0:02

VO: Welcome to Unpacking Peanuts, the podcast where three cartoonists take an in-depth look at the greatest comic strip of all time, Peanuts by Charles M. Schulz

0:19

Jimmy: Hey, everybody. Jimmy: Welcome back to the show, it's Unpacking Peanuts.

0:22

Jimmy: I'm your host for the proceedings. Jimmy: My name is Jimmy Gownley.

0:25

Jimmy: I'm also a cartoonist. Jimmy: I did comic books like The Dumbest Idea Ever, the Amelia Rule series, Seven Good Reasons Not to Grow Up.

0:32

Jimmy: Joining me as always are my pals, co-hosts and fellow cartoonists.

0:35

Jimmy: He's a playwright and a composer, both for the band Complicated People as well as for this very podcast.

0:41

Jimmy: He's the co-creator of the original comic book Price Guide, the original editor of Amelia Rules and the creator of such great strips as Strange Attractors, A Gathering of Spells and Tangled River.

0:49

Jimmy: It's Michael Cohen. Jimmy: And he's the executive producer and writer of Mystery Science Theater 3000, a former vice president of Archie Comics and the creator of the Instagram sensation, Sweetest Beasts.

1:02

Jimmy: It's Harold Buchholz. Harold: Hello.

1:04

Jimmy: All right, guys, I don't want to start on a serious note, but I feel like I have to.

1:10

Jimmy: And I want to ask you guys a personal question.

1:14

Michael: Oh, dear. Jimmy: And if this is violating any HIPAA regulations, you don't have to tell me.

1:19

Jimmy: But we're talking about 1982. Jimmy: And an epidemic was sweeping the nation.

1:26

Jimmy: I just need to know if either of you guys came down with Pac-Man fever in 1982.

1:33

Michael: No. Michael: To this very day, I've never played Pac-Man.

1:37

Michael: But what I found really amusing is to stand in a video room and watch a friend play Asteroids.

1:46

Michael: I do that for hours. Michael: I never played myself, but it was just, like, very exciting to watch.

1:52

Jimmy: I could not stand watching video games. Jimmy: People do that all the time now on YouTube, but, yeah, I wanted to play.

1:59

Jimmy: What about you, Harold? Harold: Oh, a little bit. Harold: You know, you went to the pizza parlor.

2:02

Harold: I'd play. Jimmy: Yeah. Jimmy: Nice.

2:05

Harold: I think there were some Pac-Man trading cards.

2:07

Harold: I bought a couple packs of that. Harold: It was kind of fun to scratch off the dots.

2:11

Harold: See how you did. Jimmy: Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

2:14

Jimmy: Yeah, boy, that's a robe. Harold: I didn't watch the animated series.

2:17

Harold: Never seen that. Jimmy: I remember those cards.

2:20

Jimmy: I totally forgot about that. Jimmy: I'll tell you, I think Ms.

2:23

Jimmy: Pac-Man's a superior game. Michael: Well, she is good.

2:26

Harold: Well, that was the one that was everywhere, Ms.

2:28

Harold: Pac-Man. Harold: I mean, and for like 30 plus years, those things were...

2:33

Harold: There was only one video game playing somewhere.

2:35

Harold: It was Ms. Harold: Pac-Man. Jimmy: Ms. Jimmy: Pac-Man. Harold: It's crazy.

2:39

Harold: Yeah. Jimmy: Well, I was 10, so I was heavily into all of that stuff, and I had my little Atari 2600.

2:46

Jimmy: I even had the Atari version, which came out, I guess, the next year of Pac-Man, which is like notoriously one of the worst video games adaptations of all time.

2:55

Harold: How do they get that wrong? Jimmy: It's really strange.

2:58

Jimmy: Like, for one thing, it's instead of a black screen, it's a light blue screen.

3:03

Jimmy: The maze is brown. Jimmy: The Pac-Man doesn't turn.

3:08

Jimmy: So, like, you don't eat the ghosts. Jimmy: Like, if you're going up, it'll just hit them with the top of your head.

3:13

Jimmy: Like, it doesn't change direction.

3:15

Jimmy: The ghosts didn't have different colors. Jimmy: The dots weren't right.

3:19

Jimmy: They got around in every conceivable way. Jimmy: They even put the...

3:23

Jimmy: Like, you know how you could go through a tunnel from one side of the screen to the other?

3:26

Jimmy: They even got that wrong.

3:29

Jimmy: They put it on the wrong side of the screen. Harold: What do you do with 4K of memory?

3:35

Jimmy: Yeah, you didn't have a lot to work with, you know, I feel for those guys.

3:38

Jimmy: But yeah, so this is the stuff I really, really remember reading regularly in the newspaper.

3:44

Jimmy: For some reason, I remember very clearly reading the newspaper before Little League practice or Little League games.

3:49

Jimmy: I don't know why that sticks in my mind more than anything else, but Harold, did you have any kind of relationship with these strips?

3:57

Jimmy: I mean, we know Michael hasn't been reading them for years at this point in real time, but what about you?

4:01

Harold: So I turned 16 this year in March, so I was not reading them.

4:07

Harold: This was all pretty much new to me. Harold: I don't remember any strips from this year.

4:11

Harold: So this is Fresh Peanuts. Jimmy: Oh, okay, really great.

4:18

Jimmy: What's your general general impressions at this point?

4:23

Harold: Well, I think in the back of my mind and just seeing these strips, knowing that story of Schulz having the heart surgery the previous year that is now just now showing up in the strips, I think it was heavy in my mind because I do see it in those strips.

4:41

Harold: I don't know those who you were listening along, if you were reading along as well, if reading them just one after another in succession, if you notice things, but I definitely notice things.

4:52

Harold: I'm sure it will come up in our conversations. Harold: But, you know, one of the things that Schulz was so uniquely good at in his own way was as a letterer.

5:02

Harold: And lettering, we know what an A is supposed to look like, you know?

5:06

Harold: And so, and how they flow together, Schulz was always just effortlessly good at that, and sometimes a little free wheeling with it as well.

5:16

Harold: You know, you'd have these lopsided panels, not Winsor & McKay little Nemo lopsided where the letters went down the side of the balloon because he didn't leave enough space.

5:25

Harold: But Schulz would, you know, sometimes not, like, he wouldn't do the rules that people say he was so good, he kind of broke the rules and we accepted it.

5:34

Harold: But the lettering is a huge part of the strip. Harold: And I'm seeing him really struggling with those things because you can't question, you know, an A or a T or a G in terms of what it should look like.

5:48

Harold: We have a sense of it. Harold: He set his own rules for it.

5:50

Harold: And we can go back and look at it. Harold: There are definitely strips where I'm like, wow, he is struggling.

5:56

Harold: And, you know, I think he gets through it throughout the year.

5:59

Harold: He comes to terms with what his limitations are.

6:03

Harold: But this is a really unusual time to be reading the strip.

6:07

Harold: And sometimes it's a little, I wouldn't say painful to read it, but it's like, oh man, he's having a hard time, you know, and I feel that.

6:15

Harold: But on the other side of it, I think he is probably drawing faster and looser in some ways because of the tremor in his hand.

6:26

Harold: And so what I'm seeing is he's playing with new expressions, particularly in Snoopy, where he's having fun with the looseness that he's now getting with his line that's kind of forced on him.

6:40

Harold: And I think some of the humor goes along with it.

6:43

Harold: There's a little bit of freewheeling humor in it that I really, really enjoy.

6:46

Jimmy: Yeah, I do too. Jimmy: Having read it, I think at the time I don't see it that drastically.

6:54

Jimmy: As I'm kind of looking through our strips we're going to talk about while I was listening to you, I can see it now.

6:59

Jimmy: And I can definitely see it, you know, kind of through your eyes.

7:02

Jimmy: But at the time I don't know that anyone would have necessarily noticed it.

7:07

Jimmy: But he certainly would have felt it. Jimmy: And that's just going to change the way you work.

7:11

Jimmy: I think one of the things you'll notice is he's actually going for some detailed drawings in some places.

7:18

Jimmy: Like putting more detail in, I think in part to mask the shakiness of the line.

7:24

Jimmy: Like if you put some cross hatching in, you're going to be able to hide it rather than if it's just like a clean line delineating Snoopy's snap.

7:33

Harold: Yeah, quick lines, rough lines. Harold: You definitely see the quick and the rough lines that he's kind of building in a little grunginess to how he's drawing that matches what he's having to do with even with the character sometimes.

7:47

Harold: There is a little bit more of that moving line because of his moving hand while he's drawing.

7:53

Jimmy: Michael, what do you think? Jimmy: Do you notice a big difference in a shift in the art from the 70s to now or no?

8:00

Michael: There were a couple of jarring panels, which definitely looked way cartoonier.

8:06

Michael: But I mean, all through the 70s, I was noticing those every now and then.

8:10

Michael: It's just like this is like a whole different look.

8:15

Michael: No, in some ways I was sort of surprised that here we are in 1982 and it still looks like, it's still looking like late 60s, early 70s, more than when it doesn't.

8:31

Michael: I mean, generally, it's like, okay, Linus doesn't seem to have changed.

8:35

Michael: Lucy doesn't seem to have changed. Michael: Snoopy seems to be the one who's morphing the most.

8:41

Jimmy: Yeah, I think we're moving into, if we were middle-aged Snoopy a few years ago, we're moving into late middle-aged Snoopy, I think, as we enter this period, which I'm here for, which is great.

8:56

Jimmy: So listen, if you guys want to follow along with us, there's a couple of things you can do.

9:01

Jimmy: Once a month, we send out a little newsletter, and if you go to our website, unpackingpeanuts.com, you can sign up for something called The Great Peanuts Reread, and that means that we will send you that email once a month with our little newsletter, and it'll give you a heads up what strips we are going to be discussing.

9:18

Jimmy: And there's a bunch of different ways you can read those strips.

9:20

Jimmy: If you have a little cash in your pocket, you want to spend some dough, you want to support the arts, for God's sake, you could buy a book from the Fana Graphics Collections that go year by year and reprint the entire thing.

9:35

Jimmy: Or you could just go to gocomics.com and type in the date and the word peanuts and it'll take you right to it.

9:42

Jimmy: And you could read all of the peanut strips from 1950 all the way up to the end of 2000 for free on that site and follow along with us there.

9:49

Jimmy: So we're at 1982. Jimmy: We're going to get started.

9:53

Jimmy: Let's just start right now. Harold: Yeah, sure.

9:57

Jimmy: January 14th. Jimmy: Okay, this is the middle of a sequence where Peppermint Patty has is desperate to be on the school crossing guard unit or whatever you call it.

10:09

Jimmy: Marcie was picked to be crossing guard in her place.

10:13

Jimmy: And so this is Peppermint Patty at the principal's office or I guess her teacher's desk explaining that she wants to be crossing guard.

10:21

Jimmy: And she is dressed in her military, an entire military outfit.

10:27

Jimmy: Helmet, coat, arm patch, saying she was an MP.

10:31

Jimmy: And she says, what do you think, ma'am? Jimmy: She continues, this is the uniform my grandpa wore when he was an MP in World War II.

10:38

Jimmy: Just thought I'd show you how this kind of duty sort of runs in our family.

10:43

Jimmy: And then panel four, she concludes, doesn't do much for you, huh, ma'am?

10:47

Jimmy: I like this sequence of Peppermint Patty wanting to be the crossing guard, but I really like the drawing of her in the Army outfit.

10:55

Jimmy: I think that just looks great. Jimmy: No feet. Jimmy: You know, the coat just going directly to the floor.

11:00

Michael: Well, I mean, it should be a lot bigger.

11:04

Jimmy: Dragging on the pressure. Michael: Yeah, that's good.

11:08

Michael: No, I think this whole sequence is good because it does flesh out her character, because she wouldn't think of her as a jealous person.

11:15

Michael: Right. Michael: But she's like, she's really, really upset that her her best friend got this cool, cool gig.

11:25

Harold: Did you guys ever want to do that? Harold: Was that ever something that you looked at and said, Oh, I don't know if they had kids versus we didn't.

11:30

Jimmy: Yeah, we had adult and adult. Harold: We had the weirdest thing in junior high.

11:34

Harold: It was kind of run a little bit militarily.

11:37

Harold: It's looking back on it. Harold: But we were built based on essentially a large triangle on the hallways.

11:44

Harold: And we had these corners that you would have to turn.

11:46

Harold: And they would literally have students stand in the middle of the hallway where the corners met.

11:54

Harold: And you had to walk to the right of the person standing there.

11:58

Harold: It was a physical human being that you were walking around so that we didn't run into each other when we were turning the corners.

12:06

Harold: No, I don't know how desirable that job was, but there were kids that filled it.

12:13

Harold: It just seems weird looking back on it. Harold: Why didn't they put a poster?

12:18

Harold: Why a human being? Michael: I got to push the button that rang the school bell once.

12:24

Michael: It was like the proudest moment of my life because the teacher actually acknowledged I exist when she asked me to do it.

12:32

Jimmy: My uncle Charlie was the caretaker at the parish, the Catholic church I went to when I was a kid, and he let me ring the church bells once.

12:40

Jimmy: He was right before they went to electronic ones, and it lifted me off the ground.

12:47

Jimmy: It was terrifying because it's very strange to make a cent.

12:53

Jimmy: You're 10 years old and you're pulling this rope. Jimmy: It's making a sound that's being heard for a half a mile.

12:59

Jimmy: It makes you very self-aware of what you're doing.

13:02

Harold: So what Peppermint Patty is experiencing, obviously a lot of people have experienced it.

13:08

Harold: Peppermint Patty seems to be the kind of character who likes to do something that's tactile, that's outdoors.

13:14

Harold: It does seem like the right thing for her to do that she can do in school, and then here's Marcie doing it, who's this interior character more than she is.

13:22

Harold: So yeah, I can totally buy Peppermint Patty saying, oh, I want to do that, I want to be the one.

13:28

Jimmy: And it would give her a role in school that would elevate her as opposed to just being the D minus student.

13:35

Harold: Yeah. Jimmy: It might have been a good idea to give her that gig instead of Marcie, although she does get to do it then.

13:44

Jimmy: January 25th, Snoopy and Woodstock are atop the dog house and Snoopy has possibly a cup of coffee or a mug of milk or something and a big donut.

13:56

Jimmy: And he says to Woodstock, I love dunking donuts.

13:59

Jimmy: You know how a basketball player eats a donut?

14:01

Jimmy: He says. Jimmy: And then in panel three, slam dunk.

14:04

Jimmy: And he dunks the donut ferociously into the coffee cup.

14:10

Jimmy: And then in panel four, they are both completely covered in liquid.

14:13

Jimmy: And Snoopy says, why do I do things like that?

14:16

Jimmy: And the look on Woodstock's face is just complete annoyance.

14:21

Jimmy: It's such a great drawing. Harold: This is such a good example of what I was talking about, where Schulz, the first panel is, I'm sure has been used in a million mugs and t-shirts and who knows what of Snoopy holding a donut out in one hand and the cup of coffee in the other with his little tongue sticking out and little happy, happy, closed-eyed face.

14:40

Harold: That's just classic merchandise peanuts.

14:44

Harold: But that panel three, when he does the slam dunk, looks like, in my mind, like somebody else drew it because it's an unusual pose.

14:56

Harold: This is not Schulz.

14:59

Harold: And it's got a looseness to it with the line that I think he's working really fast and I'm sure he probably did it off of one of those crazy sketches he had on his legal notepad where he was sketching funny stuff to maybe get to.

15:16

Michael: I'll buy the posts in Panel 3, but he's got four eyes.

15:20

Jimmy: That's what I was going to say. Jimmy: It really looks like four eyes.

15:23

Michael: Why didn't he exaggerate? Harold: Oh, really? Harold: I never thought of that.

15:27

Michael: Just a little curve a little bit. Jimmy: If you zoom in, it looks like a complete abstract.

15:33

Jimmy: If you zoom in until that's just the screen, you could not even recognize that as a Snoopy drawing.

15:39

Harold: It's AI. Harold: Snoopy. Harold: And again, I think this has to do with when I'm looking at the line.

15:46

Harold: It's not as nuanced as what we'd seen before using his pen.

15:50

Harold: And I guess that's, again, that's him.

15:53

Harold: I think he's working really fast to try to catch the energy maybe of what he did in that really quick, fast, rough sketch that, again, this theory, but that he's trying to get that energy.

16:05

Harold: And in doing so with some of these limitations, he's now gotten from having the tremor.

16:11

Harold: This is what we get. Harold: And it does feel a little grungier.

16:14

Harold: And I love the last panel, which looks really rough all around with them soaking in coffee.

16:22

Harold: Anyway, I found this a really enjoyable strip that Schulz, I don't think, would have done prior to his operation.

16:30

Harold: And it gets him to a fresh place. Jimmy: Yeah, I love that last drawing.

16:33

Jimmy: That last drawing is just great. Jimmy: January 27th, Snoopy is out in a snowy field and he appears to be fishing.

16:42

Jimmy: Linus comes up to him and says, I'm hoping that you'll invite me over for dinner.

16:47

Jimmy: Then he says, can you believe that I've never tasted grilled snow fish?

16:51

Jimmy: Snoopy says, I can believe it. Jimmy: Then he pulls the line out of the snow and says, I've never caught one.

17:00

Jimmy: I used to go fishing when I was a kid and I never caught a fish.

17:02

Harold: Never? Jimmy: Never, no, no, never.

17:05

Jimmy: Eventually, my dad took me to a fishing hatchery where you basically, I think there's people under the water just putting the fishes on the hook.

17:16

Jimmy: But I really like Snoopy fishing.

17:19

Jimmy: I think Snoopy fishing could be a whole strip.

17:22

Jimmy: It doesn't necessarily have to be in the snow, but I just think.

17:25

Harold: So is this now Old Man Snoopy?

17:27

Jimmy: Yeah, right. Jimmy: I think we're getting to Old Man Snoopy.

17:29

Jimmy: Right, exactly. Harold: He just keeps fishing along.

17:40

Jimmy: February 7th. Jimmy: One of them there are symbolic panels, one of the stranger ones.

17:45

Jimmy: Snoopy is dressed as a circus ringmaster, and Charlie Brown is atop one of the circus podiums that look like a seal would sit on, and he is sitting as if he is a seal or a lion.

18:01

Jimmy: And panel two, nothing happens.

18:04

Jimmy: Charlie Brown and Snoopy are walking. Jimmy: Then the strip really starts in the next tier.

18:08

Jimmy: Snoopy is walking ahead of Charlie Brown, and Charlie Brown says, Heel.

18:13

Jimmy: And Snoopy says, Heel. Jimmy: And he points his foot out towards Charlie Brown and said, Here's a heel.

18:18

Jimmy: This is the one I figured Harold had to have picked.

18:21

Jimmy: So he goes, Here's a heel. Jimmy: Then he points his toes towards Charlie Brown and says, Here's some toes.

18:26

Jimmy: These are my paws and this is my nose.

18:29

Jimmy: It's turning into a little song here.

18:32

Jimmy: Now Snoopy is dancing around saying, Heel, toes, paws, nose.

18:35

Jimmy: Here's a heel and here's some toes. Jimmy: These are my paws and this is my nose.

18:39

Jimmy: Snoopy is continuing to sing and dance and Charlie Brown just says, I'll bet I could get an even trade for a nice hamster.

18:46

Jimmy: Heel, toes, paws, nose. Jimmy: Oh, yes.

18:48

Jimmy: Oh, yeah. Jimmy: Oh, I think you could get two hamsters at least for a dog like Snoopy.

18:57

Harold: Oh, man. Harold: Yeah, this is, I definitely, definitely love, love this strip.

19:02

Harold: I love Snoopy's little cockiness with Charlie Brown and the cheesy grins.

19:08

Harold: And I love the thing where he says, and this is my nose.

19:11

Harold: And Charlie Brown is kind of taking it back. Harold: He's literally, his arms are back.

19:15

Harold: Snoopy's just looking at him with his nose, you know.

19:18

Harold: And again, it's like if Charlie Brown didn't know what Snoopy was thinking, he wouldn't be that taken aback, right?

19:27

Harold: It's like, but Snoopy is just doing this goofiness that you have to assume that Charlie Brown is actually hearing Snoopy's thoughts.

19:36

Harold: At least that's the way I see this. Harold: And it is one of those joyous little Snoopy happy things that is, it makes me, reminds me of that one with Linus when they get into the, you know, the knee bones to the hip bone.

19:50

Harold: But I was so happy to see one of a strip like this this year.

19:54

Harold: I totally enjoyed this one.

19:56

Harold: It's very fun, very sweet, very funny. Jimmy: February 22nd, Lucy and Linus are out in the backyard gardening.

20:04

Jimmy: And Lucy says, as soon as this ground is faded, I'm going to organize my garden.

20:09

Jimmy: I'm going to plant potatoes and beans and radishes and peas.

20:14

Jimmy: And Linus says to her, why are you telling me all this?

20:17

Jimmy: And then the last panel we see Linus has been handed Lucy's shovel.

20:22

Jimmy: Spade, I guess you'd call it. Jimmy: And he's being set to work.

20:26

Michael: And he says, oh, this is February 22nd.

20:31

Michael: This was actually the first one I picked. Michael: And I wasn't really enjoying this year.

20:37

Michael: And I was starting to feel like I better pick something.

20:41

Michael: But anyway, this one actually reminded me of something that happened to me.

20:45

Michael: So I basically picked it because it was like, I went, oh, yeah, I remember that.

20:52

Jimmy: What are you going to share with us? Michael: Well, it's a long, complicated story, so we don't have to.

20:56

Jimmy: We're here for it. Michael: Well, the story is this.

21:01

Michael: I was living in a little medieval village in the hills of France.

21:07

Jimmy: As one does. Michael: As one does when I was like 20.

21:10

Michael: And of course, I had never done any work in my life.

21:13

Michael: And this couple owned the entire village.

21:18

Michael: The man was German, the woman was French.

21:21

Michael: It was American. Michael: They bought a ruined French village and basically was restoring it and renting out rooms real cheap.

21:28

Michael: But anyway, Jean, who was, I guess, in her 30s at the time, but it seemed like, you know, the mother figure of the whole town.

21:36

Michael: One day she knocked on my door and said like, oh, I'm going to show you my garden.

21:40

Michael: And I went, you know, because, you know, basically she was kind of the boss.

21:47

Michael: So it was kind of surprising she came by. Michael: So she trotted me out and she took me to her garden and showed me, you know, here's the tomatoes and this is lettuce and that and this and that.

21:59

Michael: And then so I looked at it and pretended I was interested and then went home.

22:06

Michael: The next morning I got up, opened the door, and there's a head of lettuce sitting in front of the door on the ground.

22:13

Michael: And I went like, oh, God, she wants me to help her in the garden.

22:17

Michael: I kind of like just totally ignored it.

22:22

Michael: I might have learned a few things if I did it, but I didn't.

22:25

Harold: You never took her up on it? Michael: No, because to me it was like, yeah, really, I'm going to get up early and work.

22:32

Jimmy: My grandmother was a world class gardener.

22:36

Jimmy: She always had corn and strawberries and a raspberry bush and potato, all kinds of stuff.

22:43

Jimmy: I remember one time she lived on the side of a mountain.

22:45

Jimmy: There were three houses on this. Jimmy: They called them patches where I grew up, this little patch of houses.

22:51

Jimmy: And I was standing by the strawberries one day and she goes, oh, hey, why don't you walk outside the gate?

22:56

Jimmy: And I'm like, OK, so I walked outside the gate. Jimmy: And I see, you know, she's picking up a spade just like Linus has.

23:01

Jimmy: She is beating something unmercifully in the strawberries.

23:06

Jimmy: And it was a rattlesnake. Jimmy: She chopped its head off with the spade.

23:14

Michael: She's grandma. Jimmy: Oh, there's rattlesnakes in Pennsylvania.

23:20

Jimmy: Actually, now that I think about it, though, it may have been a copperhead.

23:22

Jimmy: But yeah. Michael: Yikes.

23:26

Harold: Well, this is a nice looking strip.

23:29

Harold: I think that drawing of Lucy in the second panel is gorgeous.

23:32

Harold: Interesting that we don't have the little half circles around her eyes in the first panel when it's kind of a long shot of them.

23:39

Michael: This strip looks like it could have been any time in 60s, 70s.

23:45

Michael: These characters haven't changed at all. Jimmy: But I will say, I think that the first panel, that kind of drawing of all the extra details is a little bit compensating, I think, for the shaking line because he could put some rough details in and it gives it a little bit more finish.

24:04

Harold: Makes it look a little more intentional for what's rough in the actual characters.

24:08

Harold: Although he's not really very rough in this particular strip with the characters.

24:11

Harold: It's really pretty clean. Jimmy: Yeah, I will say when I think of 80s Peanuts, Lucy Gardening is a big part of it.

24:20

Jimmy: I feel like the gardening thing comes back quite a bit in the 80s.

24:24

Michael: It's a good springboard for visual gags.

24:28

Jimmy: Such as? Jimmy: February 25th.

24:32

Jimmy: There's a great drawing of Linus.

24:34

Jimmy: He has the spade planted firmly in the ground and he is atop it as if he's doing some sort of strange pole dance.

24:44

Jimmy: He is desperately trying in panel two to somehow, you know, use it as it's intended as a shovel.

24:50

Jimmy: But he just slides down it till he hits the bottom of the pole that's holding up the spade and says, I think I hate gardening.

24:59

Jimmy: That's one you really got to see. Jimmy: Very funny drawings, particularly of two and three of Linus.

25:06

Jimmy: I don't even know how to describe it against all known laws of physics.

25:13

Jimmy: Hanging on to this this handle of this spade.

25:18

Harold: Yeah, he must have a good strong core.

25:20

Jimmy: Sure. Jimmy: And we really see some brush strokes now on the ground as well, which gives also we were talking about Jeff McNally, the shoe artist.

25:31

Jimmy: Yes, I was thinking very, very much that.

25:33

Jimmy: Also, I googled him after we were talking about him and I thought, oh, he must have been pretty old when he passed away.

25:38

Jimmy: He was like 54. Jimmy: I don't like that.

25:41

Jimmy: I don't like those numbers. Jimmy: Those aren't good numbers. Jimmy: No, no.

25:48

Jimmy: March 2nd, Lucy has now roped Snoopy into this and he is out gardening and he has a fantastic, I don't even know, a gardening hat, just a huge brimmed hat that he's wearing.

26:00

Jimmy: He looks great. Jimmy: He's shoveling away, tilling up the dirt and he says, I've never worked so hard in all my life.

26:06

Jimmy: I wonder if it's all right to rest on this job as he takes a little seat up against the side of the spade.

26:12

Jimmy: Lucy, of course, comes in screaming, No, resting!

26:17

Jimmy: And Snoopy, quite rightly, thanks to himself, I wonder why I wondered as he goes back to work.

26:23

Jimmy: Yeah, come on, Snoopy. Harold: I love every drawing of Snoopy in this.

26:28

Harold: It's so beautifully cartoony.

26:31

Harold: This is a gorgeous-looking strip to me.

26:34

Harold: I really, really, really like what Schulz is doing here.

26:36

Harold: And again, my theory is he's working faster and looser than he ever has before.

26:42

Harold: He's probably getting to some really cool-looking images, and he's trying to capture those in the final art.

26:49

Harold: I think he does a beautiful job. Jimmy: If anyone knows the musician and producer Pharrell, that's the kind of hat he's wearing.

26:56

Jimmy: Snoopy's wearing a Pharrell hat. Harold: Yeah, he's from Virginia Beach.

27:03

Jimmy: I think everybody should have a signature hat, really.

27:06

Jimmy: So Snoopy has a couple of them, I think, at this point.

27:10

Harold: Yeah. Harold: Well, I don't know if I mentioned this before, but I've been out selling a lot.

27:15

Harold: I've been going to the Metropolitan Museum, where he lets you set up for free if you're a First Amendment vendor, doing something of personal expression, which is amazing.

27:24

Harold: And I've been going out. Harold: And one of the things I'm always looking at like, what can I do to get people to want to come up and say hello or whatever?

27:31

Harold: And so like, how do you dress? Harold: How do you set up your booth?

27:35

Harold: And a running joke with my wife, Diane Cook, and we're basically talking about, I was saying, maybe I should wear an approachable hat.

27:47

Harold: She's like, what's an approachable hat?

27:50

Harold: I don't know what an approachable hat is. Harold: You know, so anyway, we've always, every time we see somebody in some crazy thing, there's an approachable hat.

27:59

Jimmy: You tried to get my input put on this, remember?

28:01

Jimmy: I said, well, you're asking what kind of hat would get...

28:05

Harold: Yeah, yeah, yeah. Jimmy: What did I say?

28:07

Jimmy: To get the rubes to part with a fin ski. Harold: Well, that's a little cynical, but yeah.

28:18

Harold: I wore a Santa hat. Harold: I wore a Santa hat one day.

28:21

Harold: And what was fascinating to me was like not one family stopped.

28:25

Harold: I think the parents were like shooting the kids away.

28:28

Harold: It's like, okay, maybe I won't wear the Santa hat.

28:31

Jimmy: This was April. Harold: But yeah, maybe a feral style...

28:35

Harold: Is it feral? Jimmy: Yeah, I think so, yes, feral.

28:39

Jimmy: March 5th, Snoopy and Linus are now working diligently planting something in Rose and Lucy's garden.

28:46

Jimmy: Charlie Brown comes up and says, what are you guys doing?

28:48

Jimmy: And Linus says, we're helping Lucy plant her garden.

28:52

Jimmy: First we spaded it, now we're planting it.

28:55

Jimmy: Actually, we just do what we told, he says, as he and Snoopy continue to work.

28:59

Jimmy: Charlie Brown says, well, it looks very nice. Jimmy: What are you planting?

29:02

Jimmy: And panel four, Linus says, french fries.

29:06

Jimmy: And we can see tiny little french fries sticking up out of the ground.

29:09

Michael: That's a good callback to the famous french fry joke.

29:16

Harold: Liz's favorite french fries are funny.

29:19

Jimmy: Now we know where they come from. Jimmy: I like it.

29:22

Jimmy: All right, so I'll tell you what, we're going to take a little break here, get ourselves a snack or something, and then we'll come back in a few and we'll continue with the strips.

29:30

Jimmy: See you on the other side. Liz: Hi, everyone.

29:33

Liz: Have you seen the latest Anger and Happiness Index?

29:36

Liz: Have you admired the photo of Jimmy as Luke Skywalker or read the details of how Michael co-created the first comic book price guide?

29:44

Liz: Just about every little known subject we mention is referenced on the Unpacking Peanuts website.

29:50

Liz: Peanuts' obscurities are explained further and other stories are expanded more than you ever wanted to know.

29:58

Liz: From Albert Pason Terhune to Zipatone and Net Funicello to Zorba the Greek, check it all out at unpackingpeanuts.com/obscurities.

30:10

Jimmy: And we're back. Jimmy: 1982 is what we're discussing today.

30:15

Jimmy: I can't wait to get back to the strips. Jimmy: But before we do, Liz, do we got anything in the old mailbox?

30:21

Liz: We do. Liz: We got a couple. Liz: So Otto writes, Dear friend of friends, I'm a lifelong Peanuts fan and amateur historian.

30:30

Liz: And I just discovered your wonderful podcast starting with 1981 part one.

30:34

Liz: Oh, thank you. Liz: Regarding your observation of the dark shading at the top of the panels on the January 28 and 30 strips, I have a theory that Schulz was instead trying to give a sense of background depth to show that the room is deeper than the two dimensions of the panel.

30:52

Liz: Rather than use hash marks or some other way to show light fading to dark, he simply made the transition either hard or puffy looking like a tree canopy.

31:04

Liz: Is it a nod to McNelly in Shoe? Liz: Perhaps.

31:06

Liz: But I think instead he was looking for different ways to convey the depth of a room without drawing the other walls and backgrounds in perspective.

31:15

Liz: Kind of like how a movie set outdoors is really indoors on a studio set and drops off into shadow.

31:22

Liz: Be of good cheer. Harold: Yes. Harold: It's interesting that he did, to my knowledge, he didn't go back and do this much more again.

31:31

Harold: I don't think it achieves that effect in that first panel.

31:34

Harold: When Charlie Brennan and Snoopy are watching TV inside the house, it doesn't suggest a flat wall.

31:41

Harold: It's got that weird reference to it.

31:44

Harold: Now, the third panel is just Snoopy walking with some stockings in the night and the totally black sky with a moon.

31:53

Harold: That works beautifully. Harold: And I think he continues to use that.

31:59

Harold: Kudos to him for trying something different and new.

32:01

Harold: And it does seem to be appropriate to where his style is going.

32:07

Jimmy: I don't think of it being a nod to McNeely like he's doing it in obvious tribute.

32:14

Jimmy: I think it's looking at another artist's work.

32:17

Harold: Could I use that? Jimmy: One of the weird things about Amelia graphically is that when they're yelling, the word balloons are squares instead of the jagged explosion things.

32:35

Jimmy: I just never liked the jagged explosion balloons.

32:38

Jimmy: They always looked weird to me. Jimmy: And the square ones just come from Sarah, but it's wholesale.

32:42

Jimmy: But I'm drawing them. Jimmy: It's in a completely different context.

32:46

Jimmy: Without me saying this, I don't think anyone even...

32:48

Jimmy: No one's ever certainly overtly made the connection to me anyway.

32:53

Jimmy: So that's just how you do it. Jimmy: You know, you see something, go, is there something I could put in my bag?

32:59

Harold: Well, you could always go back and change who you said your influence was.

33:06

Jimmy: Do we got anything else? Liz: Sure. Liz: Listener Anne writes, Andy Capp was in the Washington Post during the 80s when I was reading Peanuts there.

33:13

Liz: And yep, I was oblivious to the pun that is the title.

33:17

Liz: Shue was also on the Post Comics page at that time.

33:20

Liz: Peanuts was, and is to this day, the first strip on the printed page.

33:25

Liz: The online version lists the strips in alphabetical order by title, but those three strips are still there.

33:31

Harold: That's great. Harold: Yeah, it's hard to get kicked out of a newspaper.

33:34

Harold: But you can't get moved up. Harold: Yeah.

33:39

Jimmy: She also wrote and let us know that we actually made an error.

33:42

Harold: Oops. Jimmy: I just came through the Peanuts hotline.

33:46

Jimmy: We've stated that Peppermint Patty and Marcie were both caddying in the series of strips where Marcie yells at the kids says women's golf is on the upswing.

33:58

Jimmy: We forgot that was actually in the middle of a sequence.

34:00

Jimmy: And Marcie was caddying for Peppermint Patty.

34:04

Harold: Do we even read one where she said hit it a mile, sir?

34:08

Harold: So, yeah. Jimmy: Well, we even talked about it in that.

34:11

Jimmy: Yeah, so, but I, in my defense, I said I blank on these golf strips.

34:17

Jimmy: I am not a golf strip guy.

34:20

Harold: So you just wipe it from your memory before we even get to talk about it.

34:24

Harold: Well, apologies for that error. Michael: I have to confess the humiliating error I made on the show.

34:30

Michael: I think it was last week. Harold: Oh, no.

34:32

Michael: So embarrassed. Michael: Haven't been able to sleep. Harold: Oh, no. Michael: That's not good.

34:36

Michael: 111 is not a prime number.

34:39

Michael: I'm sorry. Jimmy: Oh, Michael. Jimmy: You let us down.

34:42

Michael: It seemed prime to me. Harold: What's a divisible prime?

34:45

Michael: Radiated primeness. Michael: 37.

34:48

Harold: 37. Michael: 37. Harold: Oh, well. Michael: And 3.

34:52

Michael: Yeah, so that's the last time I just pull a number out of the hat.

34:55

Harold: No more prime numbers out of the hat.

34:58

Michael: I apologize to all you prime numbers out there.

35:02

Jimmy: I told Harold he needed to take St.

35:05

Jimmy: John's Wort for his memory, but I forgot that that's actually for depression.

35:09

Jimmy: And I think I meant ginkgo biloba, perhaps.

35:13

Harold: Look, I have to switch now.

35:16

Harold: What am I going to do with that bottle? Michael: So we're airing all our dirty underwear here.

35:21

Liz: I messed up the connection for the microphone for last week's episode, so the audio was really awful.

35:31

Jimmy: I killed my neighbor. Liz: Oh, wait.

35:35

Michael: All right, folks, we're mortals. Michael: We're human.

35:39

Harold: No duh, they're saying. Harold: Oh, boy, you guys.

35:43

Jimmy: That's true. Harold: That's why we did it.

35:47

Jimmy: And we also we got this will lead right into our anger index because we have listener 518.

35:55

Jimmy: I'm going to call this person listener 518 because they texted the hotline, but they did not leave their name.

36:00

Jimmy: But they are from the 518 area code.

36:02

Jimmy: So if you're from if you're out there listening in Albany or Schenectady, that area, this one's for you.

36:09

Jimmy: They want to weigh in on the anger happiness index.

36:12

Jimmy: They're saying happiness 60, anger 80.

36:17

Michael: Whoa. Jimmy: And we all put our guesses in last week.

36:22

Michael: Maybe it wasn't a guess. Michael: Maybe they went and counted them.

36:26

Harold: That you could do that. Jimmy: They may have.

36:30

Jimmy: Yeah, that's that's that's legit.

36:32

Jimmy: All right. Jimmy: Well, Harold, do we have any info on that this year?

36:35

Jimmy: Have we have we caught up? Jimmy: Do we have the anger index? Harold: We do have the anger index back.

36:43

Harold: So for those of you who are just hearing this for the first time, we have been doing for years through the peanut strips, the anger and happiness index.

36:52

Harold: I'm just counting up the strips as I see it in terms of whether there is a character showing anger or a character showing happiness in the strips.

37:00

Harold: I count up all the strips for that year. Harold: And then we look at what those numbers are and if they've changed over time, which if you go on and look at Liz's amazing chart that she's made of all of this under obscurities at unpackingpeanuts.com, you can see that Schulz really did shift in those two particular emotions in this strip over the years.

37:22

Harold: The late 50s, mid late 50s, super angry, lots of angry characters and we were noting that in recent times that's really mellowed out and that was certainly the feeling I had of where Peanuts was around this time.

37:36

Harold: So 1980 we had said and I had not had time to count up 1981 so we decided to have to have a little bit of a fun with this and invite people to take a crack just like we are guessing.

37:49

Harold: And I had to guess, I was always asking Michael and Jimmy after I had figured out what the numbers were.

37:55

Harold: So this time I had to make the guess and see how I do in trying to nail what this year felt like.

38:00

Harold: So all of that said, in 1980 there were 64 strips with angry characters in them and we asked ourselves did it feel like it had gone up or down in 1981?

38:16

Harold: And this is what I remember the answers being.

38:24

Harold: So we had 64 angry strips and Jimmy, you and I guessed it was slightly down to 60 which would have been an all time record.

38:34

Jimmy: And listener 518 is agreeing with us.

38:36

Harold: He said anger was up to 80 and Michael said somewhere in between 71.

38:42

Harold: Well, guess what, 518, you hit it dead on.

38:48

Michael: He counted. Michael: I detect fraud.

38:53

Michael: No, you can count. Jimmy: Because you'd have to also count and somehow be able to count in the vein of Harold Buchholz.

38:59

Jimmy: So that counts. Liz: Maybe Harold was calling in from area code 518.

39:05

Michael: Yeah, in my travels. Jimmy: Harold's driving to the one payphone at my getaway.

39:10

Jimmy: It still works. Harold: So that's pretty impressive.

39:16

Harold: So reveal yourself. Harold: You have nailed it, 80 for anger.

39:21

Harold: So happiness, way, way higher in these 80 strips.

39:25

Harold: We had 117 happy strips in 1980.

39:30

Harold: And in 1981, the guess was, Jimmy, you said it was down to 97.

39:36

Harold: I said it was slightly down to 112.

39:40

Harold: Michael said 111. Harold: And 518 said 60.

39:46

Harold: So one of us nailed it.

39:50

Harold: I also got it absolutely right. Harold: We've never done that before.

39:53

Harold: Both were predicted exactly.

39:58

Harold: But it was not 518. Harold: It was me.

40:00

Harold: I said 112. Harold: And Michael was off by one.

40:05

Harold: That's pretty insane. Harold: So slightly up in anger and slightly down in happiness in 1981.

40:14

Jimmy: Well, 518. Jimmy: You know, let us know who you are and you'll get a no prize.

40:22

Jimmy: All right. Jimmy: So let's get back to the strips. Jimmy: April 17th.

40:26

Jimmy: Charlie Brown and Linus are watching something through a chain link fence and it's actually it's the Snoopy in a mixed doubles tournament with Molly Volley.

40:36

Jimmy: And whatever's happening is shocking because Linus's hair is standing straight up and Charlie Brown says, I can't believe it.

40:42

Jimmy: Molly Volley hit Bad Call Benny in the mouth.

40:46

Jimmy: And then in panel two, we see Molly Volley screaming at Bad Call Benny, who is indeed lying on the ground, holding his mouth in pain with his John McEnroe headband on.

40:57

Jimmy: And Molly Volley screams, nobody calls me fat legs, kid.

41:02

Jimmy: And then in panel three, we see one of the other players in this instance, Crybaby Booby.

41:08

Jimmy: And she's yelling, you hit my partner in the mouth.

41:12

Jimmy: And Molly Volley says to her, shut up, Crybaby.

41:15

Jimmy: Then in panel four, we see Snoopy, who's thinking to himself as he rolls his eyes, oh, to be at Wimbledon now that spring is here.

41:25

Jimmy: Okay, so the reason I chose this, I think this is peak unnecessary quotation marks.

41:33

Jimmy: Three panels have unnecessary quotation marks.

41:37

Jimmy: I love it. Harold: Bad call, fat legs and Crybaby.

41:43

Harold: Now, this is something that shows up this year in this strip.

41:47

Harold: We see characters getting fat.

41:49

Harold: We have two characters who get fat. Harold: So in just the first half of this year.

41:54

Harold: And apparently, according to the Schulz Museum timeline, Schulz has taken up jogging after he's had this brush with the heart bypass surgery.

42:05

Harold: And so issues of health, I'm sure, are high on his list.

42:09

Harold: He was never a heavy guy. Harold: He was very active pretty much his whole life in sports.

42:14

Harold: We mentioned this before more so than probably most other cartoonists.

42:20

Harold: And that's something that isn't often spoken about regarding peanuts and how that might affect what he's creating in the strip.

42:27

Harold: But yeah, it was interesting that he had these two characters gain a lot of weight.

42:34

Harold: And that's part of his storyline. Harold: And it's a little bit odd, but there it is.

42:40

Jimmy: It's very rarely done in comics.

42:43

Harold: I mean, animated cartoons. Harold: Yeah, you have a character.

42:47

Jimmy: Obviously, 11 Rockets. Michael: Yeah, I was going to say you should read 11 Rockets.

42:52

Jimmy: But other than, but outside of that, it doesn't happen very often.

42:57

Michael: Jimmy Olsen, I think, got really fat once.

43:00

Jimmy: He turned into a turtle once too, I think. Harold: Well, and then you've got Linus.

43:05

Harold: It's not the first time he's done it. Harold: Linus was getting a little bit of heat from Lucy for having gained weight back in the 60s.

43:12

Harold: So yeah, it's not the first time he's dealt with this.

43:15

Harold: But certainly to have, like, overnight, you see a character looking one way and then the next thing, you know, they look way different.

43:23

Harold: You know, a lot of animated cartoons, of course, there were cartoons about characters eating a lot and getting big.

43:29

Harold: But, you know, it's comic strip? Harold: Yeah, it's kind of rare, isn't it?

43:32

Harold: Very rare. Jimmy: May 9th.

43:36

Jimmy: It's a Sunday. Jimmy: Oh, it's the Father's Day strip, Mother's Day strip.

43:40

Jimmy: This is a good one. Jimmy: Peppermint Patty is at a desk and she's writing something and she says, Happy any day.

43:47

Jimmy: Then in panel two, we see her and Marcie at a card display and probably what looks like a pharmacy or something.

43:53

Jimmy: She's over here, Marcie. Jimmy: She says, Yes, ma'am, I'd like to buy a Mother's Day card, but I don't have a mother.

44:00

Jimmy: Peppermint Patty continues talking to the woman at the counter.

44:03

Jimmy: What I need is a Mother's Day card for my father, who has also been a mother to me.

44:08

Jimmy: You don't have any cards like that? Jimmy: Marcie, trying to be helpful, looks around a bit and says, How about a graduation card, sir?

44:14

Jimmy: Like he's graduated from being a father to being a father and a mother.

44:19

Jimmy: Peppermint Patty says, I don't think so, Marcie.

44:22

Jimmy: Then Marcie picks one out and says to Peppermint Patty, How about a Get Well card, sir?

44:26

Jimmy: Doesn't he have tennis elbow? Jimmy: Maybe, but I don't think so, Marcie, says Peppermint Patty.

44:32

Jimmy: Marcie's not giving up, though. Jimmy: She looks at another one and says, How about a Mother's Day card, but you write on it, Do not open till Father's Day.

44:40

Jimmy: Peppermint Patty says, I don't think so, Marcie. Jimmy: Then thoughtfully Peppermint Patty says, I think I'll just go home and give him a hug.

44:47

Jimmy: Then Marcie, as they're leaving the store, says to Peppermint Patty, Good thinking, sir, this will be the best Mother's Day a father can have.

44:56

Jimmy: I love this comic strip. Michael: This pulls the old heartstrings, and it worked because this was the second time all three of us picked this show.

45:05

Michael: Wow, wow, wow.

45:08

Michael: Because generally I don't like the sentimental stuff, but it's well done, yeah.

45:13

Michael: And it also calls back something about Peppermint Patty that hasn't been mentioned in a long time.

45:22

Harold: Right, right, yeah. Harold: And I'm sure the executives at Hallmark were like, No!

45:28

Harold: Again. Harold: But this selection of cards, though, I think that she would have had a hard time anyway.

45:33

Harold: This is in May, and I see what looks like a pine tree on the front of these cards.

45:38

Harold: I don't know. Harold: They probably don't switch them out as often as they do at other stores.

45:45

Harold: But yeah, it is pretty crazy that people that make greeting cards have to have this ultimate mix to match everybody's sentiment.

45:53

Harold: And, you know, I see a little three-year, three years old.

45:56

Harold: How many three-year-old cards are you buying? Harold: But there's still, there's one in a drug store.

46:00

Harold: You know, that's a lot of real estate in a drug store.

46:03

Harold: Just to cover different years.

46:06

Harold: One day in one person's life. Harold: And that somehow makes financial sense to everybody.

46:10

Harold: Blows my mind. Harold: But wow, yeah, this is a good one.

46:15

Harold: I'm glad all three of us selected it.

46:18

Jimmy: Yeah, it's so, this is not the kind of thing that was in comic strips much in the 80s.

46:23

Jimmy: And it certainly wasn't, you know, probably isn't the kind of thing that's really dealt with a lot today.

46:28

Jimmy: And I think when people, I'm sure, I don't know this for a fact, but I am sure there were little girls and little boys out there in a similar situation to Peppermint Patty, who read this comic strip and loved it.

46:39

Jimmy: And some fathers out there, you know.

46:42

Jimmy: It's a great one. Jimmy: May 14th.

46:47

Jimmy: Okay, so Snoopy is sitting down at the base of his doghouse, and he's approached by Woodstock, who is in a full suit of armor and carrying a spear.

46:58

Jimmy: And this is in the middle of a sequence of these, and Snoopy says to Woodstock, you're going to attack this castle?

47:03

Jimmy: Well, I don't think you should, because you know who lives here?

47:05

Jimmy: And then the third panel, Snoopy stands up and shouts, an ugly giant!

47:10

Jimmy: As he bears his teeth, he climbs atop his doghouse, smiles and says to himself, that was fun.

47:16

Jimmy: I just had to pick one of the strips of Woodstock as a knight, just because I think that's the best.

47:23

Michael: I'd like to know who made that armor.

47:29

Michael: Yeah, there must be an industry in town that makes tiny little things.

47:34

Harold: And I have a question. Harold: Is that a feather on the back of his helmet?

47:37

Harold: Whose feather? Michael: Ooh, ooh.

47:41

Jimmy: Oh, I didn't think about that.

47:45

Jimmy: Oh gosh, he looks so cute.

47:51

Jimmy: I love Woodstock. Harold: Okay, are you going to pitch a whole series with Woodstock the Knight now?

47:57

Jimmy: Oh, you could absolutely do it. Jimmy: But no, here's how you do it.

48:00

Jimmy: It doesn't even matter. Jimmy: It's the Scouts, the Beagle Scouts.

48:04

Jimmy: But they would just go from one adventure.

48:07

Jimmy: You could have them as a whole troop of knights.

48:09

Jimmy: Then the next episode, they could be in the Foreign Legion or whatever.

48:12

Jimmy: Then the next episode, they could be on the moon as astronauts.

48:15

Jimmy: Little tiny weightless Woodstocks in spacesuits.

48:21

Jimmy: My agent is Judy Hansen. Jimmy: Give her a call.

48:24

Jimmy: I'm telling you, we will print money.

48:28

Liz: Those are good. Jimmy: Those are good, right?

48:32

Jimmy: May 18th. Jimmy: Charlie Brown and Lucy are out at the Thinking Wall, something we haven't seen for a while.

48:37

Jimmy: Charlie Brown says, I'll bet if I left, no one would even miss me.

48:41

Jimmy: Lucy says, you should try it and see. Jimmy: Panel 2, Charlie Brown does just this.

48:45

Jimmy: He walks away. Jimmy: But Lucy continues, it would be an interesting experiment.

48:49

Jimmy: I think you should try it, Charlie Brown. Jimmy: I mean, if it's something you always worried about, perhaps you should just really try it.

48:55

Jimmy: By this point, Charlie Brown is way on the other side of the wall.

48:58

Jimmy: We can't even see Lucy as she continues to talk.

49:00

Jimmy: But she continues. Jimmy: Panel 4 is saying, sometimes we just have to go ahead and try something to find out how others feel.

49:07

Jimmy: And well, if no one noticed you had left, then at least you'd know for sure how everyone felt.

49:14

Jimmy: But Charlie Brown, all alone at the other side of the wall, just sighs.

49:18

Harold: The highest ratio of text to art in the history of peanuts, probably.

49:24

Jimmy: Yeah, probably. Jimmy: This feels like a bit of a throwback.

49:28

Jimmy: And this is like a best of Lucy.

49:31

Jimmy: This is a really good Charlie Brown and Lucy strip, I think.

49:36

Jimmy: May 23rd, Charlie Brown is holding semaphore signs up for some reason.

49:42

Jimmy: And then it flags up, rather. Jimmy: Panel two, because he's a manager.

49:47

Jimmy: And this is going to be all about giving signs.

49:49

Jimmy: Two outs already. Jimmy: I can't stand it.

49:52

Jimmy: So as a manager, Charlie Brown is next to Lucy on the bench.

49:55

Jimmy: And he's giving her some tips before she comes up.

49:59

Jimmy: Says, OK, Lucy, we need a run. Jimmy: Here's what I want you to do.

50:02

Jimmy: If you get on first, watch for my signal to steal second.

50:06

Jimmy: I'll tug my ear like this. Jimmy: Now, if you get to second and I want you to steal again, I'll clap my hands like this.

50:13

Jimmy: If you get to third and I want you to stay there, I'll tug my other ear like this.

50:17

Jimmy: But if I want you to try to steal home, I'll rub the front of my shirt.

50:21

Jimmy: Lucy is just taking this all in silently. Jimmy: Then with kind of a look of concern, she walks off the bat.

50:27

Jimmy: And then in three straight pitches, strike one, strike two, strike three.

50:30

Jimmy: She doesn't even swing. Jimmy: Then she walks back to the bench and says, that was easier than trying to remember all those signals.

50:37

Jimmy: This is one I always remembered. Jimmy: I always thought it was really funny.

50:40

Jimmy: I love Lucy, the terrible baseball player.

50:44

Jimmy: And I also like seeing Lucy in her more modern clothes playing baseball.

50:48

Jimmy: I bet it's a lot more comfortable than in her dress.

50:52

Harold: You know, sweatshirt and striped pants. Jimmy: Yeah.

50:55

Jimmy: Now, do you think those are stripes or are those supposed to be like corduroys?

50:58

Harold: That's a good question. Harold: I don't know. Liz: I hope she's not a Yankee.

51:03

Jimmy: Probably not. Jimmy: May 30th.

51:06

Jimmy: It's a Sunday. Jimmy: And the Beagle Scouts are out marching through the Sandy Dunes because they're being the Foreign Legion at the moment.

51:19

Jimmy: And Snoopy, as their commander, is saying, Straighten up there.

51:22

Jimmy: I'll make you regret the soft life in Paris, my friends.

51:25

Jimmy: I promise you. Jimmy: March, march, march.

51:29

Jimmy: Then panel three, the strip starts up for real and says, He says, Here's the world famous Sergeant Major of the Legion Etranger, leading his troops across the desert.

51:40

Jimmy: There it is, men. Jimmy: We found it. Jimmy: Fort Zinderneuf.

51:44

Jimmy: To the ramparts, keep a sharp lookout.

51:46

Jimmy: As he's saying this, we see the little birds dressed in their Legionnaire outfits scaling his doghouse.

51:53

Jimmy: Now they're posed behind the doghouse as if they're peering above the roof.

51:57

Jimmy: And he says, Here we must stay until the relief column arrives from Tokotu.

52:02

Jimmy: We now cut to Sally, who's in a side looking out of the window.

52:08

Jimmy: And then she walks over to Charlie Brown, who's fixing Snoopy's dog food.

52:11

Jimmy: And she says, I think your dog has finally cracked up.

52:15

Jimmy: Charlie Brown says, Maybe, but I'm in no position to say.

52:18

Jimmy: And Charlie Brown walks out with the food, saying, I'm the relief column from Tokotu.

52:24

Jimmy: I think panel two is real interesting here because we never see a view like that, like a three quarter front marching view of five characters and fake perspective.

52:35

Jimmy: That looks cool. Michael: Reminds me of Dune.

52:37

Harold: I think of it as the Wizard of Oz and Tokotu.

52:45

Harold: But visually, it's interesting. Harold: You mentioned that that's a really interesting angle of Snoopy and the little birds.

52:52

Harold: There's an interesting perspective on that, which we don't see.

52:57

Harold: What do you think about in that middle panel in the strip where we actually see the normal background of Snoopy's doghouse with the bushes and the grass, and then we cut back to the fantasy world?

53:12

Harold: Why do you think he does that? Michael: Well, he's been doing that.

53:15

Michael: I mean, seeing French villages and stuff.

53:18

Harold: But he'll go from the neighborhood back in one particular panel.

53:24

Michael: Yeah, I don't know. Michael: It didn't bother me at all.

53:27

Jimmy: I like it. Jimmy: I think it's real interesting.

53:30

Jimmy: I was thinking as I was reading it aloud, you're cutting to a lot of different locations.

53:36

Jimmy: You're coming out of the desert, then you're into the doghouse, but then it's the blend panel.

53:43

Jimmy: Then you're cutting to Sally. Jimmy: That's a lot in a Sunday, but I think it works really, really well.

53:47

Jimmy: I particularly love that last panel on the second tier where you're seeing the doghouse in the sand of the endless desert.

53:55

Jimmy: That's real cool. Liz: The four little scouts next to Snoopy.

53:59

Liz: That just makes me crazy.

54:02

Jimmy: They're great.

54:05

Harold: Yeah, peeking their heads over the top of the doghouse from the back.

54:08

Harold: That's great. Harold: He also does something that is pretty unusual in the second to last panel.

54:13

Harold: He actually overlaps the board balloon into the final panel from the second to last panel.

54:20

Harold: He could do that based on how these strips were broken up.

54:24

Harold: We've mentioned that he has to use a grid that can be moved around so that the strip can be printed vertically as well as in this three-tier panel as he drew it.

54:35

Harold: He could get away with that because these two panels are in that same tier, no matter how it runs in the paper.

54:43

Harold: I was wondering why did he choose to do that?

54:48

Harold: Maybe he just drew the characters and then he did the lettering later.

54:53

Harold: He was like, oh, I just need some more space.

54:56

Harold: He really wanted to do that because it somehow was visually pleasing to him.

55:01

Jimmy: It's a good looking comic strip though. Jimmy: All right.

55:04

Jimmy: I think that is enough for one episode.

55:07

Jimmy: How about we stop here and then we come back next week and we finish good old 1982.

55:12

Jimmy: What do you guys say about that? Jimmy: If you characters want to follow along and keep the conversation going, you can follow us on good old social media.

55:23

Jimmy: On Blue Sky Facebook and YouTube, we're Unpacking Peanuts.

55:28

Jimmy: On threads and Instagram, we're at Unpack Peanuts.

55:31

Jimmy: You can follow us there. Jimmy: You can also just email us through our website, unpackingpeanuts.gmail.com.

55:37

Jimmy: We would love to hear from you if you have any comments, questions.

55:41

Jimmy: We would desperately love for you to give us a nice review, especially if you're on Apple Podcasts because that's the one I see.

55:47

Jimmy: I like to see good reviews there.

55:50

Jimmy: If you want to give me a little dopamine hit in the morning, give us a five-star review there.

55:55

Jimmy: Sign up for the Great Peanuts Rerate at the website, and I think that's about it.

55:59

Jimmy: Other than that, we would love to see you back here next week where we finish up 1982.

56:04

Jimmy: So until then, from Michael, Harold and Liz, this is Jimmy saying, be of good cheer.

56:09

Michael: Yes, be of good cheer.

56:12

Liz: Unpacking Peanuts is copyrighted by Jimmy Gownley, Michael Cohen and Harold Buchholz.

56:17

Liz: Produced and edited by Liz Sumner. Liz: Music by Michael Cohen.

56:21

Liz: Additional voiceover by Aziza Shukralla Clark.

56:25

Liz: For more from the show, follow Unpack Peanuts on Instagram and threads.

56:29

Liz: Unpacking Peanuts on Facebook, Blue Sky and YouTube.

56:33

Liz: For more about Jimmy, Michael and Harold, visit unpackingpeanuts.com.

56:38

Liz: Have a wonderful day and thanks for listening.

56:40

Jimmy: Ginkgo biloba, perhaps?