Charles M. Schulz, Creator of PEANUTS, To Retire
14.12.1999, 21:53
New York (PROTEXT) - Charles M. ("Sparky") Schulz, creator ofthe PEANUTS comic strip, will retire January 4th, 2000. In aletter to his readers, colleagues, fellow cartoonists andfriends, Schulz wrote: "I have always wanted to be a cartoonist, and I feel veryblessed to have been able to do what I love for almost 50 years.That all of you have embraced Snoopy, Charlie Brown, Lucy andLinus and all the other PEANUTS characters has been a constantmotivation for me. "It is important for me to tell you personally that I havedecided to retire from drawing the PEANUTS comic strip, after thedaily release of Monday, January 3rd, 2000, (and Sunday releaseof February 13th), in order to concentrate on my treatment forand recuperation from colon cancer. Although I feel betterfollowing my recent surgery, I want to focus on my health and myfamily without the worry of a daily deadline. "Thank you for your kindness and support over the years andfor the outpouring of good wishes since my surgery." In accordance with the wishes of Mr. Schulz, his last originaldaily strip will appear on Monday, January 3rd, and his lastoriginal Sunday will appear on February 6. Beginning on Tuesday,January 4th, for dailies (and February 20th for Sundays), we willbe offering our PEANUTS clients comic strips originally drawn in1974. The year 1974 was chosen as the roll-out year for ClassicPeanuts because it incorporates the characters of the strip'svery early days (Charlie Brown, Lucy, Schroeder and Snoopy) withpopular characters that were introduced in later years such asPeppermint Patty and Woodstock. The strips that he drew in 1974unite the genius of comic timing and dialogue with the artwork ofa master. On October 2, 1950, Charles M. Schulz's PEANUTS comic stripfirst appeared in seven newspapers. Growing from that originalseven to more than 2,600 today, PEANUTS is the most widelysyndicated comic strip in history. On a daily basis, PEANUTSreaches more than 355 million readers in 75 countries and 21languages. Its timeless and endearing humor has expanded intomore than 50 animated television specials, more than 1,400 booksselling 300 million copies, and four feature films. United Media (UM) is a fully integrated, worldwide licensingand syndication company that focuses on building brand equityaround a wide range of creative content through its twosyndicates: United Feature Syndicate (UFS) and NewspaperEnterprise Association (NEA), and licensing: United MediaLicensing (UML). UM licenses and/or syndicates a variety ofproperties 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) isan E.W. Scripps Company. ots Original Text Service: United MediaInternet: http://www.newsaktuell.de Contact: Diane Iselin, (USA)212-293-8713, or Mary Anne Grimes, (USA) 212-293-8626, both ofUnited Media Web site: http://www.snoopy.com
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