Category: Cartooning

Charles M. Schulz, An American Master

You watched American Masters: Good Ol’ Charles Schulz, didn’t you? Good! I think it strikes an excellent balance, portraying the artistic man, the family man, and the inner man in equal portions. I don’t completely buy into Citizen Kane being a significant theme, let alone an obsession, for Schulz — I love the movie myself — but overall I found the documentary to be positive, informative, and poignant. I was particularly taken with Donna Wold’s description of a conversation she had with Sparky when he called her in 1970.

I was pleased to see how throughout the program there was always a return to an emphasis on Schulz at his drawing board. The simple act of putting pencil and ink to paper was, after all, what the man loved to do, and it’s the reason he’s worth the attention he is receiving. Congratulations to writer-director David Van Taylor for his excellent production.

Charles M. Schulz

Two of the Schulz offspring, Monte and Amy, have had very little good to say about the David Michaelis biography of their father, and Jill has gone on record as agreeing with them. Michaelis appears in Good Ol’ Charles Schulz, and reading his book I can see that he does tend to fancy himself a psychoanalyst, and he’s consistently negative where he could have been more balanced. I feel that David Van Taylor found that balance in Good Ol’ Charles Schulz, so I’m a bit surprised that Monte and Amy aren’t mostly positive about the program.

Over at the Cartoon Brew blog you can read Amy and Monte’s comments about the book. My buddy Dennis has pulled their entries out of the comment thread. If you see a “more” link, click it to read them, otherwise keep scrolling.
Continue reading Charles M. Schulz, An American Master

Charles Schulz’s Backdated Marriage

The photo I posted at this link, of Charles Schulz and Donna Johnson, was taken in April, 1950, before he met his wife Joyce. Yet in the video at this link, Schulz’s daughter Meredith is said to be 14.

The numbers don’t add up. The reason is that Joyce already had Meredith when she met Sparky. They married on April 18, 1951, a year after the picture with Donna was taken.

In David Michaelis’ controversial new biography, Schulz and Peanuts, he states on page 235…

Sparky now stepped forward and legally adopted Meredith, and from then on, an he was called upon to tell the story of his life to an eager public, he and Joyce lied about the year of their wedding in order to assimilate and protect Meredith’s place in their marriage. Even in official notarized documents, they ever after gave April 18, 1949, as their nuptial day, placing Meredith’s birth (on February 5, 1950) just within the bounds of propriety as Sparky’s daughter.

My friend, the diligent researcher Mr. D.F. Rogers, has uncovered proof of the document backdating, in the form of a California court listing of divorce filings. Click the picture to enlarge, and look for the yellow highlight.

Charles and Joyce Schulz Divorce Court Listing

If your browser reduces the image, click to see it full size. The stated year of marriage was 1949. By the time of the divorce, Meredith was an adult and knew the truth, yet the deception continued.

Wherego Ergo?

We’re finished with the anime series Ergo Proxy. The ending was pretty good, with the usual grand speeches and battles and massive explosions.

One of the change-of-pace Ergo installments had a mocking parody of Walt Disney in a scratchy black and white movie, gesturing like Hitler.

[flv:/Video/OCT07/ErgoDisney.flv 448 252]

Long before Ergo Proxy, even before Astro Boy, the first anime to reach America, one of Bob Clampett’s Beany and Cecil cartoons made fun of Disneyland.

[flv:/Video/OCT07/Beanyland.flv 400 300]

The Crank Gets The Shaft

When I saw yesterday’s ‘Crankshaft’ I knew it would draw negative responses, and it has, as noted in Editor and Publisher; although so far they’re limited to the blogosphere.

Crankshaft

There does seem to be an implicit reference to sexual assault in this cartoon, and I just don’t see anything about that being funny. Also, older women are prime targets for purse snatching, so the pepper spray is justified anyway. But Crankshaft is an unpleasant character, more often portrayed as pathetic than sympathetic, so I guess in that context this gag makes some sense.

Digi-Comp 1 — The First Home Computer

When I was a kid, it bothered me that most people were more interested in the ads in comic books than in the stories. Most of what was sold was junk, of course — the notorious X-Ray Specs for example — but once in a while a legitimately interesting product was offered. So, in acknowledgment of that, here’s an ad from a 1967 Marvel comic book. It’s the Digi-Comp 1!

If not exactly the first home computer, the Digi-Comp 1 was a working binary counting machine. Here’s a Digi-Comp 1 in action, counting from 0 to 7 in binary. It’s even done twice, in case you miss it the first time. 😉

Exciting, huh? But compared to the comic book ad the Digi-Comp 1 must have been a disappointment. First, there’s nothing electronic about it, and the atomic symbol would seem to imply it’s nuclear in some way. But at least the Digi-Comp 1 is described accurately as being a “mechanical analog of a binary computer.”

I hope the person who wrote the ad copy didn’t use a Digi-Comp 1 to figure out the price, because it’s listed first at $4.99, then in the coupon at $4.98. Oh well, they didn’t claim “down to the penny precision!”

The Digi-Comp 1 has, as you might expect, something of a cult following. Original units are often auctioned in eBay, and there is a replica of it available at Minds on Toys.