hand puppet: Barney Google Hand Puppet

Created by cartoonist Billy DeBeck in 1919, “Barney Google and Snuffy Smith,” was one of the longest-running comic strips in history. The strip first appeared in the sports section of the July 1919 “Chicago Herald and Examiner” as “Take Barney Google, F’rinstance.” It featured Barney Google, a cigar-smoking, sports-loving, poker-playing, girl-chasing character. By the fall of that year, King Features distributed the strip in newspapers across the country. In 1922, readers met Spark Plug, Barney’s endearing race horse that barely raced. Barney Google and his horse proved so popular with readers that Google became the subject of a 1923 hit song, “Barney Google With Your Goo-Goo-Googly Eyes,” and he inspired a vaudeville routine. In 1934, Barney Google inherited a relative’s estate and left for the town of Hootin’ Holler, where he met his cousin, Snuffy Smith and his wife, Loweezy. The cartoon inspired toys and merchandise, sheet music, book collections, and film and television.