Enduring Appeal of Peanuts Special is in the Music December 8, 2011
"The return of A Charlie Brown Christmas on TV, DVD, and CD every November is as regular as Black Friday sales and multi-colored lighting displays. Pretty ironic, considering that the show is all about the beloved cartoon character's dismay over the commercialization of the holidays.
"More than 45 years after it first aired, Peanuts creator Charles Schulz's widow agrees that the 1965 Emmy and Peabody Award-winning holiday special just wouldn't be as endearing and enduring without the iconic, toe-tapping jazz score by Vince Guaraldi.
"'I think it's hand-in-glove,' Jeannie Schulz says of the seamless interplay between Guaraldi's music and Schulz's characters. In fact, anytime the Schulzes walked into a restaurant or a party, the band would start playing Linus and Lucy—the bouncing, upbeat piano tune that would become the indelible soundtrack to the Peanuts TV canon.
"Jeannie Schulz didn't marry the man friends called 'Sparky' until eight years after the Christmas special hit the air, but once they were a couple, she quickly realized how integral the music was to the show. 'You can imagine how difficult it is now to try to find something that speaks about the cast of characters the way that did,' she says from her home in Santa Rosa, Calif. 'It's almost a complete mystery to me how [Guaraldi] could have come up with that music...it's a small piece of magic.'
Museum's Gingerbread Doghouses on FoxNews.com November 28, 2011
"Gingerbread is not just for cookies anymore. Hotels and tourist attractions nationwide stage tremendous, spicy-sweet-smelling, candy-studded displays to entice holiday crowds.
"Gingerbread-making and decorating classes and teas take place at some travel venues, while others host competitions to test the creativity and engineering abilities of professional bakers and hobbyists throughout the U.S."
Jean Schulz recently participated in an AOL "You've Got..." video, part of their daily web series that presents a variety of personalities from a wide range of interests and professions.
In this clip, Mrs. Schulz talks about her husband, Sparky, why his strip still resonates with audiences, and how the Charles M. Schulz Museum helps to preserve his legacy.
Jean Schulz Interview in China Daily August 7, 2011
Charles M. "Sparky" Schulz, creator of the iconic comic strip, died in 2000, but his legacy
lives on in a California museum. Mike Peters catches up with the cartoonist's widow, Jean.
What's been the best part of celebrating the 60th birthday of Peanuts? That people come to the museum with the same kind of enthusiasm as they came with at the beginning. They want to enter into Sparky's world and tell us their own stories about when they fell in love with Peanuts.
Business With a Passion PBS Documentary May 22, 2011
Dan Piraro at the Sketch-a-Thon
September 2010
The Schulz Museum's 60th Anniversary Cartoonist Sketch-a-Thon (held in September 2010) was featured in Business With Passion: 11 Cartoonists, on Sonoma County's PBS station, KRCB-TV (Channel 22 and 22.1), in May 2011. Host Jay Hamilton-Roth interviewed participating cartoonists to learn about their passion for cartooning.
SF Chronicle Article: Draw Like a Peanuts Cartoonist March 31, 2011
Snoopy, Woodstock, Charlie Brown and the rest of the Peanuts gang were the creations of Charles Schulz, a cartoonist who did most of his work in his Santa Rosa studio. While Schulz died in 2000, fans and newcomers alike can celebrate his legacy at an eponymous museum and other facilities situated just north of downtown.
Giant statues of Peanuts characters greet little ones at the museum entrance. Animated cartoons play on a loop inside (and kids can sit in oversize beanbag chairs to watch). On the second floor, pint-size visitors can draw their own Peanuts characters and engage in other arts and crafts. On the second Saturday of every month, the museum brings in a professional cartoonist to give demonstrations and free cartooning classes.
"The museum is a place where creativity is fostered in the visitors who come to put pencil to paper and create something on their own," says Jean Schulz, widow of the man to whom the museum is dedicated. "Everything in the Peanuts strip came from Mr. Schulz's imagination, and we want to encourage children and adults to use their imaginations, too."
Pencil Test for Happiness is a Warm Blanket March 2011
Happiness is a Warm Blanket, Charlie Brown co-director Andy Beall (Up, Ratatouille) narrates this YouTube pencil test, explaining the importance and nuances of developing just the right artwork for animating the Peanuts Gang.
New Peanuts Animated Special! January 5, 2011
Join Snoopy, Charlie Brown and the rest of the Peanuts characters as they help their pal Linus break free from his attachment to his security blanket in Happiness is a Warm Blanket, Charlie Brown, the first new Peanuts special in five years. In this heartwarming new tale, Linus is pushed to his limits when he learns his grandmother is coming to visit and plans to rid him of his most cherished possession, his beloved security blanket. As grandma’s impending arrival looms closer, the Peanuts Gang finds ways to try and help Linus lose his dependence on his fuzzy crutch.
Happiness is a Warm Blanket, Charlie Brown is comprised of original comic strip ideas created by Charles Schulz. The concept was to stay true to the characters’ emotion and original look of the strip while still producing a new story, with Schulz’s work at the heart of the program. Craig Schulz, son of the Peanuts creator, served as one the executive producers and writers of the film along with Stephen Pastis, who wrote the special as well. Happiness is a Warm Blanket, Charlie Brown was also executive produced by Paige Braddock and Linda M. Steiner and directed by animator Andy Beall (Up, Ratatouille) and Frank Molieri (The Simpsons Movie, SpongeBob SquarePants Movie).
“Happiness is a Warm Blanket, Charlie Brown is based directly from Peanuts strips my dad drew from the 1960s, which I personally like the best,” said Craig Schulz. “Maybe it is because I can see so much of my family life embedded in those years. In this special, we tried to show how all kids have security issues, not just Linus, and not all are as secure as one would think. We bring back Shermy, Patty, and Violet, and if you are a true Peanuts fan you will notice others that formed the foundation for Charlie Brown’s neighborhood.”
Support Snoopy Plate & Support California Museums! May 2010
Phil Kohlmetz, President of the California Associations of Museums, announced today at the State Capitol in Sacramento that an ambitious effort is underway across the state to establish a California special license plate featuring Snoopy. The Snoopy Special License Plate will be an entrepreneurial and sustainable source of funding for museums without establishing a new tax or fee or drawing from the state’s general fund. Each plate will feature a reproduction of an original Snoopy drawing by Charles Schulz, doing a happy dance, probably in anticipation of suppertime. The proceeds from sales of the Snoopy license plates will establish a competitive and sustainable grant program to support California museums, from art and history museums to zoos, aquariums, science centers, and natural history museums. Current license plate programs are generating millions of dollars annually for the arts, the environment, and children’s programs.
"The return of A Charlie Brown Christmas on TV, DVD, and CD every November is as regular as Black Friday sales and multi-colored lighting displays. Pretty ironic, considering that the show is all about the beloved cartoon character's dismay over the commercialization of the holidays.
Giant statues of Peanuts characters greet little ones at the museum entrance. Animated cartoons play on a loop inside (and kids can sit in oversize beanbag chairs to watch). On the second floor, pint-size visitors can draw their own Peanuts characters and engage in other arts and crafts. On the second Saturday of every month, the museum brings in a professional cartoonist to give demonstrations and free cartooning classes.
Join Snoopy, Charlie Brown and the rest of the Peanuts characters as they help their pal Linus break free from his attachment to his security blanket in 
