Product Description
This Linus, Charlie Brown, Marcie, Patty, and Franklin cel setup from You're A Good Sport, Charlie Brown has 6 drawings and s a rare cel setup capturing so many great Peanuts characters. A great image for Peanuts fans!
Linus, Charlie, Marcie, Patty and Franklin come with a certificate of authenticity.
You can read more about Franklin on my Peanuts Profile blog about him, HERE.
About Franklin:
In 1968, a Los Angeles schoolteacher named Harriet Glickman wrote to Schulz asking to introduce a black character. At the beginning, Schulz gently said no to her request. He noted that he and other fellow cartoonists were afraid of “patronizing” the African American community. But Glickman wasn't discouraged and kept in touch with him and changed Schulz mind at last. In July 1, 1968, Schulz wrote Glickman and said "I have drawn an episode which I think will please you". In July 31, Schulz introduced his first black character Franklin.
Franklin first meets Charlie Brown at the beach. He mentions that his father is a soldier fighting in Vietnam and helps Charlie Brown build a sand castle. Afterwards, Charlie Brown invites Franklin to visit his neighborhood.
Franklin does eventually visit the neighborhood, in a storyline which ran in October 1968, but finds it a strange environment. During his visit, he initially mistakes Lucy's psychiatry booth for a lemonade stand before asking Lucy if she is qualified to give psychiatric help, becomes puzzled by Snoopy's World War I Flying Ace attire, is told about The Great Pumpkin by Linus and leaves just as Schroeder tries to tell him that Beethoven's birthday will be coming up soon. By the October 18, 1968 installment, he leaves Charlie Brown's side of town saying, "this neighborhood has me shook".
Franklin sits in front of Peppermint Patty at school and plays center field on her baseball team. Despite acting as a foil for Linus, the two get along fine. Franklin is also a voice of reason and serves as a rational perspective compared to almost every other character's neuroses, phobias, and character flaws. He is one of the few characters in Peanuts not to have any eccentricities.
Although Franklin does not appear as often as other characters from the other side of the neighborhood (like Peppermint Patty and Marcie) he does appear very often. He appears to have the best friendship with Charlie Brown. They enjoy talking to each other, usually at the wall. The two often have conversations about their grandfathers. On that matter, Franklin's grandfather is apparently a very energetic fellow who enjoys his elder years with the motto, "When you're over the hill, you pick up speed."
As a permanent character of the comic strip, Franklin is also a frequent character in the animated Peanuts television specials and movies. Unlike most characters, however, he did not appear in animation until the 1970s with his debut being a silent role in the 1972 movie Snoopy, Come Home at Snoopy's farewell party. His first speaking role is in the 1973 special There's No Time for Love, Charlie Brown, in which he is voiced by Todd Barbee.
In the 1994 animated television special You're in the Super Bowl, Charlie Brown, Franklin's full name is given as Franklin Armstrong. As Schulz did not consider the animations canonical, and this surname is never mentioned in the comic strip (nor any other special), it is generally considered apocryphal. However, it seems that Schulz did at least choose the name. According to Robb Armstrong, the African-American creator of the comic strip Jump Start, Schulz called him prior to the special's release to ask a favor. Schulz had suddenly realized that Franklin did not have a last name, and that the plot required his full name to be called. Schulz then asked if he could make "Armstrong" Franklin's last name, and Robb Armstrong, considering it a "tremendous honor", gave his permission.
About Bill Melendez:
Born November 15, 1916 in Hermosillo, Mexico, (Bill) Melendez spent much of his early art career working for animation companies such as Disney and Warner Bros. Cartoons.
In 1964, he founded his own production company, Bill Melendez Productions Inc. and alongside his commercial work, Bill produced his first television special, A Charlie Brown Christmas. Despite being forced to bring it in on a short schedule and tight budget, he managed to garner both an Emmy Award (the first of eight) and the prestigious George Foster Peabody Award for Outstanding Children/Young People's program. The show is a classic, having aired on CBS-TV every year since. The stentorian tenor behind Snoopy's vocalizations, by the way, is the same Bill Melendez drawing Snoopy's aquiline nose.
In 1967 the Television Academy gave three nominations to Bill Melendez; two for producing the outstanding children's program for Charlie Brown's All-Stars and forIt's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown. Since then he has produced over 75 half-hour Charlie Brown specials, as well as four feature-length motion pictures: A Boy Named Charlie Brown (nominated for an Oscar),Snoopy, Come Home, Race for Your Life, Charlie Brown, and Bon Voyage, Charlie Brown. Melendez also has to his credit half-hour specials based on the famous Babar the Elephant books.
Bill Melendez Productions was the first to animate Jim Davis' Garfield the Cat, and that first special won an Emmy Award in '82. In '87, Bill took on the character Cathy by Cathy Guisewite, and won a Best Animated Special Emmy for that show. Several other Cathy specials have followed, as well as numerous ad campaigns featuring the character. As always, the Peanuts Gang are very visible in commercials and Bill Melendez remains their sole animator, both domestically and internationally. Current campaigns include MetLife, A&W, Chex, Regina, Hallmark, Shell Oil, and numerous European, Asian and Latin American accounts. Notable productions include a special Bill produced in 1990 with the American Cancer Society called Why Charlie Brown, Why? -- a sensitive study of what happens when a child gets cancer. In the late 80's, Melendez produced TV's first animated mini-series. Designed to teach children about American History, it was titled This is America, Charlie Brown. Recently completed is an updated rendering ofFrosty the Snowman, in association with Lorne Michaels and Broadway Video, and starring the voices of Jonathan Winters and John Goodman.
