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Barney Google and Snuffy Smith, originally Barney Google, is a long-running American comic strip. When the strip began in 1919 Barney Google, a little guy with big eyes, was a sportsman involved in horse racing and boxing. In 1924, the strip took a huge turn in popularity with the addition of a race horse named "Spark Plug". In 1934, and 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 extemely suspicious of any outsiders, referred to as "flatlanders," or, even worse, "revenooers" (federal revenue agents). Today the original title character makes only occasional cameo appearances.
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 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.
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."
The strip also inspired the song "Barney Google (With his Goo-Goo-Googly Eyes)".
In 1995, the strip was one of 20 included in the Comic Strip Classics series of commemorative US postage stamps.
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