Charlie Brown and Snoopy on the ice, 1956
In the neighborhood of Peanuts, congruent with the houses and brick wall there is a skating rink frequently used by the kids. There is never shown to be a lake or body of water in the comic strip, characters would drive of out to the beach or summer camp instead, so the skating rink is likely man-made.
History[]
Peanuts begins to explore the skating rink when Charlie Brown and Shermy slip and slide on the ice on January 25, 1951. They quickly become excited about skating, and the next time they are seen in February shoveling and making their own rink- this, however, is much smaller and is likely not the main one, or an iteration if it at best. Schroeder soon grows up, and in February 1955 he is an avid hockey fan. Snoopy also develops his personality by the mid-50s and in 1956 Snoopy and Violet skate around for the first time. His excitement is marred by his falling through the ice soon after, and Charlie Brown begrudgingly wraps him in his big fur coat. Snoopy, however, falls back in love with skating. He shows off his sliding skills in opposition to the boy's hockey games.
In 1965, Snoopy skates at night with a girl beagle who he intends to marry, but her father disapproves. They would later meet on the beach that summer. As he skated on 12/4/67, Snoopy longed to skate with Sonja Henie (who would die 2 years later). This is about the same time Snoopy aspires to go to the 1968 Olympics. Eventually he also joins the boys playing Hockey, after getting practice on the roof of his dog house and soon graduates to the frozen bird bath with birds. In 1969, Snoopy enlists Peppermint Patty to go to the figure skating championships. When he gets "cold feet" and PP says she can't go out Oakland (near Petaluma), he approaches Lucy in the time-honored custom ("hello, sweetie!") but she rejects him. He finally retires to his happy home covered in flowers. The beagle shows off his hockey skills but is offput by his coach putting him as goalie in a Sunday comic in October 1969; Then he daydreams on the ice about going to more figure skating competitions around the world until Lucy kicks him off the ice in February 1970. The tables turn, however, because in December 1971 Lucy wants to enter the Christmas skating show. She asks Schroeder but he is more interested in hockey. She begrudgingly enlists Snoopy who she wakes up at 4 in the morning for a couple weeks until the show- it backfires when he gets cold feet and sends in his understudy.
The whole gang overcrowds the bird bath on Nov. 25, 1973; Snoopy writes a fiction about the skater Dutch Waltz in 1974; The next story is November that year, when Peppermint Patty wants to practice for a figure skating competition, but she does not have a "skating mother". She kicks Franklin off the ice with a rude and insensitive comment ("How many black players in the NHL?") and hires a World-Famous Crabby Skating Pro. Marcie tries and fails to sew a sequined dress and after the sparks fly when Charlie Brown's dad cuts he hair too short and she wears a wig, turns out it is a roller-skating derby. In the 70s, Snoopy continues to enjoy his aspirations on the ice and in his doghouse hockey games, and so do Peppermint Patty and Marcie. In 1977, Snoopy becomes a single, with his stocking cap pulled down by Violet - competition for Mr. Frick. The following year, PP hires him again as an angry skating coach who does not back her up when she is hassled by hockey players- and Marcie's attempts only make her bedridden. She would get her practice at at the Indoor Arena across town in 1984. That decade, Snoopy's water dish was the site of some pretty tough bird hockey games. Marcie works on lifting Snoopy by his nose in 1987, and Lucy points out Snoopy was sliding on the ice in 1989.
In 1997, the World Famous Patriot Soldier suggests that General Washington build a skating rink and Peppermint Patty. The same year points out the financial possibility of figure skating while reading about Zambonies.
The last skating comic was November 26, 1997, when Charlie Brown's grandma cancels on their Thanksgiving to play hockey with her in-line skating club.
Controversy[]
On November 6, 1974, Peppermint Patty caused a controversy by asking Franklin, "How many black players in the NHL?" Many people thought this comment was racist, but Charles Schulz denied this. During the next few years, Franklin appeared less, possibly because of this controversy.
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