Snoopy and the Mighty Pucks
A joyous skate into ice hockey for the over-70s, and Charles M. Schulz, creator of Peanuts. Slippery sonic thrills on the rink, Charlie Brown, and the music of John Adams.
“Grandpa’s on the ice!”
Ice hockey is thrilling and violent - a slippery world where limbs are corkscrewed, cheeks sliced, and pucks, made of frozen vulcanized rubber, can travel at over 100 mph, capable of ripping a hole in almost anything human. It is also a joyous, addictive sport – and few players want to give up as the years pass.
The legendary creator of the “Peanuts” cartoons, Charles M. Schulz, was not one for retiring. He loved ice hockey, and built a skating arena right next to his studio, in Santa Rosa, California, eating his lunch there every day. In his cartoons everyone plays hockey – Lucy, Snoopy, Linus, Woodstock, and of course, Charlie Brown. He also hosted “Snoopy’s Senior World Hockey Tournament”, right up until his death in 2000, in which players from the age of 40, up until 97, could compete.
“Snoopy and The Mighty Pucks” glides, clashes and side-tackles its way into the tournament - accompanied by the thrilling music of John Adams. Wearing a full-face mask on the substitute bench, we hear up close the thrills, spills, and gallows humour of a bunch of players who are refusing to give up the sport they love. As for Schulz, he played until six months before he died.
Schulz’s widow Jean, who met Sparky on the ice, shares his tales of growing up in St Paul, Minnesota, when his father would spray water on the back yard to make an ice rink, and his grandmother would stand in goal, facing down the pucks the young boy shot at her - “I hope she made a lot of good saves,” he later remarked.
ѿý Radio 3 heads for the locker rooms, and out onto the rink in “Snoopy and the Mighty Pucks”.
Music
“Short Ride in a Fast Machine” & “Shaker Loops” By John Adams
Produced by Sara Jane Hall
A Just Radio production
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- Sun 8 Dec 2024 19:15ѿý Radio 3
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