It was the year of the first soft landing on the Moon. In 1966, "Peanuts" went surfing. And skateboarding. Or at least, they tried to ride a few waves through mind surfing.
Everybody knows "Peanuts." The famous comic strip written and illustrated by Charles M. Schulz is one of the most successful and influential cartoons in the history of popular culture.
From October 2, 1950, to February 13, 2000, the author published 17,897 strips, which were syndicated to thousands of newspapers from around the world.
"Peanuts" are Snoopy, Charlie and Sally Brown, Woodstock, Lucy, Linus van Pelt, Peppermint Patty, and Franklin.
A Rare Surfing Session
Between 1965 and 1971, "Peanuts" were animated for television specials. "Charlie Brown's All Stars!" was broadcast by CBS in 1966 and featured a rare, if not unique, surfing scene.
"Surf's up!" shouts Linus. In a split of a second, Snoopy jumps off his doghouse, grabs a longboard, and leaps into an inflatable pool. And then, a mind surfing session begins.
Snoopy displays a vast array of tricks, including the Hang Ten, cross stepping, 360s, and tube riding. Until a wave crashes over him, and the iconic canine suffers a horrendous wipeout.
"Who wants to apply mouth-to-mouth resuscitation?" asks Linus. Nobody. And then it's skateboarding time.
Let's not forget that surfing was living its first heydays in California before spreading to all corners of the globe. And skateboarding was expanding, especially after the launch of "The Quarterly Skateboarder."
The world's first skateboarding magazine was founded by John Severson in 1964, two years before "Peanuts" went skateboarding.