Schulz, << schults, >> Charles Monroe (1922-2000), created the “Peanuts” comic strip. His characters are children who make funny but wise statements about life. Charlie Brown, Lucy, Linus, and the others—including Snoopy the dog—appeal to both children and adults.
Schulz was born on Nov. 26, 1922, in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He based much of the Charlie Brown character on his own childhood. Schulz had trouble with his studies because he skipped two grades. In high school, he did poorly in sports and was too shy to ask a girl for a date. The high school yearbook even rejected the cartoons he submitted. But Schulz continued to draw and, in the late 1940’s, he began selling cartoons to magazines and newspapers.
In 1950, Schulz started “Peanuts,” with Charlie Brown, a born loser, as the main character of the strip. Late in 1999, Schulz announced he was retiring from drawing “Peanuts” for health reasons. Schulz drew by hand all 18,000 “Peanuts” comic strips that eventually appeared in more than 2,000 daily newspapers in 75 countries. The strip inspired a series of successful television specials based closely on events from the strip and featured actors with childlike voices. The first special was “A Charlie Brown Christmas” (1965). The popularity of the strip led to licensing of toys and other products based on the characters as well as television commercials that used animated versions of the characters. Schulz became one of America’s wealthiest entertainers. Schulz died on Feb. 12, 2000. In 2004, the first volume of The Complete Peanuts was published. The publishers planned to reprint every “Peanuts” comic strip in 25 volumes over a 12-year period.
See also Peanuts
