American Cartoonist and Creator of the “Peanuts” comic strip, Charles M. Schulz gained many accolades throughout his career, such as winner of two Reuben, two Peabody and five Emmy Awards, and if that wasn’t enough recognition for his work, he was also a member of the Cartoonist Hall of Fame.
Charles Monroe Schultz was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota on 26 November 1922. His father Karl was a barber of German heritage and his mother Dena a homemaker from a large Norwegian family. Charles and his father shared a Sunday morning ritual reading the funnies, including Barney Google, Skippy, Mickey Mouse and Popeye. His uncle nicknamed him “Sparky”, after a horse character “Spark Plug” portrayed in his favorite cartoon strip, Barney Google. The name stuck throughout his life. Schultz always new he wanted to be a cartoonist, and it was further cemented when as a teenager in 1937, he sketched a picture of the family dog “Spike” and it appeared in the nationally syndicated “Ripley’s Believe it or not” newspaper.
Shultz skipped two grades as academically, he was beyond his years, but his statue certainly wasn’t, this meant that he was the smallest in his class at St Paul, Minnesota.
Having developed a love of drawing, his mother encouraged him to take a correspondence cartoon course with the Federal School of Applied Cartooning whilst as a senior in high school. Through the 1920’s and 30’s, Shultz continued to develop and hone in on his particular style of penmanship. Two monumental events within days of each other were to have a profoundly huge affect on Schultz’s life in 1945. The first, his beloved mother passed away of cervical cancer and then shortly after, Schultz found himself on a troop train choofing off to Camp Campbell in Kentucky to begin life as an army officer.
Schultz was proud of both his leadership qualities rising to the rank of sergeant, and of course his creativity with his cartoons, but neither of these could prepare him for the personal devastation that would haunt him throughtout his life with the loss of his mother and the realities of war. Upon returning from war, Schultz took up residence with his aging father above his barber shop and set about following his dream of becoming a professional cartoonist.
The Federal School of Applied cartooning, now known as “Art Instruction”, sold one panel cartoons to the Saturday Evening Post, and subsequently, Schultz enjoyed a three year run with his comic “Li’l Folks” in the local rag “St. Paul’s Pioneer Press”. His earlier drawings of precocious children with very large heads, who would interact with words and actions beyond their years, were a hit with the general public. Schultz further developed his characters, hoping to reach a national market.
The very first “Peanuts” strip appeared on 2 October, 1950 and appeared in seven newspapers nationwide. Schultz could never have foreseen the longevity and global impact of his seemingly simple four-panel creation. Peanuts continuing popular appeal with its audience in large part, came from Schultz’s ability to portray his observations and connect with people in ways other many other cartoon strips couldn’t.
Throughout the years, each characters personality grew allowing readers to intimately get to know and understand why Linus had such an attachment to his security blanket, Schroeder’s devotion to Beethoven, Charlie’s frustration over a little red headed girl, Peppermint Patty’s prowess in sports and failure in the classroom, and who can forget Lucy and her knowledge of …well….everything. Schultz had the ability to hint at the presence of adults, and have them actively have roles throughout the history of his strips but never ever visually seen in the storylines.
The introduction of “Snoopy” in the 60’s allowed Schultz to take his storylines in increasingly new directions. Snoopy the floppy eared dog with the wild imagination, sees himself as a fighter pilot trying to shoot down the Red Baron, this is when he is not running “Beagle Scout Troop” consisting of the bird “Woodstock” and his friends. As the strip became more popular, new characters were introduced, including “Sally” Charlie Browns sister, “Rerun” Lucy’s brother, Peppermint Patty, Marcie, Franklin, Jose Peterson, Pigpen, and Snoopy’s brother “Spike”. Schultz’s understated genius lay in the ability to keep his characters fresh enough to appeal to new readers, whilst holding onto the audience he already had. He insisted that he was not trying to send any moral or religious messages through his comic strip, however even to the casual reader, “Peanuts” offered lessons to be learned.
In July 1981, Schultz underwent heart bypass surgery. During his hospital stay, President Ronald Reagan, called in on him personally, to wish him a speedy recovery.
In 1988, a kidnapping attempt on Schultz’s wife was foiled when his daughter drove into the driveway of their home. Two masked gunmen entered the cartoonist’s home through an unlocked back door. The daughter saw what was happening, so she ran to a neighbour’s house, and rang the police.
In November 1999, Schultz suffered several small stokes. A rush to hospital would have him diagnosed with a blocked aorta. Through threatment for this, doctors would also discover, Schultz also had colon cancer that had spread to other parts of his body. Due to this and the chemotherapy he had to endure, Schultz could not read or see properly, so he announced his retirement on December 14, 1999. When Schultz announced his retirement, the “Peanuts” comic strip was being published in over 2,600 newspapers worldwide, with book collections translated in over 25 languages.
Schultz was asked for his final Peanuts strip. When it was suggested that perhaps the best way to go out would be to allow Charlie Brown to finally be able to kick a football after many decades of trying. (Lucy of course always pulled it back at the last moment, causing Charlie to fall on his back). Schultz’s response was “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”. Yet later holding back the tears, Schultz signed the panel of his final strip saying “All of a sudden I thought, you know, that poor, poor kid never even got to kick the football”. “What a dirty trick, he never had a chance to kick the football”.
AWARDS AND HONORS
- National Cartoonist Society’s Humor Comic Strip Award, the society’s Elzie Segar Award, two time winner of their Reuben Award, their Milton Caniff Lifetime Achievement Award
- The Lester Patrick Trophy and was inducted into the United States Hockey Hall of Fame for his outstanding contributions to the sport of hockey in the United States.
- He was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, adjacent to that of Walt Disney
- He received the Silver Buffalo Award by the Boy Scouts of America, for his service to American youth.
- He was honored with the naming of Apollo 10 command module Charlie Brown, and lunar module Snoopy, launched May 18, 1969.
- He served as Grand Marshall of the Rose Parade in Pasadena, California
- 2000, Congressman Mike Thompson introduced H.R. 3642 a bill to award Schultz the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest civilian honor the United States legislature can bestow. Bill Clinton signed the bill and his widow Jean accepted the award on his behalf.
- Schultz was inducted into the United States Figure Skating Hall of Fame.
He received the National Cartoonists Society’s Humor Comic Strip Award; the society’s Elzie Segar Award; he was a two time winner of their Reuben award; the Milton Caniff Lifetime Achievement Award; the Lester Patrick Trophy and was inducted into the United States Hockey Hall of Fame, for his outstanding contributions to the sport of hockey in the United States; he was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, adjacent to Walt Disney’s; he was also a recipient of the Silver Buffalo Award by the Boy Scouts of America, for his service to American youth.
Schulz was married twice, the first marriage to Joyce Halverson in 1949 (divorced 1972) and the second to Jean Clyde in 1973. He had five children by his first wife. Meredith, Charles Monroe, Craig, Amy, and Jill. He was an avid hockey player, had a passion for golf, and enjoyed tennis.
On the morning of Sunday 13 February 2000, newspaper readers opened their comic pages as they had for nearly fifty years to read the latest adventures of “Peanuts”. This Sunday was different though as just before the newspapers hit doorsteps throughout the world, its creator Charles M Schultz wasn’t only featured in the comic strip section of the paper, he made the front page also. Schultz who once described his life as being “one of rejection” passed away peacefully in his sleep the night before, succumbing to complications from colon cancer. It was a poetic ending to the life of a devoted cartoonist who, from his earliest memories, knew that all he wanted to do was “draw funny pictures” to bring even a moments happiness to those that read them.
Schultz may no longer be with us, but still today, the “Peanuts” gang continue to entertain and inspire the young and young at heart. What a legacy he has left behind for generations to come.
