Nov. 25, 2020 – If there ever was going to be a Charlie Brown year, 2020 is it. So it is fitting that rare drawings by Charles Schulz (1922-2000), beloved cartoonist who created Charlie Brown, Lucy, Snoopy and their friends – the Peanuts gang – in the 1950s, will be up for auction in December.

Nothing ever went right for Charlie Brown although he had some good days with his bad days. That sums up 2020 for a lot of people. There is the promise that tomorrow will be a better day.

Charlie Brown continued to think Lucy would hold the football so he could kick it. Lucy and others thwarted his playful ambition over and over again. Lucy would move the football or the wind would catch it just as Charlie was getting ready to kick it. But Charlie always thought the next time they played, he would be able to kick it. He also had a lot of trouble flying a kite, another recurring theme in the comic strip. Lucy opened a booth offering psychiatric help for five cents. With all of his troubles, Charlie visited Lucy’s booth many times!

Snoopy, Charlie Brown’s dog, lived up to the notion that a dog is man’s best friend. Charlie Brown commiserated with Snoopy at his doghouse, often to voice his frustration with his friends. Snoopy took on the persona of a very confident Red Baron, the famous ace pilot from World War I days. With goggles and a scarf around his neck, Snoopy looked like he was flying an airplane from the top of his doghouse. It was a brilliant artistic device by Schulz.

Heritage Auctions
From Dec. 11-13, 2020 in Dallas, Texas, some of the earliest known promotional artwork for the Peanuts comic strip will be auctioned by Heritage Auctions. In the group of illustrations, done in pen and marker on illustration paper, that will be auctioned, eight Peanuts characters appear. The collection has been owned privately and the owner wishes to remain anonymous.

Charlie Brown first appeared in Li’l Folks in the late 1940s, a comic strip by Schulz. Schulz published the Peanuts comic strip from 1950 until 2000. It became very popular and was usually the top strip shown in Sunday newspapers.

What better way to end 2020, a year millions of people would like to forget along with the virus, than to remember the challenges Charlie Brown faced and his unbridled optimism that tomorrow would be a better day. The next time he played football with Lucy, she would surely let him kick it! Or the next time he would try to fly a kite, it would soar into the skies!

Millions of people will be looking forward to 2021. It just has to be better than 2020!