Millions of people around the world who loved t…

Millions of people around the world who loved the comic strip “Peanuts” were sad when Charles Schulz died in February, two thousand. He was seventy-seven years old. The artist who created Charlie Brow
n and his dog Snoopy had retired a month earlier because of poor health. The last new daily “Peanuts” appeared January third in two thousand six hundred newspapers in seventy-five countries.

Charles Schulz drew “Peanuts” for fifty years. The comic strip first appeared in seven American newspapers in nineteen fifty. At that time, the subjects were all children and animals. They still are. People love these characters because they demonstrate the failings and strengths of all human beings. For example, Charlie Brown usually cannot get things right. But he tries his best. And he never stops trying.

Charles Schulz would not permit anyone else to draw “Peanuts.” However, the stories about Charlie Brown and his friends did not completely disappear when their creator died. Newspapers are publishing earlier “Peanuts” comic strips, called “Classic Peanuts.” Special programs based on stories about the “Peanuts” group are still shown on television and performed as musical plays.

For example, the animated cartoon, “A Charlie Brown Christmas,” has appeared on television since nineteen sixty-five. In it, Charlie Brown has to choose a Christmas tree for a special Christmas program. He gets a small ugly tree because he feels sorry for it. But the other children laugh at it. They say Charlie Brown has failed again to do something right. Then in preparing for the show, one of the children tells about the true meaning of Christmas. The other children decide that maybe they can make Charlie Brown’s tree look beautiful.

Other children often criticize Charlie Brown. He suffers many losses and rejections — just as people sometimes do in real life. His baseball team always loses. He keeps trying to kick a football, but never succeeds. His friend Lucy keeps pulling the ball away. But he continues to believe that some day she will let him kick the ball.

Charlie Brown has a dog named Snoopy who may be even more popular than Charlie. Snoopy is a funny character. He sleeps on top of his dog house. Snoopy is always trying to write the great American novel. But he cannot get beyond the first line of his book. He writes: “It was a dark and stormy night” again and again. Snoopy dreams of himself as a pilot searching for the Red Baron, a famous German fighter pilot in World War One.

There are other memorable characters in the “Peanuts” comic strip. Lucy mistrusts everyone. She often seems angry. Schroeder plays a small toy piano. Every year he celebrates the birthday of composer Ludwig von Beethoven. Linus always carries a blanket to feel secure. Peppermint Patty is good at sports. She likes Charlie Brown very much and is the only one who calls him “Chuck.”

Charles Schulz said he saw himself in some of his characters. He recognized himself in Charlie Brown’s continued failures. In Snoopy’s humor. In Lucy’s moments of anger. And in the insecure feelings of Linus. Some of the situations in “Peanuts” seem to have developed from Mister Schulz’s own life experiences.

In nineteen sixty-seven, the “Peanuts” characters starred in a musical play. “You’re A Good Man, Charlie Brown” was first performed in New York City. It later became the most produced musical in America. A new production opened on Broadway in New York in nineteen ninety-nine. The actors in the Broadway version of the musical sing a song called “Happiness.”

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