The Baby Snooks Show was an American radio program starring Fanny Brice as a mischievous young girl. The series began on CBS September 17, 1944, airing on Sunday evenings at 6:30pm as Toasties Time. The title soon changed to The Baby Snooks Show, and was sometimes called Baby Snooks and Daddy. On November 9, 1949, the series moved to NBC where it was heard Tuesdays at 8:30pm.
Fanny Brice was born on October 29, 1891 and found early fame starring in the Ziegfield Follies from 1911 to 1923. It was on Ziegfield Follies of the Air that Baby Snooks took her first hilarious step. The Snooks sketches began as a regular feature in 1937 on the variety show Good News, and became the main attraction on Maxwell House Coffee Time in 1940.
In 1944 the impish problem child began her own radio program. The sponsors included Post cereals, Sanka coffee, Spic-n-Span, Tums antacid, and Jell-O. The musical theme was "Rock-A-Bye Baby."
Brice herself was so meticulous and fanatical about the character that, she dressed in a baby-doll dress for the studio audience, and she also appeared in the costume at parades and personal appearances. 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.
The series ended with Fanny's unexpected, untimely demise at the age of 59 in 1951. No one could replace her in the title role of Snooks. And no one did. A tribute program was aired the week following her death.
Original Air Date: Feb 8, 1940
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