Attending and often abetting Snoopy in his fantasies was his little yellow bird buddy Woodstock, who took to hanging out at the doghouse while he failed to get the knack of the whole 'migrating' deal. Over the years Snoopy would invent literally dozens of alternate personae, the most famous of which is the WWI Flying Ace, perpetually locked in combat with the Red Baron. Nominally Charlie Brown's pet, he actually lived in an incredibly rich world of his own imagination, acknowledging the existence of 'that round-headed kid' only when hungry. Then there was Snoopy, beagle extraordinaire. She was Charlie Brown's Ideal, and thus in a sense everyone's, so Schulz wisely let each of those readers envision her for themselves. One unique character, The Little Red-Haired Girl, was never seen and never heard (except in certain TV specials, but as Schulz made very clear, those don't count). 'Peppermint' Patty, the tough Tomboy from across town, and Marcie, her meek bespectacled acolyte, were frequent visitors. Supporting cast included Charlie's little sister Sally, a ditz-in-embryo whose literal streak was only equalled by her crush on an appalled Linus Schroeder, a handsome neighbor boy who - much to Lucy's chagrin - lived only to play Beethoven on his toy piano (with painted-on black keys), and Franklin, the smart black kid who quietly integrated the strip in the late 1960s. Alternately aiding and exasperating him in his quest were his best friend Linus, a philosopher who sucked his thumb and carried a security blanket, and Linus' big sister Lucy, a bossy, brassy self-described 'fussbudget' who already knew what the universe's problem was: It never asked her what to do. Charlie Brown developed from a standard 'lovable loser' into a sensitive and intelligent Everyman, whose relentless track record of failure meant he struggled perpetually with the Really Big Questions. Over the years, the strip became famous for its psychological realism, bordering on an all-out satire of more typically sentimental kiddie comics, though it arguably took a turn away from the philosophical toward more direct comedy relatively early in its run (around 1970). When the kids aren't in school, they're usually playing baseball or having conversations while leaning on a brick wall. (This was due to the editor's restrictions on the strip: to fit the kids in at a decent size in the small panels, he put the "camera" at their height and did away with anyone taller.) The strip's cast grew as time went on - well, sort of consensus is their age topped out at about 6 (Linus and Sally) to 8 (Charlie Brown, Lucy et al.) - but adults were always conspicuous by their absence, famously represented by unintelligible offscreen 'wah-whah' noises in the TV specials. The strip originated as Li'l Folks, a feature Schulz drew for his hometown newspaper. The stars of the strip are Charlie Brown, whom Schulz named for a fellow instructor at the Art School of Minneapolis, and his dog Snoopy. Paul, Minnesota barber, wrote and drew Peanuts for 49 years, 3 months and 1 day (1950-2000).
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