Happy Half-Century, Charlie Brown

By JOHN LANG

He's one of the most recognizable characters in the world, with 355 million people following his actions even though he rarely gets anything exactly right.

Now he's about to do something that'll make his fans feel their age.

The little boy who never grows up is about to start his 50th year.

Way to go, Charlie Brown.

It's one of those realizations that doesn't seem possible - that an icon of innocence, one who defines the perplexities of life of the very small on a daily basis, has been at it now for half a century.

In so doing, "Peanuts," the comic strip, has become a major industry all to itself. Charlie Brown, the perpetual kid, is a success without rivals. Even if it always rains on his parade, he can never win the heart of the little red-haired girl, and maybe he isn't as famous as his dog.

"Peanuts" is the most widely printed comic strip in the world and in history, according to United Media, the Scripps company that syndicates the strip. It's read in 75 countries and is translated into 21 languages.

United Media is about to begin a year-long celebration of the cartoon's 50th year, culminating in its 50th anniversary in October 2000.

Annual worldwide retail sales from publishing, TV shows and licensing exceed $1 billion - all from the pen, ink and ideas of one man who learned cartooning from a correspondence course.

Over the years, Charles Schulz has worked 365 days a year at his studio in Santa Rosa, Calif., drawing Charlie Brown, his dog Snoopy, and their friends Lucy, Linus and Woodstock.

Schulz was one of the first cartoonists to draw a strip with more than a few characters. He was a pioneer in cartoon licensing, too. The crowd of personalities in "Peanuts" led to a bonus that wasn't anticipated when he began the strip - a range of promotional items for every character, including toys, children's clothing, books, puzzles and school supplies.

In Japan, where "Peanuts" is taken seriously by older generations for its philosophical side and books are written for adults on the psychology of the strip, there are seven Snoopytown Shops that sell household items and adult apparel with Snoopy on them. There are ski resorts in Japan incorporating "Peanuts" themes, hotels with Snoopy rooms and a Japanese airline 747 decorated with "Peanuts" characters that flies families on skiing vacations.

It's hardly what Schulz expected, considering he never had much hope for the name "Peanuts." He was calling the strip "Li'l Folks" when he began drawing it for publication Oct. 2, 1950, but had to change it because there were two others then with similar names. He thought then - and thinks now - that "Peanuts" connotes something "insignificant" or "unimportant."

What, then, is a message of importance underlying the comic strip?

Schulz's answer shouldn't surprise any reader who has watched the characters frequently stumble and genially plod onward, and sometimes learn a little something from mistakes: "It has a certain amount of dignity to it."

That's a clue Schulz is serious about drawing cartoons. He did, after all, ultimately become an instructor at the mail order art course, which is now the Art Instruction Schools of Minneapolis. He's quick to note that the lowly C-plus he got for drawing children was given by "a very tough professor."

It was while teaching there, incidentally, that he became friends with a Charlie Brown, whom he says "died too young," and where he met "a girl with red hair" who broke his heart.

By the way, that little red-haired girl whom the cartoon Charlie Brown so often sighs over never actually appears in "Peanuts."

Schulz, 76, hopes that "Peanuts" characters will live on, through licensing and greeting cards, after his retirement.

His last new daily strip will be released Jan. 4 and his final new Sunday strip will be published Feb. 13.

Schulz announced Dec. 14 that he is putting his pen down so that he can concentrate on his recuperation from colon cancer.

"I have always wanted to be a cartoonist, and I feel very blessed to have been able to do what I love for almost 50 years," he said. "That all of you have embraced Snoopy, Charlie Brown, Lucy and Linus and all the other Peanuts characters has been a constant motivation for me."

John Lang is a Scripps Howard News Service reporter and winner of numerous journalism awards, including the Ernie Pyle Award for Human Interest Writing.