It’s very exciting to see It’s A Peanuts Celebration, such a great new limited edition, which came out on Tuesday after much consideration, work, and reworking on the part of Sandy at Sopwith and Peanuts animation director Larry Leichliter! It has so many great moments we all remember from our favorite Peanuts specials! See if you can find them all:
There are only 50 in this limited edition. It’s only been 4 days and it’s halfway sold out! It’s also in pre-publication, so they’re offering it at $3000 until September 22nd, 2025. You can read more about it or order it HERE.
Do you recognize the many specials represented in the image?
From left to right, there’s You’re A Good Man, Charlie Brown, featuring the great song “Suppertime”:
A Peanuts Celebration continues with the iconic image of Charlie Brown working to catch the ball, which represents so many specials, including 1965’s Charlie Brown All-Stars.
Then, of course, Charlie and Lucy from A Charle Brown Christmas, with Lucy celebrating the sound of coin:
Charlie never gives up on kicking the football, which speaks to his eternal optimism. Here’s a compilation of many times he’s tried and failed to kick the ball:
Lucy and Linus in the pumpkin patch from It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown is ICONIC! and I love that it’s in the center of the image.
Again, from Charlie Brown All-Stars and other great specials, the characters are skateboarding. Here’s one scene featuring them riding together. Note they incorporated Franklin, who was introduced later in A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving. SO glad they did that, since he’s one of my favorite characters!
How could they leave out the fabulousness, and sheer joy of the Easter Beagle. Well, they couldn’t! I never get tired of watching this sequence:
I love the way the image flows, and though there are a few key players missing, (Patty, Marcie and Sally), I think A Peanuts Celebration is perfect for folks who, like me, watched the shows with great anticipation, back when you actually had to plan sitting in front of a tv screen when it came on!
You remember that, don’t you? Well, here’s a reminder, with the official tv promo from back then:
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Meanwhile, I’m both thrilled for my longtime friend and colleague Sandy, who retired from full time with Sopwith productions, and started her new “life” on Labor Day. She’ll still be working a bit as a consultant, at least for the time being, so if there’s something, especially original production art, you’re interested in, you might want to mention it so she can search with her new trainee, Frankie, who is taking over for her longterm! Sandy has been instrumental in creating the wonderful limited editions and special art over the years, and has a level of integrity beyond compare in this industry. She always looked out for “the little guy”, the smaller galleries that sold Peanuts with passion, as we at ArtInsights do, but also she believed wholesale and retail should not come from the same place, and that belief has, of late, made her unique in the animation world. Kudos to her for all she has done for Peanuts and the animation world. She’ll be missed more than she can imagine. ENJOY YOUR RETIREMENT, SANDY! with love from ArtInsights and your many fans.
The dancing bunnies will forever be one of my favorite animated scenes ever!