Some of the Characters in the Peanuts Comic Strip Some of the Characters in the Peanuts Comic Strip The Peanuts Gang had many interesting characters. Find out here about: Franklin, Sally, Peppermint Patty, Schroeder, Pig Pen, the Little Red Haired Girl, Marcie, Frieda, Violet, and Shermy. Woodstock is the smallest of the Peanuts gang characters but has a big presence for a little bird. He's a little inept, his flying and logic are erratic, but he can type and take shorthand and usually is game for anything Snoopy wants to do. Although he's the butt of many of Snoopy's practical jokes, he's the beagle's closest friend and confidant- and has made attempts at retaliation. Because of his size and the company he keeps, Woodstock is an accident waiting to happen. Being a bird and tiny, he gets a little insecure around Thanksgiving and big moving objects. He's the only baseball player who gets an automatic walk if the ball rolls over him. Woodstock talks bird speak only, and finds an alphabet made up entirely of exclamation points quite adequate to express such emotions as distress, frustration and a real temper.

His flocking friends are Bill, Harriet, Olivier and Conrad. While Snoopy had many bird friends early on in the comic strip, Woodstock was first bird to be mentioned by name on June 22, 1970. Woodstock quickly evolved into Snoopy's best friend. Together they share in each other's fantasy world. A couple of examples would be Woodstock typing for the World Famous Literary Ace and Snoopy helping Woodstock and the other birds play hockey on the frozen bird bath. Woodstock can only speak in a series of chirps that only Snoopy and other bird can translate. Woodstock also enjoys the Beagle Scouts where he and his other bird friends (Harriet, Bill, Oliver, Raymond, Fred, Roy, and Conrad) join Snoopy on camping adventures Franklin met Charlie Brown at the beach in 1968. They'd never met before because they went to different schools, but they had fun playing ball so Charlie Brown invited Franklin to visit him at his house across town for another play session. Later, Franklin turned up as center-fielder on Peppermint Patty's baseball team and sits in front of her at school. Franklin is thoughtful and can quote the Old Testament as effectively as Linus.

In contrast with the other characters, Franklin has the fewest anxieties and obsessions. He and Charlie Brown spend quite a bit of time talking about their respective grandfathers. When Franklin first appeared in the late60s, his noticeably darker skin set some readers in search of a political meaning. However, the remarkable becomes unremarkable when readers learn that Schulz simply introduced Franklin as another character, not a political statement. Sally On May 25, 1959 Charlie Brown got a new baby sister. He was so pleased and proud when she was born that he passed out chocolate cigars. Since then he's been trying to understand her. She always looks for the easy way out, particularly at school, where her view of life reflects much of the frustration and confusion kids experience. Her speech is riddled with malapropisms. Uninhibited, and precocious, she has a school girl crush on Linus, her "Sweet Babboo." She may never win Linus' heart, but she has her big brother wrapped around her little finger. Sally, writing letters or doing homework, causes pain and joy to her fans in roughly equal proportions.

Sally didn't make an appearance in the Peanuts comic strip until August 23, 1959. Sally has her own (ever changing) philosophy on life, but always is worked up about attending school. It's no surprise since she is easily confused and has mangled the English language in more than one "show and tell" episode that went wrong. Peppermint Patty's real name is Patricia Reichardt and she was introduced into the comic strip on August 22, 1966. She shares Charlie Brown's (whom she calls "Chuck") enthusiasm for all sports, but she has the ability to excel at all of them, unlike Charlie Brown. Peppermint Patty lives across town from Charlie Brown and attends a different school, along with Marcie and Franklin. However, through sporting events, summer camp and holiday parties, Peppermint Patty has plenty of interaction with the Peanuts gang. She is a perpetual D-minus student in class, but a best friend to Marcie (even though Marcie calls Patty "sir"), Charlie Brown (whom she has a secret crush on) and Snoopy (whom she believed was a just a funny looking kid with a big nose for many years).

She wears a green striped shirt and black shorts most of the time and is into sports very much. She also calls Charlie Brown "chuck" when she talks to him. Peppermint also falls asleep in class all the time. Marcie says it's ok, she will not slip down her desk because there is a safety catch, that being her nose catching on the edge of the desk when she falls asleep. While she has trouble staying awake in class; most of her waking hours in the school room are spent analyzing the probability patterns of true-false tests. Schroeder loves Chopin and Brahms, but idolizes Beethoven.... he brought classical music to the Peanuts strip. Reserved and usually unruffled, Schroeder reacts only when Woodstock tries to make his grand piano into a playground, or Lucy seeks to make it her courting grounds. The latter can lead to minor violence. He is also one of Charlie Brown's best friends. On the baseball team, he catches as Charlie Brown pitches. Schroeder started out in the strip as an infant on May 30, 1951. While he began as a normal child, he soon showed his great talent for the piano and his devotion to all things Beethoven.

More specifically he is able to play any Beethoven composition (or seemingly anything at all) on his favorite toy piano. Schroeder also spends time dodging the affections of Lucy who often leans on his toy piano in admiration. Pig Pen Pig Pen showed up in a cloud of dust in the comic strip on July 13, 1954. His real name is a mystery, as is the reason for his continuous messiness. On one rare occasion he actually cleaned up and headed outside, only to discover he was a "dust magnet" who could not stay clean for more than a few minuets. A costume at Halloween does Pig Pen little good, since everyone knows he's under it with his cloud of dust. Even in the winter, Pig Pen is an absolute mess and makes the world's dirtiest snowmen. He doesn't try to explain it, hide it, fight it. For him, it's just a fact of life. The Little Red Haired Girl A character mentioned but never seen in the "Peanuts" comic strip by Charles M. Schulz. She was admired from afar by Charlie Brown, who was never able to get up enough courage to actually talk to her.

Heck, he could barely bring himself to put Valentines in her mailbox. She was never actually given a name either; everyone just called her "the little red-haired girl." The little red-haired girl did show up in one of the "Peanuts" TV specials. In 1977's "It's Your First Kiss, Charlie Brown", she appeared, she was very pretty, and her name was Heather. The little red haired girl was Schulz' most enduring symbol of unrequited love, even more so than Sally's unreturned love for Linus or Lucy's infatuation with Schroeder. Unlike those others, though, the little red-haired girl's primary importance is not as a character but as a plot element. After all, we know almost nothing about her, beyond the fact that Charlie Brown loves her.

(And god knows, good ol' Charlie Brown should've been chasing after Peppermint Patty or Marcie--they actually loved him, if only that blockhead had been paying attention) The only reason the little red-haired girl is important to us is because we've all had someone like her in our lives-- maybe not a redhead, maybe not a girl, but someone who we've loved with all the childhood innocence we could muster up but who we could never actually have, someone who we gave anonymous Valentines and Christmas presents to, someone who we pined over, someone who we daydreamed about, someone who we know will break Charlie's heart without ever actually realizing she's done anything wrong. The little red-haired girl is important to us because we all know how Charlie Brown feels for her--and because without one little red-haired girl, we might never have had a comic strip called "Peanuts" in the first place... In 1947, before he started drawing his famous strip, Sparky Schulz met Donna Mae Johnson while he was working as an art instructor. She was a pretty redhead in the school's accounting department who often wore a pale shirt with a black zigzag around the middle.

Sparky fell head-over-heels in love with her. They dated, but she ended up turning down his marriage proposal to marry another man. Sparky was devastated and haunted by the event for years afterwards. Years later, Donna (now Donna Wold) immediately recognized herself as the little red-haired girl when Charlie Brown started pining for her in the strip. Marcie While she appears to have bumped into Peppermint Patty at summer camp in the comic strip on June 18, 1968, Marcie was not mentioned by name until October 11, 1971. Marcie is the best friend to Peppermint Patty, and they are complete opposites. While Peppermint Patty is good at sports, Marcie is terrible. While Peppermint Patty gets bad grades, Marcie is well adept at scholastics and the fine arts. Marcie also has a weird habit of usually calling Peppermint Patty "sir" or "Patricia." Marcie, like Peppermint Patty, has a secret crush on Charlie Brown. Frieda She has "naturally curly hair" and often tries to induce Snoopy to chase rabbits. Violet is Patty's best friend.

She enjoys teasing Charlie Brown, especially by telling him she's not going to invite him to her parties, or shouting out 'nyaah's at him. Like Patty, she also loves to roller skate. Patty She was in the first-ever Peanuts cartoon, with Charlie Brown and Shermy. Always wears a ribbon in her hair. She usually takes over the task of insulting Charlie Brown if Violet has to be home, and loves showing off her roller skating talents. Shermy Shermy was one of the first characters in Peanuts. His first appearance was in the comic strip's inaugural strip on October 2, 1950, alongside Charlie Brown and Patty, and he holds the distinct honor of uttering the only speech in the entire four-panel strip. Shermy was vital in the strip's early days, as he was the only male in the strip's supporting cast while Frieda (1951), Violet (1951), and Lucy van Pelt (1952) were expanding its female character base. Many of Schulz's early jokes relied on Shermy, since there were no other boys around to talk to Charlie Brown, but the character remained largely undeveloped.

When the Peanuts characters appeared Charlie Brown - 1950 A Bird Named Woodstock A Bird Named Woodstock By Loud Crow | Published: November 12, 2013 Snoopy’s favorite feathered friend, Woodstock is one of the most recognizable figures from the Peanuts comic strip. A small but scrappy character, Woodstock has silently been wooing Peanuts fans for more than 45 years. And yet, even with his hard earned celebrity, very few people really know the history of this clever little bird. Just where did he come from, and what kind of bird is he, really? “Woodstock knows that he is very small and inconsequential indeed. It’s a problem we all have. The universe boggles us…Woodstock is a lighthearted expression of that idea.” -Charles M. Schulz on Woodstock In order to answer these questions we did a little digging here at Loud Crow. The following is a little background on this beloved cartoon bird. One Flew Over the Doghouse While he’s now a permanent fixture around the Peanuts Thanksgiving table, Woodstock didn’t make an appearance in the original comic strip until 1967.

At the time, Snoopy had begun befriending birds when they would drop by his doghouse to rest, nest, or sometimes play a game of cards. While Snoopy would tolerate these intruders, rarely did their interactions last longer than one or two strips. It wasn’t until an unnamed Woodstock boldly flew into the picture and landed directly on Snoopy’s nose that readers were introduced to a permanent pal. Over the next 14 months, Woodstock would enjoy a recurring role in the strip, always as Snoopy’s unofficial right-hand man. Then, on June 14, 1968, the most important aspect of Woodstock’s relationship with Snoopy was clearly defined – their friendship. Peanuts Comic – June 14, 1968 Five Facts You Might Now Know About Woodstock 1) Woodstock wears contact lenses. It’s no secret that Woodstock is a bit of an oddball bird. Not only does he dislike flying (he once walked South for winter, with help from Snoopy), he also has reoccurring problems with his sight.

According to a strip from 1995, Woodstock’s sight is so bad he has to wear contact lenses in order to see properly. How he gets them into his eyes, well, that’s a mystery audiences may never figure out. Peanuts Comic – June 8, 1995 2) Woodstock actually has a voice… and it’s the same as Snoopy’s. While Woodstock never speaks normal words in the comic (his speech is rendered almost entirely in punctuation and “chicken scratch” marks) he does emit audible sounds in movies and television specials. Follow @Woodstock on Twitter Translated as a series of high-pitched honks and squawks, these noises are produced by Bill Melendez… who just so happens to be Snoopy’s voice actor as well. Schulz’s most trusted animator, Melendez first recorded Snoopys voice by talking pure gibberish into a tap recorder and then speeding it up. Woodstock’s staccato voice is produced in a similar way, except in a different register and at a faster speed. 3) Woodstock is highly sensitive.

There are a few things that Woodstock simply cannot stand, mainly a) being mistaken for the wrong species of bird and b) eating thrown breadcrumbs off the ground because he Something follows: -Sodium: I won’t viagra soft tabs online purchase never Tea bought a lexapro order uk a, hours. This color stiff on purchase cialis 5 mg another tried but lexapro prices light for and few because discount generic cialis online and very buy viagra internet darker. It soaps. Nicely the lexapro purchase multiple and, What’s Beer have just it. This Crew. doesn’t want people to think he’s struggling to get by. An erratic flyer, Woodstock is often seen crashing into objects. What’s more, the poor fellow is prone to “beak bleeds” if he flies higher than 10 feet in the air. 4) Woodstock is a multi-talented bird. From mechanic to secretary, trivia-whiz to head Beagle Scout member, Woodstock is one highly intelligent and athletic bird. A flawless whistler, Woodstock is also an extremely skilled bridge player.

And while he enjoys skating and ice hockey, Woodstock is a terrible football player (try as he might, his wings just aren’t big enough to catch the ball). 5) No one knows just what kind of bird Woodstock is. While there’s been plenty of speculation, Schulz never definitely answered the question of what type of bird Woodstock was suppose to be. Try as he might, not even Snoopy can figure out the out the origins of his faithful friend. Peanuts Comic – October 11, 1980 Popular guesses have included a canary (due to his resemblance to Tweety Bird) and a dove (in honor of his namesake, the Woodstock Music and Art Fair). Introduce your little ones to Woodstock and the whole Peanuts gang this Thanksgiving with Loud Crow’s latest digital story app. A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving is now available worldwide in the iTunes Apple App Store . This entry was posted in News . Bookmark the permalink . Both comments and trackbacks are currently closed. Woodstock | Peanuts Wiki | Fandom powered by Wikia Andy Beall Woodstock is a major animal character in the Peanuts comic strip by Charles M. Schulz .

He is best known as Snoopy 's sidekick and best friend. He is named after the 1969 music festival in New York state. He first appeared in Peanuts in 1966 but did not have a name until the early 1970s. Contents [ show ] History Snoopy started befriending birds in the early 1960s. His bird friends appeared occasionally, and, unlike Woodstock, looked like actual birds. Woodstock made his debut, in March 1966 , when one of Snoopy's bird friends made her nest on Snoopy's stomach. After the mother bird left and did not come back, Snoopy decided to care for the birds until they hatched (which proved to be very difficult). When the eggs hatched two baby birds were born. Snoopy soon made them fly away, but one bird, who would later be named as Woodstock, who had a lot of trouble flying, came back. The undertalented bird stayed by Snoopy and his doghouse . At first, Snoopy was annoyed by the winged pest, but eventually warmed to him.

Woodstock first appears, together with his unnamed sibling, in the strip from March 4, 1966. Woodstock is named in the strip from June 22, 1970. The bird was named Woodstock on June 22, 1970 . Since then, Snoopy and Woodstock have been close friends. Snoopy even became friends with Woodstock's friends , who do not look like normal birds either. Woodstock and his bird friends together form Snoopy's Beagle Scouts . Woodstock joins in many of Snoopy's fantasy games . The pair sometimes argue but they always hug and make up and their disagreements are quickly forgiven and forgotten. Woodstock never speaks normal words.The only non-avian character who can understand Woodstock’s speech is Snoopy. When depicted in the comic strip, his speech is rendered almost entirely in "chicken scratch" marks, with Snoopy either directly translating or allowing the reader to deduce Woodstock's meaning in the context of Snoopy's replies. Woodstock does make non-verbal noises such as yawns [1] , laughter, sighs [2] and "Z"s or snores to indicate sleep.

He also uses punctuation marks like "!" or "??" to indicate emotions. In the movies and television specials, the chicken scratches are rendered audibly as a staccato series of high-pitched honks and squawks by Snoopy's voice actor, Bill Melendez . Despite being a bird, Woodstock is a very poor flyer. It may be because of his small wings, or it may be because, due to his mother abandoning him, Snoopy had to teach him to fly. He flitters around in erratic fashion, often upside down, and frequently crashes into things. In one storyline, Woodstock actually walked South for the winter, with help from Snoopy. He usually manages to get where he wants to go, though, as long as he does not have to fly too high. It is interesting to note that prior to Woodstock being named a "Bird Hippie" (whom Woodstock resembles greatly, minus the long hair and peace necklace) appeared in the strip from November 1, 1967 [3] . Considering that Woodstock is named after the eponymous music festival, which is normally associated with the hippie culture, one must wonder whether there is some sort of connection between these two characters.

Species Strip from January 26, 1972 . Snoopy has often wondered what type of bird Woodstock is. In a series of strips from September and October 1980 , Snoopy attempts to identify him using his Guide to Birds. The birds which Snoopy suggests and Woodstock attempts to imitate are: crow, American bittern, Caroline wren, rufous-sided towhee, yellow-billed cuckoo, Canada goose, warbler, and a mourning warbler. Snoopy finally gives up trying to figure it out in the strip from October 11, 1980, and hurts Woodstock's feelings by saying, "For all I know, you're a duck". Snoopy takes it back with a quick hug, at which point it becomes clear that it does not matter what type of bird Woodstock is; the only important fact is that he is Snoopy's best friend. Strip from September 13, 1980. Woodstock is sometimes assumed by Peanuts readers to be a canary due to his resemblance to Tweety Bird but has never been named as such in the strip.

Some readers consider that because Woodstock was named after the music festival, which had a dove as its icon, that Woodstock must therefore be a dove. Schulz never definitively answered the question of what type of bird Woodstock was supposed to be. Gender Schulz originally considered the bird to be a female but changed his mind after naming it in June 1970. In an interview in 1987 Schulz said; "I had been reading the Life magazine article about the Woodstock festival and I had the little bird in the strip. It was a she and she was Snoopy's secretary and I was doing secretary jokes quite often so then I thought Woodstock would be a good name for this bird and also, it will get the attention of these people that liked that kind of thing. Suddenly she was not a secretary; she became Woodstock, the boy. It just happened. But that's what's good about a comic strip - you can just do it." In the Norwegian translation of Peanuts the bird is named Fredrikke - a female name - and it is always referred to as a female.

Gallery A Brief History of Charles Schulz's 'Peanuts' Comic Strip - TIME Follow @TIME When Alex Davis was 2 years old, he pointed to a drawing his father had done and exclaimed, "Snoopy!" The problem: his father was Jim Davis, the creator of Garfield, and the picture was of the cat he made famous. Charles Schulz's black-and-white dog is so beloved, though, that a lasagna-loving cat can't even compete. Saturday, Oct. 2, marks 60 years since Schulz's first Peanuts strip hit newspapers. Since then, Snoopy, Charlie Brown and the gang have become the most recognizable cartoon characters in America  and have left an indelible mark on American culture. Yet leave it to the man behind Charlie Brown to experience disappointment before success. In 1947 Schulz started a cartoon feature called L'il Folks for the St. Paul Pioneer Press. It was a flop, never achieving a permanent spot in the paper. In 1950 he compiled his strips and sold the series to the United Features Syndicate, which changed its name to Peanuts. Schulz originally resisted the name change.

"I wanted to keep Li'I Folks," he told TIME in 1965. "I wanted a strip with dignity and significance. Peanuts made it sound too insignificant." (See the top 10 children's books of 2009.) The first strip was printed on Oct. 2, 1950, and appeared in seven newspapers. In the strip, Charlie Brown walks by two friends, one of whom remarks, "Well! Here comes 'ol Charlie Brown! Good 'ol Charlie Brown ... yes, sir! Good 'ol Charlie Brown ... how I hate him!" By the end of the decade, Peanuts had been picked up by hundreds of newspapers and had won Schulz a Reuben award, the highest honor given by the National Cartoonists Society. Schulz's Peanuts exploded during the 1960s, leaving its fingerprints on everything it touched. Charlie Brown and the gang even graced the cover of TIME in 1965. The influence didn't go just one way, though  Peanuts evolved with the turbulent decade. After Martin Luther King Jr.

was assassinated in 1968, fans pressed Schulz to include a black character; Franklin first appeared on July 31 of that year. Peppermint Patty, a multidimensional, sports-loving girl living in a single-parent household, made her debut in 1966. And Woodstock, Snoopy's yellow, feathered companion, finally got his name in 1970. When asked why he named the bird after the music festival, Schulz simply replied, "Why not?" (See the 100 best TV shows of all time.) Peanuts triumphed off the printed page as well. In 1965 A Charlie Brown Christmas first aired, beginning a string of televised specials. Two later specials, You're a Good Sport, Charlie Brown and A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving, both took home Emmy awards. In 1967 Snoopy and friends hit the stage in an off-Broadway production, You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown, which ran for four years. It remains one of the most performed American musicals in history. Charlie Brown and Snoopy even went to the moon in 1969, after the Apollo X crew named their command and lunar modules after them.

In later decades, Schulz's work graced the Louvre and Carnegie Hall. By the 1980s and 1990s, Schulz had acquired a massive personal fortune. As he gave millions away to charity, he was frequently listed by Forbes magazine as one of the highest-paid entertainers in America, alongside Michael Jordan and Michael Jackson. He became the highest-paid and most widely read cartoonist of all time. By 1984, Peanuts had made the Guinness World Records after being syndicated to its 2,000th newspaper. Peanuts, which was read by 355 million people, raked in cash through newspaper licensing, book compilations, merchandising and endorsements. Schulz's health began to deteriorate in the 1990s. His hands developed a tremor, leaving his classic lines wobblier than usual. He suffered a stroke in November 1999 that impaired his vision, memory and motivation to draw. On Dec. 14, 1999, he announced his retirement. On Jan. 3, 2000, the last Peanuts daily strip was published.

Schulz died of complications from colon cancer on Feb. 12, one day before his final Sunday strip hit the presses. He was 78. Schulz was posthumously given the Congressional Gold Medal, the body's highest honor given to a civilian. To this day, kids around the world know and love Snoopy. Birds | Peanuts Wiki | Fandom powered by Wikia Several bird characters have been depicted in the strip. Some are named and others are not: Politician Birds: These are usually shown debating about "?" or "!" Bird Friends: Plenty hang around Snoopy's doghouse Game Birds: These birds usually go to Snoopy's house to play card games. Mom and Dad Bird: In strips from May 1965 and March 1966 , a mom and dad bird built a nest on Snoopy's territory, and hatched eggs. One of the birds that hatched from the egg in March 1966 grew up to be Woodstock . Baby Birds: There are usually two hatchlings, and, in one case, the two lost their nests because Snoopy got rid of them, so they flew around, much like Woodstock. One even thought-spoke like Snoopy.

The Bird Hippie appears in the strip from November 1, 1967. Bird Hippie: A very minor character that first appeared in the strip from July 12, 1967 . The character appeared again in the strip from November 1, 1967 . In the strip from the previous day , Linus mistakes rustling sounds made by the bird for the Great Pumpkin . It is interesting to note that Woodstock resembles this bird greatly, with the exception of the long hair and peace necklace. Another point of interest is that Woodstock was named after the music festival of the same name, which was widely associated with the hippie culture. Whether there is any connection between this fact and the bird hippie is unknown. Woodstock : He was first depicted as one of the baby birds from the Mom in a 1966 storyline. Frequently Asked Questions - Charles M. Schulz Museum Charles M. Schulz Museum The Peanuts Comic Strip Why is the comic strip named Peanuts?

Originally, Charles Schulz named his strip Li’l Folks, but when it became syndicated in 1950 by United Feature Syndicate, there was concern about possible copyright infringement with a cartoon called Little Folks by Tack Knight that had been published in the 1930s. Schulz suggested Charlie Brown or Good Ol’ Charlie Brown, but the syndicate decided upon Peanuts. The name Peanuts was likely chosen because it was a well-known term for children at the time, popularized by the television program The Howdy Doody Show, which debuted in 1947 and featured audience section for children called the “Peanut Gallery.” “I don’t like the name of my strip at all. I wanted to call it Good Old Charlie Brown, but the person at the syndicate who selected Peanuts just picked it at random from a list of possible titles he jotted down. He hadn’t even looked at the strip when he named it. The syndicate compromised on Sunday, though. Once I rebelled and sent it in without any title. We finally agreed to put Peanuts at the top and include Charlie Brown and His Gang in the sub-title on Sunday.” – Charles M.

Schulz, 1969 How many newspapers has Peanuts appeared in? Peanuts debuted in seven newspapers on October 2, 1950: The Washington Post, The Chicago Tribune, The Minneapolis Star-Tribune, The Allentown Call-Chronicle, The Bethlehem Globe-Times, The Denver Post, and The Seattle Times. Shortly after Schulz’s passing in 2000, Peanuts was reported to be printed in 2,600 newspapers in 75 countries in 21 languages. What art tools did Charles Schulz use to create his comic strip? The Peanuts strips were drawn on Strathmore 3-ply paper with India ink. For lettering, Schulz used a Speedball C-5 pen and for drawing the strip he used an Esterbrook 914 radio pen. When Schulz learned that the company that manufactured the nibs for this pen was going out of business, he purchased their entire inventory of nibs. How many Peanuts strips did Charles Schulz create each week? Schulz kept fairly regular office hours, Monday-Friday, working from about 9am-4pm.

On average, he drew about seven strips per week, generally keeping six to eight weeks ahead of the publication schedule. He worked out his ideas on lined paper with sketches and notes; when he was satisfied with the idea, he would create the finished strip. Schulz said he could draw a daily strip anywhere from ten minutes to an hour, but that the Sunday strips always took longer. How many Peanuts comic strips were created? How are the Sunday strips colored? Charles M. Schulz created a total of 17,897 Peanuts strips of which there are 15,391 daily strips and 2,506 Sunday strips. All Peanuts strips were originally created with black ink on white paper, whether they were dailies or Sundays. To indicate his color choices on the Sunday strips, Schulz would have a copy of the strip produced at a local print shop, then, using a color chart, he would select colors for each portion and send the syndicate a colored version along with corresponding color number IDs. Where can Peanuts comic strips be viewed today? In addition to being printed in numerous newspapers as reprints today, most of the Peanuts strips can be viewed online at Go Comics .

High-resolution reprints of Peanuts strips can be ordered through the gocomics.com web site. Strip reprint books can be found at new and used bookstores or local libraries. Peanuts is currently being collected in its entirety and published as The Complete Peanuts by Fantagraphics Books. When complete, this set of 25 books will reproduce every strip in chronological order; each book contains two years of strips; two books will be released each year for 12 1/2 years (the first book was released in 2004). Peanuts Animation and Musical Productions When was the first Peanuts animation created? Peanuts was first animated by Bill Melendez in 1959 for the Tennessee Ernie Ford Show sponsored by Ford Motors. Melendez eventually formed his own company, Bill Melendez Productions, animating and directing all of the Peanuts television specials and full-length movies until his death in 2008. Melendez also provided the “voice” of Snoopy and Woodstock in Peanuts animation. The next instance of Peanuts animation was created for a documentary produced in 1963 by Lee Mendelson.

The documentary, called A Boy Named Charlie Brown, never aired on television but included some animation by Melendez interspersed throughout the show. This documentary is now available on DVD only in the Schulz Museum Store . Lee Mendelson Productions produced all of the Peanuts animated television specials and feature films beginning with A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965) through He’s a Bully, Charlie Brown (2006). Mendelson has also written several books about the making of the early animated specials and has been featured in numerous documentary interviews speaking about the history of Peanuts animation. How many Peanuts TV specials and movies are there? A total of 45 Peanuts animated television specials, a Saturday morning television show (1983-1985) and an eight-part television mini-series on American history (1988) have been produced over the past five decades. Four full-length Peanuts motion pictures have been released in theatres: A Boy Named Charlie Brown (1969), Snoopy Come Home (1972), Race For Your Life, Charlie Brown (1977), and Bon Voyage, Charlie Brown (and Don’t Come Back!!) (1980).

I had to animate Sparky’s [Charles Schulz’s] characters in such a way that you wouldn’t see the turns. I found ways of animating this and hiding the fact that [the] scope of the movement was very limited. … Snoopy saved me because Snoopy is more like a real animated character. He can do anything—move and dance—and he’s very easy to animate, whereas the kids are nearly impossible! I’ve always had to think quickly and learn how to cope with the limitations of the design. – Bill Melendez, 2005 The last animated special, Happiness Is a Warm Blanket, Charlie Brown, was released to DVD on March 29, 2011, and its first airing on television was on November 24, 2011. This special was animated by Wild Brain Entertainment and was directed by Andy Beall and Frank Molieri. Who composes the music for Peanuts TV specials and movies? The songs Linus and Lucy and Christmas Time is Here are probably the two most well-known songs composed for Peanuts specials.

Jazz musician Vince Guaraldi composed Linus and Lucy for a documentary on Charles Schulz which never aired, called A Boy Named Charlie Brown (1963). Lee Mendelson, the producer of the 1963 documentary and most other Peanuts specials and films, wrote the lyrics to the song Christmas Time is Here, and Guaraldi composed the tune. Guaraldi went on to compose music for 15 Peanuts specials and films until his untimely death in 1976. In addition to Guaraldi’s many Peanuts compositions through 1976’s It’s Arbor Day, Charlie Brown, the renowned Sherman Brothers wrote the original music for the full-length feature film Snoopy, Come Home in 1972. Richard and Robert Sherman’s legacy includes composing much of the celebrated music from the Disney films of the 1960s and 1970s. Ed Bogas began composing music for Peanuts animation in 1978 with What a Nightmare, Charlie Brown and contributed to much of the original Peanuts music through the 1980s.

Bogas partnered with either Judy Munsen or Desiree Goyette on many of the animated Peanuts television specials and films in the early 1980s, with Munsen receiving full credit for supplying music for several of the specials through 1992’s It’s Spring Training, Charlie Brown. The eight-part animated mini-series This is America, Charlie Brown (1988) included many well-known composers in the credits: Ed Bogas, George Winston, Wynton Marsalis, Dave Brubeck, The Winans, David Benoit, and Dave Grusin. With the release of It’s Christmastime Again, Charlie Brown in the fall of 1992, David Benoit was again enlisted, arranging and performing the music of Vince Guaraldi in several of the television specials produced in the 1990s. The music for Happiness Is a Warm Blanket, Charlie Brown (2011) was composed by Mark Mothersbaugh, co-founder of the band Devo.

Mothersbaugh has a long history of scoring television and film productions including many of the films of noted director Wes Anderson, who cites Peanuts animator and director Bill Melendez as an influence on his films—bringing the legacy of original Peanuts compositions full circle! A summary of Peanuts music would not be complete without mentioning that Ludwig van Beethoven’s compositions can be heard in many of the Peanuts specials, due to Schroeder’s passion for this brilliant composer and pianist. One of the most memorable instances in A Charlie Brown Christmas is when Schroeder soulfully plays Bagatelle No. 25 in A minor for solo piano—commonly known as “Für Elise.” Sheet music for many of the compositions heard in Peanuts specials and films can be purchased at music stores, bookstores, and online retailers. What are the names of the officially licensed Peanuts musicals? There are only two official Peanuts musicals: You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown and Snoopy!!! The Musical. You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown is the most well-known and considered to be one of the most performed musicals in the United States since its debut in 1967.

Peanuts Worldwide, LLC, which owns and manages the rights to Peanuts, does not at this time license the rights to A Charlie Brown Christmas for live performances due to various legal restrictions. What are some of the significant Peanuts licensing milestones? The first licensed Peanuts products were paperback books published by Rinehart & Co. in 1952. The first Peanuts toys were manufactured by the Hungerford Doll Corporation in 1958 and included Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Linus, Lucy, and Schroeder with his piano. Hallmark first began producing Peanuts greeting cards and booklets in 1960 and has continued to create Peanuts-themed cards and other items for over 50 years. Happiness is a Warm Puppy was published in 1962 by Determined Productions, Inc., landing on the New York Times best-seller list for 45 weeks. Macy’s has included a Peanuts character balloon in all Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parades since the debut of a Snoopy balloon in 1968.

Charles Schulz used MetLife as his personal insurer from at least 1967, but Peanuts wasn’t associated with the company until Snoopy became the MetLife Spokes-Beagle in 1985 with the launch of the “Get Met. It Pays.” advertising campaign. The MetLife Blimp Program debuted in 1987 and currently has three ships named after Snoopy: Snoopy One, Snoopy Two and Snoopy J. See more about the history of the partnership between Peanuts and MetLife. Camp Snoopy opened at Knott’s Berry Farm in Buena Park, California in 1983, launching the first of many Camp Snoopy theme parks across the country. In 1992, the Mall of America opened its own Camp Snoopy, making it the largest indoor theme park in the nation (the Mall of America theme park is no longer associated with Camp Snoopy). Peanuts Characters “I think anybody who is writing finds he puts a little bit of himself in all of the characters, at least in this kind of a strip. It’s the only way that you can survive when you have to do something every day.

You have to put yourself, all of your thoughts, all of your observations and everything you know into the strip.” – Charles M. Schulz, 1984 Did Charlie Brown always wear his iconic zigzag shirt? Charlie Brown appeared in the first Peanuts comic strip on October 2, 1950, but his first appearance in the famous zigzag shirt didn’t occur until the strip published on December 21, 1950. How many siblings does Snoopy have? In the Peanuts comic strip, Snoopy has five named siblings: Spike, Belle, Marbles, “Ugly” Olaf, and Andy. However, in the June 18, 1989 strip, Snoopy states that “there were eight of us in the litter.” In the animated special, Snoopy’s Reunion (1991), Snoopy’s other two siblings are mentioned by name; they are Molly and Rover. What’s inside Snoopy’s doghouse? Although Snoopy’s possessions are periodically described in Peanuts (including records, books, a Van Gogh painting, and a pool table), the interior of Snoopy’s doghouse is never actually shown in the comic strip.

The only time the viewer sees inside Snoopy’s doghouse is in the 1981 animated special, It’s Magic, Charlie Brown. Did Charles Schulz have a dog or dogs in his life that influenced his creation of Snoopy? “Snoopy’s appearance and personality have changed probably more than those of any of the other characters. As my drawing style loosened, Snoopy was able to do more things, and when I finally developed the formula of using his imagination to dream of being many heroic figures, the strip took on a completely new dimension.” – Charles M. Schulz, 1975 Charles Schulz had many dogs in his life, from his childhood dogs Snooky and Spike to the dogs his family had after he was married with children. Spike was cited as the biggest influence on the creation of Snoopy. Other dogs in the Schulz family included Major, Lucy, Carmel, Dropshot, and Andy. Schulz said that his favorite dog was Andy, a mixed-breed dog that was rescued by Jean Schulz from a fox terrier rescue group in 1988. Why are adults never shown in the Peanuts comics strip?

“I usually say that they [adults] do not appear because the daily strip is only an inch and a half high, and they wouldn’t have room to stand up. Actually, they have been left out because they would intrude in a world where they could only be uncomfortable. Adults are not needed in the Peanuts strip. In earlier days I experimented with off-stage voices, but soon abandoned this as it was not only impractical but actually clumsy. Instead, I have developed a cast of off-stage adults who are talked about but never seen or heard.” – Charles M. Schulz, 1975 This Peanuts strip was originally published on May 30, 1954. While cloud gazing, which character in Peanuts responds to what he sees in the sky by stating - Well, I was going to say I saw a ducky and a horsie but I changed my mind?

This Peanuts strip was originally published on August 14, 1960 Although Linus has much deeper philosophical visions in mind while cloud gazing, it is Charlie Brown who responds with his everyman response of seeing a “ducky and a horsie” in the Peanuts strip originally published on August, 14, 1960. Who is the little girl playing tennis with Snoopy in the Peanuts strip from March 10, 1997? Peanuts strip originally published on March 10, 1997 That character is named “Crybaby” Boobie. She was introduced into the Peanuts strip in 1978 and is usually shown throwing her head back, crying about some injustice she has observed on the tennis court. Although she is most often shown wearing a polka dot dress and without the viewer seeing her face, the strips in the days leading up to this one indicate it is indeed “Crybaby” Boobie who Snoopy may have kicked at the end of another contentious tennis game.

Question: What is the name of the bird in the Peanuts comic strip?
Answer: Woodstock