Annotations of The Complete Peanuts/1965 to 1966

Annotations to The Complete Peanuts: 1965 to 1966 by Charles M. Schulz (Fantagraphics Books, 2007. ISBN 1560977248)

• p. 2 (January 3, 1965). Billiard balls were made from elephant ivory from the 17th century until the early 20th century. English is a term referring to putting a spin on the cue ball by striking the ball off-center with the cue.

• p. 4 (January 9, 1965). Annette Funicello was an original cast member of The Mickey Mouse Club TV show in 1955, when she was 13 years old. This strip was published on the day of her wedding to Jack Gilardi.

• p. 13 (January 30, 1965). “I could have skated all night“ presumably refers to the song "I Could Have Danced All Night" from the musical My Fair Lady.

• p. 28 (March 4, 1965). A cinch notice is an official notice from a teacher that your grades are unsatisfactory.

• p. 32 (March 14, 1965). The first reference in Peanuts to the kite-eating tree.

• p. 47 (April 18, 1965). In baseball, a bean ball is a ball thrown by a pitcher directly at a player with the intent of hitting them. The Children's Crusade was a possibly legendary event that occurred in 1212 during The Crusades. The incident at Harper’s Ferry was an attempt by abolitionist John Brown to start a slave revolt in 1859.

• p. 52 (April 30, 1965). In the sixth chapter of Daniel, Daniel is thrown into a lions’ den for refusing to stop praying to his god. See also October 20, 1963.

• p. 54 (May 5, 1965). First mention of Snoopy's siblings. First mention of the "Daisy Hill Puppy Farm."

• p. 70 (June 11, 1965). Roy’s first appearance. Roy was best known for later introducing Peppermint Patty to the rest of the cast. See August 22, 1966.

• p. 75 (June 23, 1965). At the time of this strip, the phrase À gogo was supposed to mean modern or up-to-date. The actual meaning of À gogo is “plenty” or “galore”.

• p. 84 (July 12, 1965). First instance of Snoopy writing "It was a dark and stormy night." The sentence is taken from the novel Paul Clifford by Edward Bulwer-Lytton.

• p. 96 (August 9, 1965). There are several meanings claimed for 'hodad', but it appears that Schulz is referring to someone who brings a surfboard to the beach but never surfs, i.e. a poser.

• p. 97 (August 14, 1965). It is difficult to know if this is a reference to the Houston Astrodome, which opened in April 1965 with natural grass as the playing surface. The grass soon died due to painted-over skylights, but artificial grass was not installed until 1966.

• p. 98 (August 15, 1965). The phone number given in the last panel was actually the phone number of producer Lee Mendelson, who at the time was working on the very first animated Peanuts special, A Charlie Brown Christmas.

• p. 99 (August 19, 1965). Brahms' Symphony No. 4 in e minor, op. 98.

• p. 102 (August 24, 1965). An Australian phrase meaning an all-out effort. "Bush" is Australian slang for a sparsely populated area or for wilderness. An equivalent phrase in American English would be "The Super Bowl or bust!"

• p. 107 (September 5, 1965). Lucy's comments on the relationship between sin and personal misfortune reflects the conception of happiness in the Old Testament. She will often come back to it again, for example in the doghouse fire series (see p. 271, September 24, 1966).

• p. 109 (September 9, 1965). The phrase “It is far better to light the candle than to curse the darkness” originated in a sermon from a 1907 collection titled “The Supreme Conquest and Other Sermons Preached in America” by William L. Watkinson. Slight paraphrases are widespread, including one which was used by the founder of Amnesty International and which inspired their logo.

• p. 113 (September 19, 1965). Lord Jim is a novel by Joseph Conrad , while the 1812 Overture is a well known piece of orchestral music composed by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky.

• p. 120 (October 6, 1965). See April 22, 1964.

• p. 122 (October 10, 1965). Snoopy’s first appearance in his most famous persona, the World War I flying ace. The Sopwith Camel was a British single seat fighter aircraft employed by the allies at the end of World War I. The Red Baron was a nickname for German fighter pilot Manfred von Richthofen, the highest scoring German ace of the First World War.

• p. 129 (October 26, 1965). In the last panel, the phrase “ you try harder” is a reference to the corporate motto of Avis Rent a Car. At the time, Avis conducted an extensive advertising campaign around the phrase “We’re number two because we try harder” versus the leading rental car company, Hertz.

• p. 135 (November 8, 1965). The beginning of Mark Antony's speech in Shakespeare's Julius Caesar, Act III scene 2.

• p. 144 (November 29, 1965). Amblyopia is a visual deficiency in an eye that is otherwise physically normal. Schulz calls Sally’s condition Amblyopia ex anopsia, but the symptoms and treatment sound more like Stabismic amblyopia. Sally will continue to wear the eye patch in most strips until May 1966.

• p. 147 (December 6, 1965). In 1951, the Hathaway shirt company ran its first advertisement that featured a distinguished man in a shirt and tie and wearing an eyepatch. The ad campaign was extremely successful and "The Man in the Hathaway Shirt" became the icon for the company.

• p. 147 (December 8, 1965). Long John Silver is a pirate character from the novel Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson.

• p. 168 (January 24, 1966). Schulz repeats the same gag on December 20, 1966. See p. 309.

• p. 175 (February 12, 1966). The quotation in panel 3 is from Psalm 35, verses 1 and 15.

• p. 177 (February 15, 1966). See September 28, 1964.

• p. 192 (March 21, 1966). Fort Zinderneuf is the main setting of the novel and film Beau Geste, which is about French Foreign Legionnaires. Other references to Beau Geste appear in April 1966 strips.

• p. 194 (March 27, 1966). The baseball teams that Linus lists are the National League and the American League second place winner for each year.

• p. 210 (May 3, 1966). Commissioner Eckert was Commissioner of Baseball William Eckert, who was commissioner between 1965 and 1968.

• p. 215 (May 15, 1966). There is an interesting mismatch between the daily strip and the Sunday strip here—Linus, who has moved away in the daily strip is present for the baseball game in the Sunday strip!

• p. 216 (May 18, 1966). In the last panel, Schroeder is referring to another piece of music from the musical My Fair Lady, "I've Grown Accustomed to Her Face".

• p. 232 (June 23, 1966). The quotation is from Jeremiah 31, verses 16-17. Linus' speech happens at a time of rising anxiety in America about the sudden escalation of the Vietname War.

• p. 248 (July 31, 1966). K.P. stands for "kitchen patrol" or “kitchen police“, military slang for kitchen duties.

• p. 253 (August 11, 1966). Snoopy describes the Allies position at the battle of saint-Mihiel.

• p. 255 (August 16, 1966). Apparently a reference to the German word "Kamerad" (comrade) which was used as a term for surrender.

• p. 258 (August 22, 1966). The first appearance of Peppermint Patty.

• p. 262 (September 1, 1966). Leonard Bernstein was a famous conductor and composer of the time.

• p. 294 (November 15, 1966). In the late 1960’s and early 1970’s, “fuzz” was slang for the police.

• p. 307 (December 17, 1966). The quotation is from Act II, Scene II of Romeo and Juliet.

• p. 309 (December 20, 1966). Schulz had drawn the same gag on January 24, 1966. See p. 168.