“Think about the content of Peanuts: frustration, loss and fear of loss, insecurity, aspiration to art and heroism, love, lust, sibling rivalry, arrogance, kindness, friendship, disgrace, rebellion and the existential orneriness of everyday existence. Realise that these grand themes have been expressed with charm, unfailing humour in drawings as simple and evocative as a fine haiku every day for almost 50 years. Then acknowledge Charles Schulz as one of the century’s greatest artists.”
- Dennis O’Neal, Editor/Writer, DC Comics
Another excerpt from the museum:
“One of the hallmarks of Charlie Brown’s character is his dogged acceptance of the vicissitudes of life… his ability to accept what life threw at him: Charlie Brown may feel sorry for himself but he gets over it fast. He is ennobled by how well he handles being disappointed.
Many famous authors and philosophers, including Schulz, have examined, on some level, the Hobbesian theory that life can be ‘nasty, brutish and short’. Schulz seems to explore in the strips in this case and the nature, the strength of character it takes to accept whatever comes our way.”
Charles Schulz was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and grew up in St Paul. He was the only child of Carl Schulz, who was German, and Dena, who was Norwegian. When he was two days old, his uncle nicknamed him “Sparky”, after the horse Spark Plug in the Barney Google comic strip. He’s known by that name all his life.Shortly after his mother’s death, he was drafted into the army in February 1943. After he left in 1945, he took a job as an art teacher, having taken correspondence courses before he was drafted.
After a tough beginning, Schulz’s first regular cartoons, Li’l Folks, were published from 1947 until 1950, when the cartoon was dropped. Later that year, Schulz approached the United Feature Syndicate with his best strips from Li’l Folks, and Peanuts made its first appearance on 2 October 1950.
The rest is cartoon history.
50 years of Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Woodstock, Linus, Lucy, Sally, Schroeder, Pig-Pen, Peppermint Patty, Marcie, Rerun, Spike, Olaf, Joe Cool, good grief, little league baseball, football, security blanket, the Flying Ace, Beagle Scouts, summer camp, dear pen pal, kite-eating tree, “it was a dark and stormy night”, my sweet babboo, unrequited love, chuck, sir, the great pumpkin, poor sweet baby, the psychiatrist is in, basement comics, and the little red-haired girl…
Schulz spent his last 30 years in Santa Rosa, until his death on 12 February 2000 from complications from colon cancer. Coincidentally, the last Peanuts strip ran the day after his death.
In August 2002, the Charles M Schulz Museum and Research Centre in Santa Rosa opened two blocks away from his former studio and celebrates his life’s work and the art of cartooning.
I read my first Peanuts cartoon when my favourite aunt, my dad’s youngest sister, lent me some of her comics. I was about five then. Some of the funniest, most inspiring, most philosophical, tragic and most insightful ideas came out of those pages. Amazing what some words and some simple lines in black and white can do.
I wanted to visit Santa Rosa. I wanted to. I had to.
Tags: charles schulz, comics, peanuts, san francisco, santa rosa, travel
