Some time ago I promised to recount how I met Charles Schulz. I was lucky enough to know him a bit during his last years. Jeanne Schulz remains a friend, and I feel very privileged to have her and the other great people at the Schulz Museum in Santa Rosa as acquaintances.
Right after I became syndicated in 1995, Lynn Johnston nominated me for membership in the National Cartoonist's Society. Lynn (For Better Or For Worse) was a wonderful mentor to me. She remains a friend and someone I greatly admire.
My first NCS event was the 50th Anniversary Reuben Awards, held at the Waldorf Astoria in New York. You can't get a more glamorous introduction to the world of cartoonists than that. Charles Schulz in a tux dancing with Cathy Guisewite in front of an orchestra. Al Hirschfield (the incredible caricaturist who portrayed all the Broadway greats) accepting a lifetime achievement award. Garry Trudeau winning cartoonist of the year after being snubbed by the NCS for 20 years. Rick Kirkman and Jerry Scott (Baby Blues) accepting the Comic Strip of the Year Award and slapping Jerry's name on it with magnetic tape, because the NCS refused to honor comic strip writers. Partyin' with Garry and his wife Jane Pauley at the private party afterwards, because I'm lucky enough to be with the same syndicate as Doonesbury.
Sheesh, this is fun to write. Honestly, it was a very memorable weekend.
Saturday morning at breakfast Lynn found me and said "Jan! There's someone you need to meet!" She led me across the room and intercepted Schulz as he was making his way back to his table with a little cup of coffee in saucer, and a danish. He was shaking a bit and the cup was rattling and he really looked like he'd rather be left alone to sit down. Lynn was an old friend and unabashed, but I felt a bit like an interloper. Still... the introduction was made.
After I returned home, I wrote Sparky a note... saying I had enjoyed meeting him, and that I'd always admired his work, and that I hoped I'd see him at another event.
Some time passed... a week? On a Monday morning the phone rang, and someone said "Hi Jan, this is Charles Schulz". Honestly, I thought it was a joke. But it was really him, and he was interested in my work, and where I get my ideas, and who I admired. Fortunately, I could say I was an admirer of Percy Crosby, the creator of Skippy, a comic strip greatly admired by Schulz. (If you have a chance to find it online you'll see something familiar in the melancholy nature of Skippy, a boy who sits on a curb and ruminates about life.)
Sparky invited me down to Santa Rosa for his annual Christmas Party at the ice rink. I was able to go... and visit his studio... but that's another story.
Thanks for giving me a chance to travel back to a magical night. And because you are special for reading this, here's an old photo of Barbara Brandon (Where I'm Coming From), Lynn Johnston and me, at the Waldorf Astoria, 1996. Yeesh, those glasses!
Great story of a great meeting with Sparky!
I will never forget meeting him when I started at United Media/UFS in 1983; after rehearsing witty opening lines for weeks, when I finally did get introduced to him, I was more like Ralph Kramden ("Hommina, hommina, hommina...uh...") He made me feel at ease in that way he had, and we became instant friends. I miss him!
Posted by: Laura | February 17, 2010 at 08:16 PM