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117-515: Charles Monroe " Sparky " Schulz ( / ʃ ʊ l t s / SHUULTS ; November 26, 1922 – February 12, 2000) was an American cartoonist, the creator of the comic strip Peanuts which features his two best-known characters, Charlie Brown and Snoopy . He is widely regarded as one of the most influential cartoonists in history, and cited by many cartoonists as a major influence, including Jim Davis , Murray Ball , Bill Watterson , Matt Groening , and Dav Pilkey . " Peanuts pretty much defines

234-597: A .50 caliber machine gun team . His unit saw combat only at the very end of the war. Schulz said he had only one opportunity to fire his machine gun but forgot to load it, and that the German soldier he could have fired at willingly surrendered. Years later, Schulz proudly spoke of his wartime service. For being under fire he did receive the Combat Infantry Badge , of which he was very proud. In late 1945, Schulz returned to Minnesota, where he did lettering for

351-404: A movie adaptation in 2015 by Blue Sky Studios . Peanuts focuses on a social circle of young children, where adults exist but are rarely seen or heard . The main character, Charlie Brown , is meek, nervous, and lacks self-confidence. He is unable to fly a kite, win a baseball game, or kick a football held by his irascible friend Lucy , who always pulls it away at the last instant. Peanuts

468-479: A "skating" competition, only to learn with disastrous results that it is for roller skating and not ice skating . She struggles at school and with her homework and often falls asleep in school. The wife of Charles Schulz, Jean Schulz, suggested that this is the consequence of how Peppermint Patty's single father works late; she stays awake at night waiting for him. In general, Charles Schulz imagined that some of her problems were from having an absent mother. Marcie

585-547: A Game (1957–59), but he abandoned it after the success of Peanuts . From 1956 to 1965 he contributed a gag cartoon , Young Pillars , featuring teenagers, to Youth , a publication associated with the Church of God . In 1957 and 1961 he illustrated two volumes of Art Linkletter 's Kids Say the Darndest Things , and in 1964 a collection of letters, Dear President Johnson , by Bill Adler. At its height, Peanuts

702-537: A Roman Catholic comic magazine, Timeless Topix. Before he was drafted, Schulz had taken a correspondence course from the school Art Instruction, Inc. , and in July 1946 took a job at the school, where he reviewed and graded students' work. He worked at the school for several years as he developed his career as a comic creator. The anti-Communist propaganda comic book Is This Tomorrow featured some of Schulz's early work. Schulz's first group of regular cartoons,

819-455: A blanket for comfort . The idea of his "security blanket" originated from Schulz's own observation of his first three children, who carried around blankets. Schulz described Linus's blanket as "probably the single best thing that I ever thought of". He was proud of its versatility for visual humor in the strip, and with how the phrase "security blanket" entered the dictionary. Peppermint Patty and Marcie are two girls who are friends. They attend

936-455: A blue sky background. Above his head, several panels from past strips were overlaid. Underneath these panels, the full note that Schulz had written to his fans was printed (part of it had been omitted in the final daily strip). It read as follows: Dear Friends, I have been fortunate to draw Charlie Brown and his friends for almost fifty years. It has been the fulfillment of my childhood ambition. Unfortunately, I am no longer able to maintain

1053-412: A boy being mean to girls would not be funny at all, describing a pattern in comic strip writing where it is comical when supposedly weak characters dominate supposedly strong characters. Lucy at times acts as a psychiatrist and charges five cents for psychiatric advice to other characters (usually Charlie Brown) from her "psychiatric booth", a booth parodying the setup of a lemonade stand . Lucy's role as

1170-441: A different school than Charlie Brown, on the other side of town, and so represent a slightly different social circle from the other characters. Peppermint Patty is a tomboy who is forthright and loyal and has what Schulz described as a "devastating singleness of purpose". She frequently misunderstands things, to the extent that her confusion serves as the premise of many individual strips and stories; in one story she prepares for

1287-503: A distinct Christian theme, though the popular perspective has been to view the franchise through a secular lens. During the week of July 29, 1968, Schulz debuted the African American character Franklin to the strip, at the urging of white Jewish Los Angeles schoolteacher Harriet Glickman. Though Schulz feared that adding a black character would be seen as patronizing to the African American community, Glickman convinced him that

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1404-640: A dog that looked much like Snoopy . In May 1948, Schulz sold his first one-panel drawing to The Saturday Evening Post ; within the next two years, a total of 17 untitled drawings by Schulz were published in the Post , simultaneously with his work for the Pioneer Press . Around the same time, he tried to have Li'l Folks syndicated through the Newspaper Enterprise Association ; Schulz would have been an independent contractor for

1521-442: A feature rerunning the entire history of the strip from the beginning in colorized form. This was done to honor the 65th anniversary of the strip's debut. Charlie Brown is a young boy. He is the main character, acting as the center of the strip's world and serving as an everyman . While seen as decent, considerate, and reflective, he is also awkward, deeply sensitive, and said to suffer from an inferiority complex . Charlie Brown

1638-778: A foreground character by the middle of the 1990s. Schulz received the National Cartoonists Society Humor Comic Strip Award for Peanuts in 1962, the Reuben Award in 1955 and 1964 (the first cartoonist to receive the honor twice), the Elzie Segar Award in 1980, and the Milton Caniff Lifetime Achievement Award in 1999. A Charlie Brown Christmas won a Peabody Award and an Emmy ; Peanuts cartoon specials have received

1755-399: A game of football in the rain by herself. Marcie comes up, carrying an umbrella and remarking that everyone has gone home. Peppermint Patty laments that they never shook hands and said "good game". The January 3 strip consisted of a drawing of Snoopy sitting atop his doghouse with his typewriter, as he had done many times over the course of the strip's lifespan. The drawing was accompanied by

1872-462: A little boy named "5" to the cast, whose sisters were named "3" and "4," and whose father had changed their family name to their ZIP Code , giving in to the way numbers were taking over people's identities. Also in 1963, one strip showed Sally being secretive about school prayer, in reference to the Supreme Court decisions on it that year. In 1958, a strip in which Snoopy tossed Linus into

1989-626: A long association with ice sports, and both figure skating and ice hockey featured prominently in his cartoons. In Santa Rosa, he owned the Redwood Empire Ice Arena , which opened in 1969 and featured a snack bar called "The Warm Puppy". Schulz's daughter Amy served as a model for the figure skating in the television special She's a Good Skate, Charlie Brown (1980). Schulz also was very active in senior ice-hockey tournaments; in 1975, he formed Snoopy's Senior World Hockey Tournament at his Redwood Empire Ice Arena, and in 1981, he

2106-529: A long illness. At the time of her death, he had only recently been made aware that she suffered from cancer . Schulz had by all accounts been very close to his mother and her death had a significant effect on him. Around the same time, Schulz was drafted into the United States Army . He served as a staff sergeant with the 20th Armored Division in Europe during World War II , as a squad leader on

2223-854: A mural on the bedroom wall of his daughter Meredith, featuring Patty with a balloon, Charlie Brown jumping over a candlestick, and Snoopy playing on all fours. The wall was removed in 2001, and donated and relocated to the Charles M. Schulz Museum in Santa Rosa. By Thanksgiving of 1970, it was clear that Schulz's marriage was in trouble. He was having an affair with a 25-year-old woman named Tracey Claudius. The Schulzes divorced in 1972, and in September 1973, he married Jean Forsyth Clyde, whom he had first met when she brought her daughter to his hockey rink. They were married for 27 years, until Schulz's death in 2000. Schulz's son Craig has served as President of

2340-454: A news stand in uptown Minneapolis and asked if there were any newspapers that carried Peanuts , to which the newsdealer replied, "No, and we don't have any with popcorn either", which confirmed Schulz's fears concerning the title. Whenever Schulz was asked what he did for a living, he would evade mentioning the title and say, "I draw that comic strip with Snoopy in it, Charlie Brown and his dog". In 1997 Schulz said that he had discussed changing

2457-535: A pastor who had prepared his mother's service from the Church of God. Sparky's father was worried about him and was talking to the pastor and so the pastor invited Sparky to come to church. So Sparky went to church, joined the youth group and for a good 4–5 years he went to Bible study and went to church 3 times a week (2 Bible studies, 1 service). He said he had read the Bible through three times and taught Sunday school. He

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2574-555: A printed note from Schulz which officially announced his retirement from drawing and thanking his readers for their support. Although a series of reruns of older strips would begin on January 4, 2000, there were still six unpublished Sunday strips that Schulz had completed. The first of these ran on January 9, featuring Rerun and Snoopy playing in the snow. The second featured the last appearance of Woodstock, as he and Snoopy in one last fantasy sequence are called upon by George Washington to chop firewood. Rerun makes his final appearance in

2691-443: A psychiatrist has attracted attention from real-life individuals in the field of psychology; the psychiatrist Athar Yawar playfully identified various moments in the strip where her activities could be characterized as pursuing medical and scientific interests, commenting that "Lucy is very much the modern doctor". Linus is Charlie Brown's most loyal and uplifting friend and introduces intellectual, spiritual and reflective elements to

2808-541: A quick recovery. In the 1980s, Schulz complained that "sometimes my hand shakes so much I have to hold my wrist to draw." This led to an erroneous impression that Schulz had Parkinson's disease . According to a letter from his physician, placed in the Archives of the Charles M. Schulz Museum by his widow, Schulz had essential tremor , a condition alleviated by beta blockers . Schulz still insisted on writing and drawing

2925-476: A rich character is that he's not purely a loser. The self-loathing that causes him so much anguish is decidedly not self-effacement. Charlie Brown is optimistic enough to think he can earn a sense of self-worth." Schulz named Charlie Brown after a colleague of his while working at Art Instruction , whose full name was Charlie Francis Brown. Readers and critics have explored the question as to whether Schulz based Charlie Brown on himself. This question often carried

3042-480: A short article); The Washington Post ; Chicago Tribune ; The Denver Post ; The Seattle Times ; and two newspapers in Pennsylvania , Evening Chronicle ( Allentown ) and Globe-Times ( Bethlehem ). The first strip was four panels long and showed Charlie Brown walking by two other young children, Shermy and Patty . Shermy lauds Charlie Brown as he walks by, but then tells Patty how he hates him in

3159-492: A shy, timid teenager, perhaps as a result of being the youngest in his class at Central High School . Schulz loved drawing and sometimes drew his family dog, Spike, who ate unusual things, such as pins and tacks. In 1937, Schulz drew a picture of Spike and sent it to Ripley's Believe It or Not! ; his drawing appeared in Robert Ripley 's syndicated panel, captioned, "A hunting dog that eats pins, tacks, and razor blades

3276-564: A small rented office room.) It was there that Schulz was interviewed for the unaired television documentary A Boy Named Charlie Brown . Some of the footage was eventually used in a later documentary, Charlie Brown and Charles Schulz . Schulz's father died while visiting him in 1966, the same year Schulz's Sebastopol studio burned down. By 1969, Schulz had moved to Santa Rosa, California, where he lived and worked until his death. While briefly living in Colorado Springs, Schulz painted

3393-472: A snowball fight between Peppermint Patty and Marcie and Charlie Brown and Linus, with Snoopy sitting behind the fight trying to figure out how to throw a snowball. The strip was notable because, in addition to it being the last daily strip with a story, Schulz's health had deteriorated to the point where the lettering in the strip had to be done by computer. The Sunday strip featured the last appearances of Peppermint Patty and Marcie, with Peppermint Patty playing

3510-474: A sudden I thought, 'You know, that poor, poor kid, he never even got to kick the football. What a dirty trick—he never had a chance to kick the football.'" On February 12, 2000, Schulz died in his sleep of a heart attack at his home in Santa Rosa, California , at the age of 77. He was suffering from colorectal cancer . The last original Peanuts strip was published the following day. He had predicted that

3627-426: A tongue-in-cheek letter to a fan in 1955. Similarly Frieda , a girl with "naturally curly hair", was introduced in 1962, but was already being phased out by the late 1960s after her comic value had seemed to have rapidly run its course; and after 1975, she made only background appearances. Conversely, Rerun , the youngest brother of Linus and Lucy, had only limited visibility after his introduction in 1973, but became

Charles M. Schulz - Misplaced Pages Continue

3744-584: A total of two Peabody Awards and four Emmys . For his work on the strip, Schulz has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (as does Snoopy) and a place in the William Randolph Hearst Cartoon Hall of Fame. Peanuts was featured on the cover of Time on April 9, 1965, with the accompanying article calling it "the leader of a refreshing new breed that takes an unprecedented interest in the basics of life." The strip

3861-674: A valuable mentor. In April 1951, Schulz married Joyce Halverson (no relation to Schulz's mother Dena Halverson Schulz), and Schulz adopted Halverson's daughter, Meredith Hodges . Later the same year, they moved to Colorado Springs, Colorado . Their son, Monte, was born in February 1952, and three more children, Craig , Amy and Jill, were born later in Minnesota. Schulz and his family moved to Minneapolis and stayed until 1958. They then moved to Sebastopol, California , where Schulz built his first studio. (Until then, he had worked at home or in

3978-496: A weekly series of one-panel jokes called Li'l Folks , was published from June 1947 to January 1950 in the St. Paul Pioneer Press , with Schulz usually doing four one-panel drawings per issue. It was in Li'l Folks that Schulz first used the name Charlie Brown for a character, although he applied the name in four gags to three different boys as well as one buried in sand. The series also had

4095-443: Is Franklin's presence in a racially integrated school and neighborhood. (Franklin's creation occurred at least in part as a result of Schulz's 1968 correspondence with a socially progressive fan. ) The fact that Charlie Brown's baseball team had three girls on it was also at least ten years ahead of its time. The 1966 prime time television special Charlie Brown's All Stars! dealt with Charlie Brown refusing sponsorship of his team on

4212-473: Is a constant failure: he can never win a ballgame; he can never successfully fly a kite. His sense of determination regardless of the certainty of failure can be interpreted as either self-defeating stubbornness or admirable persistence. When he fails, however, he experiences pain and anguish through self-pity. The journalist Christopher Caldwell observed this tension between Charlie Brown's negative and positive attitudes, stating: "What makes Charlie Brown such

4329-424: Is a literate strip with philosophical, psychological, and sociological overtones, which was innovative in the 1950s. Its humor is psychologically complex and driven by the characters' interactions and relationships. The comic strip has been adapted in animation and theater. Schulz drew the strip for nearly 50 years, with no assistants, even in the lettering and coloring process. Peanuts was originally sold under

4446-418: Is a purely wholesome character. Snoopy is a dog, who later in the development of the strip would be described as a beagle . While generally behaving like a real dog and having a non-speaking role, he connects to readers through having human thoughts. Despite acting like a real dog some of the time, Snoopy possesses many different anthropomorphic traits. Most notably, he frequently walks on his hind legs and

4563-440: Is able to use tools, including his typewriter. He introduces fantasy elements to the strip by extending his identity through various alter egos. Many of these alter egos, such as a "world-famous" attorney, surgeon or secret agent were seen only once or twice. His character is a mixture of innocence and egotism; he possesses childlike joy, while on occasion being somewhat selfish. He has an arrogant commitment to his independence but

4680-509: Is based on classic Schulz stories from decades past, as well as including some classic strips by Schulz, mostly Sunday color strips. In early 2011, United Media (the parent of United Feature Syndicate) struck a distribution deal with Universal Uclick (now known as Andrews McMeel Syndication ) for syndication of the company's 150 comic strip and news features, including Peanuts . On January 5, 2015, Universal Uclick's website, GoComics , announced on that it would be launching "Peanuts Begins",

4797-477: Is bookish and a good student. Schulz described her as relatively perceptive compared to other characters, stating that "she sees the truth in things" (although she perpetually addresses Peppermint Patty as "sir"). The writer Laura Bradley identified her role as "the unassuming one with sage-like insights". In addition to the core cast, other characters appeared regularly for a majority of the strip's duration: Several early characters faded out of prominence during

Charles M. Schulz - Misplaced Pages Continue

4914-484: Is often shown to be dependent on humans. Schulz was careful in balancing Snoopy's life between that of a real dog and that of a fantastical character. While the interior of Snoopy's small doghouse is described in the strip as having such things as a library and a pool table and being adorned with paintings of Wyeth and Van Gogh , it was never shown: it would have demanded an inappropriate kind of suspension of disbelief from readers. Linus and Lucy are siblings; Linus

5031-531: Is owned by C. F. Schulz, St. Paul, Minn." and "Drawn by 'Sparky'". Another noteworthy episode in his high school life was the rejection of his drawings by his high school yearbook, which he referred to in Peanuts years later, when he had Lucy ask Charlie Brown to sign a picture he drew of a horse, only to then say it was a prank. A five-foot-tall statue of Snoopy was placed in the school's main office 60 years later. In February 1943, Schulz's mother Dena died after

5148-495: Is so pervasive it is almost taken for granted." Batiuk also described the depth of emotion in Peanuts : "Just beneath the cheerful surface were vulnerabilities and anxieties that we all experienced, but were reluctant to acknowledge. By sharing those feelings with us, Schulz showed us a vital aspect of our common humanity, which is, it seems to me, the ultimate goal of great art." Cartoon tributes have appeared in other comic strips since Schulz's death in 2000 and are now displayed at

5265-413: Is the younger brother, and Lucy is the older sister. Lucy is bossy, selfish and opinionated, and she often delivers commentary in an honest albeit offensive and sarcastic way. Schulz described Lucy as full of misdirected confidence, but having the virtue of being capable of cutting right down to the truth. He said that Lucy is mean because it is funny, particularly because she is a girl: he posited that

5382-475: The Minneapolis Tribune . It then moved to the St. Paul Pioneer Press ; Li'l Folks ran in the women's section of the paper. In 1948, Schulz tried to have Li'l Folks syndicated through the Newspaper Enterprise Association (a Scripps Company ). He would have been an independent contractor for the syndicate, unheard of in the 1940s, but the deal fell through. Schulz quit two years into

5499-932: The Charles Schulz Museum . On May 27, 2000, many cartoonists collaborated to include references to Peanuts in their strips. Originally planned as a tribute to Schulz's retirement, after his death that February it became a tribute to his life and career. Similarly, on October 30, 2005, several comic strips again included references to Peanuts and specifically the It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown television special. On November 26, 2022, several cartoonists included references to Peanuts and Charles Schulz in their strips to celebrate his 100th birthday. Robert L. Short interpreted certain themes and conversations in Peanuts as consistent with parts of Christian theology and used them as illustrations in his lectures on

5616-459: The Gospel , as explained in his book The Gospel According to Peanuts , the first of several he wrote on religion, Peanuts , and popular culture . Schulz's daughter, Amy, was drawn to join the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints by a Latter-day Saint boyfriend. According to Amy, Schulz told her that the "church is either true or it's a hoax . And I think it's a hoax." Although Schulz

5733-627: The Silver Buffalo Award , the highest adult award given by the Boy Scouts of America , for his service to American youth. On June 28, 1996, Schulz was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame , adjacent to Walt Disney 's. A replica of this star appears outside his former studio in Santa Rosa. On November 2, 2015, Snoopy was also honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. On January 1, 1974, Schulz served as

5850-409: The "Top 50 Greatest Cartoon Characters of All Time", published to commemorate its 50th anniversary. Schulz was included in the touring exhibition "Masters of American Comics". His work was described as "psychologically complex", and his style as "perfectly in keeping with the style of its times." Despite the widespread acclaim Peanuts has received, some critics have alleged a decline in quality in

5967-434: The "World War One Flying Ace", Frieda and her "naturally curly hair", and Franklin. Peanuts is remarkable for its deft social commentary , especially compared with other strips appearing in the 1950s and early 1960s. Schulz did not explicitly address racial and gender equality issues so much as assume them to be self-evident. Peppermint Patty's athletic skill and self-confidence are simply taken for granted, for example, as

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6084-513: The 1960s. The classic television special A Charlie Brown Christmas from 1965, features the character Linus van Pelt quoting the King James Version of the Bible (Luke 2:8–14) to explain to Charlie Brown what Christmas is all about (in personal interviews, Schulz mentioned that Linus represented his spiritual side). Because of the explicit religious material in A Charlie Brown Christmas , many have interpreted Schulz's work as having

6201-603: The 1970s, "went from being the strip's besetting artistic weakness to ruining it altogether". Many cartoonists who came after Schulz have cited his work as an influence, including Lynn Johnston , Patrick McDonnell , and Cathy Guisewite , the latter of whom stated, "A comic strip like mine would never have existed if Charles Schulz hadn't paved the way". The December 1997 issue of The Comics Journal featured an extensive collection of testimonials to Peanuts. Over 40 cartoonists, from mainstream newspaper cartoonists to underground, independent comic artists, shared reflections on

6318-586: The Charles M. Schulz Creative Associates licensing company, and has had a prominent role in modern Peanuts adaptations, including The Peanuts Movie . Schulz's daughter Jill starred in the 1988 live action and animation hybrid Peanuts special It's the Girl in the Red Truck, Charlie Brown . On May 8, 1988, two gunmen in ski masks entered the Schulzes' home through an unlocked door, planning to kidnap Jean, but

6435-825: The Grand Marshal of the Rose Parade in Pasadena, California . This led to the only Peanuts strip in which he made any reference to himself: Lucy was watching the parade, and told Linus that the Grand Marshal was somebody "you've never heard of". The same year, he received the Inkpot Award . In 1980, Schulz received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement , presented by Awards Council member Judge John Sirica . Schulz

6552-812: The Pirates ) and Bill Mauldin as key influences on Schulz's work. In his own strip, Schulz regularly described Snoopy's annual Veterans Day visits with Mauldin, including mention of Mauldin's World War II cartoons. Schulz also credited George Herriman ( Krazy Kat ), Roy Crane ( Wash Tubbs ), Elzie C. Segar ( Thimble Theatre ) and Percy Crosby ( Skippy ) as influences. In a 1994 address to fellow cartoonists, Schulz discussed several of them. But according to his biographer Rheta Grimsley Johnson : It would be impossible to narrow down three or two or even one direct influence on [Schulz's] personal drawing style. The uniqueness of "Peanuts" has set it apart for years ... That one-of-a-kind quality permeates every aspect of

6669-577: The United States legislature can bestow. The bill passed the House (with only Ron Paul voting no and 24 not voting) on February 15, and the bill was sent to the Senate, where it passed unanimously on May 2. The Senate also considered a related bill, S.2060 (introduced by Dianne Feinstein ). President Bill Clinton signed the bill into law on June 20, 2000. On June 7, 2001, Schulz's widow Jean accepted

6786-486: The addition of Black characters could help normalize the idea of friendships between children of different ethnicities. Franklin appeared in a trio of strips set at a beach, in which he first gets Charlie Brown's beach ball from the water and subsequently helps him build a sand castle, during which he mentions that his father is in Vietnam. In 1975, the panel format was shortened slightly horizontally, and shortly thereafter

6903-475: The air and boasted that he was the first dog ever to launch a human parodied the hype associated with Sputnik 2's launch of Laika the dog into space earlier that year. Another sequence lampooned Little Leagues and "organized" play when all the neighborhood kids join snowman -building leagues and criticize Charlie Brown when he insists on building his own snowmen without leagues or coaches. Peanuts touched on religious themes on many occasions, especially during

7020-399: The attempt failed when Charles' daughter Jill drove up to the house, prompting the would-be kidnappers to flee. Jill called the police from a neighbor's house. Sonoma County Sheriff Dick Michaelsen said, "It was obviously an attempted kidnap-ransom. This was a targeted criminal act. They knew exactly who the victims were." Neither Schulz nor his wife were hurt during the incident. Schulz had

7137-430: The award on behalf of her late husband in a public ceremony. Peanuts Peanuts is a syndicated daily and Sunday American comic strip written and illustrated by Charles M. Schulz . The strip's original run extended from 1950 to 2000, continuing in reruns afterward. Peanuts is among the most popular and influential in the history of comic strips, with 17,897 strips published in all, making it "arguably

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7254-468: The cartoon shared similarities to Peanuts . The name "Charlie Brown" was first used there. The series also had a dog that looked much like the early 1950s version of Snoopy. Schulz submitted his Li'l Folks cartoons to United Features Syndicate (UFS), who responded with interest. He visited the syndicate in New York City and presented a package of new comic strips he had worked on, rather than

7371-412: The comic strip as a whole is a personal expression, and so it is impossible to avoid all the characters presenting aspects of his personality. Biographer David Michaelis made a similar conclusion, describing Charlie Brown as simply representing Schulz's "wishy-washiness and determination". Regardless, some profiles of Schulz confidently held that Charlie Brown was based on him. All and all, Charlie Brown

7488-502: The condition he fire the girls and Snoopy, because the league does not allow girls or dogs to play. Schulz threw satirical barbs at any number of topics when he chose. His child and animal characters satirized the adult world. Over the years he tackled everything from the Vietnam War to school dress codes to " New Math ". The May 20, 1962 strip featured an icon that stated "Defend Freedom, Buy U.S. Savings Bonds ." In 1963 he added

7605-424: The decided title that was forced upon Schulz, to his consternation. Schulz hated the title Peanuts , which remained a source of irritation to him throughout his life. He accused the production manager at UFS of not having even seen the comic strip before giving it a title, and he said that the title would only make sense if there was a character named "Peanuts". On the day it was syndicated, Schulz's friend visited

7722-420: The dwindling size of the comics page. 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 agreement, United Media stored these unpublished strips,

7839-601: The existence of which eventually became public. Plastino himself also claimed to have ghostwritten for Schulz while Schulz underwent heart surgery in 1983. In the 1980s and the 1990s, the strip remained the most popular comic in history, even though other comics, such as Garfield and Calvin and Hobbes , rivaled Peanuts in popularity. Schulz continued to write the strip until announcing his retirement on December 14, 1999, due to his failing health. The last three Peanuts strips were run from Saturday, January 1, 2000, through Monday, January 3, 2000. The Saturday strip showed

7956-422: The field. Schulz disliked Davis's low, broad-appeal approach to his work and was somewhat jealous when Davis's Garfield eclipsed Peanuts in popularity; in spite of this, Schulz frequently provided advice to the younger Davis, particularly in the realms of merchandising and franchising, by using the strategy he had developed for Snoopy and allowing Davis to develop it further for Garfield. Davis considered Schulz

8073-417: The final decision would be for the syndicate. A different name for the comic strip became necessary after legal advice confirmed that Little Folks was a registered trademark. Meanwhile, the production manager of UFS noted the popularity of the children's program Howdy Doody . The show featured an audience of children who were seated in the " Peanut Gallery ", and were referred to as "Peanuts". This inspired

8190-817: The final panel. Snoopy was also an early character in the strip, first appearing in the third strip, which ran on October 4. Its first Sunday strip appeared January 6, 1952, in the half-page format, which was the only complete format for the entire life of the Sunday strip. Most of the other characters that eventually became regulars of the strip did not appear until later: Violet (February 1951), Schroeder (May 1951), Lucy (March 1952), Linus (September 1952), Pig-Pen (July 1954), Sally (August 1959), Frieda (March 1961), "Peppermint" Patty (August 1966), Franklin (July 1968), Woodstock (introduced March 1966, officially named June 1970), Marcie (July 1971), and Rerun (March 1973). Schulz decided to produce all aspects of

8307-427: The fourth, trying to paint something other than flowers in art class, and Sally makes her last appearance in the fifth conversing with Charlie Brown about love letters. The final Peanuts strip, as shown here, ran on February 13, 2000, the night after Schulz died from a heart attack. It consisted of two small panels across the top and a large panel at the bottom. The title panel shows Charlie Brown talking to someone on

8424-446: The gospel, as explained in his book The Gospel According to Peanuts , the first of several he wrote on religion, Peanuts , and popular culture. Li%27l Folks Schulz was 24 at the time he began drawing Li'l Folks , and he was living with his father in a four-bedroom apartment above his father's barber shop. He earned $ 10 for each submission to the paper. The first two installments of Li'l Folks ran June 8 and 15, 1947, in

8541-404: The importance of crafting the strip himself: "This is not a crazy business about slinging ink. This is a deadly serious business." While the strip in its early years resembles its later form, there are significant differences. The art was cleaner, sleeker, and simpler, with thicker lines and short, squat characters. For example, in these early strips, Charlie Brown's famous round head is closer to

8658-521: The later years of its run, as Schulz frequently digressed from the more cerebral socio-psychological themes that characterized his earlier work in favor of lighter, more whimsical fare. For example, in an essay published in the New York Press at the time of the final daily strip in January 2000, "Against Snoopy", Christopher Caldwell argued that Snoopy, and the strip's increased focus on him in

8775-450: The latest being Snoopy Presents: Welcome Home, Franklin in 2024. Until his death, Schulz wrote or co-wrote the TV specials and carefully oversaw their production. Charlie Brown , the principal character of Peanuts , was named after a co-worker at Art Instruction Inc. Schulz drew much from his own life, some examples being: The Charles M. Schulz Museum counts Milton Caniff ( Terry and

8892-458: The lettering became larger to compensate. Previously, the daily Peanuts strips were formatted in a four-panel "space saving" format beginning in the 1950s, with a few very rare eight-panel strips, that still fit into the four-panel mold. Beginning on Leap Day in 1988, Schulz abandoned the four-panel format in favor of three-panel dailies and occasionally used the entire length of the strip as one panel, partly for experimentation, but also to combat

9009-408: The longest story ever told by one human being". At the time of Schulz's death in 2000, Peanuts ran in over 2,600 newspapers, with a readership of roughly 355 million across 75 countries, and had been translated into 21 languages. It helped to cement the four-panel gag strip as the standard in the United States, and together with its merchandise earned Schulz more than $ 1 billion. It got

9126-460: The modern comic strip", said Bill Watterson, "so even now it's hard to see it with fresh eyes. The clean, minimalist drawings, the sarcastic humor, the unflinching emotional honesty, the inner thoughts of a household pet, the serious treatment of children, the wild fantasies, the merchandising on an enormous scale – in countless ways, Schulz blazed the wide trail that most every cartoonist since has tried to follow." Charles Monroe Schulz

9243-401: The name Charlie Brown on May 30, 1948, although Schulz applied the name in four gags to three different boys, as well as one buried in sand, during 1948–1949. One strip also featured a dog named Rover that looked much like Snoopy . Like most of Peanuts , adult characters were not shown in the strip. The newspaper never returned Schulz's original artwork, so he clipped each week's strip from

9360-470: The package, however, come from the 1960s. Peanuts continues to be prevalent in multiple media through widespread syndication, the publication of The Complete Peanuts , the release of several new television specials (all of which Schulz had worked on, but had not finished, before his death), and Peanuts Motion Comics . Additionally, BOOM! Studios has published a series of comic books that feature new material by new writers and artists, although some of it

9477-408: The panel cartoons he submitted. UFS found they preferred the comic strip. When UFS was preparing to syndicate the comic strip as Li'l Folk , Tack Knight, who authored the retired 1930s comic strip Little Folks , sought to claim exclusive rights to the title being used. Schulz argued in a letter to Knight that the contraction of Little to Li'l was intended to avoid this conflict, but conceded that

9594-457: The paper and placed it in his scrapbook, which eventually housed over 7,000 pieces of artwork. In 2004, the complete run of the strip was collected by the Charles M. Schulz Museum and Research Center ( Santa Rosa, California ) in a book, Li'l Beginnings , by Derrick Bang with a foreword by Jean Schulz. It is available from the Museum and distributed by Fantagraphics Books . The complete run of

9711-459: The power and influence of Schulz's art. Gilbert Hernandez wrote, " Peanuts was and still is for me a revelation. It's mostly from Peanuts where I was inspired to create the village of Palomar in Love and Rockets . Schulz's characters, the humor, the insight ... gush, gush, gush, bow, bow, bow, grovel, grovel, grovel ..." Tom Batiuk wrote: "The influence of Charles Schulz on the craft of cartooning

9828-615: The president said "Well, we can't copyright a name like that." I didn't ask them about Nancy or Steve Canyon . I was in no position to argue. —Charles Schulz, in a 1987 interview with Frank Pauer in Dayton Daily News and Journal Herald Magazine Peanuts had its origin in Li'l Folks , a weekly panel cartoon that appeared in Schulz's hometown newspaper, the St. Paul Pioneer Press , from 1947 to 1950. Elementary details of

9945-442: The rink, including Roy Emerson . In addition to comics, Schulz was interested in art in general; his favorite artist in his later years was Andrew Wyeth . As a young adult, Schulz also developed a passion for classical music. Although the piano-playing character Schroeder in Peanuts adored Beethoven , Schulz's personal favorite composer was Brahms . He had a strong personal respect for Murray Ball , creator of Footrot Flats ;

10062-504: The schedule demanded by a daily comic strip. My family does not wish "Peanuts" to be continued by anyone else , therefore I am announcing my retirement. I have been grateful over the years for the loyalty of our editors and the wonderful support and love expressed to me by fans of the comic strip. Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Linus, Lucy, …how can I ever forget them… Many other cartoonists paid tribute to Peanuts and Schulz by homages in their own strips, appearing on February 13, 2000, or in

10179-439: The shape of an American football or rugby football . Most of the kids were initially fairly round-headed. As another example, all the characters (except Charlie Brown) had their mouths longer and had smaller eyes when they looked sideways. The 1960s is generally considered to be the "golden age" for Peanuts . During this period, some of the strip's best-known themes and characters appeared, including Peppermint Patty, Snoopy as

10296-434: The spiritual biography points out a much wider array of religious references. Brought up in a nominally Lutheran family, Schulz was active in the Church of God as a young adult and later taught Sunday school at a United Methodist Church . In the 1960s, Robert L. Short interpreted certain themes and conversations in Peanuts as consistent with parts of Christian theology , and used them as illustrations in his lectures on

10413-561: The strip after the editor turned down his requests for a pay increase and a move of Li'l Folks from the women's section to the comics pages. Later that year, Schulz approached the United Feature Syndicate (also a Scripps Company ) with Li'l Folks , and the syndicate became interested. By this point, Schulz had redeveloped Li'l Folks with a four-panel strip format and a set cast of characters, rather than different nameless children for each page. The syndicate accepted

10530-466: The strip and very clearly extends to the drawing. It is purely his with no clear forerunners and no subsequent pretenders. According to the museum, Schulz watched the movie Citizen Kane 40 times. The character Lucy van Pelt also expresses a fondness for the film, and in one strip, she cruelly spoils the ending for her younger brother. According to the biography Schulz and Peanuts by David Michaelis, Schulz considered Jim Davis his greatest rival in

10647-447: The strip by himself, resulting in noticeably shakier lines over time. In November 1999, Schulz suffered several small strokes and a blocked aorta, and he was later found to have colon cancer that had metastasized . Because of the chemotherapy and because he could not see clearly, he announced his retirement on December 14, 1999. The decision was difficult for Schulz, who told Al Roker on The Today Show , "I never dreamed that this

10764-616: The strip himself from the script to the finished art and lettering. Schulz did, however, hire help to produce the comic book adaptations of Peanuts . Thus, the strip was able to be presented with a unified tone, and Schulz was able to employ a minimalistic style. Backgrounds were generally not used, and when they were, Schulz's frazzled lines imbued them with a fraught, psychological appearance. This style has been described by art critic John Carlin as forcing "its readers to focus on subtle nuances rather than broad actions or sharp transitions." Schulz held this belief all his life, reaffirming in 1994

10881-573: The strip ran during his vacation, the only time that occurred during Schulz's life. The first collection of Peanuts strips was published in July 1952 by Rinehart & Company . Many more books followed, greatly contributing to the strip's increasing popularity. In 2004, Fantagraphics began their Complete Peanuts series. Peanuts also proved popular in other media; the first animated TV special, A Charlie Brown Christmas , aired in December 1965 and won an Emmy award. Numerous TV specials followed,

10998-488: The strip would outlive him because the strips were usually drawn weeks before their publication. Schulz was buried at Pleasant Hills Cemetery in Sebastopol, California . Schulz was honored on May 27, 2000, by cartoonists of more than 100 comic strips, who paid homage to him and Peanuts by incorporating his characters into their strips that day. While United Features retained ownership of the strip, Schulz requested that

11115-544: The strip's run. For example Shermy , Patty and Violet were core characters during the initial years of the strip. By 1956, Patty and Violet's roles were described only as an extension to Lucy's, and Shermy, who was initially Charlie Brown's closest friend, was then described merely as "an extra little boy". In 1954, Schulz attempted to introduce Charlotte Braun, who was essentially a female version of Charlie Brown but with an excessively loud voice; poor reaction to her humorless personality led to Schulz " killing her off " in

11232-483: The strip. He offers opinions on topics such as literature, art, science, politics and theology . He possesses a sense of morality and ethical judgment that enables him to navigate topics such as faith, intolerance, and depression. Schulz enjoyed the adaptability of his character, remarking he can be "very smart" as well as "dumb". He has a tendency of expressing lofty or pompous ideas that are quickly rebuked. He finds psychological security from thumb sucking and holding

11349-467: The strip; however, the name Li'l Folks was too close to the names of two other comics of the time: Al Capp 's Li'l Abner and a strip titled Little Folks . To avoid confusion, the syndicate chose the name Peanuts , after the peanut gallery featured in the Howdy Doody TV show. Peanuts made its first appearance on October 2, 1950, in seven newspapers. Li'l Folks saw the first use of

11466-402: The suggestion that the emotionally sensitive and depressed behavior of Charlie Brown drew from Schulz's own life or childhood experiences. Commenting on the tendency of these conclusions being drawn, Schulz said in a 1968 interview, "I think of myself as Charles Schulz. But if someone wants to believe I'm really Charlie Brown, well, it makes a good story." He explained in another interview that

11583-449: The syndicate had to change the title for Schulz's strip for legal reasons and selected a new name, Peanuts . Peanuts made its first appearance on October 2, 1950, in seven newspapers. The weekly Sunday page debuted on January 6, 1952. After a slow start, Peanuts eventually became one of the most popular comic strips of all time, as well as one of the most influential. Schulz also had a short-lived sports-oriented comic strip, It's Only

11700-460: The syndicate, unheard of in the 1940s, but the deal fell through. Li'l Folks was dropped from the Pioneer Press in January 1950. Later that year, Schulz approached United Feature Syndicate with the one-panel series Li'l Folks , and the syndicate became interested. By that time Schulz had also developed a comic strip, usually using four panels rather than one, and to Schulz's delight, the syndicate preferred that version. But to his consternation,

11817-572: The syndicator allow no other artist to draw Peanuts . United Features honored his wishes, instead syndicating reruns. Because Schulz considered other media separate from the strip, new television specials and comic books with the Peanuts characters have been made since his death. Schulz received the National Cartoonists Society 's Humor Comic Strip Award in 1962 for Peanuts and the Society's Elzie Segar Award in 1980; he

11934-414: The telephone, who is apparently asking to speak to Snoopy. Charlie Brown responds by telling the caller "no, I think he’s writing". The second panel shows Snoopy sitting atop his doghouse typing on his typewriter as he had many times before, while the words "Dear Friends…" appeared above his head. The larger panel at the bottom consisted of a larger scale drawing of the final daily strip, with Snoopy against

12051-436: The title of Li'l Folks , but that had been used before, so they said we have to think of another title. I couldn't think of one and somebody at United Features came up with the miserable title Peanuts , which I hate and have always hated. It has no dignity and it's not descriptive. [...] What could I do? Here I was, an unknown kid from St. Paul . I couldn't think of anything else. I said, why don't we call it Charlie Brown and

12168-492: The title to Charlie Brown on multiple occasions in the past but found that it would ultimately cause problems with licensees who already incorporated the existing title into their products, with unnecessary expenses involved for all downstream licensees to change it. The strip began as a daily strip on October 2, 1950, in seven newspapers: the Minneapolis Star , a hometown newspaper of Schulz (page 37, along with

12285-479: The two men influenced each other throughout their careers. According to a 2015 "spiritual biography ", Schulz's faith was complex and personal. He often touched on religious themes in his work, including in the classic television cartoon A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965), which features Linus quoting Luke 2:8–14 in the King James Version of the Bible to explain "what Christmas is all about." In interviews, Schulz said that Linus represented his spiritual side, and

12402-453: The week beforehand. The comic was reprinted the day after that, but only had the farewell letter. After Peanuts ended, United Feature Syndicate began offering the newspapers that ran it a package of reprinted strips under the title Classic Peanuts . The syndicate limited the choices to either strips from the 1960s or from the 1990s, although a newspaper was also given the option to carry both reprint packages if it desired. All Sunday strips in

12519-415: The world we live in. In 2013, Schulz's widow said: I think that he was a deeply thoughtful and spiritual man. Sparky was not the sort of person who would say "oh that's God's will" or "God will take care of it." I think to him that was an easy statement, and he thought that God was much more complicated. When he came back from the army he was very lonely. His mother had died and he was invited to church by

12636-451: Was Charlie Brown's attempts to kick a football while Lucy was holding it, only to have Lucy pull it back at the last moment, causing him to fall on his back). His response, "Oh, no. Definitely not. I couldn't have Charlie Brown kick that football; that would be a terrible disservice to him after nearly half a century." But in a December 1999 interview, holding back tears, Schulz recounted the moment when he signed his final strip, saying, "All of

12753-584: Was a keen bridge player, and Peanuts occasionally included bridge references. In 1997, the American Contract Bridge League (ACBL) awarded both Snoopy and Woodstock the honorary rank of Life Master , and Schulz was delighted. On February 10, 2000, two days before Schulz's death, Congressman Mike Thompson introduced H.R. 3642, a bill to award Schulz the Congressional Gold Medal , the highest civilian honor

12870-522: Was always looking for what those passages REALLY might have meant. Some of his discussions with priests and ministers were so interesting because he wanted to find out what these people (who he thought were more educated than he) thought. When he taught Sunday school, he would never tell people what to believe. God was very important to him, but in a very deep way, in a very mysterious way. In July 1981, Schulz underwent heart bypass surgery. During his hospital stay, President Ronald Reagan phoned to wish him

12987-874: Was awarded the Lester Patrick Trophy for outstanding service to the sport of hockey in the United States. Schulz also enjoyed golf and was a member of the Santa Rosa Golf and Country Club from 1959 to 2000. In 1998, Schulz hosted the first Over-75 Hockey Tournament. In 2000, the Ramsey County Board in St. Paul, Minnesota, voted to rename the Highland Park Ice Arena the Charles M. Schulz–Highland Arena in his honor. Schulz also used his hockey rink for tennis exhibitions after meeting Billie Jean King . Many tennis pros played in

13104-681: Was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota , on November 26, 1922, and grew up in Saint Paul . He was the only child of Carl Fred Schulz and Dena Halverson, and was of German and Norwegian descent. His uncle called him "Sparky" after the horse Spark Plug in Billy DeBeck 's comic strip Barney Google , which Schulz enjoyed reading. Schulz attended Richards Gordon Elementary School in Saint Paul, where he skipped two half-grades. He became

13221-418: Was declared second in a list of the "greatest comics of the 20th century" commissioned by The Comics Journal in 1999. The top-ranked comic was George Herriman 's Krazy Kat , a strip Schulz admired (and in fact was among his biggest inspirations), and he accepted the ranking in good grace, to the point of agreeing with it. In 2002 TV Guide declared Snoopy and Charlie Brown tied for 8th in its list of

13338-589: Was disenchanted by Mormonism and his daughter's conversion, he continued to support her and, according to Amy, told her that he appreciated the bond between the two of them created by her belief "in Christ and the scriptures." From the late 1980s, Schulz said in interviews that some people had described him as a " secular humanist " but that he did not know one way or the other: I do not go to church anymore ... I guess you might say I've come around to secular humanism, an obligation I believe all humans have to others and

13455-443: Was published daily in 2,600 papers in 75 countries, in 21 languages. Over nearly 50 years, Schulz drew 17,897 published Peanuts strips. The strips, plus merchandise and product endorsements, produced revenues of more than $ 1 billion per year, with Schulz earning an estimated $ 30 million to $ 40 million annually. During the strip's run, Schulz took only one vacation, a five-week break in late 1997 to celebrate his 75th birthday; reruns of

13572-560: Was the first two-time winner of their Reuben Award (for 1955 and 1964) and the winner of their Milton Caniff Lifetime Achievement Award in 1999. He was also an avid hockey fan; in 1981, Schulz was awarded the Lester Patrick Trophy for outstanding contributions to the sport of hockey in the United States, and he was inducted into the United States Hockey Hall of Fame in 1993. In 1988, Schulz received

13689-399: Was what would happen to me. I always had the feeling that I would probably stay with the strip until I was in my early eighties. But all of a sudden it's gone. It's been taken away from me. I did not take this away from me." Schulz was asked if, in his final Peanuts strip, Charlie Brown would finally get to kick the football after so many decades (one of the many recurring themes in Peanuts

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