Charles M. Schulz, Creator of PEANUTS, To Retire

New York (PROTEXT) - Charles M. ("Sparky") Schulz, creator of the PEANUTS comic strip, will retire January 4th, 2000. In a letter to his readers, colleagues, fellow cartoonists and friends, Schulz wrote: "I have always wanted to be a cartoonist, and I feel very blessed to have been able to do what I love for almost 50 years. That all of you have embraced Snoopy, Charlie Brown, Lucy and Linus and all the other PEANUTS characters has been a constant motivation for me. "It is important for me to tell you personally that I have decided to retire from drawing the PEANUTS comic strip, after the daily release of Monday, January 3rd, 2000, (and Sunday release of February 13th), in order to concentrate on my treatment for and recuperation from colon cancer. Although I feel better following my recent surgery, I want to focus on my health and my family without the worry of a daily deadline. "Thank you for your kindness and support over the years and for the outpouring of good wishes since my surgery." In accordance with the wishes of Mr. Schulz, his last original daily strip will appear on Monday, January 3rd, and his last original Sunday will appear on February 6. Beginning on Tuesday, January 4th, for dailies (and February 20th for Sundays), we will be offering our PEANUTS clients comic strips originally drawn in 1974. The year 1974 was chosen as the roll-out year for Classic Peanuts because it incorporates the characters of the strip's very early days (Charlie Brown, Lucy, Schroeder and Snoopy) with popular characters that were introduced in later years such as Peppermint Patty and Woodstock. The strips that he drew in 1974 unite the genius of comic timing and dialogue with the artwork of a master. On October 2, 1950, Charles M. Schulz's PEANUTS comic strip first appeared in seven newspapers. Growing from that original seven to more than 2,600 today, PEANUTS is the most widely syndicated comic strip in history. On a daily basis, PEANUTS reaches more than 355 million readers in 75 countries and 21 languages. Its timeless and endearing humor has expanded into more than 50 animated television specials, more than 1,400 books selling 300 million copies, and four feature films. United Media (UM) is a fully integrated, worldwide licensing and syndication company that focuses on building brand equity around a wide range of creative content through its two syndicates: United Feature Syndicate (UFS) and Newspaper Enterprise Association (NEA), and licensing: United Media Licensing (UML). UM licenses and/or syndicates a variety of properties including PEANUTS (http://www.snoopy.com), Dilbert (http://www.dilbert.com), For Better or For Worse, Raggedy Ann & Andy, and Rainbow Fish. United Media (http://www.comics.com) is an E.W. Scripps Company. ots Original Text Service: United Media Internet: http://www.newsaktuell.de Contact: Diane Iselin, (USA) 212-293-8713, or Mary Anne Grimes, (USA) 212-293-8626, both of United Media Web site: http://www.snoopy.com Subscribers please note that material bearing the slug "PROTEXT" is not part of CTK's news service and is not to be published under the "CTK" slug. Protext is a commercial service providing distribution of press releases from clients, who are identified in the text of Protext reports and who bear full responsibility for their contents.