This is Peanuts from the day Monte Schulz was born…
… and this is Peanuts from exactly nine months before. POW indeed!
6 thoughts on “More Happy Birthday, Monte Schulz”
Here’s a “behind-the-scenes” chat between D.F. Rogers and myself about this post:
***On Wed 1:23p Feb 6, 2008 Doug Pratt wrote***
I think my use of the strip from nine months before Monte’s birth date was too subtle. The intent was to “do a Michaelis” and imply that the strip was somehow a representation of what was going on that day in Schulz’s life.
***On Wed 2:40p Feb 6, 2008 Dennis Rogers wrote***
Yes, I got it, but didn’t want to mention the “M” word with Monte present. I was even going to “analyze” the birthday one, too. The whole problem is that the strips were created at least a month (or two) in advance of the publication date!
***On Wed 2:53p Feb 6, 2008 Doug Pratt wrote***
Exactly! The publication date and real-life event don’t match! That’s the point entirely. Making an analogy where there is none to be made. To have done it “correctly,” I would have had to guestimate six weeks back, or thereabouts. So the ONLY date that was meaningful was the strip that appeared the day that Monte was born.
I can relate to the idea of playing a record for a girl, trying to get her into a particular song!
My favorite books in the Complete Peanuts series are also the first two volumes, because they show the rapid development of the ideas and the drawing.
Doug’s right that I don’t read the strips much at all anymore because they remind me too strongly of Dad’s absence, but I do admit that, yes, seeing certain ones will remind me of that particular time in our lives, and often I can remember when or why Dad drew a particular strip. But the early ones from the ’50s absolutely remind me of being a child back then, the furniture in the background, the neighborhoods, some of the gags. My favorite strips are those in the first two books, and reading them always leaves me feeling melancholy for those lost days. Still, thanks for putting that one up from the day I was born. I appreciate it.
I’m asking the guy with a brother and three sisters! Hmm, I guess you could answer it too, then, DOuG pRATt! [I have four sisters! – DP]
You’re asking me or Monte?? 😉
I recall Monte saying he doesn’t look at the strips much these days, but that’s a good question. Are there certain panels or sequences that are evocative of a particular event?
Wow! The celebration continues! Happy Birthday, Monte! The amazing thing is that there are nearly fifty years worth of “Peanuts” comic strips. Two and half generations can find the “Peanuts” strip that was sitting on the front doorstep or on the newsstand the day they were born.
When it was announced that the last original strip would appear in February 2000, it struck me that I had never known a day without a new “Peanuts” comic. Through all the stages of my life, from infancy to fatherhood, there was a Charles Schulz cartoon from any day that I could think of. I realize now that this is also obviously true for you and your sisters and brother. It was always there, like a song playing in the background, as you moved through your lives. If you sit and look through the reprinted strips, does it bring back memories of what was going on in your life at a particular time?
Here’s a “behind-the-scenes” chat between D.F. Rogers and myself about this post:
***On Wed 1:23p Feb 6, 2008 Doug Pratt wrote***
I think my use of the strip from nine months before Monte’s birth date was too subtle. The intent was to “do a Michaelis” and imply that the strip was somehow a representation of what was going on that day in Schulz’s life.
***On Wed 2:40p Feb 6, 2008 Dennis Rogers wrote***
Yes, I got it, but didn’t want to mention the “M” word with Monte present. I was even going to “analyze” the birthday one, too. The whole problem is that the strips were created at least a month (or two) in advance of the publication date!
***On Wed 2:53p Feb 6, 2008 Doug Pratt wrote***
Exactly! The publication date and real-life event don’t match! That’s the point entirely. Making an analogy where there is none to be made. To have done it “correctly,” I would have had to guestimate six weeks back, or thereabouts. So the ONLY date that was meaningful was the strip that appeared the day that Monte was born.
I can relate to the idea of playing a record for a girl, trying to get her into a particular song!
My favorite books in the Complete Peanuts series are also the first two volumes, because they show the rapid development of the ideas and the drawing.
Doug’s right that I don’t read the strips much at all anymore because they remind me too strongly of Dad’s absence, but I do admit that, yes, seeing certain ones will remind me of that particular time in our lives, and often I can remember when or why Dad drew a particular strip. But the early ones from the ’50s absolutely remind me of being a child back then, the furniture in the background, the neighborhoods, some of the gags. My favorite strips are those in the first two books, and reading them always leaves me feeling melancholy for those lost days. Still, thanks for putting that one up from the day I was born. I appreciate it.
I’m asking the guy with a brother and three sisters! Hmm, I guess you could answer it too, then, DOuG pRATt! [I have four sisters! – DP]
You’re asking me or Monte?? 😉
I recall Monte saying he doesn’t look at the strips much these days, but that’s a good question. Are there certain panels or sequences that are evocative of a particular event?
Wow! The celebration continues! Happy Birthday, Monte! The amazing thing is that there are nearly fifty years worth of “Peanuts” comic strips. Two and half generations can find the “Peanuts” strip that was sitting on the front doorstep or on the newsstand the day they were born.
When it was announced that the last original strip would appear in February 2000, it struck me that I had never known a day without a new “Peanuts” comic. Through all the stages of my life, from infancy to fatherhood, there was a Charles Schulz cartoon from any day that I could think of. I realize now that this is also obviously true for you and your sisters and brother. It was always there, like a song playing in the background, as you moved through your lives. If you sit and look through the reprinted strips, does it bring back memories of what was going on in your life at a particular time?