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Comics for All Ages: Peanuts

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History of Peanuts

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Peanuts

Peanuts is considered a classic comic strip with readership spanning multiple decades and multiple age groups of readers. This strip dealt with current events of both worldwide importance and personal importance. Schulz used his characters to talk about things that may be taboo in contemporary society, but by making them children, he was able to somewhat temper the perceived blowback.

Visual and textual style: expository, slice of life, four-panel gag strip, realistic, simple

Potential readers/appeal factors: ensemble cost, slice of life, predictable scenarios, appeals to all ages, repetition is key, humor, brought adult ideas into children’s lives

Awards

  • The first two-time winner of the National Cartoonists Society’s Reuben Award for 1955 and 1964
  • Received the Yale Humor Award in 1956
  • Received the School Bell Award from the National Education Association in 1960
  • National Cartoonists Society’s Humor comic Strip Award in 1962
  • Honored with the naming of Apollo 10 command module Charlie Brown and lunar module Snoopy in 1969
  • Was Grand Marshal of the Rose Parade in 1974
  • Won a Primetime Emmy in 1974
  • Nominated for two Daytime Emmy Awards in 1975 and 1986
  • Nominated for 6 Primetime Emmy Awards in 1966, 1967, 1968, 1973, 1985, and 1990
  • National Cartoonists Society’s Elzie Segar Award in 1980
  • Awarded the Lester Patrick Trophy for outstanding contributions to the sport of hockey in the United States in 1981
  • Nominated for the Humanitas Prize in 1990
  • Inducted into the United States Hockey Hall of Fame in 1993
  • Honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on June 28, 1996
  • Recipient of the Silver Buffalo Award, the highest adult award given by the Boy Scouts of America, for his service to American youth
  • National Cartoonists Society’s Milton Caniff Lifetime Achievement Award in 1999
  • Won Lifetime Achievement in Animation at the Santa Clarita International Film Festival in 2000
  • TV Guide ranked Peanuts the fourth Greatest TV Cartoon of All Time in 2013

Other pertinent information

  • At the time of Schulz’s death, “Peanuts” was published in 75 countries, 2,600 papers, and 21 languages every day.
  • Schulz drew more than 18,250 strips in about 50 years.
  • The first “Peanuts” strip was published on October 2, 1950.
  • Animated “Peanuts” television specials started in the 1960s.

Peanuts Movies