''Li'l Folks'', the first

comic strip A comic strip is a sequence of drawings, often cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions. Traditionally, throughout the 20th and into the 21st ...

by ''

Peanuts ''Peanuts'' 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 extended from 1950 to 2000, continuing in reruns afterward. ' ...

'' creator

Charles M. Schulz Charles Monroe "Sparky" Schulz (; November 26, 1922 – February 12, 2000) was an American cartoonist and the creator of the comic strip ''Peanuts'', featuring what are probably his two best-known characters, Charlie Brown and Snoopy. He is wid ...

, was a weekly

panel Panel may refer to: Arts and media Visual arts * Panel (comics), a single image in a comic book, comic strip or cartoon; also, a comic strip containing one such image *Panel painting, in art, either one element of a multi-element piece of art ...

that appeared mainly in Schulz's hometown paper, the '' St. Paul Pioneer Press'', from June 22, 1947, to January 22, 1950. Schulz's first regular cartoon, ''Li'l Folks'' can be regarded as an embryonic version of ''Peanuts'', containing characters and themes which were to reappear in the later strip: a well-dressed young boy with a fondness for

Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. Beethoven remains one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music; his works rank amongst the most performed of the classical ...

, à la

Schroeder __NOTOC__ Schroeder is a North German language, German (from Schröder) occupational name for a cloth cutter or tailor, from an agent derivative of Middle Low German , "to cut". The same term was occasionally used to denote a gristmiller as well as ...

; a dog with a resemblance to

Snoopy Snoopy is an anthropomorphic beagle in the comic strip ''Peanuts'' by Charles M. Schulz. He can also be found in all of the ''Peanuts'' films and television specials. Since his debut on October 4, 1950, Snoopy has become one of the most recog ...

; and a boy named

Charlie Brown Charles "Charlie" Brown is the principal character of the comic strip ''Peanuts'', syndicated in daily and Sunday newspapers in numerous countries all over the world. Depicted as a "lovable loser," Charlie Brown is one of the great American ar ...

."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), or flat (British English, Indian English, South African English), is a self-contained housing unit (a type of residential real estate) that occupies part of a building, generally on a single story. There are ma ...

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 ''Star Tribune'' is the largest newspaper in Minnesota. It originated as the ''Minneapolis Tribune'' in 1867 and the competing ''Minneapolis Daily Star'' in 1920. During the 1930s and 1940s, Minneapolis's competing newspapers were consolida ...

''. 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 news ...

(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 (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 (along wit ...

(also a Scripps Company) with ''Li'l Folks'', and the syndicate became interested. However, by that time Schulz had also developed a comic strip (also called ''Li'l Folks''), typically using four panels rather than one. The strip was similar in spirit to the panel comic, but it had a set cast of characters, rather than different nameless little folk for each page. The syndicate preferred 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 (wi ...

's ''

Li'l Abner ''Li'l Abner'' is a satirical American comic strip that appeared in many newspapers in the United States, Canada and Europe. It featured a fictional clan of hillbillies in the impoverished mountain village of Dogpatch, USA. Written and drawn ...

'' and a strip titled ''Little Folks''. To avoid confusion, the syndicate chose the name ''Peanuts'', after the

peanut gallery A peanut gallery was, in the days of vaudeville, a nickname for the cheapest and ostensibly rowdiest seats in the theater, the occupants of which were often known to heckle the performers. The least expensive snack served at the theatre would of ...

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

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. The strip also featured a dog named Rover that looked much like

. 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 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 Area ...

) 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 the erotic Eros Comix imprint. History Founding Fantagraphics was found ...

. The complete run of the strip was also included in the penultimate volume of ''

The Complete Peanuts ''The Complete Peanuts'' is a series of books containing the entire run of Charles M. Schulz's long-running newspaper comic strip ''Peanuts'', published by Fantagraphics Books. The series was published at a rate of two volumes per year, each cont ...

'', 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 Gag cartoon comics Children's comics Comics characters introduced in 1947