Charles Schulz was born on November 26, 1922, nicknamed Sparky after Sparkplug the horse in the comic strip Barney Google. He has touched the lives of people around the globe with his comic strips. The Peanuts have been translated in over forty different languages. They have also been featured in over one thousand newspapers worldwide. Just by mentioning his name, people will recognize it and you could go into hour-long conversations about this world-famous man and his drawings.

Charles Schulz was an inspired writer ever since his childhood. His dog, Spike, featured to the left of Charles Schulz in the photograph, inspired him to create a character that was indeed a dog. Although Spike was not a beagle, he was an inspiration to Charles Schulz nonetheless. This is where the idea of a dog named Snoopy came to mind.

Schulz started writing his comics in 1947. The first Peanuts comic appeared in Schulz's hometown paper, the St. Paul Pioneer Press, from 1947 to 1949. United Feature Syndicate, an organization who was looking to promote Schulz's new comics, whom he had been working on, recognized the comic strip.

Schulz got married and had a little boy named Monty. Schulz tells us that if it weren't for Monty his comic strips might not even exist. Monty kept him alive and excited for new things. Schulz's father, Carl, supported him through everything as well. Schulz was close to his father and says that he also supported him in his younger comic making.

Do you know why adults don't have real voices in the television comic, the Peanuts?  IN the strip, adult voices are never heard.  Character either just answer the question given by adults or they repeat the questions for them.  The sound that depicts their voice is a modified trombone, discovered by Bill Melendez, fellow animator.  If my sources are correct, they say that Schulz and Melendez were playing an intense game of pool when this idea came to mind.

An interesting tid-bit.  Schulz wasn't very fond of the name Peanuts for his comics.  In an interview in 1987, Schulz said, "It's totally ridiculous, has no meaning, is simply confusing, and has no dignity-and I think my humor has dignity".  Specials of the comic were but onto television once in a while.  Because of their success, more than thirty animated specials were produced in 1966.  A Saturday morning TV series, which debuted on CBS, was developed as a result of the success of the specials in 1983 and it lasted for two seasons.

Charles Schulz was such a kind man.  He had no brothers or sisters.  IN this picture, he says, "His name is Andy and I can't remember ever having a dog I was so fond of.  I'm afraid however, that he only likes me because I give him cookies."  He loved dogs and cherished his life so much.  For this, we mourn the death of a legend.

In this comic strip, Schulz tells us that he will not be publishing any more comic strips.  This was a day of great remembrance to Peanuts fans everywhere.  For fifty years, Schulz drew a comic a day for the newspapers, which are 18,250 comics.  Schulz drew these loveable comics until his death.  The comic was finished on January 3, Schulz died on February 11, and the comic was published on February 12, 2000.  Even though he died, newspapers and television series reprint and rerun past comic strips under the title "Classic Peanuts."  Charles Schulz has mad e a great impact on our world.  His death was a great sorrow to us.  We will always remember the creator of the Peanuts, Charles Schulz.