Comments on: Good Grief

Good Grief

pxe2000 — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 04:23:27 -0800

Bill Melendez worked on such animated classics as Bambi, Fantasia, and Dumbo, and directed an animated version of The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe in 1979. However, he was best known as one of the animators who brought Charles Schulz's "Peanuts" characters to TV and film. Their collaboration spanned 40 years, starting with the legendary "A Charlie Brown Christmas" and eventually encompassing feature films and insurance commercials. Melendez died in his home on Tuesday morning. He was 91.

This famous scene from "A Charlie Brown Christmas" was almost removed from the show before it was broadcast; the opening from "It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown"; an old Ford commercial, starring Charlie Brown and Linus, and the opening credits for "The Tennesse Ernie Ford Show" featuring Lucy Van Pelt; 1986 commercial for MetLife.

By: three blind mice

three blind mice — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 04:40:39 -0800

We told Schulz, 'Look, you can't read from the Bible on network television,' " Mendelson says. "When we finished the show and watched it, Melendez and I looked at each other and I said, 'We've ruined Charlie Brown.'"

By: EmpressCallipygos

EmpressCallipygos — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 04:48:00 -0800

Every year, without fail, I have watched the network broadcast of "A Charlie Brown Christmas" ever since I was two. Godspeed, Mr. Melendez.

By: rokusan

rokusan — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 04:55:17 -0800

By: Mr. Bad Example

Mr. Bad Example — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 05:28:57 -0800

Wah wah wah wah-wah wahhh. (Horn noises don't really work well in text.)

By: grubi

grubi — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 05:30:19 -0800

Wasn't he also the voice of Snoopy?

By: grubi

grubi — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 05:31:51 -0800

Yep, right there in the Wikipedia article on him: Meléndez provided the voice of Snoopy and Woodstock in the latter as well.

By: DU

DU — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 05:34:20 -0800

Is this the thread where I temporarily applaud the supernaturalization of secular culture for sentimental reasons? Great work on the animation, though. We just finished reading Lion, maybe we should check out this animated version.

By: steef

steef — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 05:46:52 -0800

Oh, dear. I have a terrible soft spot for that 1979 cartoon Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. They handled the story and characters really well, and just seeing this tiny thumbnail of Aslan's death makes me want to go back and hug my nine- or ten-year-old self: "Dummy, you read the books. You know it's going to be okay."

By: Thorzdad

Thorzdad — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 05:47:40 -0800

By: flapjax at midnite

flapjax at midnite — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 06:13:26 -0800

Well, 91, eh? He had a nice long run.

By: Kimothy

Kimothy — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 06:49:21 -0800

By: pracowity

pracowity — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 07:14:57 -0800

Wikipedia: "Meléndez went on to do over 75 half-hour Peanuts specials..." They did more than 75 Charlie Brown cartoons? I thought there was just Christmas and Halloween and... Christmas and Halloween and... and what? "January is National Careers in Cosmetology Month, Charlie Brown"? Anyway, the real god of the Charlie Brown cartoons is Vince Guaraldi.

By: mwhybark

mwhybark — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 07:47:12 -0800

. The recent Schulz bio looks at the Melendez-Schulz collaboration, and the man deserves credit for his accomplishments. Guaraldi's score is of course tremendous, but to a large extent, the animated Peanuts pieces that we recall are Melendez', serving Schulz' vision. Melendez's. Melendezes.

By: mwhybark

mwhybark — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 07:48:02 -0800

Oh, and wamph wamph wa mammph mppgh mphh mm mph.

By: parilous

parilous — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 09:07:25 -0800

''''' ''''' ''' ''''''''''

By: batmonkey

batmonkey — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 09:27:19 -0800

I'm glad he lived a long life. .

By: Dr-Baa

Dr-Baa — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 09:40:26 -0800

. A great talent. They did more than 75 Charlie Brown cartoons? Aside from the obvious, there's It's the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown What Have We Learned, Charlie Brown It's Arbor Day, Charlie Brown A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving There's No Time For Love, Charlie Brown Flashbeagle Snoopy Come Home What a Nightmare, Charlie Brown It's Magic, Charlie Brown Charlie Brown's All-Stars A Charlie Brown Celebration (I think this one was an hour) This is America, Charlie Brown series The Charlie Brown and Snoopy Show series and that's just off the top of my head. Anyway, the real god of the Charlie Brown cartoons is Vince Guaraldi. Perhaps, but John Scott Trotter deserves credit too, for taking over after Guaraldi bowed out.

By: humannaire

humannaire — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 09:52:45 -0800

I hate the animated specials. To me they signified a long ruinous relationship with a season I was disconnected from. For me, what people called Christmas was a time of tumultuous emotions which I as a child was ill-equipped to deal with. The pacing of the story—lull, lull, emotional bump, lull, lull, emotional bump, lull, lull—was especially tortuous. It was the very pregnant build-up, leading-up to one of the most heavy-handed climax in modern story-telling: Linus' preachy soliloquy, equal in pedantry to anything George Bush delivered post-9/11. Considering all the turmoil the hero fool-of-fate has experienced, his feeble smile at the end speaks not of resolution but of uncertainty, and of a reality which is both adversarial and unpredictable. This was Christmas with my family-then in a nutshell. The cartoon haunted me. The music still makes me physically nauseous. .

By: gummi

gummi — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 10:28:44 -0800

Count me in among those who watch the Christmas and Halloween specials every year. I'm going to be forty and I still grab a blanket and popcorn as part of my viewing ritual. .

By: grubi

grubi — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 10:44:51 -0800

The music still makes me physically nauseous. ! humannaire, of all the humannaires in the world, you're the humannairiest.

By: schoolgirl report

schoolgirl report — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 10:57:18 -0800

Curse you, ~~Red Baron~~ old age.

By: nickyskye

nickyskye — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 11:04:48 -0800

"Good Grief", such an excellent use of that phrase pxe2000. Anybody who had anything to do with creating Dumbo is beloved in my book. aww Dumbo. wow. He won over 400 international awards in a career spanning seven decades. He animated Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, and Porky Pig too. He had a fun website. Guess his son, Steven, will take over now, as he has his own animation studio in London. What a lovely face he had, seriouslytwinkly. Quite interesting videos of him with entertaining history of animation in the USA tidbits. Video second part. I like his accent too. He had such artistic finesse in working with the character of the original cartoon, animating them in keeping with the original. Besides the Peanuts figures, the jovial artist also created the first animated cartoons of Jim Davis's Garfield the cat and Cathy Guisewite's character Cathy, for which he won two Emmys. And he was Mexican born, working in a time of such racism in the USA, he must have had cojones to succeed so well, along with his talent. He went from working in a lumber mill to Disney. Great story. He must have been proud too that his son was Rear Admiral Rodrigo C. Melendez. It sounds like he had a happy, satisfying, creatively fulfilled life and died peacefully at an old age with an accomplished family. Really nice to hear about.

By: Smart Dalek

Smart Dalek — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 12:09:37 -0800

By: orange swan

orange swan — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 13:23:21 -0800

He won.

By: welephant

welephant — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 13:44:51 -0800

*squirt* .

By: evilcolonel

evilcolonel — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 14:25:30 -0800

He contributed some commentaries to the Golden Collection DVDs of classic Warner Bros. cartoons. It was delightful to listen to the enthusiasm in his voice as he pointed out the work of various collaborators.

By: Quidam

Quidam — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 14:47:12 -0800

By: sleepy pete

sleepy pete — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 23:15:10 -0800

I liked the article in PopMatters a few years ago called "The Lonely Tree" on the Christmas special. 91 is a great run in life. RIP, dear sir.

By: Atom Eyes

Atom Eyes — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 09:55:10 -0800

Opening sequence from A Boy Named Charlie Brown, the best of the feature length films.