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American cartoonist Charles Schulz died on February 12, 2000, at age 77. The next day, the final Peanuts comic strip ran in newspapers, ending the 50-year run of Charlie Brown, Snoopy, and the gang. That timing might seem logical — you might assume the comic strip was written and submitted shortly before publication — but Peanuts strips, particularly Sunday ones like this, were done weeks ahead of time, making the timing something of a small coincidence.
Schulz had announced his retirement two months earlier due to several strokes and advancing colorectal cancer, and he’d created his last strip shortly after he made the announcement. While Schulz knew he was dying, he couldn’t have known two months in advance the exact day he would die and that he’d essentially penned his own obituary by having his last comic run just one day after his death.
The timing was auspicious and perhaps even profound, which was fitting for a man with such a profound impact on American culture. Over his 50-year career, Schulz gave us nearly 18,000 Peanuts comics. Some were sweet, some were funny, and some were incredibly deep, like this one from February 3, 1966, which contains Schulz’s best-ever quote, a high bar for such a prolific talent.
Charlie Brown and the spelling bee
The comic was part of an ongoing storyline about Charlie Brown competing in a spelling bee. It began on February 2, 1966, and lasted all the way until February 20. The story ran for 16 straight strips, not including Sundays, as the extended Sunday strips had to be more self-contained because they required so much lead time and lots of people just read the Sunday comics.
In the story, Charlie Brown volunteers for a spelling bee at school. While he’s excited for the spelling bee, he characteristically botches it when it comes time for his first word — he spells “maze” as “m-a-y-s.” A stressed-out Charlie Brown then returns to his desk and puts his head down. When his teacher tells him to pick his head up, he snaps at her and gets sent to the principal’s office. He later is sent back to class, where he apologizes to his teacher.
The highlight from the whole storyline came in its second strip, after Charlie Brown had volunteered for the spelling bee. The comic begins with an incredulous Lucy, who cannot believe Charlie Brown would humiliate himself by volunteering for a spelling bee. In reply to Lucy’s skepticism, Charlie Brown shouts at her, “Well, what’s wrong? What’s wrong with trying?! I can try, can’t I?” Then Charlie Brown says something truly insightful. He says:
“What’s the good of living if you don’t try a few things?”
Good grief, is that brilliant. It’s such a thoughtful yet simple statement and the kind of thing that would be good for everyone to remember.
Of course, the profundity of the statement is lost on both Lucy and Charlie Brown himself. They’re just kids and they’re not supposed to know when they say something thoughtful, which could happen quite often in Peanuts. There’s evidence, though, that even Schulz himself failed to see the brilliance of his own words here.
Charlie Brown on the big screen
This 20-part story about Charlie Brown entering a spelling bee later became the basis for the very first Peanuts feature film, entitled A Boy Named Charlie Brown, which came out December 4, 1969. That movie, which was written by Schulz himself, was a big, if somewhat now forgotten, piece of Peanuts history. It follows this same story, albeit with lots added in to fill 85 minutes. Yet, there is some stuff missing from the comic strips too, including that wonderful line.
Perhaps there was no place for it, or perhaps Schulz didn’t think it was all that special. Regardless, it is. That simple statement is as profound as anything out of any president or philosopher or anyone else we look to for great wisdom. Because, really, what is the point of living if we don’t try a few things while we’re here? Charles Schulz certainly tried, and look what came of it.
