"Good Ol' Charles Schulz," Oct. 29, PBS

NEW YORK (CNS) -- On Oct. 2, 1950, the first "Peanuts" cartoon strip appeared in a mere seven newspapers.

By the time the ruefully funny world of Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Lucy and Linus -- not to mention the Little Red Haired Girl -- reached the peak of popularity, it would be featured in more than 2,500 publications around the globe. The strip also would eventually spawn a series of hugely successful television specials, a hit off-Broadway musical, and innumerable merchandising products.

The complex creator of Charlie Brown and friends -- arguably the most beloved figure in the history of comics -- is the subject of "Good Ol' Charles Schulz," a thoroughly engaging documentary written and directed by David Van Taylor. The film will air as part of the "American Masters" series on PBS stations, premiering Monday, Oct. 29, 9-10:30 p.m. EDT (check local listings).

That Schulz, known to friends and family as "Sparky," had a subtle and elusive personality emerges clearly from interviews with some of the people who knew him best, including his second wife. She explains that it took her the first 10 years of their marriage to begin to understand him.

The son of German and Norwegian immigrants, Schulz grew up in a world of emotional reticence. Feelings were never outwardly expressed. As a result, he came to crave affirmation, but could not return it.

An obsessive fan of Orson Welles' masterpiece, "Citizen Kane" -- friends testify that he watched the movie at least 40 times -- Schulz may have seen an image of his own isolation in the lonely figure of the young Charles Foster Kane. His solitude was further deepened by the death of his mother while he was in the Army during World War II.

Schulz infused those feelings he could not translate into words into his art, creating, as fellow cartoonist Jules Feiffer points out, a comic strip that defied convention.

At a time when most comics featured superheroes or dashing main characters like Dick Tracy, "Peanuts" instead assembled a cast of moody, insecure or eccentric children. The style of Schulz's artwork also bucked the trend. His strips were almost minimalist, with large portions of the frame left blank.

Schulz started the "Peanuts" strip while working as an instructor at a Minneapolis art school. Linus and Charlie Brown himself were named after faculty colleagues, both of whom are interviewed in the film.

The first of several "Peanuts" television specials, "A Charlie Brown Christmas," in 1965 stirred controversy among network executives because of its overt religious content. The absence of a laugh track also represented a gamble. Yet the program turned out to be both a critical and commercial hit. Three other holiday specials followed.

After drawing more than 18,000 comics for the series, Schulz became critically ill and ended the strip, with the last original installment appearing the day after his death in February 2000.

---

Copyright (c) 2007 Catholic News Service/U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops