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Take a Break from Barney Googling with Snuffy Smith

Post 1

Dmitri Gheorgheni, Post Editor

Freebie film tip of the day:

'Private Snuffy Smith', 1942, starring Bud Duncan.

http://archive.org/details/private_snuffy_smith

Okay, you say: a live-action version of a comic strip. Nothing much. smiley - yawn

A 1942 patriotic comedy, so what else is new? smiley - yawn

Army humour? Isn't this really tired? smiley - yawn

Why watch this? Well...

- Bud Duncan is a hoot and a half. He's 4'11", I checked. That is not his real nose, by the way (yes, prosthetics existed in 1942). Sarah Padden was a great actress, back in the day - did Pulitzer prizewinning plays. She must have been willing to play Louweezie out of sheer patriotism. When she wants to kiss Snuffy, she picks him up. You swear you won't laugh at this. You will be wrong. You will laugh at all the silly gags, you can't help it.

- The plot: Snuffy Smith of the Great Smoky Mountains and his invisible dog join the army. His friend's daughter's beau invents a vital piece of technology (because all mountaineers are engineers at heart, and this boy's been to college). Snuffy's friend calls off the ancient feud and lets the boy marry his daughter, yay. Oh, and Louweezie, in addition to making a magic formula for rendering dogs invisible, catches the Nazi spies who have no bidness in the Appalachians.

- The general insanity of it all. And the gentleness of the humour.

I can't help it. Now I've just got to see the sequel, called 'Hillbilly Blitzkrieg'. The plot summary?

I quote: 'Nazi spies mistake Pvt. Snuffy Smith's (Bud Duncan) moonshine for a new secret rocket fuel and try to steal the "formula."'

http://archive.org/details/HillbillyBlitzkrieg

If you have comments, they encourage feedback. Or tell us what you thought.

Oh, about the title: I found this film because I was researching Billy DeBeck, the Chicago-born cartoonist who invented Snuffy Smith. DeBeck's original comic was called 'Barney Google', about the hapless owner of Spark Plug, the racehorse. DeBeck was the best-paid cartoonist in the world back in the 1920s, and Spark Plug was a major merchandising item.

When Barney's popularity waned, DeBeck, who had a great interest in life in the Smokies, caused Barney to inherit some land in North Carolina and meet the colourful Mr Smith. A new strip was born, which still goes on:

http://www.lambiek.net/artists/l/lasswell_fred.htm

Mountaineers, who mostly would like to throw Al (L'il Abner) Capp off Lookout Mountain (with extreme prejudice), really enjoy Snuffy Smith. Mr DeBeck left his research material to a Virginia university.

And then there was this song:

http://archive.org/details/BarneyGoogle

(You'll have to wait for about a minute to hear the words.)

It was a big hit, back when nobody had heard of Lady Gaga. smiley - whistle

smiley - dragon


Take a Break from Barney Googling with Snuffy Smith

Post 2

Prof Animal Chaos.C.E.O..err! C.E.Idiot of H2G2 Fools Guild (Official).... A recipient of S.F.L and S.S.J.A.D.D...plus...S.N.A.F.U.

is archive dot org a free download set up ?


Take a Break from Barney Googling with Snuffy Smith

Post 3

Elektragheorgheni -Please read 'The Post'

Yep it's free and clear, a Yorkshireman's delight.


Take a Break from Barney Googling with Snuffy Smith

Post 4

Prof Animal Chaos.C.E.O..err! C.E.Idiot of H2G2 Fools Guild (Official).... A recipient of S.F.L and S.S.J.A.D.D...plus...S.N.A.F.U.

smiley - hugthank you


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