''Li'l Folks'', the first
comic strip
A comic strip is a Comics, sequence of cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often Serial (literature), serialized, with text in Speech balloon, balloons and Glossary of comics terminology#Captio ...
by ''
Peanuts
''Peanuts'' (briefly subtitled ''featuring Good ol' Charlie Brown'') is a print syndication, syndicated daily strip, daily and Sunday strip, Sunday American comic strip written and illustrated by Charles M. Schulz. The strip's original run ext ...
'' creator
Charles M. Schulz, was a weekly
panel that appeared mainly in Schulz's hometown paper, the ''
St. Paul Pioneer Press'', from June 22, 1947, to January 22, 1950. As Schulz's first regular cartoon, ''Li'l Folks'' can be regarded as an embryonic version of ''Peanuts'', centered around children saying things beyond their years. Unlike ''Peanuts'', ''Li'l Folks'' did not feature any recurring characters, though several themes were carried over to the later strip, including:
Beethoven
Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. He is one of the most revered figures in the history of Western music; his works rank among the most performed of the classical music repertoire ...
's music (which was applied to ''Peanuts'' character
Schroeder); dogs resembling
Snoopy
Snoopy is an anthropomorphic beagle in the comic strip ''Peanuts'' by American cartoonist Charles M. Schulz. He also appears in all of the ''Peanuts'' films and television specials. Since his debut on October 4, 1950, Snoopy has become one of ...
that appeared in most strips; and the name
Charlie Brown
Charles "Charlie" Brown is the Protagonist, principal character of the comic strip ''Peanuts'', syndicated in daily newspaper, daily and Sunday newspapers in numerous countries all over the world. Depicted as a "lovable loser", Charlie Brown ...
.
["Charles M. Schulz: ''Li'l Beginnings''"]
/ref>
Publication history
Schulz was 24 at the time he began drawing ''Li'l Folks'', and he was living with his father in a four-bedroom apartment
An apartment (American English, Canadian English), flat (British English, Indian English, South African English), tenement (Scots English), or unit (Australian English) is a self-contained housing unit (a type of residential real estate) that ...
above his father's barber shop. He earned $10 for each submission to the paper.
The first two installments of ''Li'l Folks'' ran June 8 and 15, 1947, in the ''Minneapolis Tribune
''The Minnesota Star Tribune'', formerly the ''Minneapolis Star Tribune'', is an American daily newspaper based in Minneapolis, Minnesota. As of 2023, it is Minnesota's largest newspaper and the seventh-largest in the United States by circula ...
''.[ It then moved to the '' St. Paul Pioneer Press''; ''Li'l Folks'' ran in the women's section of the paper.
In 1948, Schulz tried to have ''Li'l Folks'' syndicated through the ]Newspaper Enterprise Association
The Newspaper Enterprise Association (NEA) is an editorial column and comic strip newspaper syndication service based in the United States and established in 1902. The oldest syndicate still in operation, the NEA was originally a secondary new ...
(a Scripps Company). He would have been an independent contractor for the syndicate, unheard of in the 1940s, but the deal fell through.
Schulz quit two years into the strip after the editor turned down his requests for a pay increase and a move of ''Li'l Folks'' from the women's section to the comics pages.[
Later that year, Schulz approached the ]United Feature Syndicate
United Feature Syndicate, Inc. (UFS) is a large American editorial column and comic strip newspaper syndication service based in the United States and established in 1919. Originally part of E. W. Scripps Company, it was part of United Media ( ...
(also a Scripps Company) with ''Li'l Folks'', and the syndicate became interested. By this point, Schulz had redeveloped ''Li'l Folks'' with a four-panel strip format and a set cast of characters, rather than different nameless children for each page. The syndicate accepted the strip; however, the name ''Li'l Folks'' was too close to the names of two other comics of the time: Al Capp
Alfred Gerald Caplin (September 28, 1909 – November 5, 1979), better known as Al Capp, was an American cartoonist and humorist best known for the satirical comic strip ''Li'l Abner'', which he created in 1934 and continued writing and (w ...
's ''Li'l Abner
''Li'l Abner'' was a satirical American comic strip that appeared in multiple newspapers in the United States, Canada, and Europe. It featured a fictional clan of hillbillies living in the impoverished fictional mountain village of Dogpatch, ...
'' and a strip titled ''Little Folks''. To avoid confusion, the syndicate chose the name ''Peanuts'', after the peanut gallery featured in the ''Howdy Doody
''Howdy Doody'' is an American Children's television series, children's television program (with circus and Western (genre), Western frontier themes) that was created and produced by Victor F. Campbell '' TV show. ''Peanuts'' made its first appearance on October 2, 1950, in seven newspapers.
Characters and story
''Li'l Folks'' saw the first use of the name Charlie Brown
Charles "Charlie" Brown is the Protagonist, principal character of the comic strip ''Peanuts'', syndicated in daily newspaper, daily and Sunday newspapers in numerous countries all over the world. Depicted as a "lovable loser", Charlie Brown ...
on May 30, 1948, although Schulz applied the name in four gags to three different boys, as well as one buried in sand, during 1948–1949. One strip also featured a dog named Rover that looked much like Snoopy
Snoopy is an anthropomorphic beagle in the comic strip ''Peanuts'' by American cartoonist Charles M. Schulz. He also appears in all of the ''Peanuts'' films and television specials. Since his debut on October 4, 1950, Snoopy has become one of ...
. Like most of ''Peanuts'', adult characters were not shown in the strip.
Collected editions
The newspaper never returned Schulz's original artwork, so he clipped each week's strip from the paper and placed it in his scrapbook, which eventually housed over 7,000 pieces of artwork.
In 2004, the complete run of the strip was collected by the Charles M. Schulz Museum and Research Center (Santa Rosa, California
Santa Rosa (Spanish language, Spanish for "Rose of Lima, Saint Rose") is a city in and the county seat of Sonoma County, California, Sonoma County, in the North Bay (San Francisco Bay Area), North Bay region of the San Francisco Bay Area, Bay A ...
) in a book, ''Li'l Beginnings'', by Derrick Bang with a foreword by Jean Schulz. It is available from the Museum and distributed by Fantagraphics Books
Fantagraphics (previously Fantagraphics Books) is an American publisher of alternative comics, classic comic strip anthologies, manga, magazines, graphic novels, and (formerly) the Erotic comics, erotic Eros Comix imprint. They have managed sev ...
. The complete run of the strip was also included in the penultimate volume of '' The Complete Peanuts'', published in May 2016 by Fantagraphics Books.
References
{{Peanuts
American comic strips
1947 comics debuts
1950 comics endings
Charles M. Schulz
Child characters in comics
Comics about children
Gag cartoon comics
Comics characters introduced in 1947