Interesting Facts About the "Peanuts" Comic Strip and Creator Charles M. Schulz

I've always been a big fan of the Peanuts comic strip and the pint-sized characters cartoonist Charles M. Schulz brought to life. Who doesn't love the wit and wisdom of the Peanuts gang, particularly their "leader", the lovable loser named Charlie Brown? At the height of the Peanuts comic strip popularity, it appeared in 2,600 newspapers, had a readership of 355,000,000 in 75 countries. It was also translated into 21 languages. Read this informative article and find out some more interesting facts about the "Peanuts" comic strip and creator Charles M. Schulz!

Charles Monroe Schulz (November 26, 1922 - February 12, 2000)
Charles M. Schulz was the only child of Carl, a barber, and Dena, a housewife. A shy, reserved boy, he took refuge in drawing. Schulz's ambition was to become a cartoonist, so he practiced by drawing Popeye.

After he returned home from a stint in the U.S. Army in 1945, he became an art teacher for Art Instruction Schools. Schulz had taken their home study course after he graduated from high school.

From Li'l Folks to Peanuts
Charles Schulz called his first comic strip "Li'l Folks." It appeared in the St. Paul Pioneer Press from 1947 to 1950. Two of the Li'l Folks characters were Charlie Brown and a dog that resembled Snoopy.

An interesting fact about the Peanuts comic strip and creator Charles M. Schulz is, United Feature Syndicate picked up Li'l Folks. Much to his dismay, the strip's name was changed to "Peanuts". It made its debut appearance on October 2, 1950, published in seven newspapers.

The Birth of the Peanuts Characters
There were only three characters in Charles M. Schulz's first Peanuts comic strip- Charlie Brown, Shermy and Patty (not Peppermint Patty, she'd be "born" much later.) Charlie Brown's dog Snoopy was also part of the original gang, but wasn't included in the first comic strip.

As the years passed, Schulz added more colorful characters to his Peanuts family: Schroeder- the toy piano virtuoso and Beethoven fan was born in 1951; Lucy- Linus' crabby sister who runs a Psychiatrist booth appeared in 1952; Linus- the thumbsucking, blanket toter appeared the same year; Pigpen- the boy with the constant swirl of dirt around him was born in 1954.

The next addition to the Peanuts comic strip wasn't until 1959 when Sally- Charlie Brown's slothful sister came to be. She was followed by Peppermint Patty- the addle-brained tomboy in 1966; Woodstock- the silent yellow bird who Snoopy befriended, in 1967; Marcie- Peppermint Pattie's bespectacled best friend in 1968, and Franklin- the first African-American character Schulz put in Peanuts, in the same year.

Peanuts and Charles M. Schulz Live On
After creating Peanuts comic strips for nearly fifty years, Charles M. Schulz died of cancer at the age of 77. He had drawn nearly 18,000 of the strips during his career. Between the comic strips, the merchandise, and product endorsements, Peanuts made Schulz a wealthy, wealthy man. Those items alone earned him more than one billion dollars a year. Charles M. Schulz also earned an estimated $30 million a year.

An interesting fact about the Peanuts comic strip and creator Charles M. Schulz is, he wouldn't allow anyone else to draw his strip. He died just hours before his last original Peanuts comic strip was published.

Charles M. Schulz and his Peanuts live on through syndication, books about both the cartoonist and his work, and through the Charles M. Schulz Museum, located in Santa Rosa, California.

Resources
C:\Documents and Settings\Owner\Desktop\Charles Schulz Quotes, Famous
Inspirational Quotes.mht
http://thinkexist.com/quotes/charles_m._schulz/
http://www.nytimes.com/learning/general/onthisday/bday/1126.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peanuts
http://www.schulzmuseum.org/
http://www.ideafinder.com/history/inventions/peanuts.htm