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Subject: Charlie Brown
Posted by: barilko6
- [421150249] Fri, Feb 11, 2005, 10:26
A bit off topic, but I need to settle a bet with our secretary here...
Does anyone know if Charlie Brown ever actually won a baseball game or kicked the football from that dastardly Lucy Van Pelt?
I specifically remember one of those two things happening, but can't seem to locate proof.
Ahh...the indepth arguments we have here at the office...
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| 1 | beastiemiked
ID: 4310501610
Fri, Feb 11, 2005, 10:40
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I know he won a baseball game but there was more to the story. I think Snoopy might've played a role in the win or something.
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| 2 | J
Leader
ID: 049346417
Fri, Feb 11, 2005, 11:27
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our office argument today is, whether or not the hand in The Addams Family had a name or not.
Anyone got an answer on this one?
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| 3 | beastiemiked
ID: 4310501610
Fri, Feb 11, 2005, 11:33
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"Thing"
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| 4 | Tosh
Leader
ID: 057721710
Fri, Feb 11, 2005, 12:37
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Charlie Brown's team won a game on a walk-off walk by Rerun ... but this win was taken away because it was discovered that Snoopy bet a nickle against his own team.
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In a most historic moment on March 30, 1993....the great-grand-daughter of Roy Hobbs is pitching for the opposing team. In his final at bat of the season, Charlie Brown gives a might swing to a fastball, and actually hits a home run to win the game!.....his first ever home run in 43 years.
link
link2
I'm not sure about the football.
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| 5 | Mattinglyinthehall
ID: 2824911
Fri, Feb 11, 2005, 12:46
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Tosh, from link2:Charlie Brown is also an avid kite-flyer, but his kites keep landing in a "kite-eating tree" or suffering even worse fates. Every Fall his friend Lucy promises to hold a football for Charlie Brown to kick, and every year she pulls it away as he follows through, causing him to fly in the air and land painfully on his back. He was only allowed to kick the football once, in the early 1990s.
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| 6 | Tosh
Leader
ID: 057721710
Fri, Feb 11, 2005, 23:56
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I want part of the proceeds of your bet for this one -
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BASEBALL
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4.17) Has Charlie Brown's baseball team ever won a game?
Folks take for granted -- mainly because Charlie Brown himself reinforces the notion -- that his baseball team has remained "win-less" all these years. While ample evidence exists that things go pretty badly ("We always seem to lose the first game of the season and the last game of the season ... and all the stupid games in between!"), in point of fact ol' Chuck's team HAS won a few.
In sequence, they are:
4/26/58: Just prior to the first game of the season, Charlie Brown winds up home in bed, feeling sick. Lucy leads the gang into his bedroom later that day, and triumphantly proclaims, "We didn't do anything you told us! In fact, we didn't even miss you!" And, as a result, the team won the game. (This sequence reprinted in "Peanuts Revisited.")
6/10/65: Having (as usual) been shipped off to camp for the summer, Charlie Brown receives a letter from Linus, which says, among other things, "I suppose you are worried about your baseball team. Well, don't worry ... we're doing fine ... in fact, yesterday we won the first game we've won all season!" (This sequence reprinted in "You Need Help, Charlie Brown.")
8/5/66: After getting hit on the head with a line drive (a few days earlier, on 8/2) and being forced to spend the rest of the game on the bench, ol' Chuck's team triumphs again. "We won, Charlie Brown!" Lucy shouts. "We won the game!" (This sequence reprinted in "The Unsinkable Charlie Brown.")
8/16/68: Thrown into a tizzy when he notices the Little Red-Haired Girl watching the game from the stands, Charlie Brown gets the shakes so badly that he cannot pitch the game. Relief pitcher Linus takes over, and the team wins! (This sequence reprinted in "You've Had It, Charlie Brown.")
4/22-23/69: When Peppermint Patty and Franklin both finds themselves unable to field an entire team, they reluctantly tell Charlie Brown that his team has won by forfeit ... both times. Alas, the two-game winning streak ends the next day, when "the other team" (we don't know whose) shows up. (This sequence also reprinted in "You've Had It, Charlie Brown.")
4/9/73: When the opposing team has trouble pitching to Rerun because of his small size, the little guy walks in the winning run, and Linus triumphantly shouts, "We won! We won, Charlie Brown!" Alas, the Little League president eventually takes the game away because of gambling: Rerun, ever the loyal player, bet Snoopy a nickel that his team would win. (This sequence reprinted in "You're the Guest of Honor, Charlie Brown.")
3/30/93: With Royanne Hobbs pitching against him, Charlie Brown hits his first-ever home run (in the ninth inning) and brings his team to victory. (This sequence reprinted in "Dogs Are Worth It.")
6/29/93: Once again facing Royanne Hobbs, Charlie Brown hits ANOTHER home run, and brings his team to victory again! (This sequence also reprinted in "Dogs Are Worth It.") Of course, both these home runs prove to be bittersweet victories ... but ol' Chuck really doesn't care!
Eagle-eyed detail-spotter Tim Chow also came up with some likely, albeit non-specific, instances:
6/9/58: On the verge of pitching to "this last man," Charlie Brown is told by Schroeder that if he gets the guy out, "the championship will be ours!" It therefore would seem that ol' Chuck's team must've won some games along the way, in order for this to be possible. Alas, the pitch is returned as a high fly ball, which Charlie Brown himself drops. (This sequence reprinted in "But We Love You, Charlie Brown.")
7/29/63: "If we can hold 'em this inning," Lucy says, "We'll win the championship!" The argument above can be repeated here, but the results are even worse: Charlie Brown loads the bases and then balks in the tying and winning runs. (This sequence reprinted in "As You Like It, Charlie Brown.")
3/19/64: During an extended sequence that begins on 3/2, Charlie Brown's arm begins to hurt during a game; subsequent X-rays reveal that he has "little leaguer's elbow," and his arm winds up in a sling for an unspecified number of games. Linus takes over the pitching duties, and on this particular day, Lucy comments to Charlie Brown, "Do you realize we haven't lost a game since you had to stop pitching?" It's also interesting to note that when ol' Chuck does return to the field, he plays third base! (This sequence reprinted in "As You Like It, Charlie Brown.")
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FOOTBALL
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Also according this site, Charlie Brown never kicked the football in a comic strip, but did only once, in a TV special, that Charles Shultz did not have total control over.
4.23) The football gags
Of all the running jokes with which poor ol' Charlie Brown has been associated, none has a richer history -- nor a longer one -- that his attempts to kick the football.
The fourth quarter of each year brought Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas and Lucy's latest clever little ruse to persuade Charlie Brown to try one more time ... and her equally creative excuse for yet another failure.
With just a few exceptions, these Sunday strips appeared every September or October since the strip hit its stride in the late 1950s. That's a lot of decades, and a lot of excuses ... which probably explains why Schulz skipped a few years, here and there. Can we blame him for not having come up with a new scheme every year???
But how did it all begin?
Believe it or not, with Violet, rather than Lucy.
Yep, Charlie Brown's very first failed kick took place when Violet held the ball for him, in the 11/14/51 daily strip. Clearly worried that he might accidentally kick her hand, she pulls away at the last second while saying, "I can't go through with it!"
Disbelievers can find this strip reprinted in PEANUTS.
Lucy's involvement began with the 11/16/52 Sunday strip, which can be seen in PEANUTS: A GOLDEN CELEBRATION. This was shortly after Lucy had been introduced, when she still looked (and was) several years younger than Charlie Brown. Aside from that, all the classic elements were in place ... and, as she pulled the football away at the last second, she explained, "I was afraid your shoes might be dirty."
But this concept did not become a regular, annual feature until 12/16/56, by which time Lucy had "grown" and become Charlie Brown's peer. Beginning with this strip, and nearly every year since, we've been treated to yet another wonderful reason for Charlie Brown's failure.
What follows is a dated list of these strips, along with the reason for Chuck's flat-on-his-back disgrace. Unless otherwise indicated, the speaker is always Lucy.
"I'll give you a million dollars (to try again)." (12/16/56 -- Needless to say, she didn't)
"I'm a changed person ... isn't this a face you can trust?" (9/22/57)
"I give you my bonded word." (9/21/58)
"You have to learn to be trusting..." (10/4/59)
"The odds now are really in your favor!!" (10/16/60)
This time, Chuck himself pulls back at the last moment, expecting to catch Lucy in the act. This prompts her to say, "Don't you trust anyone any more?" He then tries for real, with predictable results. (9/10/61)
Charlie Brown works himself into this old loop: "This time she knows I know she knows..." (9/30/62)
"A woman's handshake is not legally binding." (9/1/63)
"Peculiar thing about this document ... it was never notarized." (10/4/64)
(Lucy seems to be dozing.) "We fanatics are light sleepers, Charlie Brown." (10/17/65)
The ball is jerked away by a chance muscle spasm ... a "ten-billion-to-one" muscle spasm. (9/25/66)
Lucy promises a surprise: The results are the same, but then she says, "Would you like to see how that looked on instant replay?" (10/1/67)
"Look at the innocence in my eyes." (9/29/68)
(Lucy cries over his lack of faith.) "Never listen to a woman's tears, Charlie Brown." (9/28/69)
"How long, O Lord?" Charlie Brown wails, flat on his back. "How long? All your life, Charlie Brown ... all your life." (10/11/70)
"This year's football was pulled away from you through the courtesy of women's lib." (9/26/71)
He tries to hedge his bets by seeking advice at Lucy's psychiatric booth, but... "Unfortunately, Charlie Brown, your average psychiatrist knows very little about kicking footballs." (10/8/72)
Lucy beguiles him with a riddle: "What are the three things in life that are certain?" "Death and taxes," he muses, running, "and..." (11/11/73)
She shows him a theater-style program that guarantees success, but... "In every program, Charlie Brown, there are always a few last-minute
changes." (10/13/74)
She accuses him of mistrusting all women, including his mother. "I'm not your mother, Charlie Brown." (10/19/75)
She tells him she's going to pull it away, but he seems not to hear her. "Men never really listen to what women are saying, do they?" (9/12/76)
"Just watch my eyes." (But she wears sunglasses.) (10/9/77)
She gives him a banana before he begins his run, which initially puzzles him. "Bananas are high in potassium, Charlie Brown, which promotes healing
of muscles." (10/1/78)
In 1979, Charlie Brown winds up in the hospital for surgery. In a fit of desperation, Lucy promises not to pull the football away the next time, if only he'll get better. Well, he obviously gets better, and all the neighborhood kids await the results. This multi-week "novelette" climaxes in the 8/2/79 daily strip, when she doesn't pull the ball away ... but Charlie Brown misses and kicks her arm instead!
By the following year, though, Lucy is up to her usual tricks: "To every thing there is a season ... and a time to pull away the football." (11/16/80)
"Again, Charlie Brown ... and again, and again and again." (11/29/81)
She mutters vaguely about symbolism, but still pulls the ball away. "Somehow, I've missed the symbolism," he says. "You also missed the ball, Charlie Brown," she replies. (10/10/82)
What seems something of a climax: Charlie Brown rebels and walks away, emphatically saying, "I'm just glad you're the only person in the world who thinks I'm dumb enough to fall for that trick again." But, in the last panel, he sees more footballs held by Snoopy, Woodstock, Sally, Peppermint Patty and Marcie. This strip appears on the back cover of I'M NOT YOUR SWEET BABBOO (but not inside, oddly enough) and also in YOU DON'T LOOK 35, CHARLIE BROWN. (10/16/83)
A rare stand-alone daily strip: During a phone call in which Peppermint Patty complains about Marcie's lack of sports ability, she (Peppermint Patty) concludes by saying, "She'll never be a football player ... some people never learn, do they?" Hearing Lucy calling him from outside, where she's holding the football yet again, Charlie Brown truthfully answers, "No, we don't." (10/13/84)
And, for a few years, it seemed as though that would be it. 1984 and 1985 passed without our annual Sunday treat. But the gimmick returned in
1986, although the pattern had become a bit different. Henceforth, rather than being tricked into trying to kick the ball, Charlie Brown simply approaches this annual rite of humiliation as though it were an obligation ... along the lines of attending church each Sunday. The excuses, and Lucy's remarks, became more introspective and philosophical.
"You look forward all year to a special moment, and before you know it, it's over." (10/19/86)
(She checks a pocket calendar.) "This is the only time I can really fit you in." (10/4/87)
"It's so sad ... eventually everything in life just becomes routine." (10/23/88)
"Think how the years go by, Charlie Brown ... think of the regrets you'll have if you never risk anything..." (10/1/89)
"I've been reading this book about holding the ball," she insists, in an early panel. But, then... "I wrote the book, Charlie Brown." (9/29/91)
"I've discovered," Sally comments, as she watches this annual ritual, "that love makes us do strange things." "So does stupidity," her brother explains, wanting her to understand the distinction. (10/11/92)
Lucy proudly displays a new ball, but... "It suddenly occurred to me that if I let you kick it, it wouldn't be new anymore..." (10/3/93)
"How often do you think you can fool someone with the same trick?" Sally demands, watching her brother walk outside. "Pretty often, huh?" she says, a few panels later. (10/16/94)
"If she pulls the ball away," Charlie Brown promises, "I'll sue." He's followed in the final panel by Snoopy in his Joe Attorney outfit ... and, in an unexpected development, we don't see him miss! (Neither do we see him succeed.) (10/29/95)
"Symbolism, Charlie Brown! The ball! The desire! The triumph! It's all there!" (10/20/96)
"People change ... times change ... you can feel it in the air." (9/21/97)
"I have a new positive attitude," Charlie Brown announces. "I can't believe it," Lucy replies. "...you talk the talk and you walk the walk." And then, after the inevitable... "But you don't kick the kick." (11/15/98)
Forced to retire from the field to eat lunch, Lucy leaves the football in Rerun's capable hands. When he walks into the house a few minutes later, she demands to know what happened. "You'll never know," the little fellow answers, at which point she wails with frustration. (And we don't know, either!) (10/24/99)
And that, of course, is where it stopped. We're left to wonder if, during that final attempt, ol' Chuck actually WAS successful...
link
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| 7 | Great One
ID: 150113019
Sun, Feb 13, 2005, 10:53
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The Voodoo Glow Skulls played their song Charlie Brown last night at the show I was at. Great tune. :) of course my boys Streetlight Manifesto were still the highlight as the blew the roof off the Starland Ballroom. Amazing. Just amazing.
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