Annotations to The Complete Peanuts: 1963 - 1964 (vol. 7) by Charles M. Schulz
In this volume there are occasional omissions of the strip's date from the strip. In those instances, the dates appear in brackets [ ].
p. 9 [November 19, 1961] 6th panel. The little red-haired girl is based on Donna Mae Johnson, Schulz's girlfriend in St. Paul during the late 1940s. She was an accountant at Art Instruction Schools, Inc. where Schulz worked as a cartoon letterer. She broke his heart when, in 1950, she married Al Wold, whom she had known since eighth grade.
p. 10 (January 23, 1963) 2nd panel. The number "googol" is 1 followed by 100 zeros (Sparky wrote it correctly). The idea that that should be a distinct, named number was mathematician Edward Kasner's (1878 – 1955). Kasner asked his young nephew, Milton Sirotta, what a good name for the number would be, and the boy replied "Googol."
p. 12 (January 27, 1963) 7th panel. Good question! Why doesn't Snoopy just sleep inside his dog house? Maybe because it's so full of pool tables and all his other bachelor pad accoutrements.
p. 13 (January 28, 1963) 4th panel. Charlie Brown is still obsessing about the 1962 World Series, when, during the seventh game, bottom of the ninth, with two outs and runners on second and third base, the New York Yankees led 1-0. Willie McCovey (b. 1938) of the San Francisco Giants hit a line drive that was caught by Yankee Bobby Richardson (b. 1935). Had it been out of Richardson's reach, the Giants would have won. (See also vol. 6, p. 309, December 22, 1962)
p. 14 (February 2, 1963) 4th panel. Snoopy is providing a discreet place for the "love birds" to be together.
p. 16 (February 4, 1962) 1st panel. A hereford is a type of cow.
p. 16 (February 5, 1963) 2nd panel. Orville L. Freeman (1918 - 2003) was Secretary of Agriculture from 1961 – 1969.
p. 17 (February 7, 1963) 2nd panel. Palomino horses have a very light brown or reddish coat and a blonde mane and tail.
p. 19 (February 11, 1963) 2nd panel. Divinity is a dessert with a nutty, nougaty texture. It has lost popularity over the decades as it’s been replaced by candy bars.
p. 19 (February 13, 1962) 3rd and 4th panels. If you score 300 in bowling, you have a perfect game. Violet's father knocked down all the pins in the first frame, so, yes, technically that was the start of a 300 game, but with nine more frames to go, he was counting his chickens way before they were hatched.
p. 22 (February 20, 1963) 1st panel. Environmentalist and scientist Rachel Carson's (1907 - 1964) book, Silent Spring, exposed the dangers of pesticides, specifically the now-banned DDT. (See also vol. 6, p. 293, October 12, 1962)
p. 25 (February 25, 1963) 4th panel. Lucy is about two months late in writing her Christmas thank you cards.
p. 31 (March 12, 1963) 4th panel. Foolscap is a large sheet of paper, approximately 13 x 16 inches. It originally featured a "fool's cap" (court jester hat with bells) watermark.
p. 34 (March 20, 1963) 2nd and 4th panels. A "strategic withdrawal" is when an army leaves a country in which it has fighting without admitting defeat. In the early 1960s President John F. Kennedy increased the number of U.S. troops in Vietnam, but that war had not yet been lost. The phrase was fresh in people's minds from the Korean War (1950 - 1953). The PTA is the Parent Teachers Association. The School Board sets school policy. The Blue Birds were the precursors to the Campfire Girls, which are similar to the Girl Scouts. The first two are directly school-related, while the last has a tenuous connection. Troops are sometimes made up of students from the same school.
p. 38 (March 30, 1963) 4th panel. Something is obsolete if there is no longer a use for it. "Planned obsolescence" is the idea that something you buy is not intended to serve you for very long. In the 1950s and 60s cars were accepted to have planned obsolescence. It was expected that every few years drivers would buy a new car, "with all the latest features." Actually, Linus' baseball isn't obsolete -- it's not about to be replaced by a more sophisticated model -- it's just badly-made.
p. 43 (April 7, 1963) 4th panel. "Shouldn't oughtta" is a slangy version of "shouldn't." It's the opposite of double positive "should ought."
p. 50 (April 25, 1963) 3rd panel. Sam Snead (1912 - 2002) was a famous professional golfer.
p. 50 (April 27, 1963) 1st panel. Linus has learned to carry the stick the right way. (Contrast with vol. 5. p. 239, July 8, 1960)
p. 51 [April 28, 1963] 5th and 10th panels. Lucy is having Snoopy make her ball a "spit ball," A spit ball is ball that some substance (including possibly spit, but it can also be dirt or hair gel) has been applied to. This will cause it to move erratically, making it much harder to hit. A "rhubarb" is a disagreement or fight between players or officials during a baseball game. (See also p. 227, June 11, 1963 below)
p. 52 (April 30, 1963) 2nd panel. Nuernberg is a city in Germany. During the 1960s, before the two Germanies were reunited, it was in West Germany.
p. 55 (May 6, 1963) 4th panel. Although Sam Snead won many golf tournaments, he never won a U.S. Open (the National Open).
p. 55 (May 7, 1963) 4th panel. The minors or minor leagues in baseball are where players develop their skills in hopes of being promoted to the major leagues. To be sent down means that you are performing below professional level and need more practice.
p. 56 (May 9, 1963) 3rd panel. To have "feet of clay" is to be shown to be fallible. Heroes are often said to have feet of clay, meaning that they are still only human. This is from the Book of Daniel, Chapter 2 where King Nebuchadnezzar dreams of a statue made of many different metals but with feet of clay. At first the statue seems strong and solid, but it can crumble at the bottom.
p. 61 (May 20, 1963) 4th panel. Snoopy is referring to The Birds, the 1963 Alfred Hitchcock (1899 - 1980) thriller starring Tippy Hendron (b. 1930) and Rod Taylor (b. 1930) in which large groups of birds attack people.
p. 64 (May 28, 1963) Snoopy is using his ears like "rabbit ear" antennas. (Compare to vol. 5, p. 160, January 7, 1960)
p. 71 (June 14, 1963) 4th panel. In baseball, a "pinch hitter" is someone brought in "in a pinch" (a difficult situation) who can practically guarantee a hit. For example, if you had three men on base and the next batter due at bat hadn't been doing all that well, you might bring in a pinch hitter in the hopes of getting three or four runs.
p. 71 (June 15, 1963) 4th panel. The insecticide reference is another nod to Rachel Carson and her influence. (See also p. 22, February 20, 1963 above)
p. 76 (June 24, 1963) 4th panel. Roquefort is a flavorful cheese. Many tasty salads have it.
p. 77 (June 27, 1963) 1st panel. The discovery of stronger and better antibiotics (medicines which kill bacteria, perhaps the most famous of which is penicillin) led to their use to cure an amazing number of diseases in the 1960s-1970s. By the 1980s however, scientists realized that they had been over-prescribed and bacteria had mutated to become resistant to them. Today antibiotics are used more sparingly.
p. 78 [June 30, 1963] 3rd panel. "Drag" is a slang term meaning something that makes you unhappy, as in "drags you down." "Fed up" means you are tired of something.
p. 79 (July 2, 1963) 4th panel. Exact comparisons are impossible, but 40 1963 dollars is around $250 2007 dollars. In any case, the joke is that not only does Snoopy (a dog) have a health plan, but an excellent one.
p. 79 (July 3, 1963) 2nd panel. This is all real medicine. He’s getting an intravenous drip of penicillin.
p. 85 (July 16, 1963) 2nd panel. Linus is correct. Never look at directly at an eclipse. The retina is the part of the eye which absorbs light.
p. 86 (July 18, 1963) 4th panel. India ink is very dark ink used in illustrations (including cartoons). Schulz used it, so Lucy's eyes look exactly like what they really are.
p. 88 (July 23, 1963) 4th panel. Golf "pros" (professionals) who are "touring" (playing in games that are part of Professional Golfers Association set tournaments) might advertise the fact that they use a particular brand of golf ball—the implication being that if, say Sam Snead uses it, it must be the best, and maybe, if you use it, you'll play as well as he. Usually the game of jacks is played with a simple rubber ball. Sally's branching out.
p. 97 (August 12, 1963) 4th panel. In older theaters, ushers would guide you to your seats. They carried flashlights to read the seat numbers in the dark.
p. 99 (August 18, 1963) 1st panel. Joe Shlabotnik is Charlie Brown's fictional baseball hero. All of the other players named were actual, high-quality players at the time.
p. 103 (August 26, 1963) 2nd panel. Ground lightning is lightning that strikes upwards, from the ground into clouds. Unusual, but not unknown.
p. 109 (September 11, 1963) 4th panel. The Pledge of Allegiance doesn't have "Amen" at the end, but the implication is that the only reciting Sally is used to doing is in church, so she ends with "Amen" by habit.
p. 111 (September 15, 1963) 7th panel. This is September, so Lucy's Christmas cards are three months early.
p. 116 (September 27, 1963) 4th panel. Zip Codes (Zone Improvement Plan) were introduced in the United States in July of 1963. These five-digit codes allow the United States Post Office to more precisely sort mail, thus speeding delivery.
p. 118 (October 1, 1963) 1st panel. 95472 is the zip code for Sebastopol, CA, where Schulz moved in 1958. In 1969 he moved a few miles away to Santa Rosa, where he spent the rest of his life and where the Charles M. Schulz Museum is located.
p. 118 (October 2, 1963) 3rd panel. Sally is seeing what her name would be if she married 5. She doesn't like it, and so the poor boy has no chance with her.
p. 119 (October 5, 1963) 4th panel. Walt Disney (1901 - 1966) was the creator of Mickey Mouse and the entire Disney animation and theme park empire. Sally is probably watching a re-run of The Mickey Mouse Club (which originally ran weekdays from 1955 – 1959, but was syndicated for many years afterwards) . The MMC was where most people got their first dose of Davy Crocket (See vol 3, p. 45, April 11, 1955, and following)
p. 123 (October 13, 1963) 7th panel. The introduction of early computers to the business world allowed for the increased use of checks in the 1960s. Also early computer information was frequently stored on punch cards (envelope-sized pieces of cardboard which were read by electricity either flowing through them via a punched hole or not via intact cardboard). Owing to the delicacy of the primitive equipment, the cards and papers used had to be in the best possible condition. The warning "do not fold, spindle, or mutilate" (to "spindle" is to punch additional holes in something) appeared on documents everywhere, encouraging users to be careful. The phrase became a cliché representing everything that was automated.
p. 124 (October 16, 1963) 2nd panel. (Note: Is there a real difference between a morning and evening newspaper?)
p. 125 (October 19, 1963) 3rd panel. 3.1416 is (truncated and rounded) the value of pi -- the ratio of the circumference to the diameter of a circle. Pi's actual numerical value is infinite, though it has been calculated to several billion decimals.
p. 126 (October 20, 1963) 11th panel. Prayers led by school authorities in public schools used to be quite common until two U.S. Supreme Court cases outlawed the practice: Engel v. Vtale in 1962 and Abington School District v Schempp in 1963. Individual students are still allowed to pray (and often do, especially just before tests), but the school or state can not force anyone to do so. Schulz is making fun of the fact that something that was done in the open for generations is now forbidden.
p. 127 (October 22, 1963) 4th panel. In "touch football" you stop someone with the ball by merely touching them as opposed to tackling them. It is supposed to be a less physically violent version of the game.
p. 128 (October 24, 1963) 2nd panel. Literary adaptations for children use easier, simpler words and sometimes change or simplify the plot. This alters and ruins the experience that the writer intended -- like diluted (mixed with water) root beer, which tastes terrible, if it has any taste at all.
p. 142 (November 27, 1963) 4th panel. Television signals and the sets that received them were not entirely stable in the 1960s. Sometimes the image would scroll or flip. Vertical hold was a knob on a television that allowed the viewer to manually adjust the settings to correct the problem.
p. 143 (November 28, 1963) 4th panel. The PTA, the Parents-Teachers Association, is an organization dedicated to improving the educational experiences of children in a particular area. Clearly 5's father attends the meetings because he is concerned with his children’s' education. Thus he is morally superior to Violet's father.
p. 146 (December 5, 1963) 4th panel. Lucy means a chain of stores. That is, Santa is being paid by a large corporation in exchange for promoting their toys by giving them away.
p. 146 (December 6, 1963) 1st panel and 3rd panels. The word "syndicate" is slightly more malevolent, calling to mind gangs and organized crime, but, as used here it means a group of stores controlled by one company (see p. 146, December 5, 1963, above). That Santa is "clean" means he gives away toys strictly of his dwarves own manufacture and is not working for or beholden to anyone.
p. 150 (December 15, 1963) 1st panel. Dr. Albert Schweitzer (1875 – 1965) was a humanitarian, physician, and the 1952 Nobel Peace Prize winner. Alvin Dark (b. 1922) was a star shortstop and baseball manager. The confusion is based on their similar first names, not anything that they might have said. (See also vol. 5, p. 20, April 26, 1960)
p. 151 (December 16, 1963) 2nd panel. Johann Strauss (1825 – 1899) was the Austrian classical composer nicknamed "the waltz king" because of the dozens he wrote, most notably "The Blue Danube" (1867). Beethoven died in 1827, so the two were not even contemporaries.
p. 152 (December 19, 1963) 2nd panel. "The Twist" was a popular dance dating from 1960 when Chubby Checker (b. 1941) had a hit record with that name. Simply put, you stand in one place and twist your hips.
p. 152 (December 20, 1963) 3rd panel. Many formal meetings (most notably Britain's parliament) conduct business according very strict rules and regulations called "parliamentary procedure." A parliamentarian is the expert on the rules who assures that they are followed. It is highly unlikely that anything as casual as a PTA even has a parliamentarian, and, in any case there is no set procedure for singing.
p. 160 (January 7, 1964) 4th panel. In the game of golf a "practice tee" is the first hit of the ball. It doesn't count in your final score; it’s just to let a player get the feel of things.
p. 162 (January 12, 1964) 11th panel. Ratings are an estimate of how many people watched any given television program. They are the measure of show's success.
p. 166 (January 20, 1964) 4th panel. Figgy pudding a traditional British Christmas treat, so still serving it a month later is inappropriate.
p. 166 (January 21, 1964) 1st and 4th panels. The Tale of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter was first published in 1902. It and her other books have sold steadily since then and become classics of children's literature. The story is a simple one of a rabbit who gets trapped in a farmer's garden and just barely escapes. As such it doesn't really lend itself to much in-depth analysis. What truths about our culture has Sally already uncovered? Possibly that children are growing up much too quickly. Anyone reading Peter Rabbit in first grade shouldn't be over-analyzing it like Sally.
p. 173 (February 8, 1964) 4th panel. The A.M.A. is the American Medical Association. The professional organization to which nearly all American physicians belong. Among other things, the A.M.A. sets standards for professional and ethical behavior.
p. 175 (February 10, 1964) 1st and 2nd panels. (Note: I have been unable to locate a source for this. It is possible that Schulz heard it somewhere or made it up. I would be interested in hearing from anyone with a verifiable source for this quote or anything similar.)
p. 177 (February 16, 1964) 2nd panel. Dr. Frances Rappaport Horwich (1907 - 2001) is the full name of "Miss Frances," the host of Miss Frances' Ding Dong School, the popular 1950s television show. Ding Dong School was arguably the first educational t.v. program for children, and it introduced the technique of addressing viewers as if the host could see them. She held a Ph.D. in education and occasionally wrote on the subject. (Note: Does anyone know exactly what text by Horwich Charlie Brown is quoting?) (See also vol. 2, p. 225, June 8, 1954)
p. 179 (February 21, 1964) George Washington (1732 - 1799) was the first president of the United States. Lucy is confusing him with Abraham Lincoln (1809 - 1865), the 16th president. Lincoln was president during the Civil War (1861 - 1865). The Battle of Gettysburg (July 1-3, 1863) was a major turning point in the war, and Lincoln's "Gettysburg Address" -- in which he dedicates the National Cemetery there -- is one of the world's most famous speeches. A "theme" is what we today call an essay. It comes from the idea that one is writing "on a theme" (that is on a particular topic) -- in this case George Washington.
p. 182 (February 27, 1964) 4th panel. The River Jordan is located in the Middle East. It appears numerous times in the Bible, and is the river where John the Baptist baptized Jesus. Metaphorically and in old gospel songs, "crossing Jordon" means going to Heaven.
p. 182 (February 29, 1964) 4th panel. Vincent Van Gogh (1853 - 1890) was an impressionist painter. Practically ignored during his lifetime (he sold only two paintings while alive), he is now recognized as genius, and his paintings sell for millions of dollars at auction. Even in 1964, a Van Gogh was an expensive rarity that few places outside of museums (let alone dog houses) would possess.
p. 184 (March 4, 1964) 2nd panel. Bursitis is an inflammation at the joints that makes movement painful. In children it is most often caused by repetitive motions such as those found in sports. Cortisone is hormone that can be used to treat it.
p. 185 (March 7, 1964) 4t panel. A pediatrician is doctor for children.
p. 186 [March 8, 1964) 10th panel. The Bermuda islands, off the eastern coast of the United States, are tropical, and, as such, are famous for being always sunny and warm.
p. 190 (March 18, 1964) 2nd panel. Obedience school is a place where dog owners learn basic commands to control their animals (sit, stay, down) –- not the other way around.
p. 191 (March 20, 1964) 1st and 3rd panels. A chalk talk was a lecture accompanied by illustrations drawn on a blackboard by speaker (This was a precursor to a Power Point presentation. Al Gore's An Inconvenient Truth (2006) is a modern chalk talk act.). A vicious circle is a series of actions where one problem leads to another which leads to another, which leads to even more of the first problem. Charlie Brown has drawn a circle and made is "vicious" by adding a scowl.
p. 192 (March 22, 1964) 12th panel. In the game of baseball, a single is when a batter only makes it to fist base. Usually the batter tries to run to second (and if possible third then home) base after first, but can’t with Snoopy scaring them off.
p. 196 (March 31, 1964) 2nd panel. To bunt is to hit the ball so lightly that it falls near you rather than far away into the field. In that case, the catcher has to retrieve the ball and throw it to the first baseman -- something difficult for most catchers.
p. 200 (April 9, 1964) 2nd panel. "Taxation without representation" is one of the grievances which the original 13 colonies of the United States had against England. It meant that they paid taxes like Englishmen, but, unlike Englishmen who had representation in parliament, Americans had almost no say in the laws that governed them.
p. 205 (April 20, 1964) 2nd panel. Many Eastern philosophies and practices first became popular in the United States during the 1960s. Among these was meditation: focused concentration and relaxation. Linus isn't supposed to look different. Meditation would change him from within.
p. 205 (April 22, 1964) 1st and 4th panels. "New Math" was an educational experiment of the 1960s and 70s. It concentrated on more abstract notions as opposed to the practical elements like times tables. "Old math" is simply math as it had always been (and now is again) taught.
p. 211 (May 5, 1964) 2nd panel. Eraserophagia is made-up disease. The suffix "phagia" means eating, so, if it did exist, it would be "the eating of erasers."
p. 211 (May 6, 1964) 4th panel. Linus' quote is from the Bible, Galatians 6:7.
p. 215 (June 15, 1964) 4th panel. Thrillsville was a 1960s expression. "-ville" means a village, and therefore the actual location of something. Where would you find thrills? In Thrillsville. Snoopy is using the term with irony, just as we today might say, "Oh, great" (meaning just the opposite) when something goes wrong. Snoopy was not thrilled by the pat on the head.
p. 216 (May 17, 1964) 1st panel. Snoopy is made up like Boris Karloff (1887 - 1969) in the 1931 movie Frankenstein, where Karloff plays the monster made up of body parts and brought to life by Dr. Henry Frankenstein. played by Colin Clive (1900 - 1937). Although Frankenstein was the name of the doctor, not the monster, the name Frankenstein is frequently applied to the monster. Many cheap movies around the theme (such as Frankenstein Meets the Space Monster and Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein) were made in the 1950s, and subsequently aired on TV in the 1960s. There were even "Creature Features": t.v. shows (often with hosts in monster makeup) devoted to showing monster movies and other thrillers.
p. 221 (May 28, 1964) 4th panel. Casey Stengel (1890 - 1975) was at this time the manager of the New York Mets baseball team. He had previously managed the New York Yankees, Boston Braves, and Brooklyn Dodgers.
p. 227 (June 11, 1964) 1st panel and 2nd panels. A spit ball is ball that some substance (including possibly spit) has been applied to. This will cause it to move erratically making it much harder to hit. A bean ball is ball thrown at a player (at the head -- "the bean" -- or anywhere else) in order to hurt him. Both are forbidden in the game of baseball.
p. 230 (June 18, 1964) 1st, 3rd, and 4th panels. To be highbrow is to be intellectual and culturally sophisticated. The opera, classical music, and fine arts are typical highbrow interests. Alternately, to be lowbrow is to enjoy soap operas, sports -- things that do not require an education. These terms origins come from the ancient idea that an intelligent person would have a domed forehead -- a high brow. Generally only those two extremes are recognized. Middlebrow is used almost exclusively by humorists playing with high and low.
p. 232 (June 24, 1964) 4th panel. Pop is the Midwestern generic term for soda pop: Coca-cola, Pepsi, etc. When you buy a bottle of pop, part of the price (for decades five cents) is the "deposit." Empty glass bottles can be returned to nearly any grocery store for in exchange for the deposit. This was one of the earliest forms of recycling. Not all pop-like bottles could were part of this program. Those were marked "No Deposit, No Return."
p. 236 (July 3, 1964) 1st and 2nd panels. Independence Day is simply another name of the Fourth of July (the date on which the Declaration of Independence was approved by Congress, and thus the birthday of the United States of America.). Since they are the same day, they always fall on the same day.
p. 237 (July 5, 1964) 5th and 8th panels. In the 5th panel, the bird is bringing a card table into Snoopy's house. The 8th panel represents the four suits of cards (clockwise from the top): Hearts, Spades, Diamonds, and Clubs indicating that the birds are playing card games. Snoopy is happy to help a friend, but not host a party where everyone sits around and plays cards.
p. 238 (July 7, 1964) 1st panel. Mickey Mantle (1931 - 1995) was a powerful batter for the New York Yankees baseball team, occasionally hitting balls out of the stadium (or so far that they landed in stadium seats or roofs). An ordinary hit might be characterized as going as far as second base or "deep into left field," but hits of remarkable distances seemed to demand that someone get a tape measure and determine exactly how far they were hit. Usually this was just a figure of speech, but on a few occasions when this was done, Mantle was shown to have hit the ball over 500 (and sometimes over 600) feet.
p. 241 (July 13, 1964) 2nd and 3rd panels. All of these are names for a type of minor injury caused by the stress of repetitive motions. Of all the possible occupations that could lead to it, washer woman (historically a poor woman who takes in washing to earn extra money) is the least glamorous.
p. 241 (July 14, 1964) 2nd and 3rd panels. The National and American League are the two overseeing bodies responsible for baseball teams. Abner Doubleday (1819 - 1893) is credited with inventing the game. Babe Ruth (1895 - 1948) was the record-making player for the New York Yankees (most notably his 714 home runs stood for nearly 40 years). Ty Cobb (1886 - 1961) was the star outfielder for the Detroit Tigers. Willard Mullin (1902-1978) was a sports cartoonist, and as such could only barely be said to be connected with baseball.
p. 242 (July 16, 1964) 4th panel. To desecrate the bones of someone is to disturb or remove them from their place of burial. X-rays merely examine them.
p. 242 (July 18, 1964) 3rd panel. The Miss America contest began in 1921, and, although it strives to depict itself as more, it remains essentially a beauty contest. Ever vain, Lucy feels that she is destined to one day wear the crown, and just like the panel of July 13th, Lucy is incensed that the illness has an unglamorous name.
p. 245 (July 24, 1964) 4th panel. In the 1960s a suntan was considered sophisticated and glamorous because it indicated that you had plenty of time to do nothing but lie around (you didn't have to work for a living) in the sun (perhaps in Southern California, like a movie star). Snoopy wants to look his best in case he gets invited to the French Riviera, the Mediterranean beachfront coast that is very fashionable and expensive.
p. 247 (July 28, 1964) 4th panel. Linus us dumping the trash into an incinerator where it would later be burned. Trash and leaves were frequently burned into the 1970s, when air pollution finally became so bad that the practice was halted. (See also, p. 292, November 9, 1964)
p. 249 [August 2, 1964] 6th panel. The game of bridge uses the standard notations of N(orth), S(outh), E(ast), and W(est) to represent the various players, likewise you can see what cards each player holds. Obviously, one of the birds is a very poor player, he was kicked out of the game for his inability to play.
p. 259 (August 26, 1964) 3rd and 4th panels. Placing a small amount of mud on a bee sting actually does help. As the mud dries, it draws out the poison and sooths the skin. Only a little bit of mud is necessary.
p. 260 (August 28, 1964) 1st and 4th panels. The Hound of the Baskervilles (1902) by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859 - 1930) is the first Sherlock Holmes novel. It tells the take of the Baskerville family, whose members are doomed by an ancient curse -- a spectral hound haunts them. In the end the dog in killed, so, yes, he comes out second best (to Holmes and Sir Henry Baskerville, who live).
p. 261 (August 30, 1964) 10th panel. Dial A Prayer was created in 1955 by the Reverend Richard Schwambach and continues to this day. Callers phone into a phone bank and they hear a pre-recorded "spiritual lift" such as a Biblical passage. Schulz is having a bit of fun with the service as there is no one at the other end of the line, and the sevice gives out prayers, it doesn't take them.
p. 262 (September 1, 1964) 2nd panel. Protest signs with words ("Down with ___") had been around for some time, but in the 1960s simple symbols began replacing words. Probably the most famous was the peace sign. The next few days' strips play with the motif of clashing ideologies expressed through unusual symbols.
p. 264 (September 14, 1964) 3rd panel. The sign bears a semi-colon, which, in terms of pure punctuation, connects two complete sentences with closely-related ideas.
p. 265 (September 8, 1964) 3rd panel. The symbols are (from right to left) ampersand (meaning "and"), comma (meaning a pause or shift), pi (the Greek letter and mathematical symbol [See also p. 125, October 19, 1963 above]), and asterisk (which is used to draw your attention to something, frequently in a footnote).
p. 265 (September 9, 2007) 4th panel. To "play for keeps" means to be (frequently violently) serious about a matter. The phrase derives from children's games, where something is risked in the game. For example, in the game of marbles, the winner is the person who shoots their opponent's marbles out of the ring. At the start of the game the players decide if they are playing "for fun" (in which case the marbles will be returned to their owners at the game's end) or "for keeps" (in which case whoever knocks each marble out gets to take it home).
p. 266 (September 10, 1964) The 1st features a treble cleft: the music notation indicating the pitch of a line of music. Panel 2 is dollar sign. Panel 3 is a cent sign.
p. 266 (September 11, 1964) 2nd panel. One humble comma, well-presented, defeats a bunch of exclamation marks.
p. 266 (September 12, 1964) 4th panel. The "underdog" is the person or team least likely to win in any given contest or election. But, since it's birds engaging in debate, Snoopy prefers the "underbird." (See volume 4 p. 289, November 3, 1958)
p. 267 (September 13, 1964) 7th panel. Photostats were precursors to today's photocopies. They were essentially photographs of documents, stored (like photographs) as negatives, and then printed (as positives) whenever needed. They were replaced by Xerox process in the late 1960s – 70s.
p. 268 (September 14, 1964) A true prophet, Moses, for example, is someone who carries messages from God to the people. A "false prophet" is someone who claims to a connection to God, but who does not. You can not be both sincere and false.
p. 268 (September 16, 1964) 1st panel. Meridians are lines on a map showing position east or west from the Prime Meridian (Greenwich, England). Latitudes measure distance north or south from the equator.
p. 269 (September 18, 1964) 4th panel. Hudson Bay is a very large bay touching four Canadian provinces.
p. 271 (September 23, 1964) 3rd and 4th panels. The Maccabees were Jews who fought for liberation from the Greeks during approx 170 to 63 B.C. Antiochus Epiphanes was the Greek leader at the time of the sack of Jerusalem. The holiday of Hanukkah marks the miracle that occurred after Epiphanes’ defeat and the rededication of the Temple in Jerusalem.
p. 276 (October 4, 1964) 9th panel. A document is notarized when it bears the seal of a notary public. The duty of a notary public is to ensure that the person signing a document has proved who they say they are. So, to have Lucy's promise notarized, she would have gone to a notary public, produced, say, a drivers license or passport, and then signed it. The notary's seal would then indicate that Lucy Van Pelt did indeed sign not that promise. It wasn't, say, Violet who signed Lucy's name.
p. 289 (October 3, 1964) 4th panel. Charlie Brown has served Snoopy a salad, and is asking which type of dressing he wants: Roquefort (with pieces of sharp "blue cheese" in it) or Thousand Island (a more mild dressing made by combing ketchup and mayonnaise). (Personal experience tells me that dogs don't like lettuce.)
p. 289 (November 4, 1964) 1st panel. The Brothers Karamazov (1880) is a novel by Russian writer Leo Tolstoy. It concerns the lives of three brothers and the murder of their father. Like most of Tolstoy, it is very long and complex. The characters' names employ the patronymic element, where a full name indicates your father's name as well. Thus, since the brother’s father is Fyodor Pavlovich Karamazov, one brother's name is Dmitri Fyodorovich Karamazov (son of Fyodor). Other long-named characters include Katerina Ivanovna Verkhovtseva and Agrafena Alexandrovna Svetlova.
p. 292 (November 9, 1964) 2nd panel. (See p. 247, July 28, 1964 above)
p. 298 (November 23, 1964) 4th panel. A philodendron is a plant that prefers a humid atmosphere.
p. 298 (November 25, 1964) 2nd panel. Pebble Beach is a famous golf course located in Monterey, California. (Note: Is anyone famous for saying that he got to sleep by playing an imaginary game of golf?)
p. 307 (December 14, 1964) 4th panel. Ipanema (pr. Eep-uh-neem-uh) is a beach resort district on Rio de Janeiro in Brazil. A very popular song at the time was "The Girl from Ipanema," a bossa nova tune about a boy's unrequited love for a "tall and tan and young and lovely" girl who strolls along the beach.
p. 308 (December 19, 1964) 2nd panel. Parrots do indeed make a squawking sound, and some can be taught to "talk." One parrot cliché is that they are the companions of pirates. In Robert Louis Stevenson’s (1850 - 1894) 1883 novel Treasure Island, Long John Silver's parrot squawks "Pieces of eight," a reference to the Spanish currency during the heyday of pirates (17th and 18th centuries) that was worth eight reales.
p. 310 (December 21, 1964) 3rd panel. The quote is from The New Testament, Luke 2:8, and is part of the traditional telling of the Christmas story. It's very odd that Linus wonders who wrote it (Luke) considering his familiarity with Biblical and other ancient history. (See p. 211, May 6, 1964 above and vol. 5, p. 173, February 7, 1960)
p. 312 (December 27, 1964) 6th panel. Transistor radios were the first truly portable radios. Prior to the invention of the tiny transistor (which replaced the much larger vacuum tubes), radios were large and bulky.
p. 313 (December 28, 1964) 2nd panel. Gulliver's Travels (1726) by Jonathan Swift (1667 - 1745) tells the adventures of Dr. Lemuel Gulliver, as he journeys to many fantastic lands, most famously Lilliput, home of the Lilliputians, people only six inches high. The novel is largely a satire on customs and religious and political questions popular at the time. Matters such as the reference to Swift’s political enemy the Duke of Marlborough and digs at Robert Walpole (the un-first Prime Minister of England) are largely lost on today's readers unless they have a volume with excellent footnotes.
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