Charles M. Schulz in 1966

I had the privilege of interviewing Schulz in his studio in 1971 and working with him when he did a piece of art for my book “The Art of Mickey Mouse”. I never found him anything but upbeat, positive, sweet, generous, thoughtful, enthusiastic (he talked to me for a good half hour about how he loved Mickey and was excited to be drawing the rodent). The creator of Peanuts was born Charles, but an Uncle soon dubbed him “Sparky” after Barney Google’s race horse, which he was always called the rest of his days by his friends and fellow cartoonists. Long live Sparky!