Cartoonists honor Charles Schulz's 100th birthday with comic strip tributes

Saturday, November 26, 2022, is the 100th anniversary of Charles Schulz's birth.  To celebrate, Mutts cartoonist Patrick McDonnell has organized a tribute with help from his fellow cartoonists - on November 26, more than 75 comic strips will feature tributes, Easter eggs and references to "Peanuts."  For more information and background, see this Associated Press article.

So be sure to buy a copy of your local newspaper and check out their comics page!  But of course, no one paper will carry all the strips.  Fortunately, the Schulz Museum has set up a webpage that will showcase the entire collection of strips.

Needless to say, there have been quite a few news articles and other items on the subject of Charles Schulz's 100th birthday.  Here's a sampling of them:

• A nice article from Sonoma Magazine about Charles Schulz's contributions and legacy in his home county of Sonoma, California.
• The Washington Post ran an article titled Schulz at 100: How ‘Peanuts’ lifts those on stage, on ice and in space .
• The Santa Rosa Press Democrat - the local newspaper of the town where Schulz lived, and where the Charles Schulz Museum is located - had a special section celebrating Charles Schulz; see this post from The Daily Cartoonist for the links.
• A short video tour of the Charles M. Schulz Museum in honor of Schulz's 100th birthday, hosted by curator Benjamin Clark, courtesy of the Santa Rosa Press Democrat.
• As part of their celebration, the Schulz Museum has published a new book titled Charles M. Schulz: The Art and Life of the Peanuts Creator in 100 Objects.  "This heavily illustrated volume reveals the art and life of Charles M. Schulz through 100 objects from the Schulz Museum's expansive collection—from Schulz's childhood drawings to NASA's Silver Snoopy Award that is still used today.  Alongside commentary by Curator Benjamin L. Clark and Peanuts historian Nat Gertler, Schulz's family, friends, and colleagues share their favorite objects and provide an intimate look at the cartoonist's creative legacy."  For a limited time, if you order the book directly from the Schulz Museum, you'll get a copy signed by Jean Schulz, widow of Charles M. Schulz and also president of the museum's board of directors.
• Check out this BBC article about the recent Artemis I spacecraft, which features a video titled, "Can you see Snoopy moving around inside the Orion capsule?" - a brief look at the Astronaut Snoopy zero-g indicator in action.  Also see this NASA Photo of the Day,  this CollectSpace article with more info about Snoopy's mission.

MeTV celebrates Charles Schulz's 100th birthday with the first two Peanuts feature films on November 20 & 27, 2022

MeTV, an over-the-air broadcast channel specializing in classic television, is honoring the 100th birthday of Charles Schulz by showing the first two Peanuts feature films, A Boy Named Charlie Brown (1969) and Snoopy Come Home (1972), on Sunday, November 20 and Sunday, November 27, 2022 respectively, at 8 PM Eastern/Pacific time each day.

It's been some years since the two movies were last shown on broadcast television, plus it's nice to see some Peanuts animation available over-the-air, given that the usual Peanuts holiday specials are only available via streaming this year.

You can read MeTV's full announcement here, and watch their trailer for the films here.

To find out if MeTV is available in your area, and how to watch, visit their website. (The channel is available over-the-air in most major markets, although it isn't carried by all cable companies.)

In addition to showing the two Peanuts movies, MeTV is also marking the Schulz centennial on their website with a variety of amusing and interesting trivia articles and quizzes about Charles Schulz, Peanuts, and the two films.

Quiz yourself on How well do you actually remember A Boy Named Charlie Brown? or Who said it: A Boy Named Charlie Brown edition; and learn 8 interesting and surprising facts about Charles M. Schulz or Charles Schulz thought his appearance was forgettable, so he gave Charlie Brown a blank face - plus there are several more related quizzes and articles, all of which you can find here.

Kudos to MeTV for making a big deal about the 100th anniversary of Charles Schulz!

New documentary Who Are You, Charlie Brown? premieres June 25, 2021 on Apple TV+

Apple has announced that a new documentary on Charles Schulz and Peanuts, titled Who Are You, Charlie Brown? will premiere Friday, June 25, 2021 on the streaming subscription service Apple TV+ .

You can view the trailer on YouTube.

According the press release:

Narrated by Lupita Nyong’o and hailing from Imagine Documentaries, the special is executive produced by Brian Grazer and Ron Howard, and features interviews with friends, family, cartoonists and famous fans of the comic strip, to create a heartwarming portrait of the late “Peanuts” creator Charles M. Schulz.

Honoring the “everyman” creator, Charles “Sparky” Schulz, “Who Are You, Charlie Brown?” celebrates the significance and global multi-generational popularity of the comic strip and its timeless artistry and design to profile the man whose simple characters would touch the lives of millions through the decades and become beloved cultural icons. Featuring interviews with Jean Schulz, the widow of Charles Schulz, along with Drew Barrymore, Al Roker, Kevin Smith, Billie Jean King, Paul Feig, Ira Glass, Noah Schnapp, Miya Cech, Keith L. Williams, Chip Kidd, Lynn Johnston, Robb Armstrong and more, the documentary interweaves a new animated story that follows Charlie Brown on a quest to discover himself.

You can read the full press release here.

Other Peanuts content currently available on Apple TV+ includes the series Snoopy in Space and The Snoopy Show, plus several of the classic Peanuts holiday specials.

The Apple TV+ streaming service costs $4.99/month or $49.99/year (in the United States) and is ad-free, with a 7-day free trial when you first sign up.

You can watch Apple TV+ shows either by installing the Apple TV+ app on a supported device, or by going to the tv.apple.com website on any computer.

Devices that support AppleTV+ include: Apple devices such as iPad, iPhone, Apple TV set-top boxes, and Macs; Roku, Amazon Fire TV and Android TV streaming devices; select gaming consoles; and select smart TVs from Samsung, LG, Vizio, or Sony. For more information about supported devices and setting Apple TV+ up on them, see this Apple support webpage.

Two articles celebrate the 62nd anniversary of Peanuts with archival photos

The Peanuts comic strip debuted on October 2, 1950 - 62 years ago today - rating, as it does every year, a brief mention in many "This Day in History" articles.

This anniversary, two websites have gone above and beyond and marked the occasion with articles featuring some rarely seen Peanuts and Charles Schulz-related photographs.  (At least, they were new to me, and I've seen a lot of such photographs.)

First there's Biography.com's photo of the week, titled Snoopy and the Apollo 10 Gang Go to Space.

And then Time-Life has a feature of 21 photos titled Good Ol' Charles Schulz: The 'Peanuts' Creator at Home.

Take a few moments to check them out while you nibble on your pizza and root beer and consider which volume of "The Complete Peanuts" you're going to read as part of your anniversary celebrations.

(And if you're interested in more photographs, the Charles M. Schulz Museum's new website has a nice selection covering Charles Schulz, his art, and the Museum's collection.)

Two Peanuts-related articles: Baseball in the Peanuts comic strip & Jean Schulz interview

The Herald, a newspaper serving the community Rock Hill, South Carolina, recently published two nice articles of interest to Peanuts fans.  The first, On the mound, Charlie Brown was America's beloved loser, discusses the role of baseball in the comic strip.  (The article does include a quote from Derrick Bang, co-author of fivecentsplease.org, but we would have linked to it regardless - honest!)

The second article is an interview, Jean Schulz discusses why her husband's comic strip has staying power.  We thought fans might want to take a few minutes to read both!

Reminder: Schulz art on Antiques Roadshow Monday May 21

Remember: one of the items to be appraised on tonight's episode (Monday May 21) of Antiques Roadshow is a piece of original "Li'l Folks" artwork by Charles Schulz.  On most PBS stations Antiques Roadshow airs at 8 PM (Eastern/Pacific), but check your local listings to confirm when your station will air the episode - its title is "Minneapolis, Minnesota (Hour 3)."

Schulz "Li'l Folks" art to be featured on Antiques Roadshow May 21

A piece of original "Li'l Folks" artwork by Charles Schulz will be one of the items appraised on the Monday, May 21st episode of the PBS television show Antiques Roadshow.  The episode title is "Minneapolis, Minnesota (Hour 3)."  Normally Antiques Roadshow airs at 8 PM (Eastern/Pacific), but different PBS stations have different schedules, so check your local listings to see exactly which time and day this episode will air.

"Li'l Folks" is the weekly comic strip that Charles Schulz drew before he started drawing Peanuts.

This is the third time Charles Schulz's work has appeared on Antiques Roadshow; episodes in 2006 and 2010 also featured evaluations of original Schulz art.

"You've Got Jean Schulz" video interview

Jean Schulz, Charles Schulz's widow, talks about the Peanuts comic strip and the Charles M. Schulz Museum in a short video (1 1/2 minutes) from AOL titled "You've Got Jean Schulz."  The video also features some nice shots of the Schulz Museum in Santa Rosa, CA.

"Happy birthday, Charles Schulz" article in Santa Rosa Press-Democrat

In anticipation of Charles Schulz's birthday (November 26), the Santa Rosa Press-Democrat — the daily newspaper of the town in California where Charles Schulz lived much of his life — published a nice article about Charles Schulz, how he celebrated birthdays, his legacy, and the Schulz Museum.  You can read the article, titled "Happy birthday, Charles Schulz," at the Press-Democrat's website.

Security for the ages

Charles M. Schulz was pleased — and rightly so — when "security blanket" became such a standard part of the English language that it even entered dictionaries.

Now Linus' favorite accessory has been accorded an even greater honor: The blanket — as in a child's item of comfort and security — has just been inducted into the National Toy Hall of Fame.
This institution is found within the Strong, a children's and cultural museum in upstate New York. The blanket — or, more specifically, the security blanket — takes its place of pride alongside toy classics such as the teddy bear, the bicycle, Barbie and Jack-in-the-Box.
You can find out more by reading the complete Associated Press story, which appeared in the Detroit Free Press, among many other papers.