Category: Charles M. Schulz

The all-time greatest comic strip

Bob Andelman, Mr. Media

Bob Andelman, aka Mr. Media, makes a comment on one of my posts about Monte Schulz, at this link. Andelman has posted an audio interview with David Michaelis, the author of the controversial book Schulz and Peanuts.

I’m going to do something I don’t normally do, and that’s hotlink to Mr. Andelman’s MP3 file. I think he should give streaming audio a try, and this is my way of nudging him in that direction. I would also suggest editing the properties of the MP3 files to include an artist and title, so the player could display something like “Mr. Media” and “David Michaelis Interview.” First, the David Michaelis interview…

[audio:http://www.andelman.com/mrmedia-pod/MM-DavidMichaelis101707.mp3]

I recommend listening to what Michaelis has to say, but as I’ve said before, while reading the book I’ve come around to an understanding what Monte and his sisters Amy and Jill are getting at in their criticism of Michaelis’ analysis of Charles M. Schulz as a man and as a father.

I’m very pleased to see that Andelman has also posted an interview with none other than Joe Sinnott, who I saw in New York a week ago. Thanks very much for this, Bob!

[audio:http://www.andelman.com/mrmedia-pod/MM-JoeSinnott071007.mp3]

The Michaelis Method

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.

N.C. Wyeth by David Michaelis

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.

Schulz Dirt Bike Riders Rider

I got a laugh of out Monte Schulz’s comment about his brother Craig that’s in a previous post.

I just wanted David Van Taylor to tell a more complete story and to give some clarification to a story my brother tells regarding “us” riding our dirt bikes on the roads and not being bothered by the cops — none of us except him either owned or rode dirt bikes, and David only used that clip to “show” how pampered we were back then, and privileged, neither of which was true.

The reason it’s funny to me is my brother rode dirt bikes, but I never did. I would have the same reaction as Monte if my brother said “we” in a way that sounded like a reference to our family, rather than to his friends. Here’s Craig on a dirt bike.

Charles and Craig Schulz

“Through Little Boxes”

At the moment, the header for this blog is this picture. I stitched it together from a couple of scanned images. It was inspired by a poem that Monte Schulz wrote, that was published in Happy Birthday, Charlie Brown, in 1979, as ‘Peanuts’ headed into its 30th year.

I salute you,
Speaker to the world
Through little boxes.

I applaud the four little squares
A world watches and laughs with, mornings.
And I share the fortune
You grant us,
Allowing a peek through four little windows
Into your world each day.

I cherish the wisdom lessons
and the story telling.
And always I treasure
The laughter,
Greeting every new morning.

Speaker to the world
Through little boxes:
I salute you.

— Monte Schulz

Chopin’s Étude No. 3 in E, Op. 10

Once again I am grateful to Monte Schulz for his input. In my previous post he correctly identifies the music to Jo Stafford’s song ‘No Other Love’ as being by Frédéric Chopin. It is Chopin’s Étude No. 3 in E Major, Op. 10. Here is a recording of the complete piece.

[audio:https://s3.amazonaws.com/dogratcom/Audio/2011/Nov/Chopin.mp3|titles=Chopin’s Étude No. 3 in E Major, Op. 10]

Coffee Lane and Moon River

Charles M. Schulz Charles M. Schulz

The American Masters documentary Good Ol’ Charles Schulz was a surprise to me in a number of ways. I had expected the early years to be of greatest interest, but I feel the core of the program is actually the 10-minute segment about Coffee Lane. Monte Schulz characterizes his family’s time there as “those dear, dead days.”

Thirty seconds of Coffee Lane are on the video player. I took the picture in the preview frame from later in the segment. That’s a great shot, isn’t it?

[flv:http://s3.amazonaws.com/dogratcom/Video/Schulz/Schulz.flv 400 300]

Thanks again to Monte for contributing a comment to this blog. The audio player has the music that reminds him so much of Coffee Lane in Sebastopol, CA — Henry Mancini’s ‘Moon River’. For myself, the equivalent would be Peter, Paul & Mary records on Adams Lane in Norwalk, CT.

[audio:https://s3.amazonaws.com/dogratcom/Audio/2011/Nov/MR1.mp3|titles=Moon River by Henry Mancini]

Back in St. Paul, one of Charles Schulz’s favorite recording artists was Jo Stafford. I have found no reference to her in the Michaelis book, and I think that’s a serious omission. Below is a song sung by Jo, called ‘No Other Love’.

[audio:https://s3.amazonaws.com/dogratcom/Audio/2011/Nov/NoOtherLove.mp3|titles=No Other Love by Jo Stafford]

This record was popular on the radio in September, 1950 — after Sparky had lost Donna, and before he married Joyce. Keep that in mind, play it again, and listen carefully to the lyrics.