(nDMBc) 'Peanuts' Creator Schulz Dies at 77
Black99RT
__________________________________________
'Peanuts' Creator Schulz Dies at 77
By MARY ANN LICKTEIG
.c The Associated Press
SAN FRANCISCO (Feb. 13) - ``Peanuts'' creator Charles M. Schulz died on
Saturday, turning his farewell note in Sunday papers into an epitaph for both a
comic strip and its creator.
Schulz was 77, and died in his sleep at about 9:45 p.m. at his home in Santa
Rosa, said his son, Craig Schulz.
He was diagnosed with colon cancer and suffered a series of small strokes
during emergency abdominal surgery in November 1999, and announced his
retirement a few weeks afterward.
Schulz had seemed fine earlier in the day and had gone to his daughter Jill
Transki's home in Santa Rosa. Only his wife, Jeannie, was with him when he
died, Craig Schulz said.
His wildly popular ``Peanuts'' made its debut on Oct. 2, 1950. The travails of
the ``little round-headed kid'' and his pals eventually ran in more than 2,600
newspapers, reaching millions of readers in 75 countries.
His last strip, appearing in Feb. 13 Sunday editions, showed Snoopy at his
typewriter and other Peanuts regulars along with a ``Dear Friends'' letter
thanking his readers for their support.
``I have been grateful over the years for the loyalty of our editors and the
wonderful support and love expressed to me by fans of the comic strip,'' Schulz
wrote. ``Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Linus, Lucy ... how can I ever forget them .
It ended with his signature.
Over the years, the Peanuts gang became a part of American popular culture,
delivering gentle humor spiked with a child's-eye view of human foibles.
Sergio Aragones, a Mad magazine cartoonist and friend for more than 30 years,
called Schulz ``a true cartoonist.''
``In a couple of centuries when people talk about American artists, he'll be
the one of the very few remembered,'' Aragones said. ``And when they talk about
comic strips, probably his will be the only one ever mentioned.''
One of the most endearing qualities of ``Peanuts'' was its constancy.
The long-suffering Charlie Brown still faced misfortune with a mild, ``Good
grief!'' Tart-tongued Lucy still handed out advice at a nickel a pop, a joke
that started as a parody of a lemonade stand. And Snoopy, Charlie Brown's
wise-but-weird beagle, still took the occasional flight of fancy back to the
skies of World War I and his rivalry with the Red Baron.
Schulz was born in St. Paul, Minn., on Nov. 26, 1922, and studied art after he
saw a ``Do you like to draw?'' ad.
He was drafted into the Army in 1943 and sent to the European theater, although
he saw little combat.
After the war, he did lettering for a church comic book, taught art and sold
cartoons to the Saturday Evening Post. His first feature, ``Li'l Folks,'' was
developed for the St. Paul Pioneer Press in 1947. In 1950, it was sold to a
syndicate and the named changed to Peanuts, even though, he recalled later, he
didn't much like the name.
Although he remained largely a private person, the strip brought Schulz
international fame. He won the Reuben Award, comic art's highest honor, in 1955
and 1964. In 1978, he was named International Cartoonist of the Year, an award
voted by 700 comic artists around the world.
He was to have been honored with a lifetime achievement award on May 27 at the
National Cartoonists Society convention in New York.
In his later years, he spent much of his time at his Redwood Empire Ice Arena
in Santa Rosa, about 60 miles north of San Francisco, where he frequently
played hockey or sipped coffee at the rink's Warm Puppy snack bar.
``Peanuts,'' meanwhile, had remained an intensely personal effort. He had had a
clause in his contract dictating the strip had to end with his death. While
battling cancer, he opted to retire it right then, saying he wanted to focus on
his health and family without the worry of a daily deadline.
``Why do musicians compose symphonies and poets write poems?'' he once said.
``They do it because life wouldn't have any meaning for them if they didn't.
That's why I draw cartoons. It's my life.''
AP-NY-02-13-00 0549EST
aDMBarney
This week has been really sad in the way of deaths of people who meant a lot
to me...no one in my family but Mr. Schulz here, Derrick Thomas, Big Pun.
Very sad...
Kind of ironic that this week was very good in my personal life....
Adam
Black99RT <blac...@aol.comNoSPAM> wrote in message
news:20000213145502...@ng-fe1.aol.com...
Mike!
plus Tom Landry yesterday...
Falco98
strip, and that strip was in the washington post (i thought..).. anyone
else?
Anyway.. This kinda thing is always sad. Makes me kinda wish there were a
huge book or something indexing every peanuts strip ever made.. hehe
Mike!
the last weekday strip was a few weeks ago
today was the LAST strip (it was more of a farewell message than an actual
strip, that's why I say last week was the last full strip)
Tom Mundal
those things thats supposed to happen... The comic was his life..and he died as
the last one went to print...
Tom
Falco98 wrote:
--
"If a man does not keep pace with his companions, perhaps it is because he hears
a different drummer. Let him step to the music which he hears, however measured
or far away."
-Henry David Thoreau
goda
everything to him and he didn't know what he would do without it, so
it was true that the strip was his life; when it ended, his life ended
So long Snoopy......
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Talkway - http://www.talkway.com - Talk more ways (sm)
Milchama
last week's strip with chuck protecting the mailbox in hope that he'd get a
love letter......
Peart101
if ya go to www.snoopy.com, i think they have it posted on there.
Hope this helps...
J.
Milchama
that the same exact thing as peanuts.com
Mark
just the same as the last strip that ran a few weeks ago, with the farewell
message.
Mark
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