The play, You’re a Big Man, Charlie Brown sold out so many performaces in 1967. It did so well that my fifth-grade teacher felt inspired to produce the play for Santa Anita Elementary. There were two shows. Each show had a completely different cast. The teacher, Mr. Schneider, cast me for the role of Snoopy.
Playing Snoopy required the actor to sing and dance.
1) I could not sing. I still cannot sing. I am tone deaf, well mostly.
2) I could not dance. I still have enormous problems moving my feet in time to the beat.
3) However, I could memorize lines and could be counted on to deliver them in front of an audience of parents and school kids.
But that was enough then to garner the coveted role of Snoopy.
Since, musical parts have been distressingly few and far between.
Life is hard. I flamed out early.
Even so, I still get dreams where I find myself on stage without ever being given my lines.
– Paul De Lancey, The Comic Chef, Ph.D.
My cookbook, Following Good Food Around the World, with its 180 wonderful recipes, my newest novel, Do Lutheran Hunks Eat Mushrooms, a hilarious apocalyptic thriller, and all my other books, are available on amazon.com.


