The first-ever appearance
of animated Peanuts characters came in the form of television commercials for the
1960 Ford Falcon. I learned about them in a book titled Peanuts: The Art of
Charles M. Schulz. To me, Peanuts represents a more innocent time in America,
where neighborhood kids played together, were moral in their actions, and even "crabby"
kids like Lucy were not evil. Cops and robbers, cowboys and Indians, pirates and
naval mariners did battle with makeshift weapons and only one ball team at a time
won a trophy. My sisters and I rode in basic cars like the Ford Falcon, without
the benefit of seat belts, crawling up onto the package shelf in the back to watch
the world pass by, standing on our heads in the back seat, and thinking it a privilege
to get to ride up front on the rare occasions when Mom was not in the car, too.
It takes me back to my boyhood days in the 1960s and 70s when similar activities
were a part of life, without all the computer-based activities to compete for precious
spare time. Here is my modest
Peanuts paraphernalia
collection.
These print advertisements were found on the
Doug Pratt
website.
1960 Ford Falcon TV Advertisement (aired in 1959) Featuring
the Peanuts Gang
1961 Ford Falcon TV Advertisement Featuring the Peanuts Gang
1964 Ford Falcon TV Advertisement Featuring the Peanuts Gang
1960 Ford Falcon TV Advertisement Featuring the Peanuts Gang
1961 Ford Falcon TV Advertisement Featuring the Peanuts Gang
(in color)