THE PEANUTS

MEET THE FOLKS
GOOD GRIEF!
STATUESQUE
I'M LAUGHING ON THE OUTSIDE, MOSTLY
YOU'RE A GOOD MAN, CHARLIE BROWN
BELIEVE IT
SNOOP DOG
DOGGONE
THE SPARKS WILL FLY
RED BARON
THE GREAT LUCY, CHARLIE BROWN
A CHARLIE BROWN CHRISTMAS
CHARLES MONROE SCHULZ

"It seems beyond the comprehension of people that
someone can be born to draw comic strips, but I think
I was." - Charles Schulz

MEET THE FOLKS

The original title of Charles Schulz cartoon series
was, "Li'l Folks".
When United Features Syndicate accepted it for print,
they renamed it,
"The Peanuts". The name change was due to the fact
that there once had been a strip titled, "Little
Folks". Charles never really liked the new title but
accepted it and the strip debuted in only seven
newspapers on October 2nd, 1950.

GOOD GRIEF!

How could anyone then have known the popularity and
mainstay it would achieve over the next several
decades? It eventually grew to be in 2,600 different
newspapers and read in 21 languages by 355 million
people in 75 countries.

STATUESQUE

Charles went on to win comic art's highest honor, the
Reuben Award, in 1955 and 1964. He was also named
'International Cartoonist of the Year' in 1978. On top
of that he was named France's 'Commander of Arts and
Letters', one of that country's highest awards for
excellence in the arts, in 1990.

I'M LAUGHING ON THE OUTSIDE, MOSTLY

Although he single-handedly made millions of people
laugh on a weekly basis, he was reportedly battling
depression and anxiety simultaneously.

"I have a new philosophy. I'm only going to dread one
day at a time." - Charles Schulz

YOU'RE A GOOD MAN, CHARLIE BROWN

He named Charlie Brown after an instructor at the art
correspondence school where he attended and taught.

"A good education is the next best thing to a pushy
mother." - Charles Schulz

BELIEVE IT

When he was a kid, he had a drawing of his dog, Spike,
appear in "Ripley's Believe It Or Not". "One day I was
playing with a paddle and ball in the backyard and the
rubber band broke, and Spike chased down the ball,
grabbed it, and swallowed it. That night, after eating
too much spaghetti, he threw it up." Soon after,
captivated by Spike's shenanigans, Schulz sent a
drawing of him to Robert Ripley, creator of the
popular feature "Ripley's Believe It or Not!" Ripley
printed the drawing, identifying Spike as "a hunting
dog who eats pins, tacks and razor blades."

SNOOP DOG

"I remember my mother saying once that if we ever had
another dog, Snoopy would be a good name for the dog,
which is why Snoopy is called by that name. And he
was patterned a little bit after a dog we had when I
was about 13 or 14 years old. His name was Spike, of
course. He was kind of a wild dog." & Charles Schulz

"I'm going to miss Snoopy more than Charlie Brown.
Cartoonists are in the business of making friends for
people--and there are some characters in that strip
who became special friends. I won't miss some of the
characters. Lucy, for example, is sort of a pain in
the ass. But Snoopy is special." - cartoonist Mort
Walker, creator of "Beetle Bailey

Charles eventually used the name, Spike, giving it to
Snoopy's desert dwelling brother.

DOGGONE

His comic strips featuring Snoopy as a "World War One
Flying Ace" have been credited with reviving interest
in WWI aircraft, especially the Sopwith Camel, which
Snoopy pretended to fly.

THE SPARKS WILL FLY

He was a fairly tall guy at 5 foot 11 1/2 inches,
makes you wonder if he just called himself 6 feet
tall. His nickname was Sparky.

RED BARON

During World War 2, he was a .50-caliber machine
gunner. On the day he actually had the opportunity to
use the heavy gun, he suddenly realized he forgot to
load it. Fortunately for him, the German soldier he
ran into surrendered.

"Life is like a ten-speed bike. Most of us have gears
we never use." - Charles Schulz

THE GREAT LUCY, CHARLIE BROWN

In the animated show, 'The Great Pumpkin Charlie
Brown' when Linus walks into the room after writing a
letter to the Great Pumpkin, Lucy is sitting in front
of the TV reading a TV Guide. The picture on the cover
of that magazine is a picture of Lucy herself.

After 'The Great Pumpkin' originally aired, children
all over the country sent Charlie Brown candy out of
sympathy.

A CHARLIE BROWN CHRISTMAS

'A Charlie Brown Christmas' was the first animated
Peanuts special and originally aired in 1965. The
current version of the show has scenes edited out,
there once was a scene where the kids were throwing
snowballs at a can on a fence and another scene where
Linus crashes into a sign for Coca-Cola. Coca-Cola was
the original sponsor of the show and there used to be
a final on-screen "Merry Christmas from your local
bottler of Coca-Cola" sung by the Peanuts kids. The
show went on to win an Emmy Award for "Outstanding
Children's Program," and a Peabody Award for
excellence in programming.

Along with "It's a Wonderful Life", the show is a
Christmas tradition enjoyed by millions of families
every holiday season.

CHARLES MONROE SCHULZ

Charles Monroe Schulz died in his sleep at about 9:45
PM on February 12th, 2000 in Santa Rosa, California.
He had been suffering from colon cancer which he was
diagnosed with just months earlier in November 1999.
Asides from that he had also been diagnosed with
Parkinson's disease. The Peanuts ended with his death.
He had clause in his contract that stated the series
would end if he died. But, the strip will continue to
live on for years to come with classic repeats of the
comic tome. Fittingly so, February 12th 2000 was also
the last day the original Peanuts strip was run.
Charles M. Schulz was 77.

Charles was a WWII veteran and was buried with full
military honors. At his burial, four Sopwith Camel
bi-planes flew overhead in the Missing Man formation.