18 Comments

How interesting... and although bittersweet, if Schultz had got the girl, maybe he wouldn't have created Peanuts or not in the way we've come to know it. It's interesting how heartbreak, or unrequited love can be the fuel for creativity sometimes. Love the backstory, thanks for sharing it!

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I think there's a lot of truth in this Christina. He had actually only just signed a deal for a regular comic strip (that became Peanuts), and was excited to share the news with Donna when she broke it off.

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Oh no, he must have felt so devastated... but his loss was our win, I guess.

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How bittersweet. 💔 love this backstory. Thanks guys!

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Glad you loved it Sally - it's one we briefly covered on Instagram but thought it was worth digging a bit deeper.

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Love this back story! It’s one I needed (and didn’t know) like all the best ones.

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Beautiful!

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We thought so too Tony, so poignant. Thanks for sharing.

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Mind you, I just looked him up and he got married to a different woman a year later, Wonder what she thought of the “little red-haired girl”…

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You know I saw a quote attributed to his wife (did not realise a year later though!) that made her seem like she was quite comfortable with the impact that heartbreak had on him and that he brought it into his character creation. I'm not sure how I would feel, but she sounded like a supportive woman!

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She’s definitely more understanding that my missus would have been!

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😄

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Thank you for digging into this - I was headed there next to find out if Shultz found his other red-haired girl.

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ok, you and Tony have sent me down a rabbit hole looking up his post-Donna love life! 😄 He was married twice, had an extra marital affair during his first marriage with a young co-worker (oh Charles!) and there are love letters and drawing gifts to prove it (he had a flirting playbook I guess!) - but he finally settled in his second marriage (25 years) and his widow sounds like she does a lot to preserve his legacy (he found stability in the end!).

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Perhaps the affair was a way of acting out / tantrum in response to his broken heart and maladaptive coping mechanisms. We will never know. We can only speculate and go down Google holes, like Alice

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Absolutely Beth - there's no way of getting the full picture even with all our digging ...

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And all because Donna jilted him for Al! Jk

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No worries. See, this is why I love Substack.

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