The man who brought us Charlie Brown, Snoopy and the whole Peanuts gang would be turning 100 today.
Cartoonist Charles Schulz died in February 2000, the night before his final comic strip ran in the Sunday paper.
But the characters he created and developed over the course of five decades still endure, in the form of reruns, beloved TV specials, a movie and a museum dedicated to Schulz's work. So too does the comfort they provide.
That's according to Schulz's widow, Jeannie Schulz, and Gina Huntsinger, the director of the Charles M. Schulz Museum in Santa Rosa, Calif. They spoke to Morning Edition about Schulz's life and legacy, which Huntsinger calls "pervasive."
She says he's had a global influence, from popularizing the term "security blanket" (looking at you, Linus) to inspiring Peanuts fans from around the world to visit the museum. The most common comment she gets is that people feel comforted by revisiting something nostalgic that still makes them laugh.
Jeannie Schulz offers another explanation for the comic's lasting and widespread appeal.
"I always say that Sparky expressed the human condition. He wrote about real emotions that kids are feeling, and it's always delivered with a little bit of humor," she says. "Anybody can read that strip in four seconds and get comfort from it, because it talks about humanity."
Charles Monroe "Sparky" Schulz (/ʃʊlts/; November 26, 1922 – February 12, 2000)[2] was an American cartoonist and creator of the comic strip Peanuts (which featured the characters Charlie Brown and Snoopy, among many others). He is widely regarded as one of the most influential cartoonists in history, and cited by many cartoonists as a major influence, including Jim Davis, Murray Ball, Bill Watterson, Matt Groening, and Dav Pilkey.
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