Peanuts From an Intern Perspective: A New Look at an Old Favorite
by Reed JacksonFor as long as I can remember, there has always been Peanuts. From the funny pages to my beloved A Charlie Brown Christmas VHS, which broke after excessive, year-round viewings, Charlie Brown and the gang were there at every turn, as an escape from a bad day, serving as inspiration for adventure and to teach countless life lessons.
Being the longtime, devoted fan that I am, I was surprised how much I didn't know about Peanuts! Since becoming an intern at GoComics, I've learned so many new things about my old favorite - it's like discovering it for the first time.
One thing I've always known is how much Lucy loves faking Charlie Brown out with a football. But, I didn't know that, as the Charles M. Schulz Museum shared on their Peanuts timeline, this common scenario was based on creator Charles Schulz' "childhood memory of being unable to resist the temptation to pull away the football at kickoff." "... I would've never pegged Schulz to be the Lucy in that situation!
I knew that the character of Snoopy was based on the Schulz' family dog, but apparently, according to a quote from Charles Schulz, featured in the Charles M. Schulz Museum, their dog was also "the brightest dog [Schulz] ever met," who had "a vocabulary of at least 50 words - words he understood, that is." "... No wonder Snoopy is so smart!
One of my favorite finds yet is an issue of TIME magazine, featuring the familiar faces of the Peanuts gang on the cover:
Inside is an article, which perfectly describes the magic of this comic and why I appreciate it even more as an adult than I did as a kid:
The wry and wistful characters created by Cartoonist Charles M. Schulz have all but come to life for readers in the U.S. and abroad as they demonstrate daily and Sunday an engaging wisdom beyond their years, a simplistic yet somehow impressive understanding of the assorted problems that perplex their elders.
- Time magazine, April 9, 1965.
- Amanda
