Charles Schulz, foreground, is shown with the real Charlie Brown, along with a cartoon sketch of the comic strip character in this undated photo.
(Photo by AP Photo/File: Duff Johnson, the Minneapolis Star Tribune)
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THE COMICS WILL NEVER BE THE SAME
Dec. 15, 1999
Chris Coursey
Santa Rosa Press Democrat
Wars have been waged. Ten presidents of multi-colored
political stripes have come and gone. Hemlines have gone up and down.
Babies have grown i into grandparents.
But for the past 49 years there has been one constant in
American life: "Peanuts" has arrived on the doorstep along with the
day's news.
Santa Rosa cartoonist Charles Schulz's announcement that
he will retire the strip closes the door not just on a remarkable
career, but on a uniquely enduring slice of Americana.
"Peanuts" was more than a comic strip. It was America's
cultural compass.
While public opinion, public mores, public discourse and
public behavior have swung 180 degrees and back again over the past
half-century, Peanuts" always pointed in one direction. It never took
political sides, never challenged the status quo, never poked fun at
anyone but its own familiar characters.
It became a comfortable refuge in an uncomfortable
world.
Think back three decades, to a time when America
couldn't have been more fractured. The war in Vietnam spilled over to
battles on the home front, assassins loomed over the political
landscape, race riots cast a pall over the cities. The generation gap
was never wider.
Yet "Peanuts," created by a man who to this day calls
himself "an Eisenhower Republican," found a way to cut through the
cultural clutter to touch the broad spectrum of American life. Happiness
was a warm puppy, whether you were a hippie or a hard hat. Hawks and
doves alike could enjoy Snoopy's dogfights with the Red Baron. And every
generation could appreciate the importance of a security blanket.
All of us could relate to Charlie Brown's frustrations,
to Snoopy's heroic fantasies, to Lucy's rants. A dropped pop fly or an
insistently hungry dog meant the same thing to Richard Nixon as it did
to Abbie Hoffmann.
Schulz would tell you that his only aim was to "draw
funny pictures." But at a time when events made it almost impossible, he
created an American Everyman.
And that Everyman, in a very real way, was Schulz.
Like many of his peers, Schulz was shaped largely by his
experiences in World War II. "Of all the honors I've received, I'm most
proud of my combat infantry badge," he told me in 1995.
Unlike many men of his generation, however, Schulz is
willing to explore his inner fears and insecurities. And he often did it
in the panels of "Peanuts."
Charlie Brown is named after a friend Schulz knew in art
school in Minneapolis, but he really is Schulz's alter-ego. Like his
character, Schulz can be funny and sad, prideful and self-deprecating,
confounding and insightful -- all in one sitting.
Mostly, though, Schulz is consistent. He dislikes
surprises and resists change. Before his recent illness, he could be
found almost every morning reading the paper at a window table in the
"Warm Puppy" coffee shop at his Redwood Empire Ice Arena. Then he'd
cross the street to his office, only to return for lunch at the very
same table.
That desire for comfortable routine was reflected in
"Peanuts." Lucy started pulling the football away from Charlie Brown's
kick 47 years ago, and the gag never changed. The price of psychiatric
advice at the lemonade stand never inflated above 5 cents. Charlie
Brown's love for the Little Red-haired Girl remained unrequited.
Schulz would point out that the strip evolved -- feet
got bigger, Snoopy's ears were drawn differently, new characters
appeared. But in substance it remained constant -- so much so that when
Charlie Brown hit a home run in 1993 it became international news.
Schulz later told me he "regretted" having Charlie Brown step outside of
his role as a perennial failure.
Critics have said the prime of "Peanuts" passed in the
'60s and '70s. Reader polls show that comic strips with a harder humor
are more popular today.
But none is as constant, as gentle and as comfortable as
"Peanuts." In the end, its predictability is its franchise.
ARGH!! CARTOONIST'S FANS PONDER LIFE WITHOUT 'PEANUTS'
December 15, 1999
By Mary Ann Lickteig
The Associated Press
SAN FRANCISCO -- With the retirement of "Peanuts" cartoonist Charles Schulz, two things are certain: A round-headed kid named Charlie Brown never will kick that football, and he won't win the love of the little red-haired girl.
Beyond that, millions of fans are left pondering, trying to imagine life in a world without the "Peanuts" gang.
Despite being 77 years old, Schulz himself rarely talked about retiring, those close to him said.
"I don't think we ever talked or ever thought about that day," said cartoonist Patrick McDonnell, who draws "Mutts."
It came Tuesday, when Schulz, who has been diagnosed with colon cancer, announced that his last new daily strip will appear Jan. 3. His final new Sunday strip will appear Feb. 13.
"Although I feel better following my recent surgery, I want to focus on my health and my family without the worry of a daily deadline," Schulz said in a written statement.
He completed the latest strips before he spent two weeks in the hospital last month. When they run out, United Feature Syndicate will offer old strips, starting with those from 1974.
Schulz is undergoing chemotherapy, said his editor Amy Lago, but he plans to continue to work on "Peanuts" TV specials and videos. A new video, "It's the Pied Piper, Charlie Brown" is scheduled for release next fall.
However, Schulz's contract stipulates that no one else will ever draw the comic strip.
"Nobody's ready for this," said Cathy Guisewite, who draws "Cathy."
Her first impulse upon hearing the news was the same as McDonnell's: Call the syndicate to see if it's true.
"I'm so sad," McDonnell said. " 'Peanuts' is like one of my first memories. It's how I learned to read. It's how I learned to love cartoons."
After a modest start in seven newspapers on Oct. 2, 1950, "Peanuts" appears in more than 2,600 newspapers where people in 75 countries follow the travails of Charlie Brown and his pals in 21 languages.
Schulz has written, drawn, colored and lettered every strip - and reshaped the industry while he was at it.
"He broke ground," said Daryl Cagle, president of the National Cartoonists Society. Schulz moved cartooning from silly gags and adventures to thoughtful introspection and insight, Cagle said. "That's not something you expected from cartoons before 'Peanuts.' "
Even competitors recognize the power of "Peanuts." John McMeel, president of Universal Press Syndicate, said his salesmen have pitched various cartoons by telling newspapers, "It could be the next 'Peanuts.' "
"There are 2,000 strips out there," McMeel said. "There are many good ones and many great ones and many mediocre ones, and there are a few classics. 'Peanuts' is that classic. It sets the standard for the industry, and it's going to be terribly missed."
Mort Walker, the creator of "Beetle Bailey" and "Hi and Lois," said he and his friend Schulz cried when they spoke on the phone Tuesday morning.
"He did something entirely different from what all the rest of us did. I write and draw funny pictures and slapstick; it's a joke a day," Walker said. "He delved into the psyche of children and the fears and the rejections that we all felt as children."
The "Peanuts" gang has become part of American popular culture, delivering gentle humor spiked with a child's-eye view of human foibles.
One of the strip's most endearing qualities was its constancy.
Year in, year out, the long-suffering Charlie Brown faced misfortune with a mild "Good grief!" Inflation never caught up with tart-tongued Lucy, who handed out advice for a nickel a pop. And Snoopy, Charlie Brown's beagle, never gave up fighting World War I, taking to the skies in imaginary dogfights against the Red Baron.
Charlie Brown always wore a zig-zag stripe shirt, his baseball team always lost and all of his kites seemed to get sucked into trees.
Lucy could be counted on to pull the football away from Charlie Brown just before he kicked it, sending him sprawling on his back with an exclamation of "AAAAAARGH!"
Schulz was born in St. Paul, Minn., and studied art after he saw an ad asking "Do you like to draw?"
After serving in the Army during World War II, he did lettering for a church comic book, taught art and sold cartoons to The Saturday Evening Post.
His first feature, "Li'l Folks," was developed for the St. Paul Pioneer Press in 1947. In 1950, it was sold to a syndicate and renamed - though he admitted later he didn't like the title "Peanuts."
Charlie Brown, named after a friend Schulz had at art school, was to some extent the cartoonist's alter ego, and Snoopy was inspired by a dog he had as a child. Schulz remembered the animal as "the smartest and most uncontrollable dog that I have ever seen."
SCHULZ PLANS TO DRAW ONE MORE STRIP TO SAY GOOD-BYE
December 15, 1999
By Mary Ann Lickteig
The Associated Press
SAN FRANCISCO - Charles Schulz will draw one final "Peanuts" strip before he officially retires, his editor said Wednesday.
The farewell strip will be published Jan. 3.
Schulz announced Tuesday that he planned to retire his 49-year-old strip.
He had drawn daily strips for use through Jan. 1 and Sunday strips for use through Feb. 13 before undergoing emergency surgery last month.
Doctors diagnosed him with colon cancer at that time, and the 77-year-old cartoonist, who took pride in meeting deadlines, decided to retire when he realized that he did not know when he would be well enough to withstand the pressure of daily deadlines.
"And then he had this idea for the final strip," his editor, Amy Lago, said.
She had not seen it by late Wednesday, she said, but she suspected it would be a collage of characters Schulz has already drawn.
He suffered a series of small strokes during his surgery and now has trouble with his vision while drawing, she said.
"You wouldn't know it to see him. He recognizes people and faces," she said, and he is able to draw, but something "clicks in the brain" making it difficult. He is expected to recover, she said.
President Clinton issued a written statement Wednesday praising Schulz for the "enduring icons" to whom he gave life on the comics page.
Lago said she will not disclose the final strip or its story line before it is published.
Does she expect that Charlie Brown will finally outsmart Lucy and send that football sailing? Will he win the love of the little red-haired girl?
"I haven't seen it yet; I can't tell you," Lago said.
Then she thought a minute. "Knowing Schulz, probably not."
CARTOONISTS DREW INSPIRATION FROM SCHULZ'S PIONEERING WORK
December 15, 1999
By Sam Whiting WHITING
The San Francisco Chronicle
All fans of Peanuts will mourn the comic strip's passing, but none more than Charles Schulz's fellow cartoonists.
"No one thinks quite the way he does," said Hank Ketcham, whose Dennis the Menace was created in October 1950, the same month Peanuts made its debut. Ketcham, 80, has two assistants who collaborate on Dennis via fax. This will ensure that his strip lives on, but Ketcham never expected Schulz to trust any hand but his own.
"He didn't want anyone to impose their personalities into the characters," Ketcham said Tuesday from his office in Carmel, Calif. "He's always said that when he goes, nobody else is going to draw the strip, and I guess he's just decided that at this stage of the game, going through what he's been through, Peanuts will offer space to new cartoonists who're just yearning to get into the newspapers."
Schulz has already inspired several generations of such artists, cartoonists said.
"He was the biggest influence in my life," said Patrick McDonnell, creator of Mutts. "Since I was 4, I wanted to be a cartoonist, mainly from reading Peanuts."
Greg Evans, creator of Luann, said, "I imagine if you stopped 100 cartoonists on the street and asked them who was their No. 1 influence, 99 would say Sparky (as Schulz is known to friends and family). He really brought the comic strip into the modern age.
"If I could come up with even one Great Pumpkin or kite-eating tree or security blanket, I'd be happy for the rest of my career."
The sentiment was echoed by Garry Trudeau, whose own Doonesbury may have been the influence for the one-in-a-hundred strips not inspired by Peanuts. "For 50 years, Peanuts has shown us the way. The uncontested gold standard for comics," Trudeau said in a statement.
"What Schulz does is an intensely personal effort," said Dan Piraro, creator of Bizarro. "He started the psychological gag and developed it to the extent that we're all dependent on it. It's so standard now that people take it for granted. But it didn't exist in the newspapers before Schulz did it."
Another thing that didn't exist was the use of the ironic touch, sweetened by the voices of the characters.
"One thing he did that was a breakthrough was to have children acting and behaving as adults," said Evans. "That's what has given the strip such great appeal."
Mike Twohy, creator of That's Life, recalled the first time he saw a Peanuts strip as a kid, more than 40 years ago. Twohy heard his dad laugh, and he looked and laughed, too. "One of the really great appeals of the strip is little kids to old folks can respond to it and love it," said Twohy, who also was impressed with a Schulz interview he saw years ago on the "Mike Douglas Show."
"What struck me is he didn't talk about anything but the characters, and he talked about them with real love, like they were real people, and that stuck with me," Twohy said.
Peanuts didn't just influence the comic strips that came after, it also had an effect on the strips already in existence. Gus Arriola, who created Gordo in 1941, simplified his drawing style after studying Peanuts.
"His retirement leaves an unfillable hole on the comic page," said Arriola, 82, from Carmel. "But Charlie Brown and Snoopy are a bright legacy, a permanent decoration in the global culture."
They will still be around awhile. United Feature Syndicate, which has circulated Peanuts since day one, will start running the strips from 1974, after the last new daily strip runs January 3. The last original Sunday strip will appear February 13.
"I could hardly imagine a newspaper without Peanuts," said Evans, "and even the reruns will be great."
THE PEANUTS GALLERY IS CLOSED
December 15, 1999
By Phil Frank
The San Francisco Chronicle
(Frank draws the comic strip Farley for The Chronicle.)
The news is not good in Toon Town today: Charles Schulz is putting the Peanuts bunch to bed. Jan. 4, 2000, will mark the last appearance of the daily strip, and the last color Sunday strip will be February 13.
This seven-day-a-week cartoon, which has been in print for nearly 50 years, has been Schulz's life. And in many ways, Peanuts has been our life as well.
What made it special when it first saw print in October 1950 was how different the cartoon was from other strips of the day. Instead of adventure, drama and gags, Schulz was talking about feelings and what it was like to be human - to win, to lose, to love, to hate and to sit on a hillside and wonder about what might lie in the future or what might have been. As if that weren't different enough, he put the words in the mouths of children and a dog.
By having children express adult thoughts and talk about being human, he gave all the cartoonists who came after him a broader palette to work from. Today's comics pages look like therapy sessions laid out on paper. That's a far cry from what comics were in the '30s and '40s.
One aspect of Peanuts that gave it such global acceptance was that Schulz endowed the strip with a sense of innocence. People all over the world could identify with the strip because Schulz was talking about the universal human condition.
In the beginning, Schulz -- "Sparky," as he prefers to be called - hoped that the strip would be called Li'l Folks. He never cared for the Peanuts moniker that United Feature Syndicate hung on it, but he learned to live with it. Early on, the legs of adults who were interacting with the children occasionally would be seen. They soon disappeared, however, and the world he had created belonged from then on, as it should have, to little folk.
For 50 years, Sparky Schulz has drawn every line of every cartoon panel and written every syllable in every word balloon, seven days a week - an impressive feat. And through the years, the comic strip and its array of delightful characters have inspired millions of readers around the world.
All the cartoonists who have been inspired by Schulz's insight and humor over the years are sitting at their drawing boards right now thinking about him and wishing him the best.
Today, I can't help remembering that Sparky always thought that I put a little too much politics and point of view into my cartoons. He once said to me, "You can't change the world with a comic strip."
