Schroeder (Peanuts) the few people Schroeder will allow to lounge against his piano, as he and Charlie Brown are good friends, and knows that Charlie Brown respects his love of Beethoven. When they were younger, Charlie Brown would read Schroeder the story of Beethoven's life. Charlie Brown was also the one who introduced Schroeder to the piano. Schroeder also generally does not mind Snoopy lounging against his piano until, moved by the music, Snoopy generally ends up dancing on top of the piano, much to Schroeder's annoyance. In one famous scene of A Charlie Brown Christmas, Schroeder is playing part of Linus
Peanuts strip as one panel, partly for experimentation, but also to combat the dwindling size of the comics page. Later in the '90s, Schulz abandoned the characters Patty, Violet, Pigpen and Franklin. Schulz drew the strip for nearly 50 years, with no assistants, even in the lettering and coloring process. In the late 1970s, during Schulz's negotiations with United Feature Syndicate over a new contract, syndicate president William C. Payette hired superhero comic artist Al Plastino to draw a backlog of "Peanuts" strips to hold in reserve in case Schulz left the strip. When Schulz and the syndicate reached a successful