Charles Schulz, Peanuts, and the Tonga Room

Yes, they are all related.

The following is an excerpt from a salon.com review of a new biography on 'Peanuts' creator Charles Sculz titled "Schulz and Peanuts" written by David Michaelis.

..... a breathless romance with a "girl-beagle" who had "the softest paws" -- was inspired by Schulz's extramarital affair with a 25-year-old office worker named Tracey Claudius. Snoopy's sentimental swooning over his lady love was no exaggeration, either; Schulz inundated Claudius with doting notes and flowers and gifts commemorating each month of their "anniversary." For the straight-arrow Schulz, the affair was a first foray into adultery after almost 20 years in a marriage that, while difficult, produced four kids and underpinned the most productive period of his life. Claudius, who regarded "Peanuts" as "holy," was terrified when he took her to the Tonga Room in San Francisco's Fairmont Hotel, convinced that the newspaper columnist Herb Caen would spot them and blow their cover. "I would be the one that would ruin his image for the world," she told Michaelis. "God! If I'd found this out when I was reading it, I would have been crushed. Charlie Brown wouldn't be innocent to me any longer."

Just another example of a midwestern boy (Schulz was raised in St Paul, Minnesota) using the pagan imagery of the South Pacific to tempt and seduce an unsuspecting youth!

CLassic, Vern, classic.

Well, he DID live in an A-frame! ....or ON one, more correctly.

On 2007-10-15 18:32, bigbrotiki wrote:
Well, he DID live in an A-frame! ....or ON one, more correctly.

Good point. I've always speculated that the inside of his doghouse was like the TARDIS, so there could have been an entire Don the Beachcomber's in there.

On a different note, I find it a bit odd that Schulz, for the most part a teetotaler, would hang out at the Tonga Room.

Bow wow wow yippie-o yippie-ay!
Bow wow yippie-o yippie-ay!

Snoop Dogg could take some lessons from the Snoopy dog.

You might enjoy this audio interview with “Schulz and Peanuts” biographer David Michaelis (with transcription): http://www.mrmedia.com/2007/11/david-michaelis-schulz-and-peanuts.html .
Bob Andelman
Author
Will Eisner: A Spirited Life
http://www.aspiritedlife.com/blog/