The Silver Screen Oasis

I loved "Bloom County" too (still have my Billy and the Boingers disc!), tolerated "Outland", and tried "Opus!" but just couldn't get into it. "Peanuts", "Pogo", "Doonesbury", "Calvin and Hobbes", "Dilbert", and "The Far Side" round out my favorites. Guess that leaves me with just two still running, or actually one, since my paper quit carrying weekday "Doonesbury's" after two many complaints from conservatives.

In our family, reading the newspaper was a daily tradition, and on Sundays, in my early years, I enjoyed reading the comics which were printed in color, just like Archie, Betty and Veronica that you actually had to purchase separately at the store.

I enjoyed Charlie Brown, Snoopy and the Baron, the little red-haired girl, Lucy and her "advice," and Charlie Brown's constant wonder at the predicatments of life he often found himself inhabiting.

I loved Nancy, Beetle Bailey, and probably Family Circus most of all.

But Charlie's Christmas speech is one of my favorites. I always marveled at how that #$)(*%& Lucy could always trick Charlie into doing something he usually regretted.

A Bloom County regular, here, too.

SueSue:

That's a new one on me SueSue, having to purchase the Sunday comics separately, and what do you mean, they were in color then, they still are, unless you're talking about the daily ones, yes, they're in B&W. But you guys were ripped off if you had to pay extra for the Sunday comics.

Anne

Another life-long Peanuts fan here. I'm anxious to read the Schulz bio.
I saw a documentary (on PBS) recently-which included interviews with friends and family...including the woman who inspired "The Little Red-Haired Girl." (I guess she and Schulz were "dating" when she married some other guy.)
It was also fascinating to learn that Lucy was inspired by Schulz's first wife-who was quite materialistic and a control-freak.
I wasn't surprised to learn that Schulz suffered from the "blues." Peanuts has always felt melancholy to me.
I was a little suprised that Schulz distanced himself from his children- according to interviews with his three (troubled) children and second wife...and was quite an uncompromising "businessman."
He was somewhat of a ladies man too. The documentary includes interviews with the woman who created a newspaper strip. (I can't remember the name...It may have been "For Better Or Worse?") Anyway, I sort of got the impression that they may have been having an affair?
I see a bit of myself in all the characters- especially Charlie Brown. Peanuts is (and has always been) a part of my life...even on a daily basis. I buy a Peanuts page-a-day calender every year to make sure of that.

Chuck Schulz a ladies man? That's a little hard to believe from the few interviews i've seen of him but it is true that he did have a very good relationship with Lynn Johnston. (she's Canadian BTW) They might've had a fling but I don't think it ever got too serious because they were extremely close. Sometimes sexual relations can add too many complications.

Nonetheless I have to say that the melancholy nature of Peanuts is what attracted me to that strip as a kid. I dunno, maybe i had/have a streak of the "blues" in me.

I knew that Schulz and Johnston were friends but I never got the impression there was anything going on. I didn't think they lived near enough to worry about it.

I get the calendars too Ben, or more correctly my daughter gives me one every Christmas.

Melancholy and suffering from pantophobia. If Charlie Brown hadn't been born before me I'd wonder if........

Of course one of Charlie Brown's (we still have to call him by his full name) philosophies of life is every baby should be issued a dog and a banjo. The keys to happiness.

Having read the Michaelis biography, I too am of the opinion that while Schulz was very friendly to the "For Better or For Worse" cartoonist, I strongly doubt there was an affair.

What I found interesting was that the only two comic strip cartoonists who seemed to have friendly relationships with Schulz were the younger women who did "For Better or For Worse" and "Cathy." Schulz was apparently very competitive as to who "won" the day on the comics page. I guess he didn't feel threatened by these women.

According to the book, the only cartoonist of his own generation that Schulz was friends with was Herblock, who was an editorial cartoonist and thus not in competition with him.

I've read that Schulz was not beyond helping new cartoonists. Stephen Pasts (Pearls Before Swine) tells where he went to Schulz's ice rink for the sole purpose of showing Schulz his work. Scared to death (and who wouldn't be) about approaching Schulz he did and found Schulz to be accomidating. Pastis left with a few pointers and, maybe because ot them, has become very, very successful.

He often pays tribute to "Peanuts" in his strips.