Charlie Brown/Peanuts

[vandermolen]

Thought we had a thread on this but can't find one using the search facility. Apologies if one already exists. I remember going to a birthday treat, for one of my friends, when I must have been about 12 to see a play in London called 'You're a good man Charlie Brown' or something like that. It was just actors playing the part (not dressed up as Snoopy etc). After the show I bought one of the cartoon books and ever since have enjoyed them. I write this as a couple of days ago I took my daughter to a Charlie Brown exhibition in London, which was fun, notwithstanding all the existential analysis - actually I enjoyed that as well. My favourite strip on display was the one where Linus suddenly becomes 'aware' of his tongue.
There was some interesting material relating Snoopy's long-lasting air duel with 'The Red Baron' in WW1 to the author's own experiences in World War Two. The narrative also suggested that it kept alive memories of World War One in the USA, commenting that there is generally little interest in WW1 compared with WW2 in the USA, although I don't know how true this is (maybe not this year at least).

Any other admirers of Charlie Brown out there?

[Jo498]

It's been ages but an aunt and uncle of mine had a bunch of them in the early 1980s and when I was visiting them with my family I often read them (as their children were considerably younger it might have been the only interesting reading material for a child). I was too young (~7-10 or so) to appreciate some of the deeper irony and wisdom, had hardly any clue about baseball (maybe the largest obstacle for continental Europeans) but I liked them nevertheless. Although WW I is more present in Europe, it was probably my first encounter with the "Red Baron" as well. But I don't own any of them as comic books and nowadays I only enjoy the clip in the Saturday paper.
(These relatives were for some years on the leftist fringe (not so uncommon in the late 1970s and early 1980s) and I also recall at leat one Maoist picture book with young Chinese boys fighting the Japanese oppressors...)

[vandermolen]

It's been ages but an aunt and uncle of mine had a bunch of them in the early 1980s and when I was visiting them with my family I often read them (as their children were considerably younger it might have been the only interesting reading material for a child). I was too young (~7-10 or so) to appreciate some of the deeper irony and wisdom, had hardly any clue about baseball (maybe the largest obstacle for continental Europeans) but I liked them nevertheless. Although WW I is more present in Europe, it was probably my first encounter with the "Red Baron" as well. But I don't own any of them as comic books and nowadays I only enjoy the clip in the Saturday paper.
(These relatives were for some years on the leftist fringe (not so uncommon in the late 1970s and early 1980s) and I also recall at leat one Maoist picture book with young Chinese boys fighting the Japanese oppressors...)

Interesting - thanks. One of the Tintin books ('The Blue Lotus') features the Mukden Incident, when a faked 'attack' on a Japanese railway was used as an excuse to invade China in 1931. I also understand nothing about baseball which is a problem in appreciating CB at time. The exhibition in London featured Charles M Schulz's childhood baseball glove.

[The new erato]

I think I read most of the books in the 70ies.

[vandermolen]

I think I read most of the books in the 70ies.

In my case prob late 60s onwards.

[Karl Henning]

Peanuts is a classic.  I think it would be almost un-American to dislike Peanuts.  (I know that few of the present participants in this thread are Americans, so this is an aside.)   

[Biffo]

I used to see Peanuts sporadically but not enough to appreciate who all the characters were. Occasionally, at various places I have worked someone would pin up a Peanuts character on the notice board or their own pinboards but I never followed it systematically. The same happened with Dilbert.

When I read The Guardian on a regular basis I used to see Doonesbury which as a non-American was often baffling. For a time The Guardian also printed Bloom County; just as I was getting into it the author pulled the plug.

[Karl Henning]

Berke Breathed now does new Bloom County strips directly to Facebook.

[vandermolen]

Peanuts is a classic.  I think it would be almost un-American to dislike Peanuts.  (I know that few of the present participants in this thread are Americans, so this is an aside.)   

Why is it called Peanuts? Charles M. Schulz disliked the name according to the exhibition information.

[vandermolen]

Linus aware of his tongue:

[Karl Henning]

Why is it called Peanuts? Charles M. Schulz disliked the name according to the exhibition information.

His title for the strip as he first published in the St Paul Pioneer Press was Li'l Folks.  At the time when he tried to get the strip syndicated, the suits felt that the name was too similar to (the now forgotten) Little Folks, and even to Al Capp's Li'l Abner, so the syndication editor designated the name Peanuts . . . not especially flatteringly, after the "peanut gallery" of Howdy Doody.

[Biffo]

Berke Breathed now does new Bloom County strips directly to Facebook.

Thanks for the information karl but I don't use Facebook - possibly they will become available somewhere else eventually.

Edit: Bloom County Episode XI: A New Hope is available in book form and I have decided to treat myself. It is a lot cheaper in Kindle format but I decided to go for a real book as I am not sure what it look like on my tablet.

[JBS]

Thanks for the information karl but I don't use Facebook - possibly they will become available somewhere else eventually.

Edit: Bloom County Episode XI: A New Hope is available in book form and I have decided to treat myself. It is a lot cheaper in Kindle format but I decided to go for a real book as I am not sure what it look like on my tablet.

The most recent ones are available online here
https://www.gocomics.com/bloomcounty

And two books have appeared since A New Hope, the most recent having been published this past August

[XB-70 Valkyrie]

Yes, it's kind of Shakespearean in a way--all of life is there. My wife and I especially love the holiday TV specials for Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. This summer, on our fabulous two-week vacation in Marin and Sonoma Counties, we went to the Charles M. Schulz museum in Santa Rosa California (aboot 1.25 hrs drive north of San Francisco), and admired all the rooms full of drawings, memorabilia, etc. Outside there is even a "Kite-eating tree" with kite. Giftshop is cool and even has a Peanuts-themed stained glass window. https://schulzmuseum.org

Santa Rosa also has their airport named after Charles M. Schulz. A very cool town, if you're there, tons of stuff to do--the opposite of the southern end of the state (L.A. area), which is a vile and disgusting hellhole.

In a sense, I think Pearls Before Swine has kind of picked up on the Peanuts ethos--characters that are simultaneously innocent but jaded and worldly in their own ways trying to make sense of the overwhelming evil and stupidity of the human race. At first, i found this strip kind of hard to get into, but now I"m hooked. (Nine Chickweed Lane is some of the most batspit crazy shite I've ever seen--beyond strange).

[71 dB]

I think in Finland Peanuts (named Tenavat here) never got a huge following. As a kid I never considered it a remarkable and only decades later started to understand how loved it is in the US. Here's how the characters are named in Finnish translations:

Charlie Brown => Jaska Jokunen
Snoopy => Ressu
Lucy van Pelt => Tellu
Linus van Pelt => Eppu
Sally Brown => Salli
Schroeder => Amadeus
Peppermint Patty => Piparminttu-Pipsa
Marcie => Maisa
Rerun van Pelt => Toisto
Woodstock => Kaustinen
Pig-Pen => Rapa-Ripa
Franklin => Sami
Violet => Lippe
Patty => Kielo
Shermy => Pave
Frieda => Kutri
Spike => Remppu

[Biffo]

The most recent ones are available online here
https://www.gocomics.com/bloomcounty

And two books have appeared since A New Hope, the most recent having been published this past August

Thanks for the tip - I will have to wait and see what I make of A New Hope before buying any more.

[vandermolen]

His title for the strip as he first published in the St Paul Pioneer Press was Li'l Folks.  At the time when he tried to get the strip syndicated, the suits felt that the name was too similar to (the now forgotten) Little Folks, and even to Al Capp's Li'l Abner, so the syndication editor designated the name Peanuts . . . not especially flatteringly, after the "peanut gallery" of Howdy Doody.

Thanks Karl

[vandermolen]

Yes, it's kind of Shakespearean in a way--all of life is there. My wife and I especially love the holiday TV specials for Halloween, Thanksgiving, and Christmas. This summer, on our fabulous two-week vacation in Marin and Sonoma Counties, we went to the Charles M. Schulz museum in Santa Rosa California (aboot 1.25 hrs drive north of San Francisco), and admired all the rooms full of drawings, memorabilia, etc. Outside there is even a "Kite-eating tree" with kite. Giftshop is cool and even has a Peanuts-themed stained glass window. https://schulzmuseum.org

Santa Rosa also has their airport named after Charles M. Schulz. A very cool town, if you're there, tons of stuff to do--the opposite of the southern end of the state (L.A. area), which is a vile and disgusting hellhole.

In a sense, I think Pearls Before Swine has kind of picked up on the Peanuts ethos--characters that are simultaneously innocent but jaded and worldly in their own ways trying to make sense of the overwhelming evil and stupidity of the human race. At first, i found this strip kind of hard to get into, but now I"m hooked. (Nine Chickweed Lane is some of the most batspit crazy shite I've ever seen--beyond strange).

I love the idea of the 'Kite-eating tree' and the stained glass window.

[vandermolen]

I think in Finland Peanuts (named Tenavat here) never got a huge following. As a kid I never considered it a remarkable and only decades later started to understand how loved it is in the US. Here's how the characters are named in Finnish translations:

Charlie Brown => Jaska Jokunen
Snoopy => Ressu
Lucy van Pelt => Tellu
Linus van Pelt => Eppu
Sally Brown => Salli
Schroeder => Amadeus
Peppermint Patty => Piparminttu-Pipsa
Marcie => Maisa
Rerun van Pelt => Toisto
Woodstock => Kaustinen
Pig-Pen => Rapa-Ripa
Franklin => Sami
Violet => Lippe
Patty => Kielo
Shermy => Pave
Frieda => Kutri
Spike => Remppu

Interesting! I like Amadeus for Schroeder and Peppermint Patty's Finnish name.

[vandermolen]

Another of my favourites: