Category: Charles M. Schulz

The all-time greatest comic strip

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.

Cronkite on Schulz

Cronkite on Schulz

Cronkite on Schulz

Pets in Petaluma

Snoopy at 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 Provost

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

Original Schulz sweatshirt?

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?

Genuine Faux?

A few weeks ago, Mark Evanier said, “There is forged original artwork out there. Fake. Bogus. Fraud. Not actually by the person they say it’s by.” Amen. I now direct your attention to a press release for a charity auction at this link.

Autograph Store is proud to have provided these celebrity signed memorabilia items for the Make a Wish Foundation fundraisers:

1. Bruce Springsteen autographed guitar
2. Eric Clapton autographed guitar
3. Rolling Stones autographed record album
4. U2 autographed record album
5. Miley Cyrus autographed 16×20 photo
6. Jack Nicholson autographed 16X20 photo
7. Joe Torre & Rudy Giuliani autographed 16×20 photo
8. Julia Roberts & Richard Gere autographed 16X20 photo
9. Harry Potter Cast autographed 11X14 photo
10. The Jonas Brothers autographed 11X14 photo
11. Lance Armstrong autographed 11X14 photo
12. Charles Schulz Lucy sketch
13. Sylvester Stallone Boxing Glove
14. Muhammad Ali LeRoy Neiman Print
15. Barack Obama & Joe Biden autographed 8X10 photo

One of the items is a sketch of Lucy Van Pelt, supposedly drawn and signed by Charles M. Schulz. There are other Peanuts sketches available for charities to select for auction. Let’s take a look…

Charles Schulz – Snoopy – Signed & Framed Original Sketch
Not by Schulz

Charles Schulz – Snoopy as the “Red Baron” – Signed & Framed Original Sketch
Not by Schulz

Charles Schulz – Lucy – Signed & Framed Original Sketch
Not by Schulz

I don’t doubt these sketches are framed, but were any of then actually drawn by Charles M. Schulz? I doubt it. I can’t tell you if a Rembrandt preliminary drawing is authentic, but a brief glance is all I need to assume these weren’t done by Sparky Schulz. They’re most likely tracings. The flatness of the line, with its lack of variation in width, is one indication.

A week ago I featured Jean Vander Pyl, the woman who gave voice to Wilma Flintstone, so I’ll toss in this auction sketch, allegedly signed by Bill Hanna. It appears to me to have been drawn by the same hand that produced the Peanuts sketches.

Bill Hanna – Wilma Flintstone – Signed & Framed Original Sketch
Fake Flintstones sketch?

I’m willing to give the sellers of items such as these the benefit of the doubt, that they procured them in good faith believing them to be genuine. They should, however, not be so quick to label sketches as genuine when it’s a relatively easy matter to check their authenticity.

Monte Schulz to unveil “This Side of Jordan” at Book Expo

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Fantagraphics has put out a press release about Monte Schulz’s new novel, “This Side of Jordan”:

FANTAGRAPHICS BOOKS ANNOUNCES THE ACQUISITION OF THIS SIDE OF JORDAN, A NOVEL BY MONTE SCHULZ

THIS SIDE OF JORDAN, by MONTE SCHULZ, will be unveiled at the 2009 Book Expo America in New York City, May 29-31, with an appearance by the author on Saturday, May 30, at 2:30PM in the Autographing Area.

Monte Schulz

The novel is described as, “a tapestry of American life in the summer before the economic crash of 1929, and a quintessential novel of the rural Midwest offered unexpectedly as a crime thriller.” You can pre-order it from Amazon at this link. Monte says “This Side of Jordan” is very different from his first novel, but like “Down by the River” I’m sure a ripping good read is guaranteed for all!