The Baby Snooks Show

David Stone Martin's illustration of Fanny Brice in the role of Baby Snooks

The Baby Snooks Show was an American radio program starring comedian and Ziegfeld Follies alumna Fanny Brice as a mischievous young girl who was 40 years younger than the actress who played her when she first went on the air. The series began on CBS September 17, 1944, airing on Sunday evenings at 6:30pm as Post Toasties Time (for sponsor General Foods). The title soon changed to The Baby Snooks Show, and the series was sometimes called Baby Snooks and Daddy.

History

In 1904, George McManus began his comic strip, The Newlyweds, about a couple and their child, Baby Snookums.^[1] Brice began doing her Baby Snooks character in vaudeville, as she recalled in an interview shortly before her death: "I first did Snooks in 1912 when I was in vaudeville. At the time there was a juvenile actress named Baby Peggy and she was very popular. Her hair was all curled and bleached and she was always in pink or blue. She looked like a strawberry ice cream soda. When I started to do Baby Snooks, I really was a baby, because when I think about Baby Snooks it's really the way I was when I was a kid. On stage, I made Snooks a caricature of Baby Peggy."^[2]

Early on, Brice's character was sometimes called "Babykins." By 1934 she was wearing her baby costume while appearing on Broadway in the Follies show. On February 29, 1936, Brice was scheduled to appear on the Ziegfeld Follies of the Air, written and directed by Philip Rapp in 1935–37. Rapp and his writing partner David Freedman searched the closest bookcase, opened a public domain collection of sketches by Robert Jones Burdette, Chimes From a Jester’s Bells (1897), and adapted a humorous piece about a kid and his uncle, changing the boy to a girl named Snooks. Rapp continued to write the radio sketches when Brice played Snooks on the Good News Show the following year. In 1940, she became a regular character on Maxwell House Coffee Time, sharing the spotlight with actor Frank Morgan, who sometimes did a crossover into the Snooks sketches.

In 1944, the character was given her own show, and during the 1940s, it became one of the nation's favorite radio situation comedies, with a variety of sponsors (Post Cereals, Sanka, Spic-n-Span, Jell-O) being touted by a half-dozen announcers—John Conte, Tobe Reed, Harlow Willcox, Dick Joy, Don Wilson and Ken Wilson.^{[citation needed]}

On screen, Brice portrayed Baby Snooks in the 1938 film Everybody Sing in a scene with Judy Garland as Little Lord Fauntleroy.^{[citation needed]}

Hanley Stafford was best known for his portrayal of Snooks' long-suffering, often-cranky father, Lancelot “Daddy” Higgins, a role played earlier by Alan Reed on the 1936 Follies broadcasts. Lalive Brownell was Vera “Mommy” Higgins, portrayed by Lois Corbet (mid-1940s) and Arlene Harris (after 1945). Beginning in 1945, child impersonator Leone Ledoux was first heard as Snooks' younger brother Robespierre, and Snooks returned full circle to the comics when comic book illustrator Graham Ingels and his wife Gertrude named their son Robespierre (born 1946) after listening to Ledoux's child voice.^{[original research?]}

Danny Thomas was "daydreaming postman" Jerry Dingle (1944–45) who imagined himself in other occupations, such as a circus owner or railroad conductor.^{[citation needed]} Others in the cast were Ben Alexander, Elvia Allman, Sara Berner, Charlie Cantor, Ken Christy, Earl Lee, Frank Nelson, Lillian Randolph, Alan Reed (as Mr. Weemish, Daddy's boss) and Irene Tedrow.^{[citation needed]}

The scripts by Bill Danch, Sid Dorfman, Robert Fisher, Everett Freeman, Jess Oppenheimer (later the producer and head writer of I Love Lucy),^{[citation needed]} Philip Rapp (who often revised his scripts three times before airing)^{[citation needed]} and Arthur Stander were produced and directed by Mann Holiner (early 1940s), Al Kaye (1944), Ted Bliss, Walter Bunker and Arthur Stander. Clark Casey and David Light handled the sound effects with music by Meredith Willson (1937–44), Carmen Dragon, and vocalist Bob Graham.^{[citation needed]}

In 1945, when illness caused Brice to miss several episodes, her absence was incorporated into the show as a plot device in which top stars (including Robert Benchley, Sydney Greenstreet, Kay Kyser and Peter Lorre) took part in a prolonged search for Snooks. In the fall of 1946, the show moved to Friday nights at 8pm, continuing on CBS until May 28, 1948. On November 9, 1949, the series moved to NBC where it was heard Tuesdays at 8:30pm. Sponsored by Tums, The Baby Snooks Show continued on NBC until May 22, 1951. Two days later, Fanny Brice had a cerebral hemorrhage, and the show ended with her death at age 59.

One of the last shows in the series, "Report Card Blues" (May 1, 1951), is included in the CD set, The 60 Greatest Old-time Radio Shows of the 20th Century (1999), introduced by Walter Cronkite.^[3]

Radio historian Arthur Frank Wertheim recalls a few of the devilish imp's^{[citation needed]} pranks: "…planting a bees' nest at her mother's club meeting, cutting her father's fishing line into little pieces, ripping the fur off her mother's coat, inserting marbles into her father's piano and smearing glue on her baby brother."^[4] Yet Snooks was not a mean-spirited child: "The character may have seemed a noisy one-joke idea based on Snooks driving Daddy to a screaming fit," wrote Gerald Nachman in Raised on Radio. "Yet Brice was wonderfully adept at giving voice to her irritating moppet without making Snooks obnoxious." Nachman quoted Variety critic Hobe Morrison: "Snooks was not nasty or mean, spiteful or sadistic. She was at heart a nice kid. Similarly, Daddy was harried and desperate and occasionally was driven to spanking his impish daughter. But Daddy wasn't ill-tempered or unkind with the kid. He wasn't a crab."^[5]

Brice herself was so meticulous and fanatical about the character that, according to Nachman, "she dressed in a baby-doll dress for the studio audience," and she also appeared in the costume at parades and personal appearances.^[6] She also insisted on her script being printed in extremely large type so she could avoid having to use reading glasses when on the air live. She was self-conscious about wearing glasses in front of an audience and didn't believe they fit the Snooks image.^{[citation needed]} By her own admission, Brice was a lackadaisical rehearser: "I can't do a show until it's on the air, kid," she was quoted as telling her writer/producer Everett Freeman.^{[citation needed]} Yet she locked in tight^{[according to whom?]} when the show did go on—right down to Snooks-like "squirming, squinting, mugging, jumping up and down," as comedian George Burns remembered.^[5]

Snooks proved so universally appealing that Brice and Stafford were invited to perform in character on the second installment of The Big Show, NBC's big-budget, last-ditch bid to keep classic radio variety programming alive amidst the television onslaught. Snooks tapped on hostess Tallulah Bankhead's door to ask about a career in acting, despite Daddy's telling her she already didn't have what it took. Later in the show, Snooks and Daddy appeared with fellow guest star Groucho Marx in a spoof of Marx's popular quiz-and-comedy show, You Bet Your Life.^[7]

Television

Brice and Stafford brought Baby Snooks and Daddy to television only once, an appearance on the June 12, 1950, edition of CBS-TV's Popsicle Parade of Stars. This was Fanny Brice's only appearance on television, with Baby Snooks portrayed by the adult Brice in a little girl's outfit. Brice later admitted that the character of Baby Snooks just didn't work properly when seen.^{[citation needed]}

Death

Fanny Brice died May 29, 1951, with her memoirs unfinished and with Baby Snooks due on the air that same night. The May 29 memorial broadcast, a musical tribute to Brice, ended with a short eulogy from Stafford: "We have lost a very real, a very warm, a very wonderful woman."^[8]

Books containing show scripts

Philip Rapp's The Baby Snooks Scripts, edited by Ben Ohmart (BearManor Media, 2003), contains Rapp's original radio scripts from Maxwell House Coffee Time, the Good News Show and other programs.

The Baby Snooks Scripts, volume two (BearManor Media, 2007), includes an undated script by Rapp featuring Alfred Hitchcock in the unlikely role of Snooks.

Episodes

1937

12/30/37 Daniel in the Lion's Den

1938

02/17/38 Telling Time And Shaving
03/10/38 Income Tax^[9]
03/24/38 Rehearsing A Speech
03/31/38 At the Circus
04/14/38 Why? Because! (With Judy Garland)
05/05/38 Vitamins & Hiccups
05/19/38 Beach House
06/09/38 At the Doctors
09/01/38 A Tisket A Tasket^[10]
09/22/38 Aunt Sophie Having a Baby
10/20/38 Daddy Has An Hour to Kill^[11]
12/22/38 Visiting Santa Claus

1939

01/??/39 The Man Who Came to Dinner
01/22/39 Daddy's an Elk
01/29/39 Daddy's Boss Comes to Dinner
04/04/39 House Breaking
05/05/39 Life Insurance
05/11/39 Barking Rabbit
05/18/39 Golf Tea
05/25/39 Hugh What?
06/01/39 Gone Fishing
06/08/39 Violet Ray
06/15/39 Living by Dyeing
06/22/39 New Baby
06/29/39 Jealousy
09/07/39 Pulling Teeth
09/14/39 At the Dentist
09/22/39 Heat Wave
09/28/39 Airport Meeting
10/05/39 Mudneck
10/26/39 Cake Writing & Abe Lincoln
11/05/39 Barking Rabbit
11/16/39 Rich Uncle & Slapsie Maxie
11/23/39 Court Case
11/30/39 Insurance Exam
12/14/39 Psychoanalyzed
12/21/39 Sneaky Snooks
12/28/39 Hunting

1940

01/04/40 Bungling Burglars
01/11/40 Male Secretary
01/18/40 Chemical Catastrophe
01/25/40 Shetland Pony
02/01/40 Family Tree
02/08/40 Anatomy of a Robot
02/15/40 Tax Returns
02/22/40 The Missing Dollar
02/29/40 Wedding Cake
03/07/40 Baby Snooks Has Amnesia
03/14/40 Tom Thumb
03/21/40 Laying an Egg
03/28/40 Baby Brother (Wants Attention)
04/04/40 April Fools
04/11/40 Baby Fish Story
04/18/40 Magic
04/25/40 Motel
05/02/40 Auntie Septic
05/09/40 Lies
05/16/40 Jokes for Jack
06/22/40 Tonsils Operation
07/11/40 At the Beach
07/18/40 Library Visit
07/25/40 Port Hole Safe
09/05/40 Magazine Scam
09/12/40 New Car
09/19/40 Playing Hooky
09/26/40 Where's the Medicine?
10/10/40 Football Game
10/17/40 Where's My Change?
10/24/40 Raising a Loan
10/31/40 Ruined Suit
11/07/40 Oil Discovered
11/14/40 Measles
11/21/40 4 Fathers
11/28/40 Stolen Turkey
12/12/40 Haunted House
12/19/40 Christmas Skates
12/26/40 Returning Presents

1941

01/02/41 Sneaking Out
01/09/41 Art Museum
01/23/41 Flat Tire
01/30/41 Jury Duty
02/06/41 Flower Gardens
02/13/41 Taxes Again
02/27/41 At the Races
03/20/41 Photographer
03/27/41 Buying Shoes
04/03/41 At the Zoo
04/10/41 Trout Fishing
04/17/41 Baseball Game
04/24/41 Fixing Supper
05/08/41 Riding Academy
05/22/41 Insomnia
05/29/41 Antique Auction
06/05/41 Calisthenics
06/12/41 X-Ray Machine
06/19/41 Dollar Day
06/26/41 Artist Daddy
07/10/41 Going to Camp
10/02/41 Snooks Returns
10/09/41 New School
10/23/41 Duck Hunting
10/31/41 Halloween
11/06/41 Defense Stamps
11/13/41 Mixed Nuts
11/27/41 The Opera
12/18/41 Air Raid Warden

1942

01/01/42 Hangover
01/08/42 Victory Garden
01/15/42 House Guest
01/22/42 Hiccups
01/29/42 Report Card
02/05/42 Knitting Lessons
02/12/42 Camping In
02/26/42 Stealing Chickens
03/19/42 Fake Measles
03/26/42 Red Cross
04/02/42 Easter Suit
04/09/42 Daddy's Birthday
04/16/42 Poultice
04/23/42 $50.00 Raise
04/30/42 Quiz Kids
05/07/42 Fishing Rod
05/14/42 Driving Home From a Wedding
05/21/42 Sugar
05/28/42 Abnormal Psychology
06/04/42 10th Anniversary
06/11/42 The Twins
06/18/42 The Trade
07/02/42 Baby Buggy
09/03/42 Camp Report
09/24/42 Matinee
10/01/42 Gozinta
10/08/42 Charlie
12/03/42 Getting Gas
12/18/42 Cinderella

1943

01/14/43 Stolen Medal
11/04/43 The Trial

1944

06/15/44 The World's Most Patient Father
12/03/44 Daddy Tries to Cure Snooks Lying

1945

05/13/45 Live from the Bijou
09/16/45 Snooks is Missing
12/16/45 Baby Snooks is Lost

1946

11/01/46 Hallowe'en Trick or Treat

1947

03/02/47 Home Remodeling
05/23/47 Miracle Children Quiz Show
10/17/47 Daddy's New Suits
10/24/47 Ugly Duckling (Snooks is Unpopular)
(April) Charles harding blaire to arrive

1950

11/12/50 Snooks & Tallulah

1951

01/05/51 Daddy's Old Flame
01-15-51 The Lady Detective
02-18-51 Hanging Wallpaper
03/20/51 The Easter Bonnet
05/05/51 Report Card Blues

Notes

^ Scoop: The Newlyweds (April 9, 2004)
^ Fanny Brice Collection: Baby Snooks.
^ University of California, Berkeley: Media Resources Center.
^ Wertheim, Arthur Frank. Radio Comedy. Oxford University Press, 1979. ISBN 0-19-502481-8
^ ^a ^b Nachman, Gerald (1998). Raised on Radio. University of California Press, by arrangement with Pantheon Books. pp. 224–226. ISBN 0-520-22303-9. Retrieved 16 August 2019.
^ Goldman, Herbert G. Fanny Brice: The Original Funny Girl. Oxford University Press, 1992. ISBN 0-19-508552-3
^ "The Marx Brothers Radio Shows and Guest Appearances": The Big Show (November 12, 1950)
^ Grossman, Barbara Wallace. Funny Woman: The Life and Times of Fanny Brice. Indiana University Press, 1991. ISBN 0-253-20762-2
^ "BABY SNOOKS -INCOME TAX -LIVE 1938". Retrieved 19 August 2012.
^ "Baby Snooks - A Tisket A Tasket". Retrieved 19 August 2012.
^ "BABY SNOOKS - DADDY HAS 1 HOUR TO KILL 1938". Retrieved 19 August 2012.

References

Dunning, John. On the Air: The Encyclopedia of Old-Time Radio. New York: Oxford University Press, 1998. ISBN 0-19-507678-8
Harmon, Jim. The Great Radio Comedians. Albany, Georgia: BearManor Media, 2007. ISBN 978-1-59393-111-7
Rapp, Philip. The Baby Snooks Scripts. Albany, Georgia: BearManor Media, 2006. ISBN 1-59393-057-7
Rapp, Philip. The Baby Snooks Scripts Vol. 2. Albany, Georgia: BearManor Media, 2007. ISBN 978-1-59393-094-3
Sies, Luther F. Encyclopedia of American Radio 1920-1960. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland, 2000. ISBN 0-7864-0452-3
Terrace, Vincent. The Radio's Golden Years: Encyclopedia of Radio Programs, 1930-1960. A. S. Barnes, 1981. ISBN 0-498-02393-1

Listen to

External links

[1] Scoop: The Newlyweds (April 9, 2004)

[2] Fanny Brice Collection: Baby Snooks.

[3] University of California, Berkeley: Media Resources Center.

[4] Wertheim, Arthur Frank. Radio Comedy. Oxford University Press, 1979. ISBN 0-19-502481-8

[nachman-5] Nachman, Gerald (1998). Raised on Radio. University of California Press, by arrangement with Pantheon Books. pp. 224–226. ISBN 0-520-22303-9. Retrieved 16 August 2019.

[6] Goldman, Herbert G. Fanny Brice: The Original Funny Girl. Oxford University Press, 1992. ISBN 0-19-508552-3

[7] "The Marx Brothers Radio Shows and Guest Appearances": The Big Show (November 12, 1950)

[8] Grossman, Barbara Wallace. Funny Woman: The Life and Times of Fanny Brice. Indiana University Press, 1991. ISBN 0-253-20762-2

[9] "BABY SNOOKS -INCOME TAX -LIVE 1938". Retrieved 19 August 2012.

[10] "Baby Snooks - A Tisket A Tasket". Retrieved 19 August 2012.

[11] "BABY SNOOKS - DADDY HAS 1 HOUR TO KILL 1938". Retrieved 19 August 2012.

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