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The coolest dog in the world, the most lovable failure and the most brutal big sister. Even 75 years after their birth, the “peanuts” are omnipresent worldwide. On T-shirts, coffee cups and in the heads of tens of millions of people.
Even if the original form of the comic has long since ended up in the museum as a short, drawn scene in black and white, its story lives on cheerfully. In all conceivable (media) forms.
The world’s best -known “strip” with Charlie Brown and Co, created by inventor Charles M. Schulz, was released for the first time in the seven daily newspaper of the USA in October 1950. The still delicate start of a fabulous success story.
Vince Guarlaldi’s music
The “Peanuts” also left many traces in pop music. As children of an American provincial city, the main characters of the series can be considered the ur-nerds par excellence. The manic piano player “Schröder” (who is also called in the US original!) With his Beethoven-Fimmel, an archetype is an archetype of the introspective frickler in the rehearsal room or Home Studio.
And even those who have never seen the long-shaped TV comic “A Charlie Brown Christmas” know the music. Vince Guarlaldi’s jazzy compositions such as “Skating” or “Christmas Time is here” are still present. The most famous piece of the “Linus and Lucy” soundtrack was originally not intended for the Christmas classic.
The story fits the subject of the “Peanuts”: in 1963 producer Lee Mendelson made a documentary about draftsman Charles M. Schulz and his universe. On the way back from a meeting, he heard “Cast Your Fate to the Wind” on the radio Guarlaldi’s radio. A melodic, airy jazz piece that immediately delighted him. Shortly afterwards he contacted the composer. Guaraldi was a fire and flame and a little later Mendelson played a brand new piece on the phone: “Linus and Lucy”. It fit perfectly with the peanut figures.
The documentary did not find a transmitter, but Coca-Cola was looking for a Christmas program. This laid the basis for “A Charlie Brown Christmas”. Schulz wanted a mixture of classical Christmas music and Guarlaldi’s jazz. Earlier pieces were newly arranged and added to original compositions.
The cult status of “A Charlie Brown Christmas”
Guaraldi-a self-proclaimed “Reformed Boogie-Woogie Piano Player”-gave the show an unmistakable atmosphere with its airy, childish-light jazz sound. The piece “Linus and Lucy” became the heart of the famous dance scene, where the children enthusiastically groove through the area. And “Christmas Time is here”, originally an instrumental, also received a text from Mendelson even at the last minute.
When the Special was broadcast in 1965, nobody expected success. No laugh from the assembly line, real children’s voices and an introverted narrative – everything spoke against the mainstream. But the response was huge: 36 million viewers, an Emmy, an “Peabody Award” – and a soundtrack that still has cult status today. With over four million copies sold and entries in various chronicles, “A Charlie Brown Christmas” is one of the most influential jazz recordings of the 20th century.
“It was the first time that jazz piano was used in a cartoon,” said pianist David Benoit later. “I believe that Vince Guarlaldi’s music was a major part of the success.”
Pop cultural traces of the “Peanuts”
In addition to the atmospheric proximity of many bands and soloists on the complex psychology of the “Peanuts”, there are also numerous direct references in pop. The Italian edition of the Rolling Stone packed the “Penauts” bedding Snoopy as a fashion icon in the 2010s on the cover.
The Japanese pop duo The Peanuts, a successful twin sisters duo Emi and Yumi ITō, worked on the island in the 1960s and seventies and was known for its unmistakable two-part singing style. The Peanut Butter Conspiracy, the psychedelic rock troop from the Los Angeles of the sixties, refers to the American breakfast drug peanut butter. The song “Charlie Brown” from the Kuschel rockers Coldplay is a direct link to the franchise empire that Mastermind Charles M. Schulz left after his death in February 2000: “Be a cartoon Heart, Light a Fire a Spark, Light a Fire, A Flame in My Heart, We’ll Run Wild, We’ll Be Glowing In the Dark. “