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.   

Conan Takes To The Skies Over Burbank

Living in the center of Hollywood (well, it's really Burbank) one gets to see a lot of things some people living in some other parts of the country might not. For example, I have seen overhead on numerous occasions the Goodyear blimp and the Fuji blimp. (Sadly, I have never seen the MetLife blimp, featuring the famous World War I Flying Ace.) Today I saw the new Conan blimp. It seemed to be basically flying over the Warner Bros. lot, which would make sense as Conan does his freshly-minted late-night show from that lot, which is right here in Burbank. I imagine Conan will make reference to his blimp being directly overhead. I'll soon know as his show starts in less than a half-hour as of this writing. (I'm not surprised Conan has a blimp as he has always seemed to like them... if memory serves, I think he had Andy Richter spend an entire episode of his first NBC series aboard the MetLife blimp. Some people have all the luck.) You can find out more about the Conan blimp and even track its travels (so you will know when its over your city) here. (Even though the graphic above says the Conan blimp will be in flight through October 31, its flight has been extended trough November.)