Random Surprising Facts About Peanuts And Its Creator Charles Schulz (20 items)

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  (#1) Peanuts Was The First Major Comic Strip To Feature A Minority Character

  After the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968, Schulz received a letter from a woman asking him to add an African American character to the comic. Later that year, the character Franklin Armstrong debuted in the strip and became the first minority character to appear in a mainstream comic with a mass audience. Some Peanuts editors raised concerns about showing the character together with the other kids at school, but thankfully Schulz didn't listen to them.
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  (#2) There Are No Adults In Peanuts For A Reason

  "I usually say that the [adults] do not appear because the daily strip is only an inch and a half high, and they wouldn't have room to stand up," Schulz once joked. "Actually, they have been left out because they would intrude in a world where they could only be uncomfortable." But when Peanuts was animated, they needed a voice for the children's teacher. And it was the composer Vince Guaraldi who came up with the idea of using a trombone, and the "wah-wah" voice was born.
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  (#3) Schulz Created Nearly 18,000 Strips For Peanuts All By Himself

  Peanuts was created entirely by Schulz - meaning that he wrote, drew, and inked the entire strip by himself. In 50 years, he created 17,897 Peanuts comic strips and kept a strict 9 to 4 weekday work schedule. As of 2000, the life of Charlie Brown and his friends was being published in 2,600 newspapers, 21 languages, and 75 countries. Syracuse University professor Robert Thompson called Peanuts "arguably the longest story ever told by one human being."
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  (#4) Charles Schulz Made The "Security Blanket" Popular

  The term "security blanket," referring to a fuzzy object a child holds for comfort, was not coined by Schulz, but he is credited with bringing the term to popularity through the character of Linus. When the Oxford Dictionary was about to add "security blanket" as an entry, they wrote to Charles Schulz to ask if he was the first to use the term. Being a nice guy, Schulz declined any credit, responding, "I think that it was the readers who eventually coined the phrase."
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  (#5) He Passed Away Only Hours Before His Last Strip Was Published

  Charles Schulz retired in December of 1999 after a previous stroke combined with persistent hand tremors began affecting his work. His final daily strip was published in January of 2000, and his final Sunday strip was published in February. Unfortunately, Schulz passed away from colon cancer complications just hours before the newspaper went to the presses. Schulz's friend and fellow comic artist Lynn Johnston commented that it was "as if he had written it that way.''
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  (#6) Schulz Despised The Title Of His Comic Strip

  The original title of Schulz's comic was Li'l Folks, and it was a one-panel cartoon featuring large-headed versions of Charlie Brown and a few of his friends. Although the strip wasn't successful, Schulz managed to sell it as a series to United Features Syndicate. But because there was already another strip called Little Folks, the editors changed the name to Peanuts. Schulz never liked the new name, once stating, "I wanted a strip with dignity and significance. Peanuts made it sound too insignificant."
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  (#7) The Little Red Haired Girl Was Real

  The Little Red Haired Girl whom Charlie Brown pines over throughout the entire series is actually based on a real woman. Prior to Peanuts receiving syndication, Schulz was dating the red-haired Donna Mae Johnson whom he met while working as an art instructor. He proposed, but she turned him down and married someone else. Schulz also ended up marrying someone else, but he never forgot about her. In the comic, the Little Red Haired Girl is only mentioned and never actually seen, probably symbolizing how Schulz's own Little Red Haired Girl always lurked in his heart.
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  (#8) Charles Schulz Only Took One Real Vacation During His Career

  The ultimate hard worker, Schulz's rigid work schedule always kept him three months ahead of publication, but it was also said that he never took a vacation. Only reluctantly would he take more than 10 days off in a row - Schulz didn't even take off work when he had heart surgery. The only time Peanuts strips were ever re-published is when United Features ordered Schulz off for five weeks around his 75 birthday.
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  (#9) Fergie Was A Peanuts Voice Actor

  The Charlie Brown animated specials have featured a lot of different voice actors - many of whom went on to become famous for other roles. Musician Fergie, AKA Stacy Ferguson, voiced Sally in Snoopy's Getting Married, Charlie Brown when she was a child; Jodie Sweetin of Full House once had a role, as did Taylor Lautner of Twilight; and so did Elisabeth Moss from Mad Men.
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  (#10) There Is A Peanuts Reference In Every Wes Anderson Film

  Wes Anderson is known to pay homage to his greatest influences in his films, and Bill Melendez, the animator behind many Peanuts specials, is one of them. Both Rushmore and The Royal Tenenbaums feature music from A Charlie Brown Christmas. There is also a dog named Snoopy in Moonrise Kingdom, and the character of Suzy bears a striking resemblance to the Little Red Haired Girl.
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  (#11) Many Early Peanuts Comic Strips Are Really Bleak

  "You can't create humor out of happiness," Schulz once said - and it shows in the Peanuts strips from the 1960s. The other characters don't like Charlie Brown; no character ever gets to be with the person they're crushing on; Charlie Brown never ends up kicking the football; and the trees continually eat his kites. It's theorized that the strip finally lost some of its darkness and became cutesy when Peanuts started producing more merchandise in the 1980s.
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  (#12) The First Peanuts Animation Appeared In A Car Commercial

  Years before audiences would get to see Charlie Brown and friends come to life through animation, the Peanuts gang appeared in a car commercial. The Ford Motor Company licensed the Peanuts characters to appear in color commercials and for the intro of their company-sponsored Tennessee Ernie Ford Show. Bill Meléndez was also hired to create a Peanuts animation to promote the Ford Falcon and was later chosen by Schulz to make the first of several of the 45 Peanuts prime-time animated specials.
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  (#13) Without His Input, A Charlie Brown Christmas Would Have Been Very Different

  Executives at CBS did not like A Charlie Brown Christmas. Charles Schulz had to argue to make sure that the very first Peanuts animated special did not have a laugh track added to it and that it included religious holiday references by saying, "If we're going to do a Christmas special, we've really got to do it the right way and talk about what Christmas is all about." The producers didn't like the music and thought the story was too slow, but they let it air anyway. It was an instant classic and is still replayed on television every year.
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  (#14) Schulz Killed Off A Peanuts Character

  In 1954, Schulz added Charlotte Braun to the Peanuts lineup. She was loud and opinionated, and she looked exactly like Charlie Brown but with a dress and curly hair. Readers did not like her, and she only made 10 appearances before disappearing. After Schulz's death, a letter he sent in response to an annoyed reader was given to the Library Of Congress. Schultz assures the reader that Charlotte will soon be gone but comments, "Remember, however, that you and your friends will have the death of an innocent child on your conscience." At the bottom of the letter is a drawing of the character with an ax sticking out of her head.
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  (#15) Charles Schulz Learned To Draw Through The Mail

  Charles Schulz grew up reading comic strips like Popeye and knew that he wanted to be a cartoonist. His cartoon of the family dog being published in Ripley's Believe It Or Not inspired his dream, and he began a correspondence course in art with the Federal School of Applied Cartooning when he was a senior in high school. The school was famous for their "Draw Me!" ad campaigns often seen in magazines and on matchbook covers. Schulz eventually became an instructor there, as well.
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  (#16) Snoopy Has Connections With NASA

  The astronauts of the Apollo 10 spacecraft, which went to check out the moon before the guys on Apollo 11 landed on it, nicknamed their lunar module Snoopy and the command module Charlie Brown. The team carried special paintings of both characters into space with them, using the art to help calibrate their telecast cameras. Outstanding NASA employees are also eligible to receive the Silver Snoopy Award - a lapel pin that has flown in space on a mission and features Snoopy.
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  (#17) Schulz Was Inducted Into Two Ice Sport Halls Of Fame

  Growing up in Minnesota, Schulz was no stranger to ice. In fact, he had such a love for hockey and ice skating that he formed the Redwood Empire Ice Arena when he moved to California. In the mid-1970s, he started a hockey tournament for older adults that grew to become the largest senior tournament in the world and gave Schulz a place in the Hockey Hall of Fame. He would also be given a spot in the US Figure Skating Hall of Fame after his death. This would also explain the presence of all those Zambonis in Peanuts.
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  (#18) The 'Original' Cast Of Peanuts Characters Didn't Include Lucy Or Linus

  The first Peanuts strip, which ran in seven newspapers in 1950, didn't include what would become some of the most well-loved characters. In fact, that first Charlie Brown story only had three characters: Patty (a character distinct from Peppermint Patty), Shermy, and Charlie Brown. Quintessential Peanuts personalities like Linus and Lucy didn't enter the storyline for a few years.
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  (#19) Charlie Brown Nearly Missed Being An EGOT

  An EGOT is a production that has won all four of the major awards possible in the United States - an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar, and a Tony. Peanuts-related productions have won multiple Emmys, Tonys, and Grammys. However, they've only received an Oscar nomination. 1969's A Boy Named Charlie Brown was nominated for that year's Best Original Song Score; however, it didn't win, making Peanuts an EGT. 
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  (#20) Schulz Was A WWII Veteran, And That Made Its Way Into The Comic

  Charles Schulz served in the 20th Armored Infantry Division during World War II, which means he was part of the liberation of the Dachau concentration camp. Shulz paid tribute to D-Day in Peanuts and was even part of planning the national D-Day memorial. He is quoted as once saying: “I think any sensible person with a grasp of history would have to admit that D-Day was the most important day of our century.”

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