Category: Charles M. Schulz

I did what I promised myself I wouldn’t do, and I called in to “Stu’s Show” on Shokus Internet Radio to talk to Monte Schulz and Mark Evanier about the David Michaelis biography, Schulz and Peanuts. To my amazement I think I didn’t completely blow it, but that’s only because of the topic and the fact I’ve already had some contact with these fine gentlemen.

I will not be posting an audio excerpt from the show until it’s no longer being played on Shokus Internet Radio. The good news is, you have plenty of opportunities to hear it between now and next Tuesday. It will be repeated every evening at 7 PM ET.

I really want you to listen to the entire program, so I won’t even tell you where in it I make my appearance. In fact, I was going to hang up after Monte answered my question, but I was glued to the phone and as a result was able to sneak in an extra comment. Even after that, I was so engrossed in what I heard I again forgot to hang up for a little while!

To my embarrassment, I didn’t say thank you! Many thanks go to Stu Shostak, Mark Evanier, and Monte Schulz.

IMPORTANT! Wednesday evening (depending on where you are), Monte Schulz will be in an online discussion with Mark Evanier and Lee Mendelson, long-time associate of Monte’s father, and co-producer of the famous Peanuts TV cartoons. CLICK HERE to read Mark’s post about this event.

Charles Schulz and Lee Mendelson

DON’T MISS IT! Stu’s Show on Shokus Internet Radio, Wednesday at 7 PM ET!

English author Brian Sibley has received e-mail from Jean Schulz, and he’s posted it on his blog. Click here to read.

If you haven’t read Monte Schulz’s comment on Mr. Media‘s audio interview with David Michaelis, and how the book came to be written, click here. This Peanuts cartoon seems somewhat apropos. Note that the word balloon in the first panel is not touching the top border. I’m sure you must know why!

©UFS

Cartoonist and Charles Schulz admirer Jimmy Johnson seems to have started his commentary on the Michaelis biography of Schulz. I’ve figured out how to link directly to Jimmy’s posts, so click here for the first one, and here for his second. At the moment it appears Jimmy has a missing image at that link. In reference to his former wife Rheta’s authorized biography of Sparky Schulz, Jimmy says, “As I indicated in an earlier post, I was not just a bystander to all this.” I’m looking forward to what he has to say.

My buddy D.F. Rogers points out that the synopsis of David Michaelis’ biography of N.C. Wyeth isn’t all that distinctly different from that of his biography of C.M. Schulz.

For forty-three years, starting in 1902, N.C. Wyeth painted landscapes, still lifes, portraits, and murals, as well as illustrations for a long shelf of world literature. Yet despite worldwide acclaim, he judged himself a failure, believing that illustration was of no importance. David Michaelis tells the story of Wyeth’s family through four generations — a saga that begins and ends with tragedy — and brings to life the huge-spirited, deeply complicated man, and an America that was quickly vanishing.

After a lot of furious flipping through various portions of the Michaelis biography of Schulz, I am now slowly and deliberating reading it front-to-finish. Yes, Schulz was complicated, but in the book “complicated” does indeed seem to mean the same thing as “negative.” By definition, a single significant aspect of someone’s personality isn’t what makes them complicated.