It isn’t a memorable number for an anniversary, but today marks the 67th birthday of one of the most successful comic strips of all time.
As with so many great innovations, Peanuts got off to a slow start. The Charles M. Schulz Museum and Research Center in Santa Rosa, Ca., reports that Schulz drew a weekly comic panel for the St. Paul Pioneer Press from 1947 to 1950 and sold comic gags to The Saturday Evening Post. “After many rejection slips, Schulz finally realized his dream of creating a nationally-syndicated daily comic strip when Peanuts debuted in seven newspapers on October 2, 1950,” the museum explains on its web site.
Seven newspapers!
By the time the award-winning cartoonist announced his retirement 49 years later, in December 1999, Peanuts was running in more than 2,600 newspapers around the world. Schulz died on Saturday, Feb. 12, 2000, only hours before the final Peanuts Sunday strip appeared in newspapers.
Peanuts, which continues in reruns, is now viewed as “one of the most popular and influential (comic strips) in the history of the medium,” according to Wikipedia. Schulz drew 17,897 strips during his run. At its peak, Peanuts had 355 million readers in 21 languages in 75 countries.
Peanuts, which continues in reruns, is now viewed as “one of the most popular and influential (comic strips) in the history of the medium,” according to Wikipedia. Schulz drew 17,897 strips during his run. At its peak, Peanuts had 355 million readers in 21 languages in 75 countries.
