November 7, 1951: All Hail The Machine That Goes....

If guns actually did go "ping" instead of "bang," I get the feeling they'd be loads less popular.

November 3, 1951: Gesundheit

Not really much of a joke here, but there hasn't been a lot of Snoopy in the last few weeks.

How about Shermy's expression, with his tongue out the side of his mouth? In the strip there have been two instances when this has been used: a character is eating or wants to eat, and when a character is focusing hard on something. I'm not really sure how either usage got started. Has anyone who's hungry ever stuck his tongue out like this? People hard at work might bite their tongues, but stick it out?

November 1, 1951: Money or Eats

It's that profile doorstep scene that would play a role in so many later strips. I don't think this is its first appearance though.

"Tricks or treats, money or eats," did Trick or Treaters really use that line? Seems awfully mercenary to me. Around here I don't think it's common for people to give money for Halloween.

October 31, 1951: Halloween #1

This is actually not Snoopy's first instance talking! The first was another strip, coincidentally also a one involving costumes, in which he, covered with a sheet, says "Boo!" That's some vocabulary that dog has.

This is a pretty silly strip, but I like it. The fancy shadow on the first "Boo" is probably a first for the strip.

By the way, we can tell it's Violet beneath the sheet through simple process of elimination. There are only five human characters right now, and Schroeder's still too short to be confused with the other characters.

October 30, 1951: The Day Before Halloween

Like the hiding-behind-the-tree and floating-beach-ball strips before, it's another strip making fun of Charlie Brown's appearance, which only makes sense if the characters seem each other as the reader sees them, that is, as stylized cartoon characters and not flesh and blood.

October 29, 1951: Ghosting days

This is a predecessor of Schroeder's "X days until Beethoven's birthday" gag. It's also another reference to a real-world day, in this case Halloween. The extraneous "boo" in the last panel is one of those things that's funny for no real reason. It's like he just added it as an aside.

October 27, 1951: Why am I reminded of Mr. Bean?

Notice how she goes effortlessly from viewing Dolly as affection object, to melee weapon, then back to affection object.

Why did Violet leave the doll on the ground where it could be run over by a tricycle, anyway?

October 26, 1951: Could someone PLEASE help this poor girl out?

She's labored under this delusion for almost a year now. You're not supposed to EAT them, Violet!

October 25, 1951: How do you pronounce that?

♥?

The heart-in-a-balloon is kind of a manga-ish touch, but it does read fairly well. No, this doesn't count as Snoopy speaking, or even thinking, although it's a step in that direction.

October 24, 1951: Dog vs. Toy

We've not seen much of Snoopy lately, so here. It's not really a very special joke, but we do get to see a little bit of a fang on Snoopy in the third panel.