Thursday, September 13, 1973
5
Peanuts Gang Pilfered By Moscow Paper
By MURRAY SEEGER (C) 1972 The Los Angeles Time
MOSCOW-Charlie Brown and his gang have arrived in Moscow for limited circulation. But artist-createur Charles Schulz has been a regular, and it looks as if they are kidnapped.
"Mistakenly introduced as "a little English boy," Charlie and the Peanuts cartoon family have been adopted by editors of the Moscow News, an English language weekly, to brighten up their paper and make it appeal to a wide audience.
The event was news to artist Schulz and his associates in Schulz's Creative Enterprises of Santa Rosa, Calif., who were the subject of the book to reprint the world-damascot cartoon.
"No, we have no copyright permission," an editor of the Moscow News said. "Our paper, as well as all other papers, is not covered by the convention signed by the Soviet Union. Only books and magazines are covered."
When Moscow announced it was joining the copyright agreement, many american writers and publishers though it would end the system of pirating material produced in the West without permission for use in the Soviet Union.
INSTEAD, THE MOSCOW editors took advantage of an apparent loophole in the international Copyright Convention which joined for the first time early this year.
DOZENS OF PUBLISHING representatives have streamed through Moscow in the last six months trying to sell their goods to the Russians and seeking to buy rights to any interesting material the state-controlled press might offer.
Millions of copies of American books, songs and other written material have been published in the Soviet Union with almost no copyright. But some Americans there are bank accounts in Moscow filled with rubies which they can withdraw for cash, or which cannot be converted to hard currency.
The Soviet government has a monopoly on all publishing and now it also has the exclusive right to grant copyright permission for the book. The Russian government signed the copyright convention in order to have a new weapon against writers such as Alexander Solzhentshyn who send their books to the publishers after they are banned in their own country.
WITH THE COPYRIGHT, Power, the government can threaten Western publishing houses that print such works and press pressure on the writers themselves.
The cost of buying Western copyrights is expensive for the Soviets because they must pay in hard currency. It is understood that the Soviets will buy no more material than they can sell, in order to avoid more drains on their limited stocks on hard currency.
During the past year, when relations between the two countries improved, there have been signs that the Soviets have increased their use of American entertainment material.
THE DECISIONS of what to show and perform must balance the demands of the Russian people to see and learn more about America against the Communist party pressures to avoid distributing too much pro-Democratic influence.
The Soviets (occasionally) print satirical material about the United States, such as columns by Art Burholwag. One of his books is *A History of Russia* and sold out in a matter of hours.
ASAN EXAMPLE of the kind of program they will not allow on Soviet screens, the official newspaper Sovetskaya Kultur (Soviet Culture) recently reprinted a Mexican magazine's attack on "Sesame Street."
"The word sesame came from the Orient and means open up," the Soviet Editors noted. "One thing is certain: with that type of program, imperialism is seeking to penetrate into other people's homes, even if it means it has no real meaning." The passkey is to be global television."
Charlie Brown, too, was once attacked by an Italian Communist paper as a "filthy
THE CARTON is being carried in an edition of the Moscow News that is sold on the street for six kopches (eight cents) and that is also distributed to areas where it is most likely to congregate. It is not carried in editions sent to overseas subscribers.
For the first episode, the paper described Charlie as "a little English boy, inquisitive, restless, industrious and very, very thoughtful, with lots of his own ideas."
"HIS LIFE, WELL-ROUNDED and
that it is as it is full of problems which
haven't been solved yet."
The first strip is taken from a book called "You're a Winner Charlie Brown" and shows the hero trying to build a bird house under the watchful eye of Lacy.
William Ravenscroft, vice president of United Features, which syndicates Peanuts to 1,100 American and Canadian newspapers and 157 newspapers and 14 newspapers in 99 foreign countries, was surprised to hear of Charlie's entry into Moscow.
"As far as we are concerned, there have no arrangements and negotiations," he said. "The Russians would have no agreement with Penaunat pack for booled reproduction."
Ravenscroft said there have been talks about using a decal of Charlie's dog, Snoopy, on the American part of the projected 1975 joint U.S.Soviet space venture on which the Soviets would use a bear, but no details have been approved.
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"OPEN DOOR POLICY"
Meet KU Athletic Director Clyde Walker
Thursday, September 13
Governor's Room 3-5 p.m. Kansas Union
Come to meet Clyde Walker and take part in an informal discussion of the KU Athletic Program and its relationship to the students, faculty and staff.