Halloween Costume Party - Join the Costume Parade Here!

[Jeff Wrangler]

Anybody wanna sing pumpkin carols? 

[Aloysius J. Gleek]

[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5tIhwITwhSg&feature[/youtube]

 

[CellarDweller]

I got a rock!   

[serious crayons]

OMG, I just realized this morning, it's already October 27 and I have yet to engage in my annual Halloween ritual of viewing It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown.     I better get crackin'.

You might want to check this out. It's a mini-documentary in appreciation of the guy who did the animation for all the Peanuts movies.

[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9wvsiE6RJA[/youtube]

[Aloysius J. Gleek]

Season's Greetings--
(all year round now,
looks like anyways...)

Stuart Carlson 
Universal Press Syndicate

[Aloysius J. Gleek]

You might want to check this out. It's a mini-documentary in appreciation of the guy who did the animation for all the Peanuts movies.

[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9wvsiE6RJA[/youtube]

GREAT video! Thanks for the post!

The original airing was December 9, 1965--I was 11.75 years old.  

I had already loved Charles Schulz--but THEN: Bill Meléndez--AND AND AND (!!!!) Vince Guaraldi!

I remember talking about the students AND teachers at school soon after (was it the next day?)--and I said to someone, rather inanely--"I never knew what Charlie Brown sounded  like before!" and one of the teachers said--"NObody knew!"

And it was true. Nobody had.

It was a revelation. Seriously. Our minds were utterly blown.



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Charlie_Brown_Christmas

A Charlie Brown Christmas
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

(....)

Network executives were not at all keen on several aspects of the show, forcing Schulz and Bill Meléndez to wage some serious battles to preserve their vision. The executives did not want to have Linus reciting the story of the birth of Christ from the Gospel of Luke; the network orthodoxy of the time assumed that viewers would not want to sit through passages of the King James Version of the Bible. A story reported on the Whoopi Goldberg-hosted version of the making of the program that Charles Schulz was adamant about keeping this scene in, remarking that "If we don't tell the true meaning of Christmas, who will?"

Another complaint was the absence of a laugh track, a common element of children's cartoons at the time. Schulz maintained that the audience should be able to enjoy the show at their own pace, without being cued when to laugh. (CBS did create a version of the show with the laugh track added, just in case Schulz changed his mind. This version remains unavailable, though unauthorized copies have appeared on YouTube.)

A third complaint was the use of children to do the voice acting, instead of employing adult actors. Finally, the executives thought that the jazz soundtrack by Vince Guaraldi would not work well for a children's program. When executives saw the final product, they were horrified and believed the special would be a complete flop.

The half-hour special first aired on Thursday, December 9, 1965, preempting The Munsters  and following the Gilligan's Island  episode "Don't Bug the Mosquitos". To the surprise of the executives, it was both a critical and commercial hit. None of the special's technical problems detracted from the show's appeal; to the contrary, it is thought that these so-called quirks, along with several other choices, are what lent the show such an innovative, authentic and sincere feeling. For instance, Linus' recitation was hailed by critics such as Harriet Van Horne of the New York World-Telegram  who said, "Linus' reading of the story of the Nativity was, quite simply, the dramatic highlight of the season."

50% of the televisions in the United States were tuned to the first broadcast. A Charlie Brown Christmas  won an Emmy and a Peabody award, and is considered by many to be a timeless Christmas holiday classic. The success of the animated special, A Charlie Brown Christmas has given rise to numerous other specials (including ten others that are also holiday-themed), a miniseries devoted to America, Saturday morning cartoon, and four full-length feature films.



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vince_Guaraldi

Vince Guaraldi
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Compositions for Charles Schulz's Peanuts

While searching for just the right music to accompany a planned Peanuts television documentary, Lee Mendelson (the producer of the special) heard a single version of "Cast Your Fate to the Wind" by Vince Guaraldi's trio on the radio while traveling in a taxicab on the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco, California. Mendelson contacted Ralph J. Gleason, jazz columnist for the San Francisco Chronicle  and was put in touch with Guaraldi. He proposed that Guaraldi score the upcoming Peanuts Christmas special and Guaraldi enthusiastically took the job, performing a version of what became "Linus and Lucy" over the phone two weeks later. The soundtrack was recorded by the Vince Guaraldi Trio, whose other members were Puzzy Firth standing in bassist for band member Fred Marshall, who was ill at the time, and drummer Jerry Granelli. Guaraldi went on to compose scores for sixteen Peanuts television specials, plus the feature film A Boy Named Charlie Brown  as well as the unaired television program of the same name.

[Meryl]

Season's Greetings--
(all year round now,
looks like anyways...)

Stuart Carlson 
Universal Press Syndicate

Too funny!  Poor hungry zombies. 

[Aloysius J. Gleek]

Too funny!  Poor hungry zombies. 

 

Tom Toles
The Washington Post

[CellarDweller]

Hiya!

Halloween Luncheon for work is over, was a big success, and everyone had fun!

Costume line-up included:

3 "hippies", a woman in a blue haired wig, mad scientist, pirate, bunny, Jets fan, alien from space proctologist, mousketeer, and cowboy.

[Jeff Wrangler]

Hiya!

Halloween Luncheon for work is over, was a big success, and everyone had fun!

Costume line-up included:

3 "hippies", a woman in a blue haired wig, mad scientist, pirate, bunny, Jets fan, alien from space proctologist, mousketeer, and cowboy.

You gonna ask the alien proctologist for a date?