Snoopy and the Red Baron

In the late 1960, my children had a long playing record called Snoopy and His Friends. We called the record Snoopy and the Red Baron. It was a favorite at Christmas time. It's music rang through the house creating much joy and excitement. This year my oldest son asked if I still had the record, which I did. The back of the record contained the following statements. The record brought much happiness to my household. I am sharing this information in hopes that it will creat more joy. Merry Christmas to ALL 1997.

Snoopy And His Friends
The Royal Guardsmen
United Feature Syndicate Inc. 1967

I think if one has followed the Peanuts' comic strip and particularly those segments that deal with Snoopy, one quickly becomes aware that one is reading installments of a fascinating allegory. Snoopy is a very individual dog and has a special meaning to all of us. Like all allegories, the significance of Snoopy really depends upon our own experience. For example to a child, Snoopy represents everything that a child wants to be in his or her fantasy world . . . Snoopy is a pilot, Snoopy is a secret agent. He can sit on the limb of a tree and hunch himself over and look like a vulture. He can stalk his prey like a saber toothed tiger. He flies his doghouse and calls it his Sopwith Camel. He plays baseball and, of course battles the Red Baron. It is the battle with the Red Baron that I think expresses the primary adult philosophy. This battle is the battle between good and evil. Snoopy, of course representing good and the Red Baron evil. However, the evil that the Red Baron represents is not the evil that really exists in the world today. The evil is a gentle evil and in the battle nobody is suppose to get hurt. In this conflict, many of the simple truths that so often get lost in our hectic civilization come readily to the fore. In its simplicity, this conflict becomes almost a romantic adventure. Our recording of Snoopy's Christmas was made with this philosophy in mind. There is an underlying seriousness. Snoopy's Christmas basically exposes the futility of never-ending conflict. This fact is particularly accentuated at Christmas time. Side 1 of the LP represents a drama as fanciful as any child's dream world involving all three of the Snoopy records. It uses the medium of radio when radio didn't really exist to tell the story. We did this because there is a universality and timelessness represented by Snoopy's battle against the Red Baron. The battle against evil is yesterday, today, tomorrow and forever.

Robert Schwartz
Voice Characterization Larry Foster
Dialogue Story Written by Dick Holler and Phil Gernhard.
Recorded at Fuller Recording and Allegro Recording Studios

Side I

  • The story of Snoopy VS. the Red Baron 1:45
  • 1. (P. Gernhard D. Holler)
  • Snoopy VS. the Red Baron 2:42
  • (P. Gernhard D. Holler)
  • 2. The Story of the Return of the Red Baron 2:44
  • (P. Gernhard D. Holler)
  • The Return of the Red Baron
  • (J.L. McCullough P. Gernhard J. Y. McCullough) 2:45
  • 3. The Story of Snoopy's Christmas 3:04
  • (P. Gernhard D. Holler)Snoopy's Christmas 3:09
  • (Hugo and Luigi and George David Weiss)
  • Side II
  • 1. I say Love 2:19
  • (B. Taylor B. Winslow)
  • 2. Down Behind the lines 3:30
  • (D. Holler)
  • 3. It's Sopwith Camel Time 2:14
  • (D. Holler)
  • 4. So Right (To Be In Love) 2:20
  • (B. Taylor B Winslow)
  • 5. Airplane Song ( My Airplane) 2:41
  • (M. Murphy O. Castleman)
  • 6. It Kinds Looks Like Christmas 2:12

    Produced by Gernhard Enterprises
    Stereo SLLP 2042
    United Features Syndicate, Inc. 1967
    Laurie Records
    (D. Holler)