Harry-Go-Round » Charles Schulz http://harrymccracken.com/blog Harry McCracken's blog Mon, 23 Aug 2010 01:52:55 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 en hourly 1 Old-School Peanuts http://harrymccracken.com/blog/2007/10/14/old-school-peanuts/ http://harrymccracken.com/blog/2007/10/14/old-school-peanuts/#comments Sun, 14 Oct 2007 20:06:46 +0000 Harry http://www.harrymccracken.com/blog/2007/10/14/old-school-peanuts/ I’ll probably weigh in on the controversy over the new Charles Schulz biography once I’ve had a chance to read it. But for now, here’s another Schulz-related item: When I was perusing birthday cards in a Boston CVS recently, I came across this one decorated with images of Charlie Brown and Snoopy as they appeared [...]]]> I’ll probably weigh in on the controversy over the new Charles Schulz biography once I’ve had a chance to read it. But for now, here’s another Schulz-related item: When I was perusing birthday cards in a Boston CVS recently, I came across this one decorated with images of Charlie Brown and Snoopy as they appeared at the very start of their careers:

oldsparky.jpg

This is the only current product I’ve seen with retro Schulz drawings–but I suspect it’s part of an attempt to bring very early Peanuts back into fashion on new merchandise. That makes sense from a business standpoint–presumably, Disney has made hundreds of millions from items using the 1930s version of Mickey Mouse over the past forty years or so. I wouldn’t be startled if the success of the Fantagraphics Complete Peanuts has inspired this revival, and I kind of like it.

But am I wrong in remembering that Charles Schulz wasn’t crazy about his early work–and in fact didn’t even like using that much of it in books about the history of the strip? And if so, how would he feel about 1950 Charlie Brown bumping late-model Charlie Brown off a Hallmark card?

]]> http://harrymccracken.com/blog/2007/10/14/old-school-peanuts/feed/ 0 More on the Des Moines Peanuts Artist http://harrymccracken.com/blog/2007/06/11/more-on-the-des-moines-peanuts-artist/ http://harrymccracken.com/blog/2007/06/11/more-on-the-des-moines-peanuts-artist/#comments Tue, 12 Jun 2007 06:20:00 +0000 Harry http://www.harrymccracken.com/blog/?p=253 Back in 2005, I posted an online reprint of a very, very unusual Des Moines Register and Tribune supplement, in which Charlie Brown and Lucy pay a visit to that newspaper’s headquarters. It was probably one of the most-read items I’ve ever published here–among other things, I got Boing Boinged.

In the original post, I guessed [...]]]> dmpeanuts.jpg

Back in 2005, I posted an online reprint of a very, very unusual Des Moines Register and Tribune supplement, in which Charlie Brown and Lucy pay a visit to that newspaper’s headquarters. It was probably one of the most-read items I’ve ever published here–among other things, I got Boing Boinged.

In the original post, I guessed that the artist, Bob Davenport, was a staff artist at the paper. Now his nephew–also a Bob Davenport, by the way–has posted a comment on my original piece confirming my guess and providing some details about the man behind the supplement and his other work.

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