I was utterly charmed by a visit to the Charles M. Schulz Museum in Santa Rosa, CA. We all know him as the comic strip artist, writer and inker of Peanuts. Peanuts made its first appearance on October 2, 1950. Its precursor, Li’l Folks, debuted the name Charlie Brown, but not the character.
At its height, Peanuts was published in 2,600 newspapers in 75 countries, in 21 languages, every day. And for the record, over 50 years, Schulz drew 17,897 published Peanuts strips. The strips, plus merchandise and product endorsements, produced revenues of more than $1 billion per year, with Schulz earning an estimated $30 million to $40 million annually.
The museum is not there to give us these facts. In fact it exists to share how it must have felt to be this writer and artist – what it required of the person, how he managed, and the impact it had on his life and community.
At the museum, Sparky’s presence was felt. (Sparky is what everyone called him.) He lived there, worked there, walked the nearby mall when his ideas weren’t satisfying. His museum is next door to the ice arena he funded and founded. And a sweet little café called The Warm Puppy Café, where he ate breakfast and lunch nearly every day. The town benefitted by his generosity. At the museum, and in and around Santa Rosa, you could feel his warmth.
Are you surprised he lived in California? I was – think of all the snow scenes and ice skating themes, including the iconic A Charlie Brown Christmas special I grew up watching.
He grew up in Minnesota (makes more sense) and moved west in 1958. By then his syndicated column Peanuts had already run daily for 8 years.
He had 5 children. And in the museum, they collected and preserved the art he did for his children’s bedrooms when they were little. This mural was for Meredith, whom he adopted in 1951. As you can tell by the electrical outlet (next to the small door) it is a full size wall, and features a few of the characters who had very recently become popular in his comic strip.
His son complained that Snoopy didn’t look like a real dog, so Sparky painted him his own, more naturalistic Snoopy on his bedroom wall. I have to admit, this one slays me. It feels like Snoopy, whom we all know and love as a smart aleck and WWI Flying Ace, was sometimes, just a dog.
What kept coming to my mind, was…the man was hardworking, and succeeded by never giving up.
He started out illustrating a Catholic weekly newsletter, and later got a gig drawing four daily one-panel strips for the St. Paul Pioneer Press. When the newspaper wouldn’t give him a raise, or even move his strips to the comics page where he felt they’d be more seen and noticed, he quit. He decided to try to get a syndicated strip. He worked up a presentation of a group of children-characters he called Lil Folks and pitched the syndicates. He was turned down several times, but ultimately accepted by United Features Syndicate, who promptly changed the name to Peanuts – a name Charles Schulz never liked. He struggled. He tried things and failed. He came by his success the old fashioned way – persistence.
He also believed in regularity. During the strip’s 50 year run, Schulz took only one vacation, a five-week break in late 1997 to celebrate his 75th birthday. He also worked in the same place every day. Indeed he felt the workplace calmed him and called his ideas out.
On days when you have no ideas at all, the best thing you can do is start doodling. ~ CMS
He doodled daily. And said some of his best work came from those scribbles, which he religiously tossed at the end of each day. His secretary would just as routinely fish them out of the wastepaper basket, take them home and iron them. She donated her collection to the museum.
I’m awed by his sticktoitivity – which is precisely what we liked about Charlie Brown.
Charlie Brown wasn’t a winner – he was a “tryer.”
He continued to fly kites despite losses to the kite eating tree. He said in a tv inteview, The Kite Eating Tree was his big breakthrough. Charlie Brown stood by the tree all week. Cursing it. Getting advice from Lucy – strip after strip, he didn’t budge from this frustration… and people loved it. The papers got thousands of letters. What people loved about Charlie Brown was he never gave up. He always believed.
Last week, I talked about Fall Focus. Sparky was a man who had focus, drive and was prolific. We cannot all be so lucky. We can admire the man who gave us such a humble character as Charlie Brown, and a fun dog named Snoopy.
And b-e-l-i-e-v-e that what we are writing is expressive, needed, important, and fun. I want to borrow Sparky’s belief in himself for myself and my work.