This month, Apple TV+ brings a brand-new Peanuts special starring one of the gang’s lesser-known characters. Snoopy Presents, Welcome Home Franklin looks like a great way to help kids, of all colors, see good examples of true friendship with others who may be different than themselves in one way or another.
You may not have ever wondered where Franklin came from. He just sort of showed up. His first appearance on any screen was playing a silent role in the 1972 movie, Snoopy Come Home. He said his first words in 1973 in the special, There’s No Time for Love, Charlie Brown. But most people remember him appearing in A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving. Some might have even taken issue with the fact that he sits alone on one side of the dinner table. (That wasn’t intentional.) The new special actually pokes fun of that scene with the kids calling out, “Hey Franklin! We saved you a seat over here!” But he has a backstory.
While Apple TV+’s Snoopy Presents: Welcome Home, Franklin tells the fictional story about how Franklin joined the gang, the real story behind the scenes goes something like this…
In April of 1968, 11 days after Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated, Harriet Glickman, a school teacher from Los Angeles, wrote Charles Schulz suggesting that he add a black child to his comic strip. In her letter she said, “Since the death of Martin Luther King, I’ve been asking myself what I can do to help change those conditions in our society which led to the assassination and which contribute to the vast sea of misunderstanding, fear, hate and violence…”
“It occurred to me today that the introduction of [black] children into the group of Schulz characters could happen with a minimum of impact. The gentleness of the kids…even Lucy, is a perfect setting. The baseball games, kite-flying…yes, even the Psychiatric Service cum Lemonade Stand would accommodate the idea smoothly.”
Schulz wrote back to Glickman saying, “I appreciate your suggestion about including a [black] child into the comic strip, but I am faced with the same problem that other cartoonists who wish to comply with your suggestion. We all would like very much to be able to do this, but each of us is afraid that it would look like we were patronizing our [black] friends. I don’t know what the solution is.”
The two wrote to each other back and forth with Glickman understanding his “interesting dilemma.” However, in one letter to Glickman dated July 1, 1968 Schulz wrote, “You will be pleased to know that I have taken the first step in doing something about presenting a [black] child in the comic strip…I have drawn an episode which I think will please you.”
The first Peanuts comic strip to introduce Franklin was printed on July 31, 1968. It shows Charlie Brown at the beach and Franklin comes up behind him asking, “Is this your beach ball?” and the two hit it off from there. Franklin later attended school with Peppermint Patty in the strips and one of Schulz’s editors took exception to Franklin sitting in the same row as Peppermint Patty. After a long-heated conversation on the phone, Schulz said, “We’ll Larry, let’s put it this way: Either you print it just the way I draw it, or I quit. How’s that?” End of discussion.
In the new TV special, Franklin’s father is in the military, so his family has had many homes. He carries with him a notebook filled with advice from his grandpa about friendship. However, Franklin finds that he has a hard time fitting in with the Peanuts gang. At first. But then he learns of a neighborhood soap box derby race and he asks Charlie Brown to be his partner and, in the process, become good friends. (Although I think Schulz himself wouldn’t go for the cart’s on-the-nose naming of the cart, “Friendship 1”.)
Produced for Apple TV+ by Peanuts and WildBrain, the special is directed by Emmy Award winner Raymond S. Persi (known for his work on The Simpsons and Disney’s Wreck-It-Ralph movie) and is co-written by Robb Armstrong (Jump Start) along with Craig Schulz (Charles’ son), Bryan Schulz (Charles’ grandson) and Cornelius Uliano, from an original story by Armstrong and Scott Montgomery (The Snoopy Show which is also on Apple TV+).
Snoopy Presents: Welcome Home, Franklin premieres on AppleTV + on February 16, 2024.
Main Image: Franklin and Charlie Brown (Apple TV+)
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