Introduction
Sparky was a genius.
That is the answer to the unanswerable questions of "why" and"how." I recognized it when I first knew him, I spent the next 25years asking the same things others ask, and always came back to the sameanswer. The essence of his genius is: We can't know it, quantify it, explain it;we can, simply, enjoy it. If those of us who are part of his circle puzzle overthe questions and struggle for answers, no one struggled more than Sparkyhimself.
He understood intuitively things he couldn't explain. Things he couldn't evenput into words. He could go only so far as to answer the perennial question"Where do your ideas come from?"
The ideas Sparky used are out there in the world. We all know them and that iswhy we relate to them. It is the particular twist Sparky put to the ideas thatdescribed his genius, and that draws us, enchanted, into his frame.
I believe there are people of genius around us, but few are fortunate enough tohave their genius match the moment. A thousand years ago, Sparky would have beena storyteller, the person in the tribe or the clan who collected the tribal loreand repeated it for each generation. He understood instinctively the value ofthe story which illustrates a human truth, and which allows his listeners totake from it what they need at the time. The best stories can be told over andover again—forever new—because the listener changes.
Sparky loved his Big-Little Books when he was small, when he was in highschool he escaped into the world of Sherlock Holmes, and always he lovedadventure comics. He actually wanted to draw an adventure strip, but it was thewistful, innocent way he illustrated an emotion, expressed through the eyes of asmall person, that caught the attention of the comics editors. And so it waschildren he drew on for his cartoons.
Children, he would have told you, are simply adults "with the lids stillon." He believed firmly that we are the product of our genes and that allof the characteristics are there within us as children, simmering, waiting toemerge. So the envy and anger expressed in "Good Ol' Charlie Brown. How Ihate him" in the first strip, shocks us, but Sparky knew, whether or not wewant to admit it, children feel that emotion. When Sparky saw a child with avery strong personality, he observed how difficult that person would be"when the lid comes off."
Sparky loved to sit in his ice arena over lunch and have an interesting andvaried group around, and he was very good in front of an audience. He knew howto draw his story out to hold people's attention. His directness enlivened anyconversation and he probed others with questions. In these situations he waslike the storyteller of old—interacting with his audience in a very intimateway.
But the comic strip is a long way from the storyteller of a thousand years ago.The cartoonist puts his drawings and words on paper and it is weeks before hisaudience sees them. Immediacy and personality must be elucidated in a differentway. The comic strip storyteller of 20th century America has to tell a storythat stretches across 3000 miles, and draw scenes of snow pranks that makepeople laugh in Hawaii as well as in Vermont or Michigan.
Like the novelist, the cartoonist must go into himself or herself, and draw uponwhat is there. It is a solitary craft.
Sparky frequently wasn't sure if something he'd drawn was funny. Certainly he'dreceive feedback, but it would be months later. The spontaneity was missing.Often I'd stop at his studio and look over a stack of dailies on his desk. WhenI laughed out loud, or told him how funny I thought they were, he was trulygrateful. "Oh, I'm so glad you think it's funny. I'm never sure," he'dsay. He loved people's positive responses, and at the same time, he had to shutout the voices. He had to draw what he thought was funny and hope that hisaudience liked it too. He was always glad to know people liked his characters ora particular storyline, but he knew he couldn't write to that audience; healways wrote for himself.
He began quite early in his career to use biblical references. Occasionally,someone would write to say, "How dare you use religious material in a comicstrip?" His response was that as long as he had used the reference withintegrity, he was satisfied that he was on firm ground. On the other hand, oncein the 70s, he used a take-off on the title I Heard the Owl Call MyName. He got a letter saying this was a sacred phrase in a Native Americantribe. Sparky wrote an apology. He admitted he hadn't realized that he wasoverstepping propriety.
Sparky sometimes tried out an idea on me or others. For example he'd say,"How would it be if Charlie Brown goes to camp and meets this other kid whowon't say anything except 'Shut up and leave me alone.'?" Well, it'sdifficult to imagine that as a funny storyline, but I knew better than to sayno, and of course, because of the funny drawing and the particular way he pacedthe strip and the story, it became a funny sequence. If this or any newcharacter made for a good storyline, Sparky might go back and resurrect thecharacter a year later for a second camp episode, but more often than not, thatfirst appearance would be the last. He explained that the character was tooone-dimensional to create opportunities for humor.
In order to produce a strip every day, he had to rely on characters whosepersonalities themselves engendered ideas. Sparky always had a pen handy towrite down any notions that came to him, or if we were in the car he'd ask me towrite for him. Frequently, at the symphony, I'd see him reach into his pocketfor his pad and pencil. On the way home he'd tell me the idea he had—but whathe related to me at the time was only the germ of what would become a fullyrealized daily or Sunday page. He could come up with ideas from almost anysituation because his characters had such distinct personalities andidiosyncrasies.
As much as most of us are drawn to the personalities and the situations and thelines the characters deliver, Sparky was always quick to point out that theappeal of Peanuts is still funny drawing. He would use a yellow linedpad to "doodle," drawing the characters in antic poses, rolling over,flying upside down, etc. These provided him with ideas.
When the strip ended, the response was overwhelming. Sparky touched peopledeeply and often changed their lives, as the thousands of letters attested:
"I remember [as a child] often being consumed by feelings of profoundanxiety and unrest, and yet as soon as I could come home to read myPeanuts books, I was peaceful, even happy."
"When I was about 11 years old I had to go into the hospital and I wasvery scared. My mother had to leave me after visiting hours, but my stuffedSnoopy didn't. I held it all night long."
"I often identified with Charlie Brown's feelings of inadequacy, of notfitting in anywhere. And my favorite character was always Linus, who wassensible but had an almost magical sense of the power of his innocence andimagination."
"Charlie Brown and the gang were a solace and a balm to my soul. Ialways wanted to tell this to Mr. Schulz. So now I tell you."
Sparky once said, "I would be satisfied if they wrote on my tombstone 'Hemade people happy.'"
He did that, and so much more.
— Jean Schulz
Continues...
Excerpted from Peanutsby Charles M. Schulz Copyright © 2003 by Charles M. Schulz. Excerpted by permission.
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