the doctor is real in

[skippercollecto]

This is a question that has puzzled me for 40 years, or at least for as long as I've been able to read.
Charlie Brown goes to see Lucy for psychiatric help. She has a little stand that says "the doctor is out." When he sits down at her booth, she turns the sign around and it now reads "the doctor is real in."
I've never understood this message. Was this some sort of "in" joke for 1965 that I've never discovered? There are other comments in A Charlie Brown Christmas that are references to LBJ and the Great Society, and as an adult I understand them. Or is this simply a pun, that Lucy is "reeling in" the money?
Mary

[Dawg]

Well, Daddy-o, it was a really hip saying back in the day.

Beatnik-speak. Jazz. Cool.

God, I'm old...............................

I am
Dawg
:warrior:

[spcglider]

Its a phrase... like, "That's not just cool, that's REAL cool, mama!"

It was a thing that the hipsters used to say. One of the many bits of verbiage that help us define the era. I'm sure Schulz was using it to indicate a certain "lame" quality to Lucy's idea of pop-psychology. She's obviously not qualified to dispense advice on any subject, and the use of the term just adds to the subliminal humor of the situation. Its like white guys trying to rap.

-G