Celebrating National Hispanic Heritage Month: Bill Melendez, Primetime Emmy winning animator for the Peanuts

Bill Melendez, born November 15, 1918 in Sonora, Mexico, was a character animator, director, and producer.  He worked for Walt Disney Productions, Warner Brothers, and UPA before working on the Peanuts animated series.

Although being born in Mexico, Melendez attended school in Douglas, Arizona and Chouinard Art Institute (now California Institute of the Arts).  He started at Disney in 1938 where he worked on some of the classic movies: Pinocchio, Fantasia, Dumbo, and Bambi.  

In 1941, he went to Leon Schlesinger Productions (now Warner Bros Cartoons) where he worked on Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies. He was hired to do animated TV commercials in 1959, featuring characters from the comic strip Peanuts. 

Charles Schulz trusted Melendez to turn the Peanuts into televisions specials.  He worked on every single TV special for the Peanuts and directed most of them.  He also provided the voices for Snoopy and Woodstock. The last special he worked on was He's a Bully, Charlie Brown in 2006.

He passed away in 2008 at the age of 91.

He won 7 Primetime Emmys: Outstanding Children's Program in 1966 for A Charlie Brown Christmas; Outstanding Children's Special in 1975 for Yes, Virginia, There is a Santa Claus; Outstanding Children's Special in 1976 for You're a Good Sport, Charlie Brown; Outstanding Individual Achievement - Animation Program in 1979 for The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe; Outstanding Animated Program in 1981 for Life is a Circus, Charlie Brown; Outstanding Animated Program in 1984 for Garfield on the Town; Outstanding Animated Program in 1987 for Cathy.  He was nominated for 19 more Primetime Emmys.  He was nominated for an Oscar and five Grammy Awards. 

"Peanuts" first comic strip appearance 1950

The first Peanuts comic strip appeared in seven newspapers October 2, 1950.  Creator Charles Schulz had some moderate success previously with a one-panel drawings called Li'l Folks.  It was dropped in January 1950, so Schulz approached United Feature Syndicate.  They were more interested in the four-panel version he had developed since Li'l Folks had ended.  

The first Sunday page appearance of Peanuts came on January 6, 1952.  Eventually it became one of the most popular comic strips of all time.  The strip has been made into 5 feature films and 45 television specials.

Celebrating Black History Month: Franklin, first African-American character in Peanuts

I usually avoid posting about fictional characters for Black History Month, but Franklin, the first African-American character to appear in the Peanuts comic strip by Charles M. Schulz, was a gutsy move, given the climate in the 1960s.  Franklin first appeared on July 31, 1968:

He and Charlie Brown became good friends but Franklin found some of Charlie Brown's other friends to be strange, i.e. Linus telling him about the Great Pumpkin.

Harriet Glickman, a school teacher in LA wrote to Schulz in April 1968 urging him to include a black character into the strip.  Schulz initially worried that it would be perceived as patronizing to the African-American community, but Glickman assured him that it would help normalize friendships between children of different ethnicities. 

Some of the strips featuring Franklin did tend to border on racist or stereotypical but never in a negative fashion.  Franklin has always been one of the coolest, level-headed, even-keeled character in the entire series.  He is a dancer, musician and a rapper.

It was Franklin's grandfather who said: "Once you get over the hill, all you can do is pick up speed."

Charles M. Schulz, creator of "Peanuts" born in 1922

We miss you, Sparky!