All right, now, raise your hands: How many of you still vividly remember seeing A Charlie Brown Christmas the very first time it aired on television?
These articles are arranged from the most recent down, so you'll always find the newest news about Charlie Brown and his friends toward the top; older articles will be located further down, or on previous pages.
Snoopy's Legal Guardian
Jeannie Schulz wasn't trained to manage her husbands Peanuts empire, but it has thrived. The trapeze helps keep her balanced.
March 8, 2006
By Jocelyn Y. Stewart
The Los Angeles Times
SANTA ROSA -- During 27 years of marriage to Peanuts creator Charles M. Schulz, Jeannie Schulz sat by her husbands side at business dinners and sometimes visited his studio as he worked.
She was not his business partner, nor his creative other half. In the world of Peanuts, she had no title and that was fine with her.
Over the years, though, the cartoonist whom she and others called Sparky hinted that her relationship with his work might change one day. When Im gone all this is yours, he would tell her. You can be anything you want.
He was always kidding, she said. He kept everything he did light like that so you never really knew what he meant.
Then, six years ago, Charles Schulz died at age 77. Jeannie Schulz was 60, a grandmother devoted to her family and charity work. But suddenly, she was also the new chief of Creative Associates, the $35-million-a-year enterprise that managed a cartoon heritage loved by millions.
Although Charles Schulzs son Craig from a previous marriage would be there as president, she would be responsible for helping oversee decisions on everything from pro bono appearances of Peanuts characters to licensing agreements.
Before her husbands death, she had taken the lead on the creation of a museum honoring his legacy. Now it, too, was left to her to complete.
Her resume seemed unequal to the task. But having once conquered fear in the air, she learned also to trust herself on the ground.
If daring were genetic it would be easy to understand Jeannie Schulzs chutzpah.
In the 1960s -- before the womens movement propelled women into places they had never gone before -- her then 50-year-old mother began pilot training. Jeannie took lessons as well, and mother and daughter flew as pilot and co-pilot in the Powder Puff Derby, a cross-country, all-womens air race.
She was always more of a liberated woman than a housewife, Jeannie recalled.
In those early flying lessons Jeannie learned to handle her phobias as well as a plane. It wasnt that she was so brave, she simply knew how to put fear in its place.
Thats how she ended up on a trapeze.
In 1990, when she saw others flying trapeze at a Club Med in Mexico, Schulz joined the line, setting aside her fear of heights. She was 50 and already a grandmother, but why not try? On the climb up the tall, steel ladder, she said, she looked down, petrified. All she could do was keep climbing. Standing on a platform at the top of the ladder, she was supposed to grab a bar, lean backward, hang upside down by her knees, swing herself out, then release into the arms of a catcher.
How on earth did I get myself into this? she thought, as she listened to the instructions.
She couldnt do it. The best she could do was hang from the bar by her hands and then drop into a net below, humiliated. She looked at those who were flying and thought, Theyre no better than I am, no stronger.
Back home in Santa Rosa, each time she took her grandchildren to the playground, she did pull-ups on the monkey bars, as if preparing for the next meeting with the schoolyard bully.
She was always tenacious. Born in England to German parents, Jean Forsyth was raised mostly in California. She had worked as a telephone operator in her younger years, had earned a degree in English literature from Sonoma State, and was a divorcee when she met Schulz.
They met at the Redwood Empire Ice Arena, the rink Schulz built in Santa Rosa.
In 1973 the two were married in a private ceremony at Schulzs home in Santa Rosa. It was the second marriage for Schulz, who had been divorced from his first wife earlier that year.
While he was busy drawing, she was busy too.
There was an active family life -- she had two children from her previous marriage, and he had five. There were the charities and civic groups, including the League of Women Voters and Canine Companions for Independence, which supplies trained dogs to people with disabilities. There was the Schulz family philanthropy to the town an ice skating show each Christmas, a baseball field and other donations. He was pleased with what I was doing, and probably glad I was staying out of his hair, she said.
But there were times when she influenced Peanuts without even trying. She is the reason Charlie Browns little sister, Sally, coos my Sweet Babboo to her crush, the blanket-toting Linus.
I used to call Sparky Sweet Babboo, and he took it for the comic strip, she said. Then I couldnt use it anymore.
Her years of flying with her mother became fodder for a 1975 strip with Peppermint Patty and Marcie flying atop Snoopys dog house.
You didnt give Sparky ideas, he took them, she said.
*******
In 1995, author and philosopher Sam Keen erected a trapeze.
With a teacher like Keen, there was no reason for Jeannie to give her fear of heights a front-row seat inside her mind.
But after about seven weeks of driving 20 miles to Keens Sonoma farm and ranch, Jeannie had not flown through the air with the greatest of ease. In fact, she hadnt flown at all.
One day on the drive to the ranch, she told herself, I really dont have to do this. That day, she tried once more to follow the instructions that were supposed to make her airborne. This time she flew into the arms of the catcher.
At that point, she said, I was hooked.
Trapeze demands focus and timing. You must trust your partner to catch you. Trapeze is in some ways a team effort, some ways an individual sport.
Its not like a baseball game where you feel bad if you strike out, or tennis where if you miss an overhead youve blown something, Jeannie said. Here the performance is your own.
Trapeze was helping her learn to trust her body, to revel in its abilities age aside. This was not one of those loves, like golf, she shared with Sparky. It was hers alone.
She continued setting goals and reaching them.
I wanted to do a knee hang [without a safety belt] for my 60th birthday, she said, a feat that required, above all, courage.
While she practiced flying, she also practiced building.
Two longtime family friends Ed Anderson and Mark Cohen -- had been urging Schulz to create a museum, but Schulz had been reluctant. It was that self-effacing way that he dealt with almost everything that was flattering, Jeannie said. That was his way & to not set himself up for defeat.
At a meeting of Peanuts licensees in Arizona in 1997, Jeannie broke through. Present was Yoshiteru Otani, a Japanese artist Schulz admired for his imaginative treatment of Peanuts characters, his whimsy and understanding.
Jeannie Schulz posed a question What if Otani agreed to create works for the museum? The museum would be more than a repository of Peanuts. It would be a thoughtful celebration of Schulzs art and its influence.
Sparky simply said, Yes, and that was enough for me to go ahead, she recalled.
Otani was stunned by the invitation.
Jean Schulz asked me if I could be involved in a museum which celebrates Schulzs artwork, Otani said through an interpreter. I was as surprised when I was selected, as if Charlie Brown had kicked the ball that Lucy was holding.
She began assembling a museum board. With Anderson and Cohen ,she visited the presidential libraries of Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan and the museum in Salinas celebrating author John Steinbeck.
They brought their observations back to Schulz, and he had the final word.
Computer stations were out. The cartoonist never used them, knew nothing about them.
The happiest place on earth ambiance was out. I dont want this to be a Disneyland, he said.
Schulz was adamant that the museum focus on the strip, not him. If you want to know me, he often said, read my strip.
That request spoke to his modesty, but also to his relationship with other Peanuts products. Beginning in the late 1950s, Peanuts characters entered the lucrative world of merchandising. But with the exception of the early books and film productions, such as A Charlie Brown Christmas, Charles Schulz was not their creator.
He just wanted to be known for the thing he put so much effort into, she said.
Charlie Brown and the gang debuted in U.S. newspapers on Oct. 2, 1950. From then on Schulz drew, inked and lettered the strip by himself, creating more than 18,000 strips. Schulz had been generous over the years, giving original strips to friends, or fans, or nonprofits that auctioned them at fundraisers. As news of the museum spread, some friends and fans returned the strips. Jeannie also began purchasing others from auction houses, off eBay and from private sellers. The early strips cost as much as $10,000.
By the fall of 1999, the building plans were complete, permits granted. Soon the board would select a museum director. To top it off, Jeannie had met her 60th birthday goal on the trapeze.
Then came November.
Doctors informed Schulz that he had cancer. On Nov. 16, while at his studio, he complained of pain in his legs. He was taken to a hospital, where emergency surgery cleared a blockage in the abdominal aorta.
Schulz later suffered a series of small strokes that left him partially blind. Reading was difficult, and though he could still draw, he was unable to keep up his strip-a-day schedule.
By the end of the year, Schulz announced his retirement and the end of the strip. Before his illness, Jeannie had practiced trapeze three times a week. Even now, with everything changing around her, she did not break the routine.
Even when he was in the hospital, hed say, You go and do trapeze, Im OK. Its important for you. He knew that it was a big thing for me. And he was proud of me for doing it.
At Keens ranch she continued to practice. Now trapeze was a refuge, a place to be bold, to revel in small victories and put aside, while in the air, everything happening below.
In January 2000, Schulz sat in on interviews for a museum director and expressed his preference. The evening of Feb. 12, he went for a skate at his arena. That night he died in his sleep with Jeannie at his side. The National Cartoonist Society Web site posted a drawing of Snoopy weeping. Schulz was buried in nearby Sebastopol.
Jeannie hardly had time to mourn; the museum was underway and she had a legacy to tend.
Im a poor substitute, but Im the only thing theyve got and I take that seriously because I take his memory very seriously, she said.
Now, she offers the final word on her husbands genius She approved a labyrinth in the shape of Snoopys head, a garden with a kite-eating tree, a timeline of Sparkys life. She decided to recreate his studio, just as it had been when he died.
The Charles M. Schulz Museum and Research Center, a nonprofit built with $8 million in private money, has been open to the public since August 2002.
Guests walk through a gallery filled with strips and view them as if looking at old pictures in a family photo album. There are historically based exhibits as well, such as Top Dogs Comic Canines Before and After Snoopy, and a tribute to jazz musician Vince Guaraldi, father of the Peanuts sound.
We have fine people running these things and they could run it without me, Jeannie said, but as long as Im around theres always small details that Id like to know about. She spends a portion of each day reviewing, photographing and cataloging new Peanuts products. I periodically see things I dont care for, she said. And sometimes she rejects them, like the idea for an arcade crane game, in which players would manipulate large steel claws to grab a plush Snoopy. Most players, of course, would lose their money. In the version Jeannie ultimately approved, everyone who pays to play wins something.
Sometimes she still wonders what Sparky would say about all shes done. Would he like it?
More often she sounds sure of herself, the voice of a woman who has learned to trust herself in the sky and on the ground.
Olympia dog takes home title (got a photo for this one)
Joey is nations best Belgian sheepdog, but misses herding win
February 15, 2006
By Christian Hill
The Olympian [Washington state]
Joey is one cool pooch.
The Belgian sheepdog owned by Olympia resident Rachelle Bailey Austin won Best of Breed on Tuesday at the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show, the nations premiere canine event.
But Joey, 6, whose registered name is Champion Isengards Joe Cool, didnt come out on top in group judging and therefore wasnt considered in the Best in Show competition.
Coltin, the year-old Pomeranian who was the shows other entrant from Olympia, failed to advance past the breed competition Monday.
Owner Julie Clemen said he had 17 tiny competitors. His showing was good, considering he was one of the youngest Poms making his first appearance at Westminster, she said.
His handler, Annette Sullivan, Clemens cousin, already has made plans to return with Coltin next year.
Hes done very well, Clemen said. Hes had a very successful, fast career. Hes gone gangbusters.
Sullivans attention shifted to Joey, as she helped Bailey Austin primp him for Tuesdays competition.
Joey competed against 10 other champion Belgian sheepdogs to win Best of Breed.
It was no surprise he was recognized as the nations top Belgian sheepdog, his owner said. But the top prize in the group of all herding dogs went to another sheepdog - an old English. Joey was competing against 18 other prize winners in the group, which includes sheepdogs and collies.
Joey did receive some national exposure as the group judging was televised on the USA Network late Tuesday.
The event is invitation-only and features 2,500 dogs representing 165 breeds.
Joeys registered name is a tribute to Peanuts creator Charles Schulz. Joe Cool was Snoopys sunglass-wearing alter ego in the comic strip, and Bailey named the dog shortly after Schulzs death on Feb. 12, 2000.
Dark Horse Deluxe Announces Peanuts Collectible Statuette Series
February 8, 2006
By Arune Singh
www.comicbookresources.com
Charles Schulzs Peanuts has won acclaim as one of the most popular comic strips of all time. Printed worldwide to this day, the familiar characters from this masterwork have been the basis for all sorts of entertainment, publishing, corporate identity, and merchandise projects. Dark Horse Deluxe, an imprint of Dark Horse Comics, Inc., is joining in the fun by creating a special series of limited-edition statuettes of vintage Peanuts characters.
Modeled after products that were popular in the 1930s and 40s, the eight new statuettes from Dark Horse are designed and manufactured in a style consistent with the earlier figures and are scheduled for monthly release starting in September 2006. The first of the statuettes will feature a new rendition of none other than Charlie Brown. Produced in a limited edition of hand-numbered copies, the figure is fully painted and ready to display. Lucy will be the second release, followed by Linus and the rest of the gang in a pattern of monthly releases.
We are blown away by the response to these retro-style figures, Dark Horse Comics Vice President of Product Development David Scroggy observed, and we will be continuing the category with new titles. We want to concentrate on classic, iconic subjects, and certainly the Peanuts lineup qualifies.
Dark Horses Peanuts-themed statuettes were inspired by syroco sculptures developed in the 1930s. While many syrocos were produced, of special note is a 1944 program where King Features Syndicate characters were used in a set of advertising premiums featuring famous comic strip characters. They have come to be known as syroco figurines, named after both the then-new wood-like resin material they were made from and the company that produced them. They are now highly prized by collectors.
Dark Horses Mike Richardson was inspired by these, and began a latter day series of statuettes depicting famous newspaper comic strip characters. Produced under license from comic strip syndicates and other property owners, these new editions were created in 3-D by the talents at Yoe! Studio, one of Americas top creative design shops.
Measuring between 4 and 5, these statuettes have been sculpted in the original style, described by Craig Yoe as primitive but charming. Nearly fifty were produced in the inaugural award-winning series, known collectively as Classic Comic Characters. A new series will also depict the Kelloggs cereal mascot characters in their vintage style.
The Peanuts series will depict the characters as they are presented currently, but also will deliberately be somewhat more rough-hewn than is common, with features including non-slick surface textures, visible seam lines and other slightly distressed aspects to retain the vintage feel.
The new Peanuts series echoes the packaging and special features of the previous Dark Horse series, but affords collectors the opportunity to start with the first release. Each hand-numbered statuette comes carefully packaged in a custom-tooled, full-color, litho-printed tin box. Also included is a small booklet about each character and a vintage-style pinback button of the character.
We have worked hard to create a superior package for these very special items, Scroggy remarked, and we think we have met the challenge with help from our manufacturing team and of course the creative and licensing team at United Media.
The first releases are Charlie Brown (September 2006), Lucy (October 2006), Linus (November 2006), Schroeder (December 2006), Pig Pen (January 2007), Peppermint Patty (February 2007), Sally (March 2007), Snoopy (April 2007), Woodstock (May 2007), and Marcie (June 2007).
The initial release is arguably Peanuts most beloved character, Charlie Brown. Since his debut in seven newspapers in 1950, Charles Schulzs round-headed little kid has personified the foibles and frustrations of growing up, and, by extension, the human condition. He perseveres through the agony of trying to kick a football that is always yanked away at the last second, or deals with his unrequited love for the little red-headed girl. But as our youngest everyman, he has won our hearts on a daily basis for over fifty years.
Snoopy is pop cultures top dog
February 2, 2006
By Misty Harris, CanWest News Service
The Vancouver Sun [British Columbia]
Snoopy probably wasnt what the Chinese had in mind when they declared 2006 the Year of the Dog.
But the comic-strip canine has claimed top honors in a countdown of the 100 greatest dogs in pop culture history released this week in honor of Chinese New Year.
With a resume that includes stints as a First World War flying ace, attorney to Peter Rabbit, acclaimed astronaut and Olympic skater, Snoopy easily earned the votes of a pop culture panel at Retrocrush.com. Although best known for his association with Charlie Brown, the venerable Peanuts pooch has achieved international fame on his own merits.
Certainly hes the most recognizable dog in pop culture history, says Robert Berry, founder of Retrocrush, which attracts more than a million visitors a month. He isnt just a cute little dog. He has a sarcastic sense of humor about him and is always living out his fantasies.
Chasing Snoopys tail in the No. 2 spot is Scooby Doo, a talking Great Dane whom Berry calls one of the greatest cartoon characters ever made. Film and TV legend Lassie, a gender-bending collie with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, rounds out the top three.
Theres really no genre where there hasnt been some kind of dog character, says Berry.
Youve got Hound of the Baskervilles, that Sherlock Holmes story. Youve got old comic strips from the 20s, like Little Orphan Annie, that had dogs featured prominently; television shows, from Benji to The Thin Man series. Theyre certainly endearing, which is why so many actors over the years have been afraid to work with dogs. They steal scenes.
The No. 4 spot bears the pawprints of Old Yeller, a fictional mixed-breed dog more famous for his death than his life.
Mention Old Yeller and people almost start to tear up right away, says Berry. Although none of us have to take our dogs into the backyard and kill them with a shotgun these days, [the story] still reminds us of how finite life can be.
Goofy, that upright-walking Disney darling, landed at No. 5 despite the ambiguity looming over his canine status. Berry cites the memorable scene in the 1986 movie Stand By Me in which River Phoenix claims Goofy cant be a dog because he wears a hat and drives a car.
Finishing off the top 10 are Ren Hoek of Ren and Stimpy, Benji, Gromit of Wallace and Gromit, White Fang, and Flash of The Dukes of Hazzard.
Other top dogs on Retrocrushs list include Mr. Peabody, Toto, Droopy, McGruff, Cujo, the Taco Bell chihuahua, Marmaduke, Clifford, Nana, the Family Guys Brian, Triumph the Insult Comic Dog, and Canadian favorite The Littlest Hobo.
Rapper Snoop Dogg initially made it to No. 71 but has since been removed.
Redwood Empire Ice Arena functions as the house that Snoopy built
January 30, 2006
By Randy Schultz
www.usahockey.com
He wore uniform No. 9. He skated as a forward. He possessed a wrist shot that could beat the best of goaltenders.
No, were not talking about Neal Brotten or even Mike Modano.
Good grief, Charlie Brown! Were talking about none other than the creator of the world-famous Peanuts comic strip, the late Charles Schulz.
Until his death in 2000, Schulz played hockey as often as he could in the arena he had built for the city where he resided and worked -- Santa Rosa, Calif. It was a sport he began playing during his early childhood days in his native St. Paul, Minn.
Schulzs love of hockey is public knowledge, thanks to his comic strip with such characters as Charlie Brown, Lucy, Linus and the ever-popular Snoopy, who had a recurring role as the World Famous Hockey Player.
As a boy, Schulz and his friends -- many of whom are reputed to be characters in Peanuts -- didnt have the Minnesota North Stars, Minnesota Wild or the National Hockey League to consume their rooting passions.
Instead, Schulz and his friends believed they had something they felt was just as good, if not in caliber of play, at least in enjoyment.
We followed the United States Hockey League when I was growing up, said Schulz in a 1986 interview, because St. Paul had a team in the league at the time. I can remember going to my first game in 1935 when the general admission to a game was just 35 cents. One of my favorite players at that time was a guy by the name of Emile Hanson.
I just loved the way he would make rushes down the ice with the puck.
The NHL didnt mean anything to us at the time because we didnt have a team in the NHL from our area.
All of that changed after Schulz and his family moved west to California.
It didnt take long for Sparky -- as Schulz was known to many of his friends -- to become hooked on professional hockey.
After we moved out to California, we began to follow the California Golden Seals, said Schulz. I enjoyed the Seals. They were never that bad of a team. They could beat the good teams when they had to. I remember Bill Hicke as being one of the fan favorites. So was Carol Vadnais.
Schulzs loyalty to the Seals went so far as to create a cartoon mascot for the team, a seal who, interestingly enough, he named Sparky.
His love of the NHL continued after the Seals left and the San Jose Sharks arrived in the Bay area.
Schulz also gave back to his community in Santa Rosa. He was able to finance construction of the Redwood Empire Arena, a beautiful ice rink used by the community that was a gift from Schulz to the city.
The cartoonists love for hockey seemed endless. That love earned Schulz the Lester Patrick Trophy, one of hockeys most distinguished awards and annually presented for outstanding service to hockey in the United States, in 1981.
Schulz was also presented a silver hockey stick from the Northland Hockey Company for his contributions to hockey.
Despite his passion for hockey, Schulz still found it difficult to get the entire Peanuts gang involved in hockey at the same time -- as he did with baseball and football.
I tried drawing all of the kids playing hockey, but the formula wasnt there, Schulz said in a 1995 interview. Because there is so much action in hockey, not having the lulls which are part of the other sports and lend themselves to comments from the characters made the strip devoid of humor.
Thats when I put Snoopy in as the World Famous Hockey Player. With just one character to focus on, it is easier to draw my strip using hockey as a theme.
And, of course, with Snoopy you never know what is going to happen. He can certainly bring out hockeys more exciting points and insights.
And if there was one character that can do that, it is Snoopy. Everyday is an adventure with Snoopy.
The Charles Schulz Museum celebrates the 40th anniversary of A Charlie Brown Christmas
Roger Colton returns from Santa Rosa with a tale about an event that honored this much beloved TV special
December 22, 2005
By Roger Colton
JimHillMedia.com
Forty years ago, Lee Mendelson wrote those words on the back on an envelope. Something quick to add a touch to a nice piece of music Vince Guaraldi had written.
Today, it is hard to imagine this simple sentiment not being a part of this holiday season. All because of a little animated television show that the world has come to love and cherish, called A Charlie Brown Christmas.
This past weekend, the Charles Schulz Museum in Santa Rosa, California hosted a retrospective for that little television show. Among the guests sharing their memories were Lee Mendelson (the shows producer), Peter Robbins (the voice of Charlie Brown for the first five Peanuts animated specials), David Guaraldi (son of composer and jazz legend Vince Guaraldi), and many of the members of the childrens choir that brought those words above into the hearts of millions of people.
Lee Mendelson was the first guest speaker of the event. As well as relating the tale of how the show came to be, he shared some stories of how Charles Schulz was to work with on the Peanuts specials. One in particular was during an early conference on A Charlie Brown Christmas with animator Bill Melendez and Sparky (Charles Schulz nickname, taken from Barney Googles horse, Sparkplug). Lee mentioned that the show was going to need a laugh track to help keep it moving along. Quietly, Charles Schulz stood up, walked out of the room and closed the door behind him. Lee, rather shocked, asked Bill what that was all about. Bill replied, I guess that means were not having a laugh track!
One concern that came along early in the development of the show was that of the true meaning of Christmas. Even in those pre-Politically Correct days, religion was something that you didnt see or hear on prime time television. When Bill Melendez asked Charles Schulz about the reading of the Bible passage by Linus, he was told, If we dont do this, who else will?
Lee also related how Sparky loved to play jokes on him. Even going so far as to put him into the comic strips on occasion. In one where Snoopy is the World Famous Check Out Clerk at the grocery store, he asks Mrs. Mendelson if her husband has found work yet. In one Sunday strip, the gang is playing croquet and Charlie Browns ball has been knocked clear across town. So he calls Lucy and asks her to call him at a telephone number when it is his turn in the game. And yes, that phone number was Lees home number. So on that Sunday morning when the strip appeared, he got plenty of phone calls. One of them was answered by his then six year-old daughter. She was asked if Charlie Brown was there and replied, No, this is Lucy. All she heard was a click as the caller hung up the phone.
Another great story was how Charles Schulz hated telephone answering machines. At the time, Lee had an hour tape in his machine. One day he noticed he had a message and went to check it. Yes, it was from Sparky. Reading Tolstoys War and Peace; a book referenced on a number of occasions in the strips. This went on for Forty-Two minutes! At the end, all he heard was Schulz giggling and then hanging up.
The trio of Mendelson, Melendez and Schulz combined for over 70 animated projects, the last of which is being finished now, entitled, Hes A Bully, Charlie Brown. It features a game of Marbles. And according to the way Sparky had written the story, Charlie Brown actually wins that game. No one believes him, of course. Lucy even goes so far as to say the game was fixed! Look for that to air some time in the coming year.
Peter Robbins shared some of his memories from working on the first five Peanuts specials. As a child actor, he worked on a number of television shows, but this one has become his favorite. He told of how it was hard to be so depressed as he loved Christmas time. Working with Bill Melendez as a coach being fed the lines from the script, he got the timing down for the voice, even to the point of taking on some of Bills Hispanic phrasing for some of the words!
It was considered a big risk to use children for the voices in the show. At that time, the practice was to use adult voice talents because they were used to the pace of recording for such a show. They could handle the many retakes better, so it was thought. But the use of realistic voices was one of the successes of A Charlie Brown Christmas and all of the Peanuts specials. Lee related how they have always looked for voices similar to those used in the first show as people have come to know them so well over the years.
The same held true for the voices used to sing the Christmas songs for the show. A childrens choir from St. Pauls Episcopal Church, under the direction of Barry Minnah, in San Rafael, California was where those singers were from. In 1964, Vince Guaraldi was composing a jazz mass for performance at Grace Cathedral in San Francisco and this choir was to be a part of that mass. About a year later, 12 children volunteered to help with a little choir project, that led them to a Fantasy Records studio on Treat Street in San Francisco. Several people remembered how much of a big thing it was to travel to San Francisco on a bus for those sessions and that they were allowed to stay up late on school nights. The retrospective was something of reunion for them with some members traveling from as far as way as Washington and Michigan. One of them even had a photostat (remember this was 1965, before Xerox and photo copies) of one of his paychecks from one of the recording sessions. They each were paid all of five dollars for a session.
The members of the Choir in attendance for the event were
David Willat, Dan Bernhard, Marcia Goodrich, Nancy Goodrich, Steve Kendall, Ted King, Debbie Presco, Mark Jordan, Cam Cedarblade and Kristin Minnah (daughter of Director Barry Minnah)
Lee Mendelson shared that this day was the first time he had ever met any of the choir as the completed tapes had just been delivered to him for the show. For forty years, he had been under the mistaken impression that the songs were sung by his son Glenns sixth grade class. He was glad to be able to finally know who these people were and could now give them the credit they so richly deserved for all those years.
The afternoon continued with showings of A Charlie Brown Christmas, The Making of A Charlie Brown Christmas (one of the special features found on the DVD of 2003s I Want A Dog For Christmas, Charlie Brown) and a choral performance of Christmas favorite songs.
After the retrospective in the Museums auditorium, many of the guests were available for further questions as well as autographs. It was also the perfect time to explore the Museum, something I had not done before. After hearing Lee tell about the fiftieth special and the marbles, it was interesting to see a wooden box of marbles among the items on display of Charles Schulz office upstairs. Another exhibit that brought me a number of great laughs was the Ode to Schroeder. It brought back great memories of reading those strips as well as my own days of piano lessons. A nice complimentary item on display upstairs is the toy piano played by Schroeder for the music in A Charlie Brown Christmas.
If you havent been to the Charles Schulz Museum before, you need to make the trip. Considering just how much the work of this man has become a part of our culture, this museum is a wonderful chance to learn more about him. And it doesnt hurt that there is all of the wonderful artwork to see at the same time. This link has directions to the Museum and other information.
And dont forget to check in next door at the Redwood Empire Ice Arena a.k.a. Snoopys Home Ice as well as Snoopys Gallery and Gift Shop. Plenty of things to tempt even the mildest of Peanuts fans there.
Speaking of other things to tempt you, a newly remastered superdisc version of the soundtrack for A Charlie Brown Christmas has arrived. A must for the audiophile or even just a fan of the great music of Vince Guaraldi. Check it out!
Good grief!
Producer Lee Mendelson helped Charles Schulz make TV history with the Charlie Brown gang
December 19, 2005
By Burl Burlingame
The Honolulu Star-Bulletin, Hawaii
Baseball has been very, very good to Lee Mendelson. More than four decades ago, the Bay area film producer had just wrapped a television documentary on Willie Mays and was leafing through the newspaper when a comic strip about baseball caught his eye -- hapless Charlie Brown laid low by a fastball.
He laughed. Then he thought, Ive done the best baseball player in the world, why not do the worst? So he called Peanuts cartoonist Charles Schulz, who, as it turned out, lived right down the peninsula.
Like an effortless triple play, things just fell into place. Sparky Schulz had seen the Willie Mays documentary and immediately agreed to work with Mendelson. The documentary, Charlie Brown & Charles Schulz, introduced the shy artist to the public. While Mendelson was shopping it around, however, Coca-Colas advertising agency asked about doing an animated Christmas show.
He responded, Absolutely! and called Schulz and told him they had three days to outline a Charlie Brown Christmas show. Sparky wrote it up in just a few hours, and he knew animator Bill Melendez because they had just made some commercials for the new Ford Falcon. And composer Vince Guaraldi came to mind when I heard Cast Your Fate to the Wind on the car radio.
Forty years ago this holiday season, A Charlie Brown Christmas debuted on network television. This spring, the 50th animated special will air, the last one actually worked on by Schulz. In the meantime, Mendelson took a quick vacation in Hawaii that allowed time for an interview.
It hasnt been all Peanuts for Mendelson, who has produced more than 300 TV shows ranging from John Steinbecks America and Americans to several Bob Hope Christmas specials -- winning a dozen Emmy awards in the process. But Peanuts is why were here.
Just dont say Peanuts. Schulz disliked the strip handle so much that none of the animated specials uses it in the title.
Mendelson, a former Air Force navigator and Stanford creative-writing grad, got his first TV job at KPIX San Francisco in 1961, knocking out five-second public-service announcements. A chance discovery of original film from the 1915 Worlds Fair led to his first documentary. A Charlie Brown Christmas earned Mendelson his second Peabody and an Emmy Award.
Before he died, Schulz explained why the Mendelson-Melendez-Schulz home team meshed so well It was the perfect working relationship. We all contributed something, and we never trod on each others territory. ... It was Lees honesty, friendship and loyalty that kept us all together. He kept all of his promises, and so I trusted him. Hes not a Hollywood-producer type.
They continued to meet a couple of times a month right up to Schulzs death, and the upcoming spring show, Hes a Bully, Charlie Brown, marks the end of their personal collaboration.
And his values echoed those of Schulz. While theres a wholesome, God-loving patriotic streak in their work, its never cloying or childish. What was Peanuts anyway, except Schulzs half-century meditation on the dignity of loneliness?
Sparky wrote and drew more than 18,000 strips all by himself, with no help from anyone, marveled Mendelson. Our job was to stay true to the characters.
This month, A Charlie Brown Christmas was dubbed Best Christmas Special by TV Guide, ranking No. 1 across every age demographic. It was recently issued on DVD.
The other classic animated Christmas shows, beating Charlie Brown by a year, were Frosty the Snowman and Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. Both had to be digitally restored recently. Charlie Brown Christmas hasnt aged, however, as Mendelson has consistently archived the originals onto high-definition stock.
What doesnt age well are the characters voices. Mendelson took some criticism at first for using the voices of real children on the soundtrack, and they kept growing up on him. That first special -- the kids are all in their 50s now! he laughs.
Next up -- get this! -- is the 40th anniversary of Its the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, which first aired in October 1966.
Happiness is a warm VCR.
CBS was wrong about appeal of Charlie Brown
December 18, 2005
By Jane Ahlin
The Forum [Fargo/Grand Forks, North Dakota]
Good grief. Almost the first (definitely the best) cartoon Christmas special is 40 years old. A Charlie Brown Christmas, which debuted Dec. 9, 1965, was televised again a few weeks ago as it has been for the past 40 years. I was in the original audience and have seen it just about every year since. Watching this year, I marveled again that the cartoon remains fresh, its message simple, sweet, and strong as ever.
From todays vantage point, its hard to believe that in 1965 the show came close to being a non-starter. According to Bill Nichols writing in USA Today, it nearly didnt get airtime because CBS executives didnt like it. They were bothered by many things, including the sophisticated jazz music by Vince Guaraldi, the slow pace and minimal action, the lack of a laugh track, and the use of real childrens voices for the characters. And absolutely, in no uncertain terms, the CBS higher-ups told cartoon creator Charles Schulz that a cartoon character could not read from the Bible on network television.
Even the producer and animator thought the show might [ruin] Charlie Brown in the eyes of the American public. But the popularity of the Peanuts comic strip was so great that Charles Schulz got his way.
As we know now, Schulz was right and they were wrong. (So much for executive instinct.) The show was an immediate hit. There was magic in pairing lively, contemporary jazz with traditional Christmas carols.
And yet, what made A Charlie Brown Christmas successful in 1965 - and keeps it perennially relevant - is Charlie Browns angst. All generations identify with Charlie Browns haplessness and good intentions gone awry. When Charlie Brown puts the big red bulb on the small sad tree causing it to droop, we all understand his misery as he wails, I killed it. Oh, everything I touch gets ruined.
If the pain of meaning well and trying hard but failing touches all ages, the storyline for the Christmas special also resonates on another level. Parents and grandparents might be charmed along with children while watching Rudolph the Red-nosed Reindeer save Santas Christmas Eve flight, but Charlie Browns disillusionment with the commercialization of Christmas is an adult - not a childs - theme. It was a theme important to Charles Schulz and he gave it to his alter ego Charlie Brown to work out.
It wasnt a new theme. The notion that its hard to find real meaning in the secular hubbub of the holiday began in the post-war prosperity of the 1950s and was an established annual national discussion by 1965. It isnt overstating to say that Christians were bothered about Xmas and seasons greetings back then as much as they are bothered now. The difference is that in 1965, there were no political overtones, and nobody called it a war on Christmas. More to the point, the concern was not that horrible others had set out to destroy Christmas for Christians; rather, it was that we who cared about keeping Christmas might lose sight of the sacred. It wasnt about them; it was about us.
By all accounts, Charles Schulz was not interested in making a political or even a religious statement with A Charlie Brown Christmas. He wrote about his own personal angst in finding meaning in Christmas, and by doing so, he tapped into the commonality of that ordinary anxiety for many, many Americans. The box-of-Kleenex moment when the blanket-carrying Linus steps into the spotlight to recite from the Gospel of Luke for the benefit of Charlie Brown is Charles Schulzs answer to finding the meaning of Christmas for himself.
And then, of course, nobody else could ruin it for him, either.
Take heart, rekindle the Christmas of childhood
December 17, 2005
By Matt Johnson
The El Paso Times [Texas]
Christmas seems to come more quickly every year.
Remember being a kid, when it seemed like December was infinitely long?
You crossed off the days until you were finally out of school for that well- deserved winter sabbatical.
As a kid, you got to spend more time worrying about what to gifts to ask Santa for than what gifts to buy friends and family -- much less how to pay for those gifts.
Happy shopping
Its sad that materialism is the name of the game for what seems like the whole country.
I drove by Best Buy at about 1 oclock the morning after Thanksgiving, and there were already lines wrapped around the building.
Consume, consume.
Stuff, stuff, stuff.
I wont get off on a rant about the true meaning of Christmas -- youve got a plethora of options on where to learn that.
But my favorite take on the meaning of Christmas comes from good ol Charlie Brown.
This year marks 40 years since the first airing of A Charlie Brown Christmas.
We all know the story Charlie Brown is depressed about the holidays, sad that it has become infested with consumerism.
What does it say about us if old Chuck was worried about consumerism taking control of the holidays 40 years ago?
I may not have been around then, but I know that Wal-Mart wasnt open 24 hours a day in 1965.
Psychiatrist Lucy, after pontificating about the joy of hearing nickels plink into her can, tells Charlie to get involved in something that will propel him into the holiday spirit.
So Charlie Brown takes over as director of the gangs Christmas production. Faced with the task of selecting a Christmas tree for the play, he takes pity on a lame little sapling -- even though the other kids had requested a grand aluminum tree.
Oh, Charlie Brown, you cant do anything right.
Weve all been there
I think anyone whos often been in charge of picking a Christmas tree has been accused of selecting a Charlie Brown Tree.
I know Ive been there a few times.
But after Charlie Brown is berated by the Peanuts crew, the ever-wise Linus and his magic security blanket fix everything by finding the beauty in that sad little tree.
It might be silly that I feel a little sad about not having that same burst of excitement around Christmas that I did when I was 6, but somehow, watching A Charlie Brown Christmas always goes a long way to bring me around.
I might not be 6 years old anymore, but there are still ways to recapture that innocent feeling that we should all be fortunate enough to experience at least once a year.
We all have those special little ways of reliving our childhood memories, and its important to keep those memories and traditions going, all while creating new ones.
And no matter how rough the holidays can get, youve always got Charlie Brown.
Woodstock to star in California celebration
Santa Rosa has emulated St. Paul
December 17, 2005
By Laura Yuen
The St. Paul Pioneer Press
The Summer of Woodstock is coming to Santa Rosa, Calif. Thats the bird, not the music fest.
Yes, Snoopys little feathered confidant finally has earned a place for himself in Peanuts statue history as the latest tribute to his creator, Charles Schulz, who grew up in St. Paul but lived most of his life in Northern California.
Last summers polyurethane Charlie Browns drew about 27,000 people over three months to Santa Rosa.
Why Woodstock? One reason is because you didnt do it in St. Paul, said Patricia Fruiht, assistant to Santa Rosas city manager. (St. Pauls doghouse statue, however, did feature Snoopy with his erratically flying sidekick in the city promotions fifth and final summer tribute.)
Woodstock consistently ranks as one of the most popular characters from the comic strip, Fruiht added. We thought we might be able to entice more fans here for Woodstock.
The city has been pleased with the new statues, which, like St. Pauls, were made by TivoliToo Design and Sculpting Studios. Although they stand 5 feet tall, Woodstock himself is a diminutive 24 inches, sitting in a tree-stump nest. This scale helped keep Woodstock cute and non-threatening.
Otherwise, we were afraid hed look like a big chicken all over town, said Fruiht.
In 1958, Schulz moved to the Santa Rosa area, where he spent the next 40 years on the Peanuts strip and related efforts. The city of about 150,000 is also home to the Charles M. Schulz Museum and Research Center. A permanent bronze statue of Charlie and Linus will be placed at the Charles M. Schulz-Sonoma County Airport.
Woodstock makes his solo debut May 22.
Dog days are here to stay
December 16, 2005
By Akira Jan Fors
The Asahi Shimbum [Japans leading national newspaper]
Good grief, Charlie Brown! What have they done to Snoopy? Hes covered in spots, dried pasta and fake flowers. Hes starring in a strange film full of anthropomorphic creatures. No wonder hes climbing the wall! Or maybe theyre making him do that, too.
The beloved beagle of Peanuts fame is the star of Snoopy Life Design, an exhibition marking the 55th anniversary of the comic strip thats now under way at the Tokyo International Forum. Its a fun-filled look at the late Charles M. Schulzs clever cartoon canine through the eyes of some of Japans most cutting-edge artists, designers and architects.
Divided into sections titled Art Stage and Living Stage, the show features the work of Yayoi Kusama, Eri Utsugi, Naoto Fukasawa, Masataka Kurashina, Shigeru Ban and Atelier Bow-Wow, among others. Theres also an assortment of Snoopy-themed merchandise created for the exhibition, ranging from lingerie and perfume to T-shirts and nail art.
Santo Oshima, a curator at Osakas Suntory Museum, Tempozan, which organized the Art Stage section, says the aim of the show is to freshen up the image of Snoopy, the hapless Charlie Brown and the rest of the Peanuts gang by putting them in a contemporary context.
The artists and designers who were given that challenge were asked to choose three prefab Snoopy statuettes from an array available in standing, sitting, sleeping, eating, flying and dancing poses. They were told they could decorate them with anything they liked-- paint, clothing, you name it.
You could say its quite similar to fashion designers using mannequins to express their creativity, Oshima says. So I selected artists and designers who are already taking that approach in their work.
The mixed results bring to mind a school art project. It looks like the artists had so much fun that you want to try it yourself.
