Schulz and Peanuts A Biography
Schulz and Peanuts A Biography
Charles M. Schulz, the most widely syndicated and beloved cartoonist of all time, is also one of the least understood figures in American culture. Now, acclaimed biographer David Michaelis gives us the first full-length biography of the brilliant, unseen man behind Peanuts: at once a creation story, a portrait of a native genius, and a chronicle contrasting the private man with the central role he played in shaping the national imagination. Schulz and Peanuts is the definitive epic biography of an American icon and the unforgettable characters he created.
User Ratings and Reviews
5 Stars Great book!
Got this for my fiance who is an avid peanuts fan! It is such a great book! He loves it! Highly recommended!
1 Star Sloooooow & boring
Good Grief! This book moves at glacial speed. By page 100, Sparky is still 14 years old. The author spends so much time on trivial stuff like describing the steps leading to the door of Sparky’s high school. Richards uses 650 pages to do what could easily be done in 200. Don’t waste your time on this one. Like Lucy pulling the football out from Charlie Brown’s kick, this book is a huge letdown. Too bad -4 star ratings aren’t available.
5 Stars The Tragic Life of Charles Schultz
I don’t go to the library nearly enough to get books - my own reading list generally precludes me from this, and any book that I really want to read, I tend to end up buying. But, every now and then, I’ll see something interesting worth reading, and will pick it up on a whim. This was the case with the first authorized biography of Charles Schultz, by David Michealis, called Schultz and Peanuts, which was released late last year.
The biography is wonderfully complete and extremely detailed, spanning the famed creator of Peanuts life from beginning to end. In addition to just talking about his life, this book is a discussion of how his life impacted his creation, and shows just how much of Schultz is revealed within the classic panels that ultimately defined his life.
Schultz was born November of 1922, and was the only child of Dena and Carl Schultz. His early childhood seemed to be one of loneliness, isolation and insecurity - all themes which would be prevalent in Peanuts. He was extremely attached to his mother, and was devastated when she died when he was twenty-one years old. It was during his early life that he began to draw, through his time in the army to a course where he began to draw small cartoons. Li’l Folks began in June of 1947, to limited success, but which would slowly grow to be an enormous multi-media platform that would lead Schultz from his humble beginnings to becoming one of the highest paid entertainers in the United States.
In addition to an examination of Schultz’s life, this book serves as a sort of literary critique of Peanuts itself. Each character is examined, their personalities and lives compared to Schultz’s and storylines are looked at within the same context. I’ve never read over the entirety of Peanuts, but this look has really given me an extremely detailed look not only at the evolution of the comic, but its inspirations and the meanings behind each panel.
What struck me the most about Schultz was the degree to which he and Peanuts were intertwined. While he denied that he utilized his own life and his children in the comic strip, it is very clear that was just not the case, intentionally or otherwise. From the start, he seemed to be destined for art, and looking back across his life, Peanuts is the only accomplishment for which he was entirely dedicated to - his purpose was singular, but perfect. The end result is a cartoon that is widely considered one of the greatest works of American art/literature, certainly one of the greatest comics, for which we owe much of our nation’s character to. Ironically, I have been reading about NASA and the lunar missions recently, and Schultz’s influences are felt there as well, as the Apollo 10 Lander (which was the test craft to circle and evaluate landing sites for Apollo 11, which did land on the moon) was named Snoopy and the Command Capsule was named Charlie Brown. Schultz also designed the mission patch for the first Skylab mission, featuring Snoopy and the names of the three crewmen. (My review for Homesteading Space can be found here.)
While Peanuts is a widely known work, its creator isn’t - this biography allows for an unparallel look at his life. In many respects, Schultz was Charlie Brown. Throughout the book, individual strips are presented, often highlighting elements of Schultz’s personality at various stages of his life. Characters are examined, picked apart and revealed through their creator to largely be an extension of his own life and personality. In a way, it is extremely fitting that not only was Peanuts not allowed to continue after his retirement, the last strip and his death occurred on the same day.
Schultz’s life was not an unhappy or miserable one - it was he that was unhappy and miserable for much of his life. He was self-deprecating, a little vain and incredibly insecure - not unlike his famed creation. He seemed to suffer from many phobias, and clung to people throughout his life, all the while maintaining a mild-mannered and quiet presence. His first marriage, which lasted twenty or so years, pitted him against his wife, who was far more assertive and combative, while his second was far more mutually friendly. Ironically, for a creator known for his portrayal of children, Schultz seemed to be fairly distant from his own, leaving the raising of his family to Joyce (his first wife), who dominated the house and family.
Reading through the book, I was interested to find that there are a number of elements of Schultz’s personality that match my own - to a point. I’ve illustrated the desire to change some aspects of this, and looking at Schultz’s life, one can see the effects of his personality upon the direction of his life and the people around him.
In the end, there is no doubt that Schultz had created something wonderful, tragic and heartwarming. Peanuts is arguably one the quintessential American tales, rife with meaning throughout, something that inspired generations of people around the world for its simplicity and brilliant storytelling. This was Schultz’s legacy to the world - unhappy, lonely, but enlightening.
(Originally posted on my blog)
4 Stars Exhaustive, often brilliant view of a great cartoonist
A perfectly designed cover graces a very full and complete biography of perhaps America’s greatest cartoonist, a book I knew I had to have the minute I saw it. A long-time fan of ‘Peanuts’ going back to the early ’60s, I’ve always loved Schulz’s work and wanted to know more about him.
Michalis’ book gives you almost more than you want to know about Schulz, examining and analyzing virtually every detail of his life from birth to death. I learned some things I didn’t know, including where the references to Needles, home of Snoopy’s brother Spike, came from (Schulz’s family’s residence there for two years when he was a boy) as well as the name ‘Snoopy’ (a passing remark by his mother, Dena, which he recalled as he began the strip in 1950). His family life and its connection to his own very shy and introverted, yet oddly ambitious personality is examined at length, as well as his relationships with others, particularly women. Not without his flaws, he nonetheless comes off for the most part as a kind, gentle, affectionate, and funny man whom, perhaps because he took a long time to grow up, never forgot the trials and tribulations of childhood.
The book has apparently been sharply criticized by the Schulz family, who seem to be resentful of the amount of speculation and intimate detail Michaelis gave Schulz’s life. And I can imagine that ‘Sparky’ might have hated the book, or at least resented all that it revealed about him. I can’t speak to any factual errors made by the author, but if I have a gripe with the writing it would be that it is a times rather florid and that Michaelis overdoes his psychological speculations on Schulz’s behavior and the reasons for it. A bit less imagination in these interpretations might have made for a more solid biography, in my opinion.
Nevertheless, I enjoyed the book very much and I think that, given the access Michaelis had and the number of people close to Schulz he spoke to (quite a few of them now deceased), he produced a very solid and exhaustive biography of Charles M. Schulz. And for that I have to give him high marks and a ‘thank you.’
5 Stars He just wanted to be called “poor sweet baby”
David Michaels biography weaves the telling of Schultz’s life story, that of an interesting flawed genius with examples of his work pointing out how Schultz brought life to Charlie Brown and the other characters from his own inner being. By 1960 Charles Schultz had turned his Peanuts comic strip into a marketing goliath. For example Hallmark Cards introduced Peanut greeting cards and paper goods in 1960. No one could by that time deny Schultz was a remarkable success as he now lived in Santa Rosa California on an estate he called Coffee Lane. Also, in 1960 novelist Sloan Wilson, the author of THE MAN IN THE GREY FLANNEL SUIT published his novel A SENSE OF VALUES. Wilson’s new book centered on Nathan Bond a character who is a successful cartoonist who draws Rollo the Magnificent. Wilson wrote of Bond’s despair and sometimes happy sometimes tortured marriage as Bond studied the meaning of his success. As I read David Michaels intense and troubling account of Charles Shultz’s life I could not help but think of Sloan Wilson’s character and it’s strange comparison to Schultz. Both stories seem to say that the 1950’s culture of happiness and success had a predictable negative impact on the perfect family. The reason for my mentioning this is my surprise to learn what I did about Schultz. For example, how little self confidence Shultz had in understanding his own success. He seems to have had an inability to manage and understand how he impacted a personal relationship or value the connection between himself and his readers. In 1989 Schultz said his greatest accomplishment was, “making the most out of what limited talent I have”. And he went on to say, “considering that everybody thought that I would never amount to anything, but I know my limitations.” Rather an amazing thing for him to say when you consider the world wide popularity of his Peanut’s characters and its huge financial success. Yet, the book points out that all through his life Schultz feared and worried (he was a classic worrier) that everything would be taken away from him. I found the books first 200 plus pages covering Schultz’s childhood, his determined understanding that he wanted nothing more than to draw a successful comic strip to be the heart of the book and the best written. When Schultz is drafted and leaves for basic almost to the day his Mother dies is heartbreaking and seems to impact his whole personality as an adult. The later part of the book gets a bit to full of the psychology of the Peanut characters and, of course, Shultz’s need to be loved (with out giving love in return) which destroyed his marriage, impacted negatively on several affairs and reveals a side of Shultz most readers may learn for the first time. Schultz became bitter learning he had fatal colon cancer. It was not his evangelical Christianity that appeared but a personal dismay when he told Al Roker in a final interview, “…all of a sudden, it’s gone. It’s been taken away from me. I did not take this away from me; this was taken away from me.” All that really mattered to Schultz was the time he spent alone drawing his beloved characters. As a reader of Michaels fine biography you will learn a great deal about the development, growth and autobiographical under tow of each character. I doubt you will read Peanuts the same way again.
Filed under: Comic Book Reviews