"wah-wuh-wah-wah-wah"
July 29, 2024 9:16 PM Subscribe
"Peanuts creator Charles Schulz had a rule: never depict any adults and keep it a world of children. This helped make Peanuts a sensation not only in the comic strips, but also as a multimedia franchise. However, a loophole existed for one surprise character."
But if one Adult voice stood out, Ms. Othmar, played by Dean Hubbard could be it.
"Where are the parents?"
'The mystery of the Peanuts’ parents'
Tintin seems to have none
Wait, Tintin is a child? Isn't he a reporter?
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 10:22 PM on July 29 [8 favorites]
Wait, Tintin is a child? Isn't he a reporter?
posted by His thoughts were red thoughts at 10:22 PM on July 29 [8 favorites]
Yes, he's called a "young reporter', he's shorter than all the adults, and the enemies call him a "brat" or a "ragamuffin". Hergé never gives his age, but a clue may be that when Le Petit Vingtième staged his return from Russia with an actor in 1930, the actor was 15 years old.
posted by zompist at 11:05 PM on July 29 [10 favorites]
posted by zompist at 11:05 PM on July 29 [10 favorites]
13 years ago (wow, really??), I ran a short-lived Peanuts blog that went through the early years of the strip.
A sequence of Sunday strips: May 9th, 16, 23rd and 30th, 1954. Lucy, who was a new character at that point, participates in a golf tournament. She does very well, but it turns out she was supposed to be home taking a nap! D'oh!
There are definitely adult figures depicted in these strips.. No faces are shown in detail, but those are certainly adult figures. In the last strip, adults are shown full figure, but in the distance so no detail is visible. There are also a place where an announcer says LUCILLE VAN PELT ON THE FIRST TEE PLEASE, and a couple of places where "AN EAGLE" and "A BIRDIE" are shown, presumably called by an adult.
There are also a few mysterious strips, called the Hagemeyer strips, that have appeared in books. Notice that they contain adult characters, and have the PEANUTS title in the upper-right corner. It doesn't seem like they've ever appeared in the print run of the strip though.
Peanuts began in October 1950. The strip was 3 1/2 years old at this point, and Charles Schulz was still figuring out the rules. We can forgive him for forgetting about things like this, and other details like:
* Snoopy was originally more of a neighborhood dog, and didn't really belong to Charlie Brown.
* Schroeder wasn't just a musical prodigy, but has actually performed on stage (mentioned, though unseen in the strip).
* An early character was a girl version of Charlie Brown, Charlotte Braun. She had a loud personality, like an early, less angry version of what Lucy would become.
* There was once a character called "5," who got as far as being in A Charlie Brown Christmas -- he was the one with the dance where he dips his head down and turns back and forth. His sisters were also named integers. He said it was his dad's way, not of protesting the tendency of modern life to reduce people to numbers, but of giving in to it.
posted by JHarris at 11:37 PM on July 29 [30 favorites]
A sequence of Sunday strips: May 9th, 16, 23rd and 30th, 1954. Lucy, who was a new character at that point, participates in a golf tournament. She does very well, but it turns out she was supposed to be home taking a nap! D'oh!
There are definitely adult figures depicted in these strips.. No faces are shown in detail, but those are certainly adult figures. In the last strip, adults are shown full figure, but in the distance so no detail is visible. There are also a place where an announcer says LUCILLE VAN PELT ON THE FIRST TEE PLEASE, and a couple of places where "AN EAGLE" and "A BIRDIE" are shown, presumably called by an adult.
There are also a few mysterious strips, called the Hagemeyer strips, that have appeared in books. Notice that they contain adult characters, and have the PEANUTS title in the upper-right corner. It doesn't seem like they've ever appeared in the print run of the strip though.
Peanuts began in October 1950. The strip was 3 1/2 years old at this point, and Charles Schulz was still figuring out the rules. We can forgive him for forgetting about things like this, and other details like:
* Snoopy was originally more of a neighborhood dog, and didn't really belong to Charlie Brown.
* Schroeder wasn't just a musical prodigy, but has actually performed on stage (mentioned, though unseen in the strip).
* An early character was a girl version of Charlie Brown, Charlotte Braun. She had a loud personality, like an early, less angry version of what Lucy would become.
* There was once a character called "5," who got as far as being in A Charlie Brown Christmas -- he was the one with the dance where he dips his head down and turns back and forth. His sisters were also named integers. He said it was his dad's way, not of protesting the tendency of modern life to reduce people to numbers, but of giving in to it.
posted by JHarris at 11:37 PM on July 29 [30 favorites]
Also: Peanuts wasn't Charles Schulz's only strip. Before there were some unnamed single-panel comics for the Saturday Evening Post; a prototype version of Peanuts called Li'l Folks; Young Pillars, a single-panel Christian-themed strip; and It's Only A Game, a sports-themed Sunday strip that lasted a couple of years. Young Pillars and It's Only A Game showed kids, teenage and adult figures, drawn in his style. He also did illustrations for a few books, also mentioned in the linked post from the Peanuts Wiki.
posted by JHarris at 11:41 PM on July 29 [11 favorites]
posted by JHarris at 11:41 PM on July 29 [11 favorites]
I followed your peanuts blog! It’s still lurking in my rss reader waiting for another post!
One thing that struck me about the golf tournament strips you posted is that he drew wooded landscapes as beautiful as those in Calvin and Hobbes.
posted by moonmilk at 5:12 AM on July 30 [5 favorites]
One thing that struck me about the golf tournament strips you posted is that he drew wooded landscapes as beautiful as those in Calvin and Hobbes.
posted by moonmilk at 5:12 AM on July 30 [5 favorites]
I'm glad the mystery has been solved, otherwise we'd never know whose bike Rerun was sitting in back of.
posted by mittens at 5:17 AM on July 30 [1 favorite]
posted by mittens at 5:17 AM on July 30 [1 favorite]
And the other half is that the Peanuts kids were and remained Boomer kids. When I was a kid, I wandered around the block alone, met friends and visited them as I pleased, never joined any organized sports... the only exception was piano lessons. My Mom would have to go outside and shout for me to come home for dinner.
Gen X-er here who had it this way too. But I also think that leaving out the adults helps because it captures the fact that kids have this whole umwelt all their own - even today.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 5:22 AM on July 30 [8 favorites]
Gen X-er here who had it this way too. But I also think that leaving out the adults helps because it captures the fact that kids have this whole umwelt all their own - even today.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 5:22 AM on July 30 [8 favorites]
There were lots of adults in episodes of This Is America, Charlie Brown including the Wright brothers. At least the episode where all the Peanuts kids crewed the International NASA space station ended up being (spoiler!) a dream.
posted by RonButNotStupid at 5:24 AM on July 30 [2 favorites]
posted by RonButNotStupid at 5:24 AM on July 30 [2 favorites]
I’m just amazed that the best Peanuts dancer is named 5.
posted by whatevernot at 5:54 AM on July 30 [4 favorites]
posted by whatevernot at 5:54 AM on July 30 [4 favorites]
Well, it's the PCU. Thanks to it's multiversal structure, most Earths lost all their grown ups when Ultimate Charlie sold his soul to Dark Pumpkin, but in a few timelines he didn't and lost his fateful game. And there even was one universe where everyone is just disembodied voices (but it collapsed during the Planet Othmar event).
I think Schulz kept his multimedia franchise well in check, all things considered. :P
posted by Ashenmote at 6:15 AM on July 30 [12 favorites]
I think Schulz kept his multimedia franchise well in check, all things considered. :P
posted by Ashenmote at 6:15 AM on July 30 [12 favorites]
when Franklin 1st appears he tells Charlie Brown that his father is fighting in Vietnam
posted by brujita at 8:07 AM on July 30 [5 favorites]
posted by brujita at 8:07 AM on July 30 [5 favorites]
never depict any adults and keep it a world of children
I would say Schulz came around to this, but not until after some experimentation, as JHarris describes.
I’m just amazed that the best Peanuts dancer is named 5
So happy whenever anybody remembers 5 (and his sisters, 3 and 4)
posted by Rash at 8:40 AM on July 30 [6 favorites]
I would say Schulz came around to this, but not until after some experimentation, as JHarris describes.
I’m just amazed that the best Peanuts dancer is named 5
So happy whenever anybody remembers 5 (and his sisters, 3 and 4)
posted by Rash at 8:40 AM on July 30 [6 favorites]
Ms Othmar is exactly the sound of suffering through a classroom when you have inattentive ADHD. I got so close once to replying to a teacher's "What did I just say?!" furious query with Ms Othmar sounds
posted by scruss at 8:44 AM on July 30 [5 favorites]
posted by scruss at 8:44 AM on July 30 [5 favorites]
Well, it's the PCU.
The Peanuts animated special universe isn't the same as the Peanuts comic strip universe. Read about the schism on the Little Red-haired Girl's Wikipedia page.
posted by Rash at 8:50 AM on July 30 [4 favorites]
The Peanuts animated special universe isn't the same as the Peanuts comic strip universe. Read about the schism on the Little Red-haired Girl's Wikipedia page.
Schulz did not consider these animated appearances to be canonical, although he wrote the screenplay himself. The Little Red-Haired Girl was once seen in the comics in silhouette on May 25, 1998, dancing with Snoopy.May 25, 1998 Peanuts at GoComics
posted by Rash at 8:50 AM on July 30 [4 favorites]
The Little Red-Haired Girl was once seen in the comics in silhouette on May 25, 1998, dancing with Snoopy.
That utter whore.
I mean Snoopy of course.
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 9:33 AM on July 30 [3 favorites]
That utter whore.
I mean Snoopy of course.
posted by Abehammerb Lincoln at 9:33 AM on July 30 [3 favorites]
When I was a kid, I wandered around the block alone, met friends and visited them as I pleased,
this also speaks to my 1960s childhood (born in 1959, so I spent almost all of my pre-teen years in the 1960s). And yes, I was a big Peanuts fan. You might even say it was my introduction to sophistication in culture. I distinctly remember being six or seven, just getting started on reading, when I noticed these older kids being very excited about a kid named Charlie Brown, who I at first thought maybe lived a few streets over. But then I realized there were books about him, and a daily comic strip, maybe even a Christmas TV show (though I'm not sure if that had found us yet).
Anyway, I quickly noticed that there were lots of the books lying around. Pretty much every older brother or sister or cousin or whatever had at least a few. So I got to grabbing them, reading them ... getting absorbed into a certain something I didn't quite understand. I'm not even sure I liked it but I kept reading anyway, because that's what the big kids were doing, and I always wanted whatever they had.
What this certain something was, I now realize, was thinking, intellectualizing, digging for words to explain life's complexities and confusions and conundrums. For instance, I'm very sure the first time I encountered the notion of psychiatry was via Lucy's sidewalk storefront -- a word I had no clue of how to pronounce, let alone grasp what it meant. Likewise all manner of stuff the characters were discussing. So much so that I didn't find much of it funny. I understood that it was supposed to be because the older kids were laughing, so I just faked it, I guess. But no, this stuff was something other than funny, similar in a way to Batman (the Adam West TV show) which was all the rage at the same time ... and deadly serious stuff for a six or seven year old. You really bought into the dilemmas these heroes were in, life or death stuff. So it was with the Peanuts kids. Maybe not literal life or death stuff, but they were baring their souls, trying to make sense.
Nothing funny about it ... until there was.
It probably started when I was eight or nine, but it had definitely landed by the time I was ten. What had previously just sort of confused me was now landing with the sort of grace that tickles a funny bone. I was also laughing at Batman by this time. All part of the process, I guess, of growing an intellect (and a funny bone). So thank you, Mr. Schulz, for kicking mine into motion, as you did for many many other millions of little kids (maybe billions by now because I assume it's still happening). In writing a comic about little kids but not so much aiming at them as slightly over their heads, you both invited adults in to share in the some of the fun and encouraged the kids to reach a little higher, to grow and expand their grasp.
Amazing stuff now that I think about it.
posted by philip-random at 9:35 AM on July 30 [10 favorites]
this also speaks to my 1960s childhood (born in 1959, so I spent almost all of my pre-teen years in the 1960s). And yes, I was a big Peanuts fan. You might even say it was my introduction to sophistication in culture. I distinctly remember being six or seven, just getting started on reading, when I noticed these older kids being very excited about a kid named Charlie Brown, who I at first thought maybe lived a few streets over. But then I realized there were books about him, and a daily comic strip, maybe even a Christmas TV show (though I'm not sure if that had found us yet).
Anyway, I quickly noticed that there were lots of the books lying around. Pretty much every older brother or sister or cousin or whatever had at least a few. So I got to grabbing them, reading them ... getting absorbed into a certain something I didn't quite understand. I'm not even sure I liked it but I kept reading anyway, because that's what the big kids were doing, and I always wanted whatever they had.
What this certain something was, I now realize, was thinking, intellectualizing, digging for words to explain life's complexities and confusions and conundrums. For instance, I'm very sure the first time I encountered the notion of psychiatry was via Lucy's sidewalk storefront -- a word I had no clue of how to pronounce, let alone grasp what it meant. Likewise all manner of stuff the characters were discussing. So much so that I didn't find much of it funny. I understood that it was supposed to be because the older kids were laughing, so I just faked it, I guess. But no, this stuff was something other than funny, similar in a way to Batman (the Adam West TV show) which was all the rage at the same time ... and deadly serious stuff for a six or seven year old. You really bought into the dilemmas these heroes were in, life or death stuff. So it was with the Peanuts kids. Maybe not literal life or death stuff, but they were baring their souls, trying to make sense.
Nothing funny about it ... until there was.
It probably started when I was eight or nine, but it had definitely landed by the time I was ten. What had previously just sort of confused me was now landing with the sort of grace that tickles a funny bone. I was also laughing at Batman by this time. All part of the process, I guess, of growing an intellect (and a funny bone). So thank you, Mr. Schulz, for kicking mine into motion, as you did for many many other millions of little kids (maybe billions by now because I assume it's still happening). In writing a comic about little kids but not so much aiming at them as slightly over their heads, you both invited adults in to share in the some of the fun and encouraged the kids to reach a little higher, to grow and expand their grasp.
Amazing stuff now that I think about it.
posted by philip-random at 9:35 AM on July 30 [10 favorites]
I think Schulz kept his multimedia franchise well in check, all things considered. :P
Yes, he did. Schulz was very selective as to when and with whom he allowed to be licensed. He had a particular dislike for a…um…former employer of mine due to their rather zealous approach to licensing.
posted by Thorzdad at 9:38 AM on July 30 [4 favorites]
Yes, he did. Schulz was very selective as to when and with whom he allowed to be licensed. He had a particular dislike for a…um…former employer of mine due to their rather zealous approach to licensing.
posted by Thorzdad at 9:38 AM on July 30 [4 favorites]
In one area the narrative choice makes no sense: the baseball games. The kids evidently organize everything themselves, but then why the references to schedules and standings? And why do they even do it if it's no fun?
zompist
That's kind of the point. Charlie Brown is exactly the kind of weird sad little kid who would take organizing these games super seriously and maintain stats and schedules despite them being no fun for him.
posted by star gentle uterus at 9:58 AM on July 30 [8 favorites]
zompist
That's kind of the point. Charlie Brown is exactly the kind of weird sad little kid who would take organizing these games super seriously and maintain stats and schedules despite them being no fun for him.
posted by star gentle uterus at 9:58 AM on July 30 [8 favorites]
the first time I encountered the notion of psychiatry was via Lucy's sidewalk storefront -- a word I had no clue of how to pronounce, let alone grasp what it meant.
Ha, I had a different issue there. I knew what a psychiatrist was. But I remember comparing two cartoons, flipping back and forth between the pages, trying to work out if the girl with the football was supposed to be the same as the one in the psychiatry kiosk... because it *looked* like the same character, but this one was Lucy, and that one was a psychiatrist, and surely Lucy wasn't a psychiatrist?
posted by ManyLeggedCreature at 10:14 AM on July 30 [4 favorites]
Ha, I had a different issue there. I knew what a psychiatrist was. But I remember comparing two cartoons, flipping back and forth between the pages, trying to work out if the girl with the football was supposed to be the same as the one in the psychiatry kiosk... because it *looked* like the same character, but this one was Lucy, and that one was a psychiatrist, and surely Lucy wasn't a psychiatrist?
posted by ManyLeggedCreature at 10:14 AM on July 30 [4 favorites]
So happy whenever anybody remembers 5 (and his sisters, 3 and 4)
Are 3 and 4 supposed to be the "dancing twins" from A Charlie Brown Christmas? (They look a lot alike)
posted by gtrwolf at 11:14 AM on July 30 [3 favorites]
Are 3 and 4 supposed to be the "dancing twins" from A Charlie Brown Christmas? (They look a lot alike)
posted by gtrwolf at 11:14 AM on July 30 [3 favorites]
I love Peanuts and, oddly, it never occurred to me to wonder where the parents were. I loved it that whenever a parent did appear in any of the specials their speech was the 'wah wah' noise. And as for Pigpen, I thought it was hilarious that he had a cloud of dust around him where ever he went. As for the why - who cares!
posted by bluesky43 at 12:02 PM on July 30 [2 favorites]
posted by bluesky43 at 12:02 PM on July 30 [2 favorites]
Ah, I don't think I've seen 3 or 4 before, but it looks like the twins. I think Schulz only ever put that one set of twins in the strip.
Let us remember the forgotten Peanuts characters, 5, 3 and 4, the original gang Shermy, Patty and Violet, Charlotte Braun, Frieda and Faron the cat, and Eudora, who was in there quite a bit for a while....
Th wah-wah noise, by the way, is a muted trumpet.
posted by JHarris at 12:05 PM on July 30 [6 favorites]
Let us remember the forgotten Peanuts characters, 5, 3 and 4, the original gang Shermy, Patty and Violet, Charlotte Braun, Frieda and Faron the cat, and Eudora, who was in there quite a bit for a while....
Th wah-wah noise, by the way, is a muted trumpet.
posted by JHarris at 12:05 PM on July 30 [6 favorites]
(from the last article) No gang members, Goth kids or punk rockers in this bunch.
Thibault was proto-goth and I'll fight anyone who says different.
posted by queensissy at 12:08 PM on July 30 [3 favorites]
Thibault was proto-goth and I'll fight anyone who says different.
posted by queensissy at 12:08 PM on July 30 [3 favorites]
IMO: the comic strips are short snippets -maybe the parents comforted them later. The shorts are what happens when the action ends and the kids talk amongst themselves before going home.
And how do we know Schroder's parents didn't take him to piano lessons? Maybe there is a 'millennial' version of story telling, where all that must be defined rather than implied?
There are also some cultural things that hit differently due to technology changes:
"In one early strip, Charlie Brown calls the telephone operator and says, “I’m lonely. Can you read me a story?" Calling the operator or prank calling random people was the old-timey version of talking to SIRI. My kids totally do the same things, but in modern ways.
"take organizing these games super seriously and maintain stats and schedules despite them being no fun for him."
I think they were organized baseball games, and if we accept the Christmas episode as 'cannon', Charlie Brown likes baseball a whole bunch given his elaborate windup (when they are throwing rocks at the bottles Linus eventually hits with his blanket) and thinks it's fun, even if he's not particularly good at it, and 'good' is relative - the bad at baseball kids are playing with ants in the outfield, not pitching.
posted by The_Vegetables at 12:24 PM on July 30 [3 favorites]
And how do we know Schroder's parents didn't take him to piano lessons? Maybe there is a 'millennial' version of story telling, where all that must be defined rather than implied?
There are also some cultural things that hit differently due to technology changes:
"In one early strip, Charlie Brown calls the telephone operator and says, “I’m lonely. Can you read me a story?" Calling the operator or prank calling random people was the old-timey version of talking to SIRI. My kids totally do the same things, but in modern ways.
"take organizing these games super seriously and maintain stats and schedules despite them being no fun for him."
I think they were organized baseball games, and if we accept the Christmas episode as 'cannon', Charlie Brown likes baseball a whole bunch given his elaborate windup (when they are throwing rocks at the bottles Linus eventually hits with his blanket) and thinks it's fun, even if he's not particularly good at it, and 'good' is relative - the bad at baseball kids are playing with ants in the outfield, not pitching.
posted by The_Vegetables at 12:24 PM on July 30 [3 favorites]
Are 3 and 4 supposed to be the "dancing twins" from A Charlie Brown Christmas? (They look a lot alike)
Actually the side blurb from the Charles M. Schultz Museum claims they are, so that likely settles that. (Good to finally attach names to them)
posted by gtrwolf at 12:58 PM on July 30 [3 favorites]
Actually the side blurb from the Charles M. Schultz Museum claims they are, so that likely settles that. (Good to finally attach names to them)
posted by gtrwolf at 12:58 PM on July 30 [3 favorites]
Supposed to be? "Look a lot alike"!? "Claims?"
Yes, that's 3 and 4 dancing with 5 and the others.
Who else would they be?
Surprised there's any doubt.
posted by Rash at 12:59 PM on July 30 [3 favorites]
Yes, that's 3 and 4 dancing with 5 and the others.
Who else would they be?
Surprised there's any doubt.
posted by Rash at 12:59 PM on July 30 [3 favorites]
Every appearance of 3 and/or 4 95472:
Plus "A Charlie Brown Christmas," first broadcast December 9, 1965. As 5 explained, their Dad changed their last name to their Zip code (which was the same as Schulz').
posted by Rash at 1:25 PM on July 30 [4 favorites]
posted by Rash at 1:25 PM on July 30 [4 favorites]
March 1, 1964
In this one Charlie is feeling guilty about going to a movie instead of helping his mother, but in the end chooses to watch the movie. Also 3 and 4 each buy their own movie tickets, they don't sneak in or comp each other, wasting their twin powers.
posted by The_Vegetables at 1:44 PM on July 30 [3 favorites]
In this one Charlie is feeling guilty about going to a movie instead of helping his mother, but in the end chooses to watch the movie. Also 3 and 4 each buy their own movie tickets, they don't sneak in or comp each other, wasting their twin powers.
posted by The_Vegetables at 1:44 PM on July 30 [3 favorites]
I sometimes wish I had the time to go back and continue with Roasted Peanuts, that blog I mentioned above. There's so many great things yet to cover on the subject. I have the difficulty of having so many things I want to do and not enough time to do them in, and the additional problem of needing to earn a living in a way that doesn't make me want to pull my hair out. Not a great circumstance.
posted by JHarris at 6:40 PM on July 30 [5 favorites]
posted by JHarris at 6:40 PM on July 30 [5 favorites]
Just came here to comment on the *perfect* title for this post!
posted by Ms. Moonlight at 1:29 AM on July 31 [2 favorites]
posted by Ms. Moonlight at 1:29 AM on July 31 [2 favorites]
the choice to never depict adults at all is one of those things where you understand it implicitly on one level, but then you see Flashbeagle depicting adults in the Peanuts style and instantly you are viscerally repulsed, having seen something you will never again be able to have not seen
posted by DoctorFedora at 10:45 PM on August 1 [2 favorites]
posted by DoctorFedora at 10:45 PM on August 1 [2 favorites]
[One comment flagged for fantastic, Jharris]
I love it when the comments are better than post.
posted by clavdivs at 5:28 PM on August 2 [1 favorite]
I love it when the comments are better than post.
posted by clavdivs at 5:28 PM on August 2 [1 favorite]
« Older William Calley, of My Lai, dead | Sometimes with a doctored image of Trump... Newer »
This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments
And the other half is that the Peanuts kids were and remained Boomer kids. When I was a kid, I wandered around the block alone, met friends and visited them as I pleased, never joined any organized sports... the only exception was piano lessons. My Mom would have to go outside and shout for me to come home for dinner.
If you pay attention there is more adult involvement than is explicitly shown. E.g. the kids don't send themselves to camp or organize the traumatic Christmas presentations at school. Linus & Lucy move out of town at one point, but it's presented from the kid's-eye view, as one more inexplicable thing they have no control over.
In one area the narrative choice makes no sense: the baseball games. The kids evidently organize everything themselves, but then why the references to schedules and standings? And why do they even do it if it's no fun? But, eh, Schulz wanted to make stories about Charlie Brown's failures, not about the kids' dealings with an adult coach.
posted by zompist at 9:53 PM on July 29 [16 favorites]