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Journalism of Courage
Charlie Brown will never again try to kick the ball out of Lucy8217;s hands.Schroder will never again play Beethoven on his toy piano. Linus will neveragain carry his Security Blanket, and wait 8212; year after year 8212; in thepumpkin patch for The Great Pumpkin to show up. And Snoopy8217;s battles withthe Red Baron are now only history 8212; no more 8220;I8217;m gonna get you, RedBaron!8221; The death of Atilde;sup2;f40Atilde;sup3;PeanutsAtilde;sup2;f39Atilde;sup3; creator Charles Schulz at No 1,Snoopy Place, in Santa Rosa on February 13 after a brief battle with coloncancer was the last chapter of a love affair between a cartoon strip and aglobal audience that lasted 50 years.
Charles Monroe Schulz was born on November 26, 1922, in Minneapolis, inMinnesota, the son of Carl and Dena Schulz. He was nicknamed Sparky by hisuncle after Sparkplug, cartoon character Barney Goggle8217;s horse. A shy andinsecure boy, Schulz, nevertheless, displayed a talent for drawing. Schulzlater said, 8220;It seems beyond the comprehension of people that someone canbe born to draw, but I think I was. My ambition from earliest memory was toproduce a comic strip.8221;
Post-War, he was saved from a job etching tombstones when a local RomanCatholic paper agreed to let him ink in cartoons. Drawing furiously, he cameup with a cartoon strip called Atilde;sup2;f40Atilde;sup3;Li8217;l Folks,Atilde;sup2;f39Atilde;sup3; which made its debut inthe Atilde;sup2;f40Atilde;sup3;Saint Paul Pioneer Press,Atilde;sup2;f39Atilde;sup3; and had a character named CharlieBrown, a tip of the hat to a childhood friend. The comic was spotted byUnited Features, and taken up by them in 1950. A small change was madewithout Schulz8217;s knowledge. Atilde;sup2;f40Atilde;sup3;Li8217;l FolksAtilde;sup2;f39Atilde;sup3; became Atilde;sup2;f40Atilde;sup3;Peanuts,Atilde;sup2;f39Atilde;sup3;and a legend was born. By 2000, it was appearing in 2,600 newspapers, across75 countries, in 21 languages, and spun-off a merchandise empire rivaledonly by that of Atilde;sup2;f40Atilde;sup3;Star TrekAtilde;sup2;f39Atilde;sup3;.
Charlie Brown is the eternal loser, forever and forlornly hoping 8212; thathis baseball team will win, that the little red-haired girl a formerfiancee of Schulz will look his way. Even his hero, Joe Shlabotnik, is abaseball zero. Lucy is a crabby girl, yearning for Schroder, and operating apsychiatric clinic. Linus has a penchant for quoting the scriptures. AndCharlie Brown8217;s dog is Snoopy, the world8217;s most famous beagle. He owns a VanGogh, and leads a fantasy life his owner envies 8212; explorer, writer, lawyer,ice-hockey champ, nemesis of the Red Baron8230;
What makes them so special? The fact that they embody all the hopes andaspirations of human beings. The characters are children, but adultchildren. They live in a world whose leitmotif is sadness. Drawing from deepwithin his psyche, and on his own Christian faith, Schulz had leavened thissadness with an inspiring hope 8212; and a touch of humour. Atilde;sup2;f40Atilde;sup3;Peanuts8217;Atilde;sup2;f39Atilde;sup3;ability to reflect the human condition in a way comprehensible to peoplefrom age 9 to 90 is uncanny. As Schulz wryly observed, 8220;I didn8217;t know therewere so many Charlie Browns in the world. I thought I was the only one.8221;
When Schulz8217;s illness was diagnosed last winter, he took legal steps toensure that after his death no one else would continue the series by writingor drawing it, a task he had been doing single-handedly. The day he died wasthe day that the last cartoon drawn by him was published.
Goodbye, Sparky, thank you for giving us Charlie Brown and the gang, andgiving us so much happiness. R.I.P.
