In Passing

Webster helped give new life to classic Disney characters on TV. © Disney.

Disney TV's Pioneer Webster Passes. Michael Webster, who established Walt Disney's television animation division in 1984, passed away at the age 60 following a long battle with multiple sclerosis. On Saturday, January 29, 2000, Mr. Webster succumbed to complications from pneumonia at his home in Port Townsend, Washington, U.S.A. During his 42 year tenure, Webster created the Walt Disney Television Animation division and served as its senior VP until his retirement in 1992. He oversaw production of the Emmy-winning New Adventures Of Winnie The Pooh and many other shows, including DuckTales, Disney's Adventures Of The Gummi Bears, Disney's Wuzzles, Goof Troop, Darkwing Duck, Chip 'n' Dale's Rescue Rangers and cartoon series based on the Disney features The Little Mermaid and Aladdin. A Los Angeles native, Webster's interest in animation grew after visiting Disney Studios as a 10-year-old boy. In 1957, at age 18, Webster got his start in the industry at Quartet Films, where he moved up the ranks from cleanup man to assistant animator working with legendary animator Art Babbitt. Afterwards, he moved to Hanna-Barbera, where he worked on programs like The Flintstones. Webster also worked on a series of animated commercials for Murakami Wolf Films featuring such characters as Kellogs' Tony the Tiger, Sunkist's Charlie the Tuna and the Jolly Green Giant. Prior to Disney, Webster spent 7 years producing commercials for Leo Burnett Advertising. Webster is survived by his wife of 20 years, Lynne, as well as four children and two grandsons.

Much Grief, Charles Schulz Passes. On the eve of the final Peanuts comic strip, creator Charles Schulz died of a heart attack at his Santa Rosa, California home. He was 77 years old. As reported [AF 11/21/99], Charles Schulz had decided to retire from drawing his weekly comic strip after several strokes and newly diagnosed cancer had left him partially blind in one eye and too weak to keep up with the rigorous routine. A private funeral will be held later this week. He is survived by his wife, Jeannie; two sons Monte and Craig; and daughter Jill Transki. Printed in newspapers around the world on Sunday was the farewell strip that featured Snoopy atop his dog house with a typewriter. The various panels had classic poses from the five-decade-old Sunday morning favorite: Snoopy flying against the Red Baron; Lucy pulling the football away from Charlie Brown's kick; Snoopy making a futile attempt to snag Linus' security blanket; and Lucy giving one last piece of advice at her psychiatry stand. On a daily basis, Peanuts is published in more than 2,600 newspapers around the world, reaching 355 million readers in 75 countries and 21 languages. There have been more than 50 Peanuts animated TV specials, more than 1,400 books selling 300 million copies and four feature films, not to mention museum retrospectives and Web page tributes. The first Peanuts strip appeared in seven newspapers on October 2, 1950. Since then, Peanuts became the most widely syndicated comic strip in history. Schulz has always refused to let another artist draw Peanuts and has also written every TV special starting with A Charlie Brown Christmas which has aired every year since its debut.

The man brought the world the loveable loser Charlie Brown. Schulz said, in a TV tribute which aired the night before his death, "We always stare at the people holding the trophies over their heads, but we relate to the losers more. More people know how it feels to lose." Schulz made fans laugh at life's little problems. The Peanuts gang was insightfully neurotic before neurotic became a household word. Schulz said in a February 11, 2000 CBS tribute that he never wrote about anything he didn't know. He put only himself into all his strips. "I suppose I've always felt...apprehensive, anxious, that sort of thing," Schulz said in an interview in 1989. "I have compared it sometimes to the feeling that you have when you get up on the morning of a funeral." The same grief Peanuts fans will feel next Sunday morning as they flip to the comics' page. When asked why there is so much unrequited love in his strip, Schulz said, "I seem to be fascinated with unrequited love, if not obsessed by it. . .There's something funny about unrequited love." Unrequited love is something Schulz didn't feel for the Peanuts or from his fans. Schulz printed this good-bye in the final Peanuts strip -- "I have been grateful over the years for the loyalty of our editors and the wonderful support and love expressed to me by fans of the comic strip. . . Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Linus, Lucy. . .how can I ever forget them." No one will ever forget Charles Schulz either.

Voice Of Slinky Dog, Jim Varney, Dies. Jim Varney, the comic who most recently provided the voice of Slinky Dog in Toy Story and Toy Story 2, died on Thursday, February 10, 2000 at his Tennessee home of lung cancer. He was 50 years old. Best known for his Ernest character in commercials, television and films, Varney also provided voice over work for characters on the The Simpsons. Varney was the star of several Disney Ernest films, most notably Ernest Goes To Camp and Ernest Saves Christmas. Doctors diagnosed Varney with cancer in August 1998, and within months it had spread to his brain. The disease appeared to be in remission in late 1999, which allowed the actor to film the live-action movie Daddy And Them starring Billy Bob Thorton.