Charles M Schulz; a biography
Created | Updated Feb 13, 2002
Charles Monroe Schulz, known as “Sparky” to his family, friends and colleages, was born in St Paul, Minnesota, on 26 November 1922. He will be forever remembered as the creator of the “Peanuts” comic strip featuring Charlie Brown and his friends, and his famous dog Snoopy. Schulz showed artistic talent from a very early age, and his kindergarten teacher predicted that he would be an artist. All through his childhood, Schulz dreamed of being a cartoonist, it was the only thing he ever wanted to do and he devoted his entire life to his dream.
During the Great American Depression, Schulz’s father, a barber, managed to make enough money to allow Charles to enrol in a correspondence course in cartooning, at which he attained only a grade C+ in “Drawing Children”. Though a shy and insecure student, Schulz completed his course but when the US entered World War 2, he was drafted into the Army before having the opportunity to turn his hobby into a career.
For Schulz, military life came as a shock but also a welcome change of pace. He lost his shyness and developed the confidence that enabled his life-long success. He excelled as an infantryman, a staff sergeant, and the leader of a machine-gun squad. His mother Dena, who had been fighting a long battle against cancer, passed away within days of his drafting.
For the most part, Schulz's artistic aspirations were put on hold during his years in the service. He did, however, become known among his colleagues as the resident artist and he would regularly illustrate his friends’ letters home with cartoons of barracks life. After the war he returned to St. Paul a civilian in need of work, Schulz was poised to accept a job lettering tombstones, but the job fell through.
It was "Timeless Topix," a small Roman Catholic magazine, that offered Schulz his first job in cartooning. The magazine hired him to letter already drawn comics. Although the position offered him no creative opportunities, it did keep Schulz on track and helped him to hone his lettering skills. Later, Schulz took on a second job as a teacher with Art Instruction Schools, where he had done his correspondence course. There, Schulz grew with the support of an artistic community. He practiced his drawing and met many of the people who would inspire his future work, including a friend named Charlie Brown.
With growing confidence and an expanding portfolio, Schulz blanketed the comics market with samples of his work. Eventually, his persistence paid off and he sold a number of single comic panels in the "Saturday Evening Post." Buoyed by his success in the national magazine market, Schulz went on to land a weekly comic feature called "L'il Folks" in the St. Paul Pioneer Press. The fruit of his creativity and labor, "L'il Folks" featured Charlie Brown and Shermy and became the sole focus of Schulz's career.
Marketing "L'il Folks" to syndicates around the country, Schulz finally received a reply from Jim Freeman at United Feature Syndicate. Freeman, a well-respected editor with 30 years' experience, wisely suggested that Schulz expand the comic from one panel to a four-panel strip format. After being invited to visit their offices in New York City, Schulz signed a five-year contract with United Feature Syndicate and began his career as a full-time cartoonist.
The celebration was short-lived, however, when Schulz learned of the syndicate's first major decision. Because of legal issues surrounding the name "L'il Folks" ("Little Folks" and "L'il Abner" already existed), the strip was renamed "PEANUTS". Schulz hated the name change. Even after the strip’s enormous success, he felt the name indicated "insignificant" or "unimportant".
Despite the initial hiccups, readers soon grew attached to the PEANUTS gang. In the fifty years following its debut, "PEANUTS" has grown into one of the longest running, most popular comics of all time. Over the years, Schulz earned the respect due an artist of his caliber. When some editors suggested that Snoopy become less of a focus in the comic, Schulz quietly vetoed the suggestion. Instead of supplying “roughs” to the syndicate for approval, Schulz submitted finished strips. In fact, his mistakes were so rare, the syndicate wouldn't change so much as a comma without his permission. The comic has always been his and his alone.
During his career Schulz was honoured by many awards, including International Cartoonist of the Year, in 1978, two Reuben Awards in 1955 and 1964, and France's Commander of Arts and Letters, in 1990. In 1969 the Peanuts gang became NASA mascots.
Charles Schulz died of colon cancer on February 12, 2000, in Santa Rosa, California, after a short illness. He was 77 years old. Today, PEANUTS lives on as one of the most successful comic strips in newspaper history, appearing in some 2,600 newspapers in 75 countries and translated into 21 languages. In all, there were 50 TV specials, and 1,400 books, selling more than 300 million copies. "Peanuts" was read by around 355 million people. Schulz himself sketched and wrote every running of Peanuts for 50 years, and had a clause inserted into his contract, preventing anyone else from releasing new "Peanuts" cartoons after his death. He is still regarded as one of the most prolific and well-known cartoonists of all time.
During the Great American Depression, Schulz’s father, a barber, managed to make enough money to allow Charles to enrol in a correspondence course in cartooning, at which he attained only a grade C+ in “Drawing Children”. Though a shy and insecure student, Schulz completed his course but when the US entered World War 2, he was drafted into the Army before having the opportunity to turn his hobby into a career.
For Schulz, military life came as a shock but also a welcome change of pace. He lost his shyness and developed the confidence that enabled his life-long success. He excelled as an infantryman, a staff sergeant, and the leader of a machine-gun squad. His mother Dena, who had been fighting a long battle against cancer, passed away within days of his drafting.
For the most part, Schulz's artistic aspirations were put on hold during his years in the service. He did, however, become known among his colleagues as the resident artist and he would regularly illustrate his friends’ letters home with cartoons of barracks life. After the war he returned to St. Paul a civilian in need of work, Schulz was poised to accept a job lettering tombstones, but the job fell through.
It was "Timeless Topix," a small Roman Catholic magazine, that offered Schulz his first job in cartooning. The magazine hired him to letter already drawn comics. Although the position offered him no creative opportunities, it did keep Schulz on track and helped him to hone his lettering skills. Later, Schulz took on a second job as a teacher with Art Instruction Schools, where he had done his correspondence course. There, Schulz grew with the support of an artistic community. He practiced his drawing and met many of the people who would inspire his future work, including a friend named Charlie Brown.
With growing confidence and an expanding portfolio, Schulz blanketed the comics market with samples of his work. Eventually, his persistence paid off and he sold a number of single comic panels in the "Saturday Evening Post." Buoyed by his success in the national magazine market, Schulz went on to land a weekly comic feature called "L'il Folks" in the St. Paul Pioneer Press. The fruit of his creativity and labor, "L'il Folks" featured Charlie Brown and Shermy and became the sole focus of Schulz's career.
Marketing "L'il Folks" to syndicates around the country, Schulz finally received a reply from Jim Freeman at United Feature Syndicate. Freeman, a well-respected editor with 30 years' experience, wisely suggested that Schulz expand the comic from one panel to a four-panel strip format. After being invited to visit their offices in New York City, Schulz signed a five-year contract with United Feature Syndicate and began his career as a full-time cartoonist.
The celebration was short-lived, however, when Schulz learned of the syndicate's first major decision. Because of legal issues surrounding the name "L'il Folks" ("Little Folks" and "L'il Abner" already existed), the strip was renamed "PEANUTS". Schulz hated the name change. Even after the strip’s enormous success, he felt the name indicated "insignificant" or "unimportant".
Despite the initial hiccups, readers soon grew attached to the PEANUTS gang. In the fifty years following its debut, "PEANUTS" has grown into one of the longest running, most popular comics of all time. Over the years, Schulz earned the respect due an artist of his caliber. When some editors suggested that Snoopy become less of a focus in the comic, Schulz quietly vetoed the suggestion. Instead of supplying “roughs” to the syndicate for approval, Schulz submitted finished strips. In fact, his mistakes were so rare, the syndicate wouldn't change so much as a comma without his permission. The comic has always been his and his alone.
During his career Schulz was honoured by many awards, including International Cartoonist of the Year, in 1978, two Reuben Awards in 1955 and 1964, and France's Commander of Arts and Letters, in 1990. In 1969 the Peanuts gang became NASA mascots.
Charles Schulz died of colon cancer on February 12, 2000, in Santa Rosa, California, after a short illness. He was 77 years old. Today, PEANUTS lives on as one of the most successful comic strips in newspaper history, appearing in some 2,600 newspapers in 75 countries and translated into 21 languages. In all, there were 50 TV specials, and 1,400 books, selling more than 300 million copies. "Peanuts" was read by around 355 million people. Schulz himself sketched and wrote every running of Peanuts for 50 years, and had a clause inserted into his contract, preventing anyone else from releasing new "Peanuts" cartoons after his death. He is still regarded as one of the most prolific and well-known cartoonists of all time.
