Greetings family, friends, and neighbors. The World's tallest person Robert Wadlow and Snoopy have more in common than you may imagine...Believe it or Not!       Bill 

Historical Snippets

BELIEVE IT OR NOT

What could Peanuts, and Believe it or Not possibly have in common? You may be surprised to learn that they were the creation of Charles Schulz and Robert Ripley, cartoonists and former residents of the same town in California’s fabled Wine Country.

The familiar cartoon strip Peanuts made it’s first appearance in seven newspapers in 1950, penned by Minnesota native Charles “Sparky” Schulz, moved his family to California in 1969 and established a studio in Santa Rosa. At it’s height the well known strip, featuring Charlie Brown, Lucy and Snoopy, was published in 2600 daily newspapers in 75 countries. Over a career of nearly fifty years Schulz drew close to 18,000 published panels generating revenues from strips, licensing, endorsements and merchandise of more than a billion dollars, and inspiration for the Charles M. Schulz Museum.

Cartoonist, entrepreneur, world traveler and self proclaimed amateur anthropologist Robert Ripley also hails from Santa Rosa and is known for creating the Ripley’s Believe it or Not newspaper cartoon strip, films, radio and television shows, and “Odditorium” attractions. The strip’s first appearance in 1918 soon became a weekly feature covering sports feats, little known facts about unusual topics, and items submitted by readers. Funded by publishing mogul William Randolph Hearst who ran the strip in 360 newspapers, Ripley traveled the world in search of new and bizarre curiosities to draw and display. He opened his first museum, in 1933 in Chicago and soon had permanent exhibitions in many major cities. 

Ninety years ago Robert Ripley was voted The New York Times most popular man in America. In an uncanny coincidence, fifteen year old Charlie Schulz sent a drawing of the family dog Spike to Robert Ripley in 1937 where it appeared in the widely syndicated panel captioned “A hunting dog that eats pins, tacks, and razor blades is owned by C.F. Schulz, St. Paul, Minn.” and drawn by “Sparky”.

Believe it or Not -Bill 9/25