Since the antics of both wisenheimer Charlie McCarthy and demon-on-wheels Junior (“the mean widdle kid”) have been discussed in previous entries on this blog, I thought I would round out radio’s brat triumvirate by examining its third member, Baby Snooks.
Snooks was a bratty child portrayed by famed musical comedy star Fanny Brice, who began her long show business career at the age of twelve, earning pocket money by singing on neighborhood street corners in south Brooklyn, New York. She later participated in numerous amateur night contests, and from those began her foray into professional show business in burlesque (Brice--along with Bert Lahr, Red Skelton and Abbott & Costello--was one of the few radio comedians to emerge from there). Theater impresario Florenz Ziegfeld saw Fanny perform in a production of College Girls in 1910, and snapped her up for the 1910 edition of his Follies; she would appear in numerous productions for The Great Ziegfeld over the next fifteen years—in addition to performances in Broadway musical comedies and vaudeville. Her talents as a gifted singer and comedienne soon took on legendary proportions; indeed, Barbra Streisand would portray Brice on the silver screen in Funny Girl (1968) and Funny Lady (1975), winning the Best Actress Oscar for the former film in 1969.
The genesis for the Baby Snooks character rose from Brice’s little girl roles on stage; once, at a party, she sang a number called “Poor Pauline” in a high-pitched treble to tremendous response and Fanny often used the song as an encore during her stage performances. By 1936, she was performing the Snooks character on CBS’s Ziegfeld Follies of the Air, and a year later, brought Snooks to NBC in December 1937 for MGM’s Good News of 1938 program. The Good News shows were similar to those of The Chase and Sanborn Hour; featuring big-name performers (James Stewart, Robert Taylor, Robert Young and Dick Powell all hosted the program at one time during its run from 1937-40) and guest stars from the stables of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Joining Brice in the Baby Snooks skits was character actor Hanley Stafford, who played the part of Snooks’ father to complete frustrated perfection. (Alan Reed had originated the role of “Daddy” on the Ziegfeld Follies show but stayed behind in New York
The 1940s saw Baby Snooks becoming a popular and endearing radio favorite. Brice and fellow Good News player Frank Morgan were the stars of Maxwell House Coffee Time on NBC beginning September 5, 1940 . The two comedians rarely appeared in sketches together, however; instead they staked out different halves of the show and attempted to top each other week after week. Fanny jumped ship to CBS in 1944 (Morgan continued on with the help of Robert Young and singer-comedienne Cass Daley) in a show originally titled Post Toasties Time (after its sponsor), but gradually becoming known as The Baby Snooks Show (later sponsored by General Foods/Jell-O).
The Baby Snooks Show adopted a situation-comedy format, centering on the Higgins household—Lancelot (“Daddy”), Vera (“Mommy”), Snooks and Robespierre, Snooks’ baby brother—in Sycamore Terrace. The plots generally revolved around Snooks’ endless mischief—from her frequent torturing of her little brother to her driving her father to distraction with exasperating questions. Brice allowed herself to become completely immersed in the character; “I love Snooks, and when I play her I do it as seriously as if she were real,” she once said. “I am Snooks. For twenty minutes or so, Fanny Brice ceases to exist.”
I listened to a Baby Snooks broadcast last night from May 23, 1947 . It is indeed very rare to find a complete Baby Snooks broadcast, for while many of the sketches she performed with Hanley Stafford exist (from Good News, Maxwell House Coffee Time, etc.) existing episodes in the situation-comedy format are fairly scant. The program opens with Mrs. Higgins complaining to her husband that she needs a new washing machine; but he seems to be more interested in perusing his condensed encyclopedia—that is, until he is interrupted by you-know-who:
(SFX: loud crash)
DADDY: Great Scott, what was that? Snooks! Oh Snooks!
SNOOKS: Yes, Daddy?
DADDY: What was that noise? What happened?
SNOOKS: Robespierre just fell off a twenty-foot ladder…
DADDY: Robespierre just fell off a twenty-foot ladder? Did he hurt himself?
SNOOKS: No…he just fall off the bottom rung…
DADDY: Now, what’s the matter with you? Why didn’t you tell me that in the first place?
SNOOKS (giggling) ‘Cause you look so cute when you’re mad…
Daddy is frustrated at Snooks’ seeming disinterest in learning, and berates her for only wanting to “read the funnies”:
DADDY: I might as well face it…you’ll never learn anything, because you don’t want to learn…but look what you’re missing…each page of this book is a treasure trove of information…look right here, for instance…light…do you know how fast light travels?
SNOOKS: Nope.
DADDY: 186,000 miles per second.
SNOOKS: Gosh! Where’s it goin’?
DADDY: It isn’t going anywhere…
SNOOKS: Then why is it in such a hurry?
Daddy points out to Snooks all sorts of wonderful facts in the book, like the capital of Nicaragua, the chemical formula for sulfuric acid, and the U.S. President who died after one month in office—but Snooks knows the answer to that one, William Henry Harrison. (Daddy: “How did you know that?” Snooks: “I’m lookin’ over your shoulder.”) On a trip to the market to get Mommy some soap flakes, Snooks manages to knock down a pyramid of cans—not once, but twice. She is sent out to the car by Daddy, and on her way out she observes a radio announcer (Ben Alexander) ask quiz questions of the crowd for prizes. He just happens to ask two questions that come directly from the encyclopedia, and Snooks regurgitates the answers, leading the announcer to believe that she’s some sort of child genius. Later, Daddy receives a phone call from a Mr. Clark (Gale Gordon) at CBS, inviting Snooks to appear on a kids’ quiz show called “The Miracle Children” (a sly parody of radio’s The Quiz Kids)—“all the brightest little minds we can find competing with each other.”
DADDY: Oh now…I…I…I don’t think Snooks should get mixed up in that…
DADDY: She might run away with them, all right…but I don’t see how she could win them…
Since the prizes include a brand new washing machine, Daddy convinces Snooks to go on the program, and even conducts an all-night study session on Abraham Lincoln with the little girl to get her to retain at least some knowledge, but to no avail. The next day, the family takes Snooks to the broadcast, and Snooks outperforms all expectations—except, unbeknownst to Mommy and Daddy, she’s swiped a copy of the questions from Mr. Clark’s office while meeting with Clark and Red Preston (Frank Nelson), the show’s host:
DADDY: This is utterly fantastic…for twenty minutes she’s given the right answer to every question…
MOMMY: Well, maybe we’ve underestimating her, Lancelot…doesn’t she look cute? And I’ve never seen her so modest…she keeps looking down at her lap all the time…
DADDY: Quiet, I want to hear this…
RED: Now, here comes another toughie, kids…now, on your toes…you’re all being shown up by your little guest tonight…listen closely…in what year did Lord Nelson fight the Battle of Trafalgar? Well, well…Snooks has her hand up again…all right, tell us, Snooks…
SNOOKS: October 20, 1805 …
RED: Right again! (SFX: audience applause) Well, this is amazing! The child got the month and year correct and she only missed the date by one day…it was October 21, not October 20 (laughs) What’s the matter, Snooks? Is your memory not so very good?
SNOOKS: No…the light’s not so very good…
Snooks is found out during the broadcast, however, and it is decided that she must compete on her own mettle for the rest of the show. Unfortunately, the host is completely unprepared for Snooks and her endless questions…
RED: Now, I’m going to read to each one of you children in turn a little story…when I finish, I want you to tell back to me as much of it as you can remember…all right, we’ll let our guest, Snooks Higgins, go first…ready, Snooks?
SNOOKS: Uh-huh…
RED: All right, here’s the story…during the reign of King John, in the small English hamlet of Waffing-On-Thames, there lived a one-legged Cockney wheelwright…
SNOOKS: What’s a wheelwright?
RED: A wheelwright is a man who makes wheels…
SNOOKS: Only right wheels?
RED: No, he also makes left wheels…
SNOOKS: Then…why don’t they call him wheel-left?
RED: That has nothing to do with the story…may I continue?
SNOOKS: Yes, sir…
RED: Now, the wheelwright’s name was Thomas Smythe Bedlington, and…
SNOOKS: Why?
RED: How should I know why?
SNOOKS: Well, it’s your story…
RED: Well, it’s my story but you’re supposed to be listening to it…now let’s understand each other—that was his name…
SNOOKS: What was his name?
RED: Thomas Smythe Bedlington…
SNOOKS: Ohhh…
RED: Now, one day he left his house and started walking down the street…
SNOOKS: Where was he going?
RED: It doesn’t make any difference where he was going…he wasn’t going anyplace…
SNOOKS: Then why did he leave his house?
RED (exasperated): Because he felt like it!!!
SNOOKS: Who did?
RED (yelling): Tom did!!!
SNOOKS: Tom who?
RED (near tears): Thomas Smythe Bedlington!!!
SNOOKS: Ohhh…
RED: Will you let me get this story finished!!! I’m supposed to be asking the questions!!!
SNOOKS: Well, I ain’t stopping you…
RED: All right, for the last time (notably flustered) During the reign of King Bedlington, a small English Thames lived a one-wheeled Cockney leg-right…
(SFX: Bell
SNOOKS: Is that recess?
RED: No, it’s the end of the show, and thank heavens for that…now, ladies and gentlemen, we just have time left for our studio audience to choose the grand prize winner by their applause…before I start holding my hand over the contestants’ heads, however…I must call your attention to the fact that during the first twenty minutes of the show, this…this Higgins child…had the list of answers in her lap!
SNOOKS: I did not!
RED: Oh, you didn’t…???
SNOOKS: No…I had them in my pocket.
Needless to say, the audience helps Snooks wins in a rout, thus securing the new washing machine for her mother. The Baby Snooks Show ended its CBS run in 1948, but resurfaced again in 1949 over NBC for Tums. Although the show still remained popular, the program had curiously acquired a certain moral preachiness in its 1950-51 season; the Snooks character became less of a mischief maker and more of a misunderstood kid. The series came to an abrupt end on May 29, 1951—the day of the broadcast—when Fanny Brice succumbed to a sudden cerebral hemorrhage and passed away. The program that night was substituted by a musical tribute, and co-star Hanley Stafford eulogized: “We have lost a very real, a very warm, a very wonderful woman.”
An item of note: Paul Rapp, son of veteran comedy writer Phillip Rapp, who created the Snooks character (as well as The Bickersons, a comedic battling married couple played chiefly by Don Ameche and Francis Langford), maintains a website devoted to selling audio cassettes/CDs and VHS/DVDs of both Snooks and Bickersons material. I heartily recommend the book The Baby Snooks Scripts, a collection of complete scripts from both the Good News and Maxwell House Coffee Time programs. (I particularly like the Coffee Time scripts, because they include the Frank Morgan spots as well as the Snooks segments.) It was published by Ben Ohmart of BearManor Media, which has printed other fine books on OTR as well. Have yourself a glance, you’ll be glad you did.
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