[Sheet Music]: Come On Spark Plug! Debeck, Billy, Illustrated By, And Billy Rose And Con Conrad, Song By African-Americana,Art / Illustration,Music

First edition. Cover illustration by DeBeck. Quarto. Single bifolium with a single sheet insert making six pages. Light staining on the front cover going through to the verso, rubbing and light foxing to the exterior, and separating a bit at the bottom of the fold, still a very good and complete copy. For voice and piano. Plate number, 1373-4. The horse, Spark Plug, is from the comic strip *Barney Google and Snuffy Smith*, the third-longest running comic strip in history, and it is still being produced today. This song is a follow-up to the wildly popular song "Barney Google," penned by the same authors. Both songs were released in 1923 at the height of Spark Plug's popularity. Commenting on Spark Plug, comics historian Don Markstein said, "Sparky's first race became one of comics' first national media events, eagerly anticipated by millions of newspaper readers. So great was the public's enthusiasm that DeBeck, who had been planning to retire the plug after that one storyline, made him a permanent part of the cast. Spark Plug was such a star during the 1920s that children who enjoyed the comics were liable to get 'Sparky' for a nickname, for example, Charles M. 'Sparky' Schulz, who grew up to create *Peanuts*" (Wikipedia). The cover illustration of this song depicts Barney Google's jockey, Sunshine, using a pitchfork to spur Spark Plug in the big race. *OCLC* locates only five holdings and it appears to be equally scarce in the trade. A rare piece of both music and cartoon history.