Snoopy

With a new "Peanuts" gang cartoon special in the offing on CBS tonight, it's time to get snoopy about Snoopy.Cartoonist Charles Schulz' beloved big-nosed beagle is the subject of "Snoopy's Reunion" (at 8 on Channel 11), in which are recounted his origins at the Daisy Hill Puppy Farm and his eventual adoption by that round-headed kid, Charlie Brown.But did you know that Snoopy almost wasn't Snoopy? That's one of the findings about America's favorite animated animal in Media Monitor's latest trivia quiz:1.

In the makeshift studio, the models pose in beachwear or rain gear, even a bunny suit. They peer through cool sunglasses, present a smile-like grimace or just gaze into the camera. At times, a pink tongue hangs out between pointy teeth. Marlene Barnes dresses and poses her pets against backdrops that hang in the living room of her Jarrettsville home. She has converted the space into a photo studio and made it the hub of her greeting-card business. Her company - Dogonfunny Creations - is built around three dogs, all of which she and her husband rescued.

GOOD GRIEF! Such was the reaction of Jane Soverns on hearing that Charles Schulz, the cartoonist and creator of Snoopy and the "Peanuts" comic strip, was retiring. Schulz's last new strip will be published Feb. 13, but there will be no retirement for Snoopy -- at least at St. John Cooperative Nursery School on West Maple Road, where he is the longtime mascot. As soon as school director Soverns heard the news, she decided to have a Salute to Charles Schulz Week. Last week, children in five classes celebrated Snoopy with craft activities, videos, stories and food, all centered on the beloved beagle.

Easter egg hunt Take your Easter basket and wear your silliest Easter costume to the Easter egg hunt at the Baltimore Conservatory in Druid Hill Park on Sunday. The event will feature egg hunts for ages 7 and younger, a hat and costume contest, a costume parade, crafts, games, face-painting, a petting zoo and visits with the Easter Bunny. Potted plants and Easter lilies will be for sale, and refreshments will be available. All children must be accompanied by an adult for all events. A hat and costume contest is to begin at 1 p.m. for ages 3 and younger.

The Edwin Booth Theater Inc. will present the fun-filled musical "Snoopy" at 8 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 17, and 2 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 18, at Harford Day School, 715 Moores Mill Road, Bel Air.Additional performances are scheduled for 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Nov. 23 and 24, and 2 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 25.The family show is filled with song, dance and comedy. The show features such favorite cartoon characters as Snoopy, Charlie Brown and his sister Sally, Lucy and Linus Van Pelt, Peppermint Patti and Woodstock.

THE FOUR teachers at St. John's Cooperative Nursery School will tell you, "Yes, there definitely is a Santa Claus, and he is generous, fun-loving and very perceptive."Santa also is timely, as he made his surprise and anonymous delivery of Christmas Snoopy sweat shirts to the teachers at the end of November, just as they were starting to work with students on holiday projects and their annual Christmas programs."Christmas Dreamin' with Snoopy" is the theme for the shows, which will feature the school mascot, Snoopy, sleeping on his doghouse and dreaming about the first Christmas, a white Christmas and activities at the North Pole.

Did you have a favorite article of clothing or stuffed animal as a kid?Julie Foudy, midfielder, U.S. soccer team: "I used to have a pair of hot-pink Vans [skateboard sneakers] when I was in junior high. I loved them because they were kind of crazy."Jonny Moseley, Olympic gold medalist, freestyle skiing: "My grandmother gave me a Snoopy doll when I was 3 years old. Snoopy was dressed like a skier. I still have Snoopy on my bed at home."Shareef Abdur-Rahim, forward, Vancouver Grizzlies: "My first pair of basketball shoes.

After nearly half a century of entertaining and inspiring generations of cartoon connoisseurs, "Peanuts" creator Charles M. Schulz announced last month that he had decided to end his popular comic strip. The final original daily "Peanuts" strip runs today (See Page 6E), and the final original Sunday strip will appear Feb. 13. The Sun will begin running classic "Peanuts" strips tomorrow. In recent e-mails, faxes and letters to The Sun, devoted readers of the "Peanuts" strip shared their recollections of the cartoon and told how, for many, a daily helping of Snoopy, Charlie Brown and the rest of the "Peanuts" gang became a way of life.

Easter egg hunt Take your Easter basket and wear your silliest Easter costume to the Easter egg hunt at the Baltimore Conservatory in Druid Hill Park on Sunday. The event will feature egg hunts for ages 7 and younger, a hat and costume contest, a costume parade, crafts, games, face-painting, a petting zoo and visits with the Easter Bunny. Potted plants and Easter lilies will be for sale, and refreshments will be available. All children must be accompanied by an adult for all events. A hat and costume contest is to begin at 1 p.m. for ages 3 and younger.

BLOOMINGTON, Minn. -- The Mall of America is in Bloomington, Minn., a few yards off Interstate Highway 494, about five minutes west of the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.Mall admission is free. So is parking. Stores are open from 10 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays and 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Sundays (closed Christmas and New Year's Day). The 23 rides in Knott's Camp Snoopy cost $1 to $2.50 and are open the same hours weekdays and Sundays, and until 11 p.m. onSaturdays. Movie theaters and entertainment areas run past midnight.

Amazing, isn't it, that it took a cartoon beagle to teach most Americans what little they came to know of the First World War. Or that culturally illiterate baby boomers who confuse "Madame Butterfly" with Iron Butterfly can pick Ludwig van Beethoven's face out a lineup in a heartbeat, thanks to a cartoon pianist whose toy piano had a bust of the composer's dour visage perched atop it. Where would we be without Snoopy, Schroeder, Charlie Brown and...

GOOD GRIEF! Such was the reaction of Jane Soverns on hearing that Charles Schulz, the cartoonist and creator of Snoopy and the "Peanuts" comic strip, was retiring. Schulz's last new strip will be published Feb. 13, but there will be no retirement for Snoopy -- at least at St. John Cooperative Nursery School on West Maple Road, where he is the longtime mascot. As soon as school director Soverns heard the news, she decided to have a Salute to Charles Schulz Week. Last week, children in five classes celebrated Snoopy with craft activities, videos, stories and food, all centered on the beloved beagle.

After nearly half a century of entertaining and inspiring generations of cartoon connoisseurs, "Peanuts" creator Charles M. Schulz announced last month that he had decided to end his popular comic strip. The final original daily "Peanuts" strip runs today (See Page 6E), and the final original Sunday strip will appear Feb. 13. The Sun will begin running classic "Peanuts" strips tomorrow. In recent e-mails, faxes and letters to The Sun, devoted readers of the "Peanuts" strip shared their recollections of the cartoon and told how, for many, a daily helping of Snoopy, Charlie Brown and the rest of the "Peanuts" gang became a way of life.

Did you have a favorite article of clothing or stuffed animal as a kid?Julie Foudy, midfielder, U.S. soccer team: "I used to have a pair of hot-pink Vans [skateboard sneakers] when I was in junior high. I loved them because they were kind of crazy."Jonny Moseley, Olympic gold medalist, freestyle skiing: "My grandmother gave me a Snoopy doll when I was 3 years old. Snoopy was dressed like a skier. I still have Snoopy on my bed at home."Shareef Abdur-Rahim, forward, Vancouver Grizzlies: "My first pair of basketball shoes.

THE FOUR teachers at St. John's Cooperative Nursery School will tell you, "Yes, there definitely is a Santa Claus, and he is generous, fun-loving and very perceptive."Santa also is timely, as he made his surprise and anonymous delivery of Christmas Snoopy sweat shirts to the teachers at the end of November, just as they were starting to work with students on holiday projects and their annual Christmas programs."Christmas Dreamin' with Snoopy" is the theme for the shows, which will feature the school mascot, Snoopy, sleeping on his doghouse and dreaming about the first Christmas, a white Christmas and activities at the North Pole.

I vaguely remember sitting at his kitchen table in Mahwah, New Jersey, telling my brother Tom how much I hated cats. But here was my brother telling me that his future second wife was a cat lover. I prefer dogs, I said. She's beautiful, he said.The one dog in his life had been a mistake, the result of a father's yearning to capture on film the delights of a daughter's face presed against the window at the mall pet store.Long before the dog was buried in a one-gallon Baggie under a back-yard gravestone, Elizabeth had wisely shifted her emotional allegiance to Snoopy -- ageless, immortal and stuffed.

Amazing, isn't it, that it took a cartoon beagle to teach most Americans what little they came to know of the First World War. Or that culturally illiterate baby boomers who confuse "Madame Butterfly" with Iron Butterfly can pick Ludwig van Beethoven's face out a lineup in a heartbeat, thanks to a cartoon pianist whose toy piano had a bust of the composer's dour visage perched atop it. Where would we be without Snoopy, Schroeder, Charlie Brown and...

Charles M. Schulz's "Peanuts" gang was everywhere in the 1960s, as you baby boomers might recall.Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Lucy, Linus, Schroeder and the rest frequently turned up on greeting cards, sweat shirts, commercials, lunch boxes, TV specials and feature films, as well as in books, rock songs, ("Snoopy Versus the Red Baron" by The Royal Guardsmen, remember?) and even a fascinating published dissertation from the University of Chicago School of Divinity entitled "The Gospel According to Peanuts."

Ringggggg! Ringgggg!Hi, Mom. It's Sarah. I'm in the principal's office. . .No, I'm not in trouble. Yes, I feel OK. I'm calling on the Snoopy Phone.Snoopy Phone?At Laurel Woods Elementary School, dozens of children are sent to the office every day, not because they're in trouble, but because Principal Tricia Tidgewell wants the students to tell their parents about the good things they did in school that day.They call over a telephone that is shaped like the "Peanuts" cartoon character Snoopy and which Ms. Tidgewell has connected outside her office.

BLOOMINGTON, Minn. -- The Mall of America is in Bloomington, Minn., a few yards off Interstate Highway 494, about five minutes west of the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.Mall admission is free. So is parking. Stores are open from 10 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays and 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Sundays (closed Christmas and New Year's Day). The 23 rides in Knott's Camp Snoopy cost $1 to $2.50 and are open the same hours weekdays and Sundays, and until 11 p.m. onSaturdays. Movie theaters and entertainment areas run past midnight.