Charles Monroe "Sparky" Schulz
An American Cartoonist
November 6, 1922 - February 12, 2000
On October 2, 1950, three kids appeared on the funny pages of seven newspapers.
Over the next 50 years, Charlie Brown, Patty and Shermy would be joined by a whole cast
of characters and forever change the landscape of the Sunday comics. As a senior in high
school and with the encouragement of his mother, he completed a correspondence
cartoon course with the Federal School of Applied Cartooning.
As Schulz continued to study and hone his artistic style from the late 1920s
through the 1940s, the genre of comic art experienced a great shift.
The full-page comics of the 1920s and 30s afforded artists the space to reflect
the Art Deco details and sensibilities of the day, including the
highly-stylized illustrations of Dick Tracy and Little Nemo in Slumberland.
The first Peanuts strip appeared on October 2, 1950,
in seven newspapers nationwide. Although being a professional
cartoonist was Schulz’s life-long dream,
at 27-years old, he never could have
foreseen the longevity and global impact of his
seemingly-simple four-panel creation.
When Schulz announced his retirement in December 1999, the
Peanuts comic strip was syndicated in over 2,600 newspapers
worldwide, with book collections translated in over 25 languages.
He has been awarded with the highest honors from his fellow
cartoonists, received Emmy Awards for his animated specials,
been recognized and lauded by the U.S. and foreign governments,
had NASA spacecraft named after his characters, and inspired a concert
performance at Carnegie Hall. And still today, the Peanuts Gang
continues to entertain and inspire the young and the young at heart.
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