BackThe sad, wonderful life of ‘Peanuts’ maker
Charles Schulz faced many rejections before finding success with his famous comic strip. Many of its characters were inspired from the people he met in real life
PremiumBorn as a barber’s son in Minnesota, Charles Schulz had this dream of becoming a cartoonist. After his graduation in 1940, he worked odd jobs and submitted cartoons for publication in magazines which were all rejected. In 1947, one of Schulz’s local newspapers, the St. Paul Pioneer, started publishing a weekly comic panel he’d created called “Li’l Folks", and in 1950 he sold “Li’l Folks" to the United Feature Syndicate. This was the debut of the comic strip Peanuts. The characters are all inspired by real life: from Snoopy (his dog Spike), Charlie Brown (his friend from correspondence school) to the yellow bird Woodstock (named after 1969 music festival).
When Peanuts made its debut, it came in last place in the New York World Telegram’s reader survey of cartoons. But the popularity grew slowly and on 17 March 1967, it graced the cover of Life magazine.
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