Part 1 – Beethoven’s birthday in Peanuts

The Schroeder and Lucy Saga

A bonus posting for Beethoven’s (probable) birthday.

In 1953 and 1954 the characters’ appearance were still forming. Schroeder was into his fandom, but Lucy was not intervening yet.

By 1957, Schroeder was sharing his enjoyment with Lucy, but she was not on board.

A 1958 series starts here with non-birthday Beethoven content and on the 16th shows Lucy trying to share in the joy.

And Lucy is an enthusiast by 1959, with this series starting way back on the 09th of December, and almost replicating her naming gaffe before erupting in a fine Lucy-rant and then pushing ahead without concern for the possibility of error:

In 1970 it was a very round anniversary of LvB’s birth, the 200th! Schroeder and Lucy of course noted the occasion. (With colorized reruns from 2017.)

The current series, started on 09 December 2020 , is of course NOT reflecting the 250th anniversary, since these are not new cartoons. But they are echoing, colorized, a sequence from 1973, which concluded with this unfathomable remark – makes you wonder if there was some sort of wrong-headed Wagner-based controversy going on:

Tomorrow: Other Beethoven-centered cartoons, not from Peanuts and mostly not even birthday-themed.






(Credits for portrait at top: By Joseph Willibrord Mähler – http://www.beethovenseroica.com, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=839673)