It does not matter what that something is. Could be a favorite television show that ends due to low ratings or a long running comic book title that ceases publication due to lousy storylines and low sales.
Who would have thought the Peanuts comic strip, Charlie Brown, which according to the Jan. 1, 2000 issue of Newsweek, appears in 2,600 newspapers in 75 countries and 21 languages would come to an end, but it has.
The final weekly comic strip, published Jan. 3, 2000, featured that beloved beagle, Snoopy, sitting atop his wooden doghouse in front of a typewriter looking at a letter he just wrote to the millions of loyal fans.
The letter was from the strip’s creator, Charles M. Schulz, who announced his unexpected retirement late last November after being diagnosed by doctors with colon cancer.
“Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Linus, Lucy...how can I ever forget them...” Schulz wrote.
The final Sunday Peanuts comic strip will appear in newspapers nationwide Feb. 13.
The thought of no more new Charlie Brown comic strips is like mourning the sudden death of a loved one.
I have probably read maybe 20 or 30 comic strips from the Peanuts gang in newspapers and books the past two decades. I cannot say I recall most of the plots except the ones involving Snoopy, who always stole the show and had a mind of his own. In the world of make believe, Snoopy was either the Red Baron, the flying ace from World War I, or an aspiring writer.In a “Charlie Brown Christmas” (1965), perhaps the only animated holiday show I watch every year, I loved how the smart aleck, imaginative dog danced on his own and yelled “Boo” the moment Lucy announced his master would be in charge of the school play.
“Man’s best friend,” Charlie Brown later said sarcastically.
There were other things loyal fans related to as they read the comic strips.
“He’s independent, helpful and kind,” said 70-year-old Rollie Hester in the Today section of the Jan. 3, 2000, edition of The Dallas Morning News. “What more do you need to know about Charlie Brown?”
In the same section which ran a feature story about the comic strip ending, 17-year-old Kelly Hester related to the character Linus and his security blanket.
“I’ve had a teddy bear, T.J., ever since I was little,” she was quoted as saying.
As much as I cringe to say it, I too had kind of a security blanket when I was little. It was a stuffed dog I named "Bob" that I slept with until probably kindergarten. I assume it is still in the attic (not that I am needing it now or anything).Seems several characters Schulz wrote about were really caricatures of himself. According to the same column in The Dallas Morning News, when Charlie Brown had a crush on a red-haired girl, the cartoonist modeled her after the love of his life who turned down his marriage proposal.
Schroeder’s love for piano playing Beethoven mirrored Schulz’s love for classical music while his devout Christian upbringing is instilled in Linus who often quoted from the bible.
Last month, the company I work for was giving away Christmas ornaments to all the employees. The one most everyone attempted to grab was the ornament of Snoopy since they knew it would now be worth money.
A coworker named Jerry Jones (yes, his name is Jerry Jones, and I am not referring to the owner of the Dallas Cowboys) had trouble figuring out the meaning of the Jan. 2 edition of the colorized Sunday Charlie Brown comic strip.
That is not at all surprising. Schulz told Newsweek the ideas do not come anymore and often struggled to find the right expression.
“Words are just gone,” Schulz said.
That comic featured a drenched Peppermint Patty during a football game asking “Chuck” what he was going to do with the ball. Finally, Marcie tells her that everyone has gone home and that she should also leave as well.
“We had fun, didn’t we Marcie,” Peppermint Patty said.
“Yes sir, we had fun,” Marcie replied.
Jerry eventually concluded this was Schulz’s way of saying he had fun writing Peanuts (a title the cartoonist has been quoted saying he hates) for close to 50 years.
Although there will be no new Charlie Brown strips to read, it is comforting to think that hopefully kids in the 21st century will not be quoting from the foul-mouthed disrespectful kids of “South Park” (1997).
Maybe they will relate to the characters and situations written in the old Charlie Brown comic strips dating back to 1950 which will run in newspapers across the country and perhaps the world.
If you think that would never happen, guess again.
Carlos Moreno, another coworker I know who takes immense pride at calling himself a “short timer”, told me that at the company meetings, the voices he hears from the supervisors are like those incomprehensible sounds’ adults uttered in the Peanuts specials.
A few weeks ago, I tried writing a film review of Oliver Stone’s football epic, “Any Given Sunday”. I only got as far as the second paragraph.
That was farther than Snoopy got when he tried to author the great American novel. He could only make it as far as the first line: “It was a dark and stormy night.”
“Good writing is hard work,” the beagle said.
How true.
©1/26/00
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