Question: What is the easiest Peanuts character to work with?
Melendez: Snoopy.With Snoopy, Schulz has designed a character that is closest to an animatable character. And so, we can move him around easily. The others arevery hard to move. We do it, but Snoopy's an almost traditional, animated cartoon. He is three dimensional. However, I have seen a lot of Snoopy toys, stuffed animals that are done by other people, including those who have licenses, that are done very badly. They don't look like Snoopy, except they have the markings. And that infuriates Schulz when somebody draws his characters wrong. He just can't stand it.
Question: How did the Peanuts comic strip get its name?
Melendez: Actually, Schulz hates that name. It has nothing to do with his characters. When he was starting in 1950 he was trying to sell his strip. And he went to United Features Syndicate, they liked th strip and they bought it. ... They offered him $50 a week to do the strip. "If we sell it, if there's any profit," they said, "we'll share it with you, 50-50."
*pfofit = もうけ
Question: Who is your favorite character?
じつは、「ピーナッツ」というタイトル、シュルツ氏自身、 気に入っていなかったみたいですね。
Melendez: Linus. Linus seems to be the most intelligent, other than he has a few little foibles. But he's the nicest. And he's innocent. He's just a warm little kid. All the others have serious character flaws. Lucy gets angry easily. Charlie Brown, he's wishy-washy.