THE PORTRAYAL OF the character of Snuffy Smith had been done approximately two decades prior to the inception of the syndicated, animated series, there were two live action movies from poverty row, both from 1942. PRIVATE SNUFFY SMITH and BOWERY BLITZKREIG were products of Capitol Propductions & Monogram Studios. From the titles, it's obvious that they were part of America's War Effort.*
SO, THAT BRINGS us down to the subject of the hour; that being the SNUFFY SMITH & BARNEY GOOGLE Cartoon Series.
TO BEGIN WITH, we all will notice that the title has undergone a name billing inversion. For years, ever since Snuffy Smith was introduced as a hillbilly friend of Barney Google's, Snuffy had been second. This title continued with both names in it for years; even though Mr. Google had not been seen in so much as a panel.
THE RENDERING OF this electronic/celluloid adjunct to the comics page did hail the return of Google; who figured prominently in the stories. We do seem to recall that in one episode, Barney's racehorse, Sparkplug, was also brought back.
THE ALL-IMPORTANT VOICES were provided by Paul Frees (for Snuffy & we think Barney) with Penny Phillips essaying the role of Loweezy (Mrs. Snuffy). Each of the cartoon episodes opened with Snuffy singing a theme song, starting with: "Oh-oh-oh, Great Balls of Fire I'm Beaudacious...", etc. It is truly peppy, memorable and sets the tone and mood for some rib-ticklers.
AND THEY DO come and in large numbers, we might add; for the SNUFFY SMITH & BARNEY GOOGLE Cartoons were matched with the series of short animations featuring KRAZY KAT and those starring Private BEETLE BAILEY. Together the half hour trilogy had title of KAT TALES and was syndicated.
ALTHOUGH ALL OF these cartoon series have much to recommend them, we'd have to vote for SNUFFY & Company as having given us the most yuks per episode.
ONCE AGAIN, WE must say, "Highly Recommended!"
NOTE: * The second Snuffy Smith feature, HILLBILLY BLITZKREIG (1942), which had Bud Duncan in the part of Snuffy also had Cliff Nazarro cast in the role of Barney Google; indeed, the only time that we know of where an actor in a live action movie played Mr. Google.
