His whole staff joined in the impromptu tea party. That’s when Schulz recalled his mother saying something to the effect of, “If we ever have another dog, Snoopy would be a good name.”Īfter the introduction of the character to the comic strip in 1980, Press Democrat columnist Gaye LeBaron wrote, “The real Harriet responded immediately to her new-found fame by showing up at Sparky’s studio carrying an angel food cake with seven-minute icing. “Otherwise, the syndicate could name the dog something he hated, and he’d be stuck with it.” “So, he’d been carrying the name Sniffy in his head for the dog, sees this comic book on a newsstand and realizes he needed to have a good replacement name to suggest,” Clark said. So Schulz suggested “Charlie Brown” or “Good ol’ Charlie Brown” as alternates, but he was told neither would work, for copyright reasons. It was too similar to an older strip titled “Little Folks.” Schulz had hoped he could call the strip “Li’l Folks,” but the syndicate’s legal counsel said no. “This would have been just after losing the argument over naming his strip ‘Peanuts,’ a name he never liked.” “Schulz saw the comic book on a newsstand,” Clark said. An issue of that comic is included in the exhibit. That idea was dropped once Schulz learned of a comic book dog character named Snippy, which was too close for comfort. “Originally, Schulz wanted to name the dog character Sniffy,” Clark said. Naturally, the exhibit includes an entry on Charlie Brown’s multitalented canine, Snoopy. Schulz’s groundbreaking Black character, Franklin Armstrong, introduced in 1968, got his last name from African American cartoonist Robb Armstrong, best known for creating the comic strip “Jump Start.” After all, the museum’s full name is the Charles M. The study of “Peanuts” lore is serious business. The source of the name may have simply been peppermint candies, Clark said. “It’s not a bad speculation, probably, but Schulz is not on record saying that his cousin Pat Swanson was the inspiration for Peppermint Patty,” the curator continued. “The cousin idea is speculation by David Michaelis in his book,” Clark explained, referring to “Schulz and Peanuts: A Biography,” published in 2007. Schulz modeled Peppermint Patty after a favorite cousin, Patricia Swanson, who served as a regular inspiration for “Peanuts,” according to several sources, including a new Apple TV+ documentary, “Where Are You, Charlie Brown?” The source for Patty herself is a different matter. “In the strip, Peppermint Patty’s last name is given as Reichardt.” “Sue was one of Schulz’s secretaries in Sebastopol,” Clark said. Peppermint Patty, who excelled at sports but slept through class, got her last name, seldom used, from Sue Reichardt, according to the curator. “She and Schulz dated, and he even proposed after selling ‘Peanuts’ to the syndicate, but she turned him down.” “She worked in the accounting department there, and he was an instructor,” Clark said. Johnson worked at Art Instruction Inc., a correspondence school where Schulz worked before moving west. First referenced in “Peanuts” in 1961, she was based on Donna Johnson from Minneapolis. Take the mysterious Little Red-Haired Girl, the object of Charlie Brown’s unrequited affection, who is never seen in the comic strip. So it’s not surprising, as you wander through the “Drawn from Life” exhibit, to see comic strips that have Charlie Brown talking about Bodega Bay or show Snoopy heading to the World Wrist Wrestling Championship in Petaluma.īut even more prominently featured in the strips on display are the identities of people Schulz knew, both in Sonoma County and Minnesota. He moved to Sonoma County in 1958 and lived in Sebastopol before moving to Santa Rosa, where he died in 2000, after writing and drawing the “Peanuts” comic strip for nearly 50 years. Schulz was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on Nov. “He was present in all of his characters, but he also was influenced by the people around him, so this exhibit takes a look at that.” “As we lead into the Schulz centennial in 2022, we’re getting to know him better through all of his characters,” Clark said. The museum also celebrates its 20th anniversary next year. Schulz Museum in Santa Rosa, “Drawn from Life: The People and Places of ‘Peanuts,’” running through mid-March next year.īenjamin Clark, the museum’s curator, sees the show as an important prelude to the 100th anniversary of the birth of Charles Schulz next year. The same could be said of the current exhibit at the Charles M. “I know I'll never lose affection for people and things that went before,” the song continues. “There are places I remember all my life, though some have changed,” the Beatles sang at the beginning of “In My Life.”
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