor Comic Strip Award and Reuben Award in 1963.
Barney Google appears in 21 countries and 11 languages. It is credited with introducing several slang phrases, including "sweet mama," "horsefeathers," "heebie-jeebies," and "hotsie-totsie."
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[edit] Animated
[edit] 1930s
There was an animated version of Barney Google in the 1930s, produced by the Charles Mintz Screen Gems Studio — the one that had earlier failed to capture any of the wit or charm of Krazy Kat.[citation needed] They made only four Google cartoons, two of which were released in 1935 and two in '36. Barney also guest-starred in Hillbilly Blitzkrieg, the second of two comedy shorts where Snuffy starred, with Cliff Nazarro (voice of Egghead) as Barney. (from Don Mark's Toonopedia)
[edit] 1960s
In 1963-64 Paramount created 50 six minute episodes of Snuffy Smith and Barney Google based on the Barney Google and Snuffy Smith comic strip.
[edit] DVD
In 2006 BCI Ecplise released 20 episodes of the 1963 Cartoon as part of
Animated All Stars 2DVD BCI 46952
- The Master
- Snuffy Runs the Gamut
- Pie in the Sky
- Barney's Blarney
- Barney Deals the Cars
- The Country Club Smiths
- Ain't it the Tooth
- Jughaid the Magician
- Glove Thy Neighbor
- Jughaid's Jumpin' Frog
- Getting Snuffy's Goat
- Rip Van Snuffy
- Keeping up with the Joneses
- Settin' And A-Frettin'
- Jughaid for President
- Little Red Jughaid
- My Kingdom for a Horse
- The Tourist Trap
- It's Better to Give (Christmas Show)
[edit] Inspirations
The strip also inspired the popular 1920s song "Barney Google (With the Goo-Goo-Googly Eyes)".
In 1995, the strip was one of twenty included in the Comic Strip Classics series of commemorative US postage stamps.
