The PEANUTS comic strip was a part of American Pop Culture for almost 50 years. Schulz retired in 1999 and died a little over a year later on February 12, 2000, from colon cancer. He was 77 years old. (He'd drawn his last "farewell" comic strip on January 3, 2000. It was scheduled to run on Sunday, February 13. On February 7, California lawmakers declared the 13th as "Charles M. Schulz Day", to coincide with the printing of the final strip. It did run that Sunday and ironically, Schulz died the day before it ran.)
I have fond childhood memories of the book, HAPPINESS IS A WARM PUPPY, (written by Schulz in 1962), as well as the animated television special A CHARLIE BROWN CHRISTMAS (1965), with unforgettable music by Vince Guaraldi. Of course, all of these quickly became favorites of my own children in the 1990's!
In 1967, the stage musical YOU'RE A GOOD MAN, CHARLIE BROWN opened off Broadway; it has since become the most-produced musical in America. From that play, David Benoit's version of "HAPPINESS" sung by Al Jarreau, is one of my all-time favorites. I can't listen to it without tears...
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