Vladimir Nabokov

NABOKV-L post 0013655, Tue, 17 Oct 2006 19:13:38 -0400

Subject
Barney Google redux
From
Date
Body
> From: D. Barton Johnson <mailto:chtodel@cox.net>
> To: Steve H. Blackwell <mailto:sblackwe@utk.edu>
> Sent: Monday, March 27, 2006 9:12 PM
> Subject: Barney Google
>
> Barney Google, as you can see, draws his name from his bulging
eyeballs
> -- as in "goggle-eyed." The image was certainly known to comic buff
VN
> as well as to DN (and as it was to me).
Somewhat belatedly, but in defense of civilization, nothing
is too late. Besides that horse you see, there was a baby
who was still in the crawling stage and wore a long lacy
dress and cap; a villain name (preserve us all) Fagin (sp?).
When Barney's wife sued him for divorce ("now he's sleeping
with his horse," as I recall the popular lyric) Barney
"with those [yes!] goo-goo-gly eyes" fled to a mythical
mountain domain where he met one Snuffy Smith: who by
coincidence had remarkable resemblance to Barney, bur
worlle "hill billy" clothing. Snuffy's wife, too, looked
much like Barney's "wife three times his size". [Rhymes
with "googly eyes". It's few among us these day that
can conjure up the visions of past glory.

John Rea


Search the archive: http://listserv.ucsb.edu/archives/nabokv-l.html
Contact the Editors: mailto:nabokv-l@utk.edu,nabokv-l@holycross.edu
Visit Zembla: http://www.libraries.psu.edu/nabokov/zembla.htm
View Nabokv-L policies: http://web.utk.edu/~sblackwe/EDNote.htm






Attachment