Barb Hansen of Eagen, Minnesota, is in disbelief while looking over her new purchase of a Snoopy statue with the musical score of the Peanuts theme song painted on it Sunday, October 1, 2000, at the Mall of America in Bloomington, Minnesota.
Hansen was the first bidder of the evening at the Sotheby's auction that helped fund a permanent memorial to Minnesota native and Peanuts creator Charles Schulz. (AP photo/Minneapolis Star Tribune/David Brewster)
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.
'Charlie Brown' Lives On
The show opening next week at the Ordway was a 'minor miracle' that has supported its author comfortably for 33 years.
November 30, 2000
By Dominic P. Papatola
The St. Paul Pioneer Press
Clark Gesner calls "You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown" "the small miracle of my life."
The modest musical, created 33 years ago, has quietly become one of the most consistently and frequently produced plays in America. With its small cast and modest technical and orchestral demands, it's a staple of high school, community and college theaters from Juneau to Jacksonville. While it hasn't made Gesner -- the show's author, composer and lyricist -- a wealthy man, it's supported him comfortably for more than half his life, and provided countless warm fuzzies along the way.
"It's one of the absolutely wonderful side benefits," said Gesner from his Brooklyn home. "When I go anywhere in the theater world, and sometimes in other parts of the world, people tell me that the show was a genuine experience in their lives. They light up when they talk about it. For some actors, it was the first thing they ever did."
The production opening at the Ordway Center for the Performing Arts next week is based on a revision of the show that had a brief Broadway run in 1999.
The new show retains Gesner's tunes but tinkers some The low-key Patty, who never had a song to sing in the original script, has been replaced with Charlie Brown's little sister, Sally. She gets to sing the powerhouse tune, "My New Philosophy," one of two new songs written for the show by Broadway up-and-comer Andrew Lippa.
Gesner had little to do with the new Broadway staging, and though he is loath to directly criticize the new adaptation, it's clear his affections lie with the original, a show that was born almost by accident when Gesner was a restless 28-year-old Princeton grad and Army vet.
Then a staff writer for the children's program "Captain Kangaroo" in New York, Gesner was a longtime fan of Charles Schulz's "Peanuts" cartoons and began writing some songs that were inspired by the strip's sad-sack hero and his circle of friends.
"It was just a little private project -- me and the songs and the strip," said Gesner.
The music -- beginning with the title tune and Snoopy's antic showstopper "Suppertime" -- "came well and easily," Gesner said. "Though theater was my aim and what I liked to do, I never saw this as the score for a show. I thought it should just be a record album of songs inspired by the strip."
Gesner's attempts to get permission to use the characters ran into an initial roadblock with United Features, the syndicate that, then and now, handled Schulz's strip. Undaunted, Gesner recorded a demo tape of five songs with his friend Barbara Minkus and sent it directly to Schulz in California.
"It could never be done now on the terms we did it then," Gesner marvels.
"He got the demo, and he telephoned me back and said he was deeply honored by the attention I'd paid to his characters. It was really very personal; about as nice a phone call as you could get. And from there, the snags fell away."
A year later, there was an album, with Orson Bean singing the role of Charlie Brown and Gesner as Linus. The album caught the attention of New York producer Arthur Whitelaw, and six months later, a play was born.
A play, that is, with almost no script, or "book." Gesner had written a dozen pages of scenarios and dialogue, but, except for chronicling a day in the life of Charlie Brown, there was no plot per se.
The actors -- including an aspiring pop singer named Gary Burghoff (who would go on to become Radar O'Reilly in television's "M*A*S*H") were given books of Schulz's cartoons and asked to pick material that best represented their characters. Though Gesner is now given credit for the whole product, the original production credited the book to the pseudonymous "John Gordon."
The show opened March 7, 1967, in a 179-seat renovated nightclub in Greenwich Village. "It was the most amazing thing," Gesner remembers. "The theater was in the East Village, and the Electric Circus and 'Hair' were going on all around us. And there we were."
The show would last for four years in that theater. Tours and "sit-down" companies spread the show across the country and around the world in short order. When the performing rights became available to amateur groups, theaters began snapping the show up and have done so more or less consistently for 33 years.
"I get a quarterly statement from Tams-Whitmark (Music Library, which administers the rights to "Charlie Brown" and hundreds of other musicals), giving the name of the city, the number of performances and the royalty they paid," Gesner explained. "The latest one just came a few days ago. It's eight or nine pages long, and there's about 20-22 titles on each page."
The royalties, said Gesner, "have come in the best form. It's not like it was some great fortune all at once. Through the years, it's fluctuated slightly -- now it's up, a few years it's been down. But it's always been kind of a reasonably good person's regular salary, even a comfortable one. It's not been a fortune and it's not been anything less, but because it's remained steady, I can count on it, and it's made my life wonderful."
Since "Charlie Brown," Gesner said he has been "steadily busy doing wonderful things." His only other Broadway musical, "The Utter Glory of Morrissey Hall," ("A wild and zany, large-scale musical about an English girls' school, according to its creator) lasted exactly one night in 1979.
Another musical, "Animal Fair," premiered at the Denver Center Theatre a decade ago and is headed for a production in Brooklyn. Gesner also composed a revue called "The Jell-O is Always Red," and he acts frequently at the Weston Playhouse in Vermont. He's also a theater reviewer, writing about shows that play in Brooklyn.
Though he jokingly calls his inability to conjure a second hit the size of "Charlie Brown" "the little embarrassment of my life," Gesner speaks like a man with few regrets and much affection for his "small miracle."
"When it's done sensitively," he said of the show, "it leaves you with -- well, I won't say a warm and fuzzy feeling -- but at least a feeling. It's not trying to hit you over the head. If you just watch these people going about their business, you understand it."
Little known facts about 'Charlie Brown'
The budget for the original off-Broadway production of "You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown" was $16,000. That's about $82,000 in inflation-adjusted dollars. The budget for the current production at the Ordway is $150,000.
The original off-Broadway production of "Charlie Brown" opened March 7, 1967, and played for 1,597 performances over four years. A short-lived transfer to Broadway in 1971 survived for less than a month. The 1999 revival also languished, lasting just 150 performances on Broadway.
Theatre 80 St. Marks, the original home of "You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown," had been a nightclub before being converted into a theater shortly before the show's opening. Soon after it closed, the East Village property was transformed into a movie house. Today, it's the home of the Pearl Theatre Company, which is currently presenting Shakespeare's "Richard III."
Actors in the original production could be no taller than 5-foot-8, according to author-composer Clark Gesner.
Michael Brindisi, who is directing the Ordway's production, was 19 years old when he auditioned for the replacement cast of the original "You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown." He was offered the role of Linus, but his parents persuaded him to refuse the role and finish college.
Guthrie Theater actress Sally Wingert played Lucy in "You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown" at Robbinsdale High School. She had to be persuaded to audition for her first high school play by the director. "I had to sing in it, and I'm not really a singer," Wingert said. "It was a wonderful entree to performing, and it certainly increased my comfort level on stage."
The original off-Broadway soundtrack of "You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown," out of print for several years, was re-released last month. The new recording features four never-before-released tracks from the original demo tape Gesner sent to "Peanuts" creator Charles Schulz.
Snoopy postage stamp to be released in Santa Rosa will honor cartoonist
Nov. 28, 2000
San Jose Mercury News (New York Times News Service)
SANTA ROSA -- The Postal Service will honor the late Charles Schulz and his adoptive city next year by releasing a Snoopy postage stamp in Santa Rosa.
For that one day, the new first-class stamp -- bearing a drawing of the world's most beloved beagle flying his Sopwith Camel -- will be on sale only in Santa Rosa.
The stamp will be issued at a public ceremony in Santa Rosa next May. The date, time and location have not yet been set.
Schulz, who died in February after drawing the "Peanuts" comic strip for nearly 50 years, was a Minnesota native who lived most of his adult life in Santa Rosa.
Ken Martin, a spokesman for the American Philatelic Society, said that on the day a commemorative stamp is issued some collectors will purchase one or more of the new stamps in the city of issuance, place them on specially decorated cache envelopes and have the stamps canceled by the post office.
Collectors call an envelope with a stamp purchased on the first day of issuance a first-day cover. There are collectors who specialize in first-day covers, and others who keep the programs that postal authorities distribute at ceremonies such as the one coming to Santa Rosa in May.
Martin said he suspects the release of the Snoopy stamp will draw more attention than most other new stamps because of the worldwide popularity of the "Peanuts" characters.
Though no first-day cover is likely to ever become valuable, Martin said, those bearing the new Schulz stamp "will certainly be collectible."
The new stamp will probably have a face value of 34 cents, reflecting a proposed rate increase scheduled for 2001. It carries a Schulz drawing of Snoopy, who is dressed as a World War I flying ace and flying his doghouse. He is presumably in pursuit of the dreaded Red Baron.
Schulz was 77 when he died at his home of complications from colon cancer on Feb. 12, the night before his last original "Peanuts" strip ran in newspapers around the world.
Internet bids accepted for 21 Snoopy statues
Second auction by Sotheby's will occur online
Nov. 25, 2000
By Karl J. Karlson
The St. Paul Pioneer Press
The Internet auction of 21 "Peanuts on Parade" Snoopy statues began Friday, with the set opening bids ranging from $4,000 to $8,000 a statue.
The bidding -- the second Snoopy auction conducted by the prestigious Sotheby's auction house -- is supposed to close at 6 p.m. Dec. 8.
However, if bids come in within five minutes of the deadline, the auction is automatically extended until all bidding stops. The policy prevents people from submitting last-minute bids that shut out others who might be willing to pay more.
Phone bids were allowed at the first auction, when 40 Snoopy statues brought a total of $823,000, but only online bids will be accepted this time around.
The average price paid at the Oct. 1 live auction at the Mall of America was $20,500 per statue, with prices ranging from $11,000 to $35,000.
Instructions on how to register, how to bid and how to make arrangements for shipping the statues are included in an "Instant Help" section of the auction house's Web site at www.sothebys.com.
The two auctions represent the culmination of St. Paul's summer-long tribute to the late cartoonist Charles Schulz, who grew up in the capital city.
Proceeds from the sale of the donated, artist-decorated statues will go to a permanent tribute to Schulz, probably a bronze grouping of 10 or so of his characters.
A comic strip as large as life
Nov. 24, 2000
By Angela Daidone
The Bergen (New Jersey) Record
GOOD GRIEF! 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Wednesday through Sunday.
Children's Museum of Manhattan, the Tisch Building, 212 W. 83rd St.; $6, seniors $3; (212) 721-1223
You needn't worry about navigating your way through the Children's Museum of Manhattan in search of the "Good Grief!" exhibit. The squeals of delight -- "Look, it's Snoopy's doghouse!" and "There's good ol' Charlie Brown!" -- will lead you along the right path.
Those will be the adult voices you hear; there will be some excited children scampering about, too.
The "Good Grief!" exhibit celebrates the genius of the late Charles M. Schulz, creator of the "Peanuts" comic strip. The visuals are delightful -- colorful, oversized figures of Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Lucy, and Linus greet visitors from atop the famous doghouse, pitching mound, and psychiatrist booth that Schulz brought into millions of homes for 50 years. As one young adult visitor put it, "I feel like I just stepped into the comic strip."
Remember to bring a camera to take advantage of the many photo opportunities.
There is also an interactive element of the exhibit that allows youngsters of all ages to participate in hands-on activities such as steering Charlie Brown's kite away from the trees (via the magic of an onscreen simulator); sitting alongside Peppermint Patty in the classroom and drawing a comic strip on the large tracing window; and tossing baseballs at the wall of losers and winners.
But the "Good Grief!" exhibition was designed with more than fun in mind. It aims to engage visitors in observing and understanding the messages Schulz sent through his comics. In the distinctive "Peanuts" adult-free world, the characters were empowered to solve their own problems together. As kids navigate the exhibition, they can build language and decision-making skills, thanks to computer programs and stations set up throughout.
" 'Peanuts' is the real stuff of childhood, the stuff that sometimes makes growing up a rough road or manageable," said Andrew S. Ackerman, the museum's executive director. "With 'Good Grief!' the kids will identify with the wide range of challenges faced by familiar characters -- from the bossy sister to the dreaded moment of being called upon for an answer at school -- the exhibition allows youngsters to realize that they are not alone."
Adults will take particular interest in the gallery of comic strips, featuring a retrospective look at American history and culture with highlights of the changing times. For instance, in the 1960s, NASA adopted Snoopy to be its official mascot of the space program. In 1976, the characters helped America celebrate its bicentennial and Lucy touted the importance of voting with her own bumper stickers "If you don't vote, don't crab."
"The 'Peanuts' stories were interwoven with allusions from religion, classical music, psychology, and philosophy," said cartoonist Gary Trudeau in a testimonial after Schulz' death in 1999. "But above all, his message was uniquely American in its sense of optimism."
For 50 years, Schulz reached into his own childhood and into his experiences as a father and a grandfather in creating one of the best-loved comic strips ever. Its popularity and worldwide appeal were astounding -- in all, Schulz drew more than 18,000 comic strips which were translated into 21 languages. Even after Schulz' death, "Peanuts" remains the most widely syndicated comic strip in history.
When asked why there were no adults in his comic strips, Schulz simply said that there "just isn't room for them."
That said, when visiting the "Good Grief!" exhibition, make sure to leave your adult-self home.
Death of Charles Schulz hit Johnston hard
'Like losing my father all over again,' says cartoonist
November 18, 2000
By Gilbert A. Bouchard
The Edmonton Journal
For cartoonist Lynn Johnston, the death of Peanuts creator Charles Schulz in February wasn't just the passing of a dear friend, it was the end of an era.
"I remember a conversation I had years ago -- when I was still an awestruck new cartoonist -- with Jim Davis (creator of Garfield, launched in 1978, a year before Johnston's For Better or For Worse) who predicted that someday we'd be the old guys on the block with new cartoonists asking us what it was like to know Charles Schulz," says Johnston, who was in Edmonton Friday at Audreys Books to publicize her latest cartoon collection -- "The Big 5-0."
"Then a little while back, a new artist actually did come up to me at a conference and asked me what Schulz was like," notes the 53-year-old artist, who wore a well-worn, well-loved Snoopy Christmas sweater given to her by "Sparky" Schulz himself.
"That was really hard -- his death was like losing my father all over again."
Johnston, who spent time with Sparky during his last hospitalization, was still amazed by his modesty and surprised by how little he acknowledged his impact on popular culture.
Mind you, this revelation comes from the lips of an equally modest cartoonist, who underplays her own importance.
Not only has Johnston joined the likes of Halifax-born Harold "Prince Valiant" Foster as one of Canada's most famous and recognizable cartoonists, she's one of the world's most syndicated newspaper-strip artists.
Known for her clean drawing style, deft characterization and strong writing, Johnston's fictional Patterson family has not only become a beloved cultural icon, she's daringly allowed her cartoon clan -- loosely based on her own husband and two now-grown children -- to age in a natural fashion.
Only a handful of comic strips -- including Gasoline Alley -- have also allowed their characters to age.
"It's hard to age your characters," says the artist whose work is the basis of a new half-hour TV show on Teletoon. "You end up losing one character and accepting another in its place."
The reason she decided to make this artistic leap "the challenge."
From her early days as a cartoonist, Johnston had a burning desire to push her work beyond the simple "gag-a-day" formula and allow her characters to "go where they wanted to go" while improving her craft as she went.
Johnston also strives to keep the strip vibrant and her depictions of family life transitions as relevant as possible regardless of controversy.
For example, she allowed one of her young characters to come out of the closet -- a move that saw her strip bumped from numerous newspapers -- and she's had Elly Patterson's father, the recently widowed Jim Richards (based on Johnston's father, Mervin Ridgeway), moving in with his daughter's family. "(The move) is an arrangement that works for this family," says Johnston, noting many baby boomers face the same issue.
Another issue Johnston is facing head-on, but not necessarily in print, is the possibility of retirement. "This is certainly my last book tour and I've been thinking about retiring -- maybe in seven years when I turn 60 -- it depends on how my health goes." Johnston suffers from dystonia, a rare neurological ailment.
On the fate of her strip, Johnston says she would be equally comfortable retiring the cartoon as she would be passing it on to the "right team" of artists.
"If the strip does continue after I retire, I'd want it to continue from (eldest son) Michael's point of view -- featuring the adventures of a whole new generation."
Snoopy auction resuming on Web
21 St. Paul statues go up for bid on day after Thanksgiving
November 17, 2000
By Karl J. Karlson
The St. Paul Pioneer Press
Just in time for the holiday gift-buying crowd, 21 of St. Paul's popular Snoopy statues will go up for bid online the day after Thanksgiving, one of the biggest shopping days of the year.
The "Peanuts on Parade" sale -- the second to be conducted by the noted Sotheby's auction house -- will be conducted on its Web site (www.sothebys.com) through Dec. 8.
No one is predicting what the 5-foot-high polyurethane statues could bring, but the 40 Snoopys sold at a live Mall of America auction Oct. 1 brought an average of $20,500. The winning bids ranged from $11,000 to $35,000.
In two private charity auctions since, the Snoopy sponsored by the Ordway Center for the Performing Arts sold for $10,500, and the Snoopy sponsored by HealthEast sold for $10,000.
"If we come near that average, we may raise more than $1 million" in all, said Megan Ryan, the city's director of marketing and promotion who has been overseeing "Peanuts on Parade." She said expenses for the summer-long celebration might total $300,000.
"Peanuts on Parade," which attracted thousands of visitors, involved 101 artist-decorated Snoopy statues stationed throughout St. Paul and at such tourist spots as the international airport and the Mall of America in Bloomington. Collectively, they were a tribute to the late cartoonist Charles Schulz, who grew up in St. Paul.
Most of the statues are being sold to raise money for a permanent tribute to Schulz. A bronze grouping of 10 "Peanuts" characters, each 4 to 5 feet high, is being considered for a permanent downtown attraction. Ryan said the sculpture could cost $300,000 to $500,000.
However, she said, the city is looking at other alternatives and is working with such organizations as the Minnesota Children's Museum to see if the grouping can be made into an interactive attraction.
Based on the wishes of the Schulz family, the rest of the money is going to the College of Visual Arts in St. Paul and the Art Instruction Schools in Minneapolis.
To participate in the online auction, one must register on Sotheby's Web site, which provides information about how to bid, images and facts about individual statues, shipping costs and other details.
Because the bidding is by computer, the Web site is programmed to prevent "snipping," the practice of programming a computer to submit a bid seconds before the bidding deadline. "Snipping" can prevent others, who are willing to pay more, from bidding. Patty Fox, a Sotheby's representative, said if a bid is made within 10 minutes before deadline, the bidding is automatically extended five minutes. Extensions continue until bidding stops.
Although the auction is scheduled to last two weeks, most bidding and action often happens in the last four to five hours before a deadline, based on Sotheby's experience with other online auctions. Unlike live auctions where telephone bids are allowed, this one will be conducted entirely via the Internet, Fox said.
Snoopys up for bid
Snoopy statues from the summer-long "Peanuts on Parade" to be sold online are
"Baker Snoopy," "Better Inside and Out," "Comic Relief," "Commencing the Celebration," "Dancing With Flowers," "Diamonds Are a Dog's Best Friend," "Extra! Extra!" "Joy of Nursing," "Pig's Eye Snoopy," "Scottish Guard Dog," "Snoopy Night," "The Doctor Is In," "Union Snoopy" and "What's Your Sign.'
In addition, several statues made specially for auction are "Classic Snoopy," "Clowning Around," "Hound Dog Harley," "Love Me Tender," "Peanuts on Parade Collage," "SnooperJack" and "Tennis Anyone?"
Online auction
To take part in the "Peanuts on Parade" online auction, potential bidders must register (www.sothebys.com). The two-week auction runs from next Friday to Dec. 8. A catalog of the 21 statues to be sold will be posted on the Web site Nov. 24.
Deadlines bar book on St. Paul's Snoopys
November 17, 2000
By Karl J. Karlson
The St. Paul Pioneer Press
A souvenir book about St. Paul's summer-long "Peanuts on Parade" apparently will not be produced, despite great public interest in such a volume.
Michael Posner, spokesman for United Media, which owns the rights to such a book, said there is not enough time to organize and prepare a high-quality edition for this gift-giving season. He called the season "the window of opportunity" for the book.
"We considered it and would have liked to put one out, but finding a publisher and getting it all together could not be done," he said this week.
United Media is the New York-based firm that licenses commercial uses of the cartoon characters of Charles Schulz, such as the Met Life advertisements featuring Snoopy.
The agreement between United Media and St. Paul for the "Peanuts on Parade" tribute to Schulz gave the city permission to create the statues. Later, it was expanded for permission to sell an event-related T-shirt, poster and postcards, but not a book.
Asked about private efforts to sell images from the event, Posner said that United Media carefully tracks "copyright infringements."
Such issues are usually cleared up with a friendly letter, he said, but the company does send out "cease and desist" warnings when it feels that "Peanuts" images are being used for commercial purposes.
'Charles M. Schulz Conversations' (review and commentary)
Nov. 12, 2000
By Robert Armstrong
The Minneapolis Star-Tribune
The celebration of the life and work of cartoonist Charles M. Schulz continues nine months after his death and 50 years after the birth of "Peanuts."
The latest honor is the publication of "Charles M. Schulz Conversations" (University of Mississippi, 285 pages, $20 paper, $48 cloth). The book includes 16 interviews selected from more than 300 published since 1957 and is edited by longtime Schulz friend M. Thomas Inge, a professor of humanities at
Randolph-Macon College in Mississippi.
Schulz was born in Minneapolis on Nov. 26, 1922, and grew up in St. Paul, where his father was a barber. The son had a checkered career at St. Paul Central High School and worked as a caddie at Highland Park Golf Club. He was unpopular socially, unsuccessful as a student and had but a few moments of glory as an athlete. "I wasn't actually hated," he told the Saturday Evening Post's Hugh Morrow in 1956. "Nobody cared that much."
Schulz told many interviewers that he drew not for the money but for the love of it. His first drawing was published Feb. 22, 1937, in the then-popular panel, Robert Ripley's "Believe It or Not." Fittingly, the drawing was of Schulz's dog, Spike, who very much resembled the future Snoopy.
Schulz's career as a serious cartoonist began in 1947 at the St. Paul Pioneer Press with a strip called "Li'l Folks" that presaged "Peanuts." The feature ran in the women's section for two years and paid $10 a week. When Schulz asked for a better location in the paper, or daily exposure and a raise, the feature was dropped. In 1950, his new strip, "Peanuts," debuted in seven papers, and the rest is history.
Inge selected interviews that allow the reader to follow Schulz's development from budding cartoonist to industry giant. Barnaby Conrad interviewed Schulz for the New York Times in 1967. "The strip is about all the dumb things I did when I was little," Schulz said.
Each interviewer reveals different facets of Schulz, and some explore areas in detail that others only touch upon. But several common themes run through the interviews. Schulz hated the title "Peanuts" ("It has no dignity," he said, "and it's not descriptive"); took immense pride in being the only one who ever lettered one of his strips; was a sports fan of the first order; and had a large ego but was self-deprecating about his ability. He could say in one interview "I think I've created some of the best comic-strip characters that have ever existed," and in another "I don't want to be accused of thinking I was better than I really was."
The book concludes with two appreciations from fellow cartoonists Gary Trudeau and Bill Waterson. Trudeau calls "Peanuts" "the first -- and still the best -- postmodern comic strip"; Waterson loves it because it's one of "those magical strips that creates its own world."
Inteviewer Hugh Morrow described Charlie Brown as a "national symbol of the little man who defeats life's comic outrages simply by surviving them."
Schulz put it this way "All the loves in the strip are unrequited; all the baseball games are lost; all the test scores are D-minuses; the Great Pumpkin never comes; and the football is always pulled away."
Concepts Direct, Inc. and Charles M. Schulz Creative Associates Announce Launch Of SnoopyStore.com
Nov. 8, 2000
LONGMONT, Colo. (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Concepts Direct, Inc. (NASDAQCDIR) and Charles M. Schulz Creative Associates of Santa Rosa, California, announced today that their new Internet shopping site, www.SnoopyStore.com, is now available to consumers.
The site offers a broad selection of merchandise that features the world's most lovable beagle and the entire Peanuts(TM) gang. It is the official Web site dedicated to selling Peanuts (TM) merchandise.
J. Michael Wolfe, President and Chief Executive Officer of Concepts Direct, said "We have seen a strong, favorable response to our Snoopy (TM) etc. catalog since we first launched it in 1997. We are extremely pleased to be managing a companion Internet site for this outstanding brand."
SnoopyStore.com was built and is being hosted by Concepts Direct utilizing its robust e-commerce infrastructure that allows the Company to manage numerous Web sites. Concepts Direct is also responsible for merchandising, customer service, and product fulfillment for the site.
Craig Schulz, son of Charles M. Schulz, said "Creative Associates is thrilled to be partnered with Concepts Direct. With their expertise in on-line merchandising, we believe SnoopyStore.com will be elevated to the level we always envisioned for the new millennium."
The Peanuts (TM) name, characters, and images are registered trademarks of United Feature Syndicate, Inc. SnoopyStore.com will be the Internet store for Snoopy.com, the official Snoopy Web site that is managed by United Feature Syndicate.
About Concepts Direct, Inc.
Concepts Direct is a direct marketing company focused on building and managing customer relationships through its catalogs and Internet retailing initiatives. The Company sells primarily personalized paper products and a diverse line of merchandise, including gift items, home decorative items, collectibles and apparel. Concepts Direct sells its merchandise primarily via the Colorful Images, Linda Anderson, Snoopy(TM) etc., Linda Anderson's Collectibles and the Music Stand catalogs. In addition, the Company owns and operates numerous web sites, including www.ColorfulImages.com, www.LindaAnderson.com, www.SnoopyStore.com, www.theMusicStand.com and www.NewBargains.com. To build its e-commerce infrastructure, Concepts Direct established partnerships with several other leading companies including Oracle (NASDAQORCL) for database management software, Vignette (NASDAQVIGN) for content management software and Sun (NASDAQSUNW) for hardware.
Concepts Direct designs and manufactures many of its own products and also purchases a variety of merchandise from outside vendors and suppliers. The Company operates on a policy of guaranteed customer satisfaction and is committed to providing excellent customer service. Headquartered in Longmont, Colorado, the Company houses all of its direct marketing operations in Longmont, and sells its products primarily in the United States.
About Charles M. Schulz Creative Associates
Charles M. Schulz Creative Associates was established by Charles M. Schulz to oversee the creative and business management of Peanuts worldwide licensing programs, in conjunction with United Feature Syndicate. Creative Associates provides creative art direction to over 900 Peanuts worldwide licensees and processes over 24,000 product approvals each year. Creative Associates is located in Santa Rosa, where Charles M. Schulz maintained his studio, the Redwood Empire Ice Arena ("Snoopy's Home Ice"), and Snoopy's Gallery and Gift Shop. The Charles M. Schulz Museum is currently underconstruction and is expected to open across the street from the Redwood Empire Ice Arena in late 2001.
St. Joe's Hospital working to win back its Snoopy
November 7, 2000
By Karl J. Karlson
The St. Paul Pioneer Press
An SOS fund drive -- Save Our Snoopy -- is under way at St. Joseph's Hospital to raise enough money to buy the Snoopy statue that stood in front of the downtown St. Paul hospital most of the summer.
"We want it back,'' said Dr. Thomas Cathey, medical director of the hospital and the driving force behind efforts to bring "The Nature of Healing'' statue permanently to the hospital. "The staff and patients miss it.''
The statue is one of the 101 Snoopys decorated by area artists for the city's "Peanuts on Parade'' tribute to favorite son and late cartoonist Charles Schulz. "The Nature of Healing'' Snoopy, sponsored by HealthEast Care System, will be sold this weekend as part of the charity auction at the annual Festival of Trees fund-raising event for the HealthEast Foundation.
It is not known how high the bidding will go, but the catalog for the charity event lists its value as "priceless.''
More than 20 Snoopy statues were auctioned last month at the Mall of America, and about 20 more will be sold through an Internet auction after Thanksgiving.
At a fund-raiser a week ago, the Ordway Center for the Performing Arts auctioned its "Top Hat and Tail'' Snoopy for $10,500 to an Edina couple, Mark Maciejewski and Deborah Linder, who plan to donate it for public display. An exact spot for the dog has not been selected yet, according to an Ordway spokesperson.
Cathey said Monday that he hopes to raise several thousand dollars to bid on "The Nature of Healing'' statue, which depicts Snoopy as a birch tree with a nest of birds on his head.
"If not, maybe someone will buy it for us and donate it back,'' he said.
Sister Florence Ayd, who has worked at the hospital for 31 years and now staffs the reception desk at the front door at 69 W. Exchange St., said she, too, misses the dog.
"So do my birds. Every day I'd go out and throw bread crusts to the sparrows and they'd flock around Snoopy,'' she said. "I really enjoyed him and want him back.''
If he is not successful in the bidding, Cathey said, the money raised will be donated to the foundation for senior care programs within the HealthEast system.
The Festival of Trees is being held at the Radisson Riverfront Hotel in St. Paul. Tickets to the Saturday night gala, at which Snoopy will be sold, are $150 to $250 and available at (651) 232-4837.
Auctioned Snoopys going to unknown doghouses
All statue buyers kept private, making destinations a mystery
October 14, 2000
By Karl J. Karlson
St. Paul Pioneer Press
Snoopy fans are experiencing withdrawal symptoms.
Since June, Snoopy mania brought thousands of visitors downtown and to St. Paul neighborhoods to admire and photograph the colorful 5-foot polyurethane "Peanuts on Parade" statues.
For many, the goal was to photograph all 101 Snoopys, and area film processors joked that they did not have to visit the dogs because they had already seen them all hundreds of times.
The statues -- St. Paul's tribute to the late hometown cartoonist Charles Schulz -- were a mega-hit. Many suffered lost tails, broken ears or cracked legs from being hugged by rambunctious kids. Noses lost paint from being rubbed so often.
But now many of the dogs are gone from city streets. Forty have been auctioned, and 20 more will be sold via the Internet after Thanksgiving. They will be scattered across the country, but a complete accounting of where they all go will likely be impossible.
"It broke my heart when 'World Citizen' was sold," said Lois West Duffy of Ecolab. The company sponsored two Snoopys, donating "World Citizen" for the auctions and keeping the other one, "Joe Clean."
"World Citizen" went for $24,000 -- six times what Ecolab paid -- and its buyer has not been identified publicly.
The world-famous Sotheby's auction house, which conducted the bidding, will not reveal the identities of the successful bidders from the Oct. 1 auction. Neither will the St. Paul Foundation, which is handling the $823,000 in auction proceeds through the creation of a Charles M. Schulz Fund. Proceeds will go to pay for a bronze sculpture downtown to honor Schulz and to two area art schools.
St. Paul Foundation President Paul Verret said one-third of the successful bidders told his staff they did not want their names made public. Because the staff did not keep records of which bidders did not want publicity, no names will be released.
One Minnesota Snoopy collector said she did not want her name in the press because she worries about theft of her collection of memorabilia, which others describe as the largest in the United States.
Some of the dogs are being spirited far away, to places in Tennessee, Utah and California, homes of their buyers.
Linda Holden of Miami, said she is having "The POP-UP" Snoopy -- created for the auction by artist Tom Everhart -- mounted on wheels so she can move it from room to room in her house. She paid $17,000 for the statue and is spending $1,000 to have it shipped to Florida. It's being be sent off Monday in a padded van.
"Everyone is anxious for it to arrive," Holden said. "All our friends are calling, saying, 'Have a party. We want to see it. We'll even bring the food.' It's so much fun."
The most expensive Snoopy -- "Jolly Golfer," which sold for $35,000 -- will be unveiled in a November celebration at Brackett's Crossing, a private golf club in Lakeville.
Several sponsors said they wished they had secured visitation rights to their former dogs and voiced sentiments similar to Duffy's plea "If you find out where our dog went, let me know."
Snoopy update
Here is a list of the 53 original Snoopy statues not put up for auction.
The list, compiled by the Pioneer Press and St. Paul's marketing and promotion office, is not meant to be a guide to current locations of the dogs. Many of them are undergoing repairs before being returned to their owners.
Some of the statues will still be on public display, though exact locations for many of them have not yet been determined. Owners are being advised to move the statues inside during cold weather to avoid damage.
"Snoopy's Garden Party," A. Johnson and Sons, 1738 Grand Ave.
"Key to My Heart," University of Minnesota Small Animal Hospital, St. Paul campus
"Rainbow Snoopy," lobby of the CIVISnet Corp. in Plymouth
"Renaissance Dog," Skyway Branch Library, Norwest Center
"Snoopy Greets Visitors," Radisson Riverfront Hotel, 11 E. Kellogg Blvd.,on display for special events
"River Dog," Radisson City Center, 411 Minnesota St., on display for special events
"All American Snoopy," various AT&T Wireless outlets in the Twin Cities
"Love Snoopy," skyway level, First National Bank Building, Fifth and Minnesota streets
"Joe Technology," Best Buy corporate campus, 7075 Flying Cloud Drive, Eden Prairie
"Stanley," Keys Cafe and Bakery, 767 Raymond Ave.
"Corn Dog," US Bank lobby, Fifth and Jackson streets
"Little Green Booties," Children's Hospital, third-floor Garden View area
"Sir Lunch-a-lot," O'Gara's Bar and Grill, 164 N. Snelling Ave.
"Joe Clean," Ecolab, Fifth and Wabasha streets
"Flying Ace," Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport
"Lunar Snoopy," donated by Lawson Software to the "St. Paul Reads" school program, location to be announced
"Mall's Best Friend," Mall of America, Bloomington
"Shopping Hound," Mall of America, Bloomington
"State Fair Snoopy," Minnesota State Fairgrounds
"Snoopy in the Wild," inside Xcel Energy Center
"Amore!" being fitted with an accordion for display at Mancini's, 531 W. Seventh St.
"Snoopy's Wish," Mr. Patom's, 995 W. Seventh St.
"Hip-Hop Snoopy," Johnson High School, 1349 Arcade St.
"Snoopy Delivers," Mackay Envelope Corp., 2100 E. Elm St., Minneapolis
"Rink Rat," Acceleration Minnesota, 9801 James Court, Bloomington
"Eagle Beagle," at private home adjacent to Olympic Hills Golf Course, Eden Prairie
"Scholar Snoopy," main office, Central High School, 275 N. Lexington Parkway
"Welcome Home Woodstock," atop the Advantage Center, 1247 St. Anthony Ave.
"Away We Go," Metro Transit St. Paul skyway store
"Dancing in the Rain," Brown & Bigelow, 345 Plato Blvd.
"Back to School," in front of Founders Hall, Metropolitan State University
"Bundle of Joy," 1137 Grand Ave.
"Thespian Snoopy," Portage for Youth at Mounds Theater, 1029 Hudson Road
"Ski-U-Mah," University of Minnesota, St. Paul Student Center, 2017 Buford Ave.
