Barney Google

Billy DeBeck's Barney Google was one of the great comedy sensations of the 1920s, following a diminutive, big-hearted schemer with a gift for getting into trouble. The strip broke through when DeBeck sent Barney into the world of horse racing and gave him a beloved, spindly racehorse named Spark Plug — a character so popular he spawned a merchandising craze of toys, songs, and dolls.

Barney's fame reached beyond the comics page. The strip inspired the hit song "Barney Google (with the Goo-Goo-Googly Eyes)," and DeBeck had a genius for slang, popularizing or coining expressions like "heebie-jeebies," "horsefeathers," and "sweet mama" that entered everyday American speech.

DeBeck later introduced the hillbilly character Snuffy Smith, who eventually became so popular that he took over the strip's title. Barney Google demonstrated the enormous cultural reach a comic strip could achieve in the 1920s — driving songs, catchphrases, and toy shelves — and showed how a strip built around a strong, distinctive character and his sidekick could become a national phenomenon rather than a mere daily diversion.