Author Archives: Dazzling Erin

The Lesson Of Be My Valentine, Charlie Brown

Posted on by Dazzling Erin

Be My Valentine, Charlie Brown may not be as acclaimed or well-known as It’s The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown or A Charlie Brown Christmas but it’s one of my favorite of the Peanuts holiday specials.  It has a very important lesson to teach us all.

It’s all about faith.

Hardly anyone in Be My Valentine, Charlie Brown has a good Valentine’s Day.  None of them should have been surprised.  All of the Charlie Brown holiday specials are about how days like Halloween, Christmas, and Thanksgiving rarely live up to our expectations.  Why should Valentine’s Day be any different?

Charlie Brown shouldn’t have been surprised when he went home empty-handed.  Sure, he thought he’d get a lot of valentines.  He even brought a briefcase to school with him because he was expecting to get so many.  After Schroeder handed out all of the valentines, Charlie Brown even went to big red box and turned it upside down.  There was nothing for Charlie Brown.  There’s never anything for Charlie Brown.

And Linus shouldn’t have been surprised when his teacher left school before he could give her that big heart-shaped box of candy.  After spending all of those Halloweens in a sincere pumpkin patch and waiting for the Great Pumpkin, Linus should have been used to the disappointment.

And Lucy should know that she’ll never be able to compete with Scroeder’s love of msic, no matter how many times she destroys his piano or tells him that Beethoven was overrated.

In the world of Charlie Brown, only Snoopy gets what he wants but he’s a dog so he doesn’t want much.  All he has to worry about is keeping Woodstock happy, finishing his new book, and shooting down the Red Baron.

But they never give up.  None of them.  No matter how wishy-washy or crabby they may be, all of them keep the faith.  None of them surrender their hope.  That’s the lesson of every Peanuts holiday special but it’s especially the lesson of Be My Valentine, Charlie Brown.  Someday, the teacher will accept Linus’s gift.  Someday, Schroeder will learn to appreciate Lucy’s finer qualities.  Someday, Sally will be able to make a Valentine just as impressive as Snoopy’s

And someday, maybe today, Charlie Brown will finally get that Valentine!

Never lose hope.  Never give up.  That’s a good lesson for Valentine’s Day.  That’s a good lesson for any day.

Artist Profile: Jerry Allison

Posted on by Dazzling Erin

Other than that he was born in Pennsylvania and, like so many pulp era illustrators, studied in New York, I couldn’t find much information online about the artist Jerry Allison.  (Most of the information I did find was about a different Jerry Allison, who was Buddy Holly’s drummer.)  According to AskArt.com, Jerry Allison studied at the Woodstock School of the Arts Students League and, along with his work for the pulps, he also did illustrations for Reader’s Digest, General Electric, and NBC.  After he retired from doing paperback covers, Allison concentrated on panting historical scene for the calendars put out by the Esso Corporation.  (In the United States, Esso is now known as Exxon.)  This is a case where the artist’s work will have to speak for itself.

Allison’s covers all contain the usual pulp elements of manly men, beautiful women, thirsty stares, and guns.  One of the books below is called “The Lusty Men” and that’s a good way to describe most of the men who appear in Allison’s covers.

Considering that’s a fairly modern bra for a book that appears to take place in the Old West, there’s a chance that this final cover may not be historically accurate.