Category: Cartooning

Beav it to Cleaver

Netflix Watch Instantly on the Roku means TV Land no longer exists for me. I was watching an episode from the third (1959) season of “Leave it to Beaver” tonight when I was surprised by a brief guest appearance. June is at a women’s club party, hosted by Mrs. Harrison.

Leave it to Beaver

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They don’t explain what sort of trouble Mrs. Mondello’s daughter is in, but by having the ladies point out that she’s eighteen, parents in the audience can imagine for themselves. This is the sort of clever scripting for family TV shows that later disappeared. After “All in the Family” premiered, TV comedies dealing with personal issues were about as subtle as a backhoe breaking a gas main.

A year after her appearance on Beaver, the actress playing Mrs. Harrison would be heard on TV again, and her voice has been ever-present ever since, even today, ten years after her death. Listen carefully to the audio clip. She’s out of character here, but she played somebody you’ve heard a thousand times.

Leave it to Beaver

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Snoopy flies in space, lands in Washington state

It’s been forty years since Snoopy flew to the Moon on Apollo 10, the last mission of the program to intentionally not land on the surface of Earth’s nearest neighbor. “Precious” seems to be the best word to describe this photo of NASA secretary Jayme Flowers holding a big Snoopy.

Jayme Flowers with Snoopy

Before Snoopy flew ’round the Moon he was a Sopwith Camel pilot, of course, battling the Red Baron in — what else? — dogfights. A traveling exhibit from the Charles M. Schulz Museum, featuring Snoopy’s most famous persona, which was inspired by a bit of boyhood whimsy by Monte Schulz, is now at the Pearson Air Museum in Vancouver, Washington. The origin of the hit song “Snoopy and the Red Baron” is murkier than is generally known, as I hope to explain one day, but for now I am pledged to remain silent.

In another bit of Peanuts news, there are apparently financial problems at the New York auction firm Illustration House, which needed a bit of nudging to make a good faith payment to the owner of a Schulz original.

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Schulzes

If you click here, you’ll see Amazon.com’s pre-publication listing for Monte Schulz’s new novel, This Side of Jordan. Here’s Monte in a photo that’s 1280×720 pixels — HD Monte!

Monte Schulz

Monte’s stepmother, Jeannie, recently donated $1 million to the Ohio State University Cartoon Library & Museum. Cartoonist Brian Narelle, who teaches cartooning classes at the Charles M. Schulz Museum, took this picture of the Charlie Brown car that belongs to Jeannie. That’s the manager of the ice rink at the wheel.

Charlie Brown Car at Schulz Museum

Confessions of a Superhero

Jennifer Wenger in \

Morgan Spurlock presents Confessions of a Superhero is a 2007 indie documentary that’s popped up on Netflix Watch Instantly. It’s very different from Spurlock’s excellent and influential Supersize Me, and only vaguely similar to the outstanding character study The King of Kong, but Confessions of a Superhero is just as fascinating to watch. Why? Because as unreal as it is, it’s real.

The Superman impersonator is way too into his character, the guy in the Hulk costume is sympathetic and equally pathetic, and the George Clooney lookalike Batman has an anger management problem. Jennifer Gehrt, who plays Wonder Woman, may have made too many impulsive decisions in her life — like quitting college — but if there’s a star in the making here, it’s Jennifer.

What ends in FOOM?

I’m in the middle of trying to decide if I want to keep AT&T as our wireless phone service, or switch to Verizon Wireless. It’s maddening that every outlet has different phones, plans and deals, which makes today’s Dilbert timely.

Dilbert.com

Note this panel from the strip, as scanned from The Boston Globe, which is at risk of becoming the Boston edition of The New York Times. The comic book fans among you should be able to answer the questions below.

Dilbert goes FOOM!

  • What did FOOM once stand for?
  • What comic book character’s name ends in FOOM?

‘Good Ol’ Charles Schulz’ at MASS MoCA

Something I missed, that I wouldn’t have been able to attend even if I’d known about it, was a screening of the documentary Good Ol’ Charles Schulz, with director David Van Taylor in attendance, at a place I’ve mentioned before, the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art. Here is the part of the film I liked, and I was pleased to later learn that Monte Schulz felt the same.

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