名人轶事59:Charles Schulz wrote the popular comic strip"Peanuts" f

Charles Schulz wrote the popular comic strip"Peanuts" for fifty years

Written by Jerilyn Watson

(THEME)

VOICE ONE:

I’m Barbara Klein.

VOICE TWO:

And I’m Steve Ember with People in America in VOA Special English. Today we

tell about Charles M. Schulz who wrote and drew the newspaper comic strip

"Peanuts” for half a century.

(MUSIC)

VOICE ONE:

Millions of people around the world who loved the comic strip "Peanuts" were

sad when Charles Schulz died in February, two thousand. He was seventy-seven

years old. The artist who created Charlie Brown and his dog Snoopy had retired

a month earlier because of poor health. The last new daily “Peanuts”

appeared January third in two thousand six hundred newspapers in seventy-five

countries.

Charles Schulz drew "Peanuts" for fifty years. The comic strip first appeared

in seven American newspapers in nineteen fifty. At that time, the subjects

were all children and animals. They still are. People love these characters

because they demonstrate the failings and strengths of all human beings. For

example, Charlie Brown usually cannot get things right. But he tries his

best. And he never stops trying.

Charles Schulz

VOICE TWO:

Charles Schulz would not permit anyone else to draw "Peanuts." However, the

stories about Charlie Brown and his friends did not completely disappear when

their creator died. Newspapers are publishing earlier “Peanuts” comic

strips, called “Classic Peanuts.” Special programs based on stories about

the "Peanuts" group are still shown on television and performed as musical

plays.

VOICE ONE:

For example, the animated cartoon, "A Charlie Brown Christmas," has appeared

on television since nineteen sixty-five. In it, Charlie Brown has to choose a

Christmas tree for a special Christmas program. He gets a small ugly tree

because he feels sorry for it. But the other children laugh at it. They say

Charlie Brown has failed again to do something right. Then in preparing for

the show, one of the children tells about the true meaning of Christmas. The

other children decide that maybe they can make Charlie Brown’s tree look

beautiful.

Here is some jazz music by the Vince Guaraldi Trio from the television show,

"A Charlie Brown Christmas."

(MUSIC)

VOICE TWO:

Other children often criticize Charlie Brown. He suffers many losses and

rejections -- just as people sometimes do in real life. His baseball team

always loses. He keeps trying to kick a football, but never succeeds. His

friend Lucy keeps pulling the ball away. But he continues to believe that some

day she will let him kick the ball.

VOICE ONE:

Charlie Brown has a dog named Snoopy who may be even more popular than

Charlie. Snoopy is a funny character. He sleeps on top of his dog house.

Snoopy is always trying to write the great American novel. But he cannot get

beyond the first line of his book. He writes: "It was a dark and stormy night"

again and again. Snoopy dreams of himself as a pilot searching for the Red

Baron, a famous German fighter pilot in World War One.

VOICE TWO:

There are other memorable characters in the “Peanuts” comic strip. Lucy

mistrusts everyone. She often seems angry. Schroeder plays a small toy piano.

Every year he celebrates the birthday of composer Ludwig von Beethoven. Linus

always carries a blanket to feel secure. Peppermint Patty is good at sports.

She likes Charlie Brown very much and is the only one who calls him “Chuck.”

Charles Schulz said he saw himself in some of his characters. He recognized

himself in Charlie Brown's continued failures. In Snoopy's humor. In Lucy's

moments of anger. And in the insecure feelings of Linus. Some of the

situations in "Peanuts" seem to have developed from Mister Schulz's own life

experiences.