February 4, 1952: Albert Payson Terhune

Albert Payson Terhune. He wrote about collies.

Daily reading time for a dog? Very cute drawings of Snoopy here by the way. Especially in the third, although it looks vaguely un-Snoopy-like.

Sunday, February 3, 1952: G.R.O.S.B.

This one is a little stereotypical I guess. It is a general Peanuts fact that the female characters are the equal of the male characters concerning strength, so they could have at least helped. (Lucy may be the same usually, but her FURIOUS ANGRY RAGE gives her super powers. Peppermint Patty is simply a mutant.)

February 2, 1952: The Rapids Under The Bridge

It helps one feel a little bit better about Patty and Violet in their cruel years to think that they have such a short attention span that they can't remain angry at Charlie Brown for more than three panels.

February 1, 1952: And I'll Rock You Away To That Sugar-Plum Tree

Isn't it just a tiny bit hard to believe that songs like this were ever popular? I think this joke is actually a little bit funnier now because of that.

January 31, 1952: Dog On Skates

It strikes me that, right now, we are about halfway between the original look for Peanuts and the "classic" style of the strip's heyday. Charlie Brown still has an oval head and solid black eyes, but his proportions are a bit less stylized. Snoopy is still relatively small compared to the other characters, but he is a bit longer. (He's still far away from the balloon animal-like look he had in Peanut's later years.)

Oh, the strip itself? There have not been a huge number of funny-cause-he's-a-dog strips so far. (The one with the TV antenna atop his doghouse has been the funniest of that lot.) Thing is, as Snoopy's personality becomes better-known and he becomes less like a normal dog, these kinds of jokes become less effective. I remember, as a kid, seeing some old compilations of Peanuts strips with Snoopy jokes and not quite "getting" them because the humor was tied up in Snoopy doing non-doglike things, when most of my experience with the character came from the days when he had almost given up dogliness altogether.

Just today I saw a copy of one of the old Fawcett Peanuts collections, flipped through it, and found the strip in which Sally laments that she can't go to school because she's not old enough. Snoopy responds in a thought-balloon that you also have to prove you're a human. I remember that strip from reading it in 1st grade and not finding it especially funny. I like it a lot better now.

January 30, 1952: Schroeder gamely fights typecasting

We know it's Schroeder because of the musical notation in the first panel, but this is a side of the kid seldom seen.

January 29, 1952: Snoopy's Pride

Snoopy doesn’t stoop to begging for treats... unless someone else might get it instead.

What kind of candy is this that it’s equally suitable for kids and dogs?

January 27, 1952: Blind Man’s Bluff

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I expect a lot of kids today have never heard of this game, either.

I just like this one, it’s mostly a collage of smaller jokes, like “At least I’ll be near home!” and “What trees?”

January 25, 1952: Charlie Brown figures it out

That is an excellent point. Special deals provided by companies tend to be cunningly arranged so that they sound great but only a tiny portion of respondents will ever be able to cash in. Those boxtop deals were fairly common at the time, but only bulk buyers would be able to take advantage of them. Most of them had no use for a tricycle, or whatever else was being offered, either.

Just so you know, I had to restrain myself from making a reference to the movie Punch Drunk Love here.

January 24, 1952: Hammer-Klavier

German is a funny language when you think about it. I guess it is somewhat less funny when you try to spell something in it.

Schroeder gets annoyed with the other kids fairly often. ‘tis the curse of the misunderstood genius, I guess.