Snoopy takes his last bow

December 14, 1999

Dear readers, colleagues, fellow cartoonists and friends near and far:

I have always wanted to be a cartoonist, and I feel very blessed to have been able to do what I love for almost 50 years. That all of you have embraced Snoopy, Charlie Brown, Lucy and Linus and all the other Peanuts characters has been a constant motivation for me...

Charles Schulz.

SCHULZ, 77, underwent emergency surgery last month after falling ill in his Santa Rosa, California office. While in hospital, he was diagnosed with colon cancer. He said that the final comic strip would run on January 3, 2000 and the final Sunday strip on February 13. His fans are inconsolable. "If you could do one more strip, please let Charlie Brown kick the football, then you would make all the world happy," wrote one. Should Schulz oblige, it would be a break with tradition. Charlie Brown has made hundreds of attempts to kick the ball. Not one successful, thanks to Lucy Van Pelt, who deligts in pulling the ball away at the last minute. The fighter ace fantasies of his beagle, Snoopy, is popular too, but Charlie Brown - Schulz's acknowledged alter-ego - towers above all, in his sheer ordinariness.

Charles Schulz was born on November 26, 1922 to Carl and Dena Schulz of St. Paul, Minnesota. By the end of the week, he was known as "Sparky" nicknamed by an uncle with a soft spot for Barney Google's horse Sparkplug. He carries the nickname to this day - proof of a life devoted to comics.

He recognised his talent early. An insightful kindergarten teacher once told him, "Someday, Charles, you're going to be an artist." Schulz was enrolled in a correspondence course in cartooning at what is now the Art Instruction School in Minneapolis. A shy and insecure student, Schulz struggled through the programme submitting his correspondence by mail instead of in person and earning only a C+ in "drawing of children".

Schulz's mother, Dena, was battling cancer at this time and the family moved from their home to a small apartment located above a drugstore, where a pharmacist made daily deliveries of pain killers. Eventually Schulz completed the art course, but was drafted into World War II before selling any of his cartoons. Within days of joining the army, his mother passed away. Military life proved a shocking change and Schulz soon realised that life for him would never be the same again. It was here that he developed the confidence and the work ethic that enabled his success. He became known as the resident illustrator - he decorated soldier's letters home with cartoons of life in the barracks.

After the war he was employed by "Timeless Topics", a small Roman Catholic magazine.He had to letter the drawn cartoons. Although the position offered him no creative opportunities, it did keep him on track and helped hone his lettering skills.

Soon, he took on his second job - as teacher at his alma mater, Art Instruction School. He practised drawing and met many people who inspired his future work (including a friend named Charlie Brown and a girl with red hair). With growing confidence and an expanding portfolio, Schulz flooded the comics market with samples of his work. Eventually, his persistence paid off and he sold a number of single comic panels in the "Saturday Evening Post". Buoyed by his success, Schulz went on to create a weekly comic feature called "L'il Folks" in the "St. Paul Pioneer Press". The fruit of his creativity and labour, "L'il Folks" featured Charlie Brown and became the sole focus of Schulz's career.

Asked how he thought this strip would last, Schulz replied, "Sure, I think it would last. I never intended to draw something that wouldn't last. In fact, when I started out I thought I'll be drawing this for the rest of my life." Marketing "L'il Folks" to syndicates around the country, Schulz finally received a reply from Jim Freeman at United Feature Syndicate. Freeman suggested that Schulz expand the comic from one panel to a strip format. Schulz had already been toying with the idea and jumped at the chance. The new strip format was different from the other "kid strips" of the time in that each strip dealt with only one incident. The result was a strip with only four panels and a concept the United Feature Syndicate fell in love with. Schulz signed a five-year contract. However the name "L'il Folks" had to be changed as "Little Folks" and "L'il Abner" already existed. The strip was renamed PEANUTS. Schulz disliked that name and felt it meant "insignificant" and "unimportant", but the syndicate loved the idea. The strip with its small size and matching size was marketed as a flexible format for any newspaper. It was termed "The greatest little sensation since Tom Thumb".

It took several years for readers to grow attached to the Peanuts gang. But nearly 50 years later, Peanuts has grown into one of the longest running, most popular comics of all time. It has been more than 45 years since Schulz has submitted "roughs" for approval by the syndicate. Instead he submits finished strips. In fact mistakes are so rare, the syndicate would not change so much as a comma without his OK.

Over the years Peanuts has expanded beyond the realms of daily comics, growing beyound Schulz's wildest dreams. In 1952 John Selby of Rinehart and Company published a collection of comics as "Peanuts, The Book." The idea would inspire an entirely new genre in publishing.

Did all of this overwhelm Charles Schulz? Not at all. He still remembers that when all is said and done, a human's greatest contribution is to "go home and make your dog happy."

Compiled by

NIMI KURIAN

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