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.

0:18

Jimmy: Hey, everybody, welcome back to the show. Jimmy: This is Unpacking Peanuts.

0:22

Jimmy: Today, we're looking at the second half of 1984.

0:25

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

0:28

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

0:34

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

0:39

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

0:44

Jimmy: He's the co-creator of the original Comic Book Prize Guide, the original editor for Amelia Rules, and the creator of such great strips, A Strange Attractor, A Gathering of Spells and Tangled River.

0:53

Jimmy: It's Michael Cohen. Jimmy: And he is 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, it's Michael Buchholz.

1:07

Harold: Hello. Jimmy: Well, guys, I am glad to be back here.

1:10

Jimmy: I am very excited to be talking about the second half of 1984.

1:14

Jimmy: We have a lot of strips, we have a lot of mail, so I think let's just get into it.

1:20

Michael: Jump into it. Harold: Sure. Jimmy: March 31st.

1:23

Jimmy: Snoopy is taking a little snooze in front of Schroeder's piano.

1:28

Jimmy: And Schroeder notices this. Jimmy: Then he begins in panel two to start playing a little musical theme, which we see appear above the piano as we standardly see in Schroeder's strips.

1:41

Jimmy: But then the staves of music in panel three kind of pass through Snoopy's head, waking him up, and he is shooketh in panel four as the music passes through to the other side.

1:55

Michael: I have to admit, I didn't understand this the first time.

1:59

Michael: I wasn't sure what was going on. Michael: It looked like it was attacking him.

2:04

Jimmy: Yeah. Michael: In panel three. Michael: So, but if it was passing through, it seems like it wouldn't be doing that weird little windmill thing in panel three.

2:17

Jimmy: Yeah, I think he's, I think what he's trying to do is visually represent Snoopy being shocked awake by the sudden playing of music, right?

2:29

Jimmy: But I don't know that that's necessarily conveyed that well in the third panel.

2:35

Liz: Maybe it's a surprise symphony. Harold: Yeah, it's weird.

2:41

Harold: I just saw it as him just playing off his musical stanza thing where people can interact with it in a surreal way.

2:50

Harold: And this was just another way where it went in one ear and out the other.

2:53

Harold: I think visually, I thought it was...

2:57

Harold: I mean, again, master cartooning, I thought he did an amazing job of making that look incredibly great from a design perspective.

3:08

Jimmy: You have a very rare full-on face-forward picture of Snoopy.

3:15

Jimmy: You rarely see him looking directly at the reader like that, you know what I mean?

3:19

Jimmy: It's usually a little tilt to one side or the other.

3:22

Jimmy: But that's kind of cool.

3:24

Michael: Yeah, that third panel, I wouldn't pull that out as an example of peanuts.

3:31

Jimmy: You wouldn't make that in your number? Jimmy: You wouldn't get a tattoo of that one?

3:35

Michael: I think it would confuse, definitely confuse.

3:40

Harold: I'd do a t-shirt of that. Jimmy: April 14th, Snoopy and Woodstock are hanging out and we see Woodstock's wearing some little spectacles.

3:49

Jimmy: He's got some glasses on and Snoopy says to him, You found some glasses.

3:55

Jimmy: They look very nice. Jimmy: See if you can read this chart, says Snoopy, who happens to have an eye chart right there.

4:01

Harold: Of course. Jimmy: He holds it up to Woodstock, who chirps off some little chirp hash marks.

4:09

Jimmy: And in the fourth panel, Snoopy reveals perfect.

4:12

Jimmy: Woodstock could see them exactly right because we see Snoopy's chart also contains those same hash marks.

4:19

Michael: It seems like an example of a gag that didn't have an opening.

4:23

Michael: Like an idea in a sketchbook. Michael: And then he went like, how can I set this up in a logical fashion?

4:32

Harold: What do you think came first? Harold: Which of the sketch would be the thing that may have inspired?

4:37

Michael: I think panels three and four can almost work by themselves.

4:42

Jimmy: Yeah, they really could. Michael: But Woodstock just finding bird side glasses and Snoopy just having to have a bird eye chart.

4:52

Michael: Right there. Michael: One step too far, two steps too far for me.

4:56

Jimmy: Well, I like the bird glasses. Jimmy: I think Woodstock, I think we could have had another bird character with some of those glasses.

5:03

Jimmy: I think that would have been fun. Jimmy: In the Beagle Scouts, I like that look a lot.

5:07

Michael: No, I'm all for that character. Michael: I mean, I still miss Linus with his glasses.

5:11

Jimmy: Oh yeah, that's a good look. Michael: It adds something.

5:15

Harold: Yeah, and it just reminds me as a cartoonist how crazy you can go in terms of the logic.

5:21

Harold: When Jimmy, when you describe it, he's like, oh yeah, of course he has that eye chart just sitting there on the grass next to him.

5:27

Harold: You know, I don't necessarily think about that sort of thing when I'm reading.

5:31

Harold: And I'm, you know, I've been writing some, some sweetest beasts.

5:35

Harold: And I'm noticing that some of the things that we've noticed in the course of doing the podcast, I'm starting to incorporate and feeling a little more free in terms of setups.

5:46

Harold: Like, you know, there's, they don't have to go find an eye chart somewhere.

5:51

Harold: They don't have to have a trek to an optician somewhere downtown.

5:56

Harold: It's just, it's just there and it serves the purpose of the gag.

6:01

Harold: And that's very freeing. Harold: The more I realize what Schulz is doing and what the cartoon and comics form allows, it is extremely freeing.

6:10

Harold: I also noticed one of the things I'm doing is I'm so used to reading these Snoopy Woodstocks where Snoopy is the one covering all the dialogue that we know.

6:19

Harold: I was writing some things where Wild Lion, even though Wooly can talk, Wild Lion was doing all of the speaking for Wooly and it was a really interesting feel to it.

6:30

Harold: And there's something really endearing about these strips where Snoopy is the complete interpreter of everything we experience.

6:40

Jimmy: Yeah, and I, you know, I think hopefully there are other cartoonists, I know there are other cartoonists out there who are listening.

6:45

Jimmy: And, you know, I hope that some of this conversation sparks some stuff in their work too, because nobody else is doing this, right?

6:52

Jimmy: There's no more new peanuts being created.

6:55

Jimmy: So I think if we can assimilate some of that stuff into our own work, I think that's all the better for the larger comics culture.

7:04

Harold: I think so. Harold: I mean, Shultz took things further and more crisply than anybody who's even come after him in certain ways.

7:12

Harold: And I really do appreciate the opportunity to look at him closely and share this, share what you're seeing and what I'm seeing, and also those who are writing in and calling and letting us know what's important to them.

7:27

Harold: It's just been an amazing experience and I'm enjoying it so much.

7:31

Jimmy: April 18th, Peppermint Patty and Marcie are doing some crafts in school, it looks like.

7:37

Jimmy: Marcie has a little brush or something there, and Peppermint Patty is holding a jar of paste.

7:45

Jimmy: And she says, mmm, there's nothing that smells as good as paste.

7:49

Jimmy: In panel two, she says to her teacher, yes, ma'am, I just love the smell of this white paste.

7:55

Jimmy: You should put a little behind each year tonight when you go out with your boyfriend.

7:59

Jimmy: Then very self-satisfied and with a sly smile, Peppermint Patty says, just a little romantic suggestion.

8:07

Michael: Oh, the birth of a glue sniffer. Harold: Do you remember that smell?

8:15

Michael: What was it? Jimmy: I don't know.

8:17

Michael: I mean, it's very distinctive. Harold: Right?

8:20

Harold: Is it like a wheat paste or something? Jimmy: Yeah, probably. Harold: It is extremely distinctive, not particularly pleasant, but it's not really noxious.

8:28

Michael: Tasted pretty good. Harold: Oh, good. Jimmy: Fantastic.

8:32

Michael: Yeah, I used to eat everything. Jimmy: That's amazing.

8:39

Harold: What is school paste? Harold: It's got to be something incredibly non-toxic, right?

8:44

Harold: We hope. Jimmy: We hope. Jimmy: Yeah, who knows? Jimmy: You know, I have to disagree a little bit with Peppermint Patty, though.

8:51

Jimmy: The best, and this might be a hot take, but the best school-related smell from the 80s would be the mimeograph machine, of course.

9:00

Harold: Anyone know that? Harold: We had one of those in our basement.

9:02

Harold: So good. Harold: Yeah. Harold: That duplicator smell, that little sweet, sweet alcohol.

9:09

Michael: It was like gym shoes, I thought were particularly savory.

9:15

Harold: Oh, well, from another cartoon I remember reading, I don't know who wrote it years and years ago, but as a little kid, I was like, that makes sense.

9:22

Harold: You know, for what perfume a woman should wear, what she should put behind her ears, it was peanut butter.

9:27

SPEAKER_2: Vanilla. Jimmy: Yeah, you could use a vanilla.

9:32

Jimmy: I like peanut butter, though. Jimmy: You know, two great tastes, they taste great together.

9:37

Jimmy: April 23rd. Jimmy: Oh, Peppermint Patty and Marcie are on either sides of the tree, like Peppermint Patty and Charlie Brown usually are.

9:46

Jimmy: And Peppermint Patty says to Marcie, have you ever thought of getting contact lenses, Marcie?

9:50

Jimmy: Marcie says, I tried some last month. Jimmy: I thought they'd make me look taller, but they didn't.

9:55

Jimmy: Then in the last panel, Peppermint Patty says, you're weird, Marcie.

10:01

Harold: That's a good reason to wear contacts.

10:03

Michael: Shultz relies on this punchline a lot.

10:07

Jimmy: Yes. Michael: I mean, both of them keep calling each other weird.

10:11

Jimmy: Yes. Jimmy: Yes. Harold: That's true.

10:15

Jimmy: Which is another example of him really putting the, the real punchline in the third panel.

10:19

Jimmy: And then the reaction shot in that fourth panel, which is, you know, could be good grief or sigh or, you know, you say with these guys, it's you're weird, Mark.

10:31

Harold: So Michael, would you prefer a three panel strip in this case, or do you like the Dana Mwah with the, with some familiar catchphrase at the end?

10:39

Michael: I don't particularly like this catchphrase.

10:42

Michael: Schulz used something earlier, earlier in the strip when somebody said something weird.

10:48

Harold: There was some, the I can't stand it.

10:51

Michael: Yeah. Michael: The I can't stand it seemed to work better for me.

10:56

Michael: But you have to, she has to be looking at, at you and rolling her eyes.

11:00

Jimmy: Yeah. Jimmy: Yeah. Harold: But it's interesting that the characters are now speaking to the other characters instead of them just being by themselves in a panel.

11:08

Jimmy: Yeah, that is the difference, right? Jimmy: I guess the I can't stand it, like Michael saying, is essentially directed towards us, the readers.

11:16

Jimmy: And like what you're saying is right, Marcie and Peppermint Patty are speaking to each other.

11:20

Jimmy: Interesting. Jimmy: Black Tree too. Jimmy: Pretty interesting.

11:23

Jimmy: I think he would have not filled that in as a big silhouette in the past.

11:27

Harold: That works pretty well. Michael: I get some interesting black spotting in this part of the year.

11:34

Harold: Yeah. Harold: And the little flowers dotting the bottom.

11:37

Jimmy: I have a weird thing to say. Jimmy: I don't know if this is just me, but I don't think when I get new glasses, they make me look taller.

11:46

Jimmy: But I feel taller when I get new glasses.

11:48

Jimmy: I feel like the ground is further away.

11:52

Jimmy: Is that weird? Jimmy: Is that because your prescription is probably I'm assuming?

11:57

Jimmy: Yeah. Jimmy: Very weird.

12:00

Jimmy: May 8th. Jimmy: Charlie Brown is atop the mound and Lucy comes out to talk to him.

12:05

Jimmy: Charlie Brown says, I wonder if I should try to play today.

12:08

Jimmy: My arm hurts. Jimmy: My stomach hurts and my back hurts.

12:11

Jimmy: Lucy says, play anyway. Jimmy: Then she walks away to her position in the outfield and then yells to him, don't let your body push you around.

12:21

Harold: Charlie Brown not wanting to play possibly is that's a revelation.

12:27

Harold: And you think you just think, oh my gosh, Schulz must be feeling this way, right?

12:32

Harold: Maybe trying to get those aches and pains.

12:35

Michael: I think he's making good use of Lucy this year.

12:39

Michael: She seems to be kind of sharp on her comments.

12:44

Jimmy: Yeah. Harold: Yeah. Harold: Yeah, she does.

12:47

Jimmy: And I really like Lucy, modern Lucy.

12:49

Jimmy: And I'm convinced those are corduroy pants.

12:52

Jimmy: I think it's a good look. Harold: Corduroy pants and a sweatshirt in May, so they must be in Minnesota.

13:01

Jimmy: May 12th, Charlie Brown and Sally are standing outside on a lovely day and Snoopy approaches them.

13:07

Jimmy: In panel two, Snoopy, apropos of nothing, walks up to Sally, gives her a big hug with a satisfied smile on his face and a little heart appearing.

13:17

Jimmy: Then he does the same for Charlie Brown in panel three.

13:20

Jimmy: In panel four, Snoopy walks away and Charlie Brown says, you can always tell when he's been listening to Leo Buscagalli?

13:28

Jimmy: Buscagalli? Jimmy: Buscaglia? Harold: Buscaglia?

13:32

Michael: All right, Michael, this sounds like it's up your alley.

13:38

Michael: What is this music? Harold: Yeah, so this is not music.

13:43

Harold: Back in the 80s, and I don't know if also the 70s, but he was everywhere.

13:48

Harold: Remember, he ever spoke channels and he hit PBS, and it's like the same person talking at somebody talking about investments in retirement.

13:57

Harold: And they always seem to have a special on PBS, especially during the fund drive period.

14:01

Harold: Well, this was the era of Leo Buscaglia.

14:03

Harold: He was very much into kind of a pop, kind of love, feel good kind of message.

14:12

Harold: And he was everywhere on PBS.

14:14

Harold: And he had, I think he had five books on the New York Times bestseller list at the same time at one point because he had so much exposure.

14:21

Harold: So yeah, that's who Leo was.

14:23

Harold: He was a thing in the in the 80s.

14:26

Michael: I did watch PBS and I never heard of him.

14:28

Liz: Me too. Liz: I've never heard of him either. Liz: And I watched a lot of PBS.

14:32

Harold: Really? Harold: Yeah, he was a USC professor.

14:35

Michael: And we probably turned and listened to the pitch though.

14:38

Michael: Yeah. Jimmy: Oh yeah, I got to do that. Jimmy: We're very close to losing our funding.

14:43

Jimmy: Hey, speaking of which, if you wanted to help fund this podcast, just like it's PBS, but not as good, you can go over to our Patreon and kick in a couple bucks or you could buy us a mud pie.

14:58

Harold: We're supported by listeners like you. Jimmy: Exactly.

15:00

Liz: Not Exxon Mobil.

15:03

Harold: Or the Chubb Foundation. Harold: I never did know that was.

15:06

Jimmy: I don't want to know what that is. Jimmy: June 6th, it's the end of the school year, Peppermint Patty is emptying a wastebasket for a teacher.

15:17

Jimmy: She says, you don't want your wastebasket emptied, ma'am?

15:20

Jimmy: Oh, my report card? Jimmy: You have it ready?

15:22

Jimmy: Probably straight A's, huh? Jimmy: And Peppermint Patty looks at the report card and in the last panel, she puts the bucket, the little trash pail over her head and she says, I failed.

15:34

Michael: Man, I was hoping for that D minus and it didn't come through.

15:38

Harold: Yeah, I guess she wasn't keeping track of the papers as they were coming back over the quarter.

15:44

Jimmy: Yeah, you would think there would be a failure warning or something like that.

15:47

Jimmy: Don't you usually have to... Jimmy: What were they called earlier in the strip?

15:51

Jimmy: Cinch notices, right? Jimmy: Isn't that what Linus called it?

15:54

Harold: Oh, right. Jimmy: Back in like the 50s? Harold: Wow.

15:58

Harold: This is obscurity time. Jimmy: Revisited.

16:01

Harold: Or Peppermint Patty. Jimmy: Yeah. Jimmy: This ends up, as we see going forward, this ends up being a storyline that plays itself out over summer.

16:09

Jimmy: And I have to admit, I have read all these strips before.

16:14

Jimmy: I probably read this one when it was coming out in the paper.

16:17

Jimmy: But when I read it for this, I gasped.

16:21

Jimmy: I totally had forgotten. Jimmy: I was like, Peppermint Patty, no.

16:25

Harold: Yeah. Harold: And I don't think we have any more strips from this.

16:29

Michael: Oh, that's right. Michael: Yeah. Michael: They sent her back, which I thought was an interesting plot development, which would really change things.

16:38

Harold: Yeah. Harold: It changes things up if she's back a grade because all of a sudden other kids that we know from the strip she'll be with and that is what happens.

16:46

Harold: And he doesn't keep that.

16:48

Harold: And that was interesting. Michael: Well, he resolves it in a weird way, which I still can't figure out.

16:53

Harold: Yeah. Harold: It was kind of like, it was almost like it was all the dream.

16:56

Harold: The teacher's like, no, I'm sorry.

16:58

Harold: Come back. Harold: But then the weird thing is that because I'm assuming the teacher who has her is going to have to have her for another year, right?

17:06

Harold: That's how it works. Harold: So but they didn't play it like she was driving the teacher crazy so much that she bumped her forward.

17:13

Harold: It was just, yeah, it was kind of an odd resolution where she thought, oh, I should send you send you on.

17:19

Jimmy: Yeah, it almost feels like it could even have been something like, oh, you know, we have a bunch of sequences animated for the next bunch of episodes of the Charlie Brown Snoopy Show and shows are in class with Marcie and it's like, oh, well, okay, we'll do a script.

17:36

Harold: Oh, yeah. Harold: Well, there could be some weird continuity issues.

17:39

Harold: That's so true with comic strips, right, because people are experiencing them.

17:43

Harold: I mean, the other weird, I mean, this is all obviously happening at the end of the school year, right?

17:48

Harold: So so she's so she goes off on a trip to Europe, which that's an interesting that's an interesting thing to prescribe a kid who's just failed to go to Europe with your dad, but pretty cool.

18:04

Harold: And then Marcie gets all mad. Michael: So we must have some of those coming up or maybe we don't.

18:09

Jimmy: I don't think we did select any of those. Jimmy: I would say it's partly because it is hard to do these things as a long when they're a long sequence and they don't have necessarily super pointed or sharp individual strips.

18:22

Jimmy: But it's a great little sequence and I encourage everyone to go to the go to go comics.com and read it.

18:27

Jimmy: By the way, if you want to follow along with us while we're doing that, that's exactly how you could do it.

18:32

Jimmy: The first thing you could do is to go to our website and sign up for the great peanuts reread and then we'll send you an email once a month that will let you know what strips were covering.

18:41

Jimmy: But then you just go to go comics.com or if you have some money, you could buy a fan of a graphics book and but you read along with us and it's a fun experience that way.

18:52

Michael: So she goes to France with her dad as punishment.

18:55

Jimmy: Basically. Michael: For failing and suffers through lots of pastries and stuff.

19:05

Jimmy: It's a pretty it's a pretty interesting approach, you know, because I think a lot of Peppermint Patty's problems are anxiety.

19:13

Jimmy: She's up all night and then she can't sleep or she can't stay up during the day.

19:19

Jimmy: You know, it's it's classic bad mental health.

19:22

Jimmy: And I think maybe something like that because clearly she has bonded to her father.

19:28

Jimmy: This would have been a summer where he'd been on. Jimmy: I assume this is a work trip, right?

19:31

Jimmy: It says and she would have been alone again or would have been with somebody else, I assume.

19:37

Jimmy: So I do think it's probably a smart approach.

19:39

Jimmy: I mean, it's a it's a weird thing for a teacher to say because it's, you know, like a $10,000 trip or something.

19:47

Jimmy: But I'm sure it does help Peppermint Patty. Harold: Yeah.

19:50

Harold: All she says is it was our teacher's idea. Harold: Something made her decide to give me another chance.

19:55

Harold: Well, maybe because she had to have her for a second.

19:59

Jimmy: That's the case. Jimmy: You know what? Harold: But it's a long sequence.

20:03

Harold: It goes all the way through the summer. Harold: We let's she's, you know, she's in France during the summer.

20:07

Harold: And then once we hit the new school year in September, we see her in this same class, but with new students.

20:15

Harold: And so Schulz does commit to this over a period of months.

20:18

Harold: How he checks out of it, I think kind of diminished it in my mind, maybe just why we don't have very many strips from this because once, you know, once she's back in her old thing, I mean, she got a nice trip out of it.

20:28

Harold: I'm glad I'm glad for Peppermint Patty. Michael: I would have left her in Paris and then a secondary strip.

20:35

Jimmy: Oh, Patty and Patty. Jimmy: Yeah, Perry, Peppermint Patty, Peppermint Perry.

20:43

Jimmy: Oh my gosh, guys, Peanuts Worldwide.

20:48

Jimmy: Give us a ring, Danny.

20:52

Harold: That's a great graphic novel there. Jimmy: Actually, that is a great, kidding me, that would be a fantastic is Peppermint Perry with her dad.

20:59

Harold: They throw a few extra revelations about him.

21:03

Liz: I think that her father bought the teacher a trip to Paris as well.

21:08

Jimmy: That's how she got back into it. Jimmy: That would be nice.

21:10

SPEAKER_2: Smart plan. Michael: Something fishy going on there.

21:15

Jimmy: July 9th, Lucy's out in the outfield and she's standing perfectly still as a flyball lands directly behind her bonk.

21:24

Jimmy: This causes Charlie Brown to yell, Oh, I can't stand it.

21:28

Jimmy: Then he yells out from the pitcher's mound, Lucy, why do you play this game?

21:32

Jimmy: And Lucy says, girls just want to have fun because it's 1984.

21:38

Michael: No kidding. Jimmy: This is the year of Cyndi Lauper.

21:41

Michael: Yeah, I really think that of all that that 80s music, this is the song that's going to be remembered.

21:49

Michael: Really? Michael: It's not the best.

21:51

Michael: I just think it's sunk into the zeitgeist.

21:56

Jimmy: Yeah, it's like, how did we get to 1984 without having a song called girls just want to have fun?

22:02

Jimmy: I was amazed. Jimmy: How old would you consider modern music?

22:06

Jimmy: Where did modern songwriting start?

22:09

Jimmy: But how did it take? Jimmy: What would you consider modern songwriting?

22:14

Michael: Well, if you have a perspective of music history, it would be in the 20s.

22:20

Jimmy: Okay, so how could we have gotten to say the Beatles time and not have iconic songs that are unassailable that were called things like Yesterday, Help, She Loves You.

22:35

Jimmy: These are the most basic things.

22:37

Jimmy: And somehow they weren't around for a hundred years before that.

22:47

Michael: How is Girls Just Want to Have Fun cooked up in 1984?

22:53

Jimmy: I guess you could have had at least ten years.

22:55

Michael: Girls Just Want to Do the Laundry would might be...

22:58

Jimmy: No one wants to hear that one. Jimmy: Oh my Lord.

23:02

Jimmy: July 16th. Jimmy: Lucy is standing out in the outfield and a ball bounces right past her and Charlie Brown yells, oh, then he yells out to her, Lucy, you didn't even move.

23:14

Jimmy: You let it go right by you. Jimmy: To which Lucy replies, I don't do bouncers.

23:20

Michael: I picked this one. Michael: I like it. Michael: I just noticed panel two from this one and the one right before July 9th.

23:29

Michael: Charlie Brown almost exactly four drops of sweat flying from his face.

23:35

Michael: No clouds. Jimmy: So he just has that iconic way of doing things like, you know, the other four drops of sweat.

23:44

Jimmy: Also the fact that it's he's on like a slight angle, right?

23:49

Jimmy: It's not just him atop the mound at a 90.

23:51

Jimmy: He's leaning slightly. Michael: Yeah.

23:55

Michael: But he I'm sure he did not go back and look at it.

23:57

Michael: He just did it. Harold: Right. Jimmy: Yeah, I'm sure not.

24:01

Michael: Yeah. Harold: Did he always do the the I guess he did, didn't he?

24:05

Harold: The the black underside of the baseball cap?

24:08

Harold: Was he adding more blacks than he would normally do there?

24:11

Jimmy: I think he always did. Jimmy: I think he always did.

24:15

Jimmy: Yeah, I'm pretty sure. Jimmy: I like the the little gray clouds with the lines on it.

24:20

Jimmy: I know it's just an odd little detail in that second panel.

24:25

Jimmy: But it sort of adds to the overall angst of the of the panel.

24:29

Michael: It's a thing in terms of clouds because you generally would put the shading on the bottom to imply the rain cloud.

24:38

Harold: Yeah, that's an interesting choice. Harold: Could it be like clouds above clouds or something?

24:43

Harold: I don't know how that works. Harold: Yeah. Jimmy: Or could it be indicating like a dust cloud?

24:47

Jimmy: Like the kids are running around the mound, the infield rather, because, you know, it's not a home run.

24:52

Michael: I think it's just psychological clouds.

24:55

Jimmy: Yeah, it's to give air. Jimmy: Yeah.

24:58

Harold: And his despair, you know, we talked about the the the shake that we know tremor we see on the line and the balloon around him screaming is is is rough.

25:08

Harold: And you wonder at certain points, he's like, Okay, here's where I really don't want to hide this.

25:12

Harold: You know, this actually is going to help me give the the sense of Charlie Brown feeling so frustrated.

25:18

Harold: But then the third panel, I look at the I'm surprised at how rough looking the mitt looks on Charlie Brown's hand that has got a lot of tremor in it.

25:29

Jimmy: Yeah, it really does. Jimmy: July 20th, Snoopy is lying atop the doghouse, Lucy comes up and says, Why do you always face the same way?

25:38

Jimmy: You should try facing the other way sometime.

25:41

Jimmy: Snoopy does just that. Jimmy: And he thinks to himself, she may be right.

25:44

Jimmy: I'll have to think about it. Jimmy: But then by panel four, he's back to the other direction.

25:49

Jimmy: And he says, One does not treat a career change lightly.

25:53

Michael: That panel three is actually jarring.

25:56

Michael: Like, something wrong here, I don't know what it is, but there's something deeply wrong about this.

26:05

Harold: I'm fascinated where he puts his thought balloons, because typically the little thought bubbles that head toward the person thinking, number one, a lot of people would add more of them heading toward the mind area of the head.

26:21

Harold: And Snoopy, when he goes the opposite direction, Schulz moves the thought bubbles the opposite direction, and they're always facing really where his mouth would be, which is interesting.

26:33

Harold: It almost like makes you feel like he's saying it rather than thinking it, because it's not going to his mind.

26:39

Jimmy: Well, it's like a weird, it is, it's like it's a hybrid kind of thing he's sort of cooked up here, that it's both a word balloon and a thought balloon.

26:50

Harold: And again, he's, you know, he's thought this stuff through and you can totally tell it here when he does it, when he flips Snoopy the other way, he goes out of his way to turn it the other direction and it keeps it in kind of in the center.

27:03

Harold: There's, I'm sure a lot of reasons that maybe he didn't consciously think it out, but, you know, it's just what we're used to seeing.

27:10

Harold: And again, for Schulz, it works, it just works.

27:14

Harold: And then when he turns it around and Snoopy goes the opposite direction, it doesn't seem like it works.

27:19

Harold: Why? Jimmy: Why? Michael: I don't know. Michael: Have either of you ever crossed the balloons?

27:25

Michael: So the person... Jimmy: No, I ref... Michael: I was reading a strip that went on for 20 years and he did it all the time because he'd have a complicated panel, a lot of people talking and he'd have those balloon arrows crossing, going behind people, doing all kinds of crazy things.

27:43

Jimmy: Yeah. Jimmy: Well, if I was going to do it for some strange effect, yes, but not to just get out of a jam, like where like...

27:50

Jimmy: Jaime Hernandez does it and doesn't seem to bother him.

27:54

Jimmy: Kurtzman did it, but I... Jimmy: Whenever anyone does it, it drives me nuts.

27:58

Michael: Yeah, I don't think I've ever... Harold: Do you think it has an emotional feel to it if the lines are crossing, like it's the idea that everyone's talking and no one's listening or...

28:05

Jimmy: Well, if you use it that way intentionally, I bet it would.

28:08

Jimmy: I don't know that anyone ever used it that way intentionally, but that's pretty...

28:10

Jimmy: Let me write that down. Jimmy: The other thing that's weird about thinking about this word balloon with Snoopy or thought balloon as a hybrid word slash thought balloon, because he also doesn't give it the scalloped edge a thought balloon normally has.

28:30

Harold: Yeah, and the scalloped edge balloon was a thing for years, even for a spoken word balloon with a pointer on it.

28:39

Harold: And there's something that holds the text together really well when you do it.

28:44

Harold: It feels archaic, I guess, to my mind, but at the same time, I kind of love it.

28:49

Harold: I've tried it before on my own comics and I just abandoned it because I feel like it looks it just looks so old school.

28:56

Harold: But I think it is a really amazing job.

28:58

Harold: I mean, those little points keep pointing you back up to the block of text and it's kind of its own space and that I do like about it.

29:07

Jimmy: July 24th, Charlie Brown and Linus are hanging out at the beach and Linus, they're making a sandcastle and Linus says to Charlie Brown, she was so cute.

29:16

Jimmy: I used to see her in Sunday school every week.

29:19

Jimmy: I used to just sit there and stare at her.

29:21

Jimmy: Sometimes she'd smile at me. Jimmy: Now I hear she switched churches and in the last panel, Charlie Brown says, that'll change your theology in a hurry.

29:31

Michael: Linus is so enamored of this girl that he doesn't even notice the sea monster in panel two.

29:41

Jimmy: I didn't notice the sea monster in panel two.

29:44

Jimmy: What is going on? Harold: His Nessie is sticking her tongue out.

29:49

Jimmy: What is going on?

29:52

Michael: It's a sea monster.

29:59

Harold: Clearly, the famous Santa Rosa sea monster.

30:02

Jimmy: My mind is blown. Jimmy: That's totally Nessie, right?

30:07

Jimmy: There's no other way to look at that.

30:09

Michael: It's a sailboat with some kind of flag, but not Will.

30:14

Jimmy: Nope, it's Nessie. Jimmy: That is amazing.

30:21

Jimmy: So strange. Jimmy: All right, so here's my question.

30:24

Michael: Okay. Jimmy: Whose theology is changing?

30:27

Jimmy: What's the joke here? Jimmy: Because I had...

30:30

Michael: I don't understand this, Frank. Jimmy: Okay, Michael?

30:33

Harold: I was thinking that Charlie Brown is thinking little red-haired girl in his own mind and how if somebody changes something and you like them, that you might change yourself.

30:46

Harold: That's what I was thinking. Michael: But if you switch churches, is that switching theology?

30:51

Michael: Probably not. Jimmy: Well, if you'd switch a church, that's a completely different religion, I would think, yeah.

30:56

Jimmy: But what I thought it meant was that Linus is sitting there smiling and literally says staring at this girl.

31:08

Jimmy: And I think she changed her theology to get the heck out of the creep zone.

31:12

Michael: They're both creepy guys.

31:15

Michael: Right? Jimmy: It's interesting.

31:17

Harold: Yeah, there's like a few ways you could look at this. Jimmy: Yeah.

31:20

Harold: Yeah. Harold: Yeah. Harold: And you also could be speaking of Linus.

31:24

Harold: So you could be speaking of all three characters mentioned in that script.

31:29

Jimmy: Yeah. Jimmy: It's very strange.

31:32

Harold: Although I think the one character who's not going to change their theology is Nessie.

31:37

Jimmy: No, Nessie is continuing with immaculate consistency.

31:43

Jimmy: July 27th, it's a special appearance Eudora is hanging out at the thinking wall with good old Charlie Brown.

31:51

Jimmy: And she says to him, so I don't know which program to watch.

31:54

Jimmy: Maybe I'll just read a book. Jimmy: Who knows? Jimmy: I also have a lot of phone calls to make.

31:58

Jimmy: She continues in panel two. Jimmy: When school starts again, there will be other things to do, I suppose.

32:03

Jimmy: Life goes on, I guess, doesn't it? Jimmy: Well, it's been nice talking to Charlie Brown.

32:08

Jimmy: And in the last panel, Charlie Brown is alone and he calls out to Eudora, who is now left by saying, thank you.

32:14

Jimmy: It's been nice listening. Harold: So what's the edge to the Eudorometer here?

32:18

Michael: Well, we'd have to because where's Frida when we need her?

32:23

Michael: For those who don't remember Frida, she was the kid with naturally curly hair and she had two shticks.

32:32

Michael: No, she had three shticks. Michael: She had a cat that could be hated.

32:37

Michael: She had naturally curly hair, which she talked about incessantly.

32:41

Michael: And when she was first introduced, she talked like this.

32:44

Michael: She just had this stream of...

32:47

Michael: And so now Eudora, who never did this before, is suddenly doing this nonstop talking bit.

32:53

Harold: Yeah. Harold: She's like taking over for Frida.

32:56

Harold: Another shtick Frida had was trying to force Stoobie to go rabbit hunting, another one.

33:02

Harold: But yeah, I mean, I love the look of Eudora and she looks...

33:06

Harold: I think she looks very modern in a lot of ways because of the hat she's wearing.

33:11

Harold: Even today, I think there's a look there that's still going.

33:15

Harold: Yeah, I wish there was more of Eudora that we could get to know.

33:18

Harold: I don't mind her also having the same trait as Frida, but yeah, I wish we saw more of her, wish we knew her better.

33:23

Liz: I think that hat is way more present day than it is 1984.

33:29

Harold: Yeah, it is. Jimmy: It's at least 90s and you definitely see people wearing beanies even to this day.

33:36

Jimmy: Yeah, it is. Jimmy: It is ahead of its time. Harold: Yeah, it's at least grunge and then if you put a little spire on the top, it would look like the Imperial Margarine hat.

33:49

Harold: How's that for a current reference? Jimmy: I love margarine.

33:55

Jimmy: It's like butter, but plastic. Jimmy: July 29th, Snoopy's on the good old tennis court and he serves up a smash, but then it is smashed right back at him.

34:10

Jimmy: And it's an intense game that goes on for several panels with Snoopy making some very strange faces and movements as he tries to win.

34:22

Jimmy: But he does not. Jimmy: He is getting crushed in this game of tennis.

34:26

Jimmy: Then in the next to last panel, after Snoopy has found himself completely caught up in the net itself, Charlie Brown says to him, well, how is the game?

34:35

Jimmy: And the disheveled Snoopy climbs on top of his doghouse and then says to himself, I haven't had so much fun since I had bypass surgery.

34:44

Harold: Wow. Harold: Snoopy's had bypass surgery.

34:47

Harold: There's a revelation. Jimmy: Yeah, to me, right now, this is the most clear indication that we have that Shultz's avatar in the strip is shifted.

35:01

Jimmy: I do think a long time, for a long time, he would have identified as Charlie Brown, but clearly, this is him identifying exactly with Snoopy.

35:10

Jimmy: He's putting the same medical condition on Snoopy that he himself had.

35:14

Michael: Yeah. Harold: And the more I think about that, that he would just dash this off, that it's now in the canon of peanuts, such as it is, that Snoopy has had bypass surgery.

35:29

Harold: I mean, that's gutsy to lay that on a character, right?

35:35

Michael: It's really weird, I mean, as far as autobiographical intrusions into the strip, I mean, outside of the Bill Malden stuff, I can't think of any obvious references to his life.

35:49

Harold: It's very rare, like he was the Grand Master of the Ceremonies of the Rose Parade, but it's very unusual to take something that would be so unlikely for a character to have gone through that we know Schulz went through and it's a huge deal.

36:05

Michael: Yeah. Harold: You know, I was kind of taken aback when Schulz dropped this in the strip, but again, it goes back to this idea, Jimmy, you keep talking about that Schulz is a character in the strip, that these are extensions of him.

36:17

Jimmy: Yeah. Harold: And this is the, maybe the clearest strip I've ever seen where this feels like the characters are just an extension of one man.

36:26

Jimmy: Yes. Michael: But I think at this time before, you know, kind of Schulz-mania where you know everything about his life, the general public would not have known that he had by now.

36:37

Jimmy: I think you're right about that. Jimmy: I mean, there would have been some news articles here and there, but that was a couple of years ago at this point.

36:44

Jimmy: There's no Wikipedia. Jimmy: There's no social media.

36:48

Jimmy: I think you're right. Harold: So what do you think people's response to this would be not knowing that Schulz had bypass surgery and then Snoopy drops this on us in the last panel?

36:57

Harold: How do you think people responded to that? Jimmy: If I didn't know anything about Schulz and his own life and I saw this strip, I would have laughed my head off and I would have thought that it was Snoopy the way he imagines he's a flying ace, but he's not a successful one.

37:16

Jimmy: He's one that gets shot down all the time. Jimmy: He imagines he's an author, but not a successful one.

37:21

Jimmy: It's not a stretch for me to think he imagines himself as a middle-aged man who had had bypass surgery.

37:28

Harold: I can see that. Harold: Yeah. Harold: Because you kind of wish him not having had it and it's since inside of the blue, we would have heard about it.

37:36

Harold: Yeah. Jimmy: Yeah. Michael: Yeah. Michael: I think this goes into the Book of Oddball Peanuts Strips.

37:42

Michael: Yeah. Harold: What do you think of the third to last panel of Snoopy with underneath his legs underneath one side of the net and he's on the other lying on the ground?

37:53

Harold: In the past, would Schulz have not drawn every line of that net and would have had a little cutout of the hatching?

38:01

Harold: It worked really well here. Harold: It feels very, very real.

38:04

Jimmy: Yes. Jimmy: It's because I think he's caught up in it.

38:07

Jimmy: I think he does that when the characters are not interacting with the net or the fence.

38:15

Jimmy: I'm thinking of a really early strip, probably late 50s with Linus climbing a chain link fence and then falling off it.

38:25

Jimmy: In that instance, it was all ruled out and perfect.

38:29

Jimmy: I think he has to do that with this one because in the same way, Snoopy is interacting with the net.

38:36

Jimmy: He has to have that capital. Harold: I mean, look at the rackets.

38:41

Harold: The rackets, every drawing of the racket, he has every line of that.

38:46

Michael: Oh, yes. Michael: Look at the tier three, panel one.

38:49

Michael: They're actually in perspective. Jimmy: Yes, you're right.

38:52

Harold: They're in perspective, and I counted them up and down.

38:56

Jimmy: Did you really?

38:59

Harold: No, I did not. Michael: I said yes. Harold: Oh, phew. Jimmy: Honestly, I was worried.

39:03

Harold: I believe that one of our Uber fans, if they're interested, they could count the cat gut and see if it's consistent.

39:12

Jimmy: And what do you think about panel two on the second tier?

39:18

Harold: Yeah. Michael: That's very dynamic. Jimmy: And that's the expression he's making.

39:23

Harold: It's such an odd expression. Harold: It's like more of a human almond eye and yeah, and his tongue sticking out.

39:30

Jimmy: Really weird. Harold: Very odd.

39:34

Harold: That's where I've kind of think about the heart bypass surgery.

39:38

Liz: Yeah. Jimmy: Well, that is a really strange strip.

39:42

Jimmy: When we get to that, it'll definitely have to be a candidate for the greatest oddball strips in Peanuts history.

39:47

Jimmy: So, while we contemplate Snoopy with bypass surgery, we're going to take a little break here and we'll come back on the other side and we'll just continue with the strips.

39:57

Jimmy: So, see you then. Liz: Hi, everyone.

40:01

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

40:04

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?

40:12

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

40:18

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

40:25

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

40:37

Jimmy: And we're back. Jimmy: Hey, Liz.

40:39

Jimmy: I'm hanging out in the mailbox. Jimmy: Did we get anything? Liz: We did.

40:42

Liz: We got a ton. Jimmy: All right. Liz: Lots of information about the Security Blanket Clinic from both Debbie Perry and Joshua Stouffer.

40:52

Jimmy: So let's hear from Josh because he left a message on the hotline.

40:56

SPEAKER_1: Hello there. SPEAKER_1: This is Joshua Stouffer. SPEAKER_1: Now about that storyline with Sally disguising herself as a blanket addict named Randolph.

41:05

SPEAKER_1: As a matter of fact, they did animate that story in the Charlie Brown's TV show in 1985.

41:11

SPEAKER_1: Unfortunately, Sally doesn't really make much of an effort to sound like a boy.

41:15

SPEAKER_1: She just kind of sounds like her normal voice, but you can't really tell that Sally until she finally takes the blanket off and reveals herself.

41:23

SPEAKER_1: At least I did when I was a kid. SPEAKER_1: And by the way, in those days, Sally was voiced by Stacey Ferguson, who later became Fergie, who wrote the song, Big Girls Don't Cry.

41:34

SPEAKER_1: And there's a line in that song that reminds me of Linus, like, I'm going to miss you like a child isn't their blanket.

41:40

SPEAKER_1: It reminds me of Sally. SPEAKER_1: It sounds like Sally wrote that.

41:46

Liz: Thanks, Joshua. Jimmy: All right. Liz: Debbie also wrote to us about the copyright notices and the dates on the strips.

41:53

Liz: She says, in reference to your recent discussion on the dates and copyright notices on peanut strips, January strips for the next year's publication were probably dated with the year as well as the month and day for either Schulz's personal reference or for the papers running the strips.

42:09

Liz: As for the copyright dates, the first so many strips of a given year were probably registered with the Copyright Office ahead of their publication in the newspapers.

42:18

Liz: Magazines and comic books were copyrighted similarly so that an issue that appears in the stores in January often carries a copyright notice from the previous year as well.

42:28

Jimmy: All right. Harold: Yeah. Harold: I think that's all very, very true.

42:31

Harold: There's probably something going on. Harold: I'm assuming Schulz is maybe not laying down those things and then going, whoops, I forgot.

42:39

Harold: I shouldn't have put this down for the next year.

42:42

Harold: But yeah, it did seem like he stopped putting the year in his handwritten thing once he switched over to the later copyright notice.

42:52

Harold: I don't know if that coincides with when they were mailed out to the syndicates.

42:56

Harold: Maybe that's why. Harold: Maybe the syndicates mail it out to the newspapers.

43:00

Harold: It's like about a week in advance that they might send those out and for maybe some reason they feel that the copyright notice has to land a certain way to protect themselves better.

43:10

Harold: But yeah. Jimmy: Yeah, we always see those comic books.

43:12

Jimmy: In April, on sale date was like four months ahead of when you actually got the comic because they wanted to make it seem like it was the most current issue on the stand.

43:23

Harold: They were crazy ahead of themselves at one point.

43:25

Harold: I was like, oh, this is a futuristic comic.

43:27

Jimmy: Really weird. Liz: We also got a couple of comments about our April Fool's episode.

43:33

Liz: John Marullo writes, one little note about your fun size April Fool's episode.

43:38

Liz: There was a book in the Peanuts Parade series collecting the strips of 1979 called Here Comes the April Fool.

43:46

Liz: The cover featured art from the last panel of the strip complete with Snoopy wearing his silly outfit, Linus smiling and pointing, Lucy rolling her eyes and Charlie Brown looking as if he were in pain.

43:57

Liz: Thank you for this little bonus episode. Jimmy: You're very welcome.

44:01

Jimmy: I actually went to Harrisburg Area Legendary Bookstore Cupboard Maker Books, which if you're ever in Central Pennsylvania is one of the places you have to see.

44:10

Jimmy: They have an incredible selection of old mass market paperbacks.

44:13

Jimmy: And I did see that book that he's talking about that with the April Fool cover it is terrifying.

44:20

Liz: And James Pooey McCleary writes on a YouTube comment.

44:24

Liz: He says, teasing a Mary Worth or a Nancy themed episode like that.

44:29

Liz: I'm still waiting for the King Aroo episode to come out.

44:33

Liz: It'll probably follow the episode on the legible handwriting of Windsor McKay.

44:40

Harold: You know, it might be really interesting just to use Shultz as the bellwether or the whatever you call it, the plumb line, and then compare other strips that were contemporary to him.

44:54

Harold: How is Shultz different than these other strips?

44:57

Harold: What is it that's unique? Michael: They're all very unique, except the ones that are copying everybody.

45:02

Michael: No, I think we should do that.

45:05

Michael: Just see what the competition is in any given period.

45:10

Jimmy: Oh, I would love it. Jimmy: I could absolutely do a King Aroo episode.

45:13

Jimmy: I could do a Bloom County episode. Jimmy: I could do a Calvin and Hobbs.

45:19

Harold: Definitely Nancy.

45:22

Jimmy: Oh, absolutely, Nancy. Jimmy: Because as we know, I love, love Ernie Bush Miller.

45:26

Liz: We'll have to get a time for that. Jimmy: I was going to say, when we get to 1988, that's going to be the year that Shultz switches from always having four panels to having however many or few panels.

45:37

Jimmy: It's shocking. Michael: I was wondering when that was going to happen.

45:40

Jimmy: Yeah, it's 88. Jimmy: So I thought we're going to have Todd on that week because he has, well, at that point, I think I've been doing a daily strip and four panels for like three and a half or four years.

45:49

Jimmy: So he'll have a lot to say about what it would mean to switch from a four panel grid to whatever, just free flowing wildness.

45:59

Liz: And Todd Webb was one of our very first guests.

46:02

Jimmy: Yeah, yes. Liz: Also, John Rochelle writes, Peanuts Obscurity, Bon Voyage, Charlie Brown, the Chateau du Mal Voisin, where Charlie, Linus, Snoopy and Woodstock stay in the movie is actually a real place.

46:17

Liz: And he gives us the link, which I'll put in social media, the house mansion of the evil neighbor.

46:22

Liz: They copied the house walls and stable from the real place.

46:25

Liz: You can go to Google Maps and see the layout from the satellite view.

46:29

Michael: Yes, Liz took like three years of French in high school.

46:32

Liz: Thank goodness we've just started charting and there are there are people in France who listen to us.

46:41

Jimmy: That is so exciting. Jimmy: It is really actually a huge kick to see people from all over the world listening to Turkey and Japan.

46:50

Harold: It's amazing to see us charting in these countries.

46:54

Jimmy: We're so grateful that people listen and we know it's for Mr.

46:57

Jimmy: Schulz, but we can't help but feel flattered and thrilled that you're listening to us talk about it.

47:02

Liz: Finally, speaking of other countries, Craig Higgins, friend of the show, writes, A dear friend of ours was recently in Taiwan.

47:09

Liz: She was amazed at all the Snoopy stuff, including a whole store dedicated to our favorite Beagle.

47:15

Liz: She shares a photo of a fairy called Snoopy Picnic with giant images of Snoopy, which I will post on social media.

47:23

Liz: Craig adds, I tell Michael regularly, but I so appreciate this podcast.

47:28

Liz: I do urge you to take it slow as I will miss your educational and entertaining banter when we reach the year 2000.

47:36

Jimmy: That's awesome, Craig. Jimmy: Thank you. Jimmy: We also got one other text message to the hotline from super listener Shaly.

47:43

Jimmy: Shaly Robson wrote, One thing I wanted to say was that I adore Peppermint Patty's relationship with her dad and every time she talks about him, it just puts a smile on my face.

47:52

Jimmy: Me too, buddy. Harold: Yeah, me too. Jimmy: I also had a chance to see the Globetrotters in 2014 with my dad, sister, his friends and kids.

48:00

Jimmy: I have the two tickets autographed by Moose and Ant in a picture frame.

48:03

Jimmy: A basketball was also signed by them. Jimmy: Nice.

48:06

Jimmy: Including the female Globetrotter TNT, which was wicked cool.

48:09

Jimmy: Anyway, I cannot wait until the next episode and I'm sorry if I had you worried.

48:14

Jimmy: BoG Steve Chaley, I do worry when I don't hear from you people, so that's why we really want to hear from you.

48:21

Harold: Yeah. Harold: Thanks everybody for getting in touch.

48:23

Jimmy: It's always great to check out the mailbag.

48:26

Jimmy: And if you want to give us a call, we would love to hear from you.

48:29

Jimmy: You could either call or just send us a text and you could do that at 717-219-4162.

48:37

Jimmy: What do you say? Jimmy: Should we get back to the strips? Jimmy: Yep.

48:41

Jimmy: August 12th, Snoopy and what looks like the Beagle Scouts are atop a hill.

48:47

Jimmy: They're not doing Beagle Scout stuff. Jimmy: They're just hanging out.

48:50

Jimmy: Snoopy points to the sky and says, look. Jimmy: Then the strip really starts in the second tier where Snoopy says, see those little birds up there chasing that big bird?

48:59

Jimmy: That's what you guys should practice. Jimmy: So Snoopy walks away and he says, I'll be the big bird who comes flying in and you practice attacking me.

49:08

Jimmy: In the next panel, Snoopy does just that yelling, here I come as he flaps his arms madly.

49:14

Jimmy: Flap, flap, flap. Jimmy: In the next panel, one of the birds just trips Snoopy by sticking out his...

49:21

Michael: A sound effect that says trip.

49:24

Jimmy: Yes, a sound effect that says trip and Snoopy hits the ground.

49:27

Jimmy: Splat. Jimmy: Days he thinks to himself, well, I suppose that could work.

49:33

Jimmy: Then he does this again and says, let's see what else you might try.

49:37

Jimmy: Now he's coming at it even fiercer with more flaps.

49:40

Jimmy: Here comes the big ferocious bird. Jimmy: How are you going to chase him away?

49:45

Jimmy: One of the Beagle Scouts carrying a gigantic stick about eight times the size of him bonks Snoopy on the head with it.

49:52

Jimmy: Bonk. Jimmy: In the last panel, a dazed Snoopy lying on the ground says, any big bird who comes around here has got to be out of his mind.

50:02

Michael: Now, we're assuming that's not Woodstock in revenge for all the letters he had to type.

50:12

Harold: I love everything about this strip. Jimmy: Oh, good.

50:15

Harold: I love the little birds with their stoic expressions.

50:18

Harold: I love Snoopy and his kind of vulture look mode running at them on the ground and flapping his arms.

50:26

Harold: I love the trips and the bonks and the glass panel.

50:30

Harold: One of the birds is just kind of again stoically looking at Snoopy's lying on the ground with his head aching, just staring at Snoopy.

50:38

Harold: It's just adorable and funny.

50:41

Harold: The trip is hilarious. Jimmy: That panel is one of the funniest things.

50:45

Jimmy: The zero expressions on either bird face, the bird watching or the bird tripping Snoopy.

50:52

Jimmy: Like Michael says, the sound effect that just says trip.

50:55

Jimmy: I love those types of sound effects. Jimmy: And then the drawing of Snoopy, which by the way, I can really see the tremor.

51:02

Jimmy: And he's using that to effect in that panel.

51:06

Jimmy: That's really, really easy.

51:09

Jimmy: That's a level of confidence and craft that it's hard to imagine anyone matching.

51:16

Harold: I mean, I just love I mean, then Snoopy, the one major expression other than the angry bird look and Snoopy feeling hitting the ground and being hit on the head is the little smile that Snoopy has as he's thinking up this wonderful idea.

51:32

Harold: How many little birds are in this Sunday Strip and every single one of them just has that little that little blank intent expression, which makes it just 10 times funnier than if they had any other look.

51:45

Harold: Yeah. Jimmy: And it's like, I mean, if you, well, like I just did, if you just read it out loud, if you just explain it to someone, it's impossible to convey just how much charm and how much of the humor comes from the drawing and not just the drawing, the tiniest little details in the drawing.

52:07

Harold: Yeah. Harold: This is a masterclass in cartooning here from Schulz.

52:11

Harold: And I highly recommend, if you're listening along, if you look at a strip this year, check out August 12th, 1984.

52:18

Harold: It's worth it. Harold: Totally worth it. Jimmy: August 14th, Charlie Brown's atop the mound and Lucy comes out to him and says, I told him to get lost.

52:27

Jimmy: Charlie Brown says, who? Jimmy: That kid, says Lucy, who wanted to play on our team.

52:31

Jimmy: In the next panel, Lucy says, he said he was a real natural.

52:35

Jimmy: I told him to get lost. Jimmy: Charlie Brown says, what was his name?

52:38

Jimmy: And Lucy says, Roy Hobbs. Michael: Don't get it.

52:43

Harold: There we go again. Harold: So you know this one, Jimmy.

52:48

Harold: So who is Roy Hobbs? Jimmy: He's a fictional baseball player from the movie, The Natural, played by Robert Redford.

52:53

Jimmy: And a book before it, I guess. Jimmy: I didn't read the book, though.

52:56

Harold: And this in the movie came out this this year.

52:59

Harold: I had the soundtrack to that was Randy Newman did that soundtrack is amazing, majestic soundtracks.

53:05

Jimmy: So I don't have didn't have the soundtrack, but I can hear it in my head now, like the final home run shot.

53:12

Jimmy: Spoiler alert. Jimmy: If you haven't seen The Natural in the last 40 years.

53:15

Jimmy: Sorry. Harold: And it was basically a sort of novel.

53:19

Harold: I believe it was a novel first originally by Bernard Malamud.

53:23

Harold: So, yeah, it's got quite a pedigree.

53:25

Harold: And I guess it is based on a loosely, very loosely on somebody who had to leave the game and then come back later.

53:35

Harold: He was he was kind of out of out of it for a while.

53:37

Harold: And then he has this just incredible come back.

53:40

Jimmy: It's great. Harold: It's a great story and a great movie.

53:43

Jimmy: It's a very feel good movie. Jimmy: He's got his magic bat that he I mean, not literal magic, but his lucky bat.

53:50

Jimmy: And it's great. Jimmy: And Robert Redford's great. Jimmy: It's great.

53:53

Jimmy: August 19th. Jimmy: Lucy is skipping rope and Charlie Brown's walking down the sidewalk.

53:58

Jimmy: And then in the next panel, Charlie Brown arrives where Lucy is skipping rope and says, notice anything different?

54:04

Jimmy: And Lucy says, like what? Jimmy: Charlie Brown says, I've got new shoelaces.

54:08

Jimmy: And Lucy says, oh, they look very nice, Charlie Brown.

54:11

Jimmy: Charlie Brown says, thank you. Jimmy: I'm glad you like them.

54:14

Jimmy: And he walks away saying, well, have a nice day.

54:17

Jimmy: Lucy goes back to skipping rope and says, thank you.

54:20

Jimmy: And then yells out after him, enjoy your shoelaces.

54:24

Michael: This is so pitiful. Michael: I mean, he's proud of his shoelaces.

54:29

Harold: Oh, my God. Jimmy: But you know what? Jimmy: Isn't that great?

54:32

Jimmy: Wouldn't you love to be that happy just by getting new shoelaces?

54:36

Jimmy: That's awesome. Harold: And how many times has Lucy been so just pleasant with Charlie Brown?

54:42

Harold: What's going on? Michael: It is bizarre.

54:45

Harold: And it stands out because it's so unusual and nothing happens.

54:50

Harold: And yet the fact that nothing happens means something.

54:52

Michael: Yeah, you think. Michael: I mean, she could be sarcastic when she says, enjoy your shoelaces, like rolling her eyes or whatever, but it's all you got going for you.

55:04

Michael: But it doesn't seem like it is sarcastic.

55:08

Harold: And I'm marveling at how Schulz decides to show us what skipping rope looks like visually.

55:16

Harold: Talk about iconic images and how to represent something in cartooning.

55:22

Harold: The fact that you see like three or four or five different angles on this.

55:27

Harold: You just accept it. Harold: But it's like this halo, this hulu hoop kind of thing that's just floating all around your body in different angles.

55:34

Michael: Well, there was a lot of jump roping back in the 50s.

55:37

Michael: I thought he put motion lines.

55:39

Michael: I mean, we'd have to go back and check to show that the thing is moving fast.

55:45

Jimmy: I think he does it both ways. Harold: Right.

55:47

Jimmy: Yeah. Michael: Yeah. Harold: He shows the motion lines on her feet now instead of, and even in that second to last panel, we see four feet because of the movement.

55:56

Harold: He's playing around with things that maybe he hasn't quite done before this way.

56:00

Harold: He's still experimenting 30, 34 years.

56:03

Jimmy: What's wild is if you just read this in the newspaper, you read it and you would not think about it once.

56:08

Jimmy: If you stop and you really look at one of, like just say the last panel and you look at Lucy, I mean, is she in a space helmet?

56:17

Jimmy: Is she, you're right, in a giant bubble.

56:21

Harold: Girl in a plastic bubble. Jimmy: But when you're reading it, there's never a second where you don't know what's going on.

56:27

Michael: Yeah, right. Michael: I mean, so obvious. Harold: That's genius, yeah.

56:33

Jimmy: August 31, Spike's out in the desert and he thinks to himself, I love pancakes for breakfast.

56:39

Jimmy: I'll bet I can eat a dozen more.

56:41

Jimmy: Then he picks up his old plate and walks somewhere.

56:44

Jimmy: And in the last panel, we see where he was walking to.

56:47

Jimmy: And it was his cactus pal who is covered in pancakes that he, Spike has stuck to his needles.

56:55

Jimmy: And Spike says, someday I'm going to have to build some shelves.

56:59

Michael: Spike is so depressing. Jimmy: I have a confession to make.

57:03

Michael: What? Jimmy: I think I'm starting to like Spike.

57:06

Jimmy: I'm like really getting into Spike because I feel, I imagine the collective groans of everybody in the newspaper reading community when they would see another Spike strip and for some reason, that makes me laugh.

57:24

Jimmy: And the fact that he's the contrary and I know.

57:29

Liz: Well, in last week's episode, you decided that you were going to like Spike because Michael and Michael said that they really didn't.

57:36

Jimmy: There you go. Harold: It totally worked.

57:40

Harold: That's tremendous power you have in your mind.

57:42

Harold: Absolutely. Jimmy: Oh, I can fool myself into anything that you.

57:47

Harold: Yeah, although I must say of Spike's trips, I do like I mean, the thing is, he's just he just seems so depressed and he's got a couple of little smiles here in this one that kind of break up the monotony, so I'm I do appreciate that when we see a little little emotion.

58:05

Jimmy: I don't think he's depressed, though. Jimmy: I think he's gone through depression and come out on the other side to some sort of bleak void of like depression doesn't even he's just just there in the desert.

58:17

Jimmy: It just is what it is. Harold: He's just accepted his his fate because he doesn't have to know he doesn't he has no ties there.

58:25

Harold: I mean, he is the head of a couple of organizations, but I think he's the only person in them.

58:29

Michael: So let's go to the Metzgalito is probably helping him get through it.

58:37

Michael: There really aren't pancakes on the cactus.

58:46

Harold: If you like Spike, please write or call in and let us know what you like about Spikes.

58:52

Harold: I would like to appreciate him more. Harold: And I'm sure there will be some insights here for those of you.

58:56

Jimmy: Yeah, let's see if we could get a Spike contingent going.

58:59

Jimmy: Friends of old Spike. Jimmy: Foos.

59:06

Jimmy: September 8th, Peppermint Patty is back from Europe.

59:09

Jimmy: She says, guess what, Chuck? Jimmy: The first day of school.

59:12

Jimmy: She's on the phone at this point. Jimmy: Says, guess what, Chuck?

59:14

Jimmy: The first day of school and I got sent to the principal's office.

59:17

Jimmy: It was your fault, Chuck. Jimmy: Charlie Brown says, my fault?

59:21

Jimmy: How could it be my fault? Jimmy: Why do you always say everything is my fault?

59:25

Jimmy: Peppermint Patty says, you're my friend, aren't you, Chuck?

59:28

Jimmy: You should have been a better influence on me. Harold: Wow, that's pretty harsh, Peppermint Patty.

59:36

Harold: Yeah. Michael: But you got to blame somebody.

59:40

Jimmy: Yeah. Jimmy: You're not going to blame yourself for God's sake.

59:43

Jimmy: That's why there are other people. Harold: Yeah.

59:48

Harold: Boy, this is definitely that rumpled, angry look that we're seeing more of in 1984 on Peppermint Patty in that last piano.

59:55

Michael: And he's using that black in some strange ways.

59:59

Harold: Yeah. Michael: Yeah. Jimmy: This is, he has really gotten into, if you look in panel one and panel three, he has really gotten into that idea of just like cordoning off part of the panel, usually on one side of the character's head and just making it black.

1:00:14

Harold: And I think it works, actually. Harold: I mean, I'm imagining this on the newspaper page with all these other strips peppered all around it and that this helps direct the eye.

1:00:24

Jimmy: It's funny, as a kid, I was never able to analyze peanuts.

1:00:30

Jimmy: I just absorbed peanuts, right? Jimmy: It was like, you know.

1:00:34

Jimmy: But I would see that in Love and Rockets. Jimmy: I remember seeing it and go, oh my gosh, those are just like three black rectangles back there.

1:00:40

Jimmy: But somehow it feels like there's depth to this room.

1:00:45

Jimmy: I'm sure that was stuff he was taking from not just Schulz, but a lot of these old cartoonists and stuff.

1:00:53

Harold: Yeah, well, in honor of Peppermint Patty's angry sulk here against Charlie Brown for no particular reason, why don't we do the anger and happiness index?

1:01:02

Jimmy: Yeah, I've already picked. Jimmy: I'm going to say it's an all-time low for both.

1:01:07

Harold: So just to get everybody up to speed once again, for if we have any new listeners, what I'm doing is going through the strips every year and I'm trying to count the number of strips that have at least one character showing what I would consider to be anger, or at least one panel in the strip of the character showing happiness.

1:01:25

Harold: So this would be out of 365, 366 strips in a year.

1:01:28

Harold: In 1983, we had an all-time low for anger by quite a bit.

1:01:34

Harold: It was only 48 strips. Harold: It's like 12 percent, 13 percent, 15 percent, something like that.

1:01:40

Harold: It's not a lot. Harold: So Jimmy, you're saying you think that the anger is even lower this year, despite Peppermint Patty's sulk.

1:01:47

Harold: Michael, do you have any opinion on that? Michael: I'll just agree with Jimmy.

1:01:51

Jimmy: Hey, there's a first time for everything. Harold: Well, surprise, surprise.

1:01:58

Harold: It's bumped back up to 81 from 48.

1:02:01

Jimmy: You should never go with me, Michael. Jimmy: I'm never right. Harold: But in the case of the happiness index, it's pretty much even.

1:02:10

Harold: Went from 108 to 112.

1:02:12

Harold: It's interesting. Harold: What was going on in 1983?

1:02:15

Harold: That's such a stark drop in.

1:02:18

Harold: But it did feel super, super stoic last year.

1:02:20

Harold: And I guess there's a little bit more in the storylines that are showing anger and upset.

1:02:26

Harold: A little back to the low normal.

1:02:29

Jimmy: Well, I will also say, just for this particular September 8th strip, there are some real 80s looking furniture.

1:02:35

Jimmy: I think they got some 80s looking. Jimmy: Peppermint Patty's got an 80s couch and Charlie Brown's still rocking, I think, the 70s curtains.

1:02:42

Jimmy: They haven't been upgraded yet. Harold: Okay, so my question is, do I misremember this?

1:02:47

Harold: Didn't we have the sense that Peppermint Patty did not have her dad and she did not have a lot of money in previous, that she couldn't afford things?

1:02:57

Harold: And so am I misremembering that early on?

1:03:00

Michael: She was kind of a ragamuffin. Michael: I mean, I don't know if they mentioned it, but just from her appearance, kind of she's not dressing up fancy.

1:03:09

Michael: She's kind of a tomboy. Harold: I mean, was Marcie making things for her because she didn't have money?

1:03:13

Harold: I'm just trying to remember that correctly. Jimmy: No, she didn't have a skating mom to make her stuff.

1:03:19

Jimmy: That was... Harold: So there was never anything that suggested that dad was not bringing in a very good one.

1:03:24

Jimmy: I think it's like what Michael's saying is that it feels that way.

1:03:27

Jimmy: I think because you think, you know, this is the 80s, it was a single parent home.

1:03:32

Jimmy: You know, she's having trouble in school.

1:03:34

Jimmy: It feels like maybe there's a lot of stress going on at home that is causing this and that gives it that feeling.

1:03:40

Michael: But dad's a professional. Harold: And now we have this kind of information that dad is a professional.

1:03:45

Harold: Dad is able to leave for a long period of time and fly to Paris with Peppermint Patty, which kind of, in my mind, sheds a different light on Peppermint Patty than what I think assumptions I must have been putting on her that really weren't the case.

1:03:58

Harold: Unless dad's been doing better with his job.

1:04:00

Jimmy: Yeah, could have been changing, right? Harold: Things have gotten a little more lucrative in his business.

1:04:06

Harold: I don't know. Jimmy: September 21st, Linus is in the bean bag chair and he's watching television.

1:04:11

Jimmy: The television says, major catastrophe.

1:04:15

Jimmy: Our reporters are on the scene. Jimmy: This makes Linus sit up straight.

1:04:18

Jimmy: Details at 11. Jimmy: In the last panel, the TV says, in the meantime, you'll just have to sweat it out.

1:04:26

Jimmy: This has to be an obscurity. Jimmy: Details at 11.

1:04:31

Harold: Oh, the details people don't know what details at 11 would be all about?

1:04:34

Harold: Oh, yeah, you're right. Harold: Okay, so back in the day, the local news would be on after the, at this point, three-hour block of primetime programming on ABC, NBC and CBS.

1:04:47

Harold: And that's when you would see your local news.

1:04:51

Jimmy: The other way it would be, instead of details at 11, this would mean that there's breaking news happening right now.

1:04:58

Jimmy: They could break it. Jimmy: They would have probably a news update at the top of every hour or every two hours or whatever.

1:05:06

Jimmy: And they would say, details at 11 if it was 11 o'clock news.

1:05:10

Jimmy: The other thing that was famous is if something happened before the six o'clock news, which was the early news, they would say, film at 11.

1:05:17

Jimmy: Because back in the day, you didn't record digitally and you didn't even record on videotape.

1:05:24

Jimmy: You recorded with film cameras, just like it was a movie.

1:05:26

Harold: Can you imagine 16-millimeter cameras for the local news?

1:05:30

Jimmy: No, and you'd have to go home. Jimmy: You'd have to go to the station and develop it and then cut it, like film and a razor blade.

1:05:38

Jimmy: Yeah, it's amazing. Jimmy: So there wouldn't be instant news stories with video.

1:05:44

Jimmy: It would take hours to get. Liz: And there weren't any 24-hour news channels.

1:05:49

Jimmy: No, it's actually amazing that you used to be able to get all of the news in a half hour.

1:05:55

Jimmy: And now it takes all day, 24 hours a day.

1:05:58

Jimmy: It's amazing. Jimmy: It's almost like they're scamming you.

1:06:04

Jimmy: October 31st, Sally's working on some homework at the table.

1:06:09

Jimmy: And she calls out to someone in the next room, how would you like to be a hero?

1:06:14

Jimmy: Then we see she was talking to Charlie Brown, who's just trying to watch TV in his beanbag chair.

1:06:19

Jimmy: And Sally says, if you help me with my homework, you'll be a hero.

1:06:23

Jimmy: Charlie Brown, without taking his eyes off the TV, says, forget it.

1:06:28

Jimmy: Sally goes back to the desk, or to the table rather, and says, that's the trouble these days.

1:06:32

Jimmy: We don't have any heroes. Jimmy: Schulz owns the beanbag chair as a cartoonist.

1:06:40

Jimmy: Like it's wild because it was decades into this.

1:06:44

Jimmy: It feels like maybe it would be a kind of thing an older cartoonist wouldn't have noticed or wouldn't have decided to put in, but he just completely owns the beanbag chair.

1:06:55

Harold: Well, I used to have this theory when the kids were sitting in like those big plush overstuffed chairs and he would draw the legs like, so you can see them just beyond the profile of the chair on the end of the cushion, that that's what we just wanted us to see the feet.

1:07:12

Harold: But here in the beanbag chair, he could put those feet anywhere and he still extends these characters.

1:07:16

Harold: I mean, look at Linus in panel one of the previous strip.

1:07:19

Harold: He is, he's a teenager, teenager tall in that.

1:07:24

Harold: And Charlie Brown, a little bit shorter, but still, he didn't have to put those legs so far out.

1:07:31

Harold: Again, he must have just thought aesthetically, iconically, that's the more interesting drawing.

1:07:35

Jimmy: Yeah, I think I would have ended up doing that, too, without even thinking about it, because it does just kind of look right.

1:07:43

Harold: You think if they were shorter, they would look somehow?

1:07:46

Jimmy: Yeah, it would be righter, but would look wrong.

1:07:50

Harold: Because you don't even have to show the feet. Jimmy: Well, you don't have to show them at all, that's true, yes, exactly, yeah.

1:07:56

Harold: Look like he's in a tub or something.

1:07:58

Jimmy: Yeah. Jimmy: November 15th, it's Pigpen, he's in school, and he says, yes, ma'am, my name is Pigpen.

1:08:07

Jimmy: Oh, yes, I've been in your class all year.

1:08:09

Jimmy: And then third panel, he says, you just haven't noticed me.

1:08:13

Jimmy: The janitor keeps sweeping me out. Harold: Oh.

1:08:17

Jimmy: A rare solo Pigpen strip.

1:08:20

Michael: Yeah, it's very bizarre. Harold: Right, yes, the teacher never noticed him.

1:08:25

Michael: Yeah. Michael: And do you think he's in the same class with the other guys?

1:08:28

Jimmy: I guess. Jimmy: He probably has to be.

1:08:31

Harold: We've seen him. Harold: Who do we see him with in the class?

1:08:35

Jimmy: That's a good question. Jimmy: Violet. Jimmy: Boy, that was digging it out.

1:08:39

Harold: That's not. Jimmy: It was Violet.

1:08:41

Jimmy: It was the last time we saw, I think, or maybe it wasn't even in class, but the last time we saw a pig pen, I believe it was just him getting a slam from Violet.

1:08:51

Michael: I've never seen him in class. Jimmy: It's weird to see those, the way the dots of the dirt, especially in panel three, they do not have a random pattern.

1:09:03

Jimmy: It's a very steady pattern outlining.

1:09:09

Michael: He should have some Kirby crackle in there. Jimmy: Oh, there you go.

1:09:12

Harold: Oh, I like that. Jimmy: A Galactus kind of looking pig pan.

1:09:20

Harold: I'm wondering if Schulz had to analyze the animators poofs of dust, because for those to work, they have to go out in arcs and then go out and then settle.

1:09:31

Harold: And I'm wondering if he borrowed something from what he saw the animators doing, because that would make sense.

1:09:37

Harold: You have to see it. Harold: It's not just random, it could be like a spatter of dots, look like a shimmer.

1:09:42

Harold: But the way the animators did it, they would make it kind of poof up and then decrease and then poof out again.

1:09:48

Harold: And that requires these arcs that he's doing. Harold: But I don't think he was doing it before.

1:09:53

Jimmy: No, I don't think so. Jimmy: December 2nd, the Beagle Scouts are out doing something and Snoopy says to them, Woodstock, Olivier, Conrad, Wilson, they all chirp that they are here.

1:10:06

Jimmy: Snoopy says, OK, do you all know why we're here?

1:10:09

Jimmy: They seem like they do not. Jimmy: And Snoopy continues, this is going to be what we call a nature hike.

1:10:15

Jimmy: One of the Beagle Scouts asks the question, Snoopy says, well, yes, it does look like it might snow.

1:10:20

Jimmy: So you'd better bring your mittens, OK? Jimmy: And Snoopy reaches into his little pouch, pulls out some mittens, and then we see the four little Beagle Scouts have mittens over their entire bodies with just their tiny little little feet sticking out at the bottom.

1:10:37

Michael: That's cute. Jimmy: It's a great little gag.

1:10:40

Michael: Where's Harriet? Jimmy: Harriet didn't make it.

1:10:43

Michael: Didn't she get married? Jimmy: Yeah. Michael: Let's see if she married Olivier.

1:10:47

Michael: What's going on here? Michael: Why did the girl get kicked out of the club?

1:10:51

Jimmy: Maybe they need some time apart. Jimmy: December 16th.

1:10:58

Jimmy: It's Beethoven's birthday, which we can tell because the first panel has a little drawing of good old Ludwig right on the place where the 16th should be.

1:11:07

Jimmy: And in panel two, we see- Michael: He's got that Homer Simpson circle around his mouth.

1:11:11

Jimmy: Yeah, that. Jimmy: The Hanna-Barbera mouths.

1:11:14

Jimmy: Very strange. Jimmy: And in panel two, Lucy's bringing a cupcake and we see she has brought it to Schroeder, who of course is practicing away on his piano and Snoopy is sitting there listening.

1:11:25

Jimmy: And Lucy says, surprise. Jimmy: Schroeder looks up and says, what's this?

1:11:29

Jimmy: And Lucy says, it's a cupcake. Jimmy: Cupcake. Jimmy: Happy Beethoven's birthday.

1:11:33

Jimmy: Schroeder looks at it and he's thrilled. Jimmy: He says, you remembered.

1:11:36

Jimmy: I can't believe it. Jimmy: That's amazing. Jimmy: And then unbelievably, he leans over and kisses Lucy on the cheek, which of course gives her a big smile.

1:11:45

Jimmy: But then when Lucy turns, she sees that Snoopy is there and she thinks Snoopy has kissed her.

1:11:51

Jimmy: And so she runs away with her classic dog lips.

1:11:54

Jimmy: I've been kissed by dog lips. Jimmy: In the next last panel, Schroeder says, no, wait, wait, Lucy, wait.

1:12:01

Jimmy: And in the last panel, Snoopy is left alone.

1:12:04

Jimmy: And he thinks to himself, what's wrong with dog lips?

1:12:08

Michael: How come she didn't yell germs disease in touch?

1:12:18

Jimmy: I really like this one. Jimmy: I think Schroeder over the last few years has been warming up to Lucy.

1:12:24

Jimmy: She's wearing him down, water on the rocks.

1:12:27

Jimmy: Because I truly believe that Valentine that he had just laying around was a few years ago was intended for her.

1:12:34

Jimmy: But she blew it with her big mouth. Michael: I don't see that at all.

1:12:39

Michael: This took me by surprise. Michael: I thought it was out of character.

1:12:41

Michael: And I didn't think it was very nice of Schroeder.

1:12:47

Michael: Because the next day he's going to say, like, no, I never liked you.

1:12:52

Jimmy: Well, you don't know. Jimmy: You don't know that. Harold: We'll find out.

1:12:54

Michael: Yeah. Liz: He's overcome with the excitement of the moment.

1:12:59

Jimmy: Yeah. Michael: He likes cupcakes, I guess. Jimmy: And cupcake.

1:13:02

Jimmy: Yeah, come on. Jimmy: That's it. Jimmy: You can't.

1:13:04

Michael: I'd kill for a cupcake right now. Jimmy: Exactly.

1:13:10

Michael: Well, so you like this one.

1:13:13

Jimmy: Yeah, I do. Michael: This is one of your faves. Jimmy: Yeah, I like it a lot.

1:13:16

Jimmy: You know, but you know, your mileage may vary.

1:13:18

Jimmy: I'm not going to get a tattoo of it, but I like it.

1:13:24

Jimmy: December 20th, this is a sequence.

1:13:27

Jimmy: This has been animated for sure, which is all about a school pageant where they're staging the Nativity.

1:13:37

Jimmy: And so in this sequence on December 20th, we have Marcie who's dressed up as Marion and Peppermint Patty, who's dressed up in her role as a sheep.

1:13:45

Jimmy: And Marcie says, you look cute in your sheep costume, sir.

1:13:50

Jimmy: Peppermint Patty says, sure, Marcie, sure.

1:13:53

Jimmy: And Marcie continues, I was up late last night memorizing all my lines.

1:13:57

Jimmy: All your lines, says Peppermint Patty.

1:14:00

Jimmy: And then Marcie says, she walks towards the stage, well, you'll have to excuse me, sir.

1:14:04

Jimmy: We're rehearsing my first scene. Jimmy: And then in the last panel, Peppermint Patty yells out, bah.

1:14:10

Michael: You can't go wrong with sheep costumes.

1:14:12

Michael: There's no way you can blow a sheep costume joke.

1:14:17

Harold: Well, yeah, I'm a sucker for sheep costumes.

1:14:21

Jimmy: I really like the second panel, Snoopy, because I think that's a really weird looking one.

1:14:26

Jimmy: Or not Snoopy, Peppermint Patty.

1:14:29

Jimmy: I think it's a really weird looking one and I like it a lot.

1:14:32

Jimmy: And I also love Marcie as the blessed mother, I think, with her little glasses.

1:14:39

Jimmy: This is, if anyone's read my memoir, The Demist Idea Ever, in my real life, we had a Christmas pageant, much like this.

1:14:47

Jimmy: And if you want to know what Marnie Markwit looked like in it, it was exactly like Marcie here.

1:14:55

Michael: Why do you think she repeats that? Liz: Because she's envious.

1:14:58

Jimmy: Yeah, because she doesn't have any lines.

1:15:02

Jimmy: I remember my line from that, I had one line, I was the last person that came on stage, I was the third wise man.

1:15:18

Harold: It was, these are the gifts we have brought to this holy child.

1:15:20

Jimmy: And I was supposed to also plug the light in for the Christmas star to light up.

1:15:25

Jimmy: And it blew a circuit and it shocked me and sent spark.

1:15:29

Jimmy: It was fabulous. Michael: I could see that panel of you flying across the room.

1:15:40

Michael: Your childhood was a peanuts. Jimmy: December 22nd.

1:15:46

Jimmy: Now we're seeing the kids on stage and Franklin is playing the angel Gabriel and he says, I am Gabriel.

1:15:52

Jimmy: Do not be afraid, Mary. Jimmy: And then Marcie as Mary says, behold, I am the handmaiden of the Lord.

1:15:59

Jimmy: And then third panel to the side, we see Peppermint Patty and her sheep costume saying, bah.

1:16:06

Jimmy: And in the last panel, Franklin, I love this.

1:16:09

Jimmy: Franklin says, I am Gabriel, Mary, and I couldn't hear you because of the sheep.

1:16:16

Jimmy: Why isn't he wearing wings? Jimmy: Is that that's a good question.

1:16:22

Jimmy: Maybe this is still. Jimmy: Oh, this is rehearsal. Jimmy: So he doesn't have to, I guess.

1:16:27

Jimmy: Really cute sheep costumes, great Marcie looks great.

1:16:31

Jimmy: Franklin looks great. Jimmy: What school are they doing this pageant in now?

1:16:36

Jimmy: Like I was in Catholic school. Jimmy: That's why we did it. Jimmy: I can't imagine you would actually do a nativity pageant.

1:16:41

Harold: It's a school or maybe it's church. Harold: Isn't it?

1:16:44

Jimmy: Oh, maybe. Harold: You know what? Jimmy: You're probably right.

1:16:48

Harold: That would mean they're all attending the same church, which is an interesting revelation.

1:16:52

Jimmy: Yeah. Jimmy: December 28th, so Peppermint Patty is sitting at her table and she's writing one of those themes that you have to write in the Peanuts world.

1:17:01

Jimmy: And the theme of this one is what I did on my Christmas vacation.

1:17:04

Jimmy: So she writes, what I did on my Christmas vacation.

1:17:07

Jimmy: I went outside and looked at the clouds. Jimmy: They form beautiful patterns with beautiful colors.

1:17:12

Jimmy: I looked at them every morning and every evening.

1:17:15

Jimmy: And then the third panel, she writes, which is all I did on my Christmas vacation.

1:17:19

Jimmy: And then she concludes, and what's wrong with that?

1:17:23

Jimmy: Nothing. Harold: That's better than a D minus.

1:17:27

Jimmy: What would you give her for that theme? Jimmy: I think that's a B.

1:17:29

Jimmy: Fine. Jimmy: Yeah, that's a good point. Michael: Well, you know, Schulz usually doesn't try to write pretty prose.

1:17:36

Jimmy: Right. Michael: And that's kind of pretty prose.

1:17:39

Harold: Yeah. Harold: She's got a way with words. Jimmy: You know, one of the things I was thinking about when you're talking about him writing pretty prose and with the Peppermint Patty thing, you know, we were talking about what school they go to where they learn all this crazy stuff.

1:17:55

Jimmy: You know, who is Louis XVI? Jimmy: What is Cold Fusion?

1:17:58

Jimmy: And what I really thought about this recently, I thought what that what's brilliant about that is not that there's a school that they're teaching these things, but Schulz is writing Confusion.

1:18:13

Jimmy: That makes no sense to us as readers of The Strip, right?

1:18:17

Jimmy: Because it's all this gibberish that would never be in one thing.

1:18:19

Jimmy: I think that's how Peppermint Patty feels. Jimmy: It's just a much gibberish coming her way.

1:18:23

Jimmy: No, this doesn't have anything to do with this particular strip, but I thought about it.

1:18:27

Jimmy: So I wanted to mention it. Michael: Yeah. Michael: Well, I mean, considering everything we heard back in school, it seems like gibberish.

1:18:34

Michael: Right. Michael: Even though it was just world history.

1:18:36

Michael: Like, you're right. Michael: We're really going to remember Louis XII.

1:18:42

Harold: Yeah, I was just thinking about peanuts in that, you know, what sets it apart.

1:18:47

Harold: And I was just thinking how much of peanuts are these declaratory statements of how characters feel and that they're not set up for one character to look like an idiot and the other character to give them to come up.

1:19:00

Harold: And you're supposed to laugh at the character who said the stupid thing.

1:19:03

Harold: They just share what they feel and Schulz usually just lets it lie out there.

1:19:08

Harold: And often they're conflicting, but he's not picking a side.

1:19:13

Harold: And I think that's something very unique about Schulz and what he does to make us have an empathy and feel comfortable in his world, I think.

1:19:22

Jimmy: Yeah, I don't think that there's he tries his best not to exclude people.

1:19:28

Jimmy: I really do think he does try that.

1:19:30

Jimmy: Yeah, he always seems to have a character with something close to your viewpoint.

1:19:36

Jimmy: I think whoever you might be, there's some character that you can kind of latch on to.

1:19:40

Jimmy: And he's never going to make that character into a straw man or a buffoon.

1:19:45

Harold: And if when he does go that direction, it really stands out like Joe Richkid, the T-Bowl and Joe Richkid was the other one.

1:19:52

Michael: Yes. Harold: I mean, just calling him Joe Richkid is like, okay, don't even begin to think of this character.

1:20:02

Michael: Just going around the table here is your point of view.

1:20:05

Michael: Who reflects your point of view the most? Jimmy: Oh, that's a really good question.

1:20:09

Jimmy: I'm afraid mine's Schroeder, but I don't want it to be.

1:20:12

Jimmy: I would like it to be Snoopy, but I'm afraid it's Schroeder.

1:20:18

Liz: Why? Jimmy: Why Schroeder?

1:20:22

Jimmy: He's a fanatic about a stupid thing. Jimmy: I think it's not just that he wants to be a great pianist, it's that he wants to be a great pianist on a toy piano.

1:20:32

Jimmy: And I think that is the most spot on metaphor for cartooning you could possibly imagine.

1:20:39

Jimmy: I want to be great at something that's essentially quite stupid.

1:20:45

Harold: Yeah, I'll just stick with Linus. Harold: There hasn't been a whole lot of Linus in the last 15, 10, 15 years to reflect that, but I think Linus, yeah.

1:20:55

Jimmy: And Michael? Michael: I was with Linus for a great part of the strip, mainly because he was a fanatic and didn't mind.

1:21:05

Michael: He's proud of being a wide-eyed fanatic.

1:21:08

Michael: Yeah, and he's been tamed a lot, plus his insecurities.

1:21:13

Michael: Yeah, so I definitely was a Linus man.

1:21:15

Michael: I don't know if I identify with anybody at this point.

1:21:19

Michael: Maybe Woodstock. Jimmy: Oh, I can see that.

1:21:23

Jimmy: If I was going to pick anyone else, I could pick Snoopy in the sense that I seem to have the ability to craft elaborate, ridiculous, nonsensical fantasy worlds and have my friends go along with them.

1:21:38

Michael: Like this podcast. Jimmy: Exactly, until somehow they're real.

1:21:42

Jimmy: So maybe there's that. Michael: What about Liz?

1:21:47

Jimmy: What do you got, Liz? Liz: I identify with parts of several of the characters.

1:21:56

Liz: I don't have the confidence of Lucy.

1:22:00

Liz: I would love to be Marcie, but I don't think I'm quite that subservient.

1:22:06

Liz: I'm a mixture.

1:22:11

Harold: So there would have had to have been a Liz character in the comic, just to add it, because it's not represented.

1:22:16

Liz: Yeah, I'm not in Jock, so I'm not Peppermint Patty.

1:22:20

Jimmy: So, okay, before we wrap up, anybody have anything else, anything exciting going on?

1:22:25

Jimmy: Michael, how about you? Harold: Well, I am attending shows.

1:22:28

Harold: I will be at C2E2 in the last weekend in April in Chicago at the National Cartoonist Society booth.

1:22:37

Harold: So if you happen to be there, please stop by. Harold: And I got a little vinyl sticker for you, Unpacking Peanuts vinyl sticker.

1:22:43

Harold: Also, this is a really big deal for me. Harold: There is a Kickstarter that I'm a part of that I think is actually really kind of fun.

1:22:51

Harold: It's kind of related to my Mystery Science Theater. Harold: It's also related to Peanuts in the sense that it's combining comics and cheesy old movies.

1:23:00

Harold: So Robot Monster came out in 1953 as a 3D movie.

1:23:05

Harold: It was inspired by comic books from that era in the early mid-50s.

1:23:10

Harold: But strangely, there was never a Robot Monster comic.

1:23:14

Harold: And Robot Monster, the movie, was also unique in that it was one of the 3D films that came out during that little boom of 3D movies in the 50s.

1:23:22

Harold: So we are making a comic that is 3D, a beautiful hardcover comic with covers by Mitch O'Connell and Jeff Siemens.

1:23:30

Harold: And I'm actually going to be doing a 10-page story of what is sometimes called Fumeti, taking the individual panels of the movie and then adding word balloons on top of the actual images from the movie.

1:23:45

Harold: And it's going to be in 3D. Harold: So it's just a neat project.

1:23:48

Harold: There's a lot of talented people in it. Harold: You can go to Kickstarter and look for 3D Film Archive.

1:23:54

Harold: We're Bob Furmanek, F-U-R-M-A-N-E-K.

1:23:57

Harold: And if you can support us by picking up a book, we'd greatly appreciate it.

1:24:01

Harold: We would love to see this one actually make so that we can produce the book.

1:24:05

Harold: It's entirely reliant on whether we can get the support from people like you.

1:24:10

Liz: And I'll put the link to the Kickstarter in the show notes.

1:24:15

Jimmy: So I have something I think I would like everyone to know.

1:24:17

Jimmy: So we're really happy with the way the old podcast is going.

1:24:21

Jimmy: And it's been growing week by week, which is wonderful.

1:24:24

Jimmy: Of course, that increases some pressure and increases some costs and stuff like that.

1:24:30

Jimmy: So we're going to do something to raise a little funds for the podcast.

1:24:36

Jimmy: Here's what we're going to do. Jimmy: If you want me to draw you or any of your friends or children or enemies in that peanuts ish cartoony style that you know so well in love from our art for the top of the podcast, the little thumbnail art, if you want a peanut style drawing by me, you can write to us at unpackingpeanuts.com.

1:25:01

Jimmy: We'll have this all set up on the website too by the time this airs hopefully.

1:25:05

Jimmy: And it'll be 25 bucks and I'll do a digital one for you.

1:25:09

Jimmy: For 50 bucks, you'll get the digital one and I'll draw it on paper and send you the paper one in the mail.

1:25:14

Jimmy: So you'd have be able to have a real copy that you can frame and put on the wall.

1:25:20

Michael: So you just need to send Jimmy photos of yourself.

1:25:25

Jimmy: Yeah, a photo of yourself or the person you want drawn and that's how we're going to do this.

1:25:31

Jimmy: And then you can post it on social media and get people to know more about our podcasts or use it for your Facebook icons or whatever you need to use.

1:25:39

Jimmy: Before we leave, I'm going to need my pals picks for Strip of the Year and MVP.

1:25:45

Jimmy: But before we do that, I just want to tell you guys, if you want to keep this conversation going, you can follow us on social media on Blue Sky, Facebook and YouTube.

1:25:53

Jimmy: We're Unpacking Peanuts. Jimmy: And on threads and Instagram, we're at Unpack Peanuts.

1:25:59

Jimmy: So we would love to hear from you there. Jimmy: You can also just shoot us an email.

1:26:02

Jimmy: We're unpackingpeanuts at gmail.com.

1:26:05

Jimmy: So with all that said, let's go with Michael first.

1:26:10

Jimmy: How about your Strip of the Year and your MVP?

1:26:14

Michael: OK, so there was no real obvious winner on the Strip of the Year, but I'm going back to August 19th because how often do you get a good punchline about shoelaces?

1:26:29

Michael: I mean, shoelaces are not known for being hilariously funny, but Schulz spoke of it.

1:26:37

Jimmy: This might be it. Michael: This might be it. Michael: This might be the greatest shoelace gag of all time.

1:26:43

Michael: Anyway, and since I'm going with my most valuable peanut, I'm going to go with Lucy again.

1:26:50

Michael: I liked her performance this year.

1:26:54

Michael: She was really on. Jimmy: Very nice.

1:26:56

Jimmy: All right, Michael, how about you?

1:26:58

Harold: I'm going to go back one week from what Michael said to the Sunday on August 12th, which is Snoopy working with the birds to figure out how a big bird should deal, should be dealt with by little birds.

1:27:14

Harold: That is just an amazingly adorable strip and that's my favorite.

1:27:18

Harold: And I'm going to give it to Snoopy this year. Harold: It is a really well balanced year.

1:27:21

Harold: Once again, he's really playing, as he says, the notes on the piano with all the different characters really, really well here, but Snoopy seems to be wearing the most hats.

1:27:30

Jimmy: Michael, excellent picks as always.

1:27:33

Jimmy: I'm going to go with, for my strip of the year, I'm going to go with December 16th, which is Schroeder giving Lucy a kiss on the cheek.

1:27:42

Jimmy: And it's still not working out because I think there's subtle glacial like movement of Schroeder towards Lucy for the last few years.

1:27:50

Jimmy: So I like that. Jimmy: And to be a contrarian, I'll be picking Spike as my MVP.

1:28:00

Jimmy: And Elise Frosch, if you're out there, I know Spike is your favorite character, so that one's for you.

1:28:07

Jimmy: Well, I had a lot of fun this week, guys.

1:28:10

Jimmy: It's always fun talking peanuts with my pals. Jimmy: Hope you guys all come back next week where we will be wrapping up this half decade and maybe have a little bit of a surprise.

1:28:21

Jimmy: We always have to try to do something special for our finales.

1:28:24

Jimmy: So we'll see you then. Jimmy: And until then, from Michael, Michael and Linus, this is Jimmy saying be of good cheer.

1:28:29

Michael: Yes, be of good cheer.

1:28:32

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

1:28:37

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

1:28:41

Liz: Additional voiceover by Aziza Shukralla Clark.

1:28:44

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

1:28:49

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

1:28:53

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

1:28:57

Liz: Have a wonderful day and thanks for listening.

1:29:00

Jimmy: It's been nice listening.