Where did the expression “Not so fast, Sparky!” (or “Not so fast there, Sparky!”) originate?
I believe it started with the comic strip Barney Google which was hugely popular a hundred years ago. Barney Google had a racehorse named Spark Plug (nicknamed Sparky) who wasn’t very good at racing.
Barney Google, the supposed lead character, became overshadowed by his horse and the strip was renamed Barney Google and Spark Plug. Having learned nothing from this, Google visited the south ten years later and met a local moonshine named Snuffy Smith.
I think ‘Billy deBeck’ is my cousin.
I also know a moonshiner.
Amazing.
I hadn’t thought of “Barney Google and Snuffy Smith” in eons. And yeah, I think only once did I see ol’ Barney make an appearance. The year in and year out everyday characters were Snuffy and Loweezy and their kin.
According to Wikipedia, Barney Google last made an appearance in the strip in 2012 when he visited the Smith family. His most recent appearance before that was in 1997 during another visit. Despite this, the strip is still titled Barney Google and Snuffy Smith (I can remember reading it as a child and wondering why).
Does that mean you know how/where to get “the good stuff”?
< with dreams of driving down a road with a liquor store carton in the back full of empty 1.75L bottles dancing in their heads >
I do know where to get the ‘stuff’
Cannot vouch for it’s ‘goodness’
The moonshiner is an Albino black man. He also claims to be a witch-doctor.
these things just write themselves
So sort of like Godot (as in “Waiting for”), he’s the title character who never puts in an appearance?
Did you Google that? 
Did you know that Olive Oyl was the original lead character in the Thimble Theatre comic strip? Popeye the sailor first appeared ten years into the strip and was supposed to be a minor temporary character.
Popeye replaced Olive’s original boyfriend, Ham Gravy, who hired him to crew his ship for a treasure hunt.
I read Terry and the Pirates for years wondering when the pirates were going to show up.
I feel like I just found out my sister is my mother.
Here’s Popeye’s first appearance, together with Olive’s brother Castor Oyl and her boyfriend Harold Hamgravy.
Ham Gravy was a nickname. His real name was Harold Hamgravy. It was Castor Oyl not Ham Gravy who hired Popeye. And before Popeye (or Bluto) showed up, Ham Gravy’s rival for Olive Oyl’s affections was the villainous Willie Wormwood.
Did you think somebody using the username Little Nemo wouldn’t know this stuff?
Of course I knew you would know it. I was just elaborating on what you wrote for the benefit of others.
I’m going to need a hamburger now.
You really don’t want to get into the whole Oyl family if you value your sanity. Her father Cole (Coal) Oyl, mother Nana (Banana) Oyl, Uncles Otto (Auto) and Lubra Kent Oyl…
Castor Oyl’s wife, Cylinda Oyl.
Interestingly, Cylinda Oyl disappeared from the strip right before Popeye appeared. Coincidence? Or the first comic strip character to transition?
Since this is about comics, let’s move it to Cafe Society.
Colibri
General Questions Moderator