Goodbye Charlie Brown
Created | Updated Jun 20, 2003
What must it be like to pick up a pen and begin drawing, knowing that 90 million people in 68 countries will see your work when it's finished?
Charles Schulz, who died aged 77 on February 12, knew that feeling. He created 'Peanuts', the home of Charlie Brown and Snoopy, and the most successful newspaper comic strip ever. The story of Schulz' life could make the most hardened sceptic believe in predestination. When he was a baby his father nicknamed him 'Sparky', after a character in the then popular cartoon strip 'Barney Google', and Schulz kept 'Sparky' as his pen-name while making his first attempts at cartooning in the Thirties.
Comics stayed with Schulz right to the end of his life. He decided to retire in November of last year; but by a poetic twist of fate, he died on the day before his final 'Peanuts' strip appeared in newspapers all over the planet.
Why did 'Peanuts' touch so many people? To some extent, it was undoubtedly because the strip was exclusively about children, and all of us have been children at some time. Adults never appeared in 'Peanuts' except as voices from out of frame; the focus was squarely on the kids. But, crucially, the strip laughed with its characters rather than at them. Schulz initially named his creation 'L'il Folks'; the change to 'Peanuts' came against his wishes, at the insistence of the syndication agency that distributed his work.
'L'il Folks' would have been a more appropriate title. Much of the strip's appeal lay in the universally-recognisable personality traits of the characters: Charlie Brown's insecurity, Snoopy's tendency to fantasise, Lucy's brashness. The perpetually thumb-sucking, blanket-clutching character Linus added the phrase - 'security blanket' to the English language.
Schulz always said that there was a little of himself in Charlie Brown and in all of his friends. Many of the millions of adults who laughed at his gentle humour must have done so because they recognised aspects of themselves in the characters. I know I did, and that's why Schulz's passing saddens me. Yet his life story is one of spectacular, unprecedented success.
The last 'Peanuts' strip of all showed Snoopy acting as Schulz' secretary, typing a letter annnouncing the cartoonist's retirement. The letter begins with the words:
'Dear Friends, I have been fortunate to draw Charlie Brown and his friends for almost 50 years. It has been the fulfilment of my childhood ambition...'
How appropriate that Schulz, whose work reminded us what a bunch of big kids we all are, should mention childhood right at the start of his final public statement.
The letter ends:
'Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Linus, Lucy... how can I ever forget them...'
Millions of people all over the world will sympathise with that sentiment.
Many of us have grown up with a figure who has always been there, through hard times and easy times. If ever anyone needed a little chuckle to get them through the day, one merely had to open a newspaper to the comics section and read the familiar comic strip known simply as Peanuts. Unfortunately, a disaster has stricken the fans of the much beloved comic series.
A few months ago, Charles Schultz, illustrator and writer of the Peanuts comic strip, announced his retirement. Because of his bout of cancer, he was forced to give up his life-long work. He said that he would not return to his trade, even if he lived through his serious illness, and that his family wished that no one else would continue the strip.
On Sunday, February 13th, 2000, the last original Peanuts strip was printed in the newspapers around the world. To add a touch of surreality to the event, Charles Schultz died a few minutes after midnight on the same day.
Never again will we be graced with a completely new Peanuts. If we read Charlie Brown saying:
'Good Grief'
it will be a repeat performance. Snoopy has flown his last aerial battle with the Red Baron. Woodstock will never again get his simple yet wise point across with those few vertical lines. Yet the memory will live on forever. To the end of time, these strips will be remembered for their simple drawings, pleasant dialogue, and wholesome messages. Hopefully, future generations will find such joy in their morning papers, but the one true master of comic strips is gone.
In Memory Of Charles M. Schulz
A Poem to the memory of the Creator of Peanuts.
You may not have drawn children very well,
But you did it for a living what the hell.
The neurotic Charlie Brown
Just couldn't be put down
No matter how often Lucy made him fell.
And Schroeder with his love of deaf Ludwig
Kept playing his baby grand at every gig.
Tinkling ivories 'tween his knees
His audience hard to please
But Snoopy always danced a happy jig.
Old Lucy would give Dr. Crane a scare
With her pshyciatry pure amateur.
For a nickle every time
The advise wasn't worth a dime
But Linus would still suck his blanket bare.
But the time came for you to hang up your pen
So one final time we visited your friends.
But before that final story
Saw the morning glory
You were writing your new comic script in heaven.
Stephen Glenn 13 February 2000
Compiled by shazzPRME
