Snoopy’s Complete Novel

Snoopy2I don’t remember how or why I came across this, but it’s a pretty fun read:

“It Was A Dark And Stormy Night”

by Snoopy

Part I

It was a dark and stormy night. Suddenly, a shot rang out! A door slammed. The maid screamed.

Suddenly, a pirate ship appeared on the horizon!

While millions of people were starving, the king lived in luxury. Meanwhile, on a small farm in Kansas, a boy was growing up.

Part II

A light snow was falling, and the little girl with the tattered shawl had not sold a violet all day.

At that very moment, a young intern at City Hospital was making an important discovery. The mysterious patient in Room 213 had finally awakened. She moaned softly.

Could it be that she was the sister of the boy in Kansas who loved the girl with the tattered shawl who was the daughter of the maid who had escaped from the pirates? The intern frowned.

“Stampede!” the foreman shouted, and forty thousand head of cattle thundered down on the tiny camp. The two men rolled on the ground grappling beneath the murderous hooves. A left and a right. A left. Another left and right. An uppercut to the jaw. The fight was over. And so the ranch was saved.

The young intern sat by himself in one corner of the coffee shop. he had learned about medicine, but more importantly, he had learned something about life.

THE END

Technorati Tags: , , ,

Schulz’ “Alter Ego”

59 Lrg

I bet that graphic got your attention!

No, Sparky didn’t moonlight as Batman, in issue 59 of Alter Ego

...there is an interview with Al Plastino, long-time comic book artist, former cartoonist of the Nancy comic strip, and most relevant to this discussion, the guy whom United Feature Syndicate had tapped for taking over Peanuts should something happen to Schulz (back before it was decided that Such Things Would Not Be Done.) Among the illustrations for the article are small but clear reproductions of three Plastino Peanuts dailies, showing us what might have been.

(Thanks to The Aaugh Blog)

Technorati Tags: , , , , , ,

You’re On My iPod, Charlie Brown!

Pblog.0

A BIG thanks to Comics Reporter for this!

Charles Schultz wrote this entire album, expanding themes that are drawn from the comic strip. The voice-actors are comedy writer Arthur Siegel as Charlie Brown and stage and screen actress Kaye Ballard (later of “The Mothers-In-Law”- thanks, Larry!) as Lucy. The music that surrounds the comedy bits was composed and orchestrated by the great Fred Karlin, famous for his work with Benny Goodman, Harry James, and Raymond Scott. The album was produced by John Hammond and released on Columbia’s Harmony imprint (HS11230). This is one of the toughest “Peanuts” records to find. Unfortunately, my vinyl is hindered by surface noise and a skip on Track 4. Nevertheless, it predates all of the TV specials and was a landmark event in the history of America’s greatest comic strip.

Unless you’re a blockhead, go download it!

Technorati Tags: , ,

Peanuts Ghost Artist Passes Away

I thought this was interesting, if oddly late (the obit posted last evening)…

Artist and cartoonist Jim Sasseville, who attended art school with Charles Schulz in Minneapolis and worked with him in California for several years, died from Parkinson’s disease at his home in Los Altos, Calif., on Nov. 30. He was 78.

The commercial artist was known for “his wit in his art,” said his niece, Melanie Lesh, of Juneau, Alaska.

Sasseville, a native of Minneapolis, was an instructor at Art Instruction Schools of Minneapolis. There he met Charles Schulz, the creator of “Peanuts.”

In 1958, Sasseville moved to California to ghost-draw Peanuts comic books for Schulz. Sasseville also did the art work for a comic strip that the duo produced for a couple of years in the late 1950s called “It’s Only a Game.” The strip had a sports theme and characters “who appeared similar to Peanuts,” Lesh said. A book Schulz and Sasseville wrote about the little-known comic strip was published in 2004.

Technorati Tags: , ,

The Little Black Eyed Girl

OK, I’m not a huge fan of The Black Eyed Peas, but I gotta admit that singer/eye candy, Fergie, has gotten my attention.

So I was surprised to learn that as a girl she provided the voice of Sally Brown (2 years) and Lucy Van Pelt (1 year) for various Peanuts shows.

A quick search on IMDB reveals that she voiced Sally in 1984’s “It’s Flashbeagle, Charlie Brown,” and 1985’s “Snoopy’s Getting Married, Charlie Brown.”

Nothing popped up for her Lucy voice work, but I’m betting it’s the little-known Peanuts cult classic, “I’m Going To Grow Up Into a Hottie, Charlie Brown.”