1985-1989: Lucy is Sad
31. October 19, 1986
This year starts off with a contemplative Lucy. Kneeling, with the football in her hands, she stares off into the distance. She looks plaintive, nostalgic. She thinks "Once a year . . . just once a year . . ." The strange thing about this reflection, though, is that there was no football routine in 1985. It has been two years. Did Lucy forget last year? Has she forgotten that she forgot? If Schroeder can forgot Beethoven's birthday--three times, no less, 1957, 1961, and 1967), nothing is impossible. So why is she thinking "once a year" anyway? Somehow, the missed year (and the missing of the missed year--the absence of a football routine in 1985 is never commented on) has made Lucy nostalgic. She will continue in this mood for the rest of the 1980s. This seems like a good place to remember that Charlie Brown has long shown an awareness of the recurrence of the football routine--witness his numerous "again" statements over the years. Lucy has reflected on past years less frequently. Time, as I have frequently discussed, flows strangely in Peanuts. Most of the main characters were introduced as babies or toddlers. When Lucy first appeared on March 3, 1952, she was a toddler who could not even count to two. Charlie Brown was noticeably older than her. In the first football routine in 1952, Lucy is still a toddler, and still noticeably younger than Charlie Brown. By 1956, when she clearly pulls the football away with the intention of making Charlie Brown miss, Lucy has aged to roughly Charlie Brown's age. Schroeder, Linus, and Sally are all introduced as babies. They reach their "mature" age within a few years, and they then stay this age for the next forty or so years. But not all the characters age in the same way. For example, Sally first appears as an infant on August 23, 1959, but she quickly ages to become a first-grader, which she remains until the end of Peanuts. Charlie Brown does not age at all as Sally gets older. The same thing happens with Linus, and later Rerun, in relation to their older sister, Lucy. While time does not progress chronologically in the strip (it is almost impossible to imagine a 60-year-old Charlie Brown), it does proceed in a cyclical nature. Certain days are noted nearly every year: New Year's, Valentine's Day, Easter, the first day of baseball season, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Beethoven's Birthday, Christmas. Occasionally, previous years are at least obliquely referred to--Linus is clearly aware that he has waited for the Great Pumpkin numerous times; Charlie Brown remembers past baseball seasons. By 1986, past football routines seem to be weighing on Lucy. Perhaps she is running out of ideas, out of justifications, tricks, and reasons to pull the football away. Or, maybe, Lucy works to conquer her own nostalgia by turning it into one more reason to pull the football away.
By the second panel, Lucy has returned to form. She looks off to the right and sings out "Charline Brownn . . ." When he appears, she makes the same old proposal, and Charlie Brown offers a similar response. "You must think I'm really stupid!" Lucy then springs her newest trap--she justifies the routine by noting that it is indeed a routine. "Please Charlie Brown . . . I look forward to this special moment all year . . . ." Her ploy works. Charlie Brown turns; as he walks away from the football, he says "I suppose if someone looks forward to something, it's wrong to spoil it . . ." Lucy has convince him. Since they have done this before, they should do it again. "Aaugh!" "Wham!"Charlie Brown's head spins as Lucy kneels next to him. She frowns and says "How depressing . . . You look forward all year to a special moment, and before you know it, it's over!" But, unlike most every other year, Lucy's statement made over a prone Charlie Brown is not the final panel--it's second to last. In the final panel, we see Lucy walking away with the football under her arm. She says, "It's so depressing." Behind her, Charlie Brown rises to his elbows, lifts his head, and says "I can't stand it!" What can't he stand? I think he cannot stand that Lucy has used nostalgia against him. He knows that she does not feel depressed. He knows that this will all happen again.
There is another difference worth noting in this strip. Charlie Brown proclaims that he is going to kick the football "clear to Bullhead City!" this year. While he has claimed that he would kick the ball out of the universe, or the moon (numerous times), Charlie Brown has never said he would kick the ball to a specific city. (He will come back to this idea a few more times). I had to go to my atlas to find Bullhead City. It is in the Mojave desert in Arizona, just across the river from Needles, California, which, of course, is the home of Snoopy's brother, Spike. The specificity of place mentioned here by Charlie Brown emphasizes the non-determined place of Peanuts. Most readers take for granted that it takes place in Minnesota, but we are never told that. Peanuts is often weirdly out of time; it is also out of place.
32. October 4, 1987
Lucy looks happy this year as she calls out "Charlie Brownnn . . . ." with three "n"s. Charlie Brown looks toward her and states, somewhat oddly, "Baseball season isn't even over yet." Charlie Brown's baseball team's season is indeed over; they lost their last game in the strips from September 21-25. Baseball season has been over for almost two weeks. What does Charlie Brown mean? Perhaps he is referring to a different baseball season. The last regular season game for Major League Baseball in 1987 was October 4. Depending on the time of day one read this strip, baseball season may or may not have been over. If you were from Minnesota, and were a Twins fan, baseball season was in fact, not over. The Twins clinched the American League East on September 28; they had been in first place for the whole month of September, so maybe Charlie Brown is making an oblique reference to the Twins making the playoffs. Of course, the Twins won the World Series in seven games over the Cardinals, so their season did not end until October 25. Has Schulz included a shout out to the Twins? This year and last year's football routine both reference specific places. Last year, Charlie Brown claimed he would kick the ball to Bullhead City; this year he claims that he will kick it "all the way to
Mount Rushmore." Maybe the "baseball season" line is another real-world place reference. Regardless, both Lucy and Charlie Brown note that they are doing the football routine "kind of early." A few football routines take place in early October (and a few take place even earlier, in September, and once in August), but many do happen later in October, and even in November and December. Lucy takes out her calendar and tells Charlie Brown "my appointment book is just about filled . . . " That is all that Charlie Brown needs to hear. As he walks away from the football Lucy says "This is the only time I can really fit you in . ." Charlie Brown replies "I guess everybody is busy these days . . . ." Neither one of them have said that they remember the faith Charlie Brown placed in documents in the 1960s (see especially 1964), but I bet they remember. "Wump!" Lucy is ready with her deadpan punchline. Like last year, she delivers it in the second to last panel, a close up of her from the shoulders up, as she looks at her appointment book. She says "I think I made a mistake . . . I have an open spot during the first part of November . . . Shall we try it again then?" The final panel shows us Charlie Brown lying prone, as he says "November will be fine . . . in the year 2000!" Thirteen years later, this line would have a strange poignancy. The last football routine strip ran on October 24, 1999. Charles Schulz died on February 12, 2000. The last Peanuts strip was published on February 13, 2000. Charlie Brown and Lucy did not meet up in November, 2000.
33. October 23, 1988
This year's routine returns to contemplation, even sadness. Lucy cradles the football and looks off to the right. She does not sing; she does not say anything at all. She is not smiling; she looks somewhat plaintive. Charlie Brown approaches, walking right to left in the next panel. He does not say anything either; he is virtually expressionless. Lucy's and Charlie Brown's eyes line up across the panels, even as Lucy is kneeling. It weirdly seems like they are making eye contact. Charlie Brown remains silent for the whole strip. Lucy does not speak until the last panel. Her face, especially considering that her eyes are just dots with a line next to them and her mouth is a short straight line, is incredibly expressive in this year's strip. In the third panel, she holds the football ready, but looks at Charlie Brown. He stares at the football. As he walks away, Lucy turns her gaze to the football. She looks sad. She has a small frown and her head is turned down. Charlie Brown looks determined as he runs toward the football. His mouth is partially open; his brow is furrowed. Lucy still looks sad as she pulls the ball away. Her expression has barely changed. She is not smiling; she does not look remotely pleased. Charlie Brown looks shocked as he flies through the air. But he remains silent! He does not exclaim "Augh!" Lucy watches him fall hard to the ground with a body-shaking "Wump" But even the "Wump" has no exclamation point. The final panel returns us to prone Charlie Brown lying on the ground, looking out toward us readers. But, as she speaks, Lucy does not lean over Charlie Brown. She does not even look at him. She kneels to his right, but she is staring into an empty space in front of her face; her look is downward, so she is not looking toward the reader, as Charlie Brown is. She is in her own mind. She says "It's so sad . . . Eventually everything in life just becomes routine . ." I cannot read this as a punchline. Lucy genuinely looks sad. This strip is the saddest of all the football routines.
34. October 1, 1989
Lucy seems to be in a better mood in 1989. She calls out "Charlie Brownnn . . . ." in a sing-songy way; she smiles when she makes the familiar proposition. Charlie Brown seems pretty much normal too. He cannot "believe it . ." when Lucy calls him. He replies to Lucy's proposition in the usual way "You'll pull it away, and I'll kill myself!" Lucy is ready with a response. "But think how the years go by, Charlie Brown . . Think of the regrets you'll have if you never risk anything . . . ." Charlie Brown falls for this speech. He holds his hand to his chin as he thinks about what Lucy says. As he walks away from the football, he says "Maybe she's right . . Before you know it, you're old and you haven't really done anything" Charlie Brown has been the same age since the 1950s; he does not get old. He runs up, planning to "kick the football all the way to the North Pole!" "Aaugh!" "Wham!" But maybe Lucy has not overcome last year's sadness. She has almost the same exact look on her face as she pulls the football away as she did in 1988. And she has no punchline. She does not get a chance to say anything after she pulls the football away. The second to last panel shows Charlie Brown crashing to the ground. The last panel shows a close up of Charlie Brown, propped up on his elbows with his head raised. He does not turn his head toward the reader, nor does he turn back toward Lucy. He looks past the left edge of the panel and says, "On the other hand, maybe it's better to just let the years go by . . . ." What is Lucy thinking? Is she sad again? She will take 1990 off from the football routine. There are only nine Charlie Brown and Lucy football strips left.
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