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Transcript:

Charlie Brown stands and looks at Patty sitting on the floor grimacing. She says, "I'm mad!"

She shows him her doll in its pram. She exclaims, "I got a new doll, and none of the girls has come to see it!"

As she takes the doll out of the pram, he asks, "Well, what did you expect? A baby-shower?!"

As she chases him with the doll, he runs off laughing and says, "Things like that just come to me out of a clear sky..."

Original comic:

none of the girls has come to see it

I would have said "none of the girls have come to see it" or "not one of the girls has come to see it".

Is this a mistake on Schulz's part (or mine), or has English changed since 1952?

I think both are considered grammatical, and it's regional? Thinking about various replacement words, and I'd say "none of my family has" but also "none of the reporters have". Same as "My family is coming into town" vs "The reporters are coming into town".

I'd say "The girls are coming into town" though, but "none of the girls has" doesn't sound wrong. If you think of The Girls as like a rock band, then "The Girls is coming to town" sounds weird but "Girls is coming to town" sounds normal.

Huh, interesting. I guess it comes down to whether one thinks of groups of people like "reporters", "my family", "girls", or "The Beatles" as singular or plural. I think I would default to plural in most cases, but I could see the argument for treating them as a singular group.