The cartoonist, who died in 2000, “had needed to attract an journey strip,” Jean Schulz stated, noting that her husband usually drew adults, together with in his Military sketchbooks from World Conflict II – illustrations that ranged from the grittily reasonable to the extra humorously rendered. “He was a agency believer that you need to understand how to attract one thing earlier than you’ll be able to cartoon it,” she stated.
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Not lengthy after Peanuts launched, Charles Schulz and a pal, artist Jim Sasseville, pitched an adventure-story collaboration titled “Joe Cipher”. It was rejected, with an govt at Schulz’s syndicate saying, “Please don’t try it if it cuts into Peanuts, my old flame.” But the “Hagemeyer” artwork suggests how decided Schulz was to launch one other characteristic.
Gender and workplace politics reflective of the period are on show, reminiscent of when Hagemeyer says, “I simply can’t get used to having a girl for a boss.”
“Hagemeyer” additionally has sparked questions on Schulz’s artistic inspiration – and any Peanuts connection.
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“He’s simply making an attempt to faucet into one thing which may work – I believe he’s making an attempt to pitch his smartest thing,” says Schulz Museum curator Benjamin Clark. “He’s considering as a comic-strip connoisseur, and I don’t consider them as grown-up Peanuts.”
One connection that’s concrete is between the real-life Schulz pal named Hagemeyer and appearances of that identify in Schulz comics.
Elmer Roy Hagemeyer and Schulz met whereas posted in Kentucky throughout World Conflict II. The younger Schulz was visibly homesick, so Corporal Hagemeyer, a decade older, “big-brothered” Schulz, he later stated – even bringing his fellow soldier to his St Louis dwelling to spend time with him and his spouse. “He wanted anyone to assist him and make him really feel safer,” Hagemeyer later stated of their time at Camp Campbell.
Almost a decade after the battle, Schulz would go to Hagemeyer in St Louis. Maybe “he was wanting round for one more thought” throughout the journey, Clark says.
In Peanuts adventures, “Hagemeyer” would later be the married identify of Linus Van Pelt’s instructor, in addition to the surname of Marcie’s music instructor. There additionally was a lonely camper, warmly befriended by Charlie Brown, named Roy.
The workplace strip that by no means launched joins that checklist of real-life references from the pen of Charles “Sparky” Schulz.
Nonetheless, Jean Schulz says, when wanting on the “Hagemeyer” artwork: “I don’t see Sparky in it.”
The Washington Submit