Happy Birthday, Chuck
Halloween and Thanksgiving have come and gone, but while pumpkin pie slivers and turkey leftovers linger, let us pay homage to our likable Peanuts friend, Linus.
I had nearly buried this column in the This Time Next Year pile due to the busy-ness of Thanksgiving and my seasonal job at Frey’s Greenhouse wrangling Christmas trees. Writing around such activity has been a challenge.
Then I read that November 26th would’ve been Charles M. Schulz’s 100th birthday, so I figured I’d resuscitate this piece. Peanuts is timeless anyway, right?
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How Can There Be Any Sin in Sincere?
I’ve been thinking about Linus lately ever since my friend Andrew described a yearly ritual he puts on: an outdoor showing of the 1966 classic It’s The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown,1 complete with a fire, s’mores, apple cider, and roasted hot dogs.
Andrew and I commenced quoting lines and laughing at Linus’s devotional zeal for The Great Pumpkin who, on Halloween night,
rises from his pumpkin patch and flies through the air with his bag of toys to all the children.
In my teens I bought a silent Super-8 film version of the show at a flea market. It only contained the sequence of Snoopy’s imaginative romp as a WWI flying ace, dog-fighting The Red Baron from his Sopwith Camel.
At a high school dance Invasion Sound System (an enterprise of Tom Troutman and myself) projected it on a gym wall as dumbfounded kids danced/stood in place.
They weren’t accustomed to such lavish, multi-media marvels.
It was only upon having kids and hearing the audio of this show that I came to appreciate Charles M. Schulz’s deep irony.
When The Great Pumpkin Appears
Even after a bone-chilling night in the pumpkin patch, from which his sister Lucy dutifully rescues him and puts him to bed in one of the tenderest moments in animation, Linus’s logic-proof dedication to the arrival of The G.P. never wanes.
As the ‘toon closes, Charlie Brown tries to commiserate by admitting he also has done “a lot of stupid things.”
Linus is affronted! He defies Charlie’s apostasy and re-asserts his zeal for The G.P. The credits roll, and so do Charlie Brown’s eyes.
It’s OK to Laugh
Not that it’s sane or safe to be so delusional.
We all know, or we should, how dangerous misguided sincerity can be. Worse yet is insincerity wrapped in the foil of certainty.2
But it’s better, we can surmise, to be like Linus, consumed with sincerity over something harmless only to oneself. Unless we count Marcie, who waited up all night and had a few choice words to say about it!
Linus may have been a stooge at Halloween, but at Christmas time he proved his status as a visionary: all sincerity, no delusion.
Just one year prior (in TV time), he heralded the meaning of Christ’s birth by laying down his trusty blanket, quoting the prophet Isaiah, and speaking directly to his despondent friend:
That's what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown.
Any room I’ve ever been in screeches to a silent halt when Linus takes the stage.
Delusional Dog?
Back to The G.P., isn’t Snoopy delusional?
Slinking around the French countryside after his biplane (dog house) crashes and burns
Going behind enemy lines, dancing, crying, even howling at sentimental war songs played by Schroeder on the baby, baby grand piano
Schulz would say no. He draws a clear line between deception and imagination.
Snoopy not only saves the Allies from the Axis powers, he also rescues the Halloween party from all manner of childhood rivalry and rocky disappointments.3
He’s using his imagination to enter into Halloween, something the human kids seem to understand tacitly. And he’s better at it than they are!
As it turns out, that silly little dog was The Great Pumpkin all along. Linus would’ve been better off playing along with Snoopy, trading his sincerity for a little whimsy.
Happy Holidays
I sincerely hope that you and your circle of loved ones are held aloft during this long holiday season by gratitude, little creatures, and so much magic in the air.
Come see me snooping around at Frey’s Greenhouse. I promise you, there’s nothing but sincerity as far as the eye can see. 😅
If you haven’t seen this little film, it’s not too late. It’s a worthy rival to the Christmas special, so gather the relatives for 25 wonderful minutes.
Most years, since childhood, Becky and I watch the Peanuts triumvirate of holiday cartoons:
A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965)
It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown (1966)
A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving (1973)
We should know better these days than to think that all politicians sincerely believe in the stances and policies we sincerely care about. But they know how to act in order to get our votes. The story of Liberty University’s presidential multi-level corruption in the guise of evangelical commitment is a harrowing example. See the God Forbid docuseries on Hulu if you dare.
All Chuck ever got in his “tricks or treats” bag was rocks. Rats!