Hi, everyone, it's Liz. We had a little technical difficulty at the beginning of the interview, but it goes away at about six minutes in, so please stick with us. Thanks.
Welcome to Unpacking Peanuts, the podcast where three cartoonists take an in-depth look at the greatest comic strip of all time, Peanuts by Charles M. Schulz. Hey, everybody. Welcome back to the show. We got a special episode for you today, and I'll be your host for the proceedings. My name is Jimmy Gownley. I'm also a cartoonist. I did things like Seven Good Reasons Not to Grow Up, The Dumbest Idea Ever, and Amelia Rules. Joining me as always are my pals, co-hosts, and fellow cartoonists.
He's a playwright and a composer, both for the band, Complicated People, as well as for this very podcast. He's the co-creator of the original comic book Price Guide, the original editor for Amelia Rules, and the creator of such great strips, as Strange Attractors, A Gathering of Spells, and Tangled River. It's Michael Cohen.
Say hey.
And he's the executive producer and writer of Mystery Science Theater 3000, a former vice president of Archie Comics, and the creator of the Instagram sensation, Sweetest Beasts. It's Harold Buchholz.
Hello.
So guys, it's always exciting when we have a guest in the studio. Today, it's especially exciting because we have Snoopy. Never thought we'd be able to have Snoopy on the show, but we have Snoopy on the show. How did we do it?
Well...
Our guest today is a four-time world medalist and five-time national champion ice dancer. She has appeared on Sesame Street as Alice Snuffalupagus. And most important to this podcast, she was handpicked by Charles Schulz to portray Snoopy in Snoopy's musical on ice and has been portraying him ever since. Please welcome to the show, Judy Sladky.
Hello, hey, you pronounced Snuffalupagus right.
Oh, well, he was my favorite when I was a little boy.
So are you an adult?
I am an adult, allegedly, allegedly. There's no proof of that. But people tell me I am an adult. So thank you so much for being on our show. This means a lot to us.
Thank you.
Me too. I like to be included.
Oh, well, you know, me too. Actually, it depends on who's including me sometimes.
So take us back.
You must have been very, very little when you decided that you wanted to be an ice skater. Can you take us back to that moment? And can you remember if and when Snoopy entered your consciousness as a young person?
Sure. Well, I was three years old when I started skating. And my grandmother met my grandfather. They lived on farms in Indiana. And they had a pond that went, there was a fence. The pond went between two farms. And my grandpa was the only one that could jump the fence when the ice froze. So that's how grandma fell in love. So anyway, he gave us, my sister Sandy is four years older than I. And my grandpa gave us skating lessons for her.
I guess it would have been, I guess she was eight and I was three, almost four. So that's when we started skating. And you use the comment, how did I start skating? When you're three, you don't start. Your mother takes you.
I guess that makes sense.
And then she tells everybody how much I love you. So I don't know, but there was a point, we also did swimming and diving and gymnastics and tap dancing. I mean, they started us in everything. And eventually I had to make the choice. I chose figure skating because I wanted to be in an ice show.
Oh, really? That was specifically it? Oh, that's cool.
And none of the other sports had shows. I wanted to be a star.
When did you first see an ice show, Judy?
Oh gosh, I was probably four. Holiday on Ice came to our... Oh, I was in my first one when I was four.
Wow.
Are you kidding?
Wow. I was Tinker Bell. You didn't come to that one?
I must have missed that one. That'll tell you what though, you've got some prime roles.
Wow, yeah. Well, Tinker Bell, that was the year after the Disney film came out. So that was... Oh, really? Yeah.
Oh, I am old.
Thanks, Harold.
Yeah. So we went to Holiday on Ice, which came to our town every year.
And that was it? That was what you said, that's going to be me someday?
Well, either that or Broadway.
Right. What was your training like? I'm assuming it wasn't an everyday thing.
Tell us. Oh, my goodness, it was every day.
Yeah.
But not always skating. We went to all these. I mean, I was in the car changing clothes from gymnastics to skating, swimming, practically my whole life.
Oh, wow.
And then I think I finally decided on figure of ice dancing as being the one I was going to do. Probably was 11.
Okay, wow. So, and then how old would you have been then when you started competing in, you know, tournaments and?
I was four.
Oh, my gosh, four years old.
Precocious little girl.
That's impressive. Now, when you were that, were you a Peanuts fan? Do you remember reading the strip in the newspaper? Was it something you were interested in?
I had no idea who Charles Schulz was. When I skated at his ice rink the first time.
Okay, and that was when?
And when was that then? 1972, something like that?
No, 1969.
1969, okay.
That's when he opened his ice rink and Peggy Fleming and JoJo and Kenny Starbucketcelli and Tim Wood, I think, all of the national champions were invited.
Okay, so where were you in your career? Were you surprised that he came and asked you to be Snoopy and?
No.
No? You just expect, that's amazing.
Well, I had skated at his ice rink as Judy between 1969 and 1978, I guess.
Oh, wow.
And throughout that whole time, he had said to me, you are Snoopy, you are just Snoopy. I can't believe how much you're like Snoopy. You are Snoopy. And then in ice follies, Jim Henson put the Muppets in ice follies, and I started skating as one of the Muppets.
Oh, okay.
And Sparky said, I didn't know you'd do that. Will you be Snoopy? And I said, well, of course. I guess he thought that he shouldn't ask, but I'm four foot ten. It makes sense.
How do you skate in a giant dog suit? How do you skate first? And secondly, how on earth? It must have been, was the first time you put a costume like that, and I guess maybe it was for the Muppets, was it terrifying or you think, I'm just going to fall? I can't imagine doing it.
We need to meet in person. I'm not a person that gets terrified. No? It's a challenge. But first of all, on the skating thing, I had skated almost every day of my life since I was three. So that was not a problem. And skating, by the way, you all do know it's not a costume, right? You know he's real.
Oh, of course, absolutely, absolutely. When you transform into Snoopy, is it different having such a different body shape?
That's what we can go with.
Well, part of the interesting part of it is that Snoopy doesn't wear skates.
Oh, okay.
So the feet, Snoopy's feet, which are quite large, have to be almost down to the ice.
Right.
So now imagine trying to turn a blade, the shoe hits the ice. So that was, and there's no toe pick available. Oh, so, well, the shoe is down there almost on the ice.
Right.
So how do you stop?
Carefully. Well, actually, Snoopy can do all of that. Oh, I see. I just let him take over.
He takes over. So what was it, when you first saw the ice arena, what did you think of it? I mean, having been to places all over the world, what was your thought of the Redwood?
It's so gorgeous. Have you been there?
I have, yeah.
It just looked like a Swiss chalet. It was like skating in the courtyard of a Swiss town. And even the spotlights, when you don't see the spotlights, when they're closed up, there are a window of a house. Everything, the scoreboard for hockey closes up into a, it was just beautiful and Sparky and I, one of the story, I'm writing a book.
Oh, wonderful.
Hang on, it'll take a while. Again, not my skill set. But Sparky and I were sitting down, there's a tree just as you walk into the ice rink area. There's a tree with a bench around it and it has a carving in it that says, Lucy and Schroeder, I think.
Yeah, it's Lucy and Schroeder, yeah.
Yeah, and so we sat there, the rink wasn't open yet. So we sat there, we talked for a little, by this time, of course, I knew what he did.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
So embarrassed. Anyway, one of the leaves from the tree fell down on his lap. And he looked down at it, and he said, that's not supposed to happen here. And he got up and he went away to take care of it.
Oh, really? Wow.
Because even though Snoopy is real, I guess the tree wasn't supposed to lose its leaves.
Wow.
That's pretty heavily curated.
So when the offer came to be Snoopy, did you think it was a one-time thing or was this going? Did you know it was going to be something that would continue on and on?
Well, first of all, I thought it was a joke. Because you asked that before, that kind of brushed it off. But I was at home in Los Angeles. We had quit the ice show and we were in between. I was teaching, but I didn't like teaching. So the phone rang. I can still remember the outfit I had on. I had a little pair of yellow shorts and a Snoopy T-shirt. He called and he said, Hi, Judy. This is Sparky. I said, Hi. He says, Would you be Snoopy? I said, Sure. And he hung up.
Of course, I sat by the phone waiting for somebody to call and say it wasn't that funny. You can tell that I have friends like that. So anyway, I finally called Ron Nelson, who was the producer of the TV show that was coming up. I said, Hi, Ron. He said, Judy, congratulations. I said, Oh, good. It's true. Then I'm a professional enough that I knew this was a one-time.
So when I went up there, whenever Sparky would say something like, he was there at the show all the time, he would say, Wouldn't it be funny if Snoopy did this? So I'd go home and I'd practice and I'd figure it out, and I'd come back and I'd do it, and he'd say, Nope, that wasn't funny. Did it help that Sparky was such a good skater himself for playing hockey, that he knew what you can and can't do? Oh, he had no idea.
No, nobody has any idea what I can do with Snoopy.
We had a show where there was a trampoline act. Remember, we go back to I was a gymnast, and Sparky was by the side of the rink as they were practicing this. Karen Kresge had put the thing together so that this trampoline act, national champion trampolines were on the thing, and they were doing backflips and all kinds of things. She came to me and she said, Judy, Snoopy will just be going in front of the trampoline. I said, no, he won't. I said, that is a big number in the show.
He's going to be on the trampoline.
Oh my gosh.
And she says, no, he's not. And so I looked at Sparky. I said, Sparky, can Snoopy be on the trampoline? He's like, I went above her up.
Sorry, Chris.
And he said, if Snoopy can do a backflip, he can be on the trampoline.
Oh my.
So I stayed all night long on the trampoline with one of the trampolinas and we got it by the next day I was doing a backflip.
That's incredible.
So you mentioned that what you skate with is a little bit different, but I'm still imagining some tall blades. When I think of a tall blades and a trampoline, I'm not, it doesn't add up in my head.
See, Snoopy doesn't wear his blades on the trampoline.
Okay.
There's a problem with cutting through.
Yeah, I would think so.
Now when you're practicing that, are you practicing it as Snoopy in the costume or do you work up to that or?
Are you going to work with me yet on the costume bit?
Oh, okay.
I see what you're saying. Okay, let me try again.
Oh, no, that's okay. Yes, I work with it and actually now I will reveal the true costuming. For the backflip, I first had to learn to do it without the feet, so just the head, so that I would know where I was. And then the feet are so big, pulling them in, I don't know if you've done a backflip, but with it.
Oh, sure, just before we started, I did a couple.
With a backflip, your feet have to come under you, so you can't hit like the toes or you fall over your nose. So yes, I tried it in all different pieces and different pieces, and then the whole thing. But there was a guy, one of the trampoline artists went running, he was a Russian, and he went running over to Blake, my husband, he says, Blake, Judy is going to kill herself, she does backflip in dog suits. So he called me over, and he said, Judy, you can't do this, you'll kill yourself.
So he explained how the horizon is how you find out where you are in the middle of the backflip, and I said, Vladimir, I'm not as smart as you, I close my eyes when I do a backflip.
Oh, wow.
I'm not gonna do it with my eyes open.
And that's still how you do it?
Sure. I love the way you assume I still do it. I'm 74 years old.
Oh, yeah. I assumed you did a couple before the show, just like I did. I did, yeah.
Just practicing, yeah.
So, okay, so this has taken you all over the place. Can you give us your top one or two people that you met just being Snoopy?
Always astronauts.
Yeah.
And Snoopy got to fly on zero gravity.
Oh my gosh. Wow.
What was that like?
Well, I had said to the Schulzes that, I think I was probably 35 at the time or 40, I don't know.
Yeah.
And I said, we don't know. I could die tomorrow. I don't know how much longer I can do this. Let's think of anything we want done before. Of course, that was what, 30 years ago. So we decided on that and Jeannie, I think it was Jeannie, maybe it was Craig, had asked to have a backflip, a front flip, a cartwheel, and then to fly through the air.
Holy cow.
Well, I didn't know that on the vomit comet it's called, you go up and down and that's how it happens. They do parabolas, which is another word I learned through Peanuts. So you only have about 15 seconds to get something done, and then you have to lie down and wait for it to go back up again. But we got it done.
Hopefully, you didn't have pizza the night before.
That would be wardrobe's problem.
Right. So did you have any input? Because I can imagine being Snoopy, input on how to adjust Snoopy so that it works better for you? Because I would think that you're so intimately connected to that costume while you're skating and performing, that did they improve it over time to make it easier for you?
Actually, it was absolutely perfect. And then they decided to change it and go to a different maker. And I convinced them to go back because it's so much easier to work in this one. Her name was Judy Corbett. She designed it for Sparky. And that was the one that I had. And still, who makes it?
That's great. How many iterations have there been?
Oh, my gosh. Who knows? I don't know. Again, this is the reality that people who don't believe want to know. There probably are 12 Snoopys available at any one time. So that I can meet one in Indianapolis to do something and the other one will be in Toledo for me the next day or whatever. So there are quite a few of them.
How did you get to know the personality of Snoopy as something that was new to you when you first kind of encountered the opportunity to be Snoopy?
Well, apparently I was because those first 10 years, all he would say was, you are Snoopy. As a matter of fact, we did one thing, one event. I think it was MetLife maybe. Maybe it was the announcement of MetLife and Sparky looked at the guy, Snoopy sitting there, of course. Well, Snoopy always sat down when Sparky spoke and looked right up at it.
Very respectful.
Well, of course. He said to the guy next to him on the microphone, he said, I hate it when Judy does Snoopy. I'm thinking, oh no, he says, because I believe in the dog.
Well, that is the greatest compliment.
Greatest. He used to tell people that he could not believe that he actually had the opportunity to see his dog really come to life.
That must have been magical for him.
Yeah.
And me.
Yeah.
Yeah, right?
Yeah. He gave me away at my wedding.
Really?
Oh, that's amazing.
I know.
Can you tell us a little bit about Sparky? We have been going through this comic strip and reading through and getting to know him through the comics, and we've gotten a little bit of insights also, safe from Jeannie Schulz. But we love to hear stories of people who actually were around him, but just what kind of a guy he was.
Well, in my instance, well, you guys are going to think I'm nuts. He really treated me like Snoopy. At Christmas, I would sit at his feet, not for dinner, but I would sit at his feet and he would pat my head. It was wonderful. Then he would tell me, I know stories about Sparky and his time in the war and other things in his life, that he would tell me that he would tell Snoopy.
Wow.
I know that will never come out of my mouth.
Wow.
Did you get to meet Andy, the little-
Of course.
I was jealous of Andy. I never got to sit on Sparky's lap.
Right. One of the things we've talked about is that there was a very reserved aspect to Sparky and-
Until he knew you. Mostly, he would ask questions. He would tell stories, but mostly, he would get you to tell a story. He was a great interviewer. He wanted to know who everybody was and why they were who they were, and what they thought of things. He was much like Jeannie today. Jeannie is very open about what's going on, how do you feel about, yeah. But he would, okay, here it goes. You ready?
Yeah.
He would never say hello to me. He'd say, woof, and he would carry biscuits in his pockets for the dogs.
Yeah.
And he would look at me and say, you want one?
Wow.
Did you ever take one?
No, I didn't.
But I always very politely said, no, thank you. We would be at a party and he would say to people, that's no lady, that's my dog. And now Craig is doing that.
No. Oh, really? Yeah.
Craig's taking it on. I'm the family pup.
Wow.
In between, my first husband has passed, and in between husbands, he would go to everybody.
Are you married? Wow.
My dog needs a husband.
Oh, that's amazing.
Wow.
And at that point, I was dating my now husband. And I said, Sparky, come on. He went to the guy in the ice rink one time who was washing windows.
Wow.
I said, are you married? So, yeah, he was very playful.
Did you get the feeling when you know that he was always working on the strip? Like, were you?
Yeah.
Yeah. He would come over one time. He came over and he said, what does Snoopy think these are? And I said, Sparky, if you don't know what Snoopy thinks they are, how would I know? He says, well, I know what they are. So what does Snoopy think they are? And I said, oh, they're those little, of course, you can't see me, those little Chinese things that you put your fingers in and you kick them out. So he goes running away. He's like, I said, well, Sparky, what are they?
They were Woodstock's leg warmers.
That's amazing. So you were telling, this is just for me personally, I just want to get it on the record. We were talking before it started about baseball. And you have thrown out pitches, Snoopy has thrown out many pitches. And you told us that the worst pitch ever at the Pittsburgh Pirates was actually another Peanuts character that you may have been associated with.
It was Charlie Brown.
Makes sense.
So he threw out the ball and he throws to the left. Now, I was also, we don't use the word costume.
Sure, of course.
But I was representing Charlie Brown in that one. Charlie Brown would always curve to the left. And Snoopy, when he threw out the ball, would throw, obviously, a strike. And then sometimes when Lucy and I would throw out the ball, she wouldn't even bother to throw it. She'd walk from the mound and she'd give it to the guy that was going to catch it. Say, here. Well, she didn't say that.
But here, she wasn't going to mess with that.
Well, it's amazing that not only Snoopy, but you got to represent all those other characters. That's very, very cool.
Yes. Yes, it is. I have a lot of carries. Outside of Peanuts, obviously, you know about Alice Nuffalupagus.
Yes.
I was also the Campbell Soup kid, and I was many, many others, some of which I'm not allowed to say because of the group that has them. But I probably have 21 or 22 characters in me.
Wow. Oh my gosh. Snoopy was even in Jingle All the Way with Arnold Schwarzenegger.
Of course, she was.
Tell us how that happened and what that experience was like.
He was in Pink Tights, not Snoopy. And Snoopy just couldn't believe he was out there in Pink Tights. Schwarzenegger in Pink Tights is a vision.
I can imagine.
That's the title of the episode.
Yeah. But Snoopy, I'll tell you the kids along the parade route, we were there for four days, taping something that really should have taken about an hour. But it was the parade scene and all the kids were screaming, Hi Snoopy, hi Snoopy. You can't hear it on the thing. But Snoopy was right behind Barbie's little pink corvette. And that dag on thing would put smoke out every time it started. So the first time Snoopy almost got dirty, but he backed up.
But then when we weren't on the takes, he did something that should be against licensing. He sat in Barbie's car with her.
Oh yeah.
He likes Barbie.
I can see that. I can see Barbie being his type.
That's Joe Cool.
Yeah, he really likes.
Well, she has a lot of alter egos and different jobs and so does Snoopy. So that's true.
So have you skated as Joe Cool and as the world one flying ace?
Yes.
Do you have any favorite versions of Snoopy to perform?
Yes.
Could you name them?
Astronaut.
Yeah, I could see that.
He loves the astronaut.
That's great.
But they're all fun. The only ones I don't like. And think of the position of the vulture.
Oh, that's Michael's favorite.
But what would it do to my neck?
I can imagine.
The vulture is not... I do it, but it's not my favorite.
Not your favorite.
And the happy dance is exhausting.
Oh, I can only imagine.
And everybody wants to see the happy dance.
Yeah, yeah.
Fortunately, they usually do it with me, so that's good.
Takes some pressure off. Now, were you representing Snoopy in the Super Bowl?
I was.
What was that like?
Oh, my goodness.
I can't imagine.
I guess you've seen it. That was the 40th anniversary.
Yep.
Yeah. I was in New Orleans for, I think, four weeks auditioning and training because they didn't use the professionals for the other characters.
Oh, okay.
So I was auditioning and training. You have to watch it again. Charlie Brown. Now, Jim Sladky, my first husband, was Charlie Brown. And he was so good at that because he would just make mistakes. And then he gets so upset that he made a mistake. And he was a natural. This kid, look at the thing again, the Super Bowl halftime from the 40th anniversary. Charlie Brown was the best dancer. He was the best everything. He could twirl the baton. He knew everything.
And it took me four weeks to say, please don't be perfect.
Yeah, Charlie Brown.
So, yeah, but it was exciting. But if you look at it again, I don't know, and see the number of steps, we had to walk up and down without being able to see anything.
I can't imagine. And on live TV, on the biggest stage imaginable. I guess it was like 1990, right? It's crazy. I remember watching it live, and I've seen it on YouTube since then. That's crazy. It's very, very cool to see that.
I know. I love it.
Not many people can say they've gotten to do all these things. That's just so crazy. And it's really interesting talking about the other guy trying to do Charlie Brown. Because I guess it's one thing to skate. It's another thing to skate as Snoopy physically. But then it's a third thing to skate in character. That's got to be... That's very difficult. I mean, and you just feel like you had a knack for it right from the beginning? Or was it something that you... Yeah. Wow.
I think so. We did a symphony number in the show where Snoopy was directing the symphony. Snoopy, by the way, is a very good director.
Of course.
He knows his music. So he was directing the thing and he was standing at the ice rink. He was on the little platform that's at the front of the ice. There was a little boy and his father sitting at the table right there. The father said, pull his tail, pull his tail. Of course, I can hear this and I'm doing my job. All of a sudden, I feel this pull. I knew that was not the kid. Snoopy's whipped around, gave him a look, and the kid said, dad. He says, go ahead. The dad says, go ahead.
All of a sudden, I feel this tiny little tug. I turned around and I quit directing and I gave him a big hug. Then I looked at the father like, see, that's how it should be done.
Right.
Yeah. You've done it at Comic-Con too. I saw there was an interesting thing. You told us or I read that Sparky, there was a rule like no people with weapons.
Oh my gosh, yes.
Yeah. Comic-Con people come in costume, want a picture with Snoopy. Snoopy, they got to disarm, huh?
Yeah, they do.
That's awesome. I think that's great.
Yeah, they do. We try to let the kids just put it behind their back. Yeah. My greatest moment in that vein at Comic-Con was, what the heck was he? It's not Darth Vader, it's Death. What's Death called?
I know, the Grim Reaper, the Grim Reaper.
The Grim Reaper, yes. My husband just yelled from the other room, the Grim Reaper. He was probably seven foot tall and wore huge platform boots. So he may have come in around eight foot, eight and a half.
Oh, my God.
Of course, he had his side with him or whatever that thing is. I heard him from across the hall, I heard, I love you Snoopy. Obviously, it was, I love you Snoopy. And I turned around and just glanced and I saw this thing, this big black thing running towards Snoopy. And Snoopy is wonderful. He does a really good shake. So he just shook like he was scared to death. Well, the reaper, he got close and he threw his size. Some kid caught it and he gave Snoopy a big hug and that was fine. Then...
Oh, that's so cute.
Oh my gosh. Wow.
Well, listen, how about we take a quick break here and then when we come back, we will, you've selected some comic strips for us to talk about that are some of your favorites. How about we do that? Sound good?
Okay, sure.
All right.
So we'll be right back.
Hi, everyone. You've heard us rave about the Estabrook Radio 914, and one episode would be complete without mention of the Fab Four. Now you can wear our obsessions proudly with Unpacking Peanuts t-shirts. We have a BF Good Cheer pen nib design, along with the four of us crossing Abbey Road, and of course, Michael, Jimmy and Harold at the Thinkin Wall. Collect them all, trade them with your friends, order your t-shirts today at unpackingpeanuts.com/store.
And we're back. All right, so Judy, you picked a few of your favorite strips for us that have meaning to you. So I'm gonna go ahead and read them and we will discuss them after I do. Sound good?
Yes.
All right, here we go. August 8th, 1982. This is a Sunday and we have Marcy and Peppermint Patty sitting on their little footstools and watching some television. And the television says, Johnny Miller all the way. And then we cut to the next panel and the sports broadcast is still continuing with four to three in ten innings. And then as Peppermint Patty and Marcy still watch this sports show ends with And That's Sports for Tonight. This sends Peppermint Patty to the moon. She's very upset.
She says, That's sports? What do you mean that's sports? All you told us about were men. What about women in sports? She's standing up as she yells this now. She continues, You didn't say anything about Joanne Karner or Sally Little or Holla Stacey or Billie Jean King or Rosie Casals or Sharon Walsh? And what about Donna Adamick, Beth Heiden and Mary Decker? Did you tell us what Connie Place has been doing?
And how about Alison Rowe and Tracy Calkins and Karen Rogers and Evelyn Ashford and Anne Myers and Judy Sladky and Sarah Doctor?
There it is.
Peppermint Patty is still ranting. Do you say anything about Jennifer Harding or Shelly Moldowney? What do you mean that's sports? Then Marcy says, What do you want to watch next, Sarah? There's some old movies on the other channels. The Men, A Man for All Seasons and All the King's Men. This sends Peppermint Patty to the floor saying, I can't stand it.
Yeah.
Now, did you know this was coming? Yes.
Billy Jean King put together the Title IX. We all went to DC with her for that Title IX thing. Sparky and I were on their trustee, or I think he was a trustee and I was an advisor or something on the Women's Sports Foundation.
Oh, that's amazing. That's a huge, huge accomplishment. Well, tell us all about, like, what was that like?
Well, we just had our 50th anniversary of Title IX, and so we had this huge gala and everybody was there and it was just delightful. Billie Jean, all right. I took a job selling George Foreman grills at the US Open because I wanted to see how it was to work a normal job with other people. Poor Billie Jean. She came walking past. She goes, Judy, what are you doing? I forgot. I said, shh, would you like to buy a George Foreman griller? So anyway, yeah, Billie Jean's wonderful. They're all great.
We had a great time. We were down in DC and we went running over to the Space Museum.
Oh yeah.
Because they had this new IMAX of Apollo. So we're sitting at the IMAX and I hear this woman, she's talking and talking and talking. I'm thinking, who is talking during this IMAX thing? I look over, it was Sally Ride.
Oh my god.
I guess she has the right to.
Yeah, we let her talk.
You didn't shush Sally Ride.
It's like having the DVD commentary right next to your ears.
It is, yeah.
Wow.
All right, here is our second strip. September 2nd, 1983. This is a daily and we have Lucy up to bat. And she looks ready, but she's just standing there as a ball whizzes right past her. And the umpire yells, strike three. Then she walks back to the bench with Charlie Brown, the manager there, and Charlie Brown says, are you sure that was a strike, Lucy? Why didn't you protest? And Lucy says, I was too flattered. And Charlie Brown says, flattered.
And Lucy says, they told me I have a cute strike zone.
Well, I know Sparky, everybody knows that Sparky wrote every one of his strips and no one ever wrote it.
Right.
However, I did. He and I were playing softball and I don't know if all figure skaters are like this, but if something exciting happens, you look at the audience, you don't look at the ball. And I had never played softball. Maybe we played baseball. I don't even know which one we played. I know the difference, but I don't know which one we were playing. And so I thought I could strike out, but apparently you can't in this kind of a game. So I stood there and stood there and stood there.
And finally, they just said, just get out of here. Just sit down.
Right.
So I went out and I was playing outfield with Sparky in his position and how he knows when it's coming to you. I heard it, but I didn't know it was coming to us. He said, catch it, catch it. I said, Sparky, I can't catch. He said, catch the ball. I said, well, by that time it was on the ground. So he says, well, throw it, throw it in. So I went to pick it up. I said, Sparky, I can't throw here. No, no, no. Well, by this time everybody, it was like they cleared the bases.
So he looked at me and he said, Judy, why do you even bother to play ball? And I said, because somebody one time told me I have a cute strike zone.
Amazing.
Oh, that's great.
And he said, could I use that? Now, did I send you my picture of that?
Yes, which is amazing. Can you tell us how it's inscribed to you?
I don't know. It's on the wall. I don't know. I think it's to Judy who thinks up all my best ideas.
And then from one outfielder to another.
From one outfielder.
Yeah, we played.
I didn't even know which way to go, which outfield we were going to.
Well, wait a second, Judy. So you're saying that you didn't know how to catch and throw. And yet I've just heard a story that Snoopy has to throw a strike over the plate.
Yes, he does.
How does that work?
Do you still believe in the costume?
So Snoopy can do it. You just can't. I say.
You guys are tough.
All right. Just wanted to clarify.
Yes, Snoopy can. Believe me, that took a lot of practice.
I bet.
Is that a lot of pressure, especially something like that, because it's, I mean, you're standing alone on a mound and there might be 25,000 people for a baseball game. That's a lot of eyeballs on you.
Yeah, I'd much rather want to be Charlie Brown at that moment.
Yeah, because he can't go wrong with being Charlie Brown.
Oh, yes, you can. He always throws it left.
Yeah, he always throws it. Why is that?
I don't know.
That's Charlie Brown, right?
That's Sparky. I don't know.
That's really, really cool.
Besides, you remember I was out in front of thousands of people every night at the ice follies.
Yeah, that's true. That is absolutely true.
I could see them.
Is it sometimes better not being able to see them?
No, it's the same. You can hear them. You know they're there.
Yeah. I can see why those are two of your favorites.
Yeah, exactly.
But he gave the original of the Billie Jean King one to her. I said, she's got plenty of stuff.
I needed that.
Right. You were up against a lot of people on that one.
I was, yeah.
Can you imagine? Yeah, that was a great honor. He just was so thoughtful. He liked me.
I think you must have given him many good reasons to like you.
And I liked him.
That's wonderful. Yeah, it's one thing to get the job and to do something like this, but it's another thing to develop a friendship with someone like that. That must have been really special for having it last so long.
Absolutely. Good man.
That's wonderful to hear. It's nice when there's something that you love so much and it's created by someone that is worthy of that love, you know?
Yes. Yes. And accepts that love. A lot of very creative people have trouble accepting love.
That's true.
Yeah, I think that's true. Well, you know, and I don't know, obviously I never got to meet the guy, but I think there has to be a lot of, Jeannie has to be thanked for a lot of that. She seems like when we're looking at the strip, it seems like his, well, Harold has been doing this thing where we track the anger and happiness in every year of the strips, and when he marries Jeannie, the happiness amount in the strip just shot through the roof. I think there has to be something to do with that.
Yeah.
She's great.
I mean, obviously I was there when Joyce was building the arena.
Oh, that's true.
Yeah.
So I knew the kids when they were tiny, and yeah, it was an interesting life.
I'll say. All right. Here's your third strip that you've chosen here. Okay. December 4th, 1991. So this is Lucy and Snoopy. Snoopy is atop the dog house, and Lucy comes up to him and says, I think you're letting life pass you by. She continues, there must be a thousand things you could be doing. And then Snoopy lies back down in his dog house, looking completely content, and says, I agree, but being a dog is a full-time job.
So true, yes.
So true.
Actually, I'm hoping that this book will, it will get out there, even if I have to type it and put it out. And my working title is Being Snoopy is a Full-Time Job.
Oh, that's fantastic.
Yeah. That's great.
He's a good boy. Part of what my book is about is that there is no small job, that, you know, you can put Aunt Tilly's niece in a costume and you just don't get what should be there. I went back to college and studied child behavior, and I studied body language and things of that sort, and what dog, body language of dogs, etc. For the recent solar eclipse, I had to find out if dogs had retinas.
Do they?
Not the same.
Not the same, okay.
But also dogs don't usually look at the eclipse.
Right.
So because they're smarter than we are.
Right.
But the decision was to go ahead and let Snoopy wear his eclipse glasses because first of all, he had to look at it, and second of all, the kids needed to put on their glasses.
Oh, yeah, yeah.
This is not an easy job.
No, I wouldn't imagine.
No, I have a lot to worry about. But at Comic-Con one year, Snoopy is very involved in the military. He has his own official army outfit.
Oh, wow.
And the helmet was made out of a salad bowl. So at Comic-Con one year, I was aware, Snoopy and I were aware that there was a fellow off to the side that really looked like he was not doing very well emotionally. And so after Snoopy had hugged everybody and the escort was taking him back inside, I gave her the, like, give me a minute. So I went over and I reached Snoopy's paw out. And he barely touched it. And then he took a hold of it.
He looked at me and I kind of backed up a little, so he had space. And all of a sudden he dove in and he gave Snoopy a hug, and he started to cry and he said, Snoopy, I was in Vietnam and you saved my life.
Oh my gosh.
And so he was talking about how he had had a book or something of Snoopy and he went on and on. So I hugged him. I went in. When Judy came out, the guy wasn't there anymore. The next year, I was at Comic Con. Snoopy and I were at the Comic Con booth and we were hugging people. I see this guy standing in line. And when he got up there, and I knew my husband was in Vietnam, I knew they don't stand in line. And he walked over to Snoopy and he dove in and hugged Snoopy.
And he said, Snoopy, you saved my life again. He said, last year, I couldn't go into a building and look at me. I stood in line to see you today.
Oh, that's amazing.
Now, it has to be me. That's why I'm a little worried. If it hadn't been me, that person would have thought, who is this?
What's going on? Yeah, absolutely.
So, there is more to hugging.
Yeah. That's an incredible story. Because there's no cartoon characters in the world that have that kind of impact on people as regularly. And clearly, there is no one in the world who would have taken it so seriously and had such empathy in that moment other than you. It's amazing that it worked out so perfectly that way. Not just for that guy, but for millions and millions of people.
Right.
That's an amazing life and legacy. Wow.
Do you want to hear about the day that I had to do...
Yeah, I want to hear about all your days.
Okay. When Sparky died, I had to go to Calif to LA to do a symphony concert with the Ellen Zwilich.
Oh, yeah. We just talked about her.
Yeah. I was a mess, of course. We had not gone through the memorial service yet. So I went down and just because it's me, I felt like I had to walk into the dressing room and tell Snoopy that Sparky had passed. Because I didn't think that Snoopy would know who would call him. So we sat and cried for a little while. Well, then I got to go out to do the show. The show was easy because it has choreography, it's set length, you know what you're doing. I didn't have to think about Sparky or anything.
So I got through that. And afterwards, there was a meet and greet. And so Snoopy went out. And of course, during that, I was falling apart. Hi, Snoopy. And people were saying, we're sorry to hear about Charles Schulz. Finally, I was just, I couldn't see. I was crying so much. And finally, I heard these little footsteps. And I knew what it was coming. And so I sat down and a little kid dove into Snoopy's lap. And I thought to myself, you know what? This child's too young to know what happened.
All he wants to do is love Snoopy. So let me show him the love that this man, this best man in the whole world has given to all of us.
Yeah, that's incredible.
Yeah. Sobbing. I'm sobbing.
I know I was weeping. Now you want a good one.
Wait, now you're...
That wasn't a good one.
Well, Sparky said, make him laugh, make him cry, make him laugh and say goodbye.
It's great advice.
I know it works. So Snoopy was Santa Claus. He had on his Santa Claus outfit in the show one year. When you were rehearsing, it was a closed set. So I could work with pieces like not wear the Santa hat or something. But Brian Schulz at that time, he's probably about four or so. And now he's directing movies. You love it? And I'm still working. But he came in with his grandpa. So Snoopy had everything all set. But Judy had to do in the number, she had to do a death spiral.
So I had my little hand out, but it had a white glove on it. So that it was, and I was pretty good at camouflaging. Brian says, Grandpa, that's not Snoopy. Oh, my gosh, I thought I was going to die right then.
Oh, no.
Sparky says, well, how do you know? He says, I could see his hands. Well, so I'm busy pulling my hands in, but that was too late. So Sparky was so brilliant. He said, well, Brian, if that isn't Snoopy, who is it? And Brian says, Grandpa, huh, that's Santa Claus. He wants to be Snoopy.
That's great.
Great logic. I love that.
I lucked out.
Figured it out.
And Judy, I just wanted to say, you started this out telling us about how you got to see the Follies shows and that from that very young age, that's what you wanted to do. And I'm just, I love to hear stories of somebody who, from just the earliest in their life, they saw something that they loved and they wanted to help continue it and embody it.
And I love to see that in your stories and in your career that you really have kept that spirit of those shows alive, even though they're not quite necessarily always in the form that they used to be, that with, particularly with Snoopy, that you just brought joy through an extra level of entertainment when it comes to skating, that I'm so glad has is continuing on. And I'm just really grateful for what you've added to that form of entertainment as well as to the, you know, the Canon of Peanuts.
Thank you.
Well, I'll tell you what. I started this show thinking I was going to meet the person that portrays Snoopy, but I found out that I actually met Snoopy, which is better than I could have actually hoped. This has been absolutely amazing for us, Judy.
Thank you.
And when you finish this book up, you got to come back on the show and we will talk it up again because people need to hear all these stories from you.
Great. Thank you.
Wow.
I'm glad there are Judy Sladkys in the world.
Absolutely. And good old Charles Schulz could not have picked a better representative for his creation. I think that she was just absolutely delightful and so fun to have her on the show. So we're going to be back next week. If you want to keep this conversation going, you can do a bunch of different things. First off, you could send us an e-mail where unpackingpeanuts at gmail.com. You could also go over to our website unpackingpeanuts.com and you could sign up for the great Peanuts Re-Read.
That'll get you one e-mail a month where you find out exactly what strips we're going to be covering in upcoming episodes. And of course, you can also follow us on social media. We're at Unpack Peanuts on Instagram and threads. And we're at Unpacking Peanuts on Facebook, Blue Sky and YouTube. And we would love to hear from you because remember, when I don't hear, I worry. So a special thanks to Judy Sladky and Snoopy. This is Jimmy saying for Michael, Harold and Liz, be of good cheer.
Yes.
Be of good cheer. Unpacking Peanuts is copyrighted, Jimmy Gownley, Michael Cohen, Harold Buchholz and Liz Sumner. Produced and edited by Liz Sumner. Music by Michael Cohen. Additional voiceover by Aziza Shukralla Clark. For more from the show, follow Unpack Peanuts on Instagram and threads. Unpacking Peanuts on Facebook, Blue Sky and YouTube. For more about Jimmy, Michael and Harold, visit unpackingpeanuts.com. Have a wonderful day and thanks for listening.
He's a good boy.