MEDIA-US: No More Charlie Brown or Snoopy

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Kenneth Rapoza

BOSTON, Dec 28 1999 (IPS) - “Peanuts”arguably America’s most successful export and certainly its most belovedpasses into history this week.

We are not talking about the plant, bearing pods that ripen underground. “Peanuts ” is a cartoon strip which, for nearly 50 years, has delighted some 355 million newspaper readers in 75 countries around the globe.

Its creator, Charles Schulz – an intensely dedicated cartoonist who brought to the world the foibles of a small boy named Charlie Brown and the droll musings of his dog Snoopy – is retiring Jan 4.

Charles Schulz, 77, known as “Sparky” to his friends, is putting down his pen to focus on recovering from colon cancer.

“It’s a sad time for us. It’s been such a part of our lives for 50 years,” Schulz’s secretary Lorrie Myers told reporters in mid- December when Schulz announced he was retiring.

“Right now he just wants to concentrate on being with his family and getting stronger and focusing on overcoming cancer,” she said.

The universally popular comic strip made its debut October 2, 1950 when Schulz, born in St. Paul, Minnesota, was only 18 years old.

The stories largely centered on the struggles of Charlie Brown, but characters like Snoopy, Linus and his sister Lucy, Schroeder, “Pigpen” and Peppermint Patty have charmed the millions of readers of 2,600 newspapers in 21 languages. The final strip will run in foreign newspapers in late January.

Schulz started his art education at a modest correspondence school in Minnesota that cost 170 dollars back in 1940. He got his first job in the comic strip business doing lettering for a Catholic comics magazine.

His first small-time comic strip was called “Li’l Folks”, which led to his national discovery by United Features Syndicate in New York City. Shortly afterwards, his stories about small children became known as “Peanuts”.

Brian Walker, founder of the Museum of Cartoon Art and writer of the comic strip “Hi & Lois”, calls Schulz a “living legend” among cartoonists.

“Someday the comics will be looked at as both literature and art and Charlie Brown and Snoopy will be held in the same league as Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer,” Walker says.

Boston College Sociology Professor Paul Schervish, a self- professed “Peanuts” fan since high school, says that the comic strip showed the secret society of children.

“The origins and success of ‘Peanuts’ coincided with the emergence in America of childhood and adolescence as a distinctive stage in life.

“As an artist Schulz put his finger on the fact that children form a subculture…they harbor wisdom, and that when it comes to the strains of daily life we’re all the children of the ‘Peanuts’ gang,” says Schervish.

Schulz and his “Peanuts” icons have won worldwide honors. In 1978 Schulz was named the International Cartoonist of the Year, an award voted by 700 working comic artists around the world.

In 1990, when Charlie Brown and friends turned 40, the French Ministry of Culture named Shulz a Commander of Arts and Letters, one of France’s highest artistic awards.

Schulz worked with the American Lung Association and the US Environmental Protection Agency, donating his characters to a cause that looked at the effects of air pollution.

One of the US Apollo space missions was named after Charlie Brown and Snoopy, making the characters transcend the comic strip panel to become a legitimate part of US culture.

No comic strip in the world has had the spin-off entertainment success of “Peanuts”.

In 1965, the acclaimed “A Charlie Brown Christmas” won an Emmy for excellence in television. For more than 20 years, US television has aired animated “Peanuts” specials during US holidays like Thanksgiving and Halloween.

Jazz musician Vince Guaraldi popularized the music of the Charlie Brown TV features with feathery drumbeats made to sound like children walking through snow. Guaraldi gave music to Schroeder’s toy piano.

“You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown” appeared on Broadway in 1967 and ran for four years. It re-opened on Broadway in 1999 and is the most performed musical in US history.

To memorialize this 50 year success story, Charles Schulz wrote “Peanuts: A Golden Celebration”, published in October 1999 by Harper Collins.

“Sparky brought a more introspective feeling to the comics at a time when they were mostly slapstick or dramatic serials,” said Patrick McDonnell, cartoonist, and editor of the book.

“A Golden Celebration” is a collection of “Peanuts” comic strips through the ages, with new writing by Schulz about the invention of characters and his favorite episodes. Such as the one written one summer in the 1970s when Charlie Brown wakes up with a strange rash that makes his head look like a baseball.

Embarrassed, Charlie Brown goes to camp with a bag over his head and ironically ends up getting voted president and becomes known as “Mr. Sack” – the most-liked kid at camp.

But when he takes the sack off to check on the rash, he reverts to his old self again.

“I don’t pretend there is any great truth to this story, but it was a neat little tale…and I’m satisfied if I can think of something that good once every year,” Schulz admits in the book.

Schulz has been called everything from an amateur philosopher to a lay theologian. His tales of unrequited love touched a nerve with readers who knew the pain of rejection.

Lucy is in-love with Schroeder, Sally is in-love with Linus and Charlie Brown is in-love with an enigmatic “little Red-headed girl.”

Although many people think Charlie Brown is a loser, Schulz made him the “everyman” that exists in a culture of super-heroes whose powers and successes are mostly unattainable.

“Charlie Brown is really just a lovable guy who never gives up,” says Walker. “What’s so loveable or funny about a guy who wins all the time?”

Schulz’s latest book shows how the comic strip “Peanuts” was ahead of its time. In 1969 he introduced a black character named Franklin and received disgruntled letters from readers arguing against race mixing in the strip.

Schulz was also targeted by readers who took the strip’s Christian humor too seriously, calling him “New Age” in letters dated at late as 1985.

Paul Schervish of Boston College likens the “Peanuts” stories to Greek tragic comedy. “We see ourselves in the dilemmas Schulz represents and come away with a knowing chuckle that assures us we are not so different; we’re not such bad people after all.”

“He will probably go down as the greatest comic artist in history. ‘Peanuts’ was the heart and soul of the comics page,” said McDonnell. “It’s definitely going to be missed.”

You were a good man, Charlie Brown!