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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Spotlight Advanced.

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<v Speaker 2>I'm Roger Basseg and I'm Gillian Woodward. Spotlight uses a

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<v Speaker 2>special English method of broadcasting. It is easier for people

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<v Speaker 2>to understand no matter where in the world they live.

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<v Speaker 1>Charlie Brown and Lucy stand on an empty field. Autumn

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<v Speaker 1>leaves are scattered on the ground. Lucy holds an American football.

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<v Speaker 1>Charlie Brown wants to kick it, but every time Lucy

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<v Speaker 1>holds it on the ground for him to kick, she

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<v Speaker 1>pulls it away at the last second. Charlie Brown shakes

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<v Speaker 1>his head.

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<v Speaker 3>No, absolutely not. You must think I am crazy. You

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<v Speaker 3>say you will hold the ball, but you will not.

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<v Speaker 3>You will pull it away and I will break my neck.

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<v Speaker 3>Why Charlie Brown, how you talk? I would not think

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<v Speaker 3>of such a thing. I am a changed person. Look

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<v Speaker 3>is this not a face you can trust? All right?

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<v Speaker 3>You hold the ball and I will come running up

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<v Speaker 3>and kick it.

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<v Speaker 2>Charlie Brown races as fast as he can towards the ball.

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<v Speaker 2>He pulls his leg back. He tries to kick the ball.

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<v Speaker 2>Lucy pulls it away. Charlie flies into the air and screams.

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<v Speaker 3>She did it again.

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<v Speaker 2>He crashes to the ground. Lucy looks down on Charlie.

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<v Speaker 3>I admire you, Charlie Brown. You have such faith in

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<v Speaker 3>human nature.

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<v Speaker 1>This is a scene from the comic strip Peanuts. Today's

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<v Speaker 1>Spotlight is about Charles Shule's creator and author of Peanuts.

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<v Speaker 1>We talk about the history of comic strips. We examine

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<v Speaker 1>how Shules started writing. We discussed the impact Peanuts had

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<v Speaker 1>on other comic strips and on society. We look at

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<v Speaker 1>why Peanuts is the most popular comic strip of all time.

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<v Speaker 2>A comic strip is a row of little boxes on

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<v Speaker 2>a piece of paper. The boxes have drawings and words

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<v Speaker 2>that tell us story. They are usually in newspapers, comic books,

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<v Speaker 2>or on the Internet. The first comic strips appeared in

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<v Speaker 2>the late eighteen hundreds. Two of the first strips were

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<v Speaker 2>called The Yellow Kid and the Kats and Jamma Kids.

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<v Speaker 2>These became popular. Soon newspapers started publishing daily and weekly

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<v Speaker 2>comic strips to attract readers.

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<v Speaker 1>Over the next thirty years, comic strips became a regular

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<v Speaker 1>part of American newspapers. Comic strips such as Popeye and

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<v Speaker 1>Flash Gordon were beloved. In Britain, the comic strip Pop

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<v Speaker 1>was popular. Andy Capp also became a favorite in Britain

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<v Speaker 1>and later America. Tintin was famous in France. Valentina was

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<v Speaker 1>popular in Italy.

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<v Speaker 2>Some of the most famous comic strips were created in

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<v Speaker 2>the nineteen fifties and nineteen sixties. These include Pea Nuts,

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<v Speaker 2>Dennis the Menace, and Dick Tracy. They all became popular,

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<v Speaker 2>but Pea Nuts was the most famous.

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<v Speaker 1>Peanuts was written by Charles Schultz. It is the story

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<v Speaker 1>of several children living in the same neighborhood. The main

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<v Speaker 1>character is Charlie Brown. He always wears black shorts and

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<v Speaker 1>a yellow shirt with a big black pattern across it.

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<v Speaker 1>He has a dog named Snoopy that is very smart.

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<v Speaker 1>Linus is Charlie's best friend. He carries his special blanket

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<v Speaker 1>with him everywhere. Lucy is Linus's sister. She likes to

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<v Speaker 1>chease Charlie as much as possible. There are many other

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<v Speaker 1>characters with fun personalities in the comic strip.

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<v Speaker 2>When it was first released, Peanuts was different from other

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<v Speaker 2>comic strips. It dealt with emotions that were not usually

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<v Speaker 2>expressed in cartoons. Writer Matt Blitz said.

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<v Speaker 4>At a time when comic strips were ruled by stories

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<v Speaker 4>involving action, adventure, and marriage, humor, Peanuts was different. The

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<v Speaker 4>comic expressed sadness, anger, depression, loneliness, and other complex emotions.

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<v Speaker 1>For example, in one Peanuts strip, Lucy sets up a

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<v Speaker 1>small building where she offers advice in exchange for money,

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<v Speaker 1>Charlie Brown tells her he has feelings of depression. He asks,

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<v Speaker 1>what can I do about this? Lucy says, stop feeling

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<v Speaker 1>that way five cents please.

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<v Speaker 2>At the time, most people thought that if someone felt depressed,

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<v Speaker 2>he just needed to stop feeling that way. They thought

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<v Speaker 2>that being depressed was a choice, But Schultz understood the truth.

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<v Speaker 2>Depression is a mood disorder that causes someone to feel

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<v Speaker 2>sad most of the time. Treatment often requires special drugs.

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<v Speaker 2>Schultz was the first comic strip writer to address this

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<v Speaker 2>type of topic.

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<v Speaker 1>Shules was also a strong follower of Jesus. His faith

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<v Speaker 1>is evident in a television film that he wrote called

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<v Speaker 1>a Charlie Brown Christmas. The film first showed in nineteen

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<v Speaker 1>sixty five. It was the first time a television network

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<v Speaker 1>aired a program based on a comic strip. In the program,

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<v Speaker 1>Charlie Brown and his friends must put on a Christmas show,

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<v Speaker 1>they get distracted with decorations and music. Finally, Linus quotes

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<v Speaker 1>a passage from the Christian Bible about the birth of

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<v Speaker 1>Jesus christ Christmas marks this event for followers of Jesus

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<v Speaker 1>Linus reminds them of the real reason for their show.

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<v Speaker 2>Some of the television executives did not want to include

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<v Speaker 2>this scene. They were afraid it would offend some people,

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<v Speaker 2>but Schultz insisted they include it. He would not let

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<v Speaker 2>them air the show if the executives did not include

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<v Speaker 2>this scene. These people finally agreed with Schultz.

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<v Speaker 1>The network that aired the show was not sure the

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<v Speaker 1>program would be successful. No one had ever tried anything

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<v Speaker 1>like it before, but they were wrong. Nearly half of

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<v Speaker 1>all American television sets played A Charlie Brown Christmas that year.

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<v Speaker 1>The program later won several awards. In the coming years,

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<v Speaker 1>more networks showed animated holiday specials each Christmas. A Charlie

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<v Speaker 1>Brown Christmas still plays each year on television to this day,

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<v Speaker 1>more than half a century after it first aired. Many

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<v Speaker 1>families include watching A Charlie Brown Christmas as one of

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<v Speaker 1>their annual holiday traditions.

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<v Speaker 2>Schultz also turned pe nuts into films and books. He

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<v Speaker 2>made more television programs, such as A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving

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<v Speaker 2>and It's the Great Pumpkin. Charlie Brown Schultz became one

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<v Speaker 2>of the highest paid entertainers in America, making thirty to

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<v Speaker 2>forty million dollars a year. Pe Nuts was translated into

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<v Speaker 2>over twenty languages in seventy five countries. It appeared in

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<v Speaker 2>over two thousand, six hundred newspapers.

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<v Speaker 1>Schules was able to address the complicated nature of human

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<v Speaker 1>relationships through the eyes of the children in Peanuts. The

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<v Speaker 1>comic made complex issues much easier for a mass audience

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<v Speaker 1>to understand. According to the writers at Africa Nova.

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<v Speaker 5>It redefined the comic strip. It introduced a level of

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<v Speaker 5>depth previously unseen. Short's ability to mix humor with life's

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<v Speaker 5>darker issues connected deeply with readers. It entertained people it

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<v Speaker 5>reflected on human experience.

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<v Speaker 2>Schaltz died at the age of seventy seven, but Charlie Brown, Linus,

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<v Speaker 2>Lucy and Snoopy live on. Schultz wrote and drew nearly

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<v Speaker 2>eighteen thousand Peanuts strips. Future generations can learn important life

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<v Speaker 2>lessons from his comic strips. Bill Wasson, famous writer of

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<v Speaker 2>the comic strip Calvin and Hobbes, said.

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<v Speaker 6>Things that we now take for granted reading the thoughts

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<v Speaker 6>of an animal, for example, there is not a comic

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<v Speaker 6>strip writer who has done anything since nineteen sixty that

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<v Speaker 6>does not owe Schultz a great debt.

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<v Speaker 1>Have you ever read Peanuts? Do you have a favorite character?

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<v Speaker 1>Have you ever seen at Charlie Brown? Christmas? You can

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<v Speaker 1>leave a comment on our website at www dot Spotlight

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<v Speaker 1>English dot com. You can also find us on YouTube, Facebook,

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<v Speaker 1>tik tok, Instagram, and x You can also get our

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<v Speaker 1>programs delivered directly to your Android or Apple device through

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<v Speaker 1>our free official Spotlight English app.

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<v Speaker 2>The writer of this program was Peter Anderson. The producer

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<v Speaker 2>was mitchio Osaki. The voices you heard were from the

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<v Speaker 2>United States and the United Kingdom. All quotes were adapted

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<v Speaker 2>for this program and voiced by Spotlight. This program is

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<v Speaker 2>called Playing with Peanuts.

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<v Speaker 1>We hope you can join us again for the next

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<v Speaker 1>Spotlight Advance. It's to program. Goodbye, h