Original Production Animation Cel of Snoopy from "It's A Mystery Charlie Brown," 1974

Original hand painted production animation cel of Snoopy from "It's A Mystery Charlie Brown," 1974; Set on a lithographic background; Melendez Studios; Original Peanuts Film Gallery seal lower left and Original Certificate of Authenticity hand signed by Bill Melendez; Size - Snoopy: 3 1/2 x 2 1/2", Image 8 1/2 x 11 1/2", Frame 15 1/4 x 18 1/4"; Framed with a black metal frame, three mats, and plexiglass.

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"Ashes to ashes, dust to dust. When there is a mystery, in Snoopy we trust." - Linus van Pelt

Charles Monroe Schulz (1922-2000) was an American cartoonist best known for the comic strip Peanuts, which featured Charlie Brown, his dog Snoopy, and their friends. Schulz is regarded as one of the most influential cartoonists of all time. At it's height, Peanuts was published daily in 2,600 newspapers in 75 countries, in 21 languages. Over the almost 50 years that Peanuts was published, Schulz drew nearly 18,000 strips. The strips, along with merchandise and product endorsements, produced $1 billion a year in annual revenue; with Schulz earning between $30-40 million/year. During the strips run, Schulz only took one vacation; a five week break in late 1997 to celebrate his 75th birthday. Reruns of the strip ran during that time period.

Close up of the original animation cel of Snoopy from "It's A Mystery Charlie Brown," 1974

Jose Melendez, known as Bill Melendez, (1916-2008) was a Mexican American animator, film director, voice actor, and producer. He worked for the Walt Disney Company on Pinocchio, Fantasia, Dumbo, and Bambi; as well as Warner Bros. and UPA animation studios. He then formed his own animation studio in 1964, Bill Melendez Productions. Bill Melendez met Charles Schulz in the late 1950's. Melendez had been hired by the J. Walter Thompson advertising agency to produce an animated commercial for the Ford Falcon. The Ford Motor Company wanted to use the "Peanuts" characters for the ad campaign. Schultz was opposed to the idea of animating his comic characters until he saw Melendez's drawings, which were consistent with Schultz's comic strip style. From that point on Melendez was the only person that Schultz trusted with animating his characters. Bill Melendez would go on to create every single television special and direct-to-video film for the Peanuts gang, with Bill Melendez directing the majority of them.

Schulz was insistent that Snoopy not utter English dialogue; so Bill Melendez provided the voice for both Snoopy and Woodstock by reciting gibberish and then mechanically speeding up the sounds at different speeds to represent the two different characters. Bill Melendez won six Emmy Awards for his work with Schultz, and has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

"It's A Mystery Charlie Brown" was the eleventh prime-time animated television special based on Charles Schulz's comic strip Peanuts characters to be produced and animated by Bill Melendez. It was initially broadcast on February 1, 1974 on CBS. This was the first Charlie Brown special that Bill Melendez did not direct, but he did provide the voices of Snoopy and Woodstock.

 Close up of the Original Peanuts Film Gallery seal.

Original Certificate of Authenticity hand signed by Bill Melendez.

Framed original animation cel of Snoopy from "It's A Mystery Charlie Brown," 1974

The story of the special is that Woodstock's fancy new nest disappears one afternoon, and he turns to his friend Snoopy to help him find it. Woodstock and Snoopy (dressed as master detective Sherlock Holmes complete with brown checkered coat, deerstalker cap, magnifying glass, and a bubble pipe) set off on the hunt for the missing nest! This is an extremely nice original production animation cel of Snoopy dressed as Sherlock Holmes from "It's A Mystery Charlie Brown," 1974. The piece came from the Peanuts Film Gallery and still has it's original Certificate of Authenticity hand signed by Bill Melendez. A great piece of animation art history and a wonderful addition to any collection!

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