14 November 2012
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| The Peanuts gang |
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Peanuts is a daily comic strip written and illustrated by Charles M. Schulz, which ran from October 2, 1950, until the day after Schulz's death, February 13, 2000.
The strip is the most popular and influential in the history of the comic strip.
Top row : Woodstock, Snoopy and Charlie Brown
Bottom row : Franklin, Lucy van Pelt, Linus van Pelt, Peppermint Patty, and Sally Brown.
History
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1940's
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| The first strip from October 2, 1950. From left-to-right: Charlie Brown, Shermy, (original) Patty. |
Schulz first used the name Charlie Brown for a character there, although he applied the name in four gags to three different boys and one buried in sand. The series also had a dog that looked much like the early 1950s version of Snoopy.
In a 1987 interview, Schulz said of the title Peanuts : "It's totally ridiculous, has no meaning, is simply confusing, and has no dignity, and I think my humour has dignity." The periodic collections of the strips in paperback book form typically had either "Charlie Brown" or "Snoopy" in the title, not "Peanuts", because of Schulz's distaste for his strip's title.
1950's
It began as a daily strip. The first strip was four panels long and
showed Charlie Brown walking by two other young children, Shermy and
Patty. Shermy lauds Charlie Brown as he walks by, but then tells Patty
how he hates him in the final panel. This was ground-breaking. Until
then, rarely had children expressed hatred for others in comic strips.
Snoopy was also an early character in the strip, first appearing in the
third strip, which ran on October 4. Its first Sunday Strip appeared January 6, 1952, in the half-page format, which was the only
complete format for the entire life of the Sunday strip. Most of the
other characters that eventually became the main characters of Peanuts
did not appear until later: Violet (February 1951), Schroeder (May
1951), Lucy (March 1952), Linus (September 1952), Pig Pen (July 1954),
Sally (August 1959), Frieda (March 1961), "Peppermint" Patty (August
1966), Woodstock (introduced April 1967; given a name in June 1970),
Franklin (July 1968), Marcie (July 1971), and Rerun (March 1973).
1960-1970's
Peanuts did not shy away from cartoon violence. The most obvious example might be Charlie Brown's annual, futile effort to kick the football while Lucy holds it. At the last moment, she would pull the ball away just as he was kicking. The off-balance Charlie Brown would sail into the air and land on his back with a loud thud. There was also the ever-present (and often executed) threat by Lucy to "slug" someone, especially her brother Linus. Though violence would happen from time to time, only once or twice was a boy ever depicted hitting a girl (Charlie Brown, who accidentally hit Lucy; when Lucy complained about it, Charlie Brown went down to her psychiatric booth where she returned the slug much harder) August 8, 1965. Schulz once said, "There is nothing funny about a little boy being mean to a little girl. That is simply not funny! But there is something funny about a little girl being able to be mean to a little boy."
1980-1990's
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| Sunday strip came out February 13, 2000:one day after the death of Charles M. Schulz |
Though Garfield and Calvin and Hobber rivaled Peanuts in popularity in the 1980s and the 1990s, the strip still remained the most popular comic of all time.
The daily Peanuts strips were formatted in a four-panel "space saving" format beginning in the 1950s, with a few very rare eight-panel strips, that still fit into the four panel mold. In 1975, the panel format was shortened slightly horizontally and shortly after the lettering became larger to accomodate the shrinking format. Beginning on Leap Day in 1988, Schulz abandoned the four-panel format in favor of three-panel dailies and occasionally used the entire length of the strip as one panel, partly for experimentation, but also to combat the dwindling size of the comics page.
Schulz continued the strip until he had to retire because of health reasons, he died the day before the final Sunday strip was published.
End of Peanuts
The final daily original
Peanuts comic strip was published on January 3, 2000. At that point, five more original Sunday
Peanuts strips had yet to be published.
On February 13, 2000, the day following Schulz's passing, the last ever
Peanuts
strip ran in papers. The strip began with Charlie Brown answering the
phone with someone on the end presumably asking for Snoopy. Charlie
Brown responded with "No, I think he's writing." The bottom panel
consisted of the final daily strip in its entirety, reprinted in color,
and included various
Peanuts characters surrounding it. The very
last strip consisted simply of Snoopy sitting at his typewriter in
thought with a note from Schulz that read as follows:
Dear Friends,
I have been fortunate to draw Charlie Brown and his friends for almost
fifty 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, Linus, Lucy...how can I ever forget them...
— Charles M. Schulz
Fittingly, Charlie Brown was the only character to appear in both the first strip in 1950 and the last in 2000.
For more click below link :
www.peanuts.com
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twitter : @Snoopy
Facebook : Snoopy
Instagram : @Snoopygrams
TQ :)
See you in the next post :)
Regards,
Tna
