CHARLES M. SCHULZ
Born in St. Paul, Minnesota on November 26, 1922, Schulz was nicknamed "Sparky" after Barney Google's horse "Sparkplug." His fascination with comic strips began early, reading the Sunday comics from four different newspapers with his father each week. With encouragement from his father, a barber, and his mother, Schulz enrolled in a correspondence course in cartooning at what is now the Art Instruction Schools, Inc., in Minneapolis.
His career in cartooning was interrupted in 1943 when he was drafted into the Army and soon embarked for Europe in the fight against Germany. Upon his return, Schulz landed his first job in cartooning at Timeless Topix, a Catholic comic magazine. Soon after, he took on a second job as a teacher at Art Instruction, where he worked with Charlie Brown, Linus and Frieda, who later lent their names to the "Peanuts" comic strip.
Schulz's first break came in 1947 when he sold a cartoon feature called "Li'l Folks" to the St. Paul Pioneer Press. "Li'l Folks" ran as a weekly feature for two years. In 1948 he sold a cartoon panel to the Saturday Evening Post and would go on to sell 15 more panels between 1948-50.
In 1950, after many mailbox rejections, Schulz boarded a train from St. Paul to New York with a handful of drawings for a meeting with United Feature Syndicate. On October 2 of that year "Peanuts," named by the syndicate, debuted in seven newspapers. Almost 50 years later, "Peanuts" appears in 2,300 newspapers worldwide and Schulz has become a household name. Among numerous honors, Schulz has received two Reuben Awards from the National Cartoonists Society (Outstanding Cartoonist and Best Humor Strip) and has been inducted into the Cartoonists Hall of Fame.
Schulz usually worked about six weeks ahead on the daily and Sunday comic strips, and also wrote the scripts and story boards for the "Peanuts" television specials, earning five Emmy and two Peabody Awards. In addition, Schulz was involved in all aspects of the "Peanuts" publishing and licensing programs through United Media Licensing in New York. His company, "Creative Associates," was formed in 1970 to handle his business affairs and assist in maintaining the high quality standards associated with "Peanuts."
Although the strip was his first love, Schulz was an avid ice skater an hockey player and is the only non-hockey professional to be presented the coveted Patrick Award for his contributions to the game. To share skating with his community, he built the Redwood Empire Ice arena near his home in Santa Rosa, California. In addition, he had a long time passion for golf, and participated in the Pro Am at Pebble Beach, California.
(Written by Eric A. Wildgrube. From the "Knott's Camp Snoopy Peanuts Animation Art Training Guide." 1996. Copyright Knott's Camp Snoopy/The Minntertainment Company. Used with permission.)
Charles M. Schulz passed away late Saturday, February 12th, 2000, just a few hours before the final Sunday "Peanuts" strip was published across the United States and the world. He was a hero to me and many others. Mr. Schulz showed us a world where kids talked like adults, where dogs had a fantasy life, where trees ate kites, and where happiness was simply a warm puppy. I will miss Mr. Schulz very much and I am disappointed that I never got to meet him or tell him how much his little comic strip meant to me. But, we are fortunate to have 50 years of "Peanuts" comic strips to look back at. That is Mr. Schulz's legacy to us all: A timeless story of a group of friends and a beagle that showed us more about ourselves than anything else. Thank you Mr. Schulz.
-- Eric A. Wildgrube
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