# What was so great about Peanuts? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 22, 2007, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-so-great-about-peanuts/423526 "2007-10-22T01:34:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![eleanorigby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@eleanorigby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eleanorigby)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2007, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-so-great-about-peanuts/423526/41 "2007-10-22T14:46:18Z")
Spike. Hated him. But I stopped reading the funny papers in the 80s as well. Oddly enough, I went back to them to still find Dondi, Nancy, Blondie, Brenda Starr, Hagar, Beetle Bailey, Cathy et al. It was like being in a time warp. I prefer now to read collections of strips–the Calvin books, Foxtrot etc. The funny papers aren’t funny anymore–they’re boring. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2007, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-so-great-about-peanuts/423526/42 "2007-10-22T14:51:34Z")
BTW, the Snoopy mustache bit was a tribute to the specials musical composer [Vince Guaraldi](http://www.peanutscollectorclub.com/guaraldi.html) ---
**Author:** ![shijinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cc9497/32.png) [@shijinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shijinn)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2007, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-so-great-about-peanuts/423526/43 "2007-10-22T15:08:32Z")
[QUOTE=eleanorigby] … would have made Schulz and Peanuts (a name he hated, btw) noteworthy and … [/QUOTE] :blink: hey, why is it called Peanuts? ---
**Author:** ![eleanorigby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@eleanorigby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eleanorigby)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2007, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-so-great-about-peanuts/423526/44 "2007-10-22T15:12:41Z")
[QUOTE=shijinn] :blink: hey, why is it called Peanuts? [/QUOTE] IMS, an editor thought it should be called “the peanut gallery” since it involved small kids etc. This was shortened to Peanuts. I forget what Schulz wanted to call it. I always just call it Charlie Brown or Snoopy comics. I forget it’s called Peanuts. ---
**Author:** ![shijinn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cc9497/32.png) [@shijinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shijinn)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2007, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-so-great-about-peanuts/423526/45 "2007-10-22T15:15:48Z")
me too. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2007, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-so-great-about-peanuts/423526/46 "2007-10-22T15:16:21Z")
[QUOTE=shijinn] :blink: hey, why is it called Peanuts? [/QUOTE] An early publisher did not like Charles 'Sparky" Schulz’s original name, “Li’l Folks”. From the [Wiki article](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peanuts): > [@](#): > > The name Li’l Folks was too close to the names of two other comics of the time: Al Capp’s Li’l Abner and a strip titled Little Folks. To avoid confusion, the syndicate settled on the name Peanuts, a title Schulz always disliked. In a 1987 interview, Schulz said of the title Peanuts: “It’s totally ridiculous, has no meaning, is simply confusing, and has no dignity — and I think my humor has dignity”.[6] The periodic collections of the strips in paperback book form typically had either “Charlie Brown” or “Snoopy” in the title, not “Peanuts”, because of Schulz’s distaste for his strip’s title. The Sunday panels eventually typically read, Peanuts, featuring Good Ol’ Charlie Brown. jim ---
**Author:** ![JThunder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e95f7d/32.png) [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2007, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-so-great-about-peanuts/423526/47 "2007-10-22T15:36:35Z")
Oh, good grief. ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2007, 4:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-so-great-about-peanuts/423526/48 "2007-10-22T16:07:24Z")
[QUOTE=chowder] Just a teensy hijack, Did Charlie Brown ever hit a home run? [/QUOTE] Charlie Brown hit a game-winning home run on March 30, 1993. It was one of Charlie Brown’s few moments of glory- Schulz himself once said that “happiness is not funny,” although shortly before he death, he sadly lamented the fact that he never let Charlie Brown kick the football. > [@eleanorrigby](#): > > I always just call it Charlie Brown or Snoopy comics. I forget it’s called Peanuts. So did Schulz, according to Michaelis’s book (which I recommend, despite the complaints from Schulz’s family)- when asked what he did for a living, he would reply, “I draw the comic strip with Charlie Brown,” or “I draw Snoopy” once he became the most well-known character. ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Knig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/cdc98d/32.png) [@Typo\_Knig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Knig)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2007, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-so-great-about-peanuts/423526/49 "2007-10-22T16:17:06Z")
Another child of the 70s chiming in. My parents had book collections of Peanuts from the 50s and early 60s. The early strips showed a lot of anxiety in the characters, which I think was pretty edgy for the times. Think **Mad Men** for the comics page, made kid-friendly and family-friendly, but still showing the angst of trying to fit into a world where you don’t _quite_ fit. ---
**Author:** ![kelly5078](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/6f9a4e/32.png) [@kelly5078](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kelly5078)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2007, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-so-great-about-peanuts/423526/50 "2007-10-22T16:26:57Z")
I remember when I was a little kid (50s), I liked the art in Peanuts better than all the other strips. I never really got the appeal of the strip beyond that, though. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2007, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-so-great-about-peanuts/423526/51 "2007-10-22T16:28:23Z")
Several good Peanutses (and Far Sides, and Calvin & Hobbeses, and others) were mentioned in the old thread [comics that cracked me the hell up](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=380433). As with any other humor, one man’s funny is another man’s meh. In a way, Peanuts had a career trajectory not unlike The Simpsons. At first, it was comparatively crude and rudimentary, compared to what it would later become. In its prime, it was brilliant, and an influential example of what could be done with the medium. Later, there was some decline in quality, though opinions vary a huge amount as to what years constituted its “prime” and how much of a drop-off in quality there actually was. ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2007, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-so-great-about-peanuts/423526/52 "2007-10-22T16:38:43Z")
I loved Peanuts when I was growing up. I used to collect all the small paperbacks, and then when the “Peanuts Parade” trade paperbacks came out I tried to get as many of those as I could get my hands on. I have several of the hardcover collections including the big 25th anniversay coffee table book (though at the moment I have no idea where it is). When I was in grade school and junior high my friends and I used to play “Peanuts Trivia” on long bus rides, and for awhile I cut out every strip from the newspaper and pasted them all into a photo album to make my own Peanuts book (since back then it took a long time for them to show up in a book collection after they’d been in the paper). I don’t love it quite as much these days, but I still enjoy reading the strips when I happen upon them. I still have several of my old “Peanuts Parade” books, and I use them as “comfort reading” when I don’t feel good. They almost always make me feel better–a little piece of my childhood, gentle and nonthreatening but still smart enough to be worth rereading. The one I could never figure out the appeal of (and can’t still, to this day) is “Pogo.” I’ve heard many people talk about how good it is and I’ve read several of the strips trying to understand why, but it’s just flying right over my head. Maybe it’s because I don’t enjoy political humor. That, and I think the poems and the dialects are corny. But that’s just me, and apparently I’m in the minority. ---
**Author:** ![Enright3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/enright3/32/2897_2.png) [@Enright3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enright3)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2007, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-so-great-about-peanuts/423526/53 "2007-10-22T16:40:02Z")
Anyone else remember the character “5”? I like Peanuts. I’m 45 now, so it would make sense that it was popular when I was in grade school. ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2007, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-so-great-about-peanuts/423526/54 "2007-10-22T16:51:39Z")
[QUOTE=Enright3] Anyone else remember the character “5”? [/QUOTE] Fantagraphic’s _Complete Peanuts_ volumes (which all of you should be collecting if you haven’t already) recently got to 5’s introduction. His father named him 5 due to there being so many numbers- phone numbers, Social Security numbers, ZIP codes, etc. ZIP codes had recently been introduced, and this is one of the few cases in which Schulz’s humor has become even _more_ true now than it was originally- now with cell phones and other things, there are a lot more numbers people have to remember. Nowadays, 5 is probably best known for his [wacky dance](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:5_Peanuts.jpg) from _A Charlie Brown Christmas_- the two girls in the purple dresses are his sisters, 3 and 4. ---
**Author:** ![Malachi\_Throne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5a626/32.png) [@Malachi\_Throne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malachi_Throne)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2007, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-so-great-about-peanuts/423526/55 "2007-10-22T17:27:09Z")
I recall only one Peanuts I liked, the day Snoopy got off all fours and spun around in a dance. But it was the only cartoon in the free daily campus paper, so I read a lot of them. Nothing to quote or pin to the board, tho ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2007, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-so-great-about-peanuts/423526/56 "2007-10-22T17:28:11Z")
[QUOTE=eleanorigby] Happiness is … [/QUOTE] [singing] …the taste of Kent! More taste, fine tobacco, That’s what happiness is. [/singing] Ooops! Probably should’ve been something about a warm puppy. :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Zsofia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7bcc69/32.png) [@Zsofia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zsofia)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2007, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-so-great-about-peanuts/423526/57 "2007-10-22T17:32:15Z")
[QUOTE=Contrapuntal] FWIW, \*Blondie \*and has been around for almost 80 years. It started in 1930. [/QUOTE] Actually, it was even a spin-off of an earlier comic. Blondie used to be a flapper, believe it or not. ---
**Author:** ![eleanorigby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@eleanorigby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eleanorigby)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2007, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-so-great-about-peanuts/423526/58 "2007-10-22T17:37:04Z")
[QUOTE=dropzone] [singing] …the taste of Kent! More taste, fine tobacco, That’s what happiness is. [/singing] Ooops! Probably should’ve been something about a warm puppy. :smack: [/QUOTE] Happiness is… Two kinds of ice cream. Knowing a secret Climbing a tree. Happiness is five different crayons, Catching a firefly… Setting it free. Wonderful, but not schmaltzy. True to a kid’s experience. I loved 5. I liked some of the obscure characters like PigPen, too. And who can forget Linus (my fav) and his “raw toast”? Brilliant. I owe a bit of my liking for some classical music to Schulz and Schroeder. Beethoven was cool or at least completely alien to this 70s child. ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2007, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-so-great-about-peanuts/423526/59 "2007-10-22T17:43:13Z")
[QUOTE=Zsofia] Actually, it was even a spin-off of an earlier comic. Blondie used to be a flapper, believe it or not. [/QUOTE] Well, it’s the same strip, but a different focus. For the first three years, Blondie was a single flapper until she married Dagwood Bumstead. It’s not unusual for the focus of a comic strip to change- Beetle Bailey was a lazy college student until he was tricked into enlisting in the Army. Now he’s a lazy private. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2007, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-so-great-about-peanuts/423526/60 "2007-10-22T17:59:21Z")
[QUOTE=eleanorigby] Happiness is… Two kinds of ice cream. Knowing a secret Climbing a tree. Happiness is five different crayons, Catching a firefly… Setting it free. [/QUOTE] Happiness is being alone every now and then And happiness is coming home again. The musical “You’re A Good Man, Charlie Brown” is a classic. The revival starred the incomparable [Kristin Chenoweth](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kristin_Chenoweth#Theater) as Sally, the first of many roles that brought her awards. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-so-great-about-peanuts/423526.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-so-great-about-peanuts/423526.md?page=4)