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'Snoopy' is a fictional character in the long-running comic strip ''Peanuts'', by Charles M. Schulz. He is Charlie Brown's pet beagle. Snoopy began his life in the strip as a fairly ordinary dog, but eventually evolved into perhaps the strip's most dynamic character—and among the most recognizable comic characters in the world. The original drawings of Snoopy were based on Schulz's childhood dogs, Snooky and Spike.^[1] Animation producer Bill Melendez voiced both Snoopy and (eventually) Woodstock in numerous television specials from 1965 to 2006.

Contents

Character

Developments

Puppyhood and siblings

Other relationships

Doghouse

Snoopy and aviation

References

External links

Character

Snoopy first made his appearance on the strip on October 4, 1950, two days after the strip premiered, and was identified by name on November 10. Schulz was originally going to call him "Sniffy" (as described in 25th anniversary book, ''Peanuts Jubilee'', (pg. 20)), until he discovered that name was used in a different comic strip. Snoopy was a silent character for the first two years of his existence, but on May 27, 1952 he verbalized his thoughts to readers for the first time via a thought balloon; Schulz would utilize this device for nearly all of the character's appearances in the strip thereafter. In addition to Snoopy's ability to "speak" his thoughts to the reader, many of the human characters in ''Peanuts'' have the uncanny knack of reading his thoughts and responding to them. In the animated ''Peanuts'' films and television specials, Snoopy's thoughts are not verbalized; his moods are instead conveyed through growls, sobs, laughter, etc., as well as through pantomime. The only exceptions are in ''You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown'' and ''Snoopy!!! The Musical'', in which Snoopy's thoughts are verbalized through voiceovers (by Robert Towers and Cam Clarke, respectively).

Curiously, the first time a beagle was mentioned in the strip (on December 5, 1960), Snoopy denied being one. As Snoopy dozed, Charlie Brown paraphrased Gertrude Stein: "Beagles on the grass, alas." To this, Snoopy replied, "I ain't no stupid beagle."
Many of ''Peanuts' memorable moments come in Snoopy's daydream as a writer: his eternal opener on the typewriter "It was a dark and stormy night..." is taken from Edward George Bulwer-Lytton's 1830 novel ''Paul Clifford''. The contrast between Snoopy's existence in a dream world and Charlie Brown's in the real world is central to the humour and philosophy of ''Peanuts'' (see e.g. Peanuts book title ''Life's a dream, Charlie Brown'').
Schulz summed up Snoopy's character in a 1997 interview: "He has to retreat into his fanciful world in order to survive. Otherwise, he leads kind of a dull, miserable life. I don't envy dogs the lives they have to live."^[2]

Developments

One of the first odd developments of Snoopy was his tendency to engage in impersonations. His earliest impersonation was of a bird on August 9, 1951. Later (starting November 17, 1955), Snoopy engaged in dead-on imitations of Violet, a pelican, Lucy, a moose, Beethoven and Mickey Mouse. He would also pretend to be various other animals, including a snake, rhinoceros, and vulture. But his eccentricities did not stop there. On January 5, 1956, Snoopy walked on two legs like a human for the first time. This soon became so commonplace as to be almost unnoticeable, as Snoopy developed a variety of Walter Mitty-esque alter egos. Snoopy's transformation to walking to 2 feet also was accompanied by his larger snout and great body length.
Possibly his most famous alter-ego is as the World War I Flying Ace, often seen battling his arch-enemy, the Red Baron. For this, he would climb to the top of his doghouse, don goggles and a scarf, and thus fly his Sopwith Camel (the type of plane flown by Arthur "Roy" Brown, who was credited with shooting down the Red Baron in World War I, and whose surname matches that of Snoopy's owner). The Red Baron, like other adult figures in ''Peanuts'', was never drawn in a strip; his presence was indicated through the bullet holes that would riddle the doghouse in a dogfight, and Snoopy's angry outbursts in response: "Curse you, Red Baron!" (usually accompanied by fist-shaking and a salute while his "Sopwith Camel" doghouse plummets to earth trailing smoke). In ''I Want a Dog for Christmas, Charlie Brown'' Charlie Brown's sister Sally Brown jumps on the doghouse and flies with Snoopy.

Snoopy also became "Joe Cool", as he put on sunglasses and leaned against the wall doing nothing. A song called ''Joe Cool'' was sung by Vince Guaraldi. He has also been a famous writer (who was actually published once, in an October 1995 storyline, in which one copy of his unnamed novel was written, but it failed to sell), an attorney (who once defended Peter Rabbit), a hockey player, an Olympic figure skater (who used to skate with Sonja Henie before ''he'' became "big time"), a world famous grocery checkout clerk who operated from the top of his dog house in an apron, the "Lone Beagle" (the first dog to fly solo across the Atlantic), a much rejected story writer and even the first astronaut to land on the moon. In "It's Flashbeagle, Charlie Brown", Snoopy becomes a Flash dancer named "Flashbeagle".
Outside of his fantasy life he is the shortstop for Charlie Brown's Little League team (and the best player, nearly passing Babe Ruth on the career home run list). Snoopy is also a "Beagle Scout", the ''Peanuts'' version of Eagle Scout and is the Scout leader for a troop comprised of Woodstock and his other bird friends. This Scouting theme reappears throughout the comic strip.
Snoopy loves root beer and cookies, hates coconut candy, gets claustrophobia in tall weeds, and is deathly afraid of icicles dangling over his doghouse. Snoopy also has the uncanny ability to play fetch with soap bubbles, and can hear someone eating marshmallows or cookies at a distance, or even peeling a banana. Snoopy is also capable of disappearing, like the Cheshire Cat from Alice in Wonderland, as shown in an extended strip, whenever Charlie Brown reads the book to him. ("Grins are easy. Noses are hard. Ears are almost impossible.")
He can also use his ears to fly about as a "whirlydog". Snoopy even became a canine helicopter, with Woodstock piloting. This gag appeared in the strip several times, most famously rescuing Linus from the top of a barn after being commissioned by Sally. When asked by Linus where he learned to pilot, Woodstock replied in his usual apostrophes, which Linus interpreted as meaning "'Nam".
Snoopy "understands a little French." His dog food brand is called "For Dogs who flew in World War I and understand a little French." He failed his high school geometry course, which was his excuse for not being able to follow a golf course's 90 degree golf cart driving rule.
Snoopy has his own little dance, variously known as The Beagle, the Suppertime Dance, or simply the Snoopy Dance. Most often he dances at suppertime and has broken his foot from being too excited. One strip includes a joke that he has forgotten the steps.
At least twice Snoopy climbed trees -- once to rescue Schroeder's piano and once after Frieda's cat Faron. Both times he fell out of the tree.
Every Veterans Day, Snoopy dresses as an army veteran and goes to army cartoonist Bill Mauldin's house to "drink root beer and tell war stories".^[3]
Snoopy wears contacts, as explained in a strip where he lost them.

Puppyhood and siblings

Main articles: Snoopy's siblings

Over the course of the strip's run, it was revealed that Snoopy had been born and raised at the Daisy Hill Puppy Farm. His father used to run with hunting dogs, but would secretly run ahead and warn the rabbits. His mother is famous for her tapioca pudding, and in a 1990s Peanuts strip, came over on a WWI- era troopship to visit Snoopy and Spike, who had been ill with the flu. Out of all his brothers and sisters, Snoopy's brother Olaf was sold last. Before they were sold, Snoopy and his brothers made a band and one by one each was sold. Snoopy's original owner was a little girl named Lila, who had to return him to Daisy Hill after her family moved to an apartment where dogs were forbidden. In the film ''Snoopy's Reunion'', Snoopy and his brother and sisters get to together at Daisy Hill Puppy Farm for a picnic, but sadly find out that it was demolished for a multi-level car park.
Shortly after his return to the farm, Snoopy was selected by Charlie Brown's parents as a companion for him. At one point in the series, Charlie Brown said that his parents bought Snoopy for him to cheer him up after another child threw sand in his face while they were playing in a sandbox. In the late 1970s, Snoopy embarked upon a journey to visit Daisy Hill, only to find that the puppy farm had been replaced by a five-story parking garage, causing Snoopy to wail, "You stupid people! You're parking on my memories!"
Snoopy is usually depicted as having seven siblings, five of whom appear at some point in the strip: Andy, Belle, Marbles, Olaf, and Spike. Most often seen is Spike, who lives in the desert (near the real-life locale of Needles, California) and is friends with saguaro cacti. Spike is very thin, wears a fedora and has long whiskers. As there is only one small area in California where saguaro cacti grow, Spike's home would be easy to find.
Andy looks like a disheveled version of Snoopy. Olaf, who wears a fur cap, is round in both body and face. Marbles is the smartest in the group. He has spots on his fur, wears shoes, and considers some of Snoopy's behavior very odd. Belle, who looks like Snoopy with long eyelashes, is most notable in that there was a Belle stuffed animal available for many years. Although Snoopy often mentions that he was one of eight puppies, the two other siblings never appeared in the comic strip. According to the animated special ''Snoopy's Reunion'', they are named Molly and Rover. They all play in a country band in that special, with Snoopy on the acoustic guitar.
Many years before his siblings appeared, Snoopy referred to himself as an "only dog" who had no brothers or sisters.

Other relationships

Snoopy's owner is, of course, Charlie Brown. Early in the strip, he appeared to be a stray dog whom Charlie Brown and his friends had adopted —- or vice versa —- but eventually it became clear that he was Charlie Brown's dog. Snoopy has a fairly indifferent relationship with Charlie Brown. Charlie Brown's tormentor Lucy once demanded to know when he would be taking Snoopy to obedience classes; Snoopy wondered what would be the point, since Charlie Brown already did everything that Snoopy wanted. Snoopy almost never remembers his owner's name, usually referring to him as "that round-headed kid". Though rarely conveyed, it is clear that Snoopy does actually love Charlie Brown, or at the very least acknowledge that he is completely dependent on the boy, and in precious occasions show him genuine affection, particularly if they reunite after long partings.
His relationship with the other human characters is no more cordial than with Charlie Brown. Snoopy's deft and droll throwaway lines are an effective foil to Lucy's barbed remarks, making him less put-upon than the besieged Charlie Brown or the slightly hapless Linus. He often torments Linus by grabbing one end of the blanket, twirling Linus around and letting him go flying. On March 2, 1958, he declared himself the first dog to launch a human being. When Linus began to wear eyeglasses, Snoopy would abscond with them.
Snoopy's best friend and confidante is the undersized yellow bird Woodstock, who only "speaks" in apostrophe marks.
His arch-enemy (other than the Red Baron) is the unseen, vicious cat next door During one series of daily strips, Snoopy antagonized the cat each day, and the cat's paw made one giant slash move that, day by day, decimated Snoopy's freshly-rebuilt doghouse to a greater extent than the day before. In fact Snoopy reviled all cats generally, once remarking that they were "the crab grass on the lawn of life" and taking umbrage at the expression "cats and dogs", insisting that the proper expression was always "dogs and cats". Before "World War II" there was Frieda's cat "Faron" who appeared in a few strips with Snoopy. (One time to Snoopy's embarrassment he found himself "babysitting" "Faron"!)
For a while in 1977, Snoopy was engaged to an unseen female dog he met while on guard duty at Peppermint Patty's house. However, she ran off with his best man and brother Spike before the wedding had started, then eventually leaving Spike and running off with a coyote. (This story was later adapted as the animated special ''Snoopy's Getting Married, Charlie Brown'', albeit his bride-to-be ran off with a golden retriever in the special.)
He had also been engaged to another unseen female dog, a beagle, who Snoopy met at an ice skating rink. In this case, Snoopy nearly got married, and even said he would hire his wife a French Poodle maid, but the girl beagle's father forbade it, saying he could never allow his daughter to marry an obedience school dropout. Snoopy was heartbroken, and tried to forget his love by eating, but for the first time, food failed him.
And, in 1971, while getting caught in the middle of a riot at the Daisy Hill Puppy Farm while making a patriotic speech, Snoopy met another unseen female dog "with soft paws", but, again, heartbreak was inevitable for Snoopy, as Charlie Brown broke the news to him that a love letter he'd sent her never got to her; she'd been sold away and therefore was no longer at the Daisy Hill Puppy Farm. Snoopy was devastated: "What do you do when the girl you love more than anything else is taken away from you and you know you're never going to see her again for as long as you live?? What do you do??" Snoopy immediately answers himself: "Back to eating!"
He is the mascot of MetLife since its name change in the 1980s. He is also featured in logos for Cedar Point and Dorney Park & Wildwater Kingdom, both amusement parks owned by Cedar Fair Entertainment Company.

Doghouse

On December 12, 1958, Snoopy slept on top of his doghouse, rather than inside it, for the first time. Many readers wonder what prevents Snoopy from falling off the pointy top of his dog house. One strip ascribed it to his ears, which "lock" him to the top, similar to a bird's ability to remain on a branch after falling asleep. Thereafter, Snoopy was seldom seen to venture inside the doghouse, except to retrieve something, instead spending the bulk of his time sitting or lying on its pitched roof.
Despite Snoopy's tendency to stay outside in all weather (in some cases even allowing snow to accumulate on his supine body, and wearing a snorkel when it rains, which even Charlie Brown doesn't know), a running gag establishes that the interior of Snoopy's doghouse was something extraordinary. It defied physics, being dramatically larger on the inside than the outside, with a carpeted foyer, a den, a library, a guest room, a stairway and a basement. The first indication of the doghouse's unique layout occurred on January 31, 1954 when Charlie Brown was puzzled to see all his neighbourhood friends crawling into it for a visit. The doghouse was destroyed several times over the years, being hit by a tree due to a chase over Linus' blanket (July 26, 1959), crushed by a large icicle (February 13, 1960), and finally burned to the ground (September 19, 1966). In each case the doghouse was soon rebuilt. Although individual items were lost in the fire, each replacement doghouse appears to have retained the spaciousness and opulence of its predecessor.
The interior was decorated with several pricey acquisitions including a painting by Van Gogh, first mentioned on February 29, 1964. After the fire destroyed the Van Gogh, it was replaced by an Andrew Wyeth. At various times the interior of Snoopy's doghouse also held bunk beds, a pool table, a ping pong table, a television, a mural (painted by Linus), a shower, a cedar closet, a grandfather clock, and a jacuzzi.³
Features established in the television specials include a fine kitchen (''A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving''), and sound equipment (''A Boy Named Charlie Brown''). In ''It's Magic, Charlie Brown'', Snoopy enters his dog house and the underground interior is depicted as spacious and well equipped for anything he needs.
The doghouse is also used a prop for Snoopy many times, often imagined as a World War I "Sopwith Camel" fighting plane, in which Snoopy uses to do battle with the Red Baron. During his 'aerial' fights with the Baron, Snoopy's house often suffers from bullet holes and occasionally crashes. However, this seems to solely take place in Snoopy's imagination, as the house is in perfect shape later.

Snoopy and aviation

★ Following the disastrous Apollo I fire, Snoopy became the official mascot of aerospace safety, testing and the rebuilding of the Apollo Program, due to his refusal to accept defeat and his "'outside the doghouse' way of looking at things." A series of Snoopy-in-Space ("Astrobeagle") products arrived with this campaign, and originals are still prized.

★ The ''Apollo 10'' lunar module was nicknamed "Snoopy" and the command module "Charlie Brown". While not included in the official mission logo, Charlie Brown and Snoopy became semi-official mascots for the mission, as seen here ^[4] and here. Schulz also drew some special mission-related artwork for NASA , and at least one regular strip related to the mission, where Charlie Brown consoles Snoopy about how the spacecraft named after him was left in lunar orbit.

★ A series of postage stamps featuring Snoopy as a World War I flying ace was released on May 17, 2001 in Santa Rosa, California.

★ Snoopy, piloting his "Sopwith Camel" (i.e. his doghouse), is featured in the logo of Charles M. Schulz - Sonoma County Airport.

★ Snoopy is the US Air Force Technical Control mascot. He can be seen on the Tech Control emblem holding an old analog patch cord above his head as he walks on water.

★ During the Gulf War Snoopy appeared as nose art on several aircraft. He remains a popular image in air forces that still allow crews to customize the appearance of their planes.

★ Snoopy is the name of a U.S. Air Force B-58 Hustler bomber modified to test a radar system. ^[5]

★ Snoopy is the name of the primary research vehicle of Check-Six.com Click here.

★ The black-and-white communications helmets that are worn as part of NASA spacesuits, carrying radio earphones and microphones, are universally known as "Snoopy caps," due to the resemblance of the white center and black outer sections to Snoopy's head.

★ In 1966, the "Ace" was immortalized in song by the Royal Guardsmen with their hit, ''Snoopy Vs. The Red Baron''. This was followed in 1967 by ''Snoopy's Christmas'', in which the two foes temporarily set aside their differences for a Christmas toast. ''Snoopy's Christmas'' continues to be played as a holiday favorite on most "oldie" radio stations.

★ The Silver Snoopy is a special honor, in the form of a sterling silver pin that has flown on a Shuttle mission. It is given by an astronaut to someone who works in the space program and has gone above and beyond in pursuit of quality and safety.^[6]

★ Snoopy One and Snoopy Two are two airships owned and operated by MetLife and provide aerial coverage of American sporting events. ^[7]

References

1. "Snoopy, Charlie Brown et les autres. L'album de famille de Schulz. ISBN 978-27-3242-681-5
2. Groth, Gary (December 1997). "Charles Schulz at 3 o'clock in the morning". ''The Comics Journal'', p. 27 (flip).
3. Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) about Charles Schulz and his Peanuts cartoon strip
4. Picture of Charlie Brown and Snoopy on Apollo 10
5. http://www.check-six.com/Crash_Sites/B-52s_in_the_desert.htm
6. Space Flight Awareness Awards: SFA Silver Snoopy
7. http://www.metlife.com/Applications/Corporate/WPS/CDA/PageGenerator/0,4132,P322,00.html

External links

★ The complete text of Snoopy's ''It Was a Dark and Stormy Night''