You’re not the only one. At least a couple of generations were introduced to classical music through “Peanuts” and Leonard Bernstein’s televised “Young People’s Concerts.” In particular, I remember one strip where Lucy, in an attempt to stump Schroeder about his musical knowledge, rattled off the names of about two dozen famous composers.
Although, in retrospect, I’m kind of surprised that Beethoven was Schroeder’s favorite composer. As a musical prodigy, you’d think he would’ve identified more with Mozart.
Schulz picked Beethoven because he liked the sound of the name- Brahms was his favorite composer. Schulz loved classical music- any time Schroeder plays his piano in the strip, the notes above his head are actual classical pieces.
Yep-I still have the LP. I went to see it at our local drama group–some of the songs have changed, but that was all right.
Suppertime is still as good as ever. And Lucy doing her “when I am queen”.
This thread has me all nostalgic.
On the classical music meme–he did the same for religion. It’s too much to say that I “found religion” via Peanuts, but Linus’ speaking the gospel in Christmas strips did make 9 year old me realize that Christmas was more than presents. (I seem to have lost religion again, but what the hell). These were good kids, struggling to figure out their world the best they could. The fact that that world was and is a moving target did not escape them. I wonder if there is room now for such a sophisticated, but genuine comic strip now. C&H probably came closest (and is classic in its own way). The world needs Charlie Brown and Co.
I had to read a lot of Peanuts before I really “got” it. I grew up pretty much ignoring the strip (I’m 23 now, so make of that what you will) and sort of mildly disliking it, but I’ve really fallen in love with it since I’ve started going through The Complete Peanuts volumes.
I like the art style in the earliest strips the most, but the writing gets better and better as it goes along (at least it has so far).
The fact that it’s so often melancholy and downright depressing at times is one of the things I like so much about it. The strip really does have a very strange tone, though; it’s not at all easy to explain.
ETA: Reading the wonderful Watterson piece reminds me - I’m reading Peanuts alongside collections of two other comic strips: Krazy Kat and Dick Tracy.
When placed alongside comic strips that preceded it, Peanuts’ innovations become crystal clear, and it’s eaier to see how widely adopted its style became. I’ve read other gag strips that preceded Peanuts, and they’re so weird in comparison that they might as well be in another language.
Well, now it’s been explained to death, so the only remaining question is: why keep running a strip that is (a) no longer relevant and therefore (b) no longer funny? I laughed as hard as anyone in 1962, but now it just seems very tired and dated.
Panel #1: Cathy states problem
Panel #2: Cathy freaks out
Panel #3: Cathy expresses resignation
Ah, I wondered who that kid was. Looks like he’s poppin’ & lockin’. The first breakdancer!
I think my favorite Peanuts strip was part of a storyline in which Charlie Brown’s dad had just bought a new car. Apparently the new car had a lever under the dashboard, and his dad couldn’t figure out what it was supposed to do. The final strip of the storyline had CB talking to Linus, and went something like this:
CB: “My dad finally figured out what that lever under the dashboard was.”
L: “Really? What?”
CB: “It was one more thing to go wrong.”
ETA: Regarding Charlie Brown, Lucy, and that football, I’ve got to get this T-shirt.
No, the last panel of that was Snoopy ducking to avoid a barrage of snowballs from both directions. The other strip was one snowball, BFD, huge snowball, WTF?
you could say that about 95% of the comics today. They are a weird phenomena–the only place in the newspaper (besides maybe the bridge or chess moves) that seems stopped in time. I don’t read the funny papers anymore–it’s all old rehashed stuff. I loved them as a kid, though. Editors say that customers complain when a strip is changed or removed, but who really cares what happens to Dondi or Nancy? Brenda Starr should be dead by now-perhaps this is Zombie Brenda Starr (now there’s an idea!). I don’t have an answer, but something needs to happen, if the funnies are going to stick around.
What about that time when Charlie Brown saw a giant baseball in place of the sun. He was seriously freaking out. Then his head turned into a baseball. In the last strip of that series when he worked up the courage to look at the sun again, it was Alfred E. Newman’s face! “Oh, good grief!” Some trippy-ass shit, man!
I suspect I am in the minority here when I say I feel that *Peanuts * HAS indeed aged well. Part of that could be the continued roaring popularity of the strip over here. Again, the Thais care only about how cute the characters look, but it still runs every day in the English-language press, and I am rereading them one a day just like years ago, and I still detect universal truths.
