Kudos to Google for its subtle recognition of Charles M. Schulz’s 87th birthday, by using Snoopy and Woodstock for its logo on November 26th, Thanksgiving Day.
Category: Charles M. Schulz
The all-time greatest comic strip
Wacky Wallowheen!
Well, another Halloween has come and gone. We had a good crowd show up, yet we have more leftover candy than ever, because one of our neighbors dropped some off so we could cover for them while they went to a party. There’s plenty for me to leave in the break room at work on Monday!
Here is what I posted last Halloween ,and the year before that, and three years ago. This year I added the video projector to the decorations, in rear projection mode with an old sheet hung from the garage door for a screen. I played the 1953 movie “War of the Worlds,” and the original “King Kong .” It was very windy tonight! On the video you can hear the wind, and some kids up the street.
[flv:http://www.dograt.com/Video/2009/OCT/WarOfWorlds.flv 512 384]
I was pleased that ABC -TV ran “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown” twice this week. Being the fan that I am — Great Pumpkin is my favorite “Peanuts” cartoon — I watched it both times, and the commercials too. There was a loud hum in the soundtrack towards the end that I don’t recall ever hearing before. And I had to think of the promo in an ironic way, because I refuse to accept it as a sincere attempt at updating Charlie Brown!
[MEDIA=70]
This Side of Monte Schulz
Amazon.com says my copy of Monte Schulz’s new novel, “This Side of Jordan,” is on its way. Monte has been on a book tour, mostly making the rounds in California. I couldn’t catch him at one of his book signings, but here’s Monte in an audio interview with Mr. Media.
I really liked Jane in Monte’s novel, “Down by the River.” Jane is a good example of an idea that I’m fond of, which is the big external events of a story being window dressing for something deeper.
I was pleased when the TV series “The X-Files” had Mulder actually come out and say it, for those who were missing the point. I’m paraphrasing, but the point was, “Don’t you see, Scully? It’s not about aliens, and abductions and the government cover-up. It’s about you, Scully.” The same sort of theme was explored in Alan Moore’s “Watchmen,” relating to the character Laurie.
That’s what I took away from “Down by the River.” There was an assault, and a murder, and corruption in town, but the story really was about Jane. I don’t know if “This Side of Jordan” has a character as appealing as Jane, but I’m looking forward to reading it.
And that’s the way he was…
The Old Guard has now truly come to an end. As Bismo said tonight, it’s perhaps fitting that Walter Cronkite passed away during the 40th anniversary of Apollo 11’s flight to the Moon. This video clip is from a 2007 CBS special celebrating Cronkite’s 90th birthday. The program was produced by Nancy Kramer, who Carol and I helped last year with some background material for an installment of 48 Hours|Mystery.
I also agreed with Bismo when he said that he never warmed up to Huntley and Brinkley as TV news anchormen. Many adults apparently preferred the team, but they were much too severe to appeal to kids. Cronkite was The Man. He narrated the audio book of his autobiography, “A Reporter’s Life”, and I listened to it twice, all the way through. It was abridged from his book, but I trusted Walter to leave in all the good stuff.
Cronkite is indelibly associated with not only NASA in the 60’s, but his live coverage of the assasination of JFK, and his landmark editorial asserting that the Vietnam War, in his opinion, could not be won. Cronkite’s credibility and judgment were held in such high esteem that LBJ realized his Presidency was doomed and he declined to seek re-election.
Another noteworthy accomplishment of Cronkite’s was that he helped introduce The Beatles to America. Here is a video clip from Nancy Kramer’s TV special that I first posted over a year ago.
© 2007 CBS Worldwide Inc.
[flv:/Video/2008/FEB/CronkiteBeatles.flv 440 330]
Lastly, I would like to point out that Walter Cronkite was a big fan of the comic strip Peanuts, and he wrote the introduction to volume 2 of The Complete Peanuts. Walter cried on air when John Kennedy died, he cried on camera again when Apollo 11 landed on the Moon, he denounced the Vietnam War, he has a Beatles connection, and he loved Charlie Brown and Snoopy. I loved the man and everything he stood for.
Pets in Petaluma
In 1968, Snoopy attempted to enter the World Wrist Wrestling Championship in Petaluma, CA, only to be disqualified for not having a thumb. This week in Petaluma, Jon Provost of “Timmy and Lassie” voted on the world’s ugliest dog, with a boxer named Pabst being awarded the distinction.
Jon’s super-duper tell-all autobiography, written with his wife Laurie Jacobson, Timmy’s In the Well is a great read, with many Hollywood stories, concentrating on the staid Fifties into the Swinging Sixties. Timmy never did fall in a well on the TV show, but as I pointed out a couple of years ago, a cartoon version of Timmy did fall in a well, in a Kenner Give-a-Show slide, and today that slide was given the Give-A-Show Projector Blog treatment.
The shirt off of Sparky’s back?
An original Charles Schulz drawing on a sweatshirt for $9500? At first glance the drawing appears to be genuine.
http://sfbay.craigslist.org/nby/clt/1205071554.html
This a rather unique piece of artwork. It was created by Charles Schulz at a private Beethoven birthday party held in the late 60s at his Coffey [sic] Lane residence in Sebastopol, Ca.
Pictures of Beethoven and Schroder [sic] were drawn on two white sweatshirts.
Currently, one of the sweatshirts is owned by the Charles M. Schulz Museum and Research Center in Santa Rosa, California. The other, in excellent condition and signed by Charles Schulz, is being offered for purchase. Serious buyers only, please.
I wonder why this is being offered on Craigslist, rather than eBay?