Once upon a time, in a long last land, we used to eagerly await the delivery of a bundle of folded paper thumping onto our front porch.  Adults would read all the boring parts on the first few pages; that was called news and the headlines.  But the kids would want to read the comic section.  And The Peanuts with Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Linus, et al were the favorites for generations. 

“A Charlie Brown Christmas” won an Emmy and still stands the test of time – and it’s soundtrack by Vince Guaraldi is a classic.  People still hear it today in the background when holiday shopping but unless you’re a certain age, you have no idea of its genesis. 

“Aaargh” and Linus pulling the football away from Charlie Brown is such a vivid memory for me.  Newspaper comic strips, The Peanuts and Snoopy were just as ingrained in earlier generations as anime is today.  And we have Charles Schulz to thank not only for his beloved characters but also for inspiring the artists behind The Simpsons, Garfield, Calvin and Hobbes and so many more.  

Personal P.S. tie-in to my own life: The voice behind Peppermint Patty in the animated series belongs to Linda Ercoli. A wonderful voice artist and a lovely, sweet and hilarious person in real life.  Her sister (R.I.P.) was one of my closest friends from the early 80’s who had helped me to get a fake ID.  We held in our laughter and subsequently laughed hysterically as we did impersonations of the Asian lady behind the counter in Berkeley who insisted loudly that I needed to get a New Jersey fake license because “THIS ONE WORKS THE BEST!”.  I know, I know.  This story is far from PC or woke.  But it was 1982, I was 17, we did impersonations and caps of literally almost everyone – so the whole population was our improv material.  Oh and P.S. - the main reason she helped me get the fake ID was so she could take me to gay bars.   

Family readers of The Peanuts would be appalled.