Racial Harmony Cartoon of the Day

Short, but right on the money:

No, Charles Schulz did not create that one. Someone else did, but the humor certainly could have been his.

The Iconic Christmas Special That Almost Didn't Happen

Regular readers know that I'm a big fan of Charles M. Schulz and his Peanuts comic strip.  I grew up with his work, collected the books (which I still have), and have twice visited the museum built in his memory in Santa Rosa, CA.  Seeing his office reconstructed in the museum is a bit like traveling to a shrine.

His iconic Christmas special, A Charlie Brown Christmas, almost died before it aired because of network fears that a character reciting a Bible verse in a Christmas special would offend a Christian nation.  They also opposed the lack of a laugh track, the use of actual children to voice the characters, as well as the jazz music that accompanied the show.  They were wrong on all counts.

Lee Habeeb writes about the results from that first showing in 1965:

As Charlie Brown sinks into a state of despair trying to find the true meaning of Christmas, Linus quietly saves the day. He walks to center of the stage where the Peanuts characters have gathered, and under a narrow spotlight, quotes the second chapter of the Gospel According to Luke, verses 8 through 14: 

And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger. And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace and goodwill towards men.

“ . . . And that’s what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown,” Linus concluded.

The scene lasted 51 seconds. When Linus finished up, Charlie Brown realized he did not have to let commercialism ruin his Christmas. With a sense of inspiration and purpose, he picked up his fragile tree and walked out of the auditorium, intending to take it home to decorate and show all who cared to see how it would work in the school play.

When CBS executives saw the final product, they were horrified. They believed the special would be a complete flop. CBS programmers were equally pessimistic, informing the production team, “We will, of course, air it next week, but I’m afraid we won’t be ordering any more.”

The half-hour special aired on Thursday, December 9, 1965, preemptingThe Munsters and following Gilligan’s Island. To the surprise of the executives, 50 percent of the televisions in the United States tuned in to the first broadcast. The cartoon was a critical and commercial hit; it won an Emmy and a Peabody award.

Linus’s recitation was hailed by critic Harriet Van Horne of the New York World-Telegram, who wrote, “Linus’ reading of the story of the Nativity was, quite simply, the dramatic highlight of the season.”

A Charlie Brown Christmas is equaled only perhaps by the 1966 Howthe Grinch Stole Christmas! in its popularity among young and old alike. Thank God the Grinch-like executives at CBS chose to air the special back in 1965 despite their misgivings. If it had been left to their gut instincts, we would have had one less national treasure to cherish come Christmas time.

And here is the moment on screen:

When we visited the museum the last time we watched the entire special again in the museum theater. Still good.  The unedited version is scheduled to air again this year on Thursday, December 15, 8pm Eastern and Pacific, 7pm Central.  Hopefully it won't be bumped by an Obama speech like it was in 2009.  I'll record it again.

Political Cartoon of the Day

In the spirit of the season:

And a bonus:

#OccupyWallStreet Cartoon of the Day

Seen on Facebook:

Peanuts is Still Relevant Today

No, that's not a grammatical error, I'm talking about the Peanuts cartoon strip. I was just looking at the Sunday ad section which is surrounded by the funny pages, and in the local Orange County Register the top strip in the Sunday funnies is still Peanuts, even though it's creator died in 2000 the night before his final original strip ran. The strip that ran in this past Sunday's paper was from 1964 and it still worked in 2011. That was some good writing.

A little later I stumbled on this piece from 2010 about why Peanuts was so successful. It's good reading for fans like me. At the time that 1964 strip ran I was a very avid Peanuts fan and was collecting his books as well as cutting strips out of the paper and putting them in a scrapbook. I still have those books today.

A Charlie Brown Christmas

From a very early age I was a fan of the Peanuts comic strip. For Birthdays and Christmas, or whenever I had some extra money, I would often pick up Peanuts books (which I still have today). I've seen a number of those books, in worse condition than the ones I have, at the Charles M. Schulz museum in Santa Rosa, CA. I'd almost like to loan them mine so they'd have decent copies on display.

Tonight on ABC-TV, for the 46th year in a row, A Charlie Brown Christmas will be broadcast. I remember watching the very first showing in 1965 as a 9-year old. It was the first of what would eventually become 75 TV specials. 

When you read comics you create the voices for the characters in your head. When I first saw the show I had to recalibrate those voices to match the actors on the show. Those children's voices are still there when I read a Peanuts strip today. More about those voices in a moment.

I've recently read a biography of Charles M. Schulz that I found on a discount table at the bookstore. I hadn't remembered seeing this book before, entitled Schulz and Peanuts, but I'm glad I found it. It's been a very revealing look into the life of Charles Schulz and many of the influences that found their way into his 17,000+ strips. I'd highly recommend it for anyone who is a fan of the Peanuts strip.

It's not a glossy look at Schulz' life at all, but reveals a guy who had a lot of insecurities and irrational fears that tormented him throughout his life, but also probably gave him some of the humor for which he was famous. He found the one thing in his life that he was really good at, drawing a cartoon, and did it better than anybody ever has. The Peanuts empire dwarfed anything before or since in the cartoon business. Today my daughter attends college at the school where Schulz's second wife attended and there are now many buildings named after Schulz or Peanuts characters thanks to funding from the Schulz estate.

In reading the book I came across the chapter on the making of A Charlie Brown Christmas and what all went into that. There were significant battles fought over that TV special, all of which Schulz won. The producers had never done a show like this with cartoon characters, and they tried to make it the only way they knew how - with adult actors voicing the kids parts and a laugh track. Schulz vetoed both ideas, insisting on children's voices for the kid's parts and absolutely no laugh track. He didn't think his audience would need to be told when to laugh, and he was right.

The other big battle involved the inclusion of the Biblical Christmas story from Luke as recited by Linus in the scene you'll see below. At one point as the producers were trying to talk Schulz out of including the Bible passage he said "if we don't do it, who will?" Good question. Schulz insisted the passage be kept in the show and the rest is history. Here it is:

Another issue with the show that I found interesting was that Schulz hated jazz. All his adult life he had been a fan of classical music, building up quite a collection of classical albums. When a jazz theme used on a previous show about Schulz called A Boy Named Charlie Brown was proposed for the Christmas show he wasn't sure he'd like it, but the song Linus and Lucy, as performed by the Vince Guaraldi Trio, became the theme song for Peanuts and today is considered a classic Christmas song by many. The L.A. radio station that plays all Christmas music this time of year includes that song in their rotation. You can hear part of it in this clip of the Christmas dance from the show:

Just to show how out-of-touch the TV types at that time were, a few days before it first aired a preview was shown to the sponsors at Coca-Cola who had fronted the money to make the special. They were underwhelmed to say the least. They thought the show was too slow, and the lack of a laugh track along with kid's voices in all the acting parts made them think the show would be unsuccessful. There were also various technical glitches that were never fixed due to the small budget they were working with. Charles Schulz would never let them fix those glitches in ensuing years.

The night the show aired, December 9, 1965, fully half of the TVs on that night were tuned in. It was a huge commercial and artistic success.

I still have in my files the final Sunday Peanuts strip which ran the morning of February 13, 2000, a few hours after Schulz died. I remember hearing the news on the radio that he had died as I was driving to a concert that morning. It still makes me a little sad to think about it.

I'll be at a rehearsal tonight when the show airs, but I'm planning to watch A Charlie Brown Christmas via DVR in the next few days.  Wouldn't be Christmas without it.

Bonus Political Cartoon of the Day

As a lifelong Peanuts fan when I saw this on Facebook I laughed out loud:

I still have my collection of Peanuts books that I got as a kid for birthdays, Christmas, and some I bought myself. You can see them here.

You've Got a New Owner, Charlie Brown

The favorite comic strip of my youth has left United Media after 60 years:

E.W. Scripps Co. (SSP) said Tuesday that it will sell the unit that owns licensing rights to Snoopy, Charlie Brown and the rest of the "Peanuts" gang for $175 million to Joe Boxer owner Iconix Brand Group (ICON).


The sale of United Media Licensing also means Iconix has a new partnership with the family of the late "Peanuts" creator, Charles Schulz. The S hulz family will receive 20% ownership in the unit that owns "Peanuts" and pay that percentage of the sale price.

United Media Licensing represents other character brands such as Dilbert and Fancy Nancy, but the bulk of its licensing business comes from "Peanuts." The unit's licensed merchandise has annual sales of more than $2 billion.


Scripps first brought the strip to market in 1950. By the time Schulz retired in 1999, Peanuts was in more than 2,600 newspapers. Schulz died in February 2000.


Scripps said the cash deal will close by the end of the second quarter.


The newspaper publisher and TV station owner announced in February it was exploring a sale.


Iconix, formerly known as Candie's, owns and licenses brands such as Joe Boxer, London Fog, Starter and Mudd. The company, based in New York, licenses its brands to retailers, wholesalers and suppliers.


Scripps will still own United Media's syndication operations, so it will continue to syndicate comic strips and editorial features.


"The Peanuts characters have been our entertaining co-workers and the Schulz family has been our trusted partner for nearly 60 years. But this is the right move for all involved as we go our separate ways in recognition of changing times and new strategies," said Scripps CEO Rich Boehne.


Iconix CEO Neil Cole said the purchase moves the company away from being one focused solely on fashion into new realms that include theme parks, media and financial institutions.


The family is heartened by the sale, said Charles Schulz's son, Craig Schulz.


"Peanuts now has the best of both worlds," he said. "Family ownership and the vision and resources of Iconix to perpetuate what my father created throughout the next century with all the goodwill his lovable characters bring."

Peanuts also has a strong connection to Sonoma State University where my daughter attends college. The Schulz family has contributed a lot of money for various buildings and projects at the school, including the Jean and Charles Schulz Library, the Charlie Brown Cafe, and the Schroeder Recital Hall. Hopefully this change in ownership won't in any way dilute the characters or use them in ways Charles Schulz would not have liked.

Want to Trade Big Bucks for Peanuts?

And Dilbert, along with other comic strip characters? Dilbert creator Scott Adams says the licensing company that handles his strip as well as Peanuts may be for sale:

Today United Media announced it might try to sell the licensing rights for Dilbert, Peanuts, and the rest of its licensing properties.

http://www.cnbc.com/id/35536849

United Media has been handling syndication and licensing for Dilbert for over 20 years. They plan to keep the syndication part, which involves selling and distributing comics to newspapers. The licensing group, which is potentially for sale, manages licensing of Dilbert, Peanuts, and other properties to the third parties who put it on t-shirts and calendars and whatnot.

That's going to go for some big bucks. There's a lot of money in licensing Peanuts characters.

10 Years Ago Today

CNN Headline News ran this item on the morning of February 13th, 2000 concerning the passing of a legend on this day 10 years ago.

I still have that last Peanuts Sunday strip in my files. I remember hearing the news that he had died as I was driving to a concert early that Sunday morning. It was a sad day for someone who had grown up a big fan of the strip.

Top 10 Christmas Specials

John Nolte has a wrap-up of his Top 10 Christmas TV Specials at Big Hollywood. I certainly agree with his first choice - A Charlie Brown Christmas. My thoughts on that show were previously posted here. While in Santa Rosa 10 days ago we stopped by the Charles M. Schulz Museum and got there just in time for a screening of that great holiday classic. It was nice to see it on a big screen and appreciate the genius that went into it.

Nolte had his #2 as The Grinch That Stole Christmas, and his number 3 was a show that I haven't seen on broadcast TV for years - Mr. Magoo's Christmas Carol. That show from 1962 was a favorite of my dad's and included the song "A Hand for Each Hand Alone in the World". It's a tearjerker.

You can read the rest of Nolte's picks at the link above. One thing I find interesting is that of the 10 shows he chooses, only one was made after 1974 (a personal favorite of his, an episode of Married With Children, a show I never watched). It's clear that Hollywood no longer has much interest in making quality animated (or otherwise) Christmas specials, but thankfully the old ones hold up pretty well.

It's an interesting read.

A Charlie Brown Christmas

From a very early age I was a fan of the Peanuts comic strip. For Birthdays and Christmas, or whenever I had some extra money, I would often pick up Peanuts books (which I still have today). I've seen a number of those books, in worse condition than the ones I have, at the Charles M. Schulz museum in Santa Rosa, CA. I'd almost like to loan them mine so they'd have decent copies on display.

I'm heading up to the Santa Rosa area tomorrow and if I get a chance, I'm going to visit the museum again. For me it's almost like a religious pilgrimage to the idols of my youth.

Tonight on ABC-TV, for the 45th year in a row, A Charlie Brown Christmas will be broadcast. I remember watching the very first showing in 1965 as a 9-year old. It was the first of what would eventually become 75 TV specials. It was supposed to have been broadcast on December 1st but was bumped for Obama's latest TV special (it wasn't very entertaining, either).

When you read comics you create the voices for the characters in your head. When I first saw the show I had to recalibrate those voices to match the actors on the show. Those children's voices are still there when I read a Peanuts strip today. More about those voices in a moment.

I've just finished reading a biography of Charles M. Schulz that I found on a discount table at the bookstore. I hadn't remembered seeing this book before, entitled Schulz and Peanuts, but I'm glad I found it. It's been a very revealing look into the life of Charles Schulz and many of the influences that found their way into his 17,000+ strips. I'd highly recommend it for anyone who is a fan of the Peanuts strip.

It's not a glossy look at Schulz' life at all, but reveals a guy who had a lot of insecurities and irrational fears that tormented him throughout his life, but also probably gave him some of the humor for which he was famous. He found the one thing in his life that he was really good at, drawing a cartoon, and did it better than anybody ever has. The Peanuts empire dwarfed anything before or since in the cartoon business. Today my daughter attends college at the school where Schulz's second wife attended and there are now many buildings named after Schulz or Peanuts characters thanks to funding from the Schulz estate.

In reading the book I came across the chapter on the making of A Charlie Brown Christmas and what all went into that. There were significant battles fought over that TV special, all of which Schulz won. The producers had never done a show like this with cartoon characters, and they tried to make it the only way they knew how - with adult actors voicing the kids parts and a laugh track. Schulz vetoed both ideas, insisting on children's voices for the kid's parts and absolutely no laugh track. He didn't think his audience would need to be told when to laugh, and he was right.

The other big battle involved the inclusion of the Biblical Christmas story from Luke as recited by Linus in the scene you'll see below. At one point as the producers were trying to talk Schulz out of including the Bible passage he said "if we don't do it, who will?" Good question. Schulz insisted the passage be kept in the show and the rest is history. Here it is:

Another issue with the show that I found interesting was that Schulz hated jazz. All his adult life he had been a fan of classical music, building up quite a collection of classical albums. When a jazz theme used on a previous show about Schulz called A Boy Named Charlie Brown was proposed for the Christmas show he wasn't sure he'd like it, but the song Linus and Lucy, as performed by the Vince Guaraldi Trio, became the theme song for Peanuts and today is considered a classic Christmas song by many. The L.A. radio station that plays all Christmas music this time of year includes that song in their rotation. You can hear part of it in this clip of the Christmas dance from the show:

Just to show how out-of-touch the TV types at that time were, a few days before it first aired a preview was shown to the sponsors at Coca-Cola who had fronted the money to make the special. They were underwhelmed to say the least. They thought the show was too slow, and the lack of a laugh track along with kid's voices in all the acting parts made them think the show would be unsuccessful. There were also various technical glitches that were never fixed due to the small budget they were working with. Charles Schulz would never let them fix those glitches in ensuing years.

The night the show aired, December 9, 1965, fully half of the TVs on that night were tuned in. It was a huge commercial and artistic success.

I still have in my files the final Sunday Peanuts strip which ran the morning of February 13, 2000, a few hours after Schulz died. I remember hearing the news on the radio that he had died as I was driving to a concert that morning. It still makes me a little sad to think about it.

I'll be watching A Charlie Brown Christmas tonight with millions of others.

Obama Goes Quiet

Sort of:

After months of what some critics called overexposure, President Obama has of late avoided questions from the White House press corps at large, closing the Oval Office to traditionally informal question-and-answer sessions with reporters and pulling back from the fast pace of news conferences he established when taking office.

The president, whose job-approval ratings have been on a steady slide, hasn't held a formal news conference in 19 weeks, since July 22. That one ended badly, when Mr. Obama waded into a racial controversy by saying a white police officer "acted stupidly" when he arrested a black Harvard professor.

"It can't be a total coincidence that the last time he faced the press corps, we ended with beers in the Rose Garden with Henry Louis Gates and James Crowley, when the focus was supposed to be health care," said Julie Mason, a White House reporter for the Washington Examiner who also covered the Bush administration for the Houston Chronicle.

"It does seem like they are responding to the overexposure argument and trying to exert more control over his appearances," she said.

Veteran White House reporters have been grumbling about the lack of access to the president, who as a candidate vowed an unprecedented level of transparency.

As Jim Geraghty is fond of saying, all of Obama's promises come with an expiration date, and apparently that one expired after Obama suffered foot-in-mouth disease at the July presser.

Of course, this hasn't stopped him from bumping Charlie Brown off the TV schedule with tonight's speech at West Point. Instead of Linus reciting the Christmas story we'll get Obama reciting results of months of dithering.

That's entertainment!

Meanwhile preschoolers will be tuning in to see Charlie Brown and will instead be asking their parents why the Grinch is on instead.

Obama Bumps Charlie Brown

This is one ticked-off Peanuts fan here. I just read that Obama's speech tomorrow night at West Point will bump A Charlie Brown Christmas to December 8th:

FOX broadcasting, which has passed on taking prime time news conferences from Pres. Obama in the past, will carry tomorrow night's address at West Point at 8pmET. A new "So You Think You Can Dance" will begin after the president's speech (in the Eastern/Central time zones; regular time on the West Coast).

ABC announced today that it too will carry the speech. Originally scheduled programs, including "A Charlie Brown Christmas," will now air next Tuesday at 8pmET.

NBC and CBS announced last Wednesday that they would be carrying the speech.

The cable news channels will also air the address which will focus on the future role of the U.S. military in Afghanistan.

And I had a special post commemorating that show all ready to go.

Well, until next week I'll leave you with this from Ace:

It was just a scraggly, stunted Obama until

the media kids went to work on it and made it beautiful.

Photoshop by Slublog

Some Trip Photos

We're in Northern California this weekend attending a couple of my daughter's concerts and spending some time with our first born, something we don't get to do much these days. Here are some photos from the trip.

Upon our arrival we were given a tour of the still under construction Green Music Center. Many of the classrooms and offices have been completed, but the two main auditoriums are still being built. This will be the main concert building and future home of the Santa Rosa Symphony:
The back wall of the auditorium will open up with a grassy amphitheater behind it, sort of like the building at Tanglewood.

This odd-shaped structure will house the Schroeder Recital Hall where my daughter will one day have her senior recital. It was named after the piano-playing Peanuts character since major funding for it came from the Jean Schulz, the widow of Peanuts creator Charles Schulz. Schulz lived in nearby Santa Rosa and they have been big benefactors of the school. There's stuff all over the campus named after them or Peanuts characters.Unfortunately, the hall is still $19 million dollars short of what will be needed for completion. Maybe Obama has some extra Porkulus money running around. Perhaps ACORN can do with slightly less than the entire $1.2 billion.

Here's the girl all dolled up and ready to perform:


During the performance by the Sonoma State Wind Ensemble she can be seen in the first chair flute position to the right of director Dr. Andy Collinsworth:

The final two numbers in the program consisted of the combined bands from Sonoma State and Santa Rosa Community College:It was a terrific concert in front of a very appreciative crowd. Nice job by all.

Today - more shopping with the girl and then tomorrow night the faculty concert.

What Christmas is All About

Just in case you've forgotten in all the frantic rushing about:

And just because it makes me feel good (and years younger) when I watch it, enjoy the Charlie Brown Christmas dance:

And if you'd like to read an inspirational story of modern day Christmas angels, here you go from a post I did on this day in 2006.

Lunch With Snoopy

We're eating lunch at the Warm Puppy Cafe, next to the table reserved for Charles Schulz, who used to eat breakfast and lunch here everyday. The home studio where he drew Peanuts was across the street.

Peanuts Animator Bill Melendez Dies at 91

I've written before about my love for the Peanuts comic strip as I grew up, and the guy who brought that strip to life on TV has died:

Animator, director and producer Jose Cuautemoc "Bill" Melendez, whose television programs and theatrical films featuring Charles Schulz's "Peanuts" characters earned four Emmy Awards, an Oscar nomination and two Peabody Awards, died Tuesday at St. John's hospital in Santa Monica, according to publicist Amy Goldsmith. He was 91.

Melendez's career extended over nearly seven decades, including stints at Walt Disney Studios, Leon Schlesinger Cartoons (which later was sold to Warner Bros.), United Productions of America and Playhouse Pictures. In 1964, he established Bill Melendez Productions, where he created his best-known works, including the holiday classic "A Charlie Brown Christmas" (1965). Over the years, his films were honored with two additional prime-time Emmys, three National Cartoonist Society awards, a Clio Award and 150 awards for commercials.

"A Charlie Brown Christmas," which Melendez and his partner Lee Mendelson produced for CBS, established the format of the half-hour animated special -- and began one of the most popular franchises in animation history.

Animating Schulz's simple drawings posed problems. "Charlie Brown has a big head, a little body and little feet," Melendez said in a 2000 interview for The Times. "Normally, a human takes a step every 16 frames -- about two-thirds of a second. But Sparky's [Schulz's] characters would look like they were floating at that pace. After several experiments, I had them take a step every six frames -- one-fourth of a second. . . . It was the only way that worked."

"A Charlie Brown Christmas" won an Emmy and a Peabody; CBS has rebroadcast it every holiday season since. Breaking with tradition, the filmmakers used an upbeat jazz score by Grammy-winning composer Vince Guaraldi and real children for the characters' voices, rather than adult actors imitating children.

Melendez supplied Snoopy's laughs, sobs and howls. Schulz insisted that as a dog, Snoopy couldn't talk. Melendez experimented with making sounds that suggested a voice and speeding them up on tape -- assuming a professional actor would do a final recording. But time ran short, and Melendez ended up serving as Snoopy's voice in 63 subsequent half-hour specials, five one-hour specials, the Saturday morning TV show and four feature films. In his later years, Melendez chuckled over the fact that he received residuals for his vocal performances.

I saw a bio on Charles Schulz in which Melendez was also featured, and in working on "A Charlie Brown Christmas" Melendez was adamant about keeping religion out of the show but was overruled by Schulz. The result was the scene in which Linus recited the Christmas story - very effective. That show was a massive hit, and I watched it when it was broadcast in 1965 and many times since then. The hard copy book of that story is in my collection of Peanuts books.

I visited the Charles M. Schulz museum back in May (it's not far from my daughter's college), and you can see some information about that visit here.

Charles M. Schulz Museum

UPDATE: I've noticed a couple of inquiries coming to this post from the Schulz Museum (welcome, by the way), so I've added some photos below of my collection of Peanuts books that were gifts to me in the 60's, or books that I used my allowance to buy. They're still treasured possessions (and frankly in better shape than the same editions that were on display in the gift shop).

As mentioned in a previous post, I had some time to kill this afternoon while in the Santa Rosa area to pick up my daughter for summer break, and I decided to visit the Charles M. Schulz Museum and Research Center. I understand the museum part, but I'm not sure what they're researching. Some possible ideas:

• Do trees really eat kites?


• Can a beagle reach the rudder pedals on a Sopwith Camel?


• How does Charlie Brown scratch his head with those tiny arms?


• Is it possible to completely undress a pitcher with a line drive?


• How did Snoopy have room for a cedar closet, pool table and Van Gogh in his doghouse?

I obviously had too much time on my hands.

The museum was built on property that was either part of Schulz's home or right next to it, and across the street from the ice skating rink he built in 1969. He used to walk from his home to The Warm Puppy Cafe' in the skating rink for breakfast and lunch every day. I had lunch there today, and right by the window Schulz's old table is still reserved in his honor.

The skating rink is pretty impressive. There are whole generations of Santa Rosa area kids who developed a love for ice skating and hockey thanks to this facility. Schulz used to play here in a seniors hockey tournament, as well as pick-up games with the locals.

Back in the museum, there's a large tile mosaic of Charlie Brown and Lucy and their famous football kicking (or not kicking) routine.
What's amazing about that mosaic is that it's made up of individual tiles, each of which has a different Peanuts cartoon printed on it. Here's what Charlie Brown's mouth and part of his nose look like up close:

Very cool. On the second floor they've moved all of Shulz's office furniture over from the house and have recreated his studio.

I was such a fan of the Peanuts strips when I was a kid that looking at the drawing table where they were created was a bit like walking through Air Force One at the Reagan Library, or touring Ford's Theater and the Peterson Rooming House in Washington D.C. Important stuff happened here, even if it was only a collection of simple drawings and funny stories.
On the other side of the skating rink is a large gift shop, and upstairs is a small area of Peanuts memorabilia (it used to be the museum). They have displays of various Peanuts collection books over the years, and I found the first display of the earliest Peanuts books particularly interesting. Why? I have all the books they showed in the display.Holt, Rinehart and Winston used to put those books out for $1. I have a bunch of them since that was the era in which I was collecting them (I wonder what they're worth today - my copies are in much better shape than the ones they have on display). I also have this book that was on display:
Finally, they have a stained-glass window in the display area that I thought was pretty cool so I had to get a shot:
It's an inexpensive place to visit and well worth the trip for those fans of the strip. You'll see lots of Schulz's original artwork, including a great many cartoons that I remembered from my collections. It was a real trip down memory lane.

UPDATE: I pulled my collection of Peanuts books out of storage and took some photos:

I only have two hard backed books:

And, you may have noticed a couple of books in the collection above that don't have the traditional Peanuts characters that everybody knows. These two:

These books are cartoons written by Schulz that depicted life in a church youth group. Being in a church youth group at the time I got these, they made perfect sense to me and they're very funny. They were given to me by my grandparents for Christmas in 1967.

A Pilgrimage to the Shrine of My Youth

Having traveled to Northern California twice in the last 10 days you'd think I'd grown tired of the travel by now. Well, you'd be correct, but there's still one trip to go. Early this morning I'm on the road again for another 1,000 mile round-trip to Rohnert Park, this time to pick up the girl from college and bring her home for the summer. She's ready to come home and we're ready to have her here. I'm sure that by August she'll be ready to go back, but for now, she's had enough of college life.

I decided to treat myself a little bit on this trip. When I was a kid I was a huge fan of the Peanuts comic strip. I cut the daily strips out of the newspaper and pasted them in a scrapbook, one of the best presents you could give me was a new Peanuts book (which I still have), and when A Charlie Brown's Christmas was first televised I thought I'd died and gone to heaven (though it was a little jarring to hear their voices after hearing them only in my head for years). In the 5th grade I proposed an idea to my teacher - let's do a play using Peanuts cartoons as the script! She didn't go for it, but a couple of years later "You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown" opened on Broadway (sadly, I didn't get any credit for the idea).

And, I must admit, I shed a tear or two that sad Sunday morning in 2000 when I heard on the car radio that cartoonist Charles Schulz had died the night before. His work had been a big part of my young life. In a weird cosmic touch, his last Sunday strip appeared in the papers that very morning (I have it in my files). It's an amazing testament to his work that eight years after his death Peanuts strips still run daily in thousands of newspapers.

Schulz lived and worked just outside of Santa Rosa, CA, not far from my daughter's school, and more than one building at Sonoma State University is named for him thanks to generous donations from the Schulz family. My wife and I got smoothies on Sunday in the Charlie Brown Cafe, and the new Music Center currently under construction will include the Schroeder Recital Hall, named for the Beethoven-loving piano prodigy who regularly spurned Lucy's romantic advances.

In Santa Rosa you can now find the Charles M. Schulz Museum, a shrine to the legacy of the man and his work. Since I have the afternoon open, I'm going to visit the museum and pay my respects to my childhood hero. I'm looking forward to it. I'll try to post some photos later.

You can view the museum's introductory film at this link (requires Windows Media Player).