Season's Greetings From Snoopy

A little known Peanuts publication, Snoopy Magazine was published from 1988 through 1990. The Winter 1989 issue of this fun-filled quarterly featured a large and delightfully Christmasy centerfold, featuring a Victorian-garbed Snoopy in a one-Woodstock open sleigh. Though it's very unlikely this centerfold was drawn by Schulz himself (be sure and click on this large artwork for an even bigger view), it sure looks like his work, right down to the somewhat shaky line used at the time by the great cartoonist. In any event, this is a rare piece of Peanuts art, sweetly evoking sentiments of the season.

A View Of the Peanuts Voices

'Tis the season for the classic Peanuts TV specials so here, thanks to TV Guide, is a look at the kids (along with Peanuts animation director Bill Melendez as the"voice" of Snoopy) who performed the voices for He's Your Dog, Charlie Brown (1968).  Included are Peter Robbins and Chris Shea are the original voices of their respective characters, having originated the vocal roles even before A Charlie Brown Christmas in the Ford commercials of the early 1960s. I like the way TV Guide had the actors mimic the facial expressions and physical attitudes of the animated characters. (Peter Robbins expression in the color photo is especially good—you can really see, as Andy Griffith might say, the actor in the man, er, boy.) The talents of these young actors are one reason the special as featuring their voices are so outstanding—they weren't simply kids cast to get a certain sound, Peter and Chris were actually actors with true performing skill. Just think of  Linus proclaiming the Gospel's Nativity story or Charlie Brown saying, "I got a rock,"and you'll see—and hear—why their original vocalizations remain the gold standard.

It's A Strange Story, Charlie Brown

This Halloween—as on the day itself, October 31, 2013, ABC will present the Halloween classic, It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown—and paired with it, a Peanuts bonus cartoon, You're Not Elected, Charlie Brown, in which Linus runs for class president. This special presents one of the strangest stories in the annals of Peanuts televsion, for when it was first brodacst by CBS on October 29, 1972, it was entitled You're Elected, Charlie Brown. Since Charlie Brown is not, in fact, elected (he doesn't even run), viewers complained that the title was frustratingly misleading and made no sense.  When the show was repeated, the title was changed (even though the lyrics of the special's theme song explicitly states, "You're Elected, Charlie Brown"). Today, some Peanuts fans cannot believe that the special ever had a different title; in fact, most Peanuts animation histories never mention this oddity. For those who are unaware of the original title below is the proof—the TV Guide ad from the special's debut. Does this strange piece of Charlie Brown history have anything to do with Countdown to Halloween 2013? Yes, for in the special, Linus almost loses the election by replacing his campaign speech with an impassioned preachment about the Great Pumpkin.   

Another Determined Production: Crabby Costume

Here's a fun Halloween item: you can be the queen of crabbiness herself, Lucy Van Pelt, with this Peanuts Costume, created by the Peanuts licensee supreme, Determined Products. Released in the 1970s, this perfect-for-Great-Pumpkin watching (or scorning) outfit originally cost $3.18 according to the price tag from Rinks department store (which was apparently in Ohio) on the suitably pumpkin-orange box. (Also available: Charlie Brown and Snoopy costumes....but no Linus. Linus is of course waiting in the sincere pumpkin patch, waiting for the Great Pumpkin.)

From The Peanuts Gallery: Shermy

It's July and that means it's Christmas in July here in Tulgey Wood, for that jolly season is just a half-year away. To get things off to a truly true-spirit-of-Christmas start, let's turn to that most famous of TV holiday specials, A Charlie Brown Christmas. One of the most interesting things about this endlessly fascinating TV special from 1965 is that it's a snapshot of the strip as it was then (for example, the special shows Snoopy performing impressions but he had not yet regularly taken to wearing costumes or walking upright as a usual habit yet). So the special features Frieda, Violet, Patty, and even 5—and Shermy too. In fact this apperance in one of the most widely-seen Christmas specials ever produced (it's been shown on network TV ever since its debut on December 9, 1965, to huge ratings each year) is one of the main reasons Shermy is remembered, if at all. Poor Shermy deserves better if only because this mild-mannered crew-cut sporting boy was not only one of the strip's original cast of characters in the first installment published on October 2, 1950, along with Charlie Brown and Patty (Snoopy joined the strip two days later), he's also the first character to speak, and also the first (again) to not only mention Charlie Brown by name but also the first to utter the famous line "Good Ol' Charlie Brown," which Schulz immortalized as the unofficial title of the comic strip. Thankfully Shermy himself is immortalized in A Charlie Brown Christmas for he both dances up a storm in the famously free-form dance sequences so well-remembered by most everyone whose seen this animated film and has his very own line: "Every Christmas it's the same: I always end up playing a shepherd." This is Shermy's lament upon being handed his script and costume for his role in the pageant. Perhaps this was some unconscious or even deliberate commentary on Shermy's own position in the strip: he is perennially as a bit player. Personally I have always considered Shermy the Zeppo Marx of the Peanuts gang, and I don't mean that as an insult. Only Zeppo, as a full-fledged Marx Brother, could get away with some of the actions and dialog he was afforded in his few films, even though the lion's share of the laughs and onscreen action was given to Groucho, Chico and Harpo. And so it is with Shermy: he may not have had much face time in the strip or specials, but only a full-fledged Peanuts cast member would be allowed such wry observations. See this little-known Charlie Brown booklet for another Christmas-related example of Shermy's prescience.

Happy Birthday, Sparky

To celebrate the birthday of Charles M. Schulz, here's a cover he drew for Liberty magazine, in its "nostalgia" reincarnation (hence the "Then & Now" appendage). Schulz must have been pleased to draw the cover of this issue celebrating the comics, as he had always been an avid reader and appreciator of the comic-strip art form. (Even his nickname was inspired by the racehorse Sparkplug in the Barney Google strip—that's right, "Google" once referred to something other than a search engine) In addition to including Schulz among the "Great Cartoonists of the Century," this issue also included an article about Sparky and Peanuts, which during this time—the cover date of this magazine is Winter 1973 —was an ever-expanding, unbelievably popular phenomenon. The article features the following observation: "There is no doubt in my mind that drawing a comic strip simply has to be the best job in the world. People send you wonderful letters. the syndicate for which you work sends you enough money to live on, and you are allowed to draw all of the pictures that you have been wanting to draw ever since you were a little kid." Typical Schulzian understatement, with none of the bitterness ascribed to him by recent biographers. What better way to celebrate Sparky's birthday than reveling in this specially drawn art (click on the image for a larger view.)

60 Years Of Crashed Kites And Disrespectful Dogs

Today, October 2, 2010 marks the 60th anniversary of the comic strip that surely needs no introduction, Peanuts, for it was on this date in 1950 that the initial entry in what would become a worldwide phenomenon was first published in a mere seven newspapers, a marked contrast to the 2,000-plus papers in which the comic would eventually appear. To mark the occasion, here's a rare bit of art—a 1967 letter sent out by comic-strip artist/writer par excellence Charles M. Schulz in response to a fan apparently requesting original art. It would be interesting to know if Mrs. Jones of Parsons, Kansas ever received an original strip from United Features Syndicate. Anyhow, I hope you enjoy this example (click on the image for a larger view) of special art created by Schulz outside the strip itself as we celebrate sixty years of happiness with Peanuts.