60 interesting facts about Charles Schulz

1. Charles Monroe Schulz, the only child of Carl Schulz and Dena Halverson, was born at home on Nov. 26, 1922, in Minneapolis. He was of Norwegian and German descent.

2. Just two days old, Schulz got the nickname that followed him through his life: Sparky. Appropriately, the nickname was inspired by a comic strip character — a racehorse named Spark Plug, who was called Sparky — in the strip “Barney Google and Snuffy Smith,” started in 1919 by cartoonist Billy DeBeck.

3. Schulz grew up in neighboring St. Paul, where his father owned and ran The Family Barbershop for 45 years. Carl had worked on Midwestern farms to save money for barber school. He and Dena had met at a pastry shop across the street from the barber shop.

4. Schulz and his parents lived in three or four homes in St. Paul over the next two decades, none of them far from The Family Barbershop.

5. Sparky was very close to his parents. His father, Carl, had one passion: the funny papers. He bought four Sunday newspapers every week to read the comics and often took Sparky to the old St. Paul Pioneer Press building to watch the Sunday comic pages roll off huge rotary presses.

6. Schulz’s mother died from cervical cancer at age 50, when Sparky was just 20. Even late in life, he would grow emotional talking about her. Decades after her death, he was asked what he would do if he had one minute with anyone. He replied, “I’d spend it with my mother.”

7. A kindergarten teacher was among the first to notice Schulz’s drawing skill. Handed fat crayons and paper for a drawing assignment, young Sparky sketched a man shoveling Minnesota snow with a palm tree in the background. “Someday, Charles, you’re going to be an artist,” the teacher said. That seemed to light a spark — pun intended — in young Charles. Even as a small child, family and friends later said, he never wanted to be anything but a cartoonist.

8. Sparky’s mom encouraged him to draw, but, sadly, never saw any of her son’s work published.

9. At Richard Gordon Elementary School, Schulz decorated notebooks with drawings of Mickey Mouse and Popeye. The sailor who was one of his all-time favorite cartoon characters.

10. A classmate named Helen at St. Paul’s Central High School, who was a fan of Schulz’s artwork, scribbled in his yearbook, “Maybe if I keep at it long enough, I’ll be as good as you.”

11. Ironically, Schulz submitted several cartoons to editors of his high school annual. When yearbooks were distributed, his drawings were not in it. “Rejection is his specialty,” author Rheta Grimsley Johnson wrote in “Good Grief,” her 1989 book about Schulz. “He has spent a lifetime perfecting failure.”

12. In his high school years, Sparky became a huge fan of Sherlock Holmes. He would buy scrapbooks at the nearby five-and-dime store and fill them with original Sherlock Holmes stories in comic book form. A friend of his named Shermy was one of his most faithful readers. When Sparky launched “Peanuts,” Shermy was one of his original characters.

13. Schulz is celebrated in the Hall of Fame at his alma mater high school, but for many years, the plaque commemorating him misspelled his name as Schultz.

14. When Schulz was a high school senior, his father paid $170 in tuition, in installments, for Sparky to learn the basics of cartooning at Art Instruction Inc. in downtown Minneapolis. He applied the lessons of lettering and other fundamentals to sell gag cartoons to magazines. He was not successful.

15. Sparky loved sports, especially hockey, but he wasn’t much of a high school athlete. He continued to play hockey as an adult at the Redwood Empire Ice Arena he built in Santa Rosa, and he was passionate about golf, too. He won a caddie championship at a Twin Cities country club when he was 18. As an adult, he often lamented to friends he had never hit a hole-in-one.

16. In February 1943, just days after his mother’s death, Sparky was drafted into World War II and sent to the European theater. He was an infantryman, staff sergeant and leader of a machine-gun squad in France. He saw very little combat, but his unit took part in the liberation of the Dachau concentration camp and the occupation of Munich just before the war ended. He was honorably discharged in January 1946 and returned to St. Paul.

17. As a young soldier, Schulz doodled in sketchbooks and journals, capturing scenes he encountered. He often drew cartoons on the envelopes of letters written by fellow soldiers who would send them back to the States from the front.

18. The military service, on the heels of his mom’s death, had an impact on the characters he created later in life. “The three years I spent in the army taught me all I needed to know about loneliness,” Schultz wrote in “My Life with Charlie Brown.” “My sympathy for the loneliness that all of us experience is dropped heavily upon poor Charlie Brown. I worry about almost all there is in life to worry about, and because I worry, Charlie Brown has to worry.”

19. Shortly after returning from the war, Schulz became an instructor for an art correspondence school, the same one where he was a student years earlier, and then a freelance cartoonist with his hometown St. Paul Pioneer Press and the Saturday Evening Post. Building on that success, he created a strip centered around child characters he called “Li’l Folks.”

20. In 1950, he approached United Features Syndicate with “Li’l Folks.” But publishing company editors said it sounded too much like the very popular “Li’l Abner” strip and a strip titled “Little Folks.” They dubbed Schulz’s comic “Peanuts” — much to his dismay. The name was inspired by the peanut gallery featured on the popular “Howdy Doody” TV show. Schulz bristled at the name change and lobbied for it to be reversed. But the name stuck.

21. The first “Peanuts” strip appeared on Oct. 2, 1950, in seven newspapers across the nation. Schulz was 27 years old and it was roughly 22 years after his kindergarten teacher accurately predicted his path.

22. That first strip featured three kids, named Shermy, Patty and Charlie Brown. The debut shows Shermy and Patty sitting curbside, taking notice of the new kid on the comic block: “Well! Here comes ol’ Charlie Brown! Good ol’ Charlie Brown … Yes, sir! Good ol’ Charlie Brown … How I hate him.”

23. Sparky said that first strip was the only comic he regretted drawing. Shermy declaring his hate for Charlie Brown was wrong, Schulz said later. He considered hate to be an “inappropriate emotion.”

24. On Jan. 6, 1952, a “Peanuts” Sunday strip appeared in over 40 U.S. newspapers. Three years later, Sparky earned the profession’s highest honor, the Reuben Award (named after Rube Goldberg), from the National Cartoonists Society.

25. In 1958, Sparky left the Twin Cities and relocated to Sonoma County. He and his young family moved to Coffee Lane in Sebastopol.

26. The 1960s were quite good to the “Peanuts” gang. Charlie Brown and team reached a peak of 355 million readers during the decade, and the popularity of “Peanuts” soared in numerous countries outside the U.S.

27. In April 1965, “Peanuts” cracked the front cover of Time magazine. In March 1967, Charlie Brown and the gang appeared on the cover of “Life” magazine.

28. Sparky’s creative genius made it to outer space May 18, 1969, when Apollo 10 astronauts Thomas Stafford, John Young and Gene Cernan launched from Cape Kennedy (now Cape Canaveral) for what was to be a “dress rehearsal” moon landing, without contacting the lunar surface. The command module was named Charlie Brown and the lunar module was dubbed Snoopy because it was to “snoop” around the future landing site envisioned for Apollo 11. Schulz drew an original picture of Charlie Brown in a spacesuit, a drawing that was hidden aboard the craft to be found by the astronauts once they were in orbit. It later was displayed at the Kennedy Space Center.

29. NASA and Sparky began collaborating in the 1960s, with Schulz creating comic strips of Snoopy on the moon, designed to help spark interest and excitement in the U.S. space program.

30. The space agency has maintained a strong connection with Sparky’s characters. The Silver Snoopy Award is given to NASA employees and contractors by astronauts to celebrate achievements related to mission success and flight safety. Each silver pin given with this award, depicting Snoopy as an astronaut, was flown on a space shuttle mission.

31. Charlie Brown landed in the Big Apple on March 7, 1967. The musical “You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown” premiered at Theater 80 in the East Village. Gary Burghoff (M*A*S*H fans remember him as company clerk Walter “Radar” O’Reilly) played the role of Charlie Brown. About a year later, the musical opened in London’s West End for 116 performances.

32. The Charles M. Schulz Museum and Research Center is in Santa Rosa because the city was Schulz’s home from 1958 until his death in 2000.

33. Sparky’s loves included ice hockey, golf, classical music, books and the Warm Puppy cafe in the Redwood Empire Ice Arena. He often started his mornings at the cafe with coffee and would return later for lunch.

34. The cafe’s tuna melts were one of Schulz’s favorites.

35. Both his telephone numbers — office and home — were listed in the white pages. He told an author that sometimes children would call him long distance and ask, “Do you really draw Snoopy?” Schulz would reply, “Yes. Do your parents know you’re calling?”

36. In spring 1965, Sparky signed up for a course about novels at Santa Rosa Junior College. In an essay, he described the experience: “Oddly enough, I got an A in it. When I was a kid, I was a lousy student, the way Peppermint Patty is. I never knew what was going on, never did my homework, never did the reading assignments. This time, I did all the reading. … Afterwards, the professor said to me, “This is a perfect example of what a paper should be.”

37. He once fielded a call from actor Mickey Rooney, who pitched the idea of a Broadway play called “Dogs” — a canine version of the Andrew Lloyd Webber standard, “Cats.” Rooney suggested Schulz write the script. Sparky passed.

38. Arguably the most noted recurring feature in “Peanuts” was Charlie Brown’s attempts to kick the football, even as he knows Lucy will pull it away at the last second. The gag showed up nearly every year through the run of the strip and was included in “Peanuts” animated TV specials. The first time Schulz used the football idea in his strip was 1951, but it wasn’t Lucy who held the football. Violet was the one who pulled away the football for the first time, sending Charlie Brown head over heels.

39. In the late 1980s, Forbes magazine rated Schulz as one of the 10 wealthiest entertainers, estimating his income at around $62 million in 1987 and 1988. He trailed only Michael Jackson, Bill Cosby, Steven Spielberg, Sylvester Stallone and Eddie Jackson. Schulz insisted the estimate of his income was too high. “Nobody makes that much,” he said.

40. Sparky is a legend to many, but he’s especially celebrated in his native Twin Cities in Minnesota. A plaque in the floor of the Skyway complex in downtown Minneapolis honors him, along with plaques for aviator Charles Lindbergh, author F. Scott Fitzgerald, presidential contender and Sen. Hubert Humphrey and Herb Brooks, coach of the 1980 “Do you believe in miracles” gold-medal U.S. hockey team. And the Charles M. Schulz Highland Arena ice arena in St. Paul, near the former spot of his father’s babershop, bears his name.

41. One of Sparky’s greatest successes came Dec. 9, 1965, when CBS debuted the holiday classic, “A Charlie Brown Christmas.” With its jazzy, nontraditional soundtrack and religious undertones, some worried how it would be received. It was a huge success, with an estimated 15.5 million people watching the special, placing it No. 2 in the TV rankings, trailing only “Bonanza” on NBC. “A Charlie Brown Christmas” was honored with Emmy and Peabody awards.

42. The success of “A Charlie Brown Christmas” was followed by the creation of a second CBS television special, “Charlie Brown’s All-Stars,” which broadcast June 8, 1966. Four months later, a third “Peanuts” special aired: the Halloween-themed “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown.”

43. In 1990, the government of France named Schulz a commander of arts and letters. Sparky was grateful, but humble: “Not bad for a guy who just draws a dog and little kids with big heads.”

44. Schulz got a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in June 1996. Three years before, he was inducted into the United States Hockey Hall of Fame for his contribution to hockey during the course of his career.

45. A fire destroyed the three-bedroom home in Sebastopol where Schulz had his studio in January 1966. Schulz and his family lived in another house 100 yards away. The cartoonist rushed into the burning building and saved six comic strips scheduled for publication the next month.

46. In the book, “My Life with Charlie Brown,” Sparky said, “Drawing a comic strip for me became a lot like a religion. Because it helps me survive from day to day. I always have this to fall back upon. When everything seems hopeless and all of that, I know I can come to the studio and think. Here’s where I’m at home. This is where I belong, in this room, drawing pictures.”

47. After Sparky’s death in 2000, one of his most famous characters, Snoopy, lived on. As a tribute to the cartoonist who loved golf and played at the Highland National Golf Course (where Sparky caddied as a teen) in his hometown of St. Paul, a Snoopy-shaped sand bunker was built in front of a pond on the par-four, 15th hole. It was incorporated into a redesign of the course in 2005 and is a double-edged sword for golfers who strive to avoid it but also want to see it.

48. Two years after Schulz’s death, friends and family gathered to unveil the Charles M. Schulz Museum and Research Center. It opened Aug. 17, 2002, on Hardies Lane and is home to many original “Peanuts” strips, other artifacts and exhibits that celebrate Sparky’s life. It draws visitors from around the world and includes a replica of his drawing studio and tributes from other artists.

49. A centerpiece of the museum is a 22-foot-high ceramic mural made of 3,588 “Peanuts” strips which form the image of Lucy van Pelt holding the football for Charlie Brown to kick. (And we all know what happens next.)

50. Sparky might not have been a top athlete, but his creation did make it to Whittier College’s Baseball Reliquary’s Shrine of the Eternals. Charlie Brown was officially inducted into the organization that is similar in concept to the National Baseball Hall of Fame but celebrates American art and culture through the context of baseball history. In 2017, Charlie Brown was the first fictional character inducted into the Shrine. He shared induction honors that year with broadcast legends Vin Scully and Bob Uecker.

51. Charlie Brown’s unrequited love for the Little Red-Haired Girl was inspired by Sparky’s love for a young woman in the accounting department at a correspondence art school where he worked. Donna Mae Johnson, seven years younger than Sparky, often dropped off an apple and an occasional poem to his office. He proposed to her in June 1950, but the little red-haired girl rejected him to marry a striking Navy veteran named Al Wold. Sparky acknowledged the remorse. “I can think of no more emotionally damaging loss than to be turned down by someone whom you love very much. What a bitter blow that is. It is a blow to everything that you are.”

52. Spike, the name of a black-and-white pointer Schulz had as a child, later appeared in the comic as the name of Snoopy’s brother beagle, who lived among the cactuses in Needles, California.

53. After heart bypass surgery in 1981, Schulz focused on improving his health and took up jogging. He became involved with the Young at Heart race, co-sponsored by the Redwood Empire Ice Arena and Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital. Schulz lent his “Peanuts” artwork for the race’s shirt design.

54. Charlie Brown is synonymous with “Peanuts” and even more so with the man who drew him. Like Sparky, Charlie Brown is the son of a barber, and both of their mothers were housewives. In an interview with broadcaster Charlie Rose in May 1997, Schulz acknowledged some of Charlie Brown’s experiences and personal traits are inspired by his creator, who often felt shy and withdrawn in life. “I suppose there’s a melancholy feeling in a lot of cartoonists, because cartooning, like all other humor, comes from bad things happening.”

55. Fittingly, Charlie Brown was the only character to appear in both the first strip in 1950 and the last in 2000.

56. Sparky said of Charlie Brown, “(He) must be the one who suffers because he is a caricature of the average person. Most of us are much more acquainted with losing than winning.” He added, “I like to have Charlie Brown eventually be the focal point of almost every story.”

57. When Sparky announced his retirement in December 1999, the “Peanuts” strip was syndicated in more than 2,600 newspapers worldwide, with collections of various books translated in over 25 languages.

58. Sparky wrote, penciled, inked and lettered by hand every single one of the daily and Sunday strips to leave his studio – 17,897 in all.

59. The final original “Peanuts” cartoon published Feb. 13, 2000. It appeared just hours after Schulz’s Feb. 12 death had been announced. The final strip still resonates with fans today. Sparky wrote, “Dear Friends: I have been fortunate to draw Charlie Brown and his friends for almost 50 years. It has been the fulfillment of my childhood ambition. Unfortunately, I am no longer able to maintain the schedule demanded by a daily comic strip. My family does not wish ”Peanuts“ to be continued by anyone else, therefore, I am announcing my retirement. I have been grateful over the years for the loyalty of our editors and the wonderful support and love expressed to me by fans of the comic strip. Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Lucy, Linus ... how can I ever forget them.”

60. In a collection of essays that published after his death titled, “My Life with Charlie Brown,” Sparky wrote: “I have been asked many times if I ever dreamed that ‘Peanuts’ would become as successful as it is, and I think I always surprise people when I say, ‘Well, frankly, I guess I did expect it, because, after all, it was something that I had planned for since I was 6 years old.’”

Sources: Charles M. Schulz Museum and Research Center; the Associated Press; The Press Democrat; “Good Grief: The Story of Charles M. Schulz,” by Rheta Grimsley Johnson; St. Paul Pioneer Press; The (Minneapolis) Star Tribune; “My Life with Charlie Brown,” by Charles Schulz; “Schulz and Peanuts: A Biography,” by David Michaelis; The Washington Post.