April 4, 1967 (solo)[1][2](unnamed until June 22, 1970) Woodstock is a fictional character in Charles M. Schulz's comic strip Peanuts.
[10] In the early 1960s, Snoopy began befriending birds when they started using his doghouse for various purposes: a rest stop during migrations, a nesting site, a community hall, or a place to play cards.
None of these birds were ever given a name, although they did, on occasion (e.g., July 10, 1962), use speech balloons, lettered in what would become the classic 'chicken scratch marks' of Woodstock's utterances.
By the end of this four-strip sequence, Snoopy, in character as the World War I Flying Ace, learns that the bird is his new mechanic, Woodstock's first supporting role.
But Woodstock is singled out as the bird who befriended Snoopy, in part by continuing references to him as the Flying Ace's mechanic (July 12, 1967; June 12–14, 1968).
Schulz acknowledged in several print and TV interviews in the mid-1970s that he took Woodstock's name from the rock festival.
In the movies and television specials, the chicken scratches are rendered audibly as a staccato series of high-pitched honks and squawks by Snoopy's voice actor Bill Melendez.
Woodstock often works as Snoopy's secretary (most notably when the latter was appointed "Head Beagle"), and caddies for him when he plays golf (usually with some difficulty).
Woodstock also plays American football with Snoopy, usually attempting to catch the ball but, due to his size, he is simply hit by it; sometimes getting embedded into the ground a short distance.
In the TV special, She's a Good Skate, Charlie Brown, when Peppermint Patty's music for a skating competition fails to play due to a malfunction that cannot be repaired expediently, Woodstock steps up to the microphone and whistles a flawless O Mio Babbino Caro, to which Peppermint Patty performs her routine.
He also whistles his part in the song "The Best of Buddies" (via an instrumental version entitled "Woodstock's Samba")[12][13] in the feature film Snoopy Come Home.
When asked where he learned to pilot, Woodstock replied (speaking in his usual chicken scratches, but translated), "Nam."
During the winter, he relaxes by either skating or playing ice hockey on top of the birdbath, complete with his own Zamboni machine to keep the surface clean (except one year where Woodstock asks Snoopy to migrate with him, and the duo takes the trip on foot).
In the TV special, It's the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown, Snoopy buys Woodstock a birdhouse to replace his nest after a cold early spring rain.
[14] An important and recurring characteristic of Woodstock is his absurdly and hilariously high physical strength and endurance, considering he couldn't weigh more than about 50 grams.
Since Snoopy has heard somewhere that eagles are capable of lifting a small child, he suggests Woodstock try that with Linus.
The last instance is when Snoopy, posing as a football coach, is angry at his player Woodstock for losing "the book with all our secret plays" and orders the bird to run twenty thousand laps around the field as punishment.
The special centers around the theft of his nest and Snoopy, dressed as the World Famous Detective, trying to find out who did it.
At one point Snoopy attempts to identify what type of bird Woodstock is with the aid of a field guide, asking Woodstock to attempt to imitate various birds: American bittern,[18] Carolina wren,[19] rufous-sided towhee,[20] yellow-billed cuckoo,[21] Canada goose,[22] warbler,[23] and mourning warbler.
In 1997 the American Contract Bridge League (ACBL), awarded both Snoopy and Woodstock the honorary rank of Life Master, and Schulz was delighted.