Entertainment desk
< April 1	<< Mar \| April \| May >>	April 3 >

Welcome to the Wikipedia Entertainment Reference Desk Archives
The page you are currently viewing is a transcluded archive page. While you can leave answers for any questions shown below, please ask new questions on one of the current reference desk pages.

April 2

The Doctor is In

In the comic strip Peanuts, the character of Lucy Van Pelt operates a psychiatric booth in the tradition of a children’s lemonade stand. Although I am familiar with maybe 80% of all of the strips by Charles M. Schulz, this particular comedic device has always intrigued me. I’m not very familiar with much of the collected interviews with Schulz, but I’m curious if he ever talked about Lucy’s psychiatric stand in depth, how he got the idea, and what it meant to him personally. The reason I ask is that this always seemed like a cigar is not just a cigar moment; was there a deeper social, political, and cultural commentary at work that might be going over our heads? Viriditas (talk) 21:31, 2 April 2023 (UTC)[reply]

At the very least, the notion of the self-centered Lucy acting as an agent to "help" others is funny. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 04:27, 3 April 2023 (UTC)[reply]

It looks like it was a deliberate critique of his first wife. Just a guess, of course. Viriditas (talk) 05:08, 3 April 2023 (UTC)[reply]

What makes you say "it looks like"? Was his first wife known to offer psychiatric advice, or is there any other recorded similarity? --Lambiam 06:35, 3 April 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Just a guess as to what it looked like to me: Schulz said Lucy was the only character he didn’t like; Time magazine said Lucy was based on Joyce, his first wife. Viriditas (talk) 07:36, 3 April 2023 (UTC)[reply]

When asked, "Lucy as psychiatrist: What is the inspiration for that?", Schulz replied that he hadn't the slightest idea.^[1] --Lambiam 06:47, 3 April 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Thanks! Viriditas (talk) 07:36, 3 April 2023 (UTC)[reply]

If it was based on his first wife, it's unlikely he would publicly admit it and risk a lawsuit. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 08:10, 3 April 2023 (UTC)[reply]

I’m reading up on her now. She’s an interesting person. Viriditas (talk) 08:19, 3 April 2023 (UTC)[reply]

That'll be 5¢. How would you like to pay? Clarityfiend (talk) 23:28, 3 April 2023 (UTC)[reply]

Historically, the image of Lucy at the booth was made for the book "You're Out of Your Mind, Charlie Brown." Just after the book was released, the first comic in which Lucy ran the both was published. It is apparent that a psychiatric booth fits with the book title. It is likely that Shultz liked the image and decided to use it in a comic. That went over well, so he continued. 12.116.29.106 (talk) 16:45, 4 April 2023 (UTC)[reply]