In 1956, the Minneapolis Star newspaper ran a contest for “Peanut of the Year”, asking parents or kids themselves to submit letters of 150 words or fewer of whey a certain 5 to 10 year old was like a Peanuts character, or deserved to be part of the cast. The winner, eight year old Ruth Ida Figi (who you can see here) had been having an interesting year; on January 4th, she had broken her leg in a ski accident, so I guess she was already in a cast.

It’s the awarding of the prize that caught my eye. Charles Schulz selected the winner from four finalists, but it was part of a much larger event… specifically, the “Aquatennial Star Night and Coronation”, which is partly a celebration of the 100th anniversary of Minneapolis but more largely a beauty pagaent. Forty presumably-beautiful women were there, with the “Queen of the Lakes” to be named (as well as several other titles.) Movie star Anne Francis was announced to be there, but I don’t see her mentioned in the later coverage, so perhaps that plan changed. Indeed, later coverage speaks of there being three celebrities: Schulz, Natalie Wood, and Barbara Lang. Wood had already gone from being the kid star of A Miracle on 34th Street to being a striking 18 year old.

Barbara Lang? Also quite eye-catching..

Schulz was already a family man by the time, and I won’t claim to speak to whether he enjoyed the experience. Still, it does fulfill the old saying: “if you want to surround yourself with beautiful women, become a cartoonist!” (What, no one says that? Really?? Can we make that a thing?)

As for young Miss Figi, she ended up studying to become a missionary. I have tried reaching out to her at an address she at least once had, but got no response and do not know if she’s even still among the living. But there is one thing I do know: that was the only Peanut of the Year contest the paper held. As such, she is still the reigning Peanut of the Year.

And as long as I’m finding things in old newspapers: Back in 1960, the Midland (Michigan) Daily News added Peanuts to their comic strip line-up, and it was front-page news from them. They even ran images of the eight stars of the strip… but go, take a look, and see if you can figure out which star they forgot to include. (Also, ask yourself if you, too, think that the layout person assumed Linus was a baby.)

I will close out this old newspaper run with this note on the Peanuts Christmas Specials of 1933.

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