Woodstock (Peanuts)

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Woodstock

Woodstock is a fictional character in Charles M. Schulz's comic strip Peanuts. Snoopy began befriending birds in the early 1960s, when they started using his doghouse for various purposes: a rest stop during migrations, a nesting site, or a place to play cards. None of these birds were ever given names, or even used speech balloons, they simply looked at Snoopy and he understood them. The first bird that bore a prototypical resemblance to Woodstock visited Snoopy in 1967, and this is generally considered his debut, though Schulz didn't give him a name and establish him as a full-fledged character until June 22 1970. Schulz acknowledged in several mid-70's print and TV interviews that he took Woodstock's name from the rock festival.

Snoopy and Woodstock met when a mother bird built a nest on Snoopy's stomach. There were two birds in it, and the mom never came back. Snoopy, one day, got fed up with the two birds, and threw them into the world. Snoopy's first thought was that he was glad to be unburdened of the responsibility, yet the second he says this, here comes Woodstock, flying in his usual topsy-turvy way.

Woodstock quickly became Snoopy's best friend. The only non-avian character who can understand Woodstock's language is Snoopy. This is because his speech is rendered entirely in "chicken scratch" marks; Snoopy usually ends up translating them for the benefit of the reader. In the movies and TV specials, the chicken scratches are rendered audibly as a staccato series of honks and squawks, voiced by Snoopy voice Bill Melendez. Woodstock often works as Snoopy's secretary (most notably when the latter was appointed "Head Beagle"), and caddies for him when he plays golf (usually with some difficulty). Schulz once commented that he had intended for Woodstock to be an unnamed girl, to enhance the use of secretarial gags, but later changed him to Woodstock, the boy.

Woodstock is small but scrappy, taking Snoopy's gentle verbal digs at him and practical jokes in stride though not hesitating to stand up to Snoopy if his friend goes too far. Once, he and Snoopy stopped speaking to each other because of Snoopy's practice of reading "War and Peace" one word per day, but when told that Woodstock was being attacked by the cat next door, Snoopy immediately rushed to his aid, getting clobbered in the process (what the cat was attacking ended up being actually a yellow glove). He also hates being mistaken for the wrong species of bird (though we are never told what species he actually is), and he is reluctant to eat thrown bread crumbs because he doesn't want anyone to think he's on welfare. He's a whiz at playing "trivia" too, and almost always manages to stump Snoopy.

For all of Woodstock's mental acumen, however, he is physically a very poor flyer, which has been a character trait since he first appeared. He flitters around in erratic fashion, often upside down, and frequently crashes into things. He usually manages to get where he wants to go, though, as long as he doesn't have to fly too high. He is prone to beak-bleeds if he goes over ten feet in the air. During the winter he relaxes by either skating on top of the birdbath, or playing ice hockey on it, complete with his own Zamboni to keep the surface clean (except one year where Woodstock asks Snoopy to migrate with him, and the duo take the trip on foot). His one goal throughout the comic is to track down his mother so he can send her a Mother's Day card.

When Snoopy bought Woodstock a birdhouse, Woodstock refused to use it and Snoopy forced the issue. Woodstock then set about renovating it into a leisure room; when the hammer and saw sounds stopped, Snoopy peeked in, got his nose stuck in the door and demolished it; Woodstock willingly accepted a second birdhouse.

Woodstock and his fellow yellow birds (named Bill, Harriet, Olivier, Raymond, Fred, Roy and Conrad) often join Snoopy for group activities, with Snoopy as the de facto leader. Most frequently they embark on Scout expeditions with Snoopy as Scoutmaster, though they have also formed football and ice hockey teams (on one occasion a football team comprised of Snoopy and the birds defeated a human football team led by Peppermint Patty). Although they all look alike, Snoopy seems to be able to tell them apart.

Both Snoopy and Woodstock were performed by Bill Melendez from 1965 to 2003.

External links

• [Woodstock at Snoopy.com]