A (Rarely Seen) Charlie Brown Christmas

Over the next few days I hope to post a few pages of a rare Yuletide treat: A Charlie Brown Christmas Stocking by Charles M. Schulz. Very much in the spirit of Schulz's classic Peanuts "little square books" such as the first and most famous title, the bestselling Happiness is a Warm Puppy, this delightful little volume was created expressly for the December 1963 issue of Good Housekeeping magazine, and was never published again, so today most people don't even know it was ever created. The little yellow book, printed on paper just a notch or two above newsprint in quality, was bound in the middle of the magazine's semi-glossy pages as the publication's Christmas present to it's 12 million readers. (I have the feeling the magazine's current circulation is not quite that high.) I won't be publishing all of the book's 16 (counting the cover) pages but I will feature the highlights. Here's the beginning of A Charlie Brown Christmas Stocking, in which Charlie Brown finds out his friends' (including the seldom-seen [or remembered] Shermy) views on the contoversial subject of hanging up a Christmas stocking...

Speaking of Searle: Sing A Song Of Gladness And Cheer

Back here I mentioned Ronald Searle, so I thought I'd post a few screen grabs from the main titles of the 1970 musical film version of A Christmas Carol entitled Scrooge (no exclamation mark). British illustrator and cartoonist Ronald Searle created the very Dickensian but also Searlesesque pen-and-ink-and-watercolor illustrations for the film's main titles, as well as drawings for the elaborate program issued for purchase at theaters screening the film. One of those illustrations is featured here, but if you want to see the program and all of Searle's main title art—plus plenty more of Searle and his illustrations (including his TV Guide Christmas covers) visit Matt Jones' terrific blog, entitled Perpetua: Ronald Searle Tribute.

Happy Hanukkah

Here's a great and timely Peanuts strip from December 23, 1970, reprinted in Fantagraphics' super-spectacular hardcover publishing project, The Complete Peanuts: 1969-1970, the 10th volume of the 12 year-long endeavor publishing every single daily and Sunday installment of Charles M. Schulz's comic masterpiece. (Be sure and click on the image above for a larger view.)

A Simple Greeting

Once upon a time TV Guide not only ran articles of in-depth analysis and journalistic reporting on the TV scene, as opposed to purely puff pieces, it also featured artful covers that went far beyond simplistic portraits of celebrities—including an annual Christmas cover. This special cover rarely had anything directly to do with television, being instead a celebrational work of art. Illustrious artists were often commissioned including Ronald Searle and Charles Saxon, and the cover featured here from the issue covering the week of December 19, 1964 is by famed New Yorker cartoonist William Steig. The artist's specialty at one point in his long career was children, so in this delightful and suitably snowy (for this day in 2008) Yuletide art, he spotlights kids crooning Christmas carols. And not a TV in sight.

Prepare To Be Heartwarmed

The NBC series Chuck gets better with each episode, and the most recent episode, "Chuck vs. Santa Claus" was no exception. A unique hybrid of action, adventure, espionage, heartfelt drama, and character-centered comedy, Chuck is part of the current "geek chic" trend happening now. (You can read more about that here.) Zachary Levi gives a pitch perfect performance as the super-smart but somewhat-downtrodden Nerd Herder who's plunged into a world of spies, secret missions and constant danger and excitement. As "Chuck vs. Santa Claus" made abundantly clear, Chuck's Best Buy-like Buy More electronics emporium is located in beautiful downtown Burbank, specifically at 9000 Burbank Blvd. New episodes resume on February 2 and in the meantime you can see full episodes at nbc.com, so be sure and check out Chuck.

Christmas Comics On Parade

Here's another Christmas gift in the form of a comic book—and unlike most of the holiday-themed comics posted by me (or other bloggers) this is a Christmas comic book you can actually buy right now at a comic book store. That's right, Gemstone, the present-day publisher of Disney comic books, has issued their fifth annual Christmas Parade special, combining reprints of vintage comic stories and never-before-published-in-the-U.S-comics. The front and back covers were drawn by Mickey Mouse master Paul Murry and were originally published in issue number five (of the original series) in 1953 (and without the UPC code you see on the back cover pictured here). These two works of art work hard (but delightfully so) to make us merry.

Like A Bolt Out Of The Blue

Disney's audience-pleasing film Bolt is still pleasing viewers in movie theaters, and the story and characters are entertaining audiences in book form too. I was lucky enough to write one of the book adaptations, pictured here. (Check out the middle image for my byline.) This particular format is called the Pictureback Book and is issued by the publisher Bennett Cerf built, Random House.

Under The Mistletoe With Archie

In an earlier post I noted the favorite aspect of Christmas for comic-book character and girl-crazy teen Archie Andrews had to be mistletoe— and now here's all the proof you need. It's the Yuletide cover of Archie's Christmas Stocking No. 10 from 1954. During this period Archie was still wearing his traditional wardrobe of bow tie, letter sweater vest ("R" for Riverdale High, of course) plaid pants and saddle shoes— a costume Archie would wear well into the 1960s. Whatever his style, Archie is still lots of fun to look at, especially at Christmastime.

Happy Beethoven's Birthday!

Today is a date writ large not only in musical and cultural history, but also in the lore of the Peanuts comic strip. As pint-size piano virtuoso Schroeder would be the first to tell you, Ludwig Van Beethoven was born on this date in 1770. To celebrate the great composer and his role in the world of Peanuts, the Charles M. Schulz Museum and Research Center is holding a special exhibit. Schulz's Beethoven: Schroeder's Muse will run at the Museum through January 26, 2009. You can learn more about the exhibit at the Schulz Museum's website.

A Big Bang Christmas

You know your favorite television series has arrived when The Wall Street Journal takes notice, and Big Bang Theory has indeed been so covered, as you can read here. How appropriate that this article (thanks, LaToya!) should center around Big Bang's Christmas episode, being broadcast tonight on CBS. (If you missed this Yuletide Theory, you can catch it on CBS.com.) But Spoiler Alert! the article gives away plot details. The above photograph shows Big Bang co-creator/producer Chuck Lorre and series stars Johnny Galecki (Leonard) and Jim Parsons (Sheldon). Don't miss the article and don't miss the show, and also be sure and catch today's Big Bang posting on the blog of fellow Big Bang Headbanger Ed Squair. (Ed's post will be up at 8:00 pm Pacific Time, concurrent with the broadcast of tonight's episode.) PS Thanks to intrepid field reporter Russell Miller (thanks, Russ!), I've been notified that Chuck Lorre did indeed name the lead Big Bang characters after legendary TV comedy producer-director-creator Sheldon Leonard, according to Parade magazine. Were he ever to meet Sheldon and Leonard, Sheldon Leonard would undoubtedly say, "Out you two pixies go, through the door or out the window!" And that, as some Tulgey Wood visitors will already recognize, is another Christmas reference.