Ogler
I stare at people
I always have
“You can’t do that!”
my friend says
I know she’s right
a couple times
people have almost
hit me
but I can’t stop
“I have to see
what they’re doing,”
I tell her
“Who?!” she asks
“Everyone.”
In 1919 Billy DeBeck premiered his new comic strip, "Take Barney Google, F'rinstance," in the sports section of William Randolph Hearstthe "Chicago Herald" and "Examiner" newspapers. (Hearst was so smitten with DeBeck's work on an earlier strip, "Married Life," that he bought the "Herald" in order to secure the cartoonists' services.) The title was soon shortened to just "Barney Google." DeBeck was responsible for introcucing a number of slang words and phrases, including "sweet mama," "horsefeathers," "heebie-jeebies," "hotsy-totsy," "great balls of fire," and "time's a wastin'." The strip was so popular that in 1923 Billy Rose and Con Conrad wrote a song for Eddie Cantor, a famous American singer (whose own appearance would gain him the "Banjo Eyes" nickname in 1933):
ReplyDeleteWho's the most important man this country ever knew?
Who's the man our presidents tell all their troubles to?
No, it isn't Mr. Bryan and it isn't Mr. Hughes;
I'm mighty proud that I'm allowed a chance to introduce:
Barney Google -- with the goo, goo, googly eyes,
Barney Google -- bet his horse would win the prize;
When the horses ran that day,
Spark Plug ran the other way!
Barney Google -- with the goo-goo-googly eyes!
Who's the greatest lover that this country ever knew?
Who's the man that Valentino takes his hat off to?
No, it isn't Douglas Fairbanks that the ladies rave about;
When he arrives, who makes the wives chase all their husbands out?
Barney Google -- with the goo-goo-googly eyes,
Barney Google -- had a wife three times his size;
She sued Barney for divorce,
Now he's sleeping with his horse!
Barney Google -- with the goo-goo-googly eyes!
But in 1934 a moonshiner named Snuffy Smith was introduced, and soon eclipsed the strip's namesake in popularity; by the end of the decade the strip was called "Barney Google and Snuffy Smith," and Barney himself made fewer and fewer appearances. The strip still runs in 900 newspapers in 11 languages in 21 countries