"I just fed my dog," he explained. "That’s always the most
important job of the day."
Of course that begged the obvious question, and I learned that the
dog’s name is Homer. ("He likes it when I recite ‘The Iliad.’ ")
A recent stroke has forced Jim to choose his words slowly and
deliberately, which prompts the listener to hang on every word, as if it
might become a delightful punchline ... which, in some cases, proves
true.
Because of the stroke, Jim’s doctor took a CAT Scan, to make sure
that everything was as good as could be hoped.
"I asked him if the scan was difficult to interpret," Jim said,
with a delivery as dry as his wit, "and he said that it was a no-brainer
... so I guess that means I’m all right."
Despite the distance of phone lines, I could feel him smile.
As the conversation ranged back and forth from the 1940s to ’60s,
Jim occasionally interrupted himself to make sure that I recognized a
celebrity or historical reference.
"Not to worry," I finally said, at one point. "I’m older than I
sound."
"And still reading comic books?" he replied, quick as a shot.
"Shame on you!"
Jim should talk; he’s a longtime Krazy Kat fan.
Our first chat didn’t cover nearly enough territory, but it
established a comfort level that prompted a subsequent delightful
afternoon in the artist’s company. His home, shared only with the
aforementioned dog, is smallish but filled with personality.
And I knew that I’d finally made a connection, and earned his
trust, when he offered me some coffee. From that moment, the visit
became less an interview, and more an increasingly amiable chat between
two guys with comics and cartooning in their blood.
Sasseville was born August 28, 1927, and grew up in Minneapolis,
Minnesota. He enrolled in a public school kindergarten class, but from
the first through eighth grades enjoyed (endured?) a parochial school
education, complete with Latin. To this day, he can parse verbs like a
pro.
He became a full-fledged altar boy in fifth grade ("Those were the
good ol’ days, when they still did the complete Mass in Latin"), and
remembers a mischievous incident when he and a classmate elbowed each
other while genuflecting during a service.
Not a big deal, really ... but after the service, once behind the
scenes, the priest took quick action. "He grabbed both of our heads, and
I can still feel the collision today, after he clonked us together."
Art was an interest from very early on ("I drew all the time"), and
Jim recalls getting an A in art and history in seventh grade, for his
illustrated history of Napoleon. "It was like historical comics," he
points out now, with hindsight. "I was years ahead of my time."
After eighth grade, Jim shifted back to public school during his
high school career. He took the art classes offered at his school, but
did not pursue this interest with any extra-curricular instruction.
By this time, the war was on; Jim isn’t even sure, all these years
later, whether he officially completed high school. Whether he graduated
or released himself, he and a friend then hitchhiked across the country.
Jim’s 18th birthday found them in Portland, Oregon, where the two worked
the remainder of that summer at the Kaiser shipyards. Jim then enlisted
in the U.S. Navy, while his friend returned to Minneapolis. Jim was
assigned to the fleet post office after boot training, and he served
precisely 11 months and 29 days ... a hitch whose length would come back
to haunt him.
After being discharged, Jim entered the Minneapolis School of Art
(at the time, a trade school) for a three-year term, and graduated in
1948. He gravitated toward Art Instruction School (which already
included a certain Charles M. "Sparky" Schulz among its staff), and in
the summer of 1949, while 22 years old, prepared a gorgeous hand-drawn
and lettered portfolio, with a self-portrait in full watercolor, to
introduce himself and his artistic talents; the brochure’s dozen or so
pages must have been one of the most ambitious job applications that the
institution ever had received.
Although interested in cartooning, at that point Jim preferred
painting, which this full-color introductory portfolio makes abundantly
clear. (He still has it, lovingly preserved and in excellent condition.)
Obviously, the ploy worked. Jim was hired at a starting salary of
$35 per week. The oversized 1950 Art Instruction Schools Inc. booklet
("Your Art School!"), produced not much later and handed out to all
prospective clients, includes his photo on Page 3, immediately before
Schulz’s picture.
"James F. Sasseville," reads the caption beneath the photo, "is an
instructor in rendering and advertising illustration. He is one of our
best figure illustrators in color."
While at Art Instruction, Jim joined the team that graded all the
submissions -- the "Can you draw me?" applications -- that arrived via
mail or hand delivery. The bottom-line desire, of course, was to
encourage those with even the smallest shred of talent, in order to get
an AIS salesman in the family’s front door; after all, the money was
made by selling art instruction courses. Since manilla envelopes poured
in like mad, speed-grading was essential.
"I spent years correcting Lesson No. 5, which was an advertising
project, where the students had to design a streetcar poster on the
theme ‘See the Orient.’ "
Jim remembers marking all but the very best submissions with
nothing more than alpha-numeric codes (A6, A17, and so forth), which AIS
secretaries then would translate into form paragraph replies.
"But they always were nicely typed up," Jim remembers, knowing full
well that the recipients carefully scrutinized every analytical word.
Sasseville and Schulz became good friends ("We had a similar sense
of humor"), and Sparky encouraged Jim to pursue comic strips. Jim even
got his hair cut more than once in Schulz’s father’s barbershop.
"Sparky bet me, in late 1949, that I’d sell a comic strip to a
syndicate before he would," Jim remembers, with a smile. "As it turned
out, I won that bet hands-down."
In between grading assignments, Jim and his fellow employees
produced thousands upon thousands of quickly penciled drawings on
4-by-7-inch sketchpads. In this respect, these artists were no different
than their counterparts at Disney and Warner Brothers animation studios,
who also filled the minutes between "real work" with impressive little
doodles and caricatures of each other, all of which are the envy of
collectors today (when they surface in the first place). Jim still has
stacks and stacks of such impromptu efforts, including a few caricatures
of Schulz and other AIS friends, and several pages of "Peanuts"
character roughs. (Even then, he must have been planning ahead...) Most
are plain pencil on paper, but some are blue-line; in either case, they
reveal one of Jim’s artistic strengths an ability to capture a person’s
eyes with remarkably lifelike clarity.
(Unfortunately, he did not save his collection of Schulz originals.
"I gave away all my junk foolishly, many years ago ... somebody conned
me out of almost all my original Schulz drawings.")
Jim never lost his art-school fascination with centaurs and nudes,
and many of his sketchpad pages are filled with fetchingly unclad
cuties. Hiring and drawing undraped models was fairly common among Jim
and his colleagues, although not quite all of his colleagues "I can’t
remember Sparky taking any part in that whatsoever."
Such figure studies also sparked Jim’s impish literary talents,
honed by a life-long fascination with poetry (T.S. Eliot’s "Distracted
from distraction by distraction" remains a personal mantra).
Jim still recalls many of his favorite invented verses, such as
this one, which would have been loved by Ogden Nash
A centaur met a mermaid, as he trotted by the sea;
She noticed not his heavy hooves, nor he her single knee,
As they lingered there, expelling time with heart-inspired chatter
The direction of their love so strong ... bottoms didn’t matter!
Jim’s tenure at Art Instruction was interrupted in mid 1952, when
Uncle Sam tapped his shoulder again. The Korean War was underway, and
those who previously had served less than a full year were being
recalled ... so those two days shy of a year forced a second hitch that
lasted through 1954.
"I was sent to the Philippines," Jim notes dryly, thinking back to
all the Lesson No. 5 submissions that he had graded, "so I certainly saw
the Orient."
This second 14-month hitch of active duty certainly wasn’t wasted,
in terms of Jim’s artistic skills; he worked for an Irish Catholic
chaplain and did a weekly mimeographed newspaper for U.S. Naval Mobile
Construction Battalion 9 ("I was drawing cartoons up the gazoo"). The
unit’s 1952-53 Cruise Book features a great full-page Jim illustration
on Page 33; titled "Cubi Point, P.I.," it shows five sailors watching a
dog face off with a monkey.
Jim’s relationship with Father John James Kileen never was dull, in
part because the artist was a lapsed Catholic.
"He worked the hell out of me, but then he’d always invite me into
his quarters for a nip, and then try to entice me back into the fold."
After his second stint in the Navy concluded, Jim returned to
civilian life (this time for good), and to Art Instruction Schools,
where he and Schulz picked up where they’d left off. In between grading
assignments and sketching his office buddies, Jim placed a few gag
cartoons in magazines, such as a droll three-panel sequence of a guy
having trouble with a jack, while attempting to fix a flat tire, which
appeared on Page 45 of the August 1957 issue of Gent, a
long-discontinued men’s magazine.
Jim met Helga, his future wife, as a result of his Navy friendship
with Charles Cuddy. She had immigrated to the United States when
sponsored by a South Dakota politician and his family ("mostly for slave
labor," Jim perceptively remarks); Helga was unfamiliar with the farm
environment, and decamped for Minneapolis as soon as she could. She
entered the University of Minnesota with a vengeance; her half-Jewish
heritage had kept her out of institutions of higher learning in her
native Germany.
She also enrolled in art school and wound up in one class being
taught by Dave Ratner, a colleague and friend with whom Jim went to art
school; she also landed in some of the same classes as Cuddy, who for a
time shared a boarding house attic ("a garret") with Jim. Since this
colony of Minneapolis artists wasn’t all that large, it was inevitable
that Jim and Helga would meet. ("Destiny," he happily acknowledges.)
They married in 1956.
"I’d just bought a brand-new Mercury," Jim remembers, with a
chuckle, "and I had to get rid of it when we got married, because Helga
couldn’t drive a stick-shift."
Within a few short months, Sasseville’s life turned around again,
when he became the best of Schulz’s never-credited "Peanuts" ghosts.
Whenever asked, Charles Schulz would repeat the statement that
became ubiquitous Unlike those involved with other "assembly-line"
newspaper comic strips, he remained the only person whose hands touched
the adventures of Charlie Brown and the gang. Schulz wrote, drew, inked
and lettered his strip, and did so during the entire run October 2,
1950, to February 13, 2000. Schulz always insisted that the strip would
cease production when he finally called it quits, a wish that his family
has honored. Unlike other classic strips that have been revived, often
by lesser talents, "Peanuts" will forevermore remain solely a Schulz
legacy.
Except ... that’s not entirely true.
During the 1950s and early ’60s, Charlie Brown and his friends
didn’t just appear in newspaper strips; they also were a popular feature
of comic books ... a medium usually dominated by the likes of Superman
and Captain America, but one that included plenty of room for lighter
fare.
And -- surprise, surprise! -- when the "Peanuts" comic book
appearances stopped being newspaper reprints and "graduated" into
original features in 1957, sharp-eyed fans probably could discern that
somebody other than Sparky Schulz was doing the artwork.
To keep the chronology consistent, let’s turn back the clock to
1952, when "Peanuts" simultaneously debuted as a supporting feature in
two comic books -- the March-April issues of Tip Top Comics (#173) and
United Comics (#21) -- both published by United Feature Syndicate, which
routinely recycled many of its newspaper features in these and other
comic books. The "Peanuts" supporting feature moved into a third book,
Tip Topper, beginning with #17 (June-July 1952); it remained there until
the book was discontinued after #28 (April-May 1954). Shortly before
this final issue of Tip Topper, "Peanuts" returned to Tip Top as a
supporting feature, beginning with #184 (Jan.-Feb. 1954) and continuing
through #188 (Sept.-Oct. 1954). Several of these later issues feature
gorgeous Peanuts covers, which -- although not signed -- appear to be by
Schulz.
"Peanuts" also appeared, during this same period, as a back-up
feature in most issues of United Comics, later retitled Fritzi Ritz
(beginning with #27). The run here also was consecutive #21-#33 (the
latter dated March-April 1954). Stray issues of Sparkler Comics and
Sparkle Comics also included some "Peanuts" reprints, although not on a
regular basis.
UFS got out of the comic book publishing business at the end of
1954, and some of its titles were picked up by St. John in 1955,
including Fritzi Ritz and Tip Top. Despite a noticeable gap of several
months, the numbering of both books continued consecutively. Thus, Tip
Top resumed with #189 (May 1955), and continued to include "Peanuts" as
a supporting feature during St. John’s entire run of this book, through
#210 (July 1957). "Peanuts" was only an occasional supporting feature in
St. John’s run of Fritzi Ritz, starting with #37 (July 1955) and
continuing through #55. Finally, at least one issue of Nancy -- #142
(March 1957) -- also featured Peanuts reprints.
Big changes came in late 1957, and not just because St. John
abandoned these books and turned them over to Dell Comics (Western
Publishing). After a delay of several months to half a year -- depending
on the title -- Dell revived the flagship St. John titles, again with
consecutive numbering. Thus, Tip Top #211 returned as a quarterly with a
cover date of Nov. 1957-Jan. 1958. Fritzi Ritz resumed with #56, dated
Dec. 1957-Feb. 1958.
Under Dell’s stewardship, Charlie Brown and the gang also became a
regular supporting feature in Nancy, beginning with #146 (Sept. 1957).
The biggest change, however, concerned the content in all three books.
When Dell took over, the covers promised "All brand-new stories" ... and
they meant it.
"Peanuts" fans spotted the change in Nancy #146, which boasted a
four-page story with a baseball theme, clearly produced by Schulz
himself (although unsigned); Jim confirms Sparky’s linework. But Schulz
quickly realized that producing four full pages of original art for
Nancy on a monthly basis, not to mention similar duties for the
quarterly Tip Top and Fritzi Ritz, would be more than he was willing to
handle. Then, too, he was only months away from debuting his own second
newspaper strip, "It’s Only a Game" (about which more below).
Schulz allowed Dell’s house art department to handle his characters
in Nancy #147, but was unhappy with the results. (No surprise; the art
is quite weak.) Schulz stepped in again for issue #148, but the workload
problem hadn’t changed. Wanting greater fidelity to his own style,
Schulz turned to Jim, who took over the reins with issue #149 and
continued through #168 (July 1959). Jim essentially became Schulz’s
employee and was paid $100 per week for this work; since he was making
only $80 per week at Art Instruction, this -- along with the even higher
paycheck he’d soon receive, for helping Schulz with "It’s Only a Game"
-- was a substantial raise.
As a ghosting assignment, the results are impressive. Charlie Brown
and Linus’ heads are notoriously difficult to reproduce in Schulz’s
signature style, but Jim came damn close. More to the point, the
characters are posed and conduct themselves in a way that’s absolutely
typical of their behavior in Sparky’s newspaper strip. Art purists may
have noticed that Jim wasn’t Schulz, but casual readers were unlikely to
have detected the difference.
The four-page story above is taken from Nancy #151, February 1958.
(Click on the pages to enlarge them.)
"He gave me carte blanche on writing them, and I felt like a
faithful uncle," Jim says, with no small amount of pride at his ability
to reproduce Charlie Brown and the gang.
Although Jim’s take on the "Peanuts" gang in Nancy #149 was the
first to reach fans, it was not the ghost artist’s debut crack at
Charlie Brown. Jim’s first completed "Peanuts" comic book adventure was
"The Trip," one of a quartet of eight-page stories (packaged with three
one-page stories) that eventually appeared as issue #878 (Feb. 1958) of
Dell’s Four Color Comics, an "umbrella title" that rotated various
stars; this issue, boasting a gorgeous signed Schulz cover, was the
first one devoted to "Peanuts."
Ever the imp, Jim inserted a personal reference into "The Trip."
The number on the dog license that Charlie Brown uses -- 891-68-14 -- to
justify his getting behind the wheel of a station wagon, was the
artist’s Navy serial number.
Jim also did the work in the Fritzi Ritz and Tip Top issues during
this time, and it’s important to note that he had a completely free rein
with these comic book stories, handling both art and writing chores.
Fritzi Ritz lasted only four issues under the Dell label, before
being discontinued after #59 (Sept.-Nov. 1958). "Peanuts" did not appear
in #56, but each of the remaining three issues included a new four-page
story by Jim. He also handled the work for Tip Top #211 through #215
(Nov. 1958-Jan. 1959). In Tip Top, Charlie Brown and his friends shared
covers with Nancy, Sluggo, and the Captain and the Kids. Although
unsigned, Schulz drew these "Peanuts" cover panels for issues 211-213,
and Jim handled 214 and 215.
Sasseville did the Peanuts art in these issues of Tip Top, #214 and #215.
(Click on the pages to enlarge them.)
All told, then, Jim drew the interior stories in 20 issues of
Nancy, three issues of Fritzi Ritz, and five issues of Tip Top, along
with Four Color #878. This relationship with Schulz and Dell Comics took
an unexpected turn when the two men parted unhappily, and Jim’s final
work for Dell was the long kite story in the second all-"Peanuts" issue
of Four Color Comics (#969, Feb. 1959), along with the inside front and
inside back cover one-pagers.
The completion of that particular issue became something of a
marathon art session. After announcing that he and Helga would be moving
to Berkeley, Jim took stock of the pending Dell workload, and discovered
that the deadline for the second all-Peanuts issue of Four Color Comics
was imminent. Jim promised to finish this before the move, but Sparky
suggested that the job would proceed faster if they worked on it
together. The two men thus divided the work between them, and began
early one morning with what turned into a lengthy session stretching
well into the evening. During that time, Jim completed the
aforementioned two one-page stories and one eight-page story, while
Sparky handled the remaining one-page story and THREE eight-page
stories.
"There’s no doubt who was the faster artist," Jim notes, with a
chuckle. "He certainly put me in my place!"
Jim still remembers that session as a euphoric rush ... but it
concluded on a gloomy note, when, resting in the happy afterglow of a
job well done, Schulz revealed the fate of "It’s Only a Game" (see
below).
In the aftermath, Schulz also stepped in and handled all the work
for Nancy #169 (August 1959). Clearly, this was a rush job, and Schulz
borrowed from himself The final panel of this four-page story is almost
identical to the final panel of the June 23, 1957, "Peanuts" Sunday
strip. The comic book storyline is an expansion of that Sunday strip,
and the aforementioned final panel in the comic book is signed by Schulz
... the only case where any interior comic book stories bear his
signature.
Because the split was far from amicable, Jim did not follow the
subsequent comic book adventures of Charlie Brown and his friends, in
Nancy and Tip Top. On close examination just a few weeks ago -- in many
cases, seeing this work for the first time -- Jim pointed to specific
poses, characteristics and lettering attributes ("Sparky always rounded
out the bottoms of his W’s") that leave him convinced that Schulz either
penciled and inked the next several issues of both Nancy and Tip Top, or
at least roughed in the panel layout, inked the primary characters --
particularly their heads -- and lettered the word balloons. This seems
likely; carefully examination of individual pages reveals an occasional
Snoopy or Lucy which, not matching the rest, clearly must have been
inked by somebody else.
But Dale Hale, Schulz’s new apprentice and ghost -- and another
associate from Art Instruction Schools -- caught on quickly, and the
artwork in both books retained its Schulz-like characteristics through
roughly late 1960 or early 1961. At this point, other hands clearly took
over -- possibly Tony Pocrnick, another Schulz associate from Art
Instruction -- and the "Peanuts" characters became ever-more distant
from the Schulz ideal until the final issues of Tip Top (#225, May-July
1961) and Nancy. (By then the latter had been retitled Nancy and Sluggo,
and its final five issues were released under the Gold Key imprint; the
book was discontinued with issue #192, October 1963.) The "Peanuts"
artwork in the last issues of both books is, in a word, dreadful.
A third all-"Peanuts" issue of Four Color Comics was produced
(#1015, August-October 1959), after which the characters got their own
book that began with issue #4 (Feb.-April 1960), by way of acknowledging
those first three appearances in Four Color Comics. This lasted through
#13 (May-July 1962), after which the book was discontinued. Each of
these issues features a signed Schulz cover, but other hands --
certainly Hale, at first -- handled all the interior artwork and writing
(which, as with the latter issues of Nancy and Tip Top, grew less
Schulz-like over time).
But what had happened, to sever the friendship between Schulz and
Jim, which stretched back a decade?
Bouncing back a year or so...
Although already quite popular and gaining fans -- and syndicate
clients -- all the time, in 1957 "Peanuts" was not yet the multimedia
sensation it was to become within another decade. Schulz must have had
some free time that needed filling, and therefore was comfortable with
the concept of pitching a second strip concept to United Features
Syndicate. The artist had lots of ideas about games near and dear to his
heart, including golf, tennis, baseball and bridge. No doubt realizing
that twice as much Schulz per week was a good thing, UFS jumped at the
chance, and the sports and recreation-themed "It’s Only a Game" was
born. For awhile, Schulz joined later stars such as Johnny Hart ("B.C."
and "The Wizard of Id"), Mell Lazarus ("Miss Peach" and "Momma") and
Jerry Scott ("Baby Blues" and "Zits"), with two newspaper strips running
simultaneously.
Each installment of "It’s Only a Game, by Charles M. Schulz,"
hearkening back to Schulz’s very early work on "Li’l Folks" in The St.
Paul Pioneer Press, was comprised of three separate single-panel gag
strips. The package was offered to clients in two different formats as
three single-panel strips per week, to run on Mondays, Wednesdays and
Fridays; or as a combined grouping of three that would appear in Sunday
comics sections. The combined Sunday grouping also had a bonus fourth
cartoon a tiny, captionless visual gag -- very much like the
intermarginal gags that Sergio Aragonés would pepper throughout future
issues of Mad Magazine -- that appeared to the right of the title and
Schulz’s byline. The subject matter of the Monday and Wednesday panels
varied from week to week, but the Friday installment always centered
around bridge, the then-popular card game that Schulz loved. (Further
evidence of this affection could be seen in "Peanuts," where the kids
routinely played the game in the early 1950s, and Woodstock and a
foursome of his bird buddies picked it up in the 1970s and beyond.)
Charles Schulz did this January 12, 1958, "It's Only a Game" panel himself. Note his signature within the art of the right-most panel.
During an October 6, 1957, interview with Schulz, the Chicago
Tribune proudly boasted that it would be one of the flagship newspapers
to carry this new feature. The Tribune selected the weekly option, and
ran "It’s Only a Game" in its Sunday magazine. The debut installment
appeared November 3, 1957, and immediately set the tone for what would
follow, with panels devoted to boxing, golf and bridge. The middle panel
is a hoot, with a middle-aged duffer -- one easily can imagine Charlie
Brown in his 40s -- lamenting a putt that has left his ball perched at
the edge of the cup (but not in), and saying, "I think I’m going to
cry."
Subsequent installments covered checkers, bowling, curling (!),
table tennis, croquet, billiards, ice fishing, darts and even camping.
But as 1957 turned into 1958, something must have changed. Perhaps
Schulz had underestimated the amount of time involved with producing a
second weekly newspaper strip; maybe he also was spending more time than
expected overseeing the new "Peanuts" content in the Dell comic books.
Or, more likely, the "Peanuts" empire as a whole was occupying more of
his time; 1958 saw the production of the first "Peanuts" toys -- plastic
dolls of the major characters, produced by Hungerford -- and of course
this was just the tip of an approaching iceberg.
Whatever the reason, Schulz decided to hand over the lion’s share
of the artistic chores to Jim. Schulz’s solo involvement with "It’s Only
a Game" continued through the January 12, 1958, installment; this is the
last one to bear his signature on one of the cartoon panels. (Schulz’s
name continued to run alone in the masthead, however, making Jim a true
ghost.) As of January 19, 1958, Jim -- often working from hastily
penciled sketches and captions supplied by Schulz -- did all the
newspaper strip’s finished art and lettering.
Sasseville did this January 26, 1958, "It's Only a Game" panel himself. Note that Schulz's signature is nowhere to be seen within the art.
Jim vividly remembers this transition date, because just one week later,
with his second time at bat with the solo art chores, he was paid a
singular honor. That week’s Monday panel, a bowling strip, featured
three league players welcoming a fourth, apparently a little tardy, with
the exclamation of, "Three cheers, gang! Our number one man has
arrived!" A loyal reader sent UFS a black-and-white photo of himself
with three friends, staged to look precisely like the four figures in
Jim’s illustration. The "camera angle" was identical, along with
clothing, body position, and everything else in the frame. The
resemblance even extended to the men themselves, who had body shapes and
hairstyles eerily similar to those found in the panel art.
Jim still has the photo.
Sasseville received this photo recreation of his "It's Only a Game" gag from a fan. Note the date stamp at the top of the photo.
The degree to which Jim successfully imitated Schulz’s linework can
be seen by the fact that the transition was seamless; no casual reader
could have discerned that the hand on the inker’s pen had changed.
During the remainder of 1958, the two men continued to work in the same
fashion, Jim often finishing Schulz’s rough concepts, but also
contributing many of his own original ideas. He also inserted the
occasional personal reference; the boat from which a husband and wife
fish, in one of the June 29, 1958, panels, is the Helga, named after
Jim’s wife.
But Jim remembers that he never came up with any of the concepts
for Friday’s bridge panels, for the simple reason that he didn’t know
the game.
Although he labored in anonymity, Jim was well compensated
financially, and he still speaks appreciatively of Sparky’s generosity.
Schulz had negotiated for 50% of the strip’s income, the other half
going to UFS. This 50% amounted to slightly more than $500 per week;
when Jim came on board, Schulz generously gave half of HIS half to his
new partner, and so Jim brought home $250 per week (after expenses) for
his efforts ... quite a lot of money in 1958.
The two men were living in Minneapolis when this collaboration
began; after the first five months, in May 1958, Jim and his wife
followed the Schulz family to Northern California. Lacking a place to
stay in Sebastopol -- not to mention furniture and other amenities --
the Sassevilles first spent a couple of months a bit south, in Corta
Madera. "For two or three weeks, I drew the comic book stuff and ‘It’s
Only a Game’ on a portable drawing board. But I stayed in touch with
Sparky on the phone, and he supplied the ideas for ‘It’s Only a Game.’ "
The Sassevilles then found a home in Sebastopol. Between "It’s Only
a Game" and the work he also was doing for the "Peanuts" strips in the
Dell comic books, Jim was quite gainfully employed by his new partner
and boss.
Unfortunately, it was not to last.
"It’s Only a Game" began with 30 client newspapers; nearly a year
later, it had ... 30 client newspapers.
(A complete client list has been lost to the mists of time, although
it is known that the feature was carried by The Boston Globe, the Detroit
Free Press, The Chicago Tribune, The Minneapolis Tribune, the San Francisco
Chronicle and The Baltimore Sun.)
The strip never took off, despite strong support from fans such as
bridge expert Charles Goren (who wrote a couple of letters), and even
Schulz’s name didn’t seem to make much of a difference.
But we also can assume that the proud and perfectionist-minded
Schulz -- who in later years, as mentioned above, often made a point of
describing how in "Peanuts" he penciled and inked every line, and
lettered every word balloon -- probably was bothered by the fact that he
wasn’t similarly in sole control of "It’s Only a Game." To be sure, he
was INVOLVED, but he wasn’t actually drawing what appeared in those 30
client newspapers.
"He didn’t like his name being used on somebody else’s work," Jim
recalls, "and I don’t blame him for that."
That, coupled with moribund sales and some tension with the head
UFS salesman to whom Schulz initially had pitched the idea, eventually
prompted an astonishing decision In late 1958, just 12 months into a
solid five-year contract, Schulz made it plain to UFS that he wished to
discontinue "It’s Only a Game." Perhaps recognizing that the strip
wasn’t performing as hoped, UFS agreed.
Schulz did not consult Jim before taking this step; indeed, the
news came as a complete shock to Schulz’s ghost, who’d been very happy
with his work, and the strip, and the $250 per week.
Schulz even tried to sugar-coat the news "You’re off the hook,"
Jim recalls his employer saying (as if this were a GOOD thing), at the
end of that euphoric day when they finished work on the second
all-Peanuts issue of Dell’s Four Color Comics. Jim had just assured
Sparky that his pending move to Berkeley would not affect his ability to
work on "It’s Only a Game," and now the rug had been pulled out from
under him.
The fallout was immediate; it certainly was the final straw for
Helga, who already had been dissatisfied with their home in Sebastopol
-- hence the move to Berkeley -- and also was unhappy about the friction
that existed between her and Joyce, Schulz’s first wife. Helga had
endured Nazi Germany, survived the entire war -- in and out of work
camps -- and had lost her father at Dachau; she was not a woman to keep
opinions to herself.
"I realized I was working on a flawed product, which the creator
and marketer wanted nothing more to do with. Still, I had held out the
hope that maybe Sparky might offer the entire feature to me, although I
realized that there’d be problems with the syndicate," Jim admits, a
touch of wistfulness still clouding the memory after more than 40 years.
"They should have been pretty familiar with my work by then."
It didn’t happen. By the time the final installment of "It’s Only a
Game" appeared, on January 11, 1959 -- the two always had worked six
weeks ahead -- Jim and Schulz had severed all relations, professional
and personal. This also included Jim’s ghosting work on the Dell comic
books. The split was permanent, and the two men never reconciled.
Although "It’s Only a Game" ran for 63 consecutive weeks, it
quickly became a fading memory -- and then an overlooked footnote -- in
Schulz’s career. He rarely mentioned it during later interviews, and
then only obliquely, citing neither date specifics nor his collaboration
with Jim.
"We were the best of friends at first," Jim recalls ruefully. He
happily remembers attending the 1951 National Cartoonists Convention
with Sparky, and also another time when they both went to visit and swap
stories with a fellow artist, Robert M. Brinkerhoff, who lived in
Minneapolis and was known for a newspaper strip called "Little Mary
Mix-Up." Brinkerhoff, in turn -- like many other cartoonists at that
time -- greatly admired J.R. Williams (creator of "Out Our Way"), whom
he once described as "the greatest cowboy ever to walk the streets of
New York." Brinkerhoff related how he had wheedled, begged and finally
finagled an invitation to Williams’ ranch in Montana. Although only
interested in seeing the fabulous studio that he assumed his idol must
have on so massive a spread, Brinkerhoff first had to put up with being
shown all the livestock and the other attractions of a working ranch. As
the visit stretched on, Brinkerhoff finally couldn’t stand it any longer
and demanded to see where Williams did his work.
With a resigned sigh (as Jim recalls Brinkerhoff describing this
incident), Williams walked over to his wife’s sewing machine, took off
the cover, and flipped it over ... and that was it The great J.R.
Williams did all his drawing on the cover of his wife’s sewing machine.
As others have observed, there’s never any reason to embrace
technology or an environment any fancier than that required to get the
job done.
Cartoonists love to talk shop, and Jim’s no different; merely
relating this little tale brings a sparkle into his eyes. And, to this
day, he doesn’t really understand what happened between him and Schulz.
"I feel kind of weird about all this. Sparky obviously wanted me to
succeed in the early days, and even was willing to collaborate with me
on one of my own projects (one of the many variations of "Joe Cipher,"
discussed below). But then when he had a chance to really help me out,
he didn’t make any effort whatsoever ... and left me in rather dire
straits."
Such feelings notwithstanding, all these years later Jim is firm on
one point "Charles M. Schulz was the greatest comic strip artist ever."
And although he certainly couldn’t have known it at the time, Jim
never again would earn his living as a cartoonist.
Before, during and after his working association with Schulz, Jim
played around with many of his own ideas.
If persistence counts for anything, he deserves considerable credit
for his ongoing efforts to sell "Joe Cipher" ("a character kinda based
on me"), a daily strip that underwent quite a few transmutations during
the decade-plus that he tried to place it with a syndicate.
The character first appeared in a sample series of daily strips Jim
produced in late 1949. The strip’s gentle humor is faintly reminiscent
of "Gasoline Alley" and other character-driven work of the era; the
title character is introduced driving an old jalopy that obligingly runs
out of gas at a filling station. The silver-tongued Joe, lacking any
money, eventually impresses the station owner into offering him a job;
Joe celebrates by stepping into a nearby diner for lunch, where he’s
immediately smitten by the young woman behind the counter, and...
...and that’s where the presentation panels concluded.
Perhaps feeling that the strip lacked dramatic impact, a few years
later -- while still at AIS -- Jim tried again, shifting the action to a
tiny island in the middle of the ocean, where the shipwrecked Joe is
joined by an attractive young woman named Ginny, survivor of a second
sea-going calamity. (What are the odds?) Although their relationship is
mildly prickly for the first few days, Ginny eventually wishes aloud
that they could be rescued, so that she can go on a "proper date" with
Joe, and perhaps even kiss him when the evening concludes. Once again,
the story cut off abruptly, as Jim produced just two weeks’ worth of
strips enough to (hopefully) interest a buyer.
Sasseville tried several times to place a comic strip starring Joe Cipher, the pleasant-looking chap
featured in these examples. The two left-most strips are taken from the first run Sasseville designed on his own;
the two right-most strips, starring the same character but
in a different setting, are from Sasseville's third
test run; Charles Schulz contributed story input on these.
(Click on the image to see an enlarged version.)
After getting back from his return hitch in the Navy, Jim
went back to work on Joe Cipher and got a nibble from an
unexpected quarter: Something about this particular setting
touched Schulz, who suggested they collaborate on yet
a third incarnation of "Joe Cipher." (At the time, both men still were
unmarried, and it’s not hard to see a little male fantasy
wish-fulfillment at work.) With narrative input from Schulz and Jim
handling the art chores, the scene shifted again, this time to a
typically romantic South Seas setting, on an island large enough to
support a population of curvaceous young cuties and at least one
villain. Joe and Ginny remained the central focus, but this time the
former saw genuine action, on the receiving end of the villain’s fists.
Schulz and Jim took this newest version of "Joe Cipher" to United
Features Syndicate in spring of 1954; it was turned down flat. The
trip to New York wasn't a complete waste, though, because Sasseville
and Schulz caught a couple of plays: a T.S. Elliot drama called
Confidential Clerk, and another called The King of
Hearts, which starred Jackie Cooper as (what are the odds?)
a cartoonist!
Sasseville also remembers going from suite to suite in New
York's Waldorf hotel during this trip, visiting one cartoonist
after another; meeting Al Capp was a high point. But at least
part of the reason for the trip -- the newest Joe Cipher -- proved
unsellable, and Schulz bowed out at that point.
When Jim finally returned to "Joe Cipher," the 1950s were almost
over. Jim’s association with "Peanuts" and "It’s Only a Game" had
concluded, so the writer/artist returned to his favorite unsold
property. Jim recast his hero in yet another new setting, this time a
business office populated by characters clearly derived from his days at
Art Instruction. Although the sample panels display even cleaner, more
attractive line work -- a sure sign of his growing comfort as an artist
-- Jim had no better luck this time around.
Still refusing to abandon hope, Jim tried one more time In early
1960, after having moved to Berkeley, he once again changed the setting
completely, and turned Joe Cipher into "Sir Joe." This Arthurian-based
concept focused on genuinely whimsical gags involving heavy armor,
maidens in distress, and fire-breathing dragons. Jim’s dragons are
particularly funny, and this newest reboot seems ripe with
possibilities; it’s not at all hard to envision a daily strip evolving
from these samples.
Alas, syndicates once again failed to see any potential, and "Joe
Cipher" was put into Jim’s trunk as no more than another engaging
footnote in the artist’s collection of rejection slips.
Jim didn’t confine his efforts to "Joe Cipher"; the writer/artist
had no shortage of ideas, quite a few of which also wound up as
submission concepts. "Aunty Climax," produced in early 1957 -- just
prior to Jim’s ghost work for Dell comics -- was a single-panel gag
strip that starred a feisty little old lady who was far sharper than
most people assumed. She was based on Louise Cassidy, an AIS colleague
who also was the landlady for the building where Jim briefly lived with
Charles Cuddy. Jim produced a few dozen "Aunty Climax" panels, all of
which are vastly superior -- both in terms of writing and artwork -- to
many of the single-panel cartoons cluttering today’s newspapers.
"Confessions of a French Poodle" was a 1959 concept that didn’t
emerge much further than a few finished panels and lots of pencil
sketches; Jim good-naturedly admits that the idea went nowhere, and so
he abandoned it. That may have been shrewd market analysis, as the
medium never has lacked for dog-oriented material. Even so, French
poodles are funny in their own right, and Jim’s concept sketches are a
hoot.
When not working on Peanuts-related material, Sasseville tried to sell many of his own strip ideas
to a syndicate. From left to right, these examples are "Aunty Climax," "Friends and Foes," "Alpha-Betty" and "Happy Birthday."
(Click on the image to see an enlarged version.)
"Friends and Foes," another single-panel tryout, also emerged from
Jim’s pen in 1959. A little later, shortly after he started putting food
on the table with a "real job" -- and perhaps motivated by the explosion
of children’s television shows, which eventually led to "Sesame Street"
and everything that followed -- Jim tried a kid-oriented educational
strip called "Alpha-Betty," which starred a little girl who finds
herself in an other-worldly land populated by men and women shaped like
letters of the alphabet. The personalities of these individuals were
defined by their appearance; curved female letters, for example, were
far more sultry that straight female letters. The strip has a lovely
"Alice in Wonderland" quality, although the concept may have seemed
limiting.
Jim later played with the medium in "Blackboard," a daily strip
designed to be white-on-black, to imitate chalk on a classroom
blackboard. The stars were Dick, Jane and their TeacheR; although not as
overly educational as "Alpha-Betty," this strip also was aimed at young
audiences.
Jim’s final attempt at syndication was produced in the early 1970s,
after he first went into research hibernation, jotting down enough
celebrity birthdays to fill every day of a calendar year. The resulting
single-panel strips were a precursor to the "On this day in history..."
informational nuggets that have become so ubiquitous The panel for
March 28, for example, illustrated and revealed a few choice facts about
orchestra leader Paul Whiteman. March 29 was devoted to President John
Tyler, while Francisco Goya was featured on March 30.
Sadly, this fared no better with syndicators than any of the
others. "Joe Cipher," "Aunty Climax," "Confessions of a French Poodle,"
"Friends and Foes," "Alpha-Betty," "Blackboard" and "Birthdays" exist only
in Jim’s carefully preserved office files. More’s the pity, because even
the weakest of these strips displays a Puckish wit and clean, attractive
line work too often absent from many of the rushed, imitative strips
that generate little more than reader apathy these days.
Following the dust-up with Schulz and the move to Berkeley, Helga
-- who was delighted by the more rarefied atmosphere of a university
community -- became the family bread-winner. She took a job with a
German importer/exporter and commuted daily across the Bay Bridge.
Eventually succumbing to the need for steady employment, in April
1960 Jim took a job as a graphic designer with Varian, one of the
leading radar companies, located in California’s greater San Francisco
Bay Area. The fit proved comfortable, and he remained with the company
until he retired in 1990.
But the career shift wasn’t immediate; Jim first spent most of 1959
working up his own aforementioned comic strip proposals, and
occasionally sold individual gag cartoons to magazines. But his New
York-based agent took 35% of those one-shots.
"That’s when I started with Varian," Jim recalls, with a chuckle.
"I knew I’d never make it as a gag cartoonist."
Be that as it may, Jim never stopped his cartooning efforts; while
at Varian, he became famous for the birthday cards that he drew for
fellow employees.
Helga, meanwhile, got a job at Stanford, which prompted another
move; the couple then purchased their first home in 1960, in Mountain
View.
Three years later, they moved for what would be the last time. Jim
and his wife paid $28,000 for the house that remains his home to this
day. Just last year the retired artist was offered a cool million bucks
-- in cash -- by a dot-commer who wanted to develop the property. Still
loyal to the memories of his wife, with which the house is filled, Jim
politely declined. Helga died in 1995; he clearly still misses her.
Today, Parkinson’s Disease and the recent stroke have conspired to
deliver the ultimate nightmare Jim no longer can hold a pen well enough
to draw. ("I always marveled at Sparky’s ability to incorporate his
shaking hand into his line work.") But his mind and memory remain
acutely sharp, and his Puckish sense of humor is unbowed. He speaks with
clarity and certainty of his years at Art Instruction School, and with
Schulz, and of his never-successful efforts to market his own original
material.
Jim remains philosophical about his life, and in fact composed
another of his verses to express such feelings
I’m all for equal measures
Losses should be matched by gain;
And since I’ve missed life’s pleasures,
I’ll just double up with pain!
Definitely too harsh, but then we’re always hardest on ourselves.
Jim Sasseville deserves far more than the obscurity into which he has
settled; for a time, he was allied with the man who would become the
world’s most successful cartoonist, and for a time he helped chaperone
the faithfully rendered adventures of Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Linus, Lucy
and the rest ... no small feat.
And I’m particularly transfixed by a remark Jim made during one of
our later phone calls "I don’t know how one should behave, in a
situation like this," he said, referring to our ongoing conversations,
"but it’s like I’ve been resurrected."
Perhaps this article will kick-start our long-overdue obligation to
sing his praises.
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All PEANUTS characters pictured are copyrighted by United Feature Syndicate, Inc. They are used here with permission. They may not be reproduced by any means in any form.
A recent stroke has forced Jim to choose his words slowly and
deliberately, which prompts the listener to hang on every word, as if it
might become a delightful punchline ... which, in some cases, proves
true.
Because of the stroke, Jim’s doctor took a CAT Scan, to make sure
that everything was as good as could be hoped.
"I asked him if the scan was difficult to interpret," Jim said,
with a delivery as dry as his wit, "and he said that it was a no-brainer
... so I guess that means I’m all right."
Despite the distance of phone lines, I could feel him smile.
As the conversation ranged back and forth from the 1940s to ’60s,
Jim occasionally interrupted himself to make sure that I recognized a
celebrity or historical reference.
"Not to worry," I finally said, at one point. "I’m older than I
sound."
"And still reading comic books?" he replied, quick as a shot.
"Shame on you!"
Jim should talk; he’s a longtime Krazy Kat fan.
Our first chat didn’t cover nearly enough territory, but it
established a comfort level that prompted a subsequent delightful
afternoon in the artist’s company. His home, shared only with the
aforementioned dog, is smallish but filled with personality.
And I knew that I’d finally made a connection, and earned his
trust, when he offered me some coffee. From that moment, the visit
became less an interview, and more an increasingly amiable chat between
two guys with comics and cartooning in their blood.
Sasseville was born August 28, 1927, and grew up in Minneapolis,
Minnesota. He enrolled in a public school kindergarten class, but from
the first through eighth grades enjoyed (endured?) a parochial school
education, complete with Latin. To this day, he can parse verbs like a
pro.
He became a full-fledged altar boy in fifth grade ("Those were the
good ol’ days, when they still did the complete Mass in Latin"), and
remembers a mischievous incident when he and a classmate elbowed each
other while genuflecting during a service.
Not a big deal, really ... but after the service, once behind the
scenes, the priest took quick action. "He grabbed both of our heads, and
I can still feel the collision today, after he clonked us together."
Art was an interest from very early on ("I drew all the time"), and
Jim recalls getting an A in art and history in seventh grade, for his
illustrated history of Napoleon. "It was like historical comics," he
points out now, with hindsight. "I was years ahead of my time."
After eighth grade, Jim shifted back to public school during his
high school career. He took the art classes offered at his school, but
did not pursue this interest with any extra-curricular instruction.
By this time, the war was on; Jim isn’t even sure, all these years
later, whether he officially completed high school. Whether he graduated
or released himself, he and a friend then hitchhiked across the country.
Jim’s 18th birthday found them in Portland, Oregon, where the two worked
the remainder of that summer at the Kaiser shipyards. Jim then enlisted
in the U.S. Navy, while his friend returned to Minneapolis. Jim was
assigned to the fleet post office after boot training, and he served
precisely 11 months and 29 days ... a hitch whose length would come back
to haunt him.
After being discharged, Jim entered the Minneapolis School of Art
(at the time, a trade school) for a three-year term, and graduated in
1948. He gravitated toward Art Instruction School (which already
included a certain Charles M. "Sparky" Schulz among its staff), and in
the summer of 1949, while 22 years old, prepared a gorgeous hand-drawn
and lettered portfolio, with a self-portrait in full watercolor, to
introduce himself and his artistic talents; the brochure’s dozen or so
pages must have been one of the most ambitious job applications that the
institution ever had received.
Although interested in cartooning, at that point Jim preferred
painting, which this full-color introductory portfolio makes abundantly
clear. (He still has it, lovingly preserved and in excellent condition.)
Obviously, the ploy worked. Jim was hired at a starting salary of
$35 per week. The oversized 1950 Art Instruction Schools Inc. booklet
("Your Art School!"), produced not much later and handed out to all
prospective clients, includes his photo on Page 3, immediately before
Schulz’s picture.
"James F. Sasseville," reads the caption beneath the photo, "is an
instructor in rendering and advertising illustration. He is one of our
best figure illustrators in color."
While at Art Instruction, Jim joined the team that graded all the
submissions -- the "Can you draw me?" applications -- that arrived via
mail or hand delivery. The bottom-line desire, of course, was to
encourage those with even the smallest shred of talent, in order to get
an AIS salesman in the family’s front door; after all, the money was
made by selling art instruction courses. Since manilla envelopes poured
in like mad, speed-grading was essential.
"I spent years correcting Lesson No. 5, which was an advertising
project, where the students had to design a streetcar poster on the
theme ‘See the Orient.’ "
Jim remembers marking all but the very best submissions with
nothing more than alpha-numeric codes (A6, A17, and so forth), which AIS
secretaries then would translate into form paragraph replies.
"But they always were nicely typed up," Jim remembers, knowing full
well that the recipients carefully scrutinized every analytical word.
Sasseville and Schulz became good friends ("We had a similar sense
of humor"), and Sparky encouraged Jim to pursue comic strips. Jim even
got his hair cut more than once in Schulz’s father’s barbershop.
"Sparky bet me, in late 1949, that I’d sell a comic strip to a
syndicate before he would," Jim remembers, with a smile. "As it turned
out, I won that bet hands-down."
In between grading assignments, Jim and his fellow employees
produced thousands upon thousands of quickly penciled drawings on
4-by-7-inch sketchpads. In this respect, these artists were no different
than their counterparts at Disney and Warner Brothers animation studios,
who also filled the minutes between "real work" with impressive little
doodles and caricatures of each other, all of which are the envy of
collectors today (when they surface in the first place). Jim still has
stacks and stacks of such impromptu efforts, including a few caricatures
of Schulz and other AIS friends, and several pages of "Peanuts"
character roughs. (Even then, he must have been planning ahead...) Most
are plain pencil on paper, but some are blue-line; in either case, they
reveal one of Jim’s artistic strengths an ability to capture a person’s
eyes with remarkably lifelike clarity.
(Unfortunately, he did not save his collection of Schulz originals.
"I gave away all my junk foolishly, many years ago ... somebody conned
me out of almost all my original Schulz drawings.")
Jim never lost his art-school fascination with centaurs and nudes,
and many of his sketchpad pages are filled with fetchingly unclad
cuties. Hiring and drawing undraped models was fairly common among Jim
and his colleagues, although not quite all of his colleagues "I can’t
remember Sparky taking any part in that whatsoever."
Such figure studies also sparked Jim’s impish literary talents,
honed by a life-long fascination with poetry (T.S. Eliot’s "Distracted
from distraction by distraction" remains a personal mantra).
Jim still recalls many of his favorite invented verses, such as
this one, which would have been loved by Ogden Nash
A centaur met a mermaid, as he trotted by the sea;
She noticed not his heavy hooves, nor he her single knee,
As they lingered there, expelling time with heart-inspired chatter
The direction of their love so strong ... bottoms didn’t matter!
Jim’s tenure at Art Instruction was interrupted in mid 1952, when
Uncle Sam tapped his shoulder again. The Korean War was underway, and
those who previously had served less than a full year were being
recalled ... so those two days shy of a year forced a second hitch that
lasted through 1954.
"I was sent to the Philippines," Jim notes dryly, thinking back to
all the Lesson No. 5 submissions that he had graded, "so I certainly saw
the Orient."
This second 14-month hitch of active duty certainly wasn’t wasted,
in terms of Jim’s artistic skills; he worked for an Irish Catholic
chaplain and did a weekly mimeographed newspaper for U.S. Naval Mobile
Construction Battalion 9 ("I was drawing cartoons up the gazoo"). The
unit’s 1952-53 Cruise Book features a great full-page Jim illustration
on Page 33; titled "Cubi Point, P.I.," it shows five sailors watching a
dog face off with a monkey.
Jim’s relationship with Father John James Kileen never was dull, in
part because the artist was a lapsed Catholic.
"He worked the hell out of me, but then he’d always invite me into
his quarters for a nip, and then try to entice me back into the fold."
After his second stint in the Navy concluded, Jim returned to
civilian life (this time for good), and to Art Instruction Schools,
where he and Schulz picked up where they’d left off. In between grading
assignments and sketching his office buddies, Jim placed a few gag
cartoons in magazines, such as a droll three-panel sequence of a guy
having trouble with a jack, while attempting to fix a flat tire, which
appeared on Page 45 of the August 1957 issue of Gent, a
long-discontinued men’s magazine.
Jim met Helga, his future wife, as a result of his Navy friendship
with Charles Cuddy. She had immigrated to the United States when
sponsored by a South Dakota politician and his family ("mostly for slave
labor," Jim perceptively remarks); Helga was unfamiliar with the farm
environment, and decamped for Minneapolis as soon as she could. She
entered the University of Minnesota with a vengeance; her half-Jewish
heritage had kept her out of institutions of higher learning in her
native Germany.
She also enrolled in art school and wound up in one class being
taught by Dave Ratner, a colleague and friend with whom Jim went to art
school; she also landed in some of the same classes as Cuddy, who for a
time shared a boarding house attic ("a garret") with Jim. Since this
colony of Minneapolis artists wasn’t all that large, it was inevitable
that Jim and Helga would meet. ("Destiny," he happily acknowledges.)
They married in 1956.
"I’d just bought a brand-new Mercury," Jim remembers, with a
chuckle, "and I had to get rid of it when we got married, because Helga
couldn’t drive a stick-shift."
Within a few short months, Sasseville’s life turned around again,
when he became the best of Schulz’s never-credited "Peanuts" ghosts.
Whenever asked, Charles Schulz would repeat the statement that
became ubiquitous Unlike those involved with other "assembly-line"
newspaper comic strips, he remained the only person whose hands touched
the adventures of Charlie Brown and the gang. Schulz wrote, drew, inked
and lettered his strip, and did so during the entire run October 2,
1950, to February 13, 2000. Schulz always insisted that the strip would
cease production when he finally called it quits, a wish that his family
has honored. Unlike other classic strips that have been revived, often
by lesser talents, "Peanuts" will forevermore remain solely a Schulz
legacy.
Except ... that’s not entirely true.
During the 1950s and early ’60s, Charlie Brown and his friends
didn’t just appear in newspaper strips; they also were a popular feature
of comic books ... a medium usually dominated by the likes of Superman
and Captain America, but one that included plenty of room for lighter
fare.
And -- surprise, surprise! -- when the "Peanuts" comic book
appearances stopped being newspaper reprints and "graduated" into
original features in 1957, sharp-eyed fans probably could discern that
somebody other than Sparky Schulz was doing the artwork.
To keep the chronology consistent, let’s turn back the clock to
1952, when "Peanuts" simultaneously debuted as a supporting feature in
two comic books -- the March-April issues of Tip Top Comics (#173) and
United Comics (#21) -- both published by United Feature Syndicate, which
routinely recycled many of its newspaper features in these and other
comic books. The "Peanuts" supporting feature moved into a third book,
Tip Topper, beginning with #17 (June-July 1952); it remained there until
the book was discontinued after #28 (April-May 1954). Shortly before
this final issue of Tip Topper, "Peanuts" returned to Tip Top as a
supporting feature, beginning with #184 (Jan.-Feb. 1954) and continuing
through #188 (Sept.-Oct. 1954). Several of these later issues feature
gorgeous Peanuts covers, which -- although not signed -- appear to be by
Schulz.
"Peanuts" also appeared, during this same period, as a back-up
feature in most issues of United Comics, later retitled Fritzi Ritz
(beginning with #27). The run here also was consecutive #21-#33 (the
latter dated March-April 1954). Stray issues of Sparkler Comics and
Sparkle Comics also included some "Peanuts" reprints, although not on a
regular basis.
UFS got out of the comic book publishing business at the end of
1954, and some of its titles were picked up by St. John in 1955,
including Fritzi Ritz and Tip Top. Despite a noticeable gap of several
months, the numbering of both books continued consecutively. Thus, Tip
Top resumed with #189 (May 1955), and continued to include "Peanuts" as
a supporting feature during St. John’s entire run of this book, through
#210 (July 1957). "Peanuts" was only an occasional supporting feature in
St. John’s run of Fritzi Ritz, starting with #37 (July 1955) and
continuing through #55. Finally, at least one issue of Nancy -- #142
(March 1957) -- also featured Peanuts reprints.
Big changes came in late 1957, and not just because St. John
abandoned these books and turned them over to Dell Comics (Western
Publishing). After a delay of several months to half a year -- depending
on the title -- Dell revived the flagship St. John titles, again with
consecutive numbering. Thus, Tip Top #211 returned as a quarterly with a
cover date of Nov. 1957-Jan. 1958. Fritzi Ritz resumed with #56, dated
Dec. 1957-Feb. 1958.
Under Dell’s stewardship, Charlie Brown and the gang also became a
regular supporting feature in Nancy, beginning with #146 (Sept. 1957).
The biggest change, however, concerned the content in all three books.
When Dell took over, the covers promised "All brand-new stories" ... and
they meant it.
"Peanuts" fans spotted the change in Nancy #146, which boasted a
four-page story with a baseball theme, clearly produced by Schulz
himself (although unsigned); Jim confirms Sparky’s linework. But Schulz
quickly realized that producing four full pages of original art for
Nancy on a monthly basis, not to mention similar duties for the
quarterly Tip Top and Fritzi Ritz, would be more than he was willing to
handle. Then, too, he was only months away from debuting his own second
newspaper strip, "It’s Only a Game" (about which more below).
Schulz allowed Dell’s house art department to handle his characters
in Nancy #147, but was unhappy with the results. (No surprise; the art
is quite weak.) Schulz stepped in again for issue #148, but the workload
problem hadn’t changed. Wanting greater fidelity to his own style,
Schulz turned to Jim, who took over the reins with issue #149 and
continued through #168 (July 1959). Jim essentially became Schulz’s
employee and was paid $100 per week for this work; since he was making
only $80 per week at Art Instruction, this -- along with the even higher
paycheck he’d soon receive, for helping Schulz with "It’s Only a Game"
-- was a substantial raise.
As a ghosting assignment, the results are impressive. Charlie Brown
and Linus’ heads are notoriously difficult to reproduce in Schulz’s
signature style, but Jim came damn close. More to the point, the
characters are posed and conduct themselves in a way that’s absolutely
typical of their behavior in Sparky’s newspaper strip. Art purists may
have noticed that Jim wasn’t Schulz, but casual readers were unlikely to
have detected the difference.
The four-page story above is taken from Nancy #151, February 1958.
(Click on the pages to enlarge them.)
"He gave me carte blanche on writing them, and I felt like a
faithful uncle," Jim says, with no small amount of pride at his ability
to reproduce Charlie Brown and the gang.
Although Jim’s take on the "Peanuts" gang in Nancy #149 was the
first to reach fans, it was not the ghost artist’s debut crack at
Charlie Brown. Jim’s first completed "Peanuts" comic book adventure was
"The Trip," one of a quartet of eight-page stories (packaged with three
one-page stories) that eventually appeared as issue #878 (Feb. 1958) of
Dell’s Four Color Comics, an "umbrella title" that rotated various
stars; this issue, boasting a gorgeous signed Schulz cover, was the
first one devoted to "Peanuts."
Ever the imp, Jim inserted a personal reference into "The Trip."
The number on the dog license that Charlie Brown uses -- 891-68-14 -- to
justify his getting behind the wheel of a station wagon, was the
artist’s Navy serial number.
Jim also did the work in the Fritzi Ritz and Tip Top issues during
this time, and it’s important to note that he had a completely free rein
with these comic book stories, handling both art and writing chores.
Fritzi Ritz lasted only four issues under the Dell label, before
being discontinued after #59 (Sept.-Nov. 1958). "Peanuts" did not appear
in #56, but each of the remaining three issues included a new four-page
story by Jim. He also handled the work for Tip Top #211 through #215
(Nov. 1958-Jan. 1959). In Tip Top, Charlie Brown and his friends shared
covers with Nancy, Sluggo, and the Captain and the Kids. Although
unsigned, Schulz drew these "Peanuts" cover panels for issues 211-213,
and Jim handled 214 and 215.
Sasseville did the Peanuts art in these issues of Tip Top, #214 and #215.
(Click on the pages to enlarge them.)
All told, then, Jim drew the interior stories in 20 issues of
Nancy, three issues of Fritzi Ritz, and five issues of Tip Top, along
with Four Color #878. This relationship with Schulz and Dell Comics took
an unexpected turn when the two men parted unhappily, and Jim’s final
work for Dell was the long kite story in the second all-"Peanuts" issue
of Four Color Comics (#969, Feb. 1959), along with the inside front and
inside back cover one-pagers.
The completion of that particular issue became something of a
marathon art session. After announcing that he and Helga would be moving
to Berkeley, Jim took stock of the pending Dell workload, and discovered
that the deadline for the second all-Peanuts issue of Four Color Comics
was imminent. Jim promised to finish this before the move, but Sparky
suggested that the job would proceed faster if they worked on it
together. The two men thus divided the work between them, and began
early one morning with what turned into a lengthy session stretching
well into the evening. During that time, Jim completed the
aforementioned two one-page stories and one eight-page story, while
Sparky handled the remaining one-page story and THREE eight-page
stories.
"There’s no doubt who was the faster artist," Jim notes, with a
chuckle. "He certainly put me in my place!"
Jim still remembers that session as a euphoric rush ... but it
concluded on a gloomy note, when, resting in the happy afterglow of a
job well done, Schulz revealed the fate of "It’s Only a Game" (see
below).
In the aftermath, Schulz also stepped in and handled all the work
for Nancy #169 (August 1959). Clearly, this was a rush job, and Schulz
borrowed from himself The final panel of this four-page story is almost
identical to the final panel of the June 23, 1957, "Peanuts" Sunday
strip. The comic book storyline is an expansion of that Sunday strip,
and the aforementioned final panel in the comic book is signed by Schulz
... the only case where any interior comic book stories bear his
signature.
Because the split was far from amicable, Jim did not follow the
subsequent comic book adventures of Charlie Brown and his friends, in
Nancy and Tip Top. On close examination just a few weeks ago -- in many
cases, seeing this work for the first time -- Jim pointed to specific
poses, characteristics and lettering attributes ("Sparky always rounded
out the bottoms of his W’s") that leave him convinced that Schulz either
penciled and inked the next several issues of both Nancy and Tip Top, or
at least roughed in the panel layout, inked the primary characters --
particularly their heads -- and lettered the word balloons. This seems
likely; carefully examination of individual pages reveals an occasional
Snoopy or Lucy which, not matching the rest, clearly must have been
inked by somebody else.
But Dale Hale, Schulz’s new apprentice and ghost -- and another
associate from Art Instruction Schools -- caught on quickly, and the
artwork in both books retained its Schulz-like characteristics through
roughly late 1960 or early 1961. At this point, other hands clearly took
over -- possibly Tony Pocrnick, another Schulz associate from Art
Instruction -- and the "Peanuts" characters became ever-more distant
from the Schulz ideal until the final issues of Tip Top (#225, May-July
1961) and Nancy. (By then the latter had been retitled Nancy and Sluggo,
and its final five issues were released under the Gold Key imprint; the
book was discontinued with issue #192, October 1963.) The "Peanuts"
artwork in the last issues of both books is, in a word, dreadful.
A third all-"Peanuts" issue of Four Color Comics was produced
(#1015, August-October 1959), after which the characters got their own
book that began with issue #4 (Feb.-April 1960), by way of acknowledging
those first three appearances in Four Color Comics. This lasted through
#13 (May-July 1962), after which the book was discontinued. Each of
these issues features a signed Schulz cover, but other hands --
certainly Hale, at first -- handled all the interior artwork and writing
(which, as with the latter issues of Nancy and Tip Top, grew less
Schulz-like over time).
But what had happened, to sever the friendship between Schulz and
Jim, which stretched back a decade?
Bouncing back a year or so...
Although already quite popular and gaining fans -- and syndicate
clients -- all the time, in 1957 "Peanuts" was not yet the multimedia
sensation it was to become within another decade. Schulz must have had
some free time that needed filling, and therefore was comfortable with
the concept of pitching a second strip concept to United Features
Syndicate. The artist had lots of ideas about games near and dear to his
heart, including golf, tennis, baseball and bridge. No doubt realizing
that twice as much Schulz per week was a good thing, UFS jumped at the
chance, and the sports and recreation-themed "It’s Only a Game" was
born. For awhile, Schulz joined later stars such as Johnny Hart ("B.C."
and "The Wizard of Id"), Mell Lazarus ("Miss Peach" and "Momma") and
Jerry Scott ("Baby Blues" and "Zits"), with two newspaper strips running
simultaneously.
Each installment of "It’s Only a Game, by Charles M. Schulz,"
hearkening back to Schulz’s very early work on "Li’l Folks" in The St.
Paul Pioneer Press, was comprised of three separate single-panel gag
strips. The package was offered to clients in two different formats as
three single-panel strips per week, to run on Mondays, Wednesdays and
Fridays; or as a combined grouping of three that would appear in Sunday
comics sections. The combined Sunday grouping also had a bonus fourth
cartoon a tiny, captionless visual gag -- very much like the
intermarginal gags that Sergio Aragonés would pepper throughout future
issues of Mad Magazine -- that appeared to the right of the title and
Schulz’s byline. The subject matter of the Monday and Wednesday panels
varied from week to week, but the Friday installment always centered
around bridge, the then-popular card game that Schulz loved. (Further
evidence of this affection could be seen in "Peanuts," where the kids
routinely played the game in the early 1950s, and Woodstock and a
foursome of his bird buddies picked it up in the 1970s and beyond.)
Charles Schulz did this January 12, 1958, "It's Only a Game" panel himself. Note his signature within the art of the right-most panel.
During an October 6, 1957, interview with Schulz, the Chicago
Tribune proudly boasted that it would be one of the flagship newspapers
to carry this new feature. The Tribune selected the weekly option, and
ran "It’s Only a Game" in its Sunday magazine. The debut installment
appeared November 3, 1957, and immediately set the tone for what would
follow, with panels devoted to boxing, golf and bridge. The middle panel
is a hoot, with a middle-aged duffer -- one easily can imagine Charlie
Brown in his 40s -- lamenting a putt that has left his ball perched at
the edge of the cup (but not in), and saying, "I think I’m going to
cry."
Subsequent installments covered checkers, bowling, curling (!),
table tennis, croquet, billiards, ice fishing, darts and even camping.
But as 1957 turned into 1958, something must have changed. Perhaps
Schulz had underestimated the amount of time involved with producing a
second weekly newspaper strip; maybe he also was spending more time than
expected overseeing the new "Peanuts" content in the Dell comic books.
Or, more likely, the "Peanuts" empire as a whole was occupying more of
his time; 1958 saw the production of the first "Peanuts" toys -- plastic
dolls of the major characters, produced by Hungerford -- and of course
this was just the tip of an approaching iceberg.
Whatever the reason, Schulz decided to hand over the lion’s share
of the artistic chores to Jim. Schulz’s solo involvement with "It’s Only
a Game" continued through the January 12, 1958, installment; this is the
last one to bear his signature on one of the cartoon panels. (Schulz’s
name continued to run alone in the masthead, however, making Jim a true
ghost.) As of January 19, 1958, Jim -- often working from hastily
penciled sketches and captions supplied by Schulz -- did all the
newspaper strip’s finished art and lettering.
Sasseville did this January 26, 1958, "It's Only a Game" panel himself. Note that Schulz's signature is nowhere to be seen within the art.
Jim vividly remembers this transition date, because just one week later,
with his second time at bat with the solo art chores, he was paid a
singular honor. That week’s Monday panel, a bowling strip, featured
three league players welcoming a fourth, apparently a little tardy, with
the exclamation of, "Three cheers, gang! Our number one man has
arrived!" A loyal reader sent UFS a black-and-white photo of himself
with three friends, staged to look precisely like the four figures in
Jim’s illustration. The "camera angle" was identical, along with
clothing, body position, and everything else in the frame. The
resemblance even extended to the men themselves, who had body shapes and
hairstyles eerily similar to those found in the panel art.
Jim still has the photo.
Sasseville received this photo recreation of his "It's Only a Game" gag from a fan. Note the date stamp at the top of the photo.
The degree to which Jim successfully imitated Schulz’s linework can
be seen by the fact that the transition was seamless; no casual reader
could have discerned that the hand on the inker’s pen had changed.
During the remainder of 1958, the two men continued to work in the same
fashion, Jim often finishing Schulz’s rough concepts, but also
contributing many of his own original ideas. He also inserted the
occasional personal reference; the boat from which a husband and wife
fish, in one of the June 29, 1958, panels, is the Helga, named after
Jim’s wife.
But Jim remembers that he never came up with any of the concepts
for Friday’s bridge panels, for the simple reason that he didn’t know
the game.
Although he labored in anonymity, Jim was well compensated
financially, and he still speaks appreciatively of Sparky’s generosity.
Schulz had negotiated for 50% of the strip’s income, the other half
going to UFS. This 50% amounted to slightly more than $500 per week;
when Jim came on board, Schulz generously gave half of HIS half to his
new partner, and so Jim brought home $250 per week (after expenses) for
his efforts ... quite a lot of money in 1958.
The two men were living in Minneapolis when this collaboration
began; after the first five months, in May 1958, Jim and his wife
followed the Schulz family to Northern California. Lacking a place to
stay in Sebastopol -- not to mention furniture and other amenities --
the Sassevilles first spent a couple of months a bit south, in Corta
Madera. "For two or three weeks, I drew the comic book stuff and ‘It’s
Only a Game’ on a portable drawing board. But I stayed in touch with
Sparky on the phone, and he supplied the ideas for ‘It’s Only a Game.’ "
The Sassevilles then found a home in Sebastopol. Between "It’s Only
a Game" and the work he also was doing for the "Peanuts" strips in the
Dell comic books, Jim was quite gainfully employed by his new partner
and boss.
Unfortunately, it was not to last.
"It’s Only a Game" began with 30 client newspapers; nearly a year
later, it had ... 30 client newspapers.
(A complete client list has been lost to the mists of time, although
it is known that the feature was carried by The Boston Globe, the Detroit
Free Press, The Chicago Tribune, The Minneapolis Tribune, the San Francisco
Chronicle and The Baltimore Sun.)
The strip never took off, despite strong support from fans such as
bridge expert Charles Goren (who wrote a couple of letters), and even
Schulz’s name didn’t seem to make much of a difference.
But we also can assume that the proud and perfectionist-minded
Schulz -- who in later years, as mentioned above, often made a point of
describing how in "Peanuts" he penciled and inked every line, and
lettered every word balloon -- probably was bothered by the fact that he
wasn’t similarly in sole control of "It’s Only a Game." To be sure, he
was INVOLVED, but he wasn’t actually drawing what appeared in those 30
client newspapers.
"He didn’t like his name being used on somebody else’s work," Jim
recalls, "and I don’t blame him for that."
That, coupled with moribund sales and some tension with the head
UFS salesman to whom Schulz initially had pitched the idea, eventually
prompted an astonishing decision In late 1958, just 12 months into a
solid five-year contract, Schulz made it plain to UFS that he wished to
discontinue "It’s Only a Game." Perhaps recognizing that the strip
wasn’t performing as hoped, UFS agreed.
Schulz did not consult Jim before taking this step; indeed, the
news came as a complete shock to Schulz’s ghost, who’d been very happy
with his work, and the strip, and the $250 per week.
Schulz even tried to sugar-coat the news "You’re off the hook,"
Jim recalls his employer saying (as if this were a GOOD thing), at the
end of that euphoric day when they finished work on the second
all-Peanuts issue of Dell’s Four Color Comics. Jim had just assured
Sparky that his pending move to Berkeley would not affect his ability to
work on "It’s Only a Game," and now the rug had been pulled out from
under him.
The fallout was immediate; it certainly was the final straw for
Helga, who already had been dissatisfied with their home in Sebastopol
-- hence the move to Berkeley -- and also was unhappy about the friction
that existed between her and Joyce, Schulz’s first wife. Helga had
endured Nazi Germany, survived the entire war -- in and out of work
camps -- and had lost her father at Dachau; she was not a woman to keep
opinions to herself.
"I realized I was working on a flawed product, which the creator
and marketer wanted nothing more to do with. Still, I had held out the
hope that maybe Sparky might offer the entire feature to me, although I
realized that there’d be problems with the syndicate," Jim admits, a
touch of wistfulness still clouding the memory after more than 40 years.
"They should have been pretty familiar with my work by then."
It didn’t happen. By the time the final installment of "It’s Only a
Game" appeared, on January 11, 1959 -- the two always had worked six
weeks ahead -- Jim and Schulz had severed all relations, professional
and personal. This also included Jim’s ghosting work on the Dell comic
books. The split was permanent, and the two men never reconciled.
Although "It’s Only a Game" ran for 63 consecutive weeks, it
quickly became a fading memory -- and then an overlooked footnote -- in
Schulz’s career. He rarely mentioned it during later interviews, and
then only obliquely, citing neither date specifics nor his collaboration
with Jim.
"We were the best of friends at first," Jim recalls ruefully. He
happily remembers attending the 1951 National Cartoonists Convention
with Sparky, and also another time when they both went to visit and swap
stories with a fellow artist, Robert M. Brinkerhoff, who lived in
Minneapolis and was known for a newspaper strip called "Little Mary
Mix-Up." Brinkerhoff, in turn -- like many other cartoonists at that
time -- greatly admired J.R. Williams (creator of "Out Our Way"), whom
he once described as "the greatest cowboy ever to walk the streets of
New York." Brinkerhoff related how he had wheedled, begged and finally
finagled an invitation to Williams’ ranch in Montana. Although only
interested in seeing the fabulous studio that he assumed his idol must
have on so massive a spread, Brinkerhoff first had to put up with being
shown all the livestock and the other attractions of a working ranch. As
the visit stretched on, Brinkerhoff finally couldn’t stand it any longer
and demanded to see where Williams did his work.
With a resigned sigh (as Jim recalls Brinkerhoff describing this
incident), Williams walked over to his wife’s sewing machine, took off
the cover, and flipped it over ... and that was it The great J.R.
Williams did all his drawing on the cover of his wife’s sewing machine.
As others have observed, there’s never any reason to embrace
technology or an environment any fancier than that required to get the
job done.
Cartoonists love to talk shop, and Jim’s no different; merely
relating this little tale brings a sparkle into his eyes. And, to this
day, he doesn’t really understand what happened between him and Schulz.
"I feel kind of weird about all this. Sparky obviously wanted me to
succeed in the early days, and even was willing to collaborate with me
on one of my own projects (one of the many variations of "Joe Cipher,"
discussed below). But then when he had a chance to really help me out,
he didn’t make any effort whatsoever ... and left me in rather dire
straits."
Such feelings notwithstanding, all these years later Jim is firm on
one point "Charles M. Schulz was the greatest comic strip artist ever."
And although he certainly couldn’t have known it at the time, Jim
never again would earn his living as a cartoonist.
Before, during and after his working association with Schulz, Jim
played around with many of his own ideas.
If persistence counts for anything, he deserves considerable credit
for his ongoing efforts to sell "Joe Cipher" ("a character kinda based
on me"), a daily strip that underwent quite a few transmutations during
the decade-plus that he tried to place it with a syndicate.
The character first appeared in a sample series of daily strips Jim
produced in late 1949. The strip’s gentle humor is faintly reminiscent
of "Gasoline Alley" and other character-driven work of the era; the
title character is introduced driving an old jalopy that obligingly runs
out of gas at a filling station. The silver-tongued Joe, lacking any
money, eventually impresses the station owner into offering him a job;
Joe celebrates by stepping into a nearby diner for lunch, where he’s
immediately smitten by the young woman behind the counter, and...
...and that’s where the presentation panels concluded.
Perhaps feeling that the strip lacked dramatic impact, a few years
later -- while still at AIS -- Jim tried again, shifting the action to a
tiny island in the middle of the ocean, where the shipwrecked Joe is
joined by an attractive young woman named Ginny, survivor of a second
sea-going calamity. (What are the odds?) Although their relationship is
mildly prickly for the first few days, Ginny eventually wishes aloud
that they could be rescued, so that she can go on a "proper date" with
Joe, and perhaps even kiss him when the evening concludes. Once again,
the story cut off abruptly, as Jim produced just two weeks’ worth of
strips enough to (hopefully) interest a buyer.
Sasseville tried several times to place a comic strip starring Joe Cipher, the pleasant-looking chap
featured in these examples. The two left-most strips are taken from the first run Sasseville designed on his own;
the two right-most strips, starring the same character but
in a different setting, are from Sasseville's third
test run; Charles Schulz contributed story input on these.
(Click on the image to see an enlarged version.)
After getting back from his return hitch in the Navy, Jim
went back to work on Joe Cipher and got a nibble from an
unexpected quarter: Something about this particular setting
touched Schulz, who suggested they collaborate on yet
a third incarnation of "Joe Cipher." (At the time, both men still were
unmarried, and it’s not hard to see a little male fantasy
wish-fulfillment at work.) With narrative input from Schulz and Jim
handling the art chores, the scene shifted again, this time to a
typically romantic South Seas setting, on an island large enough to
support a population of curvaceous young cuties and at least one
villain. Joe and Ginny remained the central focus, but this time the
former saw genuine action, on the receiving end of the villain’s fists.
Schulz and Jim took this newest version of "Joe Cipher" to United
Features Syndicate in spring of 1954; it was turned down flat. The
trip to New York wasn't a complete waste, though, because Sasseville
and Schulz caught a couple of plays: a T.S. Elliot drama called
Confidential Clerk, and another called The King of
Hearts, which starred Jackie Cooper as (what are the odds?)
a cartoonist!
Sasseville also remembers going from suite to suite in New
York's Waldorf hotel during this trip, visiting one cartoonist
after another; meeting Al Capp was a high point. But at least
part of the reason for the trip -- the newest Joe Cipher -- proved
unsellable, and Schulz bowed out at that point.
When Jim finally returned to "Joe Cipher," the 1950s were almost
over. Jim’s association with "Peanuts" and "It’s Only a Game" had
concluded, so the writer/artist returned to his favorite unsold
property. Jim recast his hero in yet another new setting, this time a
business office populated by characters clearly derived from his days at
Art Instruction. Although the sample panels display even cleaner, more
attractive line work -- a sure sign of his growing comfort as an artist
-- Jim had no better luck this time around.
Still refusing to abandon hope, Jim tried one more time In early
1960, after having moved to Berkeley, he once again changed the setting
completely, and turned Joe Cipher into "Sir Joe." This Arthurian-based
concept focused on genuinely whimsical gags involving heavy armor,
maidens in distress, and fire-breathing dragons. Jim’s dragons are
particularly funny, and this newest reboot seems ripe with
possibilities; it’s not at all hard to envision a daily strip evolving
from these samples.
Alas, syndicates once again failed to see any potential, and "Joe
Cipher" was put into Jim’s trunk as no more than another engaging
footnote in the artist’s collection of rejection slips.
Jim didn’t confine his efforts to "Joe Cipher"; the writer/artist
had no shortage of ideas, quite a few of which also wound up as
submission concepts. "Aunty Climax," produced in early 1957 -- just
prior to Jim’s ghost work for Dell comics -- was a single-panel gag
strip that starred a feisty little old lady who was far sharper than
most people assumed. She was based on Louise Cassidy, an AIS colleague
who also was the landlady for the building where Jim briefly lived with
Charles Cuddy. Jim produced a few dozen "Aunty Climax" panels, all of
which are vastly superior -- both in terms of writing and artwork -- to
many of the single-panel cartoons cluttering today’s newspapers.
"Confessions of a French Poodle" was a 1959 concept that didn’t
emerge much further than a few finished panels and lots of pencil
sketches; Jim good-naturedly admits that the idea went nowhere, and so
he abandoned it. That may have been shrewd market analysis, as the
medium never has lacked for dog-oriented material. Even so, French
poodles are funny in their own right, and Jim’s concept sketches are a
hoot.
When not working on Peanuts-related material, Sasseville tried to sell many of his own strip ideas
to a syndicate. From left to right, these examples are "Aunty Climax," "Friends and Foes," "Alpha-Betty" and "Happy Birthday."
(Click on the image to see an enlarged version.)
"Friends and Foes," another single-panel tryout, also emerged from
Jim’s pen in 1959. A little later, shortly after he started putting food
on the table with a "real job" -- and perhaps motivated by the explosion
of children’s television shows, which eventually led to "Sesame Street"
and everything that followed -- Jim tried a kid-oriented educational
strip called "Alpha-Betty," which starred a little girl who finds
herself in an other-worldly land populated by men and women shaped like
letters of the alphabet. The personalities of these individuals were
defined by their appearance; curved female letters, for example, were
far more sultry that straight female letters. The strip has a lovely
"Alice in Wonderland" quality, although the concept may have seemed
limiting.
Jim later played with the medium in "Blackboard," a daily strip
designed to be white-on-black, to imitate chalk on a classroom
blackboard. The stars were Dick, Jane and their TeacheR; although not as
overly educational as "Alpha-Betty," this strip also was aimed at young
audiences.
Jim’s final attempt at syndication was produced in the early 1970s,
after he first went into research hibernation, jotting down enough
celebrity birthdays to fill every day of a calendar year. The resulting
single-panel strips were a precursor to the "On this day in history..."
informational nuggets that have become so ubiquitous The panel for
March 28, for example, illustrated and revealed a few choice facts about
orchestra leader Paul Whiteman. March 29 was devoted to President John
Tyler, while Francisco Goya was featured on March 30.
Sadly, this fared no better with syndicators than any of the
others. "Joe Cipher," "Aunty Climax," "Confessions of a French Poodle,"
"Friends and Foes," "Alpha-Betty," "Blackboard" and "Birthdays" exist only
in Jim’s carefully preserved office files. More’s the pity, because even
the weakest of these strips displays a Puckish wit and clean, attractive
line work too often absent from many of the rushed, imitative strips
that generate little more than reader apathy these days.
Following the dust-up with Schulz and the move to Berkeley, Helga
-- who was delighted by the more rarefied atmosphere of a university
community -- became the family bread-winner. She took a job with a
German importer/exporter and commuted daily across the Bay Bridge.
Eventually succumbing to the need for steady employment, in April
1960 Jim took a job as a graphic designer with Varian, one of the
leading radar companies, located in California’s greater San Francisco
Bay Area. The fit proved comfortable, and he remained with the company
until he retired in 1990.
But the career shift wasn’t immediate; Jim first spent most of 1959
working up his own aforementioned comic strip proposals, and
occasionally sold individual gag cartoons to magazines. But his New
York-based agent took 35% of those one-shots.
"That’s when I started with Varian," Jim recalls, with a chuckle.
"I knew I’d never make it as a gag cartoonist."
Be that as it may, Jim never stopped his cartooning efforts; while
at Varian, he became famous for the birthday cards that he drew for
fellow employees.
Helga, meanwhile, got a job at Stanford, which prompted another
move; the couple then purchased their first home in 1960, in Mountain
View.
Three years later, they moved for what would be the last time. Jim
and his wife paid $28,000 for the house that remains his home to this
day. Just last year the retired artist was offered a cool million bucks
-- in cash -- by a dot-commer who wanted to develop the property. Still
loyal to the memories of his wife, with which the house is filled, Jim
politely declined. Helga died in 1995; he clearly still misses her.
Today, Parkinson’s Disease and the recent stroke have conspired to
deliver the ultimate nightmare Jim no longer can hold a pen well enough
to draw. ("I always marveled at Sparky’s ability to incorporate his
shaking hand into his line work.") But his mind and memory remain
acutely sharp, and his Puckish sense of humor is unbowed. He speaks with
clarity and certainty of his years at Art Instruction School, and with
Schulz, and of his never-successful efforts to market his own original
material.
Jim remains philosophical about his life, and in fact composed
another of his verses to express such feelings
I’m all for equal measures
Losses should be matched by gain;
And since I’ve missed life’s pleasures,
I’ll just double up with pain!
Definitely too harsh, but then we’re always hardest on ourselves.
Jim Sasseville deserves far more than the obscurity into which he has
settled; for a time, he was allied with the man who would become the
world’s most successful cartoonist, and for a time he helped chaperone
the faithfully rendered adventures of Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Linus, Lucy
and the rest ... no small feat.
And I’m particularly transfixed by a remark Jim made during one of
our later phone calls "I don’t know how one should behave, in a
situation like this," he said, referring to our ongoing conversations,
"but it’s like I’ve been resurrected."
Perhaps this article will kick-start our long-overdue obligation to
sing his praises.
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All PEANUTS characters pictured are copyrighted by United Feature Syndicate, Inc. They are used here with permission. They may not be reproduced by any means in any form.
"I asked him if the scan was difficult to interpret," Jim said,
with a delivery as dry as his wit, "and he said that it was a no-brainer
... so I guess that means I’m all right."
Despite the distance of phone lines, I could feel him smile.
As the conversation ranged back and forth from the 1940s to ’60s,
Jim occasionally interrupted himself to make sure that I recognized a
celebrity or historical reference.
"Not to worry," I finally said, at one point. "I’m older than I
sound."
"And still reading comic books?" he replied, quick as a shot.
"Shame on you!"
Jim should talk; he’s a longtime Krazy Kat fan.
Our first chat didn’t cover nearly enough territory, but it
established a comfort level that prompted a subsequent delightful
afternoon in the artist’s company. His home, shared only with the
aforementioned dog, is smallish but filled with personality.
And I knew that I’d finally made a connection, and earned his
trust, when he offered me some coffee. From that moment, the visit
became less an interview, and more an increasingly amiable chat between
two guys with comics and cartooning in their blood.
Sasseville was born August 28, 1927, and grew up in Minneapolis,
Minnesota. He enrolled in a public school kindergarten class, but from
the first through eighth grades enjoyed (endured?) a parochial school
education, complete with Latin. To this day, he can parse verbs like a
pro.
He became a full-fledged altar boy in fifth grade ("Those were the
good ol’ days, when they still did the complete Mass in Latin"), and
remembers a mischievous incident when he and a classmate elbowed each
other while genuflecting during a service.
Not a big deal, really ... but after the service, once behind the
scenes, the priest took quick action. "He grabbed both of our heads, and
I can still feel the collision today, after he clonked us together."
Art was an interest from very early on ("I drew all the time"), and
Jim recalls getting an A in art and history in seventh grade, for his
illustrated history of Napoleon. "It was like historical comics," he
points out now, with hindsight. "I was years ahead of my time."
After eighth grade, Jim shifted back to public school during his
high school career. He took the art classes offered at his school, but
did not pursue this interest with any extra-curricular instruction.
By this time, the war was on; Jim isn’t even sure, all these years
later, whether he officially completed high school. Whether he graduated
or released himself, he and a friend then hitchhiked across the country.
Jim’s 18th birthday found them in Portland, Oregon, where the two worked
the remainder of that summer at the Kaiser shipyards. Jim then enlisted
in the U.S. Navy, while his friend returned to Minneapolis. Jim was
assigned to the fleet post office after boot training, and he served
precisely 11 months and 29 days ... a hitch whose length would come back
to haunt him.
After being discharged, Jim entered the Minneapolis School of Art
(at the time, a trade school) for a three-year term, and graduated in
1948. He gravitated toward Art Instruction School (which already
included a certain Charles M. "Sparky" Schulz among its staff), and in
the summer of 1949, while 22 years old, prepared a gorgeous hand-drawn
and lettered portfolio, with a self-portrait in full watercolor, to
introduce himself and his artistic talents; the brochure’s dozen or so
pages must have been one of the most ambitious job applications that the
institution ever had received.
Although interested in cartooning, at that point Jim preferred
painting, which this full-color introductory portfolio makes abundantly
clear. (He still has it, lovingly preserved and in excellent condition.)
Obviously, the ploy worked. Jim was hired at a starting salary of
$35 per week. The oversized 1950 Art Instruction Schools Inc. booklet
("Your Art School!"), produced not much later and handed out to all
prospective clients, includes his photo on Page 3, immediately before
Schulz’s picture.
"James F. Sasseville," reads the caption beneath the photo, "is an
instructor in rendering and advertising illustration. He is one of our
best figure illustrators in color."
While at Art Instruction, Jim joined the team that graded all the
submissions -- the "Can you draw me?" applications -- that arrived via
mail or hand delivery. The bottom-line desire, of course, was to
encourage those with even the smallest shred of talent, in order to get
an AIS salesman in the family’s front door; after all, the money was
made by selling art instruction courses. Since manilla envelopes poured
in like mad, speed-grading was essential.
"I spent years correcting Lesson No. 5, which was an advertising
project, where the students had to design a streetcar poster on the
theme ‘See the Orient.’ "
Jim remembers marking all but the very best submissions with
nothing more than alpha-numeric codes (A6, A17, and so forth), which AIS
secretaries then would translate into form paragraph replies.
"But they always were nicely typed up," Jim remembers, knowing full
well that the recipients carefully scrutinized every analytical word.
Sasseville and Schulz became good friends ("We had a similar sense
of humor"), and Sparky encouraged Jim to pursue comic strips. Jim even
got his hair cut more than once in Schulz’s father’s barbershop.
"Sparky bet me, in late 1949, that I’d sell a comic strip to a
syndicate before he would," Jim remembers, with a smile. "As it turned
out, I won that bet hands-down."
In between grading assignments, Jim and his fellow employees
produced thousands upon thousands of quickly penciled drawings on
4-by-7-inch sketchpads. In this respect, these artists were no different
than their counterparts at Disney and Warner Brothers animation studios,
who also filled the minutes between "real work" with impressive little
doodles and caricatures of each other, all of which are the envy of
collectors today (when they surface in the first place). Jim still has
stacks and stacks of such impromptu efforts, including a few caricatures
of Schulz and other AIS friends, and several pages of "Peanuts"
character roughs. (Even then, he must have been planning ahead...) Most
are plain pencil on paper, but some are blue-line; in either case, they
reveal one of Jim’s artistic strengths an ability to capture a person’s
eyes with remarkably lifelike clarity.
(Unfortunately, he did not save his collection of Schulz originals.
"I gave away all my junk foolishly, many years ago ... somebody conned
me out of almost all my original Schulz drawings.")
Jim never lost his art-school fascination with centaurs and nudes,
and many of his sketchpad pages are filled with fetchingly unclad
cuties. Hiring and drawing undraped models was fairly common among Jim
and his colleagues, although not quite all of his colleagues "I can’t
remember Sparky taking any part in that whatsoever."
Such figure studies also sparked Jim’s impish literary talents,
honed by a life-long fascination with poetry (T.S. Eliot’s "Distracted
from distraction by distraction" remains a personal mantra).
Jim still recalls many of his favorite invented verses, such as
this one, which would have been loved by Ogden Nash
A centaur met a mermaid, as he trotted by the sea;
She noticed not his heavy hooves, nor he her single knee,
As they lingered there, expelling time with heart-inspired chatter
The direction of their love so strong ... bottoms didn’t matter!
Jim’s tenure at Art Instruction was interrupted in mid 1952, when
Uncle Sam tapped his shoulder again. The Korean War was underway, and
those who previously had served less than a full year were being
recalled ... so those two days shy of a year forced a second hitch that
lasted through 1954.
"I was sent to the Philippines," Jim notes dryly, thinking back to
all the Lesson No. 5 submissions that he had graded, "so I certainly saw
the Orient."
This second 14-month hitch of active duty certainly wasn’t wasted,
in terms of Jim’s artistic skills; he worked for an Irish Catholic
chaplain and did a weekly mimeographed newspaper for U.S. Naval Mobile
Construction Battalion 9 ("I was drawing cartoons up the gazoo"). The
unit’s 1952-53 Cruise Book features a great full-page Jim illustration
on Page 33; titled "Cubi Point, P.I.," it shows five sailors watching a
dog face off with a monkey.
Jim’s relationship with Father John James Kileen never was dull, in
part because the artist was a lapsed Catholic.
"He worked the hell out of me, but then he’d always invite me into
his quarters for a nip, and then try to entice me back into the fold."
After his second stint in the Navy concluded, Jim returned to
civilian life (this time for good), and to Art Instruction Schools,
where he and Schulz picked up where they’d left off. In between grading
assignments and sketching his office buddies, Jim placed a few gag
cartoons in magazines, such as a droll three-panel sequence of a guy
having trouble with a jack, while attempting to fix a flat tire, which
appeared on Page 45 of the August 1957 issue of Gent, a
long-discontinued men’s magazine.
Jim met Helga, his future wife, as a result of his Navy friendship
with Charles Cuddy. She had immigrated to the United States when
sponsored by a South Dakota politician and his family ("mostly for slave
labor," Jim perceptively remarks); Helga was unfamiliar with the farm
environment, and decamped for Minneapolis as soon as she could. She
entered the University of Minnesota with a vengeance; her half-Jewish
heritage had kept her out of institutions of higher learning in her
native Germany.
She also enrolled in art school and wound up in one class being
taught by Dave Ratner, a colleague and friend with whom Jim went to art
school; she also landed in some of the same classes as Cuddy, who for a
time shared a boarding house attic ("a garret") with Jim. Since this
colony of Minneapolis artists wasn’t all that large, it was inevitable
that Jim and Helga would meet. ("Destiny," he happily acknowledges.)
They married in 1956.
"I’d just bought a brand-new Mercury," Jim remembers, with a
chuckle, "and I had to get rid of it when we got married, because Helga
couldn’t drive a stick-shift."
Within a few short months, Sasseville’s life turned around again,
when he became the best of Schulz’s never-credited "Peanuts" ghosts.
Whenever asked, Charles Schulz would repeat the statement that
became ubiquitous Unlike those involved with other "assembly-line"
newspaper comic strips, he remained the only person whose hands touched
the adventures of Charlie Brown and the gang. Schulz wrote, drew, inked
and lettered his strip, and did so during the entire run October 2,
1950, to February 13, 2000. Schulz always insisted that the strip would
cease production when he finally called it quits, a wish that his family
has honored. Unlike other classic strips that have been revived, often
by lesser talents, "Peanuts" will forevermore remain solely a Schulz
legacy.
Except ... that’s not entirely true.
During the 1950s and early ’60s, Charlie Brown and his friends
didn’t just appear in newspaper strips; they also were a popular feature
of comic books ... a medium usually dominated by the likes of Superman
and Captain America, but one that included plenty of room for lighter
fare.
And -- surprise, surprise! -- when the "Peanuts" comic book
appearances stopped being newspaper reprints and "graduated" into
original features in 1957, sharp-eyed fans probably could discern that
somebody other than Sparky Schulz was doing the artwork.
To keep the chronology consistent, let’s turn back the clock to
1952, when "Peanuts" simultaneously debuted as a supporting feature in
two comic books -- the March-April issues of Tip Top Comics (#173) and
United Comics (#21) -- both published by United Feature Syndicate, which
routinely recycled many of its newspaper features in these and other
comic books. The "Peanuts" supporting feature moved into a third book,
Tip Topper, beginning with #17 (June-July 1952); it remained there until
the book was discontinued after #28 (April-May 1954). Shortly before
this final issue of Tip Topper, "Peanuts" returned to Tip Top as a
supporting feature, beginning with #184 (Jan.-Feb. 1954) and continuing
through #188 (Sept.-Oct. 1954). Several of these later issues feature
gorgeous Peanuts covers, which -- although not signed -- appear to be by
Schulz.
"Peanuts" also appeared, during this same period, as a back-up
feature in most issues of United Comics, later retitled Fritzi Ritz
(beginning with #27). The run here also was consecutive #21-#33 (the
latter dated March-April 1954). Stray issues of Sparkler Comics and
Sparkle Comics also included some "Peanuts" reprints, although not on a
regular basis.
UFS got out of the comic book publishing business at the end of
1954, and some of its titles were picked up by St. John in 1955,
including Fritzi Ritz and Tip Top. Despite a noticeable gap of several
months, the numbering of both books continued consecutively. Thus, Tip
Top resumed with #189 (May 1955), and continued to include "Peanuts" as
a supporting feature during St. John’s entire run of this book, through
#210 (July 1957). "Peanuts" was only an occasional supporting feature in
St. John’s run of Fritzi Ritz, starting with #37 (July 1955) and
continuing through #55. Finally, at least one issue of Nancy -- #142
(March 1957) -- also featured Peanuts reprints.
Big changes came in late 1957, and not just because St. John
abandoned these books and turned them over to Dell Comics (Western
Publishing). After a delay of several months to half a year -- depending
on the title -- Dell revived the flagship St. John titles, again with
consecutive numbering. Thus, Tip Top #211 returned as a quarterly with a
cover date of Nov. 1957-Jan. 1958. Fritzi Ritz resumed with #56, dated
Dec. 1957-Feb. 1958.
Under Dell’s stewardship, Charlie Brown and the gang also became a
regular supporting feature in Nancy, beginning with #146 (Sept. 1957).
The biggest change, however, concerned the content in all three books.
When Dell took over, the covers promised "All brand-new stories" ... and
they meant it.
"Peanuts" fans spotted the change in Nancy #146, which boasted a
four-page story with a baseball theme, clearly produced by Schulz
himself (although unsigned); Jim confirms Sparky’s linework. But Schulz
quickly realized that producing four full pages of original art for
Nancy on a monthly basis, not to mention similar duties for the
quarterly Tip Top and Fritzi Ritz, would be more than he was willing to
handle. Then, too, he was only months away from debuting his own second
newspaper strip, "It’s Only a Game" (about which more below).
Schulz allowed Dell’s house art department to handle his characters
in Nancy #147, but was unhappy with the results. (No surprise; the art
is quite weak.) Schulz stepped in again for issue #148, but the workload
problem hadn’t changed. Wanting greater fidelity to his own style,
Schulz turned to Jim, who took over the reins with issue #149 and
continued through #168 (July 1959). Jim essentially became Schulz’s
employee and was paid $100 per week for this work; since he was making
only $80 per week at Art Instruction, this -- along with the even higher
paycheck he’d soon receive, for helping Schulz with "It’s Only a Game"
-- was a substantial raise.
As a ghosting assignment, the results are impressive. Charlie Brown
and Linus’ heads are notoriously difficult to reproduce in Schulz’s
signature style, but Jim came damn close. More to the point, the
characters are posed and conduct themselves in a way that’s absolutely
typical of their behavior in Sparky’s newspaper strip. Art purists may
have noticed that Jim wasn’t Schulz, but casual readers were unlikely to
have detected the difference.
The four-page story above is taken from Nancy #151, February 1958.
(Click on the pages to enlarge them.)
"He gave me carte blanche on writing them, and I felt like a
faithful uncle," Jim says, with no small amount of pride at his ability
to reproduce Charlie Brown and the gang.
Although Jim’s take on the "Peanuts" gang in Nancy #149 was the
first to reach fans, it was not the ghost artist’s debut crack at
Charlie Brown. Jim’s first completed "Peanuts" comic book adventure was
"The Trip," one of a quartet of eight-page stories (packaged with three
one-page stories) that eventually appeared as issue #878 (Feb. 1958) of
Dell’s Four Color Comics, an "umbrella title" that rotated various
stars; this issue, boasting a gorgeous signed Schulz cover, was the
first one devoted to "Peanuts."
Ever the imp, Jim inserted a personal reference into "The Trip."
The number on the dog license that Charlie Brown uses -- 891-68-14 -- to
justify his getting behind the wheel of a station wagon, was the
artist’s Navy serial number.
Jim also did the work in the Fritzi Ritz and Tip Top issues during
this time, and it’s important to note that he had a completely free rein
with these comic book stories, handling both art and writing chores.
Fritzi Ritz lasted only four issues under the Dell label, before
being discontinued after #59 (Sept.-Nov. 1958). "Peanuts" did not appear
in #56, but each of the remaining three issues included a new four-page
story by Jim. He also handled the work for Tip Top #211 through #215
(Nov. 1958-Jan. 1959). In Tip Top, Charlie Brown and his friends shared
covers with Nancy, Sluggo, and the Captain and the Kids. Although
unsigned, Schulz drew these "Peanuts" cover panels for issues 211-213,
and Jim handled 214 and 215.
Sasseville did the Peanuts art in these issues of Tip Top, #214 and #215.
(Click on the pages to enlarge them.)
All told, then, Jim drew the interior stories in 20 issues of
Nancy, three issues of Fritzi Ritz, and five issues of Tip Top, along
with Four Color #878. This relationship with Schulz and Dell Comics took
an unexpected turn when the two men parted unhappily, and Jim’s final
work for Dell was the long kite story in the second all-"Peanuts" issue
of Four Color Comics (#969, Feb. 1959), along with the inside front and
inside back cover one-pagers.
The completion of that particular issue became something of a
marathon art session. After announcing that he and Helga would be moving
to Berkeley, Jim took stock of the pending Dell workload, and discovered
that the deadline for the second all-Peanuts issue of Four Color Comics
was imminent. Jim promised to finish this before the move, but Sparky
suggested that the job would proceed faster if they worked on it
together. The two men thus divided the work between them, and began
early one morning with what turned into a lengthy session stretching
well into the evening. During that time, Jim completed the
aforementioned two one-page stories and one eight-page story, while
Sparky handled the remaining one-page story and THREE eight-page
stories.
"There’s no doubt who was the faster artist," Jim notes, with a
chuckle. "He certainly put me in my place!"
Jim still remembers that session as a euphoric rush ... but it
concluded on a gloomy note, when, resting in the happy afterglow of a
job well done, Schulz revealed the fate of "It’s Only a Game" (see
below).
In the aftermath, Schulz also stepped in and handled all the work
for Nancy #169 (August 1959). Clearly, this was a rush job, and Schulz
borrowed from himself The final panel of this four-page story is almost
identical to the final panel of the June 23, 1957, "Peanuts" Sunday
strip. The comic book storyline is an expansion of that Sunday strip,
and the aforementioned final panel in the comic book is signed by Schulz
... the only case where any interior comic book stories bear his
signature.
Because the split was far from amicable, Jim did not follow the
subsequent comic book adventures of Charlie Brown and his friends, in
Nancy and Tip Top. On close examination just a few weeks ago -- in many
cases, seeing this work for the first time -- Jim pointed to specific
poses, characteristics and lettering attributes ("Sparky always rounded
out the bottoms of his W’s") that leave him convinced that Schulz either
penciled and inked the next several issues of both Nancy and Tip Top, or
at least roughed in the panel layout, inked the primary characters --
particularly their heads -- and lettered the word balloons. This seems
likely; carefully examination of individual pages reveals an occasional
Snoopy or Lucy which, not matching the rest, clearly must have been
inked by somebody else.
But Dale Hale, Schulz’s new apprentice and ghost -- and another
associate from Art Instruction Schools -- caught on quickly, and the
artwork in both books retained its Schulz-like characteristics through
roughly late 1960 or early 1961. At this point, other hands clearly took
over -- possibly Tony Pocrnick, another Schulz associate from Art
Instruction -- and the "Peanuts" characters became ever-more distant
from the Schulz ideal until the final issues of Tip Top (#225, May-July
1961) and Nancy. (By then the latter had been retitled Nancy and Sluggo,
and its final five issues were released under the Gold Key imprint; the
book was discontinued with issue #192, October 1963.) The "Peanuts"
artwork in the last issues of both books is, in a word, dreadful.
A third all-"Peanuts" issue of Four Color Comics was produced
(#1015, August-October 1959), after which the characters got their own
book that began with issue #4 (Feb.-April 1960), by way of acknowledging
those first three appearances in Four Color Comics. This lasted through
#13 (May-July 1962), after which the book was discontinued. Each of
these issues features a signed Schulz cover, but other hands --
certainly Hale, at first -- handled all the interior artwork and writing
(which, as with the latter issues of Nancy and Tip Top, grew less
Schulz-like over time).
But what had happened, to sever the friendship between Schulz and
Jim, which stretched back a decade?
Bouncing back a year or so...
Although already quite popular and gaining fans -- and syndicate
clients -- all the time, in 1957 "Peanuts" was not yet the multimedia
sensation it was to become within another decade. Schulz must have had
some free time that needed filling, and therefore was comfortable with
the concept of pitching a second strip concept to United Features
Syndicate. The artist had lots of ideas about games near and dear to his
heart, including golf, tennis, baseball and bridge. No doubt realizing
that twice as much Schulz per week was a good thing, UFS jumped at the
chance, and the sports and recreation-themed "It’s Only a Game" was
born. For awhile, Schulz joined later stars such as Johnny Hart ("B.C."
and "The Wizard of Id"), Mell Lazarus ("Miss Peach" and "Momma") and
Jerry Scott ("Baby Blues" and "Zits"), with two newspaper strips running
simultaneously.
Each installment of "It’s Only a Game, by Charles M. Schulz,"
hearkening back to Schulz’s very early work on "Li’l Folks" in The St.
Paul Pioneer Press, was comprised of three separate single-panel gag
strips. The package was offered to clients in two different formats as
three single-panel strips per week, to run on Mondays, Wednesdays and
Fridays; or as a combined grouping of three that would appear in Sunday
comics sections. The combined Sunday grouping also had a bonus fourth
cartoon a tiny, captionless visual gag -- very much like the
intermarginal gags that Sergio Aragonés would pepper throughout future
issues of Mad Magazine -- that appeared to the right of the title and
Schulz’s byline. The subject matter of the Monday and Wednesday panels
varied from week to week, but the Friday installment always centered
around bridge, the then-popular card game that Schulz loved. (Further
evidence of this affection could be seen in "Peanuts," where the kids
routinely played the game in the early 1950s, and Woodstock and a
foursome of his bird buddies picked it up in the 1970s and beyond.)
Charles Schulz did this January 12, 1958, "It's Only a Game" panel himself. Note his signature within the art of the right-most panel.
During an October 6, 1957, interview with Schulz, the Chicago
Tribune proudly boasted that it would be one of the flagship newspapers
to carry this new feature. The Tribune selected the weekly option, and
ran "It’s Only a Game" in its Sunday magazine. The debut installment
appeared November 3, 1957, and immediately set the tone for what would
follow, with panels devoted to boxing, golf and bridge. The middle panel
is a hoot, with a middle-aged duffer -- one easily can imagine Charlie
Brown in his 40s -- lamenting a putt that has left his ball perched at
the edge of the cup (but not in), and saying, "I think I’m going to
cry."
Subsequent installments covered checkers, bowling, curling (!),
table tennis, croquet, billiards, ice fishing, darts and even camping.
But as 1957 turned into 1958, something must have changed. Perhaps
Schulz had underestimated the amount of time involved with producing a
second weekly newspaper strip; maybe he also was spending more time than
expected overseeing the new "Peanuts" content in the Dell comic books.
Or, more likely, the "Peanuts" empire as a whole was occupying more of
his time; 1958 saw the production of the first "Peanuts" toys -- plastic
dolls of the major characters, produced by Hungerford -- and of course
this was just the tip of an approaching iceberg.
Whatever the reason, Schulz decided to hand over the lion’s share
of the artistic chores to Jim. Schulz’s solo involvement with "It’s Only
a Game" continued through the January 12, 1958, installment; this is the
last one to bear his signature on one of the cartoon panels. (Schulz’s
name continued to run alone in the masthead, however, making Jim a true
ghost.) As of January 19, 1958, Jim -- often working from hastily
penciled sketches and captions supplied by Schulz -- did all the
newspaper strip’s finished art and lettering.
Sasseville did this January 26, 1958, "It's Only a Game" panel himself. Note that Schulz's signature is nowhere to be seen within the art.
Jim vividly remembers this transition date, because just one week later,
with his second time at bat with the solo art chores, he was paid a
singular honor. That week’s Monday panel, a bowling strip, featured
three league players welcoming a fourth, apparently a little tardy, with
the exclamation of, "Three cheers, gang! Our number one man has
arrived!" A loyal reader sent UFS a black-and-white photo of himself
with three friends, staged to look precisely like the four figures in
Jim’s illustration. The "camera angle" was identical, along with
clothing, body position, and everything else in the frame. The
resemblance even extended to the men themselves, who had body shapes and
hairstyles eerily similar to those found in the panel art.
Jim still has the photo.
Sasseville received this photo recreation of his "It's Only a Game" gag from a fan. Note the date stamp at the top of the photo.
The degree to which Jim successfully imitated Schulz’s linework can
be seen by the fact that the transition was seamless; no casual reader
could have discerned that the hand on the inker’s pen had changed.
During the remainder of 1958, the two men continued to work in the same
fashion, Jim often finishing Schulz’s rough concepts, but also
contributing many of his own original ideas. He also inserted the
occasional personal reference; the boat from which a husband and wife
fish, in one of the June 29, 1958, panels, is the Helga, named after
Jim’s wife.
But Jim remembers that he never came up with any of the concepts
for Friday’s bridge panels, for the simple reason that he didn’t know
the game.
Although he labored in anonymity, Jim was well compensated
financially, and he still speaks appreciatively of Sparky’s generosity.
Schulz had negotiated for 50% of the strip’s income, the other half
going to UFS. This 50% amounted to slightly more than $500 per week;
when Jim came on board, Schulz generously gave half of HIS half to his
new partner, and so Jim brought home $250 per week (after expenses) for
his efforts ... quite a lot of money in 1958.
The two men were living in Minneapolis when this collaboration
began; after the first five months, in May 1958, Jim and his wife
followed the Schulz family to Northern California. Lacking a place to
stay in Sebastopol -- not to mention furniture and other amenities --
the Sassevilles first spent a couple of months a bit south, in Corta
Madera. "For two or three weeks, I drew the comic book stuff and ‘It’s
Only a Game’ on a portable drawing board. But I stayed in touch with
Sparky on the phone, and he supplied the ideas for ‘It’s Only a Game.’ "
The Sassevilles then found a home in Sebastopol. Between "It’s Only
a Game" and the work he also was doing for the "Peanuts" strips in the
Dell comic books, Jim was quite gainfully employed by his new partner
and boss.
Unfortunately, it was not to last.
"It’s Only a Game" began with 30 client newspapers; nearly a year
later, it had ... 30 client newspapers.
(A complete client list has been lost to the mists of time, although
it is known that the feature was carried by The Boston Globe, the Detroit
Free Press, The Chicago Tribune, The Minneapolis Tribune, the San Francisco
Chronicle and The Baltimore Sun.)
The strip never took off, despite strong support from fans such as
bridge expert Charles Goren (who wrote a couple of letters), and even
Schulz’s name didn’t seem to make much of a difference.
But we also can assume that the proud and perfectionist-minded
Schulz -- who in later years, as mentioned above, often made a point of
describing how in "Peanuts" he penciled and inked every line, and
lettered every word balloon -- probably was bothered by the fact that he
wasn’t similarly in sole control of "It’s Only a Game." To be sure, he
was INVOLVED, but he wasn’t actually drawing what appeared in those 30
client newspapers.
"He didn’t like his name being used on somebody else’s work," Jim
recalls, "and I don’t blame him for that."
That, coupled with moribund sales and some tension with the head
UFS salesman to whom Schulz initially had pitched the idea, eventually
prompted an astonishing decision In late 1958, just 12 months into a
solid five-year contract, Schulz made it plain to UFS that he wished to
discontinue "It’s Only a Game." Perhaps recognizing that the strip
wasn’t performing as hoped, UFS agreed.
Schulz did not consult Jim before taking this step; indeed, the
news came as a complete shock to Schulz’s ghost, who’d been very happy
with his work, and the strip, and the $250 per week.
Schulz even tried to sugar-coat the news "You’re off the hook,"
Jim recalls his employer saying (as if this were a GOOD thing), at the
end of that euphoric day when they finished work on the second
all-Peanuts issue of Dell’s Four Color Comics. Jim had just assured
Sparky that his pending move to Berkeley would not affect his ability to
work on "It’s Only a Game," and now the rug had been pulled out from
under him.
The fallout was immediate; it certainly was the final straw for
Helga, who already had been dissatisfied with their home in Sebastopol
-- hence the move to Berkeley -- and also was unhappy about the friction
that existed between her and Joyce, Schulz’s first wife. Helga had
endured Nazi Germany, survived the entire war -- in and out of work
camps -- and had lost her father at Dachau; she was not a woman to keep
opinions to herself.
"I realized I was working on a flawed product, which the creator
and marketer wanted nothing more to do with. Still, I had held out the
hope that maybe Sparky might offer the entire feature to me, although I
realized that there’d be problems with the syndicate," Jim admits, a
touch of wistfulness still clouding the memory after more than 40 years.
"They should have been pretty familiar with my work by then."
It didn’t happen. By the time the final installment of "It’s Only a
Game" appeared, on January 11, 1959 -- the two always had worked six
weeks ahead -- Jim and Schulz had severed all relations, professional
and personal. This also included Jim’s ghosting work on the Dell comic
books. The split was permanent, and the two men never reconciled.
Although "It’s Only a Game" ran for 63 consecutive weeks, it
quickly became a fading memory -- and then an overlooked footnote -- in
Schulz’s career. He rarely mentioned it during later interviews, and
then only obliquely, citing neither date specifics nor his collaboration
with Jim.
"We were the best of friends at first," Jim recalls ruefully. He
happily remembers attending the 1951 National Cartoonists Convention
with Sparky, and also another time when they both went to visit and swap
stories with a fellow artist, Robert M. Brinkerhoff, who lived in
Minneapolis and was known for a newspaper strip called "Little Mary
Mix-Up." Brinkerhoff, in turn -- like many other cartoonists at that
time -- greatly admired J.R. Williams (creator of "Out Our Way"), whom
he once described as "the greatest cowboy ever to walk the streets of
New York." Brinkerhoff related how he had wheedled, begged and finally
finagled an invitation to Williams’ ranch in Montana. Although only
interested in seeing the fabulous studio that he assumed his idol must
have on so massive a spread, Brinkerhoff first had to put up with being
shown all the livestock and the other attractions of a working ranch. As
the visit stretched on, Brinkerhoff finally couldn’t stand it any longer
and demanded to see where Williams did his work.
With a resigned sigh (as Jim recalls Brinkerhoff describing this
incident), Williams walked over to his wife’s sewing machine, took off
the cover, and flipped it over ... and that was it The great J.R.
Williams did all his drawing on the cover of his wife’s sewing machine.
As others have observed, there’s never any reason to embrace
technology or an environment any fancier than that required to get the
job done.
Cartoonists love to talk shop, and Jim’s no different; merely
relating this little tale brings a sparkle into his eyes. And, to this
day, he doesn’t really understand what happened between him and Schulz.
"I feel kind of weird about all this. Sparky obviously wanted me to
succeed in the early days, and even was willing to collaborate with me
on one of my own projects (one of the many variations of "Joe Cipher,"
discussed below). But then when he had a chance to really help me out,
he didn’t make any effort whatsoever ... and left me in rather dire
straits."
Such feelings notwithstanding, all these years later Jim is firm on
one point "Charles M. Schulz was the greatest comic strip artist ever."
And although he certainly couldn’t have known it at the time, Jim
never again would earn his living as a cartoonist.
Before, during and after his working association with Schulz, Jim
played around with many of his own ideas.
If persistence counts for anything, he deserves considerable credit
for his ongoing efforts to sell "Joe Cipher" ("a character kinda based
on me"), a daily strip that underwent quite a few transmutations during
the decade-plus that he tried to place it with a syndicate.
The character first appeared in a sample series of daily strips Jim
produced in late 1949. The strip’s gentle humor is faintly reminiscent
of "Gasoline Alley" and other character-driven work of the era; the
title character is introduced driving an old jalopy that obligingly runs
out of gas at a filling station. The silver-tongued Joe, lacking any
money, eventually impresses the station owner into offering him a job;
Joe celebrates by stepping into a nearby diner for lunch, where he’s
immediately smitten by the young woman behind the counter, and...
...and that’s where the presentation panels concluded.
Perhaps feeling that the strip lacked dramatic impact, a few years
later -- while still at AIS -- Jim tried again, shifting the action to a
tiny island in the middle of the ocean, where the shipwrecked Joe is
joined by an attractive young woman named Ginny, survivor of a second
sea-going calamity. (What are the odds?) Although their relationship is
mildly prickly for the first few days, Ginny eventually wishes aloud
that they could be rescued, so that she can go on a "proper date" with
Joe, and perhaps even kiss him when the evening concludes. Once again,
the story cut off abruptly, as Jim produced just two weeks’ worth of
strips enough to (hopefully) interest a buyer.
Sasseville tried several times to place a comic strip starring Joe Cipher, the pleasant-looking chap
featured in these examples. The two left-most strips are taken from the first run Sasseville designed on his own;
the two right-most strips, starring the same character but
in a different setting, are from Sasseville's third
test run; Charles Schulz contributed story input on these.
(Click on the image to see an enlarged version.)
After getting back from his return hitch in the Navy, Jim
went back to work on Joe Cipher and got a nibble from an
unexpected quarter: Something about this particular setting
touched Schulz, who suggested they collaborate on yet
a third incarnation of "Joe Cipher." (At the time, both men still were
unmarried, and it’s not hard to see a little male fantasy
wish-fulfillment at work.) With narrative input from Schulz and Jim
handling the art chores, the scene shifted again, this time to a
typically romantic South Seas setting, on an island large enough to
support a population of curvaceous young cuties and at least one
villain. Joe and Ginny remained the central focus, but this time the
former saw genuine action, on the receiving end of the villain’s fists.
Schulz and Jim took this newest version of "Joe Cipher" to United
Features Syndicate in spring of 1954; it was turned down flat. The
trip to New York wasn't a complete waste, though, because Sasseville
and Schulz caught a couple of plays: a T.S. Elliot drama called
Confidential Clerk, and another called The King of
Hearts, which starred Jackie Cooper as (what are the odds?)
a cartoonist!
Sasseville also remembers going from suite to suite in New
York's Waldorf hotel during this trip, visiting one cartoonist
after another; meeting Al Capp was a high point. But at least
part of the reason for the trip -- the newest Joe Cipher -- proved
unsellable, and Schulz bowed out at that point.
When Jim finally returned to "Joe Cipher," the 1950s were almost
over. Jim’s association with "Peanuts" and "It’s Only a Game" had
concluded, so the writer/artist returned to his favorite unsold
property. Jim recast his hero in yet another new setting, this time a
business office populated by characters clearly derived from his days at
Art Instruction. Although the sample panels display even cleaner, more
attractive line work -- a sure sign of his growing comfort as an artist
-- Jim had no better luck this time around.
Still refusing to abandon hope, Jim tried one more time In early
1960, after having moved to Berkeley, he once again changed the setting
completely, and turned Joe Cipher into "Sir Joe." This Arthurian-based
concept focused on genuinely whimsical gags involving heavy armor,
maidens in distress, and fire-breathing dragons. Jim’s dragons are
particularly funny, and this newest reboot seems ripe with
possibilities; it’s not at all hard to envision a daily strip evolving
from these samples.
Alas, syndicates once again failed to see any potential, and "Joe
Cipher" was put into Jim’s trunk as no more than another engaging
footnote in the artist’s collection of rejection slips.
Jim didn’t confine his efforts to "Joe Cipher"; the writer/artist
had no shortage of ideas, quite a few of which also wound up as
submission concepts. "Aunty Climax," produced in early 1957 -- just
prior to Jim’s ghost work for Dell comics -- was a single-panel gag
strip that starred a feisty little old lady who was far sharper than
most people assumed. She was based on Louise Cassidy, an AIS colleague
who also was the landlady for the building where Jim briefly lived with
Charles Cuddy. Jim produced a few dozen "Aunty Climax" panels, all of
which are vastly superior -- both in terms of writing and artwork -- to
many of the single-panel cartoons cluttering today’s newspapers.
"Confessions of a French Poodle" was a 1959 concept that didn’t
emerge much further than a few finished panels and lots of pencil
sketches; Jim good-naturedly admits that the idea went nowhere, and so
he abandoned it. That may have been shrewd market analysis, as the
medium never has lacked for dog-oriented material. Even so, French
poodles are funny in their own right, and Jim’s concept sketches are a
hoot.
When not working on Peanuts-related material, Sasseville tried to sell many of his own strip ideas
to a syndicate. From left to right, these examples are "Aunty Climax," "Friends and Foes," "Alpha-Betty" and "Happy Birthday."
(Click on the image to see an enlarged version.)
"Friends and Foes," another single-panel tryout, also emerged from
Jim’s pen in 1959. A little later, shortly after he started putting food
on the table with a "real job" -- and perhaps motivated by the explosion
of children’s television shows, which eventually led to "Sesame Street"
and everything that followed -- Jim tried a kid-oriented educational
strip called "Alpha-Betty," which starred a little girl who finds
herself in an other-worldly land populated by men and women shaped like
letters of the alphabet. The personalities of these individuals were
defined by their appearance; curved female letters, for example, were
far more sultry that straight female letters. The strip has a lovely
"Alice in Wonderland" quality, although the concept may have seemed
limiting.
Jim later played with the medium in "Blackboard," a daily strip
designed to be white-on-black, to imitate chalk on a classroom
blackboard. The stars were Dick, Jane and their TeacheR; although not as
overly educational as "Alpha-Betty," this strip also was aimed at young
audiences.
Jim’s final attempt at syndication was produced in the early 1970s,
after he first went into research hibernation, jotting down enough
celebrity birthdays to fill every day of a calendar year. The resulting
single-panel strips were a precursor to the "On this day in history..."
informational nuggets that have become so ubiquitous The panel for
March 28, for example, illustrated and revealed a few choice facts about
orchestra leader Paul Whiteman. March 29 was devoted to President John
Tyler, while Francisco Goya was featured on March 30.
Sadly, this fared no better with syndicators than any of the
others. "Joe Cipher," "Aunty Climax," "Confessions of a French Poodle,"
"Friends and Foes," "Alpha-Betty," "Blackboard" and "Birthdays" exist only
in Jim’s carefully preserved office files. More’s the pity, because even
the weakest of these strips displays a Puckish wit and clean, attractive
line work too often absent from many of the rushed, imitative strips
that generate little more than reader apathy these days.
Following the dust-up with Schulz and the move to Berkeley, Helga
-- who was delighted by the more rarefied atmosphere of a university
community -- became the family bread-winner. She took a job with a
German importer/exporter and commuted daily across the Bay Bridge.
Eventually succumbing to the need for steady employment, in April
1960 Jim took a job as a graphic designer with Varian, one of the
leading radar companies, located in California’s greater San Francisco
Bay Area. The fit proved comfortable, and he remained with the company
until he retired in 1990.
But the career shift wasn’t immediate; Jim first spent most of 1959
working up his own aforementioned comic strip proposals, and
occasionally sold individual gag cartoons to magazines. But his New
York-based agent took 35% of those one-shots.
"That’s when I started with Varian," Jim recalls, with a chuckle.
"I knew I’d never make it as a gag cartoonist."
Be that as it may, Jim never stopped his cartooning efforts; while
at Varian, he became famous for the birthday cards that he drew for
fellow employees.
Helga, meanwhile, got a job at Stanford, which prompted another
move; the couple then purchased their first home in 1960, in Mountain
View.
Three years later, they moved for what would be the last time. Jim
and his wife paid $28,000 for the house that remains his home to this
day. Just last year the retired artist was offered a cool million bucks
-- in cash -- by a dot-commer who wanted to develop the property. Still
loyal to the memories of his wife, with which the house is filled, Jim
politely declined. Helga died in 1995; he clearly still misses her.
Today, Parkinson’s Disease and the recent stroke have conspired to
deliver the ultimate nightmare Jim no longer can hold a pen well enough
to draw. ("I always marveled at Sparky’s ability to incorporate his
shaking hand into his line work.") But his mind and memory remain
acutely sharp, and his Puckish sense of humor is unbowed. He speaks with
clarity and certainty of his years at Art Instruction School, and with
Schulz, and of his never-successful efforts to market his own original
material.
Jim remains philosophical about his life, and in fact composed
another of his verses to express such feelings
I’m all for equal measures
Losses should be matched by gain;
And since I’ve missed life’s pleasures,
I’ll just double up with pain!
Definitely too harsh, but then we’re always hardest on ourselves.
Jim Sasseville deserves far more than the obscurity into which he has
settled; for a time, he was allied with the man who would become the
world’s most successful cartoonist, and for a time he helped chaperone
the faithfully rendered adventures of Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Linus, Lucy
and the rest ... no small feat.
And I’m particularly transfixed by a remark Jim made during one of
our later phone calls "I don’t know how one should behave, in a
situation like this," he said, referring to our ongoing conversations,
"but it’s like I’ve been resurrected."
Perhaps this article will kick-start our long-overdue obligation to
sing his praises.
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As the conversation ranged back and forth from the 1940s to ’60s,
Jim occasionally interrupted himself to make sure that I recognized a
celebrity or historical reference.
"Not to worry," I finally said, at one point. "I’m older than I
sound."
"And still reading comic books?" he replied, quick as a shot.
"Shame on you!"
Jim should talk; he’s a longtime Krazy Kat fan.
Our first chat didn’t cover nearly enough territory, but it
established a comfort level that prompted a subsequent delightful
afternoon in the artist’s company. His home, shared only with the
aforementioned dog, is smallish but filled with personality.
And I knew that I’d finally made a connection, and earned his
trust, when he offered me some coffee. From that moment, the visit
became less an interview, and more an increasingly amiable chat between
two guys with comics and cartooning in their blood.
Sasseville was born August 28, 1927, and grew up in Minneapolis,
Minnesota. He enrolled in a public school kindergarten class, but from
the first through eighth grades enjoyed (endured?) a parochial school
education, complete with Latin. To this day, he can parse verbs like a
pro.
He became a full-fledged altar boy in fifth grade ("Those were the
good ol’ days, when they still did the complete Mass in Latin"), and
remembers a mischievous incident when he and a classmate elbowed each
other while genuflecting during a service.
Not a big deal, really ... but after the service, once behind the
scenes, the priest took quick action. "He grabbed both of our heads, and
I can still feel the collision today, after he clonked us together."
Art was an interest from very early on ("I drew all the time"), and
Jim recalls getting an A in art and history in seventh grade, for his
illustrated history of Napoleon. "It was like historical comics," he
points out now, with hindsight. "I was years ahead of my time."
After eighth grade, Jim shifted back to public school during his
high school career. He took the art classes offered at his school, but
did not pursue this interest with any extra-curricular instruction.
By this time, the war was on; Jim isn’t even sure, all these years
later, whether he officially completed high school. Whether he graduated
or released himself, he and a friend then hitchhiked across the country.
Jim’s 18th birthday found them in Portland, Oregon, where the two worked
the remainder of that summer at the Kaiser shipyards. Jim then enlisted
in the U.S. Navy, while his friend returned to Minneapolis. Jim was
assigned to the fleet post office after boot training, and he served
precisely 11 months and 29 days ... a hitch whose length would come back
to haunt him.
After being discharged, Jim entered the Minneapolis School of Art
(at the time, a trade school) for a three-year term, and graduated in
1948. He gravitated toward Art Instruction School (which already
included a certain Charles M. "Sparky" Schulz among its staff), and in
the summer of 1949, while 22 years old, prepared a gorgeous hand-drawn
and lettered portfolio, with a self-portrait in full watercolor, to
introduce himself and his artistic talents; the brochure’s dozen or so
pages must have been one of the most ambitious job applications that the
institution ever had received.
Although interested in cartooning, at that point Jim preferred
painting, which this full-color introductory portfolio makes abundantly
clear. (He still has it, lovingly preserved and in excellent condition.)
Obviously, the ploy worked. Jim was hired at a starting salary of
$35 per week. The oversized 1950 Art Instruction Schools Inc. booklet
("Your Art School!"), produced not much later and handed out to all
prospective clients, includes his photo on Page 3, immediately before
Schulz’s picture.
"James F. Sasseville," reads the caption beneath the photo, "is an
instructor in rendering and advertising illustration. He is one of our
best figure illustrators in color."
While at Art Instruction, Jim joined the team that graded all the
submissions -- the "Can you draw me?" applications -- that arrived via
mail or hand delivery. The bottom-line desire, of course, was to
encourage those with even the smallest shred of talent, in order to get
an AIS salesman in the family’s front door; after all, the money was
made by selling art instruction courses. Since manilla envelopes poured
in like mad, speed-grading was essential.
"I spent years correcting Lesson No. 5, which was an advertising
project, where the students had to design a streetcar poster on the
theme ‘See the Orient.’ "
Jim remembers marking all but the very best submissions with
nothing more than alpha-numeric codes (A6, A17, and so forth), which AIS
secretaries then would translate into form paragraph replies.
"But they always were nicely typed up," Jim remembers, knowing full
well that the recipients carefully scrutinized every analytical word.
Sasseville and Schulz became good friends ("We had a similar sense
of humor"), and Sparky encouraged Jim to pursue comic strips. Jim even
got his hair cut more than once in Schulz’s father’s barbershop.
"Sparky bet me, in late 1949, that I’d sell a comic strip to a
syndicate before he would," Jim remembers, with a smile. "As it turned
out, I won that bet hands-down."
In between grading assignments, Jim and his fellow employees
produced thousands upon thousands of quickly penciled drawings on
4-by-7-inch sketchpads. In this respect, these artists were no different
than their counterparts at Disney and Warner Brothers animation studios,
who also filled the minutes between "real work" with impressive little
doodles and caricatures of each other, all of which are the envy of
collectors today (when they surface in the first place). Jim still has
stacks and stacks of such impromptu efforts, including a few caricatures
of Schulz and other AIS friends, and several pages of "Peanuts"
character roughs. (Even then, he must have been planning ahead...) Most
are plain pencil on paper, but some are blue-line; in either case, they
reveal one of Jim’s artistic strengths an ability to capture a person’s
eyes with remarkably lifelike clarity.
(Unfortunately, he did not save his collection of Schulz originals.
"I gave away all my junk foolishly, many years ago ... somebody conned
me out of almost all my original Schulz drawings.")
Jim never lost his art-school fascination with centaurs and nudes,
and many of his sketchpad pages are filled with fetchingly unclad
cuties. Hiring and drawing undraped models was fairly common among Jim
and his colleagues, although not quite all of his colleagues "I can’t
remember Sparky taking any part in that whatsoever."
Such figure studies also sparked Jim’s impish literary talents,
honed by a life-long fascination with poetry (T.S. Eliot’s "Distracted
from distraction by distraction" remains a personal mantra).
Jim still recalls many of his favorite invented verses, such as
this one, which would have been loved by Ogden Nash
A centaur met a mermaid, as he trotted by the sea;
She noticed not his heavy hooves, nor he her single knee,
As they lingered there, expelling time with heart-inspired chatter
The direction of their love so strong ... bottoms didn’t matter!
Jim’s tenure at Art Instruction was interrupted in mid 1952, when
Uncle Sam tapped his shoulder again. The Korean War was underway, and
those who previously had served less than a full year were being
recalled ... so those two days shy of a year forced a second hitch that
lasted through 1954.
"I was sent to the Philippines," Jim notes dryly, thinking back to
all the Lesson No. 5 submissions that he had graded, "so I certainly saw
the Orient."
This second 14-month hitch of active duty certainly wasn’t wasted,
in terms of Jim’s artistic skills; he worked for an Irish Catholic
chaplain and did a weekly mimeographed newspaper for U.S. Naval Mobile
Construction Battalion 9 ("I was drawing cartoons up the gazoo"). The
unit’s 1952-53 Cruise Book features a great full-page Jim illustration
on Page 33; titled "Cubi Point, P.I.," it shows five sailors watching a
dog face off with a monkey.
Jim’s relationship with Father John James Kileen never was dull, in
part because the artist was a lapsed Catholic.
"He worked the hell out of me, but then he’d always invite me into
his quarters for a nip, and then try to entice me back into the fold."
After his second stint in the Navy concluded, Jim returned to
civilian life (this time for good), and to Art Instruction Schools,
where he and Schulz picked up where they’d left off. In between grading
assignments and sketching his office buddies, Jim placed a few gag
cartoons in magazines, such as a droll three-panel sequence of a guy
having trouble with a jack, while attempting to fix a flat tire, which
appeared on Page 45 of the August 1957 issue of Gent, a
long-discontinued men’s magazine.
Jim met Helga, his future wife, as a result of his Navy friendship
with Charles Cuddy. She had immigrated to the United States when
sponsored by a South Dakota politician and his family ("mostly for slave
labor," Jim perceptively remarks); Helga was unfamiliar with the farm
environment, and decamped for Minneapolis as soon as she could. She
entered the University of Minnesota with a vengeance; her half-Jewish
heritage had kept her out of institutions of higher learning in her
native Germany.
She also enrolled in art school and wound up in one class being
taught by Dave Ratner, a colleague and friend with whom Jim went to art
school; she also landed in some of the same classes as Cuddy, who for a
time shared a boarding house attic ("a garret") with Jim. Since this
colony of Minneapolis artists wasn’t all that large, it was inevitable
that Jim and Helga would meet. ("Destiny," he happily acknowledges.)
They married in 1956.
"I’d just bought a brand-new Mercury," Jim remembers, with a
chuckle, "and I had to get rid of it when we got married, because Helga
couldn’t drive a stick-shift."
Within a few short months, Sasseville’s life turned around again,
when he became the best of Schulz’s never-credited "Peanuts" ghosts.
Whenever asked, Charles Schulz would repeat the statement that
became ubiquitous Unlike those involved with other "assembly-line"
newspaper comic strips, he remained the only person whose hands touched
the adventures of Charlie Brown and the gang. Schulz wrote, drew, inked
and lettered his strip, and did so during the entire run October 2,
1950, to February 13, 2000. Schulz always insisted that the strip would
cease production when he finally called it quits, a wish that his family
has honored. Unlike other classic strips that have been revived, often
by lesser talents, "Peanuts" will forevermore remain solely a Schulz
legacy.
Except ... that’s not entirely true.
During the 1950s and early ’60s, Charlie Brown and his friends
didn’t just appear in newspaper strips; they also were a popular feature
of comic books ... a medium usually dominated by the likes of Superman
and Captain America, but one that included plenty of room for lighter
fare.
And -- surprise, surprise! -- when the "Peanuts" comic book
appearances stopped being newspaper reprints and "graduated" into
original features in 1957, sharp-eyed fans probably could discern that
somebody other than Sparky Schulz was doing the artwork.
To keep the chronology consistent, let’s turn back the clock to
1952, when "Peanuts" simultaneously debuted as a supporting feature in
two comic books -- the March-April issues of Tip Top Comics (#173) and
United Comics (#21) -- both published by United Feature Syndicate, which
routinely recycled many of its newspaper features in these and other
comic books. The "Peanuts" supporting feature moved into a third book,
Tip Topper, beginning with #17 (June-July 1952); it remained there until
the book was discontinued after #28 (April-May 1954). Shortly before
this final issue of Tip Topper, "Peanuts" returned to Tip Top as a
supporting feature, beginning with #184 (Jan.-Feb. 1954) and continuing
through #188 (Sept.-Oct. 1954). Several of these later issues feature
gorgeous Peanuts covers, which -- although not signed -- appear to be by
Schulz.
"Peanuts" also appeared, during this same period, as a back-up
feature in most issues of United Comics, later retitled Fritzi Ritz
(beginning with #27). The run here also was consecutive #21-#33 (the
latter dated March-April 1954). Stray issues of Sparkler Comics and
Sparkle Comics also included some "Peanuts" reprints, although not on a
regular basis.
UFS got out of the comic book publishing business at the end of
1954, and some of its titles were picked up by St. John in 1955,
including Fritzi Ritz and Tip Top. Despite a noticeable gap of several
months, the numbering of both books continued consecutively. Thus, Tip
Top resumed with #189 (May 1955), and continued to include "Peanuts" as
a supporting feature during St. John’s entire run of this book, through
#210 (July 1957). "Peanuts" was only an occasional supporting feature in
St. John’s run of Fritzi Ritz, starting with #37 (July 1955) and
continuing through #55. Finally, at least one issue of Nancy -- #142
(March 1957) -- also featured Peanuts reprints.
Big changes came in late 1957, and not just because St. John
abandoned these books and turned them over to Dell Comics (Western
Publishing). After a delay of several months to half a year -- depending
on the title -- Dell revived the flagship St. John titles, again with
consecutive numbering. Thus, Tip Top #211 returned as a quarterly with a
cover date of Nov. 1957-Jan. 1958. Fritzi Ritz resumed with #56, dated
Dec. 1957-Feb. 1958.
Under Dell’s stewardship, Charlie Brown and the gang also became a
regular supporting feature in Nancy, beginning with #146 (Sept. 1957).
The biggest change, however, concerned the content in all three books.
When Dell took over, the covers promised "All brand-new stories" ... and
they meant it.
"Peanuts" fans spotted the change in Nancy #146, which boasted a
four-page story with a baseball theme, clearly produced by Schulz
himself (although unsigned); Jim confirms Sparky’s linework. But Schulz
quickly realized that producing four full pages of original art for
Nancy on a monthly basis, not to mention similar duties for the
quarterly Tip Top and Fritzi Ritz, would be more than he was willing to
handle. Then, too, he was only months away from debuting his own second
newspaper strip, "It’s Only a Game" (about which more below).
Schulz allowed Dell’s house art department to handle his characters
in Nancy #147, but was unhappy with the results. (No surprise; the art
is quite weak.) Schulz stepped in again for issue #148, but the workload
problem hadn’t changed. Wanting greater fidelity to his own style,
Schulz turned to Jim, who took over the reins with issue #149 and
continued through #168 (July 1959). Jim essentially became Schulz’s
employee and was paid $100 per week for this work; since he was making
only $80 per week at Art Instruction, this -- along with the even higher
paycheck he’d soon receive, for helping Schulz with "It’s Only a Game"
-- was a substantial raise.
As a ghosting assignment, the results are impressive. Charlie Brown
and Linus’ heads are notoriously difficult to reproduce in Schulz’s
signature style, but Jim came damn close. More to the point, the
characters are posed and conduct themselves in a way that’s absolutely
typical of their behavior in Sparky’s newspaper strip. Art purists may
have noticed that Jim wasn’t Schulz, but casual readers were unlikely to
have detected the difference.
The four-page story above is taken from Nancy #151, February 1958.
(Click on the pages to enlarge them.)
"He gave me carte blanche on writing them, and I felt like a
faithful uncle," Jim says, with no small amount of pride at his ability
to reproduce Charlie Brown and the gang.
Although Jim’s take on the "Peanuts" gang in Nancy #149 was the
first to reach fans, it was not the ghost artist’s debut crack at
Charlie Brown. Jim’s first completed "Peanuts" comic book adventure was
"The Trip," one of a quartet of eight-page stories (packaged with three
one-page stories) that eventually appeared as issue #878 (Feb. 1958) of
Dell’s Four Color Comics, an "umbrella title" that rotated various
stars; this issue, boasting a gorgeous signed Schulz cover, was the
first one devoted to "Peanuts."
Ever the imp, Jim inserted a personal reference into "The Trip."
The number on the dog license that Charlie Brown uses -- 891-68-14 -- to
justify his getting behind the wheel of a station wagon, was the
artist’s Navy serial number.
Jim also did the work in the Fritzi Ritz and Tip Top issues during
this time, and it’s important to note that he had a completely free rein
with these comic book stories, handling both art and writing chores.
Fritzi Ritz lasted only four issues under the Dell label, before
being discontinued after #59 (Sept.-Nov. 1958). "Peanuts" did not appear
in #56, but each of the remaining three issues included a new four-page
story by Jim. He also handled the work for Tip Top #211 through #215
(Nov. 1958-Jan. 1959). In Tip Top, Charlie Brown and his friends shared
covers with Nancy, Sluggo, and the Captain and the Kids. Although
unsigned, Schulz drew these "Peanuts" cover panels for issues 211-213,
and Jim handled 214 and 215.
Sasseville did the Peanuts art in these issues of Tip Top, #214 and #215.
(Click on the pages to enlarge them.)
All told, then, Jim drew the interior stories in 20 issues of
Nancy, three issues of Fritzi Ritz, and five issues of Tip Top, along
with Four Color #878. This relationship with Schulz and Dell Comics took
an unexpected turn when the two men parted unhappily, and Jim’s final
work for Dell was the long kite story in the second all-"Peanuts" issue
of Four Color Comics (#969, Feb. 1959), along with the inside front and
inside back cover one-pagers.
The completion of that particular issue became something of a
marathon art session. After announcing that he and Helga would be moving
to Berkeley, Jim took stock of the pending Dell workload, and discovered
that the deadline for the second all-Peanuts issue of Four Color Comics
was imminent. Jim promised to finish this before the move, but Sparky
suggested that the job would proceed faster if they worked on it
together. The two men thus divided the work between them, and began
early one morning with what turned into a lengthy session stretching
well into the evening. During that time, Jim completed the
aforementioned two one-page stories and one eight-page story, while
Sparky handled the remaining one-page story and THREE eight-page
stories.
"There’s no doubt who was the faster artist," Jim notes, with a
chuckle. "He certainly put me in my place!"
Jim still remembers that session as a euphoric rush ... but it
concluded on a gloomy note, when, resting in the happy afterglow of a
job well done, Schulz revealed the fate of "It’s Only a Game" (see
below).
In the aftermath, Schulz also stepped in and handled all the work
for Nancy #169 (August 1959). Clearly, this was a rush job, and Schulz
borrowed from himself The final panel of this four-page story is almost
identical to the final panel of the June 23, 1957, "Peanuts" Sunday
strip. The comic book storyline is an expansion of that Sunday strip,
and the aforementioned final panel in the comic book is signed by Schulz
... the only case where any interior comic book stories bear his
signature.
Because the split was far from amicable, Jim did not follow the
subsequent comic book adventures of Charlie Brown and his friends, in
Nancy and Tip Top. On close examination just a few weeks ago -- in many
cases, seeing this work for the first time -- Jim pointed to specific
poses, characteristics and lettering attributes ("Sparky always rounded
out the bottoms of his W’s") that leave him convinced that Schulz either
penciled and inked the next several issues of both Nancy and Tip Top, or
at least roughed in the panel layout, inked the primary characters --
particularly their heads -- and lettered the word balloons. This seems
likely; carefully examination of individual pages reveals an occasional
Snoopy or Lucy which, not matching the rest, clearly must have been
inked by somebody else.
But Dale Hale, Schulz’s new apprentice and ghost -- and another
associate from Art Instruction Schools -- caught on quickly, and the
artwork in both books retained its Schulz-like characteristics through
roughly late 1960 or early 1961. At this point, other hands clearly took
over -- possibly Tony Pocrnick, another Schulz associate from Art
Instruction -- and the "Peanuts" characters became ever-more distant
from the Schulz ideal until the final issues of Tip Top (#225, May-July
1961) and Nancy. (By then the latter had been retitled Nancy and Sluggo,
and its final five issues were released under the Gold Key imprint; the
book was discontinued with issue #192, October 1963.) The "Peanuts"
artwork in the last issues of both books is, in a word, dreadful.
A third all-"Peanuts" issue of Four Color Comics was produced
(#1015, August-October 1959), after which the characters got their own
book that began with issue #4 (Feb.-April 1960), by way of acknowledging
those first three appearances in Four Color Comics. This lasted through
#13 (May-July 1962), after which the book was discontinued. Each of
these issues features a signed Schulz cover, but other hands --
certainly Hale, at first -- handled all the interior artwork and writing
(which, as with the latter issues of Nancy and Tip Top, grew less
Schulz-like over time).
But what had happened, to sever the friendship between Schulz and
Jim, which stretched back a decade?
Bouncing back a year or so...
Although already quite popular and gaining fans -- and syndicate
clients -- all the time, in 1957 "Peanuts" was not yet the multimedia
sensation it was to become within another decade. Schulz must have had
some free time that needed filling, and therefore was comfortable with
the concept of pitching a second strip concept to United Features
Syndicate. The artist had lots of ideas about games near and dear to his
heart, including golf, tennis, baseball and bridge. No doubt realizing
that twice as much Schulz per week was a good thing, UFS jumped at the
chance, and the sports and recreation-themed "It’s Only a Game" was
born. For awhile, Schulz joined later stars such as Johnny Hart ("B.C."
and "The Wizard of Id"), Mell Lazarus ("Miss Peach" and "Momma") and
Jerry Scott ("Baby Blues" and "Zits"), with two newspaper strips running
simultaneously.
Each installment of "It’s Only a Game, by Charles M. Schulz,"
hearkening back to Schulz’s very early work on "Li’l Folks" in The St.
Paul Pioneer Press, was comprised of three separate single-panel gag
strips. The package was offered to clients in two different formats as
three single-panel strips per week, to run on Mondays, Wednesdays and
Fridays; or as a combined grouping of three that would appear in Sunday
comics sections. The combined Sunday grouping also had a bonus fourth
cartoon a tiny, captionless visual gag -- very much like the
intermarginal gags that Sergio Aragonés would pepper throughout future
issues of Mad Magazine -- that appeared to the right of the title and
Schulz’s byline. The subject matter of the Monday and Wednesday panels
varied from week to week, but the Friday installment always centered
around bridge, the then-popular card game that Schulz loved. (Further
evidence of this affection could be seen in "Peanuts," where the kids
routinely played the game in the early 1950s, and Woodstock and a
foursome of his bird buddies picked it up in the 1970s and beyond.)
Charles Schulz did this January 12, 1958, "It's Only a Game" panel himself. Note his signature within the art of the right-most panel.
During an October 6, 1957, interview with Schulz, the Chicago
Tribune proudly boasted that it would be one of the flagship newspapers
to carry this new feature. The Tribune selected the weekly option, and
ran "It’s Only a Game" in its Sunday magazine. The debut installment
appeared November 3, 1957, and immediately set the tone for what would
follow, with panels devoted to boxing, golf and bridge. The middle panel
is a hoot, with a middle-aged duffer -- one easily can imagine Charlie
Brown in his 40s -- lamenting a putt that has left his ball perched at
the edge of the cup (but not in), and saying, "I think I’m going to
cry."
Subsequent installments covered checkers, bowling, curling (!),
table tennis, croquet, billiards, ice fishing, darts and even camping.
But as 1957 turned into 1958, something must have changed. Perhaps
Schulz had underestimated the amount of time involved with producing a
second weekly newspaper strip; maybe he also was spending more time than
expected overseeing the new "Peanuts" content in the Dell comic books.
Or, more likely, the "Peanuts" empire as a whole was occupying more of
his time; 1958 saw the production of the first "Peanuts" toys -- plastic
dolls of the major characters, produced by Hungerford -- and of course
this was just the tip of an approaching iceberg.
Whatever the reason, Schulz decided to hand over the lion’s share
of the artistic chores to Jim. Schulz’s solo involvement with "It’s Only
a Game" continued through the January 12, 1958, installment; this is the
last one to bear his signature on one of the cartoon panels. (Schulz’s
name continued to run alone in the masthead, however, making Jim a true
ghost.) As of January 19, 1958, Jim -- often working from hastily
penciled sketches and captions supplied by Schulz -- did all the
newspaper strip’s finished art and lettering.
Sasseville did this January 26, 1958, "It's Only a Game" panel himself. Note that Schulz's signature is nowhere to be seen within the art.
Jim vividly remembers this transition date, because just one week later,
with his second time at bat with the solo art chores, he was paid a
singular honor. That week’s Monday panel, a bowling strip, featured
three league players welcoming a fourth, apparently a little tardy, with
the exclamation of, "Three cheers, gang! Our number one man has
arrived!" A loyal reader sent UFS a black-and-white photo of himself
with three friends, staged to look precisely like the four figures in
Jim’s illustration. The "camera angle" was identical, along with
clothing, body position, and everything else in the frame. The
resemblance even extended to the men themselves, who had body shapes and
hairstyles eerily similar to those found in the panel art.
Jim still has the photo.
Sasseville received this photo recreation of his "It's Only a Game" gag from a fan. Note the date stamp at the top of the photo.
The degree to which Jim successfully imitated Schulz’s linework can
be seen by the fact that the transition was seamless; no casual reader
could have discerned that the hand on the inker’s pen had changed.
During the remainder of 1958, the two men continued to work in the same
fashion, Jim often finishing Schulz’s rough concepts, but also
contributing many of his own original ideas. He also inserted the
occasional personal reference; the boat from which a husband and wife
fish, in one of the June 29, 1958, panels, is the Helga, named after
Jim’s wife.
But Jim remembers that he never came up with any of the concepts
for Friday’s bridge panels, for the simple reason that he didn’t know
the game.
Although he labored in anonymity, Jim was well compensated
financially, and he still speaks appreciatively of Sparky’s generosity.
Schulz had negotiated for 50% of the strip’s income, the other half
going to UFS. This 50% amounted to slightly more than $500 per week;
when Jim came on board, Schulz generously gave half of HIS half to his
new partner, and so Jim brought home $250 per week (after expenses) for
his efforts ... quite a lot of money in 1958.
The two men were living in Minneapolis when this collaboration
began; after the first five months, in May 1958, Jim and his wife
followed the Schulz family to Northern California. Lacking a place to
stay in Sebastopol -- not to mention furniture and other amenities --
the Sassevilles first spent a couple of months a bit south, in Corta
Madera. "For two or three weeks, I drew the comic book stuff and ‘It’s
Only a Game’ on a portable drawing board. But I stayed in touch with
Sparky on the phone, and he supplied the ideas for ‘It’s Only a Game.’ "
The Sassevilles then found a home in Sebastopol. Between "It’s Only
a Game" and the work he also was doing for the "Peanuts" strips in the
Dell comic books, Jim was quite gainfully employed by his new partner
and boss.
Unfortunately, it was not to last.
"It’s Only a Game" began with 30 client newspapers; nearly a year
later, it had ... 30 client newspapers.
(A complete client list has been lost to the mists of time, although
it is known that the feature was carried by The Boston Globe, the Detroit
Free Press, The Chicago Tribune, The Minneapolis Tribune, the San Francisco
Chronicle and The Baltimore Sun.)
The strip never took off, despite strong support from fans such as
bridge expert Charles Goren (who wrote a couple of letters), and even
Schulz’s name didn’t seem to make much of a difference.
But we also can assume that the proud and perfectionist-minded
Schulz -- who in later years, as mentioned above, often made a point of
describing how in "Peanuts" he penciled and inked every line, and
lettered every word balloon -- probably was bothered by the fact that he
wasn’t similarly in sole control of "It’s Only a Game." To be sure, he
was INVOLVED, but he wasn’t actually drawing what appeared in those 30
client newspapers.
"He didn’t like his name being used on somebody else’s work," Jim
recalls, "and I don’t blame him for that."
That, coupled with moribund sales and some tension with the head
UFS salesman to whom Schulz initially had pitched the idea, eventually
prompted an astonishing decision In late 1958, just 12 months into a
solid five-year contract, Schulz made it plain to UFS that he wished to
discontinue "It’s Only a Game." Perhaps recognizing that the strip
wasn’t performing as hoped, UFS agreed.
Schulz did not consult Jim before taking this step; indeed, the
news came as a complete shock to Schulz’s ghost, who’d been very happy
with his work, and the strip, and the $250 per week.
Schulz even tried to sugar-coat the news "You’re off the hook,"
Jim recalls his employer saying (as if this were a GOOD thing), at the
end of that euphoric day when they finished work on the second
all-Peanuts issue of Dell’s Four Color Comics. Jim had just assured
Sparky that his pending move to Berkeley would not affect his ability to
work on "It’s Only a Game," and now the rug had been pulled out from
under him.
The fallout was immediate; it certainly was the final straw for
Helga, who already had been dissatisfied with their home in Sebastopol
-- hence the move to Berkeley -- and also was unhappy about the friction
that existed between her and Joyce, Schulz’s first wife. Helga had
endured Nazi Germany, survived the entire war -- in and out of work
camps -- and had lost her father at Dachau; she was not a woman to keep
opinions to herself.
"I realized I was working on a flawed product, which the creator
and marketer wanted nothing more to do with. Still, I had held out the
hope that maybe Sparky might offer the entire feature to me, although I
realized that there’d be problems with the syndicate," Jim admits, a
touch of wistfulness still clouding the memory after more than 40 years.
"They should have been pretty familiar with my work by then."
It didn’t happen. By the time the final installment of "It’s Only a
Game" appeared, on January 11, 1959 -- the two always had worked six
weeks ahead -- Jim and Schulz had severed all relations, professional
and personal. This also included Jim’s ghosting work on the Dell comic
books. The split was permanent, and the two men never reconciled.
Although "It’s Only a Game" ran for 63 consecutive weeks, it
quickly became a fading memory -- and then an overlooked footnote -- in
Schulz’s career. He rarely mentioned it during later interviews, and
then only obliquely, citing neither date specifics nor his collaboration
with Jim.
"We were the best of friends at first," Jim recalls ruefully. He
happily remembers attending the 1951 National Cartoonists Convention
with Sparky, and also another time when they both went to visit and swap
stories with a fellow artist, Robert M. Brinkerhoff, who lived in
Minneapolis and was known for a newspaper strip called "Little Mary
Mix-Up." Brinkerhoff, in turn -- like many other cartoonists at that
time -- greatly admired J.R. Williams (creator of "Out Our Way"), whom
he once described as "the greatest cowboy ever to walk the streets of
New York." Brinkerhoff related how he had wheedled, begged and finally
finagled an invitation to Williams’ ranch in Montana. Although only
interested in seeing the fabulous studio that he assumed his idol must
have on so massive a spread, Brinkerhoff first had to put up with being
shown all the livestock and the other attractions of a working ranch. As
the visit stretched on, Brinkerhoff finally couldn’t stand it any longer
and demanded to see where Williams did his work.
With a resigned sigh (as Jim recalls Brinkerhoff describing this
incident), Williams walked over to his wife’s sewing machine, took off
the cover, and flipped it over ... and that was it The great J.R.
Williams did all his drawing on the cover of his wife’s sewing machine.
As others have observed, there’s never any reason to embrace
technology or an environment any fancier than that required to get the
job done.
Cartoonists love to talk shop, and Jim’s no different; merely
relating this little tale brings a sparkle into his eyes. And, to this
day, he doesn’t really understand what happened between him and Schulz.
"I feel kind of weird about all this. Sparky obviously wanted me to
succeed in the early days, and even was willing to collaborate with me
on one of my own projects (one of the many variations of "Joe Cipher,"
discussed below). But then when he had a chance to really help me out,
he didn’t make any effort whatsoever ... and left me in rather dire
straits."
Such feelings notwithstanding, all these years later Jim is firm on
one point "Charles M. Schulz was the greatest comic strip artist ever."
And although he certainly couldn’t have known it at the time, Jim
never again would earn his living as a cartoonist.
Before, during and after his working association with Schulz, Jim
played around with many of his own ideas.
If persistence counts for anything, he deserves considerable credit
for his ongoing efforts to sell "Joe Cipher" ("a character kinda based
on me"), a daily strip that underwent quite a few transmutations during
the decade-plus that he tried to place it with a syndicate.
The character first appeared in a sample series of daily strips Jim
produced in late 1949. The strip’s gentle humor is faintly reminiscent
of "Gasoline Alley" and other character-driven work of the era; the
title character is introduced driving an old jalopy that obligingly runs
out of gas at a filling station. The silver-tongued Joe, lacking any
money, eventually impresses the station owner into offering him a job;
Joe celebrates by stepping into a nearby diner for lunch, where he’s
immediately smitten by the young woman behind the counter, and...
...and that’s where the presentation panels concluded.
Perhaps feeling that the strip lacked dramatic impact, a few years
later -- while still at AIS -- Jim tried again, shifting the action to a
tiny island in the middle of the ocean, where the shipwrecked Joe is
joined by an attractive young woman named Ginny, survivor of a second
sea-going calamity. (What are the odds?) Although their relationship is
mildly prickly for the first few days, Ginny eventually wishes aloud
that they could be rescued, so that she can go on a "proper date" with
Joe, and perhaps even kiss him when the evening concludes. Once again,
the story cut off abruptly, as Jim produced just two weeks’ worth of
strips enough to (hopefully) interest a buyer.
Sasseville tried several times to place a comic strip starring Joe Cipher, the pleasant-looking chap
featured in these examples. The two left-most strips are taken from the first run Sasseville designed on his own;
the two right-most strips, starring the same character but
in a different setting, are from Sasseville's third
test run; Charles Schulz contributed story input on these.
(Click on the image to see an enlarged version.)
After getting back from his return hitch in the Navy, Jim
went back to work on Joe Cipher and got a nibble from an
unexpected quarter: Something about this particular setting
touched Schulz, who suggested they collaborate on yet
a third incarnation of "Joe Cipher." (At the time, both men still were
unmarried, and it’s not hard to see a little male fantasy
wish-fulfillment at work.) With narrative input from Schulz and Jim
handling the art chores, the scene shifted again, this time to a
typically romantic South Seas setting, on an island large enough to
support a population of curvaceous young cuties and at least one
villain. Joe and Ginny remained the central focus, but this time the
former saw genuine action, on the receiving end of the villain’s fists.
Schulz and Jim took this newest version of "Joe Cipher" to United
Features Syndicate in spring of 1954; it was turned down flat. The
trip to New York wasn't a complete waste, though, because Sasseville
and Schulz caught a couple of plays: a T.S. Elliot drama called
Confidential Clerk, and another called The King of
Hearts, which starred Jackie Cooper as (what are the odds?)
a cartoonist!
Sasseville also remembers going from suite to suite in New
York's Waldorf hotel during this trip, visiting one cartoonist
after another; meeting Al Capp was a high point. But at least
part of the reason for the trip -- the newest Joe Cipher -- proved
unsellable, and Schulz bowed out at that point.
When Jim finally returned to "Joe Cipher," the 1950s were almost
over. Jim’s association with "Peanuts" and "It’s Only a Game" had
concluded, so the writer/artist returned to his favorite unsold
property. Jim recast his hero in yet another new setting, this time a
business office populated by characters clearly derived from his days at
Art Instruction. Although the sample panels display even cleaner, more
attractive line work -- a sure sign of his growing comfort as an artist
-- Jim had no better luck this time around.
Still refusing to abandon hope, Jim tried one more time In early
1960, after having moved to Berkeley, he once again changed the setting
completely, and turned Joe Cipher into "Sir Joe." This Arthurian-based
concept focused on genuinely whimsical gags involving heavy armor,
maidens in distress, and fire-breathing dragons. Jim’s dragons are
particularly funny, and this newest reboot seems ripe with
possibilities; it’s not at all hard to envision a daily strip evolving
from these samples.
Alas, syndicates once again failed to see any potential, and "Joe
Cipher" was put into Jim’s trunk as no more than another engaging
footnote in the artist’s collection of rejection slips.
Jim didn’t confine his efforts to "Joe Cipher"; the writer/artist
had no shortage of ideas, quite a few of which also wound up as
submission concepts. "Aunty Climax," produced in early 1957 -- just
prior to Jim’s ghost work for Dell comics -- was a single-panel gag
strip that starred a feisty little old lady who was far sharper than
most people assumed. She was based on Louise Cassidy, an AIS colleague
who also was the landlady for the building where Jim briefly lived with
Charles Cuddy. Jim produced a few dozen "Aunty Climax" panels, all of
which are vastly superior -- both in terms of writing and artwork -- to
many of the single-panel cartoons cluttering today’s newspapers.
"Confessions of a French Poodle" was a 1959 concept that didn’t
emerge much further than a few finished panels and lots of pencil
sketches; Jim good-naturedly admits that the idea went nowhere, and so
he abandoned it. That may have been shrewd market analysis, as the
medium never has lacked for dog-oriented material. Even so, French
poodles are funny in their own right, and Jim’s concept sketches are a
hoot.
When not working on Peanuts-related material, Sasseville tried to sell many of his own strip ideas
to a syndicate. From left to right, these examples are "Aunty Climax," "Friends and Foes," "Alpha-Betty" and "Happy Birthday."
(Click on the image to see an enlarged version.)
"Friends and Foes," another single-panel tryout, also emerged from
Jim’s pen in 1959. A little later, shortly after he started putting food
on the table with a "real job" -- and perhaps motivated by the explosion
of children’s television shows, which eventually led to "Sesame Street"
and everything that followed -- Jim tried a kid-oriented educational
strip called "Alpha-Betty," which starred a little girl who finds
herself in an other-worldly land populated by men and women shaped like
letters of the alphabet. The personalities of these individuals were
defined by their appearance; curved female letters, for example, were
far more sultry that straight female letters. The strip has a lovely
"Alice in Wonderland" quality, although the concept may have seemed
limiting.
Jim later played with the medium in "Blackboard," a daily strip
designed to be white-on-black, to imitate chalk on a classroom
blackboard. The stars were Dick, Jane and their TeacheR; although not as
overly educational as "Alpha-Betty," this strip also was aimed at young
audiences.
Jim’s final attempt at syndication was produced in the early 1970s,
after he first went into research hibernation, jotting down enough
celebrity birthdays to fill every day of a calendar year. The resulting
single-panel strips were a precursor to the "On this day in history..."
informational nuggets that have become so ubiquitous The panel for
March 28, for example, illustrated and revealed a few choice facts about
orchestra leader Paul Whiteman. March 29 was devoted to President John
Tyler, while Francisco Goya was featured on March 30.
Sadly, this fared no better with syndicators than any of the
others. "Joe Cipher," "Aunty Climax," "Confessions of a French Poodle,"
"Friends and Foes," "Alpha-Betty," "Blackboard" and "Birthdays" exist only
in Jim’s carefully preserved office files. More’s the pity, because even
the weakest of these strips displays a Puckish wit and clean, attractive
line work too often absent from many of the rushed, imitative strips
that generate little more than reader apathy these days.
Following the dust-up with Schulz and the move to Berkeley, Helga
-- who was delighted by the more rarefied atmosphere of a university
community -- became the family bread-winner. She took a job with a
German importer/exporter and commuted daily across the Bay Bridge.
Eventually succumbing to the need for steady employment, in April
1960 Jim took a job as a graphic designer with Varian, one of the
leading radar companies, located in California’s greater San Francisco
Bay Area. The fit proved comfortable, and he remained with the company
until he retired in 1990.
But the career shift wasn’t immediate; Jim first spent most of 1959
working up his own aforementioned comic strip proposals, and
occasionally sold individual gag cartoons to magazines. But his New
York-based agent took 35% of those one-shots.
"That’s when I started with Varian," Jim recalls, with a chuckle.
"I knew I’d never make it as a gag cartoonist."
Be that as it may, Jim never stopped his cartooning efforts; while
at Varian, he became famous for the birthday cards that he drew for
fellow employees.
Helga, meanwhile, got a job at Stanford, which prompted another
move; the couple then purchased their first home in 1960, in Mountain
View.
Three years later, they moved for what would be the last time. Jim
and his wife paid $28,000 for the house that remains his home to this
day. Just last year the retired artist was offered a cool million bucks
-- in cash -- by a dot-commer who wanted to develop the property. Still
loyal to the memories of his wife, with which the house is filled, Jim
politely declined. Helga died in 1995; he clearly still misses her.
Today, Parkinson’s Disease and the recent stroke have conspired to
deliver the ultimate nightmare Jim no longer can hold a pen well enough
to draw. ("I always marveled at Sparky’s ability to incorporate his
shaking hand into his line work.") But his mind and memory remain
acutely sharp, and his Puckish sense of humor is unbowed. He speaks with
clarity and certainty of his years at Art Instruction School, and with
Schulz, and of his never-successful efforts to market his own original
material.
Jim remains philosophical about his life, and in fact composed
another of his verses to express such feelings
I’m all for equal measures
Losses should be matched by gain;
And since I’ve missed life’s pleasures,
I’ll just double up with pain!
Definitely too harsh, but then we’re always hardest on ourselves.
Jim Sasseville deserves far more than the obscurity into which he has
settled; for a time, he was allied with the man who would become the
world’s most successful cartoonist, and for a time he helped chaperone
the faithfully rendered adventures of Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Linus, Lucy
and the rest ... no small feat.
And I’m particularly transfixed by a remark Jim made during one of
our later phone calls "I don’t know how one should behave, in a
situation like this," he said, referring to our ongoing conversations,
"but it’s like I’ve been resurrected."
Perhaps this article will kick-start our long-overdue obligation to
sing his praises.
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By Derrick Bang
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All PEANUTS characters pictured are copyrighted by United Feature Syndicate, Inc. They are used here with permission. They may not be reproduced by any means in any form.
"And still reading comic books?" he replied, quick as a shot.
"Shame on you!"
Jim should talk; he’s a longtime Krazy Kat fan.
Our first chat didn’t cover nearly enough territory, but it
established a comfort level that prompted a subsequent delightful
afternoon in the artist’s company. His home, shared only with the
aforementioned dog, is smallish but filled with personality.
And I knew that I’d finally made a connection, and earned his
trust, when he offered me some coffee. From that moment, the visit
became less an interview, and more an increasingly amiable chat between
two guys with comics and cartooning in their blood.
Sasseville was born August 28, 1927, and grew up in Minneapolis,
Minnesota. He enrolled in a public school kindergarten class, but from
the first through eighth grades enjoyed (endured?) a parochial school
education, complete with Latin. To this day, he can parse verbs like a
pro.
He became a full-fledged altar boy in fifth grade ("Those were the
good ol’ days, when they still did the complete Mass in Latin"), and
remembers a mischievous incident when he and a classmate elbowed each
other while genuflecting during a service.
Not a big deal, really ... but after the service, once behind the
scenes, the priest took quick action. "He grabbed both of our heads, and
I can still feel the collision today, after he clonked us together."
Art was an interest from very early on ("I drew all the time"), and
Jim recalls getting an A in art and history in seventh grade, for his
illustrated history of Napoleon. "It was like historical comics," he
points out now, with hindsight. "I was years ahead of my time."
After eighth grade, Jim shifted back to public school during his
high school career. He took the art classes offered at his school, but
did not pursue this interest with any extra-curricular instruction.
By this time, the war was on; Jim isn’t even sure, all these years
later, whether he officially completed high school. Whether he graduated
or released himself, he and a friend then hitchhiked across the country.
Jim’s 18th birthday found them in Portland, Oregon, where the two worked
the remainder of that summer at the Kaiser shipyards. Jim then enlisted
in the U.S. Navy, while his friend returned to Minneapolis. Jim was
assigned to the fleet post office after boot training, and he served
precisely 11 months and 29 days ... a hitch whose length would come back
to haunt him.
After being discharged, Jim entered the Minneapolis School of Art
(at the time, a trade school) for a three-year term, and graduated in
1948. He gravitated toward Art Instruction School (which already
included a certain Charles M. "Sparky" Schulz among its staff), and in
the summer of 1949, while 22 years old, prepared a gorgeous hand-drawn
and lettered portfolio, with a self-portrait in full watercolor, to
introduce himself and his artistic talents; the brochure’s dozen or so
pages must have been one of the most ambitious job applications that the
institution ever had received.
Although interested in cartooning, at that point Jim preferred
painting, which this full-color introductory portfolio makes abundantly
clear. (He still has it, lovingly preserved and in excellent condition.)
Obviously, the ploy worked. Jim was hired at a starting salary of
$35 per week. The oversized 1950 Art Instruction Schools Inc. booklet
("Your Art School!"), produced not much later and handed out to all
prospective clients, includes his photo on Page 3, immediately before
Schulz’s picture.
"James F. Sasseville," reads the caption beneath the photo, "is an
instructor in rendering and advertising illustration. He is one of our
best figure illustrators in color."
While at Art Instruction, Jim joined the team that graded all the
submissions -- the "Can you draw me?" applications -- that arrived via
mail or hand delivery. The bottom-line desire, of course, was to
encourage those with even the smallest shred of talent, in order to get
an AIS salesman in the family’s front door; after all, the money was
made by selling art instruction courses. Since manilla envelopes poured
in like mad, speed-grading was essential.
"I spent years correcting Lesson No. 5, which was an advertising
project, where the students had to design a streetcar poster on the
theme ‘See the Orient.’ "
Jim remembers marking all but the very best submissions with
nothing more than alpha-numeric codes (A6, A17, and so forth), which AIS
secretaries then would translate into form paragraph replies.
"But they always were nicely typed up," Jim remembers, knowing full
well that the recipients carefully scrutinized every analytical word.
Sasseville and Schulz became good friends ("We had a similar sense
of humor"), and Sparky encouraged Jim to pursue comic strips. Jim even
got his hair cut more than once in Schulz’s father’s barbershop.
"Sparky bet me, in late 1949, that I’d sell a comic strip to a
syndicate before he would," Jim remembers, with a smile. "As it turned
out, I won that bet hands-down."
In between grading assignments, Jim and his fellow employees
produced thousands upon thousands of quickly penciled drawings on
4-by-7-inch sketchpads. In this respect, these artists were no different
than their counterparts at Disney and Warner Brothers animation studios,
who also filled the minutes between "real work" with impressive little
doodles and caricatures of each other, all of which are the envy of
collectors today (when they surface in the first place). Jim still has
stacks and stacks of such impromptu efforts, including a few caricatures
of Schulz and other AIS friends, and several pages of "Peanuts"
character roughs. (Even then, he must have been planning ahead...) Most
are plain pencil on paper, but some are blue-line; in either case, they
reveal one of Jim’s artistic strengths an ability to capture a person’s
eyes with remarkably lifelike clarity.
(Unfortunately, he did not save his collection of Schulz originals.
"I gave away all my junk foolishly, many years ago ... somebody conned
me out of almost all my original Schulz drawings.")
Jim never lost his art-school fascination with centaurs and nudes,
and many of his sketchpad pages are filled with fetchingly unclad
cuties. Hiring and drawing undraped models was fairly common among Jim
and his colleagues, although not quite all of his colleagues "I can’t
remember Sparky taking any part in that whatsoever."
Such figure studies also sparked Jim’s impish literary talents,
honed by a life-long fascination with poetry (T.S. Eliot’s "Distracted
from distraction by distraction" remains a personal mantra).
Jim still recalls many of his favorite invented verses, such as
this one, which would have been loved by Ogden Nash
A centaur met a mermaid, as he trotted by the sea;
She noticed not his heavy hooves, nor he her single knee,
As they lingered there, expelling time with heart-inspired chatter
The direction of their love so strong ... bottoms didn’t matter!
Jim’s tenure at Art Instruction was interrupted in mid 1952, when
Uncle Sam tapped his shoulder again. The Korean War was underway, and
those who previously had served less than a full year were being
recalled ... so those two days shy of a year forced a second hitch that
lasted through 1954.
"I was sent to the Philippines," Jim notes dryly, thinking back to
all the Lesson No. 5 submissions that he had graded, "so I certainly saw
the Orient."
This second 14-month hitch of active duty certainly wasn’t wasted,
in terms of Jim’s artistic skills; he worked for an Irish Catholic
chaplain and did a weekly mimeographed newspaper for U.S. Naval Mobile
Construction Battalion 9 ("I was drawing cartoons up the gazoo"). The
unit’s 1952-53 Cruise Book features a great full-page Jim illustration
on Page 33; titled "Cubi Point, P.I.," it shows five sailors watching a
dog face off with a monkey.
Jim’s relationship with Father John James Kileen never was dull, in
part because the artist was a lapsed Catholic.
"He worked the hell out of me, but then he’d always invite me into
his quarters for a nip, and then try to entice me back into the fold."
After his second stint in the Navy concluded, Jim returned to
civilian life (this time for good), and to Art Instruction Schools,
where he and Schulz picked up where they’d left off. In between grading
assignments and sketching his office buddies, Jim placed a few gag
cartoons in magazines, such as a droll three-panel sequence of a guy
having trouble with a jack, while attempting to fix a flat tire, which
appeared on Page 45 of the August 1957 issue of Gent, a
long-discontinued men’s magazine.
Jim met Helga, his future wife, as a result of his Navy friendship
with Charles Cuddy. She had immigrated to the United States when
sponsored by a South Dakota politician and his family ("mostly for slave
labor," Jim perceptively remarks); Helga was unfamiliar with the farm
environment, and decamped for Minneapolis as soon as she could. She
entered the University of Minnesota with a vengeance; her half-Jewish
heritage had kept her out of institutions of higher learning in her
native Germany.
She also enrolled in art school and wound up in one class being
taught by Dave Ratner, a colleague and friend with whom Jim went to art
school; she also landed in some of the same classes as Cuddy, who for a
time shared a boarding house attic ("a garret") with Jim. Since this
colony of Minneapolis artists wasn’t all that large, it was inevitable
that Jim and Helga would meet. ("Destiny," he happily acknowledges.)
They married in 1956.
"I’d just bought a brand-new Mercury," Jim remembers, with a
chuckle, "and I had to get rid of it when we got married, because Helga
couldn’t drive a stick-shift."
Within a few short months, Sasseville’s life turned around again,
when he became the best of Schulz’s never-credited "Peanuts" ghosts.
Whenever asked, Charles Schulz would repeat the statement that
became ubiquitous Unlike those involved with other "assembly-line"
newspaper comic strips, he remained the only person whose hands touched
the adventures of Charlie Brown and the gang. Schulz wrote, drew, inked
and lettered his strip, and did so during the entire run October 2,
1950, to February 13, 2000. Schulz always insisted that the strip would
cease production when he finally called it quits, a wish that his family
has honored. Unlike other classic strips that have been revived, often
by lesser talents, "Peanuts" will forevermore remain solely a Schulz
legacy.
Except ... that’s not entirely true.
During the 1950s and early ’60s, Charlie Brown and his friends
didn’t just appear in newspaper strips; they also were a popular feature
of comic books ... a medium usually dominated by the likes of Superman
and Captain America, but one that included plenty of room for lighter
fare.
And -- surprise, surprise! -- when the "Peanuts" comic book
appearances stopped being newspaper reprints and "graduated" into
original features in 1957, sharp-eyed fans probably could discern that
somebody other than Sparky Schulz was doing the artwork.
To keep the chronology consistent, let’s turn back the clock to
1952, when "Peanuts" simultaneously debuted as a supporting feature in
two comic books -- the March-April issues of Tip Top Comics (#173) and
United Comics (#21) -- both published by United Feature Syndicate, which
routinely recycled many of its newspaper features in these and other
comic books. The "Peanuts" supporting feature moved into a third book,
Tip Topper, beginning with #17 (June-July 1952); it remained there until
the book was discontinued after #28 (April-May 1954). Shortly before
this final issue of Tip Topper, "Peanuts" returned to Tip Top as a
supporting feature, beginning with #184 (Jan.-Feb. 1954) and continuing
through #188 (Sept.-Oct. 1954). Several of these later issues feature
gorgeous Peanuts covers, which -- although not signed -- appear to be by
Schulz.
"Peanuts" also appeared, during this same period, as a back-up
feature in most issues of United Comics, later retitled Fritzi Ritz
(beginning with #27). The run here also was consecutive #21-#33 (the
latter dated March-April 1954). Stray issues of Sparkler Comics and
Sparkle Comics also included some "Peanuts" reprints, although not on a
regular basis.
UFS got out of the comic book publishing business at the end of
1954, and some of its titles were picked up by St. John in 1955,
including Fritzi Ritz and Tip Top. Despite a noticeable gap of several
months, the numbering of both books continued consecutively. Thus, Tip
Top resumed with #189 (May 1955), and continued to include "Peanuts" as
a supporting feature during St. John’s entire run of this book, through
#210 (July 1957). "Peanuts" was only an occasional supporting feature in
St. John’s run of Fritzi Ritz, starting with #37 (July 1955) and
continuing through #55. Finally, at least one issue of Nancy -- #142
(March 1957) -- also featured Peanuts reprints.
Big changes came in late 1957, and not just because St. John
abandoned these books and turned them over to Dell Comics (Western
Publishing). After a delay of several months to half a year -- depending
on the title -- Dell revived the flagship St. John titles, again with
consecutive numbering. Thus, Tip Top #211 returned as a quarterly with a
cover date of Nov. 1957-Jan. 1958. Fritzi Ritz resumed with #56, dated
Dec. 1957-Feb. 1958.
Under Dell’s stewardship, Charlie Brown and the gang also became a
regular supporting feature in Nancy, beginning with #146 (Sept. 1957).
The biggest change, however, concerned the content in all three books.
When Dell took over, the covers promised "All brand-new stories" ... and
they meant it.
"Peanuts" fans spotted the change in Nancy #146, which boasted a
four-page story with a baseball theme, clearly produced by Schulz
himself (although unsigned); Jim confirms Sparky’s linework. But Schulz
quickly realized that producing four full pages of original art for
Nancy on a monthly basis, not to mention similar duties for the
quarterly Tip Top and Fritzi Ritz, would be more than he was willing to
handle. Then, too, he was only months away from debuting his own second
newspaper strip, "It’s Only a Game" (about which more below).
Schulz allowed Dell’s house art department to handle his characters
in Nancy #147, but was unhappy with the results. (No surprise; the art
is quite weak.) Schulz stepped in again for issue #148, but the workload
problem hadn’t changed. Wanting greater fidelity to his own style,
Schulz turned to Jim, who took over the reins with issue #149 and
continued through #168 (July 1959). Jim essentially became Schulz’s
employee and was paid $100 per week for this work; since he was making
only $80 per week at Art Instruction, this -- along with the even higher
paycheck he’d soon receive, for helping Schulz with "It’s Only a Game"
-- was a substantial raise.
As a ghosting assignment, the results are impressive. Charlie Brown
and Linus’ heads are notoriously difficult to reproduce in Schulz’s
signature style, but Jim came damn close. More to the point, the
characters are posed and conduct themselves in a way that’s absolutely
typical of their behavior in Sparky’s newspaper strip. Art purists may
have noticed that Jim wasn’t Schulz, but casual readers were unlikely to
have detected the difference.
The four-page story above is taken from Nancy #151, February 1958.
(Click on the pages to enlarge them.)
"He gave me carte blanche on writing them, and I felt like a
faithful uncle," Jim says, with no small amount of pride at his ability
to reproduce Charlie Brown and the gang.
Although Jim’s take on the "Peanuts" gang in Nancy #149 was the
first to reach fans, it was not the ghost artist’s debut crack at
Charlie Brown. Jim’s first completed "Peanuts" comic book adventure was
"The Trip," one of a quartet of eight-page stories (packaged with three
one-page stories) that eventually appeared as issue #878 (Feb. 1958) of
Dell’s Four Color Comics, an "umbrella title" that rotated various
stars; this issue, boasting a gorgeous signed Schulz cover, was the
first one devoted to "Peanuts."
Ever the imp, Jim inserted a personal reference into "The Trip."
The number on the dog license that Charlie Brown uses -- 891-68-14 -- to
justify his getting behind the wheel of a station wagon, was the
artist’s Navy serial number.
Jim also did the work in the Fritzi Ritz and Tip Top issues during
this time, and it’s important to note that he had a completely free rein
with these comic book stories, handling both art and writing chores.
Fritzi Ritz lasted only four issues under the Dell label, before
being discontinued after #59 (Sept.-Nov. 1958). "Peanuts" did not appear
in #56, but each of the remaining three issues included a new four-page
story by Jim. He also handled the work for Tip Top #211 through #215
(Nov. 1958-Jan. 1959). In Tip Top, Charlie Brown and his friends shared
covers with Nancy, Sluggo, and the Captain and the Kids. Although
unsigned, Schulz drew these "Peanuts" cover panels for issues 211-213,
and Jim handled 214 and 215.
Sasseville did the Peanuts art in these issues of Tip Top, #214 and #215.
(Click on the pages to enlarge them.)
All told, then, Jim drew the interior stories in 20 issues of
Nancy, three issues of Fritzi Ritz, and five issues of Tip Top, along
with Four Color #878. This relationship with Schulz and Dell Comics took
an unexpected turn when the two men parted unhappily, and Jim’s final
work for Dell was the long kite story in the second all-"Peanuts" issue
of Four Color Comics (#969, Feb. 1959), along with the inside front and
inside back cover one-pagers.
The completion of that particular issue became something of a
marathon art session. After announcing that he and Helga would be moving
to Berkeley, Jim took stock of the pending Dell workload, and discovered
that the deadline for the second all-Peanuts issue of Four Color Comics
was imminent. Jim promised to finish this before the move, but Sparky
suggested that the job would proceed faster if they worked on it
together. The two men thus divided the work between them, and began
early one morning with what turned into a lengthy session stretching
well into the evening. During that time, Jim completed the
aforementioned two one-page stories and one eight-page story, while
Sparky handled the remaining one-page story and THREE eight-page
stories.
"There’s no doubt who was the faster artist," Jim notes, with a
chuckle. "He certainly put me in my place!"
Jim still remembers that session as a euphoric rush ... but it
concluded on a gloomy note, when, resting in the happy afterglow of a
job well done, Schulz revealed the fate of "It’s Only a Game" (see
below).
In the aftermath, Schulz also stepped in and handled all the work
for Nancy #169 (August 1959). Clearly, this was a rush job, and Schulz
borrowed from himself The final panel of this four-page story is almost
identical to the final panel of the June 23, 1957, "Peanuts" Sunday
strip. The comic book storyline is an expansion of that Sunday strip,
and the aforementioned final panel in the comic book is signed by Schulz
... the only case where any interior comic book stories bear his
signature.
Because the split was far from amicable, Jim did not follow the
subsequent comic book adventures of Charlie Brown and his friends, in
Nancy and Tip Top. On close examination just a few weeks ago -- in many
cases, seeing this work for the first time -- Jim pointed to specific
poses, characteristics and lettering attributes ("Sparky always rounded
out the bottoms of his W’s") that leave him convinced that Schulz either
penciled and inked the next several issues of both Nancy and Tip Top, or
at least roughed in the panel layout, inked the primary characters --
particularly their heads -- and lettered the word balloons. This seems
likely; carefully examination of individual pages reveals an occasional
Snoopy or Lucy which, not matching the rest, clearly must have been
inked by somebody else.
But Dale Hale, Schulz’s new apprentice and ghost -- and another
associate from Art Instruction Schools -- caught on quickly, and the
artwork in both books retained its Schulz-like characteristics through
roughly late 1960 or early 1961. At this point, other hands clearly took
over -- possibly Tony Pocrnick, another Schulz associate from Art
Instruction -- and the "Peanuts" characters became ever-more distant
from the Schulz ideal until the final issues of Tip Top (#225, May-July
1961) and Nancy. (By then the latter had been retitled Nancy and Sluggo,
and its final five issues were released under the Gold Key imprint; the
book was discontinued with issue #192, October 1963.) The "Peanuts"
artwork in the last issues of both books is, in a word, dreadful.
A third all-"Peanuts" issue of Four Color Comics was produced
(#1015, August-October 1959), after which the characters got their own
book that began with issue #4 (Feb.-April 1960), by way of acknowledging
those first three appearances in Four Color Comics. This lasted through
#13 (May-July 1962), after which the book was discontinued. Each of
these issues features a signed Schulz cover, but other hands --
certainly Hale, at first -- handled all the interior artwork and writing
(which, as with the latter issues of Nancy and Tip Top, grew less
Schulz-like over time).
But what had happened, to sever the friendship between Schulz and
Jim, which stretched back a decade?
Bouncing back a year or so...
Although already quite popular and gaining fans -- and syndicate
clients -- all the time, in 1957 "Peanuts" was not yet the multimedia
sensation it was to become within another decade. Schulz must have had
some free time that needed filling, and therefore was comfortable with
the concept of pitching a second strip concept to United Features
Syndicate. The artist had lots of ideas about games near and dear to his
heart, including golf, tennis, baseball and bridge. No doubt realizing
that twice as much Schulz per week was a good thing, UFS jumped at the
chance, and the sports and recreation-themed "It’s Only a Game" was
born. For awhile, Schulz joined later stars such as Johnny Hart ("B.C."
and "The Wizard of Id"), Mell Lazarus ("Miss Peach" and "Momma") and
Jerry Scott ("Baby Blues" and "Zits"), with two newspaper strips running
simultaneously.
Each installment of "It’s Only a Game, by Charles M. Schulz,"
hearkening back to Schulz’s very early work on "Li’l Folks" in The St.
Paul Pioneer Press, was comprised of three separate single-panel gag
strips. The package was offered to clients in two different formats as
three single-panel strips per week, to run on Mondays, Wednesdays and
Fridays; or as a combined grouping of three that would appear in Sunday
comics sections. The combined Sunday grouping also had a bonus fourth
cartoon a tiny, captionless visual gag -- very much like the
intermarginal gags that Sergio Aragonés would pepper throughout future
issues of Mad Magazine -- that appeared to the right of the title and
Schulz’s byline. The subject matter of the Monday and Wednesday panels
varied from week to week, but the Friday installment always centered
around bridge, the then-popular card game that Schulz loved. (Further
evidence of this affection could be seen in "Peanuts," where the kids
routinely played the game in the early 1950s, and Woodstock and a
foursome of his bird buddies picked it up in the 1970s and beyond.)
Charles Schulz did this January 12, 1958, "It's Only a Game" panel himself. Note his signature within the art of the right-most panel.
During an October 6, 1957, interview with Schulz, the Chicago
Tribune proudly boasted that it would be one of the flagship newspapers
to carry this new feature. The Tribune selected the weekly option, and
ran "It’s Only a Game" in its Sunday magazine. The debut installment
appeared November 3, 1957, and immediately set the tone for what would
follow, with panels devoted to boxing, golf and bridge. The middle panel
is a hoot, with a middle-aged duffer -- one easily can imagine Charlie
Brown in his 40s -- lamenting a putt that has left his ball perched at
the edge of the cup (but not in), and saying, "I think I’m going to
cry."
Subsequent installments covered checkers, bowling, curling (!),
table tennis, croquet, billiards, ice fishing, darts and even camping.
But as 1957 turned into 1958, something must have changed. Perhaps
Schulz had underestimated the amount of time involved with producing a
second weekly newspaper strip; maybe he also was spending more time than
expected overseeing the new "Peanuts" content in the Dell comic books.
Or, more likely, the "Peanuts" empire as a whole was occupying more of
his time; 1958 saw the production of the first "Peanuts" toys -- plastic
dolls of the major characters, produced by Hungerford -- and of course
this was just the tip of an approaching iceberg.
Whatever the reason, Schulz decided to hand over the lion’s share
of the artistic chores to Jim. Schulz’s solo involvement with "It’s Only
a Game" continued through the January 12, 1958, installment; this is the
last one to bear his signature on one of the cartoon panels. (Schulz’s
name continued to run alone in the masthead, however, making Jim a true
ghost.) As of January 19, 1958, Jim -- often working from hastily
penciled sketches and captions supplied by Schulz -- did all the
newspaper strip’s finished art and lettering.
Sasseville did this January 26, 1958, "It's Only a Game" panel himself. Note that Schulz's signature is nowhere to be seen within the art.
Jim vividly remembers this transition date, because just one week later,
with his second time at bat with the solo art chores, he was paid a
singular honor. That week’s Monday panel, a bowling strip, featured
three league players welcoming a fourth, apparently a little tardy, with
the exclamation of, "Three cheers, gang! Our number one man has
arrived!" A loyal reader sent UFS a black-and-white photo of himself
with three friends, staged to look precisely like the four figures in
Jim’s illustration. The "camera angle" was identical, along with
clothing, body position, and everything else in the frame. The
resemblance even extended to the men themselves, who had body shapes and
hairstyles eerily similar to those found in the panel art.
Jim still has the photo.
Sasseville received this photo recreation of his "It's Only a Game" gag from a fan. Note the date stamp at the top of the photo.
The degree to which Jim successfully imitated Schulz’s linework can
be seen by the fact that the transition was seamless; no casual reader
could have discerned that the hand on the inker’s pen had changed.
During the remainder of 1958, the two men continued to work in the same
fashion, Jim often finishing Schulz’s rough concepts, but also
contributing many of his own original ideas. He also inserted the
occasional personal reference; the boat from which a husband and wife
fish, in one of the June 29, 1958, panels, is the Helga, named after
Jim’s wife.
But Jim remembers that he never came up with any of the concepts
for Friday’s bridge panels, for the simple reason that he didn’t know
the game.
Although he labored in anonymity, Jim was well compensated
financially, and he still speaks appreciatively of Sparky’s generosity.
Schulz had negotiated for 50% of the strip’s income, the other half
going to UFS. This 50% amounted to slightly more than $500 per week;
when Jim came on board, Schulz generously gave half of HIS half to his
new partner, and so Jim brought home $250 per week (after expenses) for
his efforts ... quite a lot of money in 1958.
The two men were living in Minneapolis when this collaboration
began; after the first five months, in May 1958, Jim and his wife
followed the Schulz family to Northern California. Lacking a place to
stay in Sebastopol -- not to mention furniture and other amenities --
the Sassevilles first spent a couple of months a bit south, in Corta
Madera. "For two or three weeks, I drew the comic book stuff and ‘It’s
Only a Game’ on a portable drawing board. But I stayed in touch with
Sparky on the phone, and he supplied the ideas for ‘It’s Only a Game.’ "
The Sassevilles then found a home in Sebastopol. Between "It’s Only
a Game" and the work he also was doing for the "Peanuts" strips in the
Dell comic books, Jim was quite gainfully employed by his new partner
and boss.
Unfortunately, it was not to last.
"It’s Only a Game" began with 30 client newspapers; nearly a year
later, it had ... 30 client newspapers.
(A complete client list has been lost to the mists of time, although
it is known that the feature was carried by The Boston Globe, the Detroit
Free Press, The Chicago Tribune, The Minneapolis Tribune, the San Francisco
Chronicle and The Baltimore Sun.)
The strip never took off, despite strong support from fans such as
bridge expert Charles Goren (who wrote a couple of letters), and even
Schulz’s name didn’t seem to make much of a difference.
But we also can assume that the proud and perfectionist-minded
Schulz -- who in later years, as mentioned above, often made a point of
describing how in "Peanuts" he penciled and inked every line, and
lettered every word balloon -- probably was bothered by the fact that he
wasn’t similarly in sole control of "It’s Only a Game." To be sure, he
was INVOLVED, but he wasn’t actually drawing what appeared in those 30
client newspapers.
"He didn’t like his name being used on somebody else’s work," Jim
recalls, "and I don’t blame him for that."
That, coupled with moribund sales and some tension with the head
UFS salesman to whom Schulz initially had pitched the idea, eventually
prompted an astonishing decision In late 1958, just 12 months into a
solid five-year contract, Schulz made it plain to UFS that he wished to
discontinue "It’s Only a Game." Perhaps recognizing that the strip
wasn’t performing as hoped, UFS agreed.
Schulz did not consult Jim before taking this step; indeed, the
news came as a complete shock to Schulz’s ghost, who’d been very happy
with his work, and the strip, and the $250 per week.
Schulz even tried to sugar-coat the news "You’re off the hook,"
Jim recalls his employer saying (as if this were a GOOD thing), at the
end of that euphoric day when they finished work on the second
all-Peanuts issue of Dell’s Four Color Comics. Jim had just assured
Sparky that his pending move to Berkeley would not affect his ability to
work on "It’s Only a Game," and now the rug had been pulled out from
under him.
The fallout was immediate; it certainly was the final straw for
Helga, who already had been dissatisfied with their home in Sebastopol
-- hence the move to Berkeley -- and also was unhappy about the friction
that existed between her and Joyce, Schulz’s first wife. Helga had
endured Nazi Germany, survived the entire war -- in and out of work
camps -- and had lost her father at Dachau; she was not a woman to keep
opinions to herself.
"I realized I was working on a flawed product, which the creator
and marketer wanted nothing more to do with. Still, I had held out the
hope that maybe Sparky might offer the entire feature to me, although I
realized that there’d be problems with the syndicate," Jim admits, a
touch of wistfulness still clouding the memory after more than 40 years.
"They should have been pretty familiar with my work by then."
It didn’t happen. By the time the final installment of "It’s Only a
Game" appeared, on January 11, 1959 -- the two always had worked six
weeks ahead -- Jim and Schulz had severed all relations, professional
and personal. This also included Jim’s ghosting work on the Dell comic
books. The split was permanent, and the two men never reconciled.
Although "It’s Only a Game" ran for 63 consecutive weeks, it
quickly became a fading memory -- and then an overlooked footnote -- in
Schulz’s career. He rarely mentioned it during later interviews, and
then only obliquely, citing neither date specifics nor his collaboration
with Jim.
"We were the best of friends at first," Jim recalls ruefully. He
happily remembers attending the 1951 National Cartoonists Convention
with Sparky, and also another time when they both went to visit and swap
stories with a fellow artist, Robert M. Brinkerhoff, who lived in
Minneapolis and was known for a newspaper strip called "Little Mary
Mix-Up." Brinkerhoff, in turn -- like many other cartoonists at that
time -- greatly admired J.R. Williams (creator of "Out Our Way"), whom
he once described as "the greatest cowboy ever to walk the streets of
New York." Brinkerhoff related how he had wheedled, begged and finally
finagled an invitation to Williams’ ranch in Montana. Although only
interested in seeing the fabulous studio that he assumed his idol must
have on so massive a spread, Brinkerhoff first had to put up with being
shown all the livestock and the other attractions of a working ranch. As
the visit stretched on, Brinkerhoff finally couldn’t stand it any longer
and demanded to see where Williams did his work.
With a resigned sigh (as Jim recalls Brinkerhoff describing this
incident), Williams walked over to his wife’s sewing machine, took off
the cover, and flipped it over ... and that was it The great J.R.
Williams did all his drawing on the cover of his wife’s sewing machine.
As others have observed, there’s never any reason to embrace
technology or an environment any fancier than that required to get the
job done.
Cartoonists love to talk shop, and Jim’s no different; merely
relating this little tale brings a sparkle into his eyes. And, to this
day, he doesn’t really understand what happened between him and Schulz.
"I feel kind of weird about all this. Sparky obviously wanted me to
succeed in the early days, and even was willing to collaborate with me
on one of my own projects (one of the many variations of "Joe Cipher,"
discussed below). But then when he had a chance to really help me out,
he didn’t make any effort whatsoever ... and left me in rather dire
straits."
Such feelings notwithstanding, all these years later Jim is firm on
one point "Charles M. Schulz was the greatest comic strip artist ever."
And although he certainly couldn’t have known it at the time, Jim
never again would earn his living as a cartoonist.
Before, during and after his working association with Schulz, Jim
played around with many of his own ideas.
If persistence counts for anything, he deserves considerable credit
for his ongoing efforts to sell "Joe Cipher" ("a character kinda based
on me"), a daily strip that underwent quite a few transmutations during
the decade-plus that he tried to place it with a syndicate.
The character first appeared in a sample series of daily strips Jim
produced in late 1949. The strip’s gentle humor is faintly reminiscent
of "Gasoline Alley" and other character-driven work of the era; the
title character is introduced driving an old jalopy that obligingly runs
out of gas at a filling station. The silver-tongued Joe, lacking any
money, eventually impresses the station owner into offering him a job;
Joe celebrates by stepping into a nearby diner for lunch, where he’s
immediately smitten by the young woman behind the counter, and...
...and that’s where the presentation panels concluded.
Perhaps feeling that the strip lacked dramatic impact, a few years
later -- while still at AIS -- Jim tried again, shifting the action to a
tiny island in the middle of the ocean, where the shipwrecked Joe is
joined by an attractive young woman named Ginny, survivor of a second
sea-going calamity. (What are the odds?) Although their relationship is
mildly prickly for the first few days, Ginny eventually wishes aloud
that they could be rescued, so that she can go on a "proper date" with
Joe, and perhaps even kiss him when the evening concludes. Once again,
the story cut off abruptly, as Jim produced just two weeks’ worth of
strips enough to (hopefully) interest a buyer.
Sasseville tried several times to place a comic strip starring Joe Cipher, the pleasant-looking chap
featured in these examples. The two left-most strips are taken from the first run Sasseville designed on his own;
the two right-most strips, starring the same character but
in a different setting, are from Sasseville's third
test run; Charles Schulz contributed story input on these.
(Click on the image to see an enlarged version.)
After getting back from his return hitch in the Navy, Jim
went back to work on Joe Cipher and got a nibble from an
unexpected quarter: Something about this particular setting
touched Schulz, who suggested they collaborate on yet
a third incarnation of "Joe Cipher." (At the time, both men still were
unmarried, and it’s not hard to see a little male fantasy
wish-fulfillment at work.) With narrative input from Schulz and Jim
handling the art chores, the scene shifted again, this time to a
typically romantic South Seas setting, on an island large enough to
support a population of curvaceous young cuties and at least one
villain. Joe and Ginny remained the central focus, but this time the
former saw genuine action, on the receiving end of the villain’s fists.
Schulz and Jim took this newest version of "Joe Cipher" to United
Features Syndicate in spring of 1954; it was turned down flat. The
trip to New York wasn't a complete waste, though, because Sasseville
and Schulz caught a couple of plays: a T.S. Elliot drama called
Confidential Clerk, and another called The King of
Hearts, which starred Jackie Cooper as (what are the odds?)
a cartoonist!
Sasseville also remembers going from suite to suite in New
York's Waldorf hotel during this trip, visiting one cartoonist
after another; meeting Al Capp was a high point. But at least
part of the reason for the trip -- the newest Joe Cipher -- proved
unsellable, and Schulz bowed out at that point.
When Jim finally returned to "Joe Cipher," the 1950s were almost
over. Jim’s association with "Peanuts" and "It’s Only a Game" had
concluded, so the writer/artist returned to his favorite unsold
property. Jim recast his hero in yet another new setting, this time a
business office populated by characters clearly derived from his days at
Art Instruction. Although the sample panels display even cleaner, more
attractive line work -- a sure sign of his growing comfort as an artist
-- Jim had no better luck this time around.
Still refusing to abandon hope, Jim tried one more time In early
1960, after having moved to Berkeley, he once again changed the setting
completely, and turned Joe Cipher into "Sir Joe." This Arthurian-based
concept focused on genuinely whimsical gags involving heavy armor,
maidens in distress, and fire-breathing dragons. Jim’s dragons are
particularly funny, and this newest reboot seems ripe with
possibilities; it’s not at all hard to envision a daily strip evolving
from these samples.
Alas, syndicates once again failed to see any potential, and "Joe
Cipher" was put into Jim’s trunk as no more than another engaging
footnote in the artist’s collection of rejection slips.
Jim didn’t confine his efforts to "Joe Cipher"; the writer/artist
had no shortage of ideas, quite a few of which also wound up as
submission concepts. "Aunty Climax," produced in early 1957 -- just
prior to Jim’s ghost work for Dell comics -- was a single-panel gag
strip that starred a feisty little old lady who was far sharper than
most people assumed. She was based on Louise Cassidy, an AIS colleague
who also was the landlady for the building where Jim briefly lived with
Charles Cuddy. Jim produced a few dozen "Aunty Climax" panels, all of
which are vastly superior -- both in terms of writing and artwork -- to
many of the single-panel cartoons cluttering today’s newspapers.
"Confessions of a French Poodle" was a 1959 concept that didn’t
emerge much further than a few finished panels and lots of pencil
sketches; Jim good-naturedly admits that the idea went nowhere, and so
he abandoned it. That may have been shrewd market analysis, as the
medium never has lacked for dog-oriented material. Even so, French
poodles are funny in their own right, and Jim’s concept sketches are a
hoot.
When not working on Peanuts-related material, Sasseville tried to sell many of his own strip ideas
to a syndicate. From left to right, these examples are "Aunty Climax," "Friends and Foes," "Alpha-Betty" and "Happy Birthday."
(Click on the image to see an enlarged version.)
"Friends and Foes," another single-panel tryout, also emerged from
Jim’s pen in 1959. A little later, shortly after he started putting food
on the table with a "real job" -- and perhaps motivated by the explosion
of children’s television shows, which eventually led to "Sesame Street"
and everything that followed -- Jim tried a kid-oriented educational
strip called "Alpha-Betty," which starred a little girl who finds
herself in an other-worldly land populated by men and women shaped like
letters of the alphabet. The personalities of these individuals were
defined by their appearance; curved female letters, for example, were
far more sultry that straight female letters. The strip has a lovely
"Alice in Wonderland" quality, although the concept may have seemed
limiting.
Jim later played with the medium in "Blackboard," a daily strip
designed to be white-on-black, to imitate chalk on a classroom
blackboard. The stars were Dick, Jane and their TeacheR; although not as
overly educational as "Alpha-Betty," this strip also was aimed at young
audiences.
Jim’s final attempt at syndication was produced in the early 1970s,
after he first went into research hibernation, jotting down enough
celebrity birthdays to fill every day of a calendar year. The resulting
single-panel strips were a precursor to the "On this day in history..."
informational nuggets that have become so ubiquitous The panel for
March 28, for example, illustrated and revealed a few choice facts about
orchestra leader Paul Whiteman. March 29 was devoted to President John
Tyler, while Francisco Goya was featured on March 30.
Sadly, this fared no better with syndicators than any of the
others. "Joe Cipher," "Aunty Climax," "Confessions of a French Poodle,"
"Friends and Foes," "Alpha-Betty," "Blackboard" and "Birthdays" exist only
in Jim’s carefully preserved office files. More’s the pity, because even
the weakest of these strips displays a Puckish wit and clean, attractive
line work too often absent from many of the rushed, imitative strips
that generate little more than reader apathy these days.
Following the dust-up with Schulz and the move to Berkeley, Helga
-- who was delighted by the more rarefied atmosphere of a university
community -- became the family bread-winner. She took a job with a
German importer/exporter and commuted daily across the Bay Bridge.
Eventually succumbing to the need for steady employment, in April
1960 Jim took a job as a graphic designer with Varian, one of the
leading radar companies, located in California’s greater San Francisco
Bay Area. The fit proved comfortable, and he remained with the company
until he retired in 1990.
But the career shift wasn’t immediate; Jim first spent most of 1959
working up his own aforementioned comic strip proposals, and
occasionally sold individual gag cartoons to magazines. But his New
York-based agent took 35% of those one-shots.
"That’s when I started with Varian," Jim recalls, with a chuckle.
"I knew I’d never make it as a gag cartoonist."
Be that as it may, Jim never stopped his cartooning efforts; while
at Varian, he became famous for the birthday cards that he drew for
fellow employees.
Helga, meanwhile, got a job at Stanford, which prompted another
move; the couple then purchased their first home in 1960, in Mountain
View.
Three years later, they moved for what would be the last time. Jim
and his wife paid $28,000 for the house that remains his home to this
day. Just last year the retired artist was offered a cool million bucks
-- in cash -- by a dot-commer who wanted to develop the property. Still
loyal to the memories of his wife, with which the house is filled, Jim
politely declined. Helga died in 1995; he clearly still misses her.
Today, Parkinson’s Disease and the recent stroke have conspired to
deliver the ultimate nightmare Jim no longer can hold a pen well enough
to draw. ("I always marveled at Sparky’s ability to incorporate his
shaking hand into his line work.") But his mind and memory remain
acutely sharp, and his Puckish sense of humor is unbowed. He speaks with
clarity and certainty of his years at Art Instruction School, and with
Schulz, and of his never-successful efforts to market his own original
material.
Jim remains philosophical about his life, and in fact composed
another of his verses to express such feelings
I’m all for equal measures
Losses should be matched by gain;
And since I’ve missed life’s pleasures,
I’ll just double up with pain!
Definitely too harsh, but then we’re always hardest on ourselves.
Jim Sasseville deserves far more than the obscurity into which he has
settled; for a time, he was allied with the man who would become the
world’s most successful cartoonist, and for a time he helped chaperone
the faithfully rendered adventures of Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Linus, Lucy
and the rest ... no small feat.
And I’m particularly transfixed by a remark Jim made during one of
our later phone calls "I don’t know how one should behave, in a
situation like this," he said, referring to our ongoing conversations,
"but it’s like I’ve been resurrected."
Perhaps this article will kick-start our long-overdue obligation to
sing his praises.
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All PEANUTS characters pictured are copyrighted by United Feature Syndicate, Inc. They are used here with permission. They may not be reproduced by any means in any form.
Our first chat didn’t cover nearly enough territory, but it
established a comfort level that prompted a subsequent delightful
afternoon in the artist’s company. His home, shared only with the
aforementioned dog, is smallish but filled with personality.
And I knew that I’d finally made a connection, and earned his
trust, when he offered me some coffee. From that moment, the visit
became less an interview, and more an increasingly amiable chat between
two guys with comics and cartooning in their blood.
Sasseville was born August 28, 1927, and grew up in Minneapolis,
Minnesota. He enrolled in a public school kindergarten class, but from
the first through eighth grades enjoyed (endured?) a parochial school
education, complete with Latin. To this day, he can parse verbs like a
pro.
He became a full-fledged altar boy in fifth grade ("Those were the
good ol’ days, when they still did the complete Mass in Latin"), and
remembers a mischievous incident when he and a classmate elbowed each
other while genuflecting during a service.
Not a big deal, really ... but after the service, once behind the
scenes, the priest took quick action. "He grabbed both of our heads, and
I can still feel the collision today, after he clonked us together."
Art was an interest from very early on ("I drew all the time"), and
Jim recalls getting an A in art and history in seventh grade, for his
illustrated history of Napoleon. "It was like historical comics," he
points out now, with hindsight. "I was years ahead of my time."
After eighth grade, Jim shifted back to public school during his
high school career. He took the art classes offered at his school, but
did not pursue this interest with any extra-curricular instruction.
By this time, the war was on; Jim isn’t even sure, all these years
later, whether he officially completed high school. Whether he graduated
or released himself, he and a friend then hitchhiked across the country.
Jim’s 18th birthday found them in Portland, Oregon, where the two worked
the remainder of that summer at the Kaiser shipyards. Jim then enlisted
in the U.S. Navy, while his friend returned to Minneapolis. Jim was
assigned to the fleet post office after boot training, and he served
precisely 11 months and 29 days ... a hitch whose length would come back
to haunt him.
After being discharged, Jim entered the Minneapolis School of Art
(at the time, a trade school) for a three-year term, and graduated in
1948. He gravitated toward Art Instruction School (which already
included a certain Charles M. "Sparky" Schulz among its staff), and in
the summer of 1949, while 22 years old, prepared a gorgeous hand-drawn
and lettered portfolio, with a self-portrait in full watercolor, to
introduce himself and his artistic talents; the brochure’s dozen or so
pages must have been one of the most ambitious job applications that the
institution ever had received.
Although interested in cartooning, at that point Jim preferred
painting, which this full-color introductory portfolio makes abundantly
clear. (He still has it, lovingly preserved and in excellent condition.)
Obviously, the ploy worked. Jim was hired at a starting salary of
$35 per week. The oversized 1950 Art Instruction Schools Inc. booklet
("Your Art School!"), produced not much later and handed out to all
prospective clients, includes his photo on Page 3, immediately before
Schulz’s picture.
"James F. Sasseville," reads the caption beneath the photo, "is an
instructor in rendering and advertising illustration. He is one of our
best figure illustrators in color."
While at Art Instruction, Jim joined the team that graded all the
submissions -- the "Can you draw me?" applications -- that arrived via
mail or hand delivery. The bottom-line desire, of course, was to
encourage those with even the smallest shred of talent, in order to get
an AIS salesman in the family’s front door; after all, the money was
made by selling art instruction courses. Since manilla envelopes poured
in like mad, speed-grading was essential.
"I spent years correcting Lesson No. 5, which was an advertising
project, where the students had to design a streetcar poster on the
theme ‘See the Orient.’ "
Jim remembers marking all but the very best submissions with
nothing more than alpha-numeric codes (A6, A17, and so forth), which AIS
secretaries then would translate into form paragraph replies.
"But they always were nicely typed up," Jim remembers, knowing full
well that the recipients carefully scrutinized every analytical word.
Sasseville and Schulz became good friends ("We had a similar sense
of humor"), and Sparky encouraged Jim to pursue comic strips. Jim even
got his hair cut more than once in Schulz’s father’s barbershop.
"Sparky bet me, in late 1949, that I’d sell a comic strip to a
syndicate before he would," Jim remembers, with a smile. "As it turned
out, I won that bet hands-down."
In between grading assignments, Jim and his fellow employees
produced thousands upon thousands of quickly penciled drawings on
4-by-7-inch sketchpads. In this respect, these artists were no different
than their counterparts at Disney and Warner Brothers animation studios,
who also filled the minutes between "real work" with impressive little
doodles and caricatures of each other, all of which are the envy of
collectors today (when they surface in the first place). Jim still has
stacks and stacks of such impromptu efforts, including a few caricatures
of Schulz and other AIS friends, and several pages of "Peanuts"
character roughs. (Even then, he must have been planning ahead...) Most
are plain pencil on paper, but some are blue-line; in either case, they
reveal one of Jim’s artistic strengths an ability to capture a person’s
eyes with remarkably lifelike clarity.
(Unfortunately, he did not save his collection of Schulz originals.
"I gave away all my junk foolishly, many years ago ... somebody conned
me out of almost all my original Schulz drawings.")
Jim never lost his art-school fascination with centaurs and nudes,
and many of his sketchpad pages are filled with fetchingly unclad
cuties. Hiring and drawing undraped models was fairly common among Jim
and his colleagues, although not quite all of his colleagues "I can’t
remember Sparky taking any part in that whatsoever."
Such figure studies also sparked Jim’s impish literary talents,
honed by a life-long fascination with poetry (T.S. Eliot’s "Distracted
from distraction by distraction" remains a personal mantra).
Jim still recalls many of his favorite invented verses, such as
this one, which would have been loved by Ogden Nash
A centaur met a mermaid, as he trotted by the sea;
She noticed not his heavy hooves, nor he her single knee,
As they lingered there, expelling time with heart-inspired chatter
The direction of their love so strong ... bottoms didn’t matter!
Jim’s tenure at Art Instruction was interrupted in mid 1952, when
Uncle Sam tapped his shoulder again. The Korean War was underway, and
those who previously had served less than a full year were being
recalled ... so those two days shy of a year forced a second hitch that
lasted through 1954.
"I was sent to the Philippines," Jim notes dryly, thinking back to
all the Lesson No. 5 submissions that he had graded, "so I certainly saw
the Orient."
This second 14-month hitch of active duty certainly wasn’t wasted,
in terms of Jim’s artistic skills; he worked for an Irish Catholic
chaplain and did a weekly mimeographed newspaper for U.S. Naval Mobile
Construction Battalion 9 ("I was drawing cartoons up the gazoo"). The
unit’s 1952-53 Cruise Book features a great full-page Jim illustration
on Page 33; titled "Cubi Point, P.I.," it shows five sailors watching a
dog face off with a monkey.
Jim’s relationship with Father John James Kileen never was dull, in
part because the artist was a lapsed Catholic.
"He worked the hell out of me, but then he’d always invite me into
his quarters for a nip, and then try to entice me back into the fold."
After his second stint in the Navy concluded, Jim returned to
civilian life (this time for good), and to Art Instruction Schools,
where he and Schulz picked up where they’d left off. In between grading
assignments and sketching his office buddies, Jim placed a few gag
cartoons in magazines, such as a droll three-panel sequence of a guy
having trouble with a jack, while attempting to fix a flat tire, which
appeared on Page 45 of the August 1957 issue of Gent, a
long-discontinued men’s magazine.
Jim met Helga, his future wife, as a result of his Navy friendship
with Charles Cuddy. She had immigrated to the United States when
sponsored by a South Dakota politician and his family ("mostly for slave
labor," Jim perceptively remarks); Helga was unfamiliar with the farm
environment, and decamped for Minneapolis as soon as she could. She
entered the University of Minnesota with a vengeance; her half-Jewish
heritage had kept her out of institutions of higher learning in her
native Germany.
She also enrolled in art school and wound up in one class being
taught by Dave Ratner, a colleague and friend with whom Jim went to art
school; she also landed in some of the same classes as Cuddy, who for a
time shared a boarding house attic ("a garret") with Jim. Since this
colony of Minneapolis artists wasn’t all that large, it was inevitable
that Jim and Helga would meet. ("Destiny," he happily acknowledges.)
They married in 1956.
"I’d just bought a brand-new Mercury," Jim remembers, with a
chuckle, "and I had to get rid of it when we got married, because Helga
couldn’t drive a stick-shift."
Within a few short months, Sasseville’s life turned around again,
when he became the best of Schulz’s never-credited "Peanuts" ghosts.
Whenever asked, Charles Schulz would repeat the statement that
became ubiquitous Unlike those involved with other "assembly-line"
newspaper comic strips, he remained the only person whose hands touched
the adventures of Charlie Brown and the gang. Schulz wrote, drew, inked
and lettered his strip, and did so during the entire run October 2,
1950, to February 13, 2000. Schulz always insisted that the strip would
cease production when he finally called it quits, a wish that his family
has honored. Unlike other classic strips that have been revived, often
by lesser talents, "Peanuts" will forevermore remain solely a Schulz
legacy.
Except ... that’s not entirely true.
During the 1950s and early ’60s, Charlie Brown and his friends
didn’t just appear in newspaper strips; they also were a popular feature
of comic books ... a medium usually dominated by the likes of Superman
and Captain America, but one that included plenty of room for lighter
fare.
And -- surprise, surprise! -- when the "Peanuts" comic book
appearances stopped being newspaper reprints and "graduated" into
original features in 1957, sharp-eyed fans probably could discern that
somebody other than Sparky Schulz was doing the artwork.
To keep the chronology consistent, let’s turn back the clock to
1952, when "Peanuts" simultaneously debuted as a supporting feature in
two comic books -- the March-April issues of Tip Top Comics (#173) and
United Comics (#21) -- both published by United Feature Syndicate, which
routinely recycled many of its newspaper features in these and other
comic books. The "Peanuts" supporting feature moved into a third book,
Tip Topper, beginning with #17 (June-July 1952); it remained there until
the book was discontinued after #28 (April-May 1954). Shortly before
this final issue of Tip Topper, "Peanuts" returned to Tip Top as a
supporting feature, beginning with #184 (Jan.-Feb. 1954) and continuing
through #188 (Sept.-Oct. 1954). Several of these later issues feature
gorgeous Peanuts covers, which -- although not signed -- appear to be by
Schulz.
"Peanuts" also appeared, during this same period, as a back-up
feature in most issues of United Comics, later retitled Fritzi Ritz
(beginning with #27). The run here also was consecutive #21-#33 (the
latter dated March-April 1954). Stray issues of Sparkler Comics and
Sparkle Comics also included some "Peanuts" reprints, although not on a
regular basis.
UFS got out of the comic book publishing business at the end of
1954, and some of its titles were picked up by St. John in 1955,
including Fritzi Ritz and Tip Top. Despite a noticeable gap of several
months, the numbering of both books continued consecutively. Thus, Tip
Top resumed with #189 (May 1955), and continued to include "Peanuts" as
a supporting feature during St. John’s entire run of this book, through
#210 (July 1957). "Peanuts" was only an occasional supporting feature in
St. John’s run of Fritzi Ritz, starting with #37 (July 1955) and
continuing through #55. Finally, at least one issue of Nancy -- #142
(March 1957) -- also featured Peanuts reprints.
Big changes came in late 1957, and not just because St. John
abandoned these books and turned them over to Dell Comics (Western
Publishing). After a delay of several months to half a year -- depending
on the title -- Dell revived the flagship St. John titles, again with
consecutive numbering. Thus, Tip Top #211 returned as a quarterly with a
cover date of Nov. 1957-Jan. 1958. Fritzi Ritz resumed with #56, dated
Dec. 1957-Feb. 1958.
Under Dell’s stewardship, Charlie Brown and the gang also became a
regular supporting feature in Nancy, beginning with #146 (Sept. 1957).
The biggest change, however, concerned the content in all three books.
When Dell took over, the covers promised "All brand-new stories" ... and
they meant it.
"Peanuts" fans spotted the change in Nancy #146, which boasted a
four-page story with a baseball theme, clearly produced by Schulz
himself (although unsigned); Jim confirms Sparky’s linework. But Schulz
quickly realized that producing four full pages of original art for
Nancy on a monthly basis, not to mention similar duties for the
quarterly Tip Top and Fritzi Ritz, would be more than he was willing to
handle. Then, too, he was only months away from debuting his own second
newspaper strip, "It’s Only a Game" (about which more below).
Schulz allowed Dell’s house art department to handle his characters
in Nancy #147, but was unhappy with the results. (No surprise; the art
is quite weak.) Schulz stepped in again for issue #148, but the workload
problem hadn’t changed. Wanting greater fidelity to his own style,
Schulz turned to Jim, who took over the reins with issue #149 and
continued through #168 (July 1959). Jim essentially became Schulz’s
employee and was paid $100 per week for this work; since he was making
only $80 per week at Art Instruction, this -- along with the even higher
paycheck he’d soon receive, for helping Schulz with "It’s Only a Game"
-- was a substantial raise.
As a ghosting assignment, the results are impressive. Charlie Brown
and Linus’ heads are notoriously difficult to reproduce in Schulz’s
signature style, but Jim came damn close. More to the point, the
characters are posed and conduct themselves in a way that’s absolutely
typical of their behavior in Sparky’s newspaper strip. Art purists may
have noticed that Jim wasn’t Schulz, but casual readers were unlikely to
have detected the difference.
The four-page story above is taken from Nancy #151, February 1958.
(Click on the pages to enlarge them.)
"He gave me carte blanche on writing them, and I felt like a
faithful uncle," Jim says, with no small amount of pride at his ability
to reproduce Charlie Brown and the gang.
Although Jim’s take on the "Peanuts" gang in Nancy #149 was the
first to reach fans, it was not the ghost artist’s debut crack at
Charlie Brown. Jim’s first completed "Peanuts" comic book adventure was
"The Trip," one of a quartet of eight-page stories (packaged with three
one-page stories) that eventually appeared as issue #878 (Feb. 1958) of
Dell’s Four Color Comics, an "umbrella title" that rotated various
stars; this issue, boasting a gorgeous signed Schulz cover, was the
first one devoted to "Peanuts."
Ever the imp, Jim inserted a personal reference into "The Trip."
The number on the dog license that Charlie Brown uses -- 891-68-14 -- to
justify his getting behind the wheel of a station wagon, was the
artist’s Navy serial number.
Jim also did the work in the Fritzi Ritz and Tip Top issues during
this time, and it’s important to note that he had a completely free rein
with these comic book stories, handling both art and writing chores.
Fritzi Ritz lasted only four issues under the Dell label, before
being discontinued after #59 (Sept.-Nov. 1958). "Peanuts" did not appear
in #56, but each of the remaining three issues included a new four-page
story by Jim. He also handled the work for Tip Top #211 through #215
(Nov. 1958-Jan. 1959). In Tip Top, Charlie Brown and his friends shared
covers with Nancy, Sluggo, and the Captain and the Kids. Although
unsigned, Schulz drew these "Peanuts" cover panels for issues 211-213,
and Jim handled 214 and 215.
Sasseville did the Peanuts art in these issues of Tip Top, #214 and #215.
(Click on the pages to enlarge them.)
All told, then, Jim drew the interior stories in 20 issues of
Nancy, three issues of Fritzi Ritz, and five issues of Tip Top, along
with Four Color #878. This relationship with Schulz and Dell Comics took
an unexpected turn when the two men parted unhappily, and Jim’s final
work for Dell was the long kite story in the second all-"Peanuts" issue
of Four Color Comics (#969, Feb. 1959), along with the inside front and
inside back cover one-pagers.
The completion of that particular issue became something of a
marathon art session. After announcing that he and Helga would be moving
to Berkeley, Jim took stock of the pending Dell workload, and discovered
that the deadline for the second all-Peanuts issue of Four Color Comics
was imminent. Jim promised to finish this before the move, but Sparky
suggested that the job would proceed faster if they worked on it
together. The two men thus divided the work between them, and began
early one morning with what turned into a lengthy session stretching
well into the evening. During that time, Jim completed the
aforementioned two one-page stories and one eight-page story, while
Sparky handled the remaining one-page story and THREE eight-page
stories.
"There’s no doubt who was the faster artist," Jim notes, with a
chuckle. "He certainly put me in my place!"
Jim still remembers that session as a euphoric rush ... but it
concluded on a gloomy note, when, resting in the happy afterglow of a
job well done, Schulz revealed the fate of "It’s Only a Game" (see
below).
In the aftermath, Schulz also stepped in and handled all the work
for Nancy #169 (August 1959). Clearly, this was a rush job, and Schulz
borrowed from himself The final panel of this four-page story is almost
identical to the final panel of the June 23, 1957, "Peanuts" Sunday
strip. The comic book storyline is an expansion of that Sunday strip,
and the aforementioned final panel in the comic book is signed by Schulz
... the only case where any interior comic book stories bear his
signature.
Because the split was far from amicable, Jim did not follow the
subsequent comic book adventures of Charlie Brown and his friends, in
Nancy and Tip Top. On close examination just a few weeks ago -- in many
cases, seeing this work for the first time -- Jim pointed to specific
poses, characteristics and lettering attributes ("Sparky always rounded
out the bottoms of his W’s") that leave him convinced that Schulz either
penciled and inked the next several issues of both Nancy and Tip Top, or
at least roughed in the panel layout, inked the primary characters --
particularly their heads -- and lettered the word balloons. This seems
likely; carefully examination of individual pages reveals an occasional
Snoopy or Lucy which, not matching the rest, clearly must have been
inked by somebody else.
But Dale Hale, Schulz’s new apprentice and ghost -- and another
associate from Art Instruction Schools -- caught on quickly, and the
artwork in both books retained its Schulz-like characteristics through
roughly late 1960 or early 1961. At this point, other hands clearly took
over -- possibly Tony Pocrnick, another Schulz associate from Art
Instruction -- and the "Peanuts" characters became ever-more distant
from the Schulz ideal until the final issues of Tip Top (#225, May-July
1961) and Nancy. (By then the latter had been retitled Nancy and Sluggo,
and its final five issues were released under the Gold Key imprint; the
book was discontinued with issue #192, October 1963.) The "Peanuts"
artwork in the last issues of both books is, in a word, dreadful.
A third all-"Peanuts" issue of Four Color Comics was produced
(#1015, August-October 1959), after which the characters got their own
book that began with issue #4 (Feb.-April 1960), by way of acknowledging
those first three appearances in Four Color Comics. This lasted through
#13 (May-July 1962), after which the book was discontinued. Each of
these issues features a signed Schulz cover, but other hands --
certainly Hale, at first -- handled all the interior artwork and writing
(which, as with the latter issues of Nancy and Tip Top, grew less
Schulz-like over time).
But what had happened, to sever the friendship between Schulz and
Jim, which stretched back a decade?
Bouncing back a year or so...
Although already quite popular and gaining fans -- and syndicate
clients -- all the time, in 1957 "Peanuts" was not yet the multimedia
sensation it was to become within another decade. Schulz must have had
some free time that needed filling, and therefore was comfortable with
the concept of pitching a second strip concept to United Features
Syndicate. The artist had lots of ideas about games near and dear to his
heart, including golf, tennis, baseball and bridge. No doubt realizing
that twice as much Schulz per week was a good thing, UFS jumped at the
chance, and the sports and recreation-themed "It’s Only a Game" was
born. For awhile, Schulz joined later stars such as Johnny Hart ("B.C."
and "The Wizard of Id"), Mell Lazarus ("Miss Peach" and "Momma") and
Jerry Scott ("Baby Blues" and "Zits"), with two newspaper strips running
simultaneously.
Each installment of "It’s Only a Game, by Charles M. Schulz,"
hearkening back to Schulz’s very early work on "Li’l Folks" in The St.
Paul Pioneer Press, was comprised of three separate single-panel gag
strips. The package was offered to clients in two different formats as
three single-panel strips per week, to run on Mondays, Wednesdays and
Fridays; or as a combined grouping of three that would appear in Sunday
comics sections. The combined Sunday grouping also had a bonus fourth
cartoon a tiny, captionless visual gag -- very much like the
intermarginal gags that Sergio Aragonés would pepper throughout future
issues of Mad Magazine -- that appeared to the right of the title and
Schulz’s byline. The subject matter of the Monday and Wednesday panels
varied from week to week, but the Friday installment always centered
around bridge, the then-popular card game that Schulz loved. (Further
evidence of this affection could be seen in "Peanuts," where the kids
routinely played the game in the early 1950s, and Woodstock and a
foursome of his bird buddies picked it up in the 1970s and beyond.)
Charles Schulz did this January 12, 1958, "It's Only a Game" panel himself. Note his signature within the art of the right-most panel.
During an October 6, 1957, interview with Schulz, the Chicago
Tribune proudly boasted that it would be one of the flagship newspapers
to carry this new feature. The Tribune selected the weekly option, and
ran "It’s Only a Game" in its Sunday magazine. The debut installment
appeared November 3, 1957, and immediately set the tone for what would
follow, with panels devoted to boxing, golf and bridge. The middle panel
is a hoot, with a middle-aged duffer -- one easily can imagine Charlie
Brown in his 40s -- lamenting a putt that has left his ball perched at
the edge of the cup (but not in), and saying, "I think I’m going to
cry."
Subsequent installments covered checkers, bowling, curling (!),
table tennis, croquet, billiards, ice fishing, darts and even camping.
But as 1957 turned into 1958, something must have changed. Perhaps
Schulz had underestimated the amount of time involved with producing a
second weekly newspaper strip; maybe he also was spending more time than
expected overseeing the new "Peanuts" content in the Dell comic books.
Or, more likely, the "Peanuts" empire as a whole was occupying more of
his time; 1958 saw the production of the first "Peanuts" toys -- plastic
dolls of the major characters, produced by Hungerford -- and of course
this was just the tip of an approaching iceberg.
Whatever the reason, Schulz decided to hand over the lion’s share
of the artistic chores to Jim. Schulz’s solo involvement with "It’s Only
a Game" continued through the January 12, 1958, installment; this is the
last one to bear his signature on one of the cartoon panels. (Schulz’s
name continued to run alone in the masthead, however, making Jim a true
ghost.) As of January 19, 1958, Jim -- often working from hastily
penciled sketches and captions supplied by Schulz -- did all the
newspaper strip’s finished art and lettering.
Sasseville did this January 26, 1958, "It's Only a Game" panel himself. Note that Schulz's signature is nowhere to be seen within the art.
Jim vividly remembers this transition date, because just one week later,
with his second time at bat with the solo art chores, he was paid a
singular honor. That week’s Monday panel, a bowling strip, featured
three league players welcoming a fourth, apparently a little tardy, with
the exclamation of, "Three cheers, gang! Our number one man has
arrived!" A loyal reader sent UFS a black-and-white photo of himself
with three friends, staged to look precisely like the four figures in
Jim’s illustration. The "camera angle" was identical, along with
clothing, body position, and everything else in the frame. The
resemblance even extended to the men themselves, who had body shapes and
hairstyles eerily similar to those found in the panel art.
Jim still has the photo.
Sasseville received this photo recreation of his "It's Only a Game" gag from a fan. Note the date stamp at the top of the photo.
The degree to which Jim successfully imitated Schulz’s linework can
be seen by the fact that the transition was seamless; no casual reader
could have discerned that the hand on the inker’s pen had changed.
During the remainder of 1958, the two men continued to work in the same
fashion, Jim often finishing Schulz’s rough concepts, but also
contributing many of his own original ideas. He also inserted the
occasional personal reference; the boat from which a husband and wife
fish, in one of the June 29, 1958, panels, is the Helga, named after
Jim’s wife.
But Jim remembers that he never came up with any of the concepts
for Friday’s bridge panels, for the simple reason that he didn’t know
the game.
Although he labored in anonymity, Jim was well compensated
financially, and he still speaks appreciatively of Sparky’s generosity.
Schulz had negotiated for 50% of the strip’s income, the other half
going to UFS. This 50% amounted to slightly more than $500 per week;
when Jim came on board, Schulz generously gave half of HIS half to his
new partner, and so Jim brought home $250 per week (after expenses) for
his efforts ... quite a lot of money in 1958.
The two men were living in Minneapolis when this collaboration
began; after the first five months, in May 1958, Jim and his wife
followed the Schulz family to Northern California. Lacking a place to
stay in Sebastopol -- not to mention furniture and other amenities --
the Sassevilles first spent a couple of months a bit south, in Corta
Madera. "For two or three weeks, I drew the comic book stuff and ‘It’s
Only a Game’ on a portable drawing board. But I stayed in touch with
Sparky on the phone, and he supplied the ideas for ‘It’s Only a Game.’ "
The Sassevilles then found a home in Sebastopol. Between "It’s Only
a Game" and the work he also was doing for the "Peanuts" strips in the
Dell comic books, Jim was quite gainfully employed by his new partner
and boss.
Unfortunately, it was not to last.
"It’s Only a Game" began with 30 client newspapers; nearly a year
later, it had ... 30 client newspapers.
(A complete client list has been lost to the mists of time, although
it is known that the feature was carried by The Boston Globe, the Detroit
Free Press, The Chicago Tribune, The Minneapolis Tribune, the San Francisco
Chronicle and The Baltimore Sun.)
The strip never took off, despite strong support from fans such as
bridge expert Charles Goren (who wrote a couple of letters), and even
Schulz’s name didn’t seem to make much of a difference.
But we also can assume that the proud and perfectionist-minded
Schulz -- who in later years, as mentioned above, often made a point of
describing how in "Peanuts" he penciled and inked every line, and
lettered every word balloon -- probably was bothered by the fact that he
wasn’t similarly in sole control of "It’s Only a Game." To be sure, he
was INVOLVED, but he wasn’t actually drawing what appeared in those 30
client newspapers.
"He didn’t like his name being used on somebody else’s work," Jim
recalls, "and I don’t blame him for that."
That, coupled with moribund sales and some tension with the head
UFS salesman to whom Schulz initially had pitched the idea, eventually
prompted an astonishing decision In late 1958, just 12 months into a
solid five-year contract, Schulz made it plain to UFS that he wished to
discontinue "It’s Only a Game." Perhaps recognizing that the strip
wasn’t performing as hoped, UFS agreed.
Schulz did not consult Jim before taking this step; indeed, the
news came as a complete shock to Schulz’s ghost, who’d been very happy
with his work, and the strip, and the $250 per week.
Schulz even tried to sugar-coat the news "You’re off the hook,"
Jim recalls his employer saying (as if this were a GOOD thing), at the
end of that euphoric day when they finished work on the second
all-Peanuts issue of Dell’s Four Color Comics. Jim had just assured
Sparky that his pending move to Berkeley would not affect his ability to
work on "It’s Only a Game," and now the rug had been pulled out from
under him.
The fallout was immediate; it certainly was the final straw for
Helga, who already had been dissatisfied with their home in Sebastopol
-- hence the move to Berkeley -- and also was unhappy about the friction
that existed between her and Joyce, Schulz’s first wife. Helga had
endured Nazi Germany, survived the entire war -- in and out of work
camps -- and had lost her father at Dachau; she was not a woman to keep
opinions to herself.
"I realized I was working on a flawed product, which the creator
and marketer wanted nothing more to do with. Still, I had held out the
hope that maybe Sparky might offer the entire feature to me, although I
realized that there’d be problems with the syndicate," Jim admits, a
touch of wistfulness still clouding the memory after more than 40 years.
"They should have been pretty familiar with my work by then."
It didn’t happen. By the time the final installment of "It’s Only a
Game" appeared, on January 11, 1959 -- the two always had worked six
weeks ahead -- Jim and Schulz had severed all relations, professional
and personal. This also included Jim’s ghosting work on the Dell comic
books. The split was permanent, and the two men never reconciled.
Although "It’s Only a Game" ran for 63 consecutive weeks, it
quickly became a fading memory -- and then an overlooked footnote -- in
Schulz’s career. He rarely mentioned it during later interviews, and
then only obliquely, citing neither date specifics nor his collaboration
with Jim.
"We were the best of friends at first," Jim recalls ruefully. He
happily remembers attending the 1951 National Cartoonists Convention
with Sparky, and also another time when they both went to visit and swap
stories with a fellow artist, Robert M. Brinkerhoff, who lived in
Minneapolis and was known for a newspaper strip called "Little Mary
Mix-Up." Brinkerhoff, in turn -- like many other cartoonists at that
time -- greatly admired J.R. Williams (creator of "Out Our Way"), whom
he once described as "the greatest cowboy ever to walk the streets of
New York." Brinkerhoff related how he had wheedled, begged and finally
finagled an invitation to Williams’ ranch in Montana. Although only
interested in seeing the fabulous studio that he assumed his idol must
have on so massive a spread, Brinkerhoff first had to put up with being
shown all the livestock and the other attractions of a working ranch. As
the visit stretched on, Brinkerhoff finally couldn’t stand it any longer
and demanded to see where Williams did his work.
With a resigned sigh (as Jim recalls Brinkerhoff describing this
incident), Williams walked over to his wife’s sewing machine, took off
the cover, and flipped it over ... and that was it The great J.R.
Williams did all his drawing on the cover of his wife’s sewing machine.
As others have observed, there’s never any reason to embrace
technology or an environment any fancier than that required to get the
job done.
Cartoonists love to talk shop, and Jim’s no different; merely
relating this little tale brings a sparkle into his eyes. And, to this
day, he doesn’t really understand what happened between him and Schulz.
"I feel kind of weird about all this. Sparky obviously wanted me to
succeed in the early days, and even was willing to collaborate with me
on one of my own projects (one of the many variations of "Joe Cipher,"
discussed below). But then when he had a chance to really help me out,
he didn’t make any effort whatsoever ... and left me in rather dire
straits."
Such feelings notwithstanding, all these years later Jim is firm on
one point "Charles M. Schulz was the greatest comic strip artist ever."
And although he certainly couldn’t have known it at the time, Jim
never again would earn his living as a cartoonist.
Before, during and after his working association with Schulz, Jim
played around with many of his own ideas.
If persistence counts for anything, he deserves considerable credit
for his ongoing efforts to sell "Joe Cipher" ("a character kinda based
on me"), a daily strip that underwent quite a few transmutations during
the decade-plus that he tried to place it with a syndicate.
The character first appeared in a sample series of daily strips Jim
produced in late 1949. The strip’s gentle humor is faintly reminiscent
of "Gasoline Alley" and other character-driven work of the era; the
title character is introduced driving an old jalopy that obligingly runs
out of gas at a filling station. The silver-tongued Joe, lacking any
money, eventually impresses the station owner into offering him a job;
Joe celebrates by stepping into a nearby diner for lunch, where he’s
immediately smitten by the young woman behind the counter, and...
...and that’s where the presentation panels concluded.
Perhaps feeling that the strip lacked dramatic impact, a few years
later -- while still at AIS -- Jim tried again, shifting the action to a
tiny island in the middle of the ocean, where the shipwrecked Joe is
joined by an attractive young woman named Ginny, survivor of a second
sea-going calamity. (What are the odds?) Although their relationship is
mildly prickly for the first few days, Ginny eventually wishes aloud
that they could be rescued, so that she can go on a "proper date" with
Joe, and perhaps even kiss him when the evening concludes. Once again,
the story cut off abruptly, as Jim produced just two weeks’ worth of
strips enough to (hopefully) interest a buyer.
Sasseville tried several times to place a comic strip starring Joe Cipher, the pleasant-looking chap
featured in these examples. The two left-most strips are taken from the first run Sasseville designed on his own;
the two right-most strips, starring the same character but
in a different setting, are from Sasseville's third
test run; Charles Schulz contributed story input on these.
(Click on the image to see an enlarged version.)
After getting back from his return hitch in the Navy, Jim
went back to work on Joe Cipher and got a nibble from an
unexpected quarter: Something about this particular setting
touched Schulz, who suggested they collaborate on yet
a third incarnation of "Joe Cipher." (At the time, both men still were
unmarried, and it’s not hard to see a little male fantasy
wish-fulfillment at work.) With narrative input from Schulz and Jim
handling the art chores, the scene shifted again, this time to a
typically romantic South Seas setting, on an island large enough to
support a population of curvaceous young cuties and at least one
villain. Joe and Ginny remained the central focus, but this time the
former saw genuine action, on the receiving end of the villain’s fists.
Schulz and Jim took this newest version of "Joe Cipher" to United
Features Syndicate in spring of 1954; it was turned down flat. The
trip to New York wasn't a complete waste, though, because Sasseville
and Schulz caught a couple of plays: a T.S. Elliot drama called
Confidential Clerk, and another called The King of
Hearts, which starred Jackie Cooper as (what are the odds?)
a cartoonist!
Sasseville also remembers going from suite to suite in New
York's Waldorf hotel during this trip, visiting one cartoonist
after another; meeting Al Capp was a high point. But at least
part of the reason for the trip -- the newest Joe Cipher -- proved
unsellable, and Schulz bowed out at that point.
When Jim finally returned to "Joe Cipher," the 1950s were almost
over. Jim’s association with "Peanuts" and "It’s Only a Game" had
concluded, so the writer/artist returned to his favorite unsold
property. Jim recast his hero in yet another new setting, this time a
business office populated by characters clearly derived from his days at
Art Instruction. Although the sample panels display even cleaner, more
attractive line work -- a sure sign of his growing comfort as an artist
-- Jim had no better luck this time around.
Still refusing to abandon hope, Jim tried one more time In early
1960, after having moved to Berkeley, he once again changed the setting
completely, and turned Joe Cipher into "Sir Joe." This Arthurian-based
concept focused on genuinely whimsical gags involving heavy armor,
maidens in distress, and fire-breathing dragons. Jim’s dragons are
particularly funny, and this newest reboot seems ripe with
possibilities; it’s not at all hard to envision a daily strip evolving
from these samples.
Alas, syndicates once again failed to see any potential, and "Joe
Cipher" was put into Jim’s trunk as no more than another engaging
footnote in the artist’s collection of rejection slips.
Jim didn’t confine his efforts to "Joe Cipher"; the writer/artist
had no shortage of ideas, quite a few of which also wound up as
submission concepts. "Aunty Climax," produced in early 1957 -- just
prior to Jim’s ghost work for Dell comics -- was a single-panel gag
strip that starred a feisty little old lady who was far sharper than
most people assumed. She was based on Louise Cassidy, an AIS colleague
who also was the landlady for the building where Jim briefly lived with
Charles Cuddy. Jim produced a few dozen "Aunty Climax" panels, all of
which are vastly superior -- both in terms of writing and artwork -- to
many of the single-panel cartoons cluttering today’s newspapers.
"Confessions of a French Poodle" was a 1959 concept that didn’t
emerge much further than a few finished panels and lots of pencil
sketches; Jim good-naturedly admits that the idea went nowhere, and so
he abandoned it. That may have been shrewd market analysis, as the
medium never has lacked for dog-oriented material. Even so, French
poodles are funny in their own right, and Jim’s concept sketches are a
hoot.
When not working on Peanuts-related material, Sasseville tried to sell many of his own strip ideas
to a syndicate. From left to right, these examples are "Aunty Climax," "Friends and Foes," "Alpha-Betty" and "Happy Birthday."
(Click on the image to see an enlarged version.)
"Friends and Foes," another single-panel tryout, also emerged from
Jim’s pen in 1959. A little later, shortly after he started putting food
on the table with a "real job" -- and perhaps motivated by the explosion
of children’s television shows, which eventually led to "Sesame Street"
and everything that followed -- Jim tried a kid-oriented educational
strip called "Alpha-Betty," which starred a little girl who finds
herself in an other-worldly land populated by men and women shaped like
letters of the alphabet. The personalities of these individuals were
defined by their appearance; curved female letters, for example, were
far more sultry that straight female letters. The strip has a lovely
"Alice in Wonderland" quality, although the concept may have seemed
limiting.
Jim later played with the medium in "Blackboard," a daily strip
designed to be white-on-black, to imitate chalk on a classroom
blackboard. The stars were Dick, Jane and their TeacheR; although not as
overly educational as "Alpha-Betty," this strip also was aimed at young
audiences.
Jim’s final attempt at syndication was produced in the early 1970s,
after he first went into research hibernation, jotting down enough
celebrity birthdays to fill every day of a calendar year. The resulting
single-panel strips were a precursor to the "On this day in history..."
informational nuggets that have become so ubiquitous The panel for
March 28, for example, illustrated and revealed a few choice facts about
orchestra leader Paul Whiteman. March 29 was devoted to President John
Tyler, while Francisco Goya was featured on March 30.
Sadly, this fared no better with syndicators than any of the
others. "Joe Cipher," "Aunty Climax," "Confessions of a French Poodle,"
"Friends and Foes," "Alpha-Betty," "Blackboard" and "Birthdays" exist only
in Jim’s carefully preserved office files. More’s the pity, because even
the weakest of these strips displays a Puckish wit and clean, attractive
line work too often absent from many of the rushed, imitative strips
that generate little more than reader apathy these days.
Following the dust-up with Schulz and the move to Berkeley, Helga
-- who was delighted by the more rarefied atmosphere of a university
community -- became the family bread-winner. She took a job with a
German importer/exporter and commuted daily across the Bay Bridge.
Eventually succumbing to the need for steady employment, in April
1960 Jim took a job as a graphic designer with Varian, one of the
leading radar companies, located in California’s greater San Francisco
Bay Area. The fit proved comfortable, and he remained with the company
until he retired in 1990.
But the career shift wasn’t immediate; Jim first spent most of 1959
working up his own aforementioned comic strip proposals, and
occasionally sold individual gag cartoons to magazines. But his New
York-based agent took 35% of those one-shots.
"That’s when I started with Varian," Jim recalls, with a chuckle.
"I knew I’d never make it as a gag cartoonist."
Be that as it may, Jim never stopped his cartooning efforts; while
at Varian, he became famous for the birthday cards that he drew for
fellow employees.
Helga, meanwhile, got a job at Stanford, which prompted another
move; the couple then purchased their first home in 1960, in Mountain
View.
Three years later, they moved for what would be the last time. Jim
and his wife paid $28,000 for the house that remains his home to this
day. Just last year the retired artist was offered a cool million bucks
-- in cash -- by a dot-commer who wanted to develop the property. Still
loyal to the memories of his wife, with which the house is filled, Jim
politely declined. Helga died in 1995; he clearly still misses her.
Today, Parkinson’s Disease and the recent stroke have conspired to
deliver the ultimate nightmare Jim no longer can hold a pen well enough
to draw. ("I always marveled at Sparky’s ability to incorporate his
shaking hand into his line work.") But his mind and memory remain
acutely sharp, and his Puckish sense of humor is unbowed. He speaks with
clarity and certainty of his years at Art Instruction School, and with
Schulz, and of his never-successful efforts to market his own original
material.
Jim remains philosophical about his life, and in fact composed
another of his verses to express such feelings
I’m all for equal measures
Losses should be matched by gain;
And since I’ve missed life’s pleasures,
I’ll just double up with pain!
Definitely too harsh, but then we’re always hardest on ourselves.
Jim Sasseville deserves far more than the obscurity into which he has
settled; for a time, he was allied with the man who would become the
world’s most successful cartoonist, and for a time he helped chaperone
the faithfully rendered adventures of Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Linus, Lucy
and the rest ... no small feat.
And I’m particularly transfixed by a remark Jim made during one of
our later phone calls "I don’t know how one should behave, in a
situation like this," he said, referring to our ongoing conversations,
"but it’s like I’ve been resurrected."
Perhaps this article will kick-start our long-overdue obligation to
sing his praises.
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All PEANUTS characters pictured are copyrighted by United Feature Syndicate, Inc. They are used here with permission. They may not be reproduced by any means in any form.
Sasseville was born August 28, 1927, and grew up in Minneapolis,
Minnesota. He enrolled in a public school kindergarten class, but from
the first through eighth grades enjoyed (endured?) a parochial school
education, complete with Latin. To this day, he can parse verbs like a
pro.
He became a full-fledged altar boy in fifth grade ("Those were the
good ol’ days, when they still did the complete Mass in Latin"), and
remembers a mischievous incident when he and a classmate elbowed each
other while genuflecting during a service.
Not a big deal, really ... but after the service, once behind the
scenes, the priest took quick action. "He grabbed both of our heads, and
I can still feel the collision today, after he clonked us together."
Art was an interest from very early on ("I drew all the time"), and
Jim recalls getting an A in art and history in seventh grade, for his
illustrated history of Napoleon. "It was like historical comics," he
points out now, with hindsight. "I was years ahead of my time."
After eighth grade, Jim shifted back to public school during his
high school career. He took the art classes offered at his school, but
did not pursue this interest with any extra-curricular instruction.
By this time, the war was on; Jim isn’t even sure, all these years
later, whether he officially completed high school. Whether he graduated
or released himself, he and a friend then hitchhiked across the country.
Jim’s 18th birthday found them in Portland, Oregon, where the two worked
the remainder of that summer at the Kaiser shipyards. Jim then enlisted
in the U.S. Navy, while his friend returned to Minneapolis. Jim was
assigned to the fleet post office after boot training, and he served
precisely 11 months and 29 days ... a hitch whose length would come back
to haunt him.
After being discharged, Jim entered the Minneapolis School of Art
(at the time, a trade school) for a three-year term, and graduated in
1948. He gravitated toward Art Instruction School (which already
included a certain Charles M. "Sparky" Schulz among its staff), and in
the summer of 1949, while 22 years old, prepared a gorgeous hand-drawn
and lettered portfolio, with a self-portrait in full watercolor, to
introduce himself and his artistic talents; the brochure’s dozen or so
pages must have been one of the most ambitious job applications that the
institution ever had received.
Although interested in cartooning, at that point Jim preferred
painting, which this full-color introductory portfolio makes abundantly
clear. (He still has it, lovingly preserved and in excellent condition.)
Obviously, the ploy worked. Jim was hired at a starting salary of
$35 per week. The oversized 1950 Art Instruction Schools Inc. booklet
("Your Art School!"), produced not much later and handed out to all
prospective clients, includes his photo on Page 3, immediately before
Schulz’s picture.
"James F. Sasseville," reads the caption beneath the photo, "is an
instructor in rendering and advertising illustration. He is one of our
best figure illustrators in color."
While at Art Instruction, Jim joined the team that graded all the
submissions -- the "Can you draw me?" applications -- that arrived via
mail or hand delivery. The bottom-line desire, of course, was to
encourage those with even the smallest shred of talent, in order to get
an AIS salesman in the family’s front door; after all, the money was
made by selling art instruction courses. Since manilla envelopes poured
in like mad, speed-grading was essential.
"I spent years correcting Lesson No. 5, which was an advertising
project, where the students had to design a streetcar poster on the
theme ‘See the Orient.’ "
Jim remembers marking all but the very best submissions with
nothing more than alpha-numeric codes (A6, A17, and so forth), which AIS
secretaries then would translate into form paragraph replies.
"But they always were nicely typed up," Jim remembers, knowing full
well that the recipients carefully scrutinized every analytical word.
Sasseville and Schulz became good friends ("We had a similar sense
of humor"), and Sparky encouraged Jim to pursue comic strips. Jim even
got his hair cut more than once in Schulz’s father’s barbershop.
"Sparky bet me, in late 1949, that I’d sell a comic strip to a
syndicate before he would," Jim remembers, with a smile. "As it turned
out, I won that bet hands-down."
In between grading assignments, Jim and his fellow employees
produced thousands upon thousands of quickly penciled drawings on
4-by-7-inch sketchpads. In this respect, these artists were no different
than their counterparts at Disney and Warner Brothers animation studios,
who also filled the minutes between "real work" with impressive little
doodles and caricatures of each other, all of which are the envy of
collectors today (when they surface in the first place). Jim still has
stacks and stacks of such impromptu efforts, including a few caricatures
of Schulz and other AIS friends, and several pages of "Peanuts"
character roughs. (Even then, he must have been planning ahead...) Most
are plain pencil on paper, but some are blue-line; in either case, they
reveal one of Jim’s artistic strengths an ability to capture a person’s
eyes with remarkably lifelike clarity.
(Unfortunately, he did not save his collection of Schulz originals.
"I gave away all my junk foolishly, many years ago ... somebody conned
me out of almost all my original Schulz drawings.")
Jim never lost his art-school fascination with centaurs and nudes,
and many of his sketchpad pages are filled with fetchingly unclad
cuties. Hiring and drawing undraped models was fairly common among Jim
and his colleagues, although not quite all of his colleagues "I can’t
remember Sparky taking any part in that whatsoever."
Such figure studies also sparked Jim’s impish literary talents,
honed by a life-long fascination with poetry (T.S. Eliot’s "Distracted
from distraction by distraction" remains a personal mantra).
Jim still recalls many of his favorite invented verses, such as
this one, which would have been loved by Ogden Nash
A centaur met a mermaid, as he trotted by the sea;
She noticed not his heavy hooves, nor he her single knee,
As they lingered there, expelling time with heart-inspired chatter
The direction of their love so strong ... bottoms didn’t matter!
Jim’s tenure at Art Instruction was interrupted in mid 1952, when
Uncle Sam tapped his shoulder again. The Korean War was underway, and
those who previously had served less than a full year were being
recalled ... so those two days shy of a year forced a second hitch that
lasted through 1954.
"I was sent to the Philippines," Jim notes dryly, thinking back to
all the Lesson No. 5 submissions that he had graded, "so I certainly saw
the Orient."
This second 14-month hitch of active duty certainly wasn’t wasted,
in terms of Jim’s artistic skills; he worked for an Irish Catholic
chaplain and did a weekly mimeographed newspaper for U.S. Naval Mobile
Construction Battalion 9 ("I was drawing cartoons up the gazoo"). The
unit’s 1952-53 Cruise Book features a great full-page Jim illustration
on Page 33; titled "Cubi Point, P.I.," it shows five sailors watching a
dog face off with a monkey.
Jim’s relationship with Father John James Kileen never was dull, in
part because the artist was a lapsed Catholic.
"He worked the hell out of me, but then he’d always invite me into
his quarters for a nip, and then try to entice me back into the fold."
After his second stint in the Navy concluded, Jim returned to
civilian life (this time for good), and to Art Instruction Schools,
where he and Schulz picked up where they’d left off. In between grading
assignments and sketching his office buddies, Jim placed a few gag
cartoons in magazines, such as a droll three-panel sequence of a guy
having trouble with a jack, while attempting to fix a flat tire, which
appeared on Page 45 of the August 1957 issue of Gent, a
long-discontinued men’s magazine.
Jim met Helga, his future wife, as a result of his Navy friendship
with Charles Cuddy. She had immigrated to the United States when
sponsored by a South Dakota politician and his family ("mostly for slave
labor," Jim perceptively remarks); Helga was unfamiliar with the farm
environment, and decamped for Minneapolis as soon as she could. She
entered the University of Minnesota with a vengeance; her half-Jewish
heritage had kept her out of institutions of higher learning in her
native Germany.
She also enrolled in art school and wound up in one class being
taught by Dave Ratner, a colleague and friend with whom Jim went to art
school; she also landed in some of the same classes as Cuddy, who for a
time shared a boarding house attic ("a garret") with Jim. Since this
colony of Minneapolis artists wasn’t all that large, it was inevitable
that Jim and Helga would meet. ("Destiny," he happily acknowledges.)
They married in 1956.
"I’d just bought a brand-new Mercury," Jim remembers, with a
chuckle, "and I had to get rid of it when we got married, because Helga
couldn’t drive a stick-shift."
Within a few short months, Sasseville’s life turned around again,
when he became the best of Schulz’s never-credited "Peanuts" ghosts.
Whenever asked, Charles Schulz would repeat the statement that
became ubiquitous Unlike those involved with other "assembly-line"
newspaper comic strips, he remained the only person whose hands touched
the adventures of Charlie Brown and the gang. Schulz wrote, drew, inked
and lettered his strip, and did so during the entire run October 2,
1950, to February 13, 2000. Schulz always insisted that the strip would
cease production when he finally called it quits, a wish that his family
has honored. Unlike other classic strips that have been revived, often
by lesser talents, "Peanuts" will forevermore remain solely a Schulz
legacy.
Except ... that’s not entirely true.
During the 1950s and early ’60s, Charlie Brown and his friends
didn’t just appear in newspaper strips; they also were a popular feature
of comic books ... a medium usually dominated by the likes of Superman
and Captain America, but one that included plenty of room for lighter
fare.
And -- surprise, surprise! -- when the "Peanuts" comic book
appearances stopped being newspaper reprints and "graduated" into
original features in 1957, sharp-eyed fans probably could discern that
somebody other than Sparky Schulz was doing the artwork.
To keep the chronology consistent, let’s turn back the clock to
1952, when "Peanuts" simultaneously debuted as a supporting feature in
two comic books -- the March-April issues of Tip Top Comics (#173) and
United Comics (#21) -- both published by United Feature Syndicate, which
routinely recycled many of its newspaper features in these and other
comic books. The "Peanuts" supporting feature moved into a third book,
Tip Topper, beginning with #17 (June-July 1952); it remained there until
the book was discontinued after #28 (April-May 1954). Shortly before
this final issue of Tip Topper, "Peanuts" returned to Tip Top as a
supporting feature, beginning with #184 (Jan.-Feb. 1954) and continuing
through #188 (Sept.-Oct. 1954). Several of these later issues feature
gorgeous Peanuts covers, which -- although not signed -- appear to be by
Schulz.
"Peanuts" also appeared, during this same period, as a back-up
feature in most issues of United Comics, later retitled Fritzi Ritz
(beginning with #27). The run here also was consecutive #21-#33 (the
latter dated March-April 1954). Stray issues of Sparkler Comics and
Sparkle Comics also included some "Peanuts" reprints, although not on a
regular basis.
UFS got out of the comic book publishing business at the end of
1954, and some of its titles were picked up by St. John in 1955,
including Fritzi Ritz and Tip Top. Despite a noticeable gap of several
months, the numbering of both books continued consecutively. Thus, Tip
Top resumed with #189 (May 1955), and continued to include "Peanuts" as
a supporting feature during St. John’s entire run of this book, through
#210 (July 1957). "Peanuts" was only an occasional supporting feature in
St. John’s run of Fritzi Ritz, starting with #37 (July 1955) and
continuing through #55. Finally, at least one issue of Nancy -- #142
(March 1957) -- also featured Peanuts reprints.
Big changes came in late 1957, and not just because St. John
abandoned these books and turned them over to Dell Comics (Western
Publishing). After a delay of several months to half a year -- depending
on the title -- Dell revived the flagship St. John titles, again with
consecutive numbering. Thus, Tip Top #211 returned as a quarterly with a
cover date of Nov. 1957-Jan. 1958. Fritzi Ritz resumed with #56, dated
Dec. 1957-Feb. 1958.
Under Dell’s stewardship, Charlie Brown and the gang also became a
regular supporting feature in Nancy, beginning with #146 (Sept. 1957).
The biggest change, however, concerned the content in all three books.
When Dell took over, the covers promised "All brand-new stories" ... and
they meant it.
"Peanuts" fans spotted the change in Nancy #146, which boasted a
four-page story with a baseball theme, clearly produced by Schulz
himself (although unsigned); Jim confirms Sparky’s linework. But Schulz
quickly realized that producing four full pages of original art for
Nancy on a monthly basis, not to mention similar duties for the
quarterly Tip Top and Fritzi Ritz, would be more than he was willing to
handle. Then, too, he was only months away from debuting his own second
newspaper strip, "It’s Only a Game" (about which more below).
Schulz allowed Dell’s house art department to handle his characters
in Nancy #147, but was unhappy with the results. (No surprise; the art
is quite weak.) Schulz stepped in again for issue #148, but the workload
problem hadn’t changed. Wanting greater fidelity to his own style,
Schulz turned to Jim, who took over the reins with issue #149 and
continued through #168 (July 1959). Jim essentially became Schulz’s
employee and was paid $100 per week for this work; since he was making
only $80 per week at Art Instruction, this -- along with the even higher
paycheck he’d soon receive, for helping Schulz with "It’s Only a Game"
-- was a substantial raise.
As a ghosting assignment, the results are impressive. Charlie Brown
and Linus’ heads are notoriously difficult to reproduce in Schulz’s
signature style, but Jim came damn close. More to the point, the
characters are posed and conduct themselves in a way that’s absolutely
typical of their behavior in Sparky’s newspaper strip. Art purists may
have noticed that Jim wasn’t Schulz, but casual readers were unlikely to
have detected the difference.
The four-page story above is taken from Nancy #151, February 1958.
(Click on the pages to enlarge them.)
"He gave me carte blanche on writing them, and I felt like a
faithful uncle," Jim says, with no small amount of pride at his ability
to reproduce Charlie Brown and the gang.
Although Jim’s take on the "Peanuts" gang in Nancy #149 was the
first to reach fans, it was not the ghost artist’s debut crack at
Charlie Brown. Jim’s first completed "Peanuts" comic book adventure was
"The Trip," one of a quartet of eight-page stories (packaged with three
one-page stories) that eventually appeared as issue #878 (Feb. 1958) of
Dell’s Four Color Comics, an "umbrella title" that rotated various
stars; this issue, boasting a gorgeous signed Schulz cover, was the
first one devoted to "Peanuts."
Ever the imp, Jim inserted a personal reference into "The Trip."
The number on the dog license that Charlie Brown uses -- 891-68-14 -- to
justify his getting behind the wheel of a station wagon, was the
artist’s Navy serial number.
Jim also did the work in the Fritzi Ritz and Tip Top issues during
this time, and it’s important to note that he had a completely free rein
with these comic book stories, handling both art and writing chores.
Fritzi Ritz lasted only four issues under the Dell label, before
being discontinued after #59 (Sept.-Nov. 1958). "Peanuts" did not appear
in #56, but each of the remaining three issues included a new four-page
story by Jim. He also handled the work for Tip Top #211 through #215
(Nov. 1958-Jan. 1959). In Tip Top, Charlie Brown and his friends shared
covers with Nancy, Sluggo, and the Captain and the Kids. Although
unsigned, Schulz drew these "Peanuts" cover panels for issues 211-213,
and Jim handled 214 and 215.
Sasseville did the Peanuts art in these issues of Tip Top, #214 and #215.
(Click on the pages to enlarge them.)
All told, then, Jim drew the interior stories in 20 issues of
Nancy, three issues of Fritzi Ritz, and five issues of Tip Top, along
with Four Color #878. This relationship with Schulz and Dell Comics took
an unexpected turn when the two men parted unhappily, and Jim’s final
work for Dell was the long kite story in the second all-"Peanuts" issue
of Four Color Comics (#969, Feb. 1959), along with the inside front and
inside back cover one-pagers.
The completion of that particular issue became something of a
marathon art session. After announcing that he and Helga would be moving
to Berkeley, Jim took stock of the pending Dell workload, and discovered
that the deadline for the second all-Peanuts issue of Four Color Comics
was imminent. Jim promised to finish this before the move, but Sparky
suggested that the job would proceed faster if they worked on it
together. The two men thus divided the work between them, and began
early one morning with what turned into a lengthy session stretching
well into the evening. During that time, Jim completed the
aforementioned two one-page stories and one eight-page story, while
Sparky handled the remaining one-page story and THREE eight-page
stories.
"There’s no doubt who was the faster artist," Jim notes, with a
chuckle. "He certainly put me in my place!"
Jim still remembers that session as a euphoric rush ... but it
concluded on a gloomy note, when, resting in the happy afterglow of a
job well done, Schulz revealed the fate of "It’s Only a Game" (see
below).
In the aftermath, Schulz also stepped in and handled all the work
for Nancy #169 (August 1959). Clearly, this was a rush job, and Schulz
borrowed from himself The final panel of this four-page story is almost
identical to the final panel of the June 23, 1957, "Peanuts" Sunday
strip. The comic book storyline is an expansion of that Sunday strip,
and the aforementioned final panel in the comic book is signed by Schulz
... the only case where any interior comic book stories bear his
signature.
Because the split was far from amicable, Jim did not follow the
subsequent comic book adventures of Charlie Brown and his friends, in
Nancy and Tip Top. On close examination just a few weeks ago -- in many
cases, seeing this work for the first time -- Jim pointed to specific
poses, characteristics and lettering attributes ("Sparky always rounded
out the bottoms of his W’s") that leave him convinced that Schulz either
penciled and inked the next several issues of both Nancy and Tip Top, or
at least roughed in the panel layout, inked the primary characters --
particularly their heads -- and lettered the word balloons. This seems
likely; carefully examination of individual pages reveals an occasional
Snoopy or Lucy which, not matching the rest, clearly must have been
inked by somebody else.
But Dale Hale, Schulz’s new apprentice and ghost -- and another
associate from Art Instruction Schools -- caught on quickly, and the
artwork in both books retained its Schulz-like characteristics through
roughly late 1960 or early 1961. At this point, other hands clearly took
over -- possibly Tony Pocrnick, another Schulz associate from Art
Instruction -- and the "Peanuts" characters became ever-more distant
from the Schulz ideal until the final issues of Tip Top (#225, May-July
1961) and Nancy. (By then the latter had been retitled Nancy and Sluggo,
and its final five issues were released under the Gold Key imprint; the
book was discontinued with issue #192, October 1963.) The "Peanuts"
artwork in the last issues of both books is, in a word, dreadful.
A third all-"Peanuts" issue of Four Color Comics was produced
(#1015, August-October 1959), after which the characters got their own
book that began with issue #4 (Feb.-April 1960), by way of acknowledging
those first three appearances in Four Color Comics. This lasted through
#13 (May-July 1962), after which the book was discontinued. Each of
these issues features a signed Schulz cover, but other hands --
certainly Hale, at first -- handled all the interior artwork and writing
(which, as with the latter issues of Nancy and Tip Top, grew less
Schulz-like over time).
But what had happened, to sever the friendship between Schulz and
Jim, which stretched back a decade?
Bouncing back a year or so...
Although already quite popular and gaining fans -- and syndicate
clients -- all the time, in 1957 "Peanuts" was not yet the multimedia
sensation it was to become within another decade. Schulz must have had
some free time that needed filling, and therefore was comfortable with
the concept of pitching a second strip concept to United Features
Syndicate. The artist had lots of ideas about games near and dear to his
heart, including golf, tennis, baseball and bridge. No doubt realizing
that twice as much Schulz per week was a good thing, UFS jumped at the
chance, and the sports and recreation-themed "It’s Only a Game" was
born. For awhile, Schulz joined later stars such as Johnny Hart ("B.C."
and "The Wizard of Id"), Mell Lazarus ("Miss Peach" and "Momma") and
Jerry Scott ("Baby Blues" and "Zits"), with two newspaper strips running
simultaneously.
Each installment of "It’s Only a Game, by Charles M. Schulz,"
hearkening back to Schulz’s very early work on "Li’l Folks" in The St.
Paul Pioneer Press, was comprised of three separate single-panel gag
strips. The package was offered to clients in two different formats as
three single-panel strips per week, to run on Mondays, Wednesdays and
Fridays; or as a combined grouping of three that would appear in Sunday
comics sections. The combined Sunday grouping also had a bonus fourth
cartoon a tiny, captionless visual gag -- very much like the
intermarginal gags that Sergio Aragonés would pepper throughout future
issues of Mad Magazine -- that appeared to the right of the title and
Schulz’s byline. The subject matter of the Monday and Wednesday panels
varied from week to week, but the Friday installment always centered
around bridge, the then-popular card game that Schulz loved. (Further
evidence of this affection could be seen in "Peanuts," where the kids
routinely played the game in the early 1950s, and Woodstock and a
foursome of his bird buddies picked it up in the 1970s and beyond.)
Charles Schulz did this January 12, 1958, "It's Only a Game" panel himself. Note his signature within the art of the right-most panel.
During an October 6, 1957, interview with Schulz, the Chicago
Tribune proudly boasted that it would be one of the flagship newspapers
to carry this new feature. The Tribune selected the weekly option, and
ran "It’s Only a Game" in its Sunday magazine. The debut installment
appeared November 3, 1957, and immediately set the tone for what would
follow, with panels devoted to boxing, golf and bridge. The middle panel
is a hoot, with a middle-aged duffer -- one easily can imagine Charlie
Brown in his 40s -- lamenting a putt that has left his ball perched at
the edge of the cup (but not in), and saying, "I think I’m going to
cry."
Subsequent installments covered checkers, bowling, curling (!),
table tennis, croquet, billiards, ice fishing, darts and even camping.
But as 1957 turned into 1958, something must have changed. Perhaps
Schulz had underestimated the amount of time involved with producing a
second weekly newspaper strip; maybe he also was spending more time than
expected overseeing the new "Peanuts" content in the Dell comic books.
Or, more likely, the "Peanuts" empire as a whole was occupying more of
his time; 1958 saw the production of the first "Peanuts" toys -- plastic
dolls of the major characters, produced by Hungerford -- and of course
this was just the tip of an approaching iceberg.
Whatever the reason, Schulz decided to hand over the lion’s share
of the artistic chores to Jim. Schulz’s solo involvement with "It’s Only
a Game" continued through the January 12, 1958, installment; this is the
last one to bear his signature on one of the cartoon panels. (Schulz’s
name continued to run alone in the masthead, however, making Jim a true
ghost.) As of January 19, 1958, Jim -- often working from hastily
penciled sketches and captions supplied by Schulz -- did all the
newspaper strip’s finished art and lettering.
Sasseville did this January 26, 1958, "It's Only a Game" panel himself. Note that Schulz's signature is nowhere to be seen within the art.
Jim vividly remembers this transition date, because just one week later,
with his second time at bat with the solo art chores, he was paid a
singular honor. That week’s Monday panel, a bowling strip, featured
three league players welcoming a fourth, apparently a little tardy, with
the exclamation of, "Three cheers, gang! Our number one man has
arrived!" A loyal reader sent UFS a black-and-white photo of himself
with three friends, staged to look precisely like the four figures in
Jim’s illustration. The "camera angle" was identical, along with
clothing, body position, and everything else in the frame. The
resemblance even extended to the men themselves, who had body shapes and
hairstyles eerily similar to those found in the panel art.
Jim still has the photo.
Sasseville received this photo recreation of his "It's Only a Game" gag from a fan. Note the date stamp at the top of the photo.
The degree to which Jim successfully imitated Schulz’s linework can
be seen by the fact that the transition was seamless; no casual reader
could have discerned that the hand on the inker’s pen had changed.
During the remainder of 1958, the two men continued to work in the same
fashion, Jim often finishing Schulz’s rough concepts, but also
contributing many of his own original ideas. He also inserted the
occasional personal reference; the boat from which a husband and wife
fish, in one of the June 29, 1958, panels, is the Helga, named after
Jim’s wife.
But Jim remembers that he never came up with any of the concepts
for Friday’s bridge panels, for the simple reason that he didn’t know
the game.
Although he labored in anonymity, Jim was well compensated
financially, and he still speaks appreciatively of Sparky’s generosity.
Schulz had negotiated for 50% of the strip’s income, the other half
going to UFS. This 50% amounted to slightly more than $500 per week;
when Jim came on board, Schulz generously gave half of HIS half to his
new partner, and so Jim brought home $250 per week (after expenses) for
his efforts ... quite a lot of money in 1958.
The two men were living in Minneapolis when this collaboration
began; after the first five months, in May 1958, Jim and his wife
followed the Schulz family to Northern California. Lacking a place to
stay in Sebastopol -- not to mention furniture and other amenities --
the Sassevilles first spent a couple of months a bit south, in Corta
Madera. "For two or three weeks, I drew the comic book stuff and ‘It’s
Only a Game’ on a portable drawing board. But I stayed in touch with
Sparky on the phone, and he supplied the ideas for ‘It’s Only a Game.’ "
The Sassevilles then found a home in Sebastopol. Between "It’s Only
a Game" and the work he also was doing for the "Peanuts" strips in the
Dell comic books, Jim was quite gainfully employed by his new partner
and boss.
Unfortunately, it was not to last.
"It’s Only a Game" began with 30 client newspapers; nearly a year
later, it had ... 30 client newspapers.
(A complete client list has been lost to the mists of time, although
it is known that the feature was carried by The Boston Globe, the Detroit
Free Press, The Chicago Tribune, The Minneapolis Tribune, the San Francisco
Chronicle and The Baltimore Sun.)
The strip never took off, despite strong support from fans such as
bridge expert Charles Goren (who wrote a couple of letters), and even
Schulz’s name didn’t seem to make much of a difference.
But we also can assume that the proud and perfectionist-minded
Schulz -- who in later years, as mentioned above, often made a point of
describing how in "Peanuts" he penciled and inked every line, and
lettered every word balloon -- probably was bothered by the fact that he
wasn’t similarly in sole control of "It’s Only a Game." To be sure, he
was INVOLVED, but he wasn’t actually drawing what appeared in those 30
client newspapers.
"He didn’t like his name being used on somebody else’s work," Jim
recalls, "and I don’t blame him for that."
That, coupled with moribund sales and some tension with the head
UFS salesman to whom Schulz initially had pitched the idea, eventually
prompted an astonishing decision In late 1958, just 12 months into a
solid five-year contract, Schulz made it plain to UFS that he wished to
discontinue "It’s Only a Game." Perhaps recognizing that the strip
wasn’t performing as hoped, UFS agreed.
Schulz did not consult Jim before taking this step; indeed, the
news came as a complete shock to Schulz’s ghost, who’d been very happy
with his work, and the strip, and the $250 per week.
Schulz even tried to sugar-coat the news "You’re off the hook,"
Jim recalls his employer saying (as if this were a GOOD thing), at the
end of that euphoric day when they finished work on the second
all-Peanuts issue of Dell’s Four Color Comics. Jim had just assured
Sparky that his pending move to Berkeley would not affect his ability to
work on "It’s Only a Game," and now the rug had been pulled out from
under him.
The fallout was immediate; it certainly was the final straw for
Helga, who already had been dissatisfied with their home in Sebastopol
-- hence the move to Berkeley -- and also was unhappy about the friction
that existed between her and Joyce, Schulz’s first wife. Helga had
endured Nazi Germany, survived the entire war -- in and out of work
camps -- and had lost her father at Dachau; she was not a woman to keep
opinions to herself.
"I realized I was working on a flawed product, which the creator
and marketer wanted nothing more to do with. Still, I had held out the
hope that maybe Sparky might offer the entire feature to me, although I
realized that there’d be problems with the syndicate," Jim admits, a
touch of wistfulness still clouding the memory after more than 40 years.
"They should have been pretty familiar with my work by then."
It didn’t happen. By the time the final installment of "It’s Only a
Game" appeared, on January 11, 1959 -- the two always had worked six
weeks ahead -- Jim and Schulz had severed all relations, professional
and personal. This also included Jim’s ghosting work on the Dell comic
books. The split was permanent, and the two men never reconciled.
Although "It’s Only a Game" ran for 63 consecutive weeks, it
quickly became a fading memory -- and then an overlooked footnote -- in
Schulz’s career. He rarely mentioned it during later interviews, and
then only obliquely, citing neither date specifics nor his collaboration
with Jim.
"We were the best of friends at first," Jim recalls ruefully. He
happily remembers attending the 1951 National Cartoonists Convention
with Sparky, and also another time when they both went to visit and swap
stories with a fellow artist, Robert M. Brinkerhoff, who lived in
Minneapolis and was known for a newspaper strip called "Little Mary
Mix-Up." Brinkerhoff, in turn -- like many other cartoonists at that
time -- greatly admired J.R. Williams (creator of "Out Our Way"), whom
he once described as "the greatest cowboy ever to walk the streets of
New York." Brinkerhoff related how he had wheedled, begged and finally
finagled an invitation to Williams’ ranch in Montana. Although only
interested in seeing the fabulous studio that he assumed his idol must
have on so massive a spread, Brinkerhoff first had to put up with being
shown all the livestock and the other attractions of a working ranch. As
the visit stretched on, Brinkerhoff finally couldn’t stand it any longer
and demanded to see where Williams did his work.
With a resigned sigh (as Jim recalls Brinkerhoff describing this
incident), Williams walked over to his wife’s sewing machine, took off
the cover, and flipped it over ... and that was it The great J.R.
Williams did all his drawing on the cover of his wife’s sewing machine.
As others have observed, there’s never any reason to embrace
technology or an environment any fancier than that required to get the
job done.
Cartoonists love to talk shop, and Jim’s no different; merely
relating this little tale brings a sparkle into his eyes. And, to this
day, he doesn’t really understand what happened between him and Schulz.
"I feel kind of weird about all this. Sparky obviously wanted me to
succeed in the early days, and even was willing to collaborate with me
on one of my own projects (one of the many variations of "Joe Cipher,"
discussed below). But then when he had a chance to really help me out,
he didn’t make any effort whatsoever ... and left me in rather dire
straits."
Such feelings notwithstanding, all these years later Jim is firm on
one point "Charles M. Schulz was the greatest comic strip artist ever."
And although he certainly couldn’t have known it at the time, Jim
never again would earn his living as a cartoonist.
Before, during and after his working association with Schulz, Jim
played around with many of his own ideas.
If persistence counts for anything, he deserves considerable credit
for his ongoing efforts to sell "Joe Cipher" ("a character kinda based
on me"), a daily strip that underwent quite a few transmutations during
the decade-plus that he tried to place it with a syndicate.
The character first appeared in a sample series of daily strips Jim
produced in late 1949. The strip’s gentle humor is faintly reminiscent
of "Gasoline Alley" and other character-driven work of the era; the
title character is introduced driving an old jalopy that obligingly runs
out of gas at a filling station. The silver-tongued Joe, lacking any
money, eventually impresses the station owner into offering him a job;
Joe celebrates by stepping into a nearby diner for lunch, where he’s
immediately smitten by the young woman behind the counter, and...
...and that’s where the presentation panels concluded.
Perhaps feeling that the strip lacked dramatic impact, a few years
later -- while still at AIS -- Jim tried again, shifting the action to a
tiny island in the middle of the ocean, where the shipwrecked Joe is
joined by an attractive young woman named Ginny, survivor of a second
sea-going calamity. (What are the odds?) Although their relationship is
mildly prickly for the first few days, Ginny eventually wishes aloud
that they could be rescued, so that she can go on a "proper date" with
Joe, and perhaps even kiss him when the evening concludes. Once again,
the story cut off abruptly, as Jim produced just two weeks’ worth of
strips enough to (hopefully) interest a buyer.
Sasseville tried several times to place a comic strip starring Joe Cipher, the pleasant-looking chap
featured in these examples. The two left-most strips are taken from the first run Sasseville designed on his own;
the two right-most strips, starring the same character but
in a different setting, are from Sasseville's third
test run; Charles Schulz contributed story input on these.
(Click on the image to see an enlarged version.)
After getting back from his return hitch in the Navy, Jim
went back to work on Joe Cipher and got a nibble from an
unexpected quarter: Something about this particular setting
touched Schulz, who suggested they collaborate on yet
a third incarnation of "Joe Cipher." (At the time, both men still were
unmarried, and it’s not hard to see a little male fantasy
wish-fulfillment at work.) With narrative input from Schulz and Jim
handling the art chores, the scene shifted again, this time to a
typically romantic South Seas setting, on an island large enough to
support a population of curvaceous young cuties and at least one
villain. Joe and Ginny remained the central focus, but this time the
former saw genuine action, on the receiving end of the villain’s fists.
Schulz and Jim took this newest version of "Joe Cipher" to United
Features Syndicate in spring of 1954; it was turned down flat. The
trip to New York wasn't a complete waste, though, because Sasseville
and Schulz caught a couple of plays: a T.S. Elliot drama called
Confidential Clerk, and another called The King of
Hearts, which starred Jackie Cooper as (what are the odds?)
a cartoonist!
Sasseville also remembers going from suite to suite in New
York's Waldorf hotel during this trip, visiting one cartoonist
after another; meeting Al Capp was a high point. But at least
part of the reason for the trip -- the newest Joe Cipher -- proved
unsellable, and Schulz bowed out at that point.
When Jim finally returned to "Joe Cipher," the 1950s were almost
over. Jim’s association with "Peanuts" and "It’s Only a Game" had
concluded, so the writer/artist returned to his favorite unsold
property. Jim recast his hero in yet another new setting, this time a
business office populated by characters clearly derived from his days at
Art Instruction. Although the sample panels display even cleaner, more
attractive line work -- a sure sign of his growing comfort as an artist
-- Jim had no better luck this time around.
Still refusing to abandon hope, Jim tried one more time In early
1960, after having moved to Berkeley, he once again changed the setting
completely, and turned Joe Cipher into "Sir Joe." This Arthurian-based
concept focused on genuinely whimsical gags involving heavy armor,
maidens in distress, and fire-breathing dragons. Jim’s dragons are
particularly funny, and this newest reboot seems ripe with
possibilities; it’s not at all hard to envision a daily strip evolving
from these samples.
Alas, syndicates once again failed to see any potential, and "Joe
Cipher" was put into Jim’s trunk as no more than another engaging
footnote in the artist’s collection of rejection slips.
Jim didn’t confine his efforts to "Joe Cipher"; the writer/artist
had no shortage of ideas, quite a few of which also wound up as
submission concepts. "Aunty Climax," produced in early 1957 -- just
prior to Jim’s ghost work for Dell comics -- was a single-panel gag
strip that starred a feisty little old lady who was far sharper than
most people assumed. She was based on Louise Cassidy, an AIS colleague
who also was the landlady for the building where Jim briefly lived with
Charles Cuddy. Jim produced a few dozen "Aunty Climax" panels, all of
which are vastly superior -- both in terms of writing and artwork -- to
many of the single-panel cartoons cluttering today’s newspapers.
"Confessions of a French Poodle" was a 1959 concept that didn’t
emerge much further than a few finished panels and lots of pencil
sketches; Jim good-naturedly admits that the idea went nowhere, and so
he abandoned it. That may have been shrewd market analysis, as the
medium never has lacked for dog-oriented material. Even so, French
poodles are funny in their own right, and Jim’s concept sketches are a
hoot.
When not working on Peanuts-related material, Sasseville tried to sell many of his own strip ideas
to a syndicate. From left to right, these examples are "Aunty Climax," "Friends and Foes," "Alpha-Betty" and "Happy Birthday."
(Click on the image to see an enlarged version.)
"Friends and Foes," another single-panel tryout, also emerged from
Jim’s pen in 1959. A little later, shortly after he started putting food
on the table with a "real job" -- and perhaps motivated by the explosion
of children’s television shows, which eventually led to "Sesame Street"
and everything that followed -- Jim tried a kid-oriented educational
strip called "Alpha-Betty," which starred a little girl who finds
herself in an other-worldly land populated by men and women shaped like
letters of the alphabet. The personalities of these individuals were
defined by their appearance; curved female letters, for example, were
far more sultry that straight female letters. The strip has a lovely
"Alice in Wonderland" quality, although the concept may have seemed
limiting.
Jim later played with the medium in "Blackboard," a daily strip
designed to be white-on-black, to imitate chalk on a classroom
blackboard. The stars were Dick, Jane and their TeacheR; although not as
overly educational as "Alpha-Betty," this strip also was aimed at young
audiences.
Jim’s final attempt at syndication was produced in the early 1970s,
after he first went into research hibernation, jotting down enough
celebrity birthdays to fill every day of a calendar year. The resulting
single-panel strips were a precursor to the "On this day in history..."
informational nuggets that have become so ubiquitous The panel for
March 28, for example, illustrated and revealed a few choice facts about
orchestra leader Paul Whiteman. March 29 was devoted to President John
Tyler, while Francisco Goya was featured on March 30.
Sadly, this fared no better with syndicators than any of the
others. "Joe Cipher," "Aunty Climax," "Confessions of a French Poodle,"
"Friends and Foes," "Alpha-Betty," "Blackboard" and "Birthdays" exist only
in Jim’s carefully preserved office files. More’s the pity, because even
the weakest of these strips displays a Puckish wit and clean, attractive
line work too often absent from many of the rushed, imitative strips
that generate little more than reader apathy these days.
Following the dust-up with Schulz and the move to Berkeley, Helga
-- who was delighted by the more rarefied atmosphere of a university
community -- became the family bread-winner. She took a job with a
German importer/exporter and commuted daily across the Bay Bridge.
Eventually succumbing to the need for steady employment, in April
1960 Jim took a job as a graphic designer with Varian, one of the
leading radar companies, located in California’s greater San Francisco
Bay Area. The fit proved comfortable, and he remained with the company
until he retired in 1990.
But the career shift wasn’t immediate; Jim first spent most of 1959
working up his own aforementioned comic strip proposals, and
occasionally sold individual gag cartoons to magazines. But his New
York-based agent took 35% of those one-shots.
"That’s when I started with Varian," Jim recalls, with a chuckle.
"I knew I’d never make it as a gag cartoonist."
Be that as it may, Jim never stopped his cartooning efforts; while
at Varian, he became famous for the birthday cards that he drew for
fellow employees.
Helga, meanwhile, got a job at Stanford, which prompted another
move; the couple then purchased their first home in 1960, in Mountain
View.
Three years later, they moved for what would be the last time. Jim
and his wife paid $28,000 for the house that remains his home to this
day. Just last year the retired artist was offered a cool million bucks
-- in cash -- by a dot-commer who wanted to develop the property. Still
loyal to the memories of his wife, with which the house is filled, Jim
politely declined. Helga died in 1995; he clearly still misses her.
Today, Parkinson’s Disease and the recent stroke have conspired to
deliver the ultimate nightmare Jim no longer can hold a pen well enough
to draw. ("I always marveled at Sparky’s ability to incorporate his
shaking hand into his line work.") But his mind and memory remain
acutely sharp, and his Puckish sense of humor is unbowed. He speaks with
clarity and certainty of his years at Art Instruction School, and with
Schulz, and of his never-successful efforts to market his own original
material.
Jim remains philosophical about his life, and in fact composed
another of his verses to express such feelings
I’m all for equal measures
Losses should be matched by gain;
And since I’ve missed life’s pleasures,
I’ll just double up with pain!
Definitely too harsh, but then we’re always hardest on ourselves.
Jim Sasseville deserves far more than the obscurity into which he has
settled; for a time, he was allied with the man who would become the
world’s most successful cartoonist, and for a time he helped chaperone
the faithfully rendered adventures of Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Linus, Lucy
and the rest ... no small feat.
And I’m particularly transfixed by a remark Jim made during one of
our later phone calls "I don’t know how one should behave, in a
situation like this," he said, referring to our ongoing conversations,
"but it’s like I’ve been resurrected."
Perhaps this article will kick-start our long-overdue obligation to
sing his praises.
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All PEANUTS characters pictured are copyrighted by United Feature Syndicate, Inc. They are used here with permission. They may not be reproduced by any means in any form.
Not a big deal, really ... but after the service, once behind the
scenes, the priest took quick action. "He grabbed both of our heads, and
I can still feel the collision today, after he clonked us together."
Art was an interest from very early on ("I drew all the time"), and
Jim recalls getting an A in art and history in seventh grade, for his
illustrated history of Napoleon. "It was like historical comics," he
points out now, with hindsight. "I was years ahead of my time."
After eighth grade, Jim shifted back to public school during his
high school career. He took the art classes offered at his school, but
did not pursue this interest with any extra-curricular instruction.
By this time, the war was on; Jim isn’t even sure, all these years
later, whether he officially completed high school. Whether he graduated
or released himself, he and a friend then hitchhiked across the country.
Jim’s 18th birthday found them in Portland, Oregon, where the two worked
the remainder of that summer at the Kaiser shipyards. Jim then enlisted
in the U.S. Navy, while his friend returned to Minneapolis. Jim was
assigned to the fleet post office after boot training, and he served
precisely 11 months and 29 days ... a hitch whose length would come back
to haunt him.
After being discharged, Jim entered the Minneapolis School of Art
(at the time, a trade school) for a three-year term, and graduated in
1948. He gravitated toward Art Instruction School (which already
included a certain Charles M. "Sparky" Schulz among its staff), and in
the summer of 1949, while 22 years old, prepared a gorgeous hand-drawn
and lettered portfolio, with a self-portrait in full watercolor, to
introduce himself and his artistic talents; the brochure’s dozen or so
pages must have been one of the most ambitious job applications that the
institution ever had received.
Although interested in cartooning, at that point Jim preferred
painting, which this full-color introductory portfolio makes abundantly
clear. (He still has it, lovingly preserved and in excellent condition.)
Obviously, the ploy worked. Jim was hired at a starting salary of
$35 per week. The oversized 1950 Art Instruction Schools Inc. booklet
("Your Art School!"), produced not much later and handed out to all
prospective clients, includes his photo on Page 3, immediately before
Schulz’s picture.
"James F. Sasseville," reads the caption beneath the photo, "is an
instructor in rendering and advertising illustration. He is one of our
best figure illustrators in color."
While at Art Instruction, Jim joined the team that graded all the
submissions -- the "Can you draw me?" applications -- that arrived via
mail or hand delivery. The bottom-line desire, of course, was to
encourage those with even the smallest shred of talent, in order to get
an AIS salesman in the family’s front door; after all, the money was
made by selling art instruction courses. Since manilla envelopes poured
in like mad, speed-grading was essential.
"I spent years correcting Lesson No. 5, which was an advertising
project, where the students had to design a streetcar poster on the
theme ‘See the Orient.’ "
Jim remembers marking all but the very best submissions with
nothing more than alpha-numeric codes (A6, A17, and so forth), which AIS
secretaries then would translate into form paragraph replies.
"But they always were nicely typed up," Jim remembers, knowing full
well that the recipients carefully scrutinized every analytical word.
Sasseville and Schulz became good friends ("We had a similar sense
of humor"), and Sparky encouraged Jim to pursue comic strips. Jim even
got his hair cut more than once in Schulz’s father’s barbershop.
"Sparky bet me, in late 1949, that I’d sell a comic strip to a
syndicate before he would," Jim remembers, with a smile. "As it turned
out, I won that bet hands-down."
In between grading assignments, Jim and his fellow employees
produced thousands upon thousands of quickly penciled drawings on
4-by-7-inch sketchpads. In this respect, these artists were no different
than their counterparts at Disney and Warner Brothers animation studios,
who also filled the minutes between "real work" with impressive little
doodles and caricatures of each other, all of which are the envy of
collectors today (when they surface in the first place). Jim still has
stacks and stacks of such impromptu efforts, including a few caricatures
of Schulz and other AIS friends, and several pages of "Peanuts"
character roughs. (Even then, he must have been planning ahead...) Most
are plain pencil on paper, but some are blue-line; in either case, they
reveal one of Jim’s artistic strengths an ability to capture a person’s
eyes with remarkably lifelike clarity.
(Unfortunately, he did not save his collection of Schulz originals.
"I gave away all my junk foolishly, many years ago ... somebody conned
me out of almost all my original Schulz drawings.")
Jim never lost his art-school fascination with centaurs and nudes,
and many of his sketchpad pages are filled with fetchingly unclad
cuties. Hiring and drawing undraped models was fairly common among Jim
and his colleagues, although not quite all of his colleagues "I can’t
remember Sparky taking any part in that whatsoever."
Such figure studies also sparked Jim’s impish literary talents,
honed by a life-long fascination with poetry (T.S. Eliot’s "Distracted
from distraction by distraction" remains a personal mantra).
Jim still recalls many of his favorite invented verses, such as
this one, which would have been loved by Ogden Nash
A centaur met a mermaid, as he trotted by the sea;
She noticed not his heavy hooves, nor he her single knee,
As they lingered there, expelling time with heart-inspired chatter
The direction of their love so strong ... bottoms didn’t matter!
Jim’s tenure at Art Instruction was interrupted in mid 1952, when
Uncle Sam tapped his shoulder again. The Korean War was underway, and
those who previously had served less than a full year were being
recalled ... so those two days shy of a year forced a second hitch that
lasted through 1954.
"I was sent to the Philippines," Jim notes dryly, thinking back to
all the Lesson No. 5 submissions that he had graded, "so I certainly saw
the Orient."
This second 14-month hitch of active duty certainly wasn’t wasted,
in terms of Jim’s artistic skills; he worked for an Irish Catholic
chaplain and did a weekly mimeographed newspaper for U.S. Naval Mobile
Construction Battalion 9 ("I was drawing cartoons up the gazoo"). The
unit’s 1952-53 Cruise Book features a great full-page Jim illustration
on Page 33; titled "Cubi Point, P.I.," it shows five sailors watching a
dog face off with a monkey.
Jim’s relationship with Father John James Kileen never was dull, in
part because the artist was a lapsed Catholic.
"He worked the hell out of me, but then he’d always invite me into
his quarters for a nip, and then try to entice me back into the fold."
After his second stint in the Navy concluded, Jim returned to
civilian life (this time for good), and to Art Instruction Schools,
where he and Schulz picked up where they’d left off. In between grading
assignments and sketching his office buddies, Jim placed a few gag
cartoons in magazines, such as a droll three-panel sequence of a guy
having trouble with a jack, while attempting to fix a flat tire, which
appeared on Page 45 of the August 1957 issue of Gent, a
long-discontinued men’s magazine.
Jim met Helga, his future wife, as a result of his Navy friendship
with Charles Cuddy. She had immigrated to the United States when
sponsored by a South Dakota politician and his family ("mostly for slave
labor," Jim perceptively remarks); Helga was unfamiliar with the farm
environment, and decamped for Minneapolis as soon as she could. She
entered the University of Minnesota with a vengeance; her half-Jewish
heritage had kept her out of institutions of higher learning in her
native Germany.
She also enrolled in art school and wound up in one class being
taught by Dave Ratner, a colleague and friend with whom Jim went to art
school; she also landed in some of the same classes as Cuddy, who for a
time shared a boarding house attic ("a garret") with Jim. Since this
colony of Minneapolis artists wasn’t all that large, it was inevitable
that Jim and Helga would meet. ("Destiny," he happily acknowledges.)
They married in 1956.
"I’d just bought a brand-new Mercury," Jim remembers, with a
chuckle, "and I had to get rid of it when we got married, because Helga
couldn’t drive a stick-shift."
Within a few short months, Sasseville’s life turned around again,
when he became the best of Schulz’s never-credited "Peanuts" ghosts.
Whenever asked, Charles Schulz would repeat the statement that
became ubiquitous Unlike those involved with other "assembly-line"
newspaper comic strips, he remained the only person whose hands touched
the adventures of Charlie Brown and the gang. Schulz wrote, drew, inked
and lettered his strip, and did so during the entire run October 2,
1950, to February 13, 2000. Schulz always insisted that the strip would
cease production when he finally called it quits, a wish that his family
has honored. Unlike other classic strips that have been revived, often
by lesser talents, "Peanuts" will forevermore remain solely a Schulz
legacy.
Except ... that’s not entirely true.
During the 1950s and early ’60s, Charlie Brown and his friends
didn’t just appear in newspaper strips; they also were a popular feature
of comic books ... a medium usually dominated by the likes of Superman
and Captain America, but one that included plenty of room for lighter
fare.
And -- surprise, surprise! -- when the "Peanuts" comic book
appearances stopped being newspaper reprints and "graduated" into
original features in 1957, sharp-eyed fans probably could discern that
somebody other than Sparky Schulz was doing the artwork.
To keep the chronology consistent, let’s turn back the clock to
1952, when "Peanuts" simultaneously debuted as a supporting feature in
two comic books -- the March-April issues of Tip Top Comics (#173) and
United Comics (#21) -- both published by United Feature Syndicate, which
routinely recycled many of its newspaper features in these and other
comic books. The "Peanuts" supporting feature moved into a third book,
Tip Topper, beginning with #17 (June-July 1952); it remained there until
the book was discontinued after #28 (April-May 1954). Shortly before
this final issue of Tip Topper, "Peanuts" returned to Tip Top as a
supporting feature, beginning with #184 (Jan.-Feb. 1954) and continuing
through #188 (Sept.-Oct. 1954). Several of these later issues feature
gorgeous Peanuts covers, which -- although not signed -- appear to be by
Schulz.
"Peanuts" also appeared, during this same period, as a back-up
feature in most issues of United Comics, later retitled Fritzi Ritz
(beginning with #27). The run here also was consecutive #21-#33 (the
latter dated March-April 1954). Stray issues of Sparkler Comics and
Sparkle Comics also included some "Peanuts" reprints, although not on a
regular basis.
UFS got out of the comic book publishing business at the end of
1954, and some of its titles were picked up by St. John in 1955,
including Fritzi Ritz and Tip Top. Despite a noticeable gap of several
months, the numbering of both books continued consecutively. Thus, Tip
Top resumed with #189 (May 1955), and continued to include "Peanuts" as
a supporting feature during St. John’s entire run of this book, through
#210 (July 1957). "Peanuts" was only an occasional supporting feature in
St. John’s run of Fritzi Ritz, starting with #37 (July 1955) and
continuing through #55. Finally, at least one issue of Nancy -- #142
(March 1957) -- also featured Peanuts reprints.
Big changes came in late 1957, and not just because St. John
abandoned these books and turned them over to Dell Comics (Western
Publishing). After a delay of several months to half a year -- depending
on the title -- Dell revived the flagship St. John titles, again with
consecutive numbering. Thus, Tip Top #211 returned as a quarterly with a
cover date of Nov. 1957-Jan. 1958. Fritzi Ritz resumed with #56, dated
Dec. 1957-Feb. 1958.
Under Dell’s stewardship, Charlie Brown and the gang also became a
regular supporting feature in Nancy, beginning with #146 (Sept. 1957).
The biggest change, however, concerned the content in all three books.
When Dell took over, the covers promised "All brand-new stories" ... and
they meant it.
"Peanuts" fans spotted the change in Nancy #146, which boasted a
four-page story with a baseball theme, clearly produced by Schulz
himself (although unsigned); Jim confirms Sparky’s linework. But Schulz
quickly realized that producing four full pages of original art for
Nancy on a monthly basis, not to mention similar duties for the
quarterly Tip Top and Fritzi Ritz, would be more than he was willing to
handle. Then, too, he was only months away from debuting his own second
newspaper strip, "It’s Only a Game" (about which more below).
Schulz allowed Dell’s house art department to handle his characters
in Nancy #147, but was unhappy with the results. (No surprise; the art
is quite weak.) Schulz stepped in again for issue #148, but the workload
problem hadn’t changed. Wanting greater fidelity to his own style,
Schulz turned to Jim, who took over the reins with issue #149 and
continued through #168 (July 1959). Jim essentially became Schulz’s
employee and was paid $100 per week for this work; since he was making
only $80 per week at Art Instruction, this -- along with the even higher
paycheck he’d soon receive, for helping Schulz with "It’s Only a Game"
-- was a substantial raise.
As a ghosting assignment, the results are impressive. Charlie Brown
and Linus’ heads are notoriously difficult to reproduce in Schulz’s
signature style, but Jim came damn close. More to the point, the
characters are posed and conduct themselves in a way that’s absolutely
typical of their behavior in Sparky’s newspaper strip. Art purists may
have noticed that Jim wasn’t Schulz, but casual readers were unlikely to
have detected the difference.
The four-page story above is taken from Nancy #151, February 1958.
(Click on the pages to enlarge them.)
"He gave me carte blanche on writing them, and I felt like a
faithful uncle," Jim says, with no small amount of pride at his ability
to reproduce Charlie Brown and the gang.
Although Jim’s take on the "Peanuts" gang in Nancy #149 was the
first to reach fans, it was not the ghost artist’s debut crack at
Charlie Brown. Jim’s first completed "Peanuts" comic book adventure was
"The Trip," one of a quartet of eight-page stories (packaged with three
one-page stories) that eventually appeared as issue #878 (Feb. 1958) of
Dell’s Four Color Comics, an "umbrella title" that rotated various
stars; this issue, boasting a gorgeous signed Schulz cover, was the
first one devoted to "Peanuts."
Ever the imp, Jim inserted a personal reference into "The Trip."
The number on the dog license that Charlie Brown uses -- 891-68-14 -- to
justify his getting behind the wheel of a station wagon, was the
artist’s Navy serial number.
Jim also did the work in the Fritzi Ritz and Tip Top issues during
this time, and it’s important to note that he had a completely free rein
with these comic book stories, handling both art and writing chores.
Fritzi Ritz lasted only four issues under the Dell label, before
being discontinued after #59 (Sept.-Nov. 1958). "Peanuts" did not appear
in #56, but each of the remaining three issues included a new four-page
story by Jim. He also handled the work for Tip Top #211 through #215
(Nov. 1958-Jan. 1959). In Tip Top, Charlie Brown and his friends shared
covers with Nancy, Sluggo, and the Captain and the Kids. Although
unsigned, Schulz drew these "Peanuts" cover panels for issues 211-213,
and Jim handled 214 and 215.
Sasseville did the Peanuts art in these issues of Tip Top, #214 and #215.
(Click on the pages to enlarge them.)
All told, then, Jim drew the interior stories in 20 issues of
Nancy, three issues of Fritzi Ritz, and five issues of Tip Top, along
with Four Color #878. This relationship with Schulz and Dell Comics took
an unexpected turn when the two men parted unhappily, and Jim’s final
work for Dell was the long kite story in the second all-"Peanuts" issue
of Four Color Comics (#969, Feb. 1959), along with the inside front and
inside back cover one-pagers.
The completion of that particular issue became something of a
marathon art session. After announcing that he and Helga would be moving
to Berkeley, Jim took stock of the pending Dell workload, and discovered
that the deadline for the second all-Peanuts issue of Four Color Comics
was imminent. Jim promised to finish this before the move, but Sparky
suggested that the job would proceed faster if they worked on it
together. The two men thus divided the work between them, and began
early one morning with what turned into a lengthy session stretching
well into the evening. During that time, Jim completed the
aforementioned two one-page stories and one eight-page story, while
Sparky handled the remaining one-page story and THREE eight-page
stories.
"There’s no doubt who was the faster artist," Jim notes, with a
chuckle. "He certainly put me in my place!"
Jim still remembers that session as a euphoric rush ... but it
concluded on a gloomy note, when, resting in the happy afterglow of a
job well done, Schulz revealed the fate of "It’s Only a Game" (see
below).
In the aftermath, Schulz also stepped in and handled all the work
for Nancy #169 (August 1959). Clearly, this was a rush job, and Schulz
borrowed from himself The final panel of this four-page story is almost
identical to the final panel of the June 23, 1957, "Peanuts" Sunday
strip. The comic book storyline is an expansion of that Sunday strip,
and the aforementioned final panel in the comic book is signed by Schulz
... the only case where any interior comic book stories bear his
signature.
Because the split was far from amicable, Jim did not follow the
subsequent comic book adventures of Charlie Brown and his friends, in
Nancy and Tip Top. On close examination just a few weeks ago -- in many
cases, seeing this work for the first time -- Jim pointed to specific
poses, characteristics and lettering attributes ("Sparky always rounded
out the bottoms of his W’s") that leave him convinced that Schulz either
penciled and inked the next several issues of both Nancy and Tip Top, or
at least roughed in the panel layout, inked the primary characters --
particularly their heads -- and lettered the word balloons. This seems
likely; carefully examination of individual pages reveals an occasional
Snoopy or Lucy which, not matching the rest, clearly must have been
inked by somebody else.
But Dale Hale, Schulz’s new apprentice and ghost -- and another
associate from Art Instruction Schools -- caught on quickly, and the
artwork in both books retained its Schulz-like characteristics through
roughly late 1960 or early 1961. At this point, other hands clearly took
over -- possibly Tony Pocrnick, another Schulz associate from Art
Instruction -- and the "Peanuts" characters became ever-more distant
from the Schulz ideal until the final issues of Tip Top (#225, May-July
1961) and Nancy. (By then the latter had been retitled Nancy and Sluggo,
and its final five issues were released under the Gold Key imprint; the
book was discontinued with issue #192, October 1963.) The "Peanuts"
artwork in the last issues of both books is, in a word, dreadful.
A third all-"Peanuts" issue of Four Color Comics was produced
(#1015, August-October 1959), after which the characters got their own
book that began with issue #4 (Feb.-April 1960), by way of acknowledging
those first three appearances in Four Color Comics. This lasted through
#13 (May-July 1962), after which the book was discontinued. Each of
these issues features a signed Schulz cover, but other hands --
certainly Hale, at first -- handled all the interior artwork and writing
(which, as with the latter issues of Nancy and Tip Top, grew less
Schulz-like over time).
But what had happened, to sever the friendship between Schulz and
Jim, which stretched back a decade?
Bouncing back a year or so...
Although already quite popular and gaining fans -- and syndicate
clients -- all the time, in 1957 "Peanuts" was not yet the multimedia
sensation it was to become within another decade. Schulz must have had
some free time that needed filling, and therefore was comfortable with
the concept of pitching a second strip concept to United Features
Syndicate. The artist had lots of ideas about games near and dear to his
heart, including golf, tennis, baseball and bridge. No doubt realizing
that twice as much Schulz per week was a good thing, UFS jumped at the
chance, and the sports and recreation-themed "It’s Only a Game" was
born. For awhile, Schulz joined later stars such as Johnny Hart ("B.C."
and "The Wizard of Id"), Mell Lazarus ("Miss Peach" and "Momma") and
Jerry Scott ("Baby Blues" and "Zits"), with two newspaper strips running
simultaneously.
Each installment of "It’s Only a Game, by Charles M. Schulz,"
hearkening back to Schulz’s very early work on "Li’l Folks" in The St.
Paul Pioneer Press, was comprised of three separate single-panel gag
strips. The package was offered to clients in two different formats as
three single-panel strips per week, to run on Mondays, Wednesdays and
Fridays; or as a combined grouping of three that would appear in Sunday
comics sections. The combined Sunday grouping also had a bonus fourth
cartoon a tiny, captionless visual gag -- very much like the
intermarginal gags that Sergio Aragonés would pepper throughout future
issues of Mad Magazine -- that appeared to the right of the title and
Schulz’s byline. The subject matter of the Monday and Wednesday panels
varied from week to week, but the Friday installment always centered
around bridge, the then-popular card game that Schulz loved. (Further
evidence of this affection could be seen in "Peanuts," where the kids
routinely played the game in the early 1950s, and Woodstock and a
foursome of his bird buddies picked it up in the 1970s and beyond.)
Charles Schulz did this January 12, 1958, "It's Only a Game" panel himself. Note his signature within the art of the right-most panel.
During an October 6, 1957, interview with Schulz, the Chicago
Tribune proudly boasted that it would be one of the flagship newspapers
to carry this new feature. The Tribune selected the weekly option, and
ran "It’s Only a Game" in its Sunday magazine. The debut installment
appeared November 3, 1957, and immediately set the tone for what would
follow, with panels devoted to boxing, golf and bridge. The middle panel
is a hoot, with a middle-aged duffer -- one easily can imagine Charlie
Brown in his 40s -- lamenting a putt that has left his ball perched at
the edge of the cup (but not in), and saying, "I think I’m going to
cry."
Subsequent installments covered checkers, bowling, curling (!),
table tennis, croquet, billiards, ice fishing, darts and even camping.
But as 1957 turned into 1958, something must have changed. Perhaps
Schulz had underestimated the amount of time involved with producing a
second weekly newspaper strip; maybe he also was spending more time than
expected overseeing the new "Peanuts" content in the Dell comic books.
Or, more likely, the "Peanuts" empire as a whole was occupying more of
his time; 1958 saw the production of the first "Peanuts" toys -- plastic
dolls of the major characters, produced by Hungerford -- and of course
this was just the tip of an approaching iceberg.
Whatever the reason, Schulz decided to hand over the lion’s share
of the artistic chores to Jim. Schulz’s solo involvement with "It’s Only
a Game" continued through the January 12, 1958, installment; this is the
last one to bear his signature on one of the cartoon panels. (Schulz’s
name continued to run alone in the masthead, however, making Jim a true
ghost.) As of January 19, 1958, Jim -- often working from hastily
penciled sketches and captions supplied by Schulz -- did all the
newspaper strip’s finished art and lettering.
Sasseville did this January 26, 1958, "It's Only a Game" panel himself. Note that Schulz's signature is nowhere to be seen within the art.
Jim vividly remembers this transition date, because just one week later,
with his second time at bat with the solo art chores, he was paid a
singular honor. That week’s Monday panel, a bowling strip, featured
three league players welcoming a fourth, apparently a little tardy, with
the exclamation of, "Three cheers, gang! Our number one man has
arrived!" A loyal reader sent UFS a black-and-white photo of himself
with three friends, staged to look precisely like the four figures in
Jim’s illustration. The "camera angle" was identical, along with
clothing, body position, and everything else in the frame. The
resemblance even extended to the men themselves, who had body shapes and
hairstyles eerily similar to those found in the panel art.
Jim still has the photo.
Sasseville received this photo recreation of his "It's Only a Game" gag from a fan. Note the date stamp at the top of the photo.
The degree to which Jim successfully imitated Schulz’s linework can
be seen by the fact that the transition was seamless; no casual reader
could have discerned that the hand on the inker’s pen had changed.
During the remainder of 1958, the two men continued to work in the same
fashion, Jim often finishing Schulz’s rough concepts, but also
contributing many of his own original ideas. He also inserted the
occasional personal reference; the boat from which a husband and wife
fish, in one of the June 29, 1958, panels, is the Helga, named after
Jim’s wife.
But Jim remembers that he never came up with any of the concepts
for Friday’s bridge panels, for the simple reason that he didn’t know
the game.
Although he labored in anonymity, Jim was well compensated
financially, and he still speaks appreciatively of Sparky’s generosity.
Schulz had negotiated for 50% of the strip’s income, the other half
going to UFS. This 50% amounted to slightly more than $500 per week;
when Jim came on board, Schulz generously gave half of HIS half to his
new partner, and so Jim brought home $250 per week (after expenses) for
his efforts ... quite a lot of money in 1958.
The two men were living in Minneapolis when this collaboration
began; after the first five months, in May 1958, Jim and his wife
followed the Schulz family to Northern California. Lacking a place to
stay in Sebastopol -- not to mention furniture and other amenities --
the Sassevilles first spent a couple of months a bit south, in Corta
Madera. "For two or three weeks, I drew the comic book stuff and ‘It’s
Only a Game’ on a portable drawing board. But I stayed in touch with
Sparky on the phone, and he supplied the ideas for ‘It’s Only a Game.’ "
The Sassevilles then found a home in Sebastopol. Between "It’s Only
a Game" and the work he also was doing for the "Peanuts" strips in the
Dell comic books, Jim was quite gainfully employed by his new partner
and boss.
Unfortunately, it was not to last.
"It’s Only a Game" began with 30 client newspapers; nearly a year
later, it had ... 30 client newspapers.
(A complete client list has been lost to the mists of time, although
it is known that the feature was carried by The Boston Globe, the Detroit
Free Press, The Chicago Tribune, The Minneapolis Tribune, the San Francisco
Chronicle and The Baltimore Sun.)
The strip never took off, despite strong support from fans such as
bridge expert Charles Goren (who wrote a couple of letters), and even
Schulz’s name didn’t seem to make much of a difference.
But we also can assume that the proud and perfectionist-minded
Schulz -- who in later years, as mentioned above, often made a point of
describing how in "Peanuts" he penciled and inked every line, and
lettered every word balloon -- probably was bothered by the fact that he
wasn’t similarly in sole control of "It’s Only a Game." To be sure, he
was INVOLVED, but he wasn’t actually drawing what appeared in those 30
client newspapers.
"He didn’t like his name being used on somebody else’s work," Jim
recalls, "and I don’t blame him for that."
That, coupled with moribund sales and some tension with the head
UFS salesman to whom Schulz initially had pitched the idea, eventually
prompted an astonishing decision In late 1958, just 12 months into a
solid five-year contract, Schulz made it plain to UFS that he wished to
discontinue "It’s Only a Game." Perhaps recognizing that the strip
wasn’t performing as hoped, UFS agreed.
Schulz did not consult Jim before taking this step; indeed, the
news came as a complete shock to Schulz’s ghost, who’d been very happy
with his work, and the strip, and the $250 per week.
Schulz even tried to sugar-coat the news "You’re off the hook,"
Jim recalls his employer saying (as if this were a GOOD thing), at the
end of that euphoric day when they finished work on the second
all-Peanuts issue of Dell’s Four Color Comics. Jim had just assured
Sparky that his pending move to Berkeley would not affect his ability to
work on "It’s Only a Game," and now the rug had been pulled out from
under him.
The fallout was immediate; it certainly was the final straw for
Helga, who already had been dissatisfied with their home in Sebastopol
-- hence the move to Berkeley -- and also was unhappy about the friction
that existed between her and Joyce, Schulz’s first wife. Helga had
endured Nazi Germany, survived the entire war -- in and out of work
camps -- and had lost her father at Dachau; she was not a woman to keep
opinions to herself.
"I realized I was working on a flawed product, which the creator
and marketer wanted nothing more to do with. Still, I had held out the
hope that maybe Sparky might offer the entire feature to me, although I
realized that there’d be problems with the syndicate," Jim admits, a
touch of wistfulness still clouding the memory after more than 40 years.
"They should have been pretty familiar with my work by then."
It didn’t happen. By the time the final installment of "It’s Only a
Game" appeared, on January 11, 1959 -- the two always had worked six
weeks ahead -- Jim and Schulz had severed all relations, professional
and personal. This also included Jim’s ghosting work on the Dell comic
books. The split was permanent, and the two men never reconciled.
Although "It’s Only a Game" ran for 63 consecutive weeks, it
quickly became a fading memory -- and then an overlooked footnote -- in
Schulz’s career. He rarely mentioned it during later interviews, and
then only obliquely, citing neither date specifics nor his collaboration
with Jim.
"We were the best of friends at first," Jim recalls ruefully. He
happily remembers attending the 1951 National Cartoonists Convention
with Sparky, and also another time when they both went to visit and swap
stories with a fellow artist, Robert M. Brinkerhoff, who lived in
Minneapolis and was known for a newspaper strip called "Little Mary
Mix-Up." Brinkerhoff, in turn -- like many other cartoonists at that
time -- greatly admired J.R. Williams (creator of "Out Our Way"), whom
he once described as "the greatest cowboy ever to walk the streets of
New York." Brinkerhoff related how he had wheedled, begged and finally
finagled an invitation to Williams’ ranch in Montana. Although only
interested in seeing the fabulous studio that he assumed his idol must
have on so massive a spread, Brinkerhoff first had to put up with being
shown all the livestock and the other attractions of a working ranch. As
the visit stretched on, Brinkerhoff finally couldn’t stand it any longer
and demanded to see where Williams did his work.
With a resigned sigh (as Jim recalls Brinkerhoff describing this
incident), Williams walked over to his wife’s sewing machine, took off
the cover, and flipped it over ... and that was it The great J.R.
Williams did all his drawing on the cover of his wife’s sewing machine.
As others have observed, there’s never any reason to embrace
technology or an environment any fancier than that required to get the
job done.
Cartoonists love to talk shop, and Jim’s no different; merely
relating this little tale brings a sparkle into his eyes. And, to this
day, he doesn’t really understand what happened between him and Schulz.
"I feel kind of weird about all this. Sparky obviously wanted me to
succeed in the early days, and even was willing to collaborate with me
on one of my own projects (one of the many variations of "Joe Cipher,"
discussed below). But then when he had a chance to really help me out,
he didn’t make any effort whatsoever ... and left me in rather dire
straits."
Such feelings notwithstanding, all these years later Jim is firm on
one point "Charles M. Schulz was the greatest comic strip artist ever."
And although he certainly couldn’t have known it at the time, Jim
never again would earn his living as a cartoonist.
Before, during and after his working association with Schulz, Jim
played around with many of his own ideas.
If persistence counts for anything, he deserves considerable credit
for his ongoing efforts to sell "Joe Cipher" ("a character kinda based
on me"), a daily strip that underwent quite a few transmutations during
the decade-plus that he tried to place it with a syndicate.
The character first appeared in a sample series of daily strips Jim
produced in late 1949. The strip’s gentle humor is faintly reminiscent
of "Gasoline Alley" and other character-driven work of the era; the
title character is introduced driving an old jalopy that obligingly runs
out of gas at a filling station. The silver-tongued Joe, lacking any
money, eventually impresses the station owner into offering him a job;
Joe celebrates by stepping into a nearby diner for lunch, where he’s
immediately smitten by the young woman behind the counter, and...
...and that’s where the presentation panels concluded.
Perhaps feeling that the strip lacked dramatic impact, a few years
later -- while still at AIS -- Jim tried again, shifting the action to a
tiny island in the middle of the ocean, where the shipwrecked Joe is
joined by an attractive young woman named Ginny, survivor of a second
sea-going calamity. (What are the odds?) Although their relationship is
mildly prickly for the first few days, Ginny eventually wishes aloud
that they could be rescued, so that she can go on a "proper date" with
Joe, and perhaps even kiss him when the evening concludes. Once again,
the story cut off abruptly, as Jim produced just two weeks’ worth of
strips enough to (hopefully) interest a buyer.
Sasseville tried several times to place a comic strip starring Joe Cipher, the pleasant-looking chap
featured in these examples. The two left-most strips are taken from the first run Sasseville designed on his own;
the two right-most strips, starring the same character but
in a different setting, are from Sasseville's third
test run; Charles Schulz contributed story input on these.
(Click on the image to see an enlarged version.)
After getting back from his return hitch in the Navy, Jim
went back to work on Joe Cipher and got a nibble from an
unexpected quarter: Something about this particular setting
touched Schulz, who suggested they collaborate on yet
a third incarnation of "Joe Cipher." (At the time, both men still were
unmarried, and it’s not hard to see a little male fantasy
wish-fulfillment at work.) With narrative input from Schulz and Jim
handling the art chores, the scene shifted again, this time to a
typically romantic South Seas setting, on an island large enough to
support a population of curvaceous young cuties and at least one
villain. Joe and Ginny remained the central focus, but this time the
former saw genuine action, on the receiving end of the villain’s fists.
Schulz and Jim took this newest version of "Joe Cipher" to United
Features Syndicate in spring of 1954; it was turned down flat. The
trip to New York wasn't a complete waste, though, because Sasseville
and Schulz caught a couple of plays: a T.S. Elliot drama called
Confidential Clerk, and another called The King of
Hearts, which starred Jackie Cooper as (what are the odds?)
a cartoonist!
Sasseville also remembers going from suite to suite in New
York's Waldorf hotel during this trip, visiting one cartoonist
after another; meeting Al Capp was a high point. But at least
part of the reason for the trip -- the newest Joe Cipher -- proved
unsellable, and Schulz bowed out at that point.
When Jim finally returned to "Joe Cipher," the 1950s were almost
over. Jim’s association with "Peanuts" and "It’s Only a Game" had
concluded, so the writer/artist returned to his favorite unsold
property. Jim recast his hero in yet another new setting, this time a
business office populated by characters clearly derived from his days at
Art Instruction. Although the sample panels display even cleaner, more
attractive line work -- a sure sign of his growing comfort as an artist
-- Jim had no better luck this time around.
Still refusing to abandon hope, Jim tried one more time In early
1960, after having moved to Berkeley, he once again changed the setting
completely, and turned Joe Cipher into "Sir Joe." This Arthurian-based
concept focused on genuinely whimsical gags involving heavy armor,
maidens in distress, and fire-breathing dragons. Jim’s dragons are
particularly funny, and this newest reboot seems ripe with
possibilities; it’s not at all hard to envision a daily strip evolving
from these samples.
Alas, syndicates once again failed to see any potential, and "Joe
Cipher" was put into Jim’s trunk as no more than another engaging
footnote in the artist’s collection of rejection slips.
Jim didn’t confine his efforts to "Joe Cipher"; the writer/artist
had no shortage of ideas, quite a few of which also wound up as
submission concepts. "Aunty Climax," produced in early 1957 -- just
prior to Jim’s ghost work for Dell comics -- was a single-panel gag
strip that starred a feisty little old lady who was far sharper than
most people assumed. She was based on Louise Cassidy, an AIS colleague
who also was the landlady for the building where Jim briefly lived with
Charles Cuddy. Jim produced a few dozen "Aunty Climax" panels, all of
which are vastly superior -- both in terms of writing and artwork -- to
many of the single-panel cartoons cluttering today’s newspapers.
"Confessions of a French Poodle" was a 1959 concept that didn’t
emerge much further than a few finished panels and lots of pencil
sketches; Jim good-naturedly admits that the idea went nowhere, and so
he abandoned it. That may have been shrewd market analysis, as the
medium never has lacked for dog-oriented material. Even so, French
poodles are funny in their own right, and Jim’s concept sketches are a
hoot.
When not working on Peanuts-related material, Sasseville tried to sell many of his own strip ideas
to a syndicate. From left to right, these examples are "Aunty Climax," "Friends and Foes," "Alpha-Betty" and "Happy Birthday."
(Click on the image to see an enlarged version.)
"Friends and Foes," another single-panel tryout, also emerged from
Jim’s pen in 1959. A little later, shortly after he started putting food
on the table with a "real job" -- and perhaps motivated by the explosion
of children’s television shows, which eventually led to "Sesame Street"
and everything that followed -- Jim tried a kid-oriented educational
strip called "Alpha-Betty," which starred a little girl who finds
herself in an other-worldly land populated by men and women shaped like
letters of the alphabet. The personalities of these individuals were
defined by their appearance; curved female letters, for example, were
far more sultry that straight female letters. The strip has a lovely
"Alice in Wonderland" quality, although the concept may have seemed
limiting.
Jim later played with the medium in "Blackboard," a daily strip
designed to be white-on-black, to imitate chalk on a classroom
blackboard. The stars were Dick, Jane and their TeacheR; although not as
overly educational as "Alpha-Betty," this strip also was aimed at young
audiences.
Jim’s final attempt at syndication was produced in the early 1970s,
after he first went into research hibernation, jotting down enough
celebrity birthdays to fill every day of a calendar year. The resulting
single-panel strips were a precursor to the "On this day in history..."
informational nuggets that have become so ubiquitous The panel for
March 28, for example, illustrated and revealed a few choice facts about
orchestra leader Paul Whiteman. March 29 was devoted to President John
Tyler, while Francisco Goya was featured on March 30.
Sadly, this fared no better with syndicators than any of the
others. "Joe Cipher," "Aunty Climax," "Confessions of a French Poodle,"
"Friends and Foes," "Alpha-Betty," "Blackboard" and "Birthdays" exist only
in Jim’s carefully preserved office files. More’s the pity, because even
the weakest of these strips displays a Puckish wit and clean, attractive
line work too often absent from many of the rushed, imitative strips
that generate little more than reader apathy these days.
Following the dust-up with Schulz and the move to Berkeley, Helga
-- who was delighted by the more rarefied atmosphere of a university
community -- became the family bread-winner. She took a job with a
German importer/exporter and commuted daily across the Bay Bridge.
Eventually succumbing to the need for steady employment, in April
1960 Jim took a job as a graphic designer with Varian, one of the
leading radar companies, located in California’s greater San Francisco
Bay Area. The fit proved comfortable, and he remained with the company
until he retired in 1990.
But the career shift wasn’t immediate; Jim first spent most of 1959
working up his own aforementioned comic strip proposals, and
occasionally sold individual gag cartoons to magazines. But his New
York-based agent took 35% of those one-shots.
"That’s when I started with Varian," Jim recalls, with a chuckle.
"I knew I’d never make it as a gag cartoonist."
Be that as it may, Jim never stopped his cartooning efforts; while
at Varian, he became famous for the birthday cards that he drew for
fellow employees.
Helga, meanwhile, got a job at Stanford, which prompted another
move; the couple then purchased their first home in 1960, in Mountain
View.
Three years later, they moved for what would be the last time. Jim
and his wife paid $28,000 for the house that remains his home to this
day. Just last year the retired artist was offered a cool million bucks
-- in cash -- by a dot-commer who wanted to develop the property. Still
loyal to the memories of his wife, with which the house is filled, Jim
politely declined. Helga died in 1995; he clearly still misses her.
Today, Parkinson’s Disease and the recent stroke have conspired to
deliver the ultimate nightmare Jim no longer can hold a pen well enough
to draw. ("I always marveled at Sparky’s ability to incorporate his
shaking hand into his line work.") But his mind and memory remain
acutely sharp, and his Puckish sense of humor is unbowed. He speaks with
clarity and certainty of his years at Art Instruction School, and with
Schulz, and of his never-successful efforts to market his own original
material.
Jim remains philosophical about his life, and in fact composed
another of his verses to express such feelings
I’m all for equal measures
Losses should be matched by gain;
And since I’ve missed life’s pleasures,
I’ll just double up with pain!
Definitely too harsh, but then we’re always hardest on ourselves.
Jim Sasseville deserves far more than the obscurity into which he has
settled; for a time, he was allied with the man who would become the
world’s most successful cartoonist, and for a time he helped chaperone
the faithfully rendered adventures of Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Linus, Lucy
and the rest ... no small feat.
And I’m particularly transfixed by a remark Jim made during one of
our later phone calls "I don’t know how one should behave, in a
situation like this," he said, referring to our ongoing conversations,
"but it’s like I’ve been resurrected."
Perhaps this article will kick-start our long-overdue obligation to
sing his praises.
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All PEANUTS characters pictured are copyrighted by United Feature Syndicate, Inc. They are used here with permission. They may not be reproduced by any means in any form.
After eighth grade, Jim shifted back to public school during his
high school career. He took the art classes offered at his school, but
did not pursue this interest with any extra-curricular instruction.
By this time, the war was on; Jim isn’t even sure, all these years
later, whether he officially completed high school. Whether he graduated
or released himself, he and a friend then hitchhiked across the country.
Jim’s 18th birthday found them in Portland, Oregon, where the two worked
the remainder of that summer at the Kaiser shipyards. Jim then enlisted
in the U.S. Navy, while his friend returned to Minneapolis. Jim was
assigned to the fleet post office after boot training, and he served
precisely 11 months and 29 days ... a hitch whose length would come back
to haunt him.
After being discharged, Jim entered the Minneapolis School of Art
(at the time, a trade school) for a three-year term, and graduated in
1948. He gravitated toward Art Instruction School (which already
included a certain Charles M. "Sparky" Schulz among its staff), and in
the summer of 1949, while 22 years old, prepared a gorgeous hand-drawn
and lettered portfolio, with a self-portrait in full watercolor, to
introduce himself and his artistic talents; the brochure’s dozen or so
pages must have been one of the most ambitious job applications that the
institution ever had received.
Although interested in cartooning, at that point Jim preferred
painting, which this full-color introductory portfolio makes abundantly
clear. (He still has it, lovingly preserved and in excellent condition.)
Obviously, the ploy worked. Jim was hired at a starting salary of
$35 per week. The oversized 1950 Art Instruction Schools Inc. booklet
("Your Art School!"), produced not much later and handed out to all
prospective clients, includes his photo on Page 3, immediately before
Schulz’s picture.
"James F. Sasseville," reads the caption beneath the photo, "is an
instructor in rendering and advertising illustration. He is one of our
best figure illustrators in color."
While at Art Instruction, Jim joined the team that graded all the
submissions -- the "Can you draw me?" applications -- that arrived via
mail or hand delivery. The bottom-line desire, of course, was to
encourage those with even the smallest shred of talent, in order to get
an AIS salesman in the family’s front door; after all, the money was
made by selling art instruction courses. Since manilla envelopes poured
in like mad, speed-grading was essential.
"I spent years correcting Lesson No. 5, which was an advertising
project, where the students had to design a streetcar poster on the
theme ‘See the Orient.’ "
Jim remembers marking all but the very best submissions with
nothing more than alpha-numeric codes (A6, A17, and so forth), which AIS
secretaries then would translate into form paragraph replies.
"But they always were nicely typed up," Jim remembers, knowing full
well that the recipients carefully scrutinized every analytical word.
Sasseville and Schulz became good friends ("We had a similar sense
of humor"), and Sparky encouraged Jim to pursue comic strips. Jim even
got his hair cut more than once in Schulz’s father’s barbershop.
"Sparky bet me, in late 1949, that I’d sell a comic strip to a
syndicate before he would," Jim remembers, with a smile. "As it turned
out, I won that bet hands-down."
In between grading assignments, Jim and his fellow employees
produced thousands upon thousands of quickly penciled drawings on
4-by-7-inch sketchpads. In this respect, these artists were no different
than their counterparts at Disney and Warner Brothers animation studios,
who also filled the minutes between "real work" with impressive little
doodles and caricatures of each other, all of which are the envy of
collectors today (when they surface in the first place). Jim still has
stacks and stacks of such impromptu efforts, including a few caricatures
of Schulz and other AIS friends, and several pages of "Peanuts"
character roughs. (Even then, he must have been planning ahead...) Most
are plain pencil on paper, but some are blue-line; in either case, they
reveal one of Jim’s artistic strengths an ability to capture a person’s
eyes with remarkably lifelike clarity.
(Unfortunately, he did not save his collection of Schulz originals.
"I gave away all my junk foolishly, many years ago ... somebody conned
me out of almost all my original Schulz drawings.")
Jim never lost his art-school fascination with centaurs and nudes,
and many of his sketchpad pages are filled with fetchingly unclad
cuties. Hiring and drawing undraped models was fairly common among Jim
and his colleagues, although not quite all of his colleagues "I can’t
remember Sparky taking any part in that whatsoever."
Such figure studies also sparked Jim’s impish literary talents,
honed by a life-long fascination with poetry (T.S. Eliot’s "Distracted
from distraction by distraction" remains a personal mantra).
Jim still recalls many of his favorite invented verses, such as
this one, which would have been loved by Ogden Nash
A centaur met a mermaid, as he trotted by the sea;
She noticed not his heavy hooves, nor he her single knee,
As they lingered there, expelling time with heart-inspired chatter
The direction of their love so strong ... bottoms didn’t matter!
Jim’s tenure at Art Instruction was interrupted in mid 1952, when
Uncle Sam tapped his shoulder again. The Korean War was underway, and
those who previously had served less than a full year were being
recalled ... so those two days shy of a year forced a second hitch that
lasted through 1954.
"I was sent to the Philippines," Jim notes dryly, thinking back to
all the Lesson No. 5 submissions that he had graded, "so I certainly saw
the Orient."
This second 14-month hitch of active duty certainly wasn’t wasted,
in terms of Jim’s artistic skills; he worked for an Irish Catholic
chaplain and did a weekly mimeographed newspaper for U.S. Naval Mobile
Construction Battalion 9 ("I was drawing cartoons up the gazoo"). The
unit’s 1952-53 Cruise Book features a great full-page Jim illustration
on Page 33; titled "Cubi Point, P.I.," it shows five sailors watching a
dog face off with a monkey.
Jim’s relationship with Father John James Kileen never was dull, in
part because the artist was a lapsed Catholic.
"He worked the hell out of me, but then he’d always invite me into
his quarters for a nip, and then try to entice me back into the fold."
After his second stint in the Navy concluded, Jim returned to
civilian life (this time for good), and to Art Instruction Schools,
where he and Schulz picked up where they’d left off. In between grading
assignments and sketching his office buddies, Jim placed a few gag
cartoons in magazines, such as a droll three-panel sequence of a guy
having trouble with a jack, while attempting to fix a flat tire, which
appeared on Page 45 of the August 1957 issue of Gent, a
long-discontinued men’s magazine.
Jim met Helga, his future wife, as a result of his Navy friendship
with Charles Cuddy. She had immigrated to the United States when
sponsored by a South Dakota politician and his family ("mostly for slave
labor," Jim perceptively remarks); Helga was unfamiliar with the farm
environment, and decamped for Minneapolis as soon as she could. She
entered the University of Minnesota with a vengeance; her half-Jewish
heritage had kept her out of institutions of higher learning in her
native Germany.
She also enrolled in art school and wound up in one class being
taught by Dave Ratner, a colleague and friend with whom Jim went to art
school; she also landed in some of the same classes as Cuddy, who for a
time shared a boarding house attic ("a garret") with Jim. Since this
colony of Minneapolis artists wasn’t all that large, it was inevitable
that Jim and Helga would meet. ("Destiny," he happily acknowledges.)
They married in 1956.
"I’d just bought a brand-new Mercury," Jim remembers, with a
chuckle, "and I had to get rid of it when we got married, because Helga
couldn’t drive a stick-shift."
Within a few short months, Sasseville’s life turned around again,
when he became the best of Schulz’s never-credited "Peanuts" ghosts.
Whenever asked, Charles Schulz would repeat the statement that
became ubiquitous Unlike those involved with other "assembly-line"
newspaper comic strips, he remained the only person whose hands touched
the adventures of Charlie Brown and the gang. Schulz wrote, drew, inked
and lettered his strip, and did so during the entire run October 2,
1950, to February 13, 2000. Schulz always insisted that the strip would
cease production when he finally called it quits, a wish that his family
has honored. Unlike other classic strips that have been revived, often
by lesser talents, "Peanuts" will forevermore remain solely a Schulz
legacy.
Except ... that’s not entirely true.
During the 1950s and early ’60s, Charlie Brown and his friends
didn’t just appear in newspaper strips; they also were a popular feature
of comic books ... a medium usually dominated by the likes of Superman
and Captain America, but one that included plenty of room for lighter
fare.
And -- surprise, surprise! -- when the "Peanuts" comic book
appearances stopped being newspaper reprints and "graduated" into
original features in 1957, sharp-eyed fans probably could discern that
somebody other than Sparky Schulz was doing the artwork.
To keep the chronology consistent, let’s turn back the clock to
1952, when "Peanuts" simultaneously debuted as a supporting feature in
two comic books -- the March-April issues of Tip Top Comics (#173) and
United Comics (#21) -- both published by United Feature Syndicate, which
routinely recycled many of its newspaper features in these and other
comic books. The "Peanuts" supporting feature moved into a third book,
Tip Topper, beginning with #17 (June-July 1952); it remained there until
the book was discontinued after #28 (April-May 1954). Shortly before
this final issue of Tip Topper, "Peanuts" returned to Tip Top as a
supporting feature, beginning with #184 (Jan.-Feb. 1954) and continuing
through #188 (Sept.-Oct. 1954). Several of these later issues feature
gorgeous Peanuts covers, which -- although not signed -- appear to be by
Schulz.
"Peanuts" also appeared, during this same period, as a back-up
feature in most issues of United Comics, later retitled Fritzi Ritz
(beginning with #27). The run here also was consecutive #21-#33 (the
latter dated March-April 1954). Stray issues of Sparkler Comics and
Sparkle Comics also included some "Peanuts" reprints, although not on a
regular basis.
UFS got out of the comic book publishing business at the end of
1954, and some of its titles were picked up by St. John in 1955,
including Fritzi Ritz and Tip Top. Despite a noticeable gap of several
months, the numbering of both books continued consecutively. Thus, Tip
Top resumed with #189 (May 1955), and continued to include "Peanuts" as
a supporting feature during St. John’s entire run of this book, through
#210 (July 1957). "Peanuts" was only an occasional supporting feature in
St. John’s run of Fritzi Ritz, starting with #37 (July 1955) and
continuing through #55. Finally, at least one issue of Nancy -- #142
(March 1957) -- also featured Peanuts reprints.
Big changes came in late 1957, and not just because St. John
abandoned these books and turned them over to Dell Comics (Western
Publishing). After a delay of several months to half a year -- depending
on the title -- Dell revived the flagship St. John titles, again with
consecutive numbering. Thus, Tip Top #211 returned as a quarterly with a
cover date of Nov. 1957-Jan. 1958. Fritzi Ritz resumed with #56, dated
Dec. 1957-Feb. 1958.
Under Dell’s stewardship, Charlie Brown and the gang also became a
regular supporting feature in Nancy, beginning with #146 (Sept. 1957).
The biggest change, however, concerned the content in all three books.
When Dell took over, the covers promised "All brand-new stories" ... and
they meant it.
"Peanuts" fans spotted the change in Nancy #146, which boasted a
four-page story with a baseball theme, clearly produced by Schulz
himself (although unsigned); Jim confirms Sparky’s linework. But Schulz
quickly realized that producing four full pages of original art for
Nancy on a monthly basis, not to mention similar duties for the
quarterly Tip Top and Fritzi Ritz, would be more than he was willing to
handle. Then, too, he was only months away from debuting his own second
newspaper strip, "It’s Only a Game" (about which more below).
Schulz allowed Dell’s house art department to handle his characters
in Nancy #147, but was unhappy with the results. (No surprise; the art
is quite weak.) Schulz stepped in again for issue #148, but the workload
problem hadn’t changed. Wanting greater fidelity to his own style,
Schulz turned to Jim, who took over the reins with issue #149 and
continued through #168 (July 1959). Jim essentially became Schulz’s
employee and was paid $100 per week for this work; since he was making
only $80 per week at Art Instruction, this -- along with the even higher
paycheck he’d soon receive, for helping Schulz with "It’s Only a Game"
-- was a substantial raise.
As a ghosting assignment, the results are impressive. Charlie Brown
and Linus’ heads are notoriously difficult to reproduce in Schulz’s
signature style, but Jim came damn close. More to the point, the
characters are posed and conduct themselves in a way that’s absolutely
typical of their behavior in Sparky’s newspaper strip. Art purists may
have noticed that Jim wasn’t Schulz, but casual readers were unlikely to
have detected the difference.
The four-page story above is taken from Nancy #151, February 1958.
(Click on the pages to enlarge them.)
"He gave me carte blanche on writing them, and I felt like a
faithful uncle," Jim says, with no small amount of pride at his ability
to reproduce Charlie Brown and the gang.
Although Jim’s take on the "Peanuts" gang in Nancy #149 was the
first to reach fans, it was not the ghost artist’s debut crack at
Charlie Brown. Jim’s first completed "Peanuts" comic book adventure was
"The Trip," one of a quartet of eight-page stories (packaged with three
one-page stories) that eventually appeared as issue #878 (Feb. 1958) of
Dell’s Four Color Comics, an "umbrella title" that rotated various
stars; this issue, boasting a gorgeous signed Schulz cover, was the
first one devoted to "Peanuts."
Ever the imp, Jim inserted a personal reference into "The Trip."
The number on the dog license that Charlie Brown uses -- 891-68-14 -- to
justify his getting behind the wheel of a station wagon, was the
artist’s Navy serial number.
Jim also did the work in the Fritzi Ritz and Tip Top issues during
this time, and it’s important to note that he had a completely free rein
with these comic book stories, handling both art and writing chores.
Fritzi Ritz lasted only four issues under the Dell label, before
being discontinued after #59 (Sept.-Nov. 1958). "Peanuts" did not appear
in #56, but each of the remaining three issues included a new four-page
story by Jim. He also handled the work for Tip Top #211 through #215
(Nov. 1958-Jan. 1959). In Tip Top, Charlie Brown and his friends shared
covers with Nancy, Sluggo, and the Captain and the Kids. Although
unsigned, Schulz drew these "Peanuts" cover panels for issues 211-213,
and Jim handled 214 and 215.
Sasseville did the Peanuts art in these issues of Tip Top, #214 and #215.
(Click on the pages to enlarge them.)
All told, then, Jim drew the interior stories in 20 issues of
Nancy, three issues of Fritzi Ritz, and five issues of Tip Top, along
with Four Color #878. This relationship with Schulz and Dell Comics took
an unexpected turn when the two men parted unhappily, and Jim’s final
work for Dell was the long kite story in the second all-"Peanuts" issue
of Four Color Comics (#969, Feb. 1959), along with the inside front and
inside back cover one-pagers.
The completion of that particular issue became something of a
marathon art session. After announcing that he and Helga would be moving
to Berkeley, Jim took stock of the pending Dell workload, and discovered
that the deadline for the second all-Peanuts issue of Four Color Comics
was imminent. Jim promised to finish this before the move, but Sparky
suggested that the job would proceed faster if they worked on it
together. The two men thus divided the work between them, and began
early one morning with what turned into a lengthy session stretching
well into the evening. During that time, Jim completed the
aforementioned two one-page stories and one eight-page story, while
Sparky handled the remaining one-page story and THREE eight-page
stories.
"There’s no doubt who was the faster artist," Jim notes, with a
chuckle. "He certainly put me in my place!"
Jim still remembers that session as a euphoric rush ... but it
concluded on a gloomy note, when, resting in the happy afterglow of a
job well done, Schulz revealed the fate of "It’s Only a Game" (see
below).
In the aftermath, Schulz also stepped in and handled all the work
for Nancy #169 (August 1959). Clearly, this was a rush job, and Schulz
borrowed from himself The final panel of this four-page story is almost
identical to the final panel of the June 23, 1957, "Peanuts" Sunday
strip. The comic book storyline is an expansion of that Sunday strip,
and the aforementioned final panel in the comic book is signed by Schulz
... the only case where any interior comic book stories bear his
signature.
Because the split was far from amicable, Jim did not follow the
subsequent comic book adventures of Charlie Brown and his friends, in
Nancy and Tip Top. On close examination just a few weeks ago -- in many
cases, seeing this work for the first time -- Jim pointed to specific
poses, characteristics and lettering attributes ("Sparky always rounded
out the bottoms of his W’s") that leave him convinced that Schulz either
penciled and inked the next several issues of both Nancy and Tip Top, or
at least roughed in the panel layout, inked the primary characters --
particularly their heads -- and lettered the word balloons. This seems
likely; carefully examination of individual pages reveals an occasional
Snoopy or Lucy which, not matching the rest, clearly must have been
inked by somebody else.
But Dale Hale, Schulz’s new apprentice and ghost -- and another
associate from Art Instruction Schools -- caught on quickly, and the
artwork in both books retained its Schulz-like characteristics through
roughly late 1960 or early 1961. At this point, other hands clearly took
over -- possibly Tony Pocrnick, another Schulz associate from Art
Instruction -- and the "Peanuts" characters became ever-more distant
from the Schulz ideal until the final issues of Tip Top (#225, May-July
1961) and Nancy. (By then the latter had been retitled Nancy and Sluggo,
and its final five issues were released under the Gold Key imprint; the
book was discontinued with issue #192, October 1963.) The "Peanuts"
artwork in the last issues of both books is, in a word, dreadful.
A third all-"Peanuts" issue of Four Color Comics was produced
(#1015, August-October 1959), after which the characters got their own
book that began with issue #4 (Feb.-April 1960), by way of acknowledging
those first three appearances in Four Color Comics. This lasted through
#13 (May-July 1962), after which the book was discontinued. Each of
these issues features a signed Schulz cover, but other hands --
certainly Hale, at first -- handled all the interior artwork and writing
(which, as with the latter issues of Nancy and Tip Top, grew less
Schulz-like over time).
But what had happened, to sever the friendship between Schulz and
Jim, which stretched back a decade?
Bouncing back a year or so...
Although already quite popular and gaining fans -- and syndicate
clients -- all the time, in 1957 "Peanuts" was not yet the multimedia
sensation it was to become within another decade. Schulz must have had
some free time that needed filling, and therefore was comfortable with
the concept of pitching a second strip concept to United Features
Syndicate. The artist had lots of ideas about games near and dear to his
heart, including golf, tennis, baseball and bridge. No doubt realizing
that twice as much Schulz per week was a good thing, UFS jumped at the
chance, and the sports and recreation-themed "It’s Only a Game" was
born. For awhile, Schulz joined later stars such as Johnny Hart ("B.C."
and "The Wizard of Id"), Mell Lazarus ("Miss Peach" and "Momma") and
Jerry Scott ("Baby Blues" and "Zits"), with two newspaper strips running
simultaneously.
Each installment of "It’s Only a Game, by Charles M. Schulz,"
hearkening back to Schulz’s very early work on "Li’l Folks" in The St.
Paul Pioneer Press, was comprised of three separate single-panel gag
strips. The package was offered to clients in two different formats as
three single-panel strips per week, to run on Mondays, Wednesdays and
Fridays; or as a combined grouping of three that would appear in Sunday
comics sections. The combined Sunday grouping also had a bonus fourth
cartoon a tiny, captionless visual gag -- very much like the
intermarginal gags that Sergio Aragonés would pepper throughout future
issues of Mad Magazine -- that appeared to the right of the title and
Schulz’s byline. The subject matter of the Monday and Wednesday panels
varied from week to week, but the Friday installment always centered
around bridge, the then-popular card game that Schulz loved. (Further
evidence of this affection could be seen in "Peanuts," where the kids
routinely played the game in the early 1950s, and Woodstock and a
foursome of his bird buddies picked it up in the 1970s and beyond.)
Charles Schulz did this January 12, 1958, "It's Only a Game" panel himself. Note his signature within the art of the right-most panel.
During an October 6, 1957, interview with Schulz, the Chicago
Tribune proudly boasted that it would be one of the flagship newspapers
to carry this new feature. The Tribune selected the weekly option, and
ran "It’s Only a Game" in its Sunday magazine. The debut installment
appeared November 3, 1957, and immediately set the tone for what would
follow, with panels devoted to boxing, golf and bridge. The middle panel
is a hoot, with a middle-aged duffer -- one easily can imagine Charlie
Brown in his 40s -- lamenting a putt that has left his ball perched at
the edge of the cup (but not in), and saying, "I think I’m going to
cry."
Subsequent installments covered checkers, bowling, curling (!),
table tennis, croquet, billiards, ice fishing, darts and even camping.
But as 1957 turned into 1958, something must have changed. Perhaps
Schulz had underestimated the amount of time involved with producing a
second weekly newspaper strip; maybe he also was spending more time than
expected overseeing the new "Peanuts" content in the Dell comic books.
Or, more likely, the "Peanuts" empire as a whole was occupying more of
his time; 1958 saw the production of the first "Peanuts" toys -- plastic
dolls of the major characters, produced by Hungerford -- and of course
this was just the tip of an approaching iceberg.
Whatever the reason, Schulz decided to hand over the lion’s share
of the artistic chores to Jim. Schulz’s solo involvement with "It’s Only
a Game" continued through the January 12, 1958, installment; this is the
last one to bear his signature on one of the cartoon panels. (Schulz’s
name continued to run alone in the masthead, however, making Jim a true
ghost.) As of January 19, 1958, Jim -- often working from hastily
penciled sketches and captions supplied by Schulz -- did all the
newspaper strip’s finished art and lettering.
Sasseville did this January 26, 1958, "It's Only a Game" panel himself. Note that Schulz's signature is nowhere to be seen within the art.
Jim vividly remembers this transition date, because just one week later,
with his second time at bat with the solo art chores, he was paid a
singular honor. That week’s Monday panel, a bowling strip, featured
three league players welcoming a fourth, apparently a little tardy, with
the exclamation of, "Three cheers, gang! Our number one man has
arrived!" A loyal reader sent UFS a black-and-white photo of himself
with three friends, staged to look precisely like the four figures in
Jim’s illustration. The "camera angle" was identical, along with
clothing, body position, and everything else in the frame. The
resemblance even extended to the men themselves, who had body shapes and
hairstyles eerily similar to those found in the panel art.
Jim still has the photo.
Sasseville received this photo recreation of his "It's Only a Game" gag from a fan. Note the date stamp at the top of the photo.
The degree to which Jim successfully imitated Schulz’s linework can
be seen by the fact that the transition was seamless; no casual reader
could have discerned that the hand on the inker’s pen had changed.
During the remainder of 1958, the two men continued to work in the same
fashion, Jim often finishing Schulz’s rough concepts, but also
contributing many of his own original ideas. He also inserted the
occasional personal reference; the boat from which a husband and wife
fish, in one of the June 29, 1958, panels, is the Helga, named after
Jim’s wife.
But Jim remembers that he never came up with any of the concepts
for Friday’s bridge panels, for the simple reason that he didn’t know
the game.
Although he labored in anonymity, Jim was well compensated
financially, and he still speaks appreciatively of Sparky’s generosity.
Schulz had negotiated for 50% of the strip’s income, the other half
going to UFS. This 50% amounted to slightly more than $500 per week;
when Jim came on board, Schulz generously gave half of HIS half to his
new partner, and so Jim brought home $250 per week (after expenses) for
his efforts ... quite a lot of money in 1958.
The two men were living in Minneapolis when this collaboration
began; after the first five months, in May 1958, Jim and his wife
followed the Schulz family to Northern California. Lacking a place to
stay in Sebastopol -- not to mention furniture and other amenities --
the Sassevilles first spent a couple of months a bit south, in Corta
Madera. "For two or three weeks, I drew the comic book stuff and ‘It’s
Only a Game’ on a portable drawing board. But I stayed in touch with
Sparky on the phone, and he supplied the ideas for ‘It’s Only a Game.’ "
The Sassevilles then found a home in Sebastopol. Between "It’s Only
a Game" and the work he also was doing for the "Peanuts" strips in the
Dell comic books, Jim was quite gainfully employed by his new partner
and boss.
Unfortunately, it was not to last.
"It’s Only a Game" began with 30 client newspapers; nearly a year
later, it had ... 30 client newspapers.
(A complete client list has been lost to the mists of time, although
it is known that the feature was carried by The Boston Globe, the Detroit
Free Press, The Chicago Tribune, The Minneapolis Tribune, the San Francisco
Chronicle and The Baltimore Sun.)
The strip never took off, despite strong support from fans such as
bridge expert Charles Goren (who wrote a couple of letters), and even
Schulz’s name didn’t seem to make much of a difference.
But we also can assume that the proud and perfectionist-minded
Schulz -- who in later years, as mentioned above, often made a point of
describing how in "Peanuts" he penciled and inked every line, and
lettered every word balloon -- probably was bothered by the fact that he
wasn’t similarly in sole control of "It’s Only a Game." To be sure, he
was INVOLVED, but he wasn’t actually drawing what appeared in those 30
client newspapers.
"He didn’t like his name being used on somebody else’s work," Jim
recalls, "and I don’t blame him for that."
That, coupled with moribund sales and some tension with the head
UFS salesman to whom Schulz initially had pitched the idea, eventually
prompted an astonishing decision In late 1958, just 12 months into a
solid five-year contract, Schulz made it plain to UFS that he wished to
discontinue "It’s Only a Game." Perhaps recognizing that the strip
wasn’t performing as hoped, UFS agreed.
Schulz did not consult Jim before taking this step; indeed, the
news came as a complete shock to Schulz’s ghost, who’d been very happy
with his work, and the strip, and the $250 per week.
Schulz even tried to sugar-coat the news "You’re off the hook,"
Jim recalls his employer saying (as if this were a GOOD thing), at the
end of that euphoric day when they finished work on the second
all-Peanuts issue of Dell’s Four Color Comics. Jim had just assured
Sparky that his pending move to Berkeley would not affect his ability to
work on "It’s Only a Game," and now the rug had been pulled out from
under him.
The fallout was immediate; it certainly was the final straw for
Helga, who already had been dissatisfied with their home in Sebastopol
-- hence the move to Berkeley -- and also was unhappy about the friction
that existed between her and Joyce, Schulz’s first wife. Helga had
endured Nazi Germany, survived the entire war -- in and out of work
camps -- and had lost her father at Dachau; she was not a woman to keep
opinions to herself.
"I realized I was working on a flawed product, which the creator
and marketer wanted nothing more to do with. Still, I had held out the
hope that maybe Sparky might offer the entire feature to me, although I
realized that there’d be problems with the syndicate," Jim admits, a
touch of wistfulness still clouding the memory after more than 40 years.
"They should have been pretty familiar with my work by then."
It didn’t happen. By the time the final installment of "It’s Only a
Game" appeared, on January 11, 1959 -- the two always had worked six
weeks ahead -- Jim and Schulz had severed all relations, professional
and personal. This also included Jim’s ghosting work on the Dell comic
books. The split was permanent, and the two men never reconciled.
Although "It’s Only a Game" ran for 63 consecutive weeks, it
quickly became a fading memory -- and then an overlooked footnote -- in
Schulz’s career. He rarely mentioned it during later interviews, and
then only obliquely, citing neither date specifics nor his collaboration
with Jim.
"We were the best of friends at first," Jim recalls ruefully. He
happily remembers attending the 1951 National Cartoonists Convention
with Sparky, and also another time when they both went to visit and swap
stories with a fellow artist, Robert M. Brinkerhoff, who lived in
Minneapolis and was known for a newspaper strip called "Little Mary
Mix-Up." Brinkerhoff, in turn -- like many other cartoonists at that
time -- greatly admired J.R. Williams (creator of "Out Our Way"), whom
he once described as "the greatest cowboy ever to walk the streets of
New York." Brinkerhoff related how he had wheedled, begged and finally
finagled an invitation to Williams’ ranch in Montana. Although only
interested in seeing the fabulous studio that he assumed his idol must
have on so massive a spread, Brinkerhoff first had to put up with being
shown all the livestock and the other attractions of a working ranch. As
the visit stretched on, Brinkerhoff finally couldn’t stand it any longer
and demanded to see where Williams did his work.
With a resigned sigh (as Jim recalls Brinkerhoff describing this
incident), Williams walked over to his wife’s sewing machine, took off
the cover, and flipped it over ... and that was it The great J.R.
Williams did all his drawing on the cover of his wife’s sewing machine.
As others have observed, there’s never any reason to embrace
technology or an environment any fancier than that required to get the
job done.
Cartoonists love to talk shop, and Jim’s no different; merely
relating this little tale brings a sparkle into his eyes. And, to this
day, he doesn’t really understand what happened between him and Schulz.
"I feel kind of weird about all this. Sparky obviously wanted me to
succeed in the early days, and even was willing to collaborate with me
on one of my own projects (one of the many variations of "Joe Cipher,"
discussed below). But then when he had a chance to really help me out,
he didn’t make any effort whatsoever ... and left me in rather dire
straits."
Such feelings notwithstanding, all these years later Jim is firm on
one point "Charles M. Schulz was the greatest comic strip artist ever."
And although he certainly couldn’t have known it at the time, Jim
never again would earn his living as a cartoonist.
Before, during and after his working association with Schulz, Jim
played around with many of his own ideas.
If persistence counts for anything, he deserves considerable credit
for his ongoing efforts to sell "Joe Cipher" ("a character kinda based
on me"), a daily strip that underwent quite a few transmutations during
the decade-plus that he tried to place it with a syndicate.
The character first appeared in a sample series of daily strips Jim
produced in late 1949. The strip’s gentle humor is faintly reminiscent
of "Gasoline Alley" and other character-driven work of the era; the
title character is introduced driving an old jalopy that obligingly runs
out of gas at a filling station. The silver-tongued Joe, lacking any
money, eventually impresses the station owner into offering him a job;
Joe celebrates by stepping into a nearby diner for lunch, where he’s
immediately smitten by the young woman behind the counter, and...
...and that’s where the presentation panels concluded.
Perhaps feeling that the strip lacked dramatic impact, a few years
later -- while still at AIS -- Jim tried again, shifting the action to a
tiny island in the middle of the ocean, where the shipwrecked Joe is
joined by an attractive young woman named Ginny, survivor of a second
sea-going calamity. (What are the odds?) Although their relationship is
mildly prickly for the first few days, Ginny eventually wishes aloud
that they could be rescued, so that she can go on a "proper date" with
Joe, and perhaps even kiss him when the evening concludes. Once again,
the story cut off abruptly, as Jim produced just two weeks’ worth of
strips enough to (hopefully) interest a buyer.
Sasseville tried several times to place a comic strip starring Joe Cipher, the pleasant-looking chap
featured in these examples. The two left-most strips are taken from the first run Sasseville designed on his own;
the two right-most strips, starring the same character but
in a different setting, are from Sasseville's third
test run; Charles Schulz contributed story input on these.
(Click on the image to see an enlarged version.)
After getting back from his return hitch in the Navy, Jim
went back to work on Joe Cipher and got a nibble from an
unexpected quarter: Something about this particular setting
touched Schulz, who suggested they collaborate on yet
a third incarnation of "Joe Cipher." (At the time, both men still were
unmarried, and it’s not hard to see a little male fantasy
wish-fulfillment at work.) With narrative input from Schulz and Jim
handling the art chores, the scene shifted again, this time to a
typically romantic South Seas setting, on an island large enough to
support a population of curvaceous young cuties and at least one
villain. Joe and Ginny remained the central focus, but this time the
former saw genuine action, on the receiving end of the villain’s fists.
Schulz and Jim took this newest version of "Joe Cipher" to United
Features Syndicate in spring of 1954; it was turned down flat. The
trip to New York wasn't a complete waste, though, because Sasseville
and Schulz caught a couple of plays: a T.S. Elliot drama called
Confidential Clerk, and another called The King of
Hearts, which starred Jackie Cooper as (what are the odds?)
a cartoonist!
Sasseville also remembers going from suite to suite in New
York's Waldorf hotel during this trip, visiting one cartoonist
after another; meeting Al Capp was a high point. But at least
part of the reason for the trip -- the newest Joe Cipher -- proved
unsellable, and Schulz bowed out at that point.
When Jim finally returned to "Joe Cipher," the 1950s were almost
over. Jim’s association with "Peanuts" and "It’s Only a Game" had
concluded, so the writer/artist returned to his favorite unsold
property. Jim recast his hero in yet another new setting, this time a
business office populated by characters clearly derived from his days at
Art Instruction. Although the sample panels display even cleaner, more
attractive line work -- a sure sign of his growing comfort as an artist
-- Jim had no better luck this time around.
Still refusing to abandon hope, Jim tried one more time In early
1960, after having moved to Berkeley, he once again changed the setting
completely, and turned Joe Cipher into "Sir Joe." This Arthurian-based
concept focused on genuinely whimsical gags involving heavy armor,
maidens in distress, and fire-breathing dragons. Jim’s dragons are
particularly funny, and this newest reboot seems ripe with
possibilities; it’s not at all hard to envision a daily strip evolving
from these samples.
Alas, syndicates once again failed to see any potential, and "Joe
Cipher" was put into Jim’s trunk as no more than another engaging
footnote in the artist’s collection of rejection slips.
Jim didn’t confine his efforts to "Joe Cipher"; the writer/artist
had no shortage of ideas, quite a few of which also wound up as
submission concepts. "Aunty Climax," produced in early 1957 -- just
prior to Jim’s ghost work for Dell comics -- was a single-panel gag
strip that starred a feisty little old lady who was far sharper than
most people assumed. She was based on Louise Cassidy, an AIS colleague
who also was the landlady for the building where Jim briefly lived with
Charles Cuddy. Jim produced a few dozen "Aunty Climax" panels, all of
which are vastly superior -- both in terms of writing and artwork -- to
many of the single-panel cartoons cluttering today’s newspapers.
"Confessions of a French Poodle" was a 1959 concept that didn’t
emerge much further than a few finished panels and lots of pencil
sketches; Jim good-naturedly admits that the idea went nowhere, and so
he abandoned it. That may have been shrewd market analysis, as the
medium never has lacked for dog-oriented material. Even so, French
poodles are funny in their own right, and Jim’s concept sketches are a
hoot.
When not working on Peanuts-related material, Sasseville tried to sell many of his own strip ideas
to a syndicate. From left to right, these examples are "Aunty Climax," "Friends and Foes," "Alpha-Betty" and "Happy Birthday."
(Click on the image to see an enlarged version.)
"Friends and Foes," another single-panel tryout, also emerged from
Jim’s pen in 1959. A little later, shortly after he started putting food
on the table with a "real job" -- and perhaps motivated by the explosion
of children’s television shows, which eventually led to "Sesame Street"
and everything that followed -- Jim tried a kid-oriented educational
strip called "Alpha-Betty," which starred a little girl who finds
herself in an other-worldly land populated by men and women shaped like
letters of the alphabet. The personalities of these individuals were
defined by their appearance; curved female letters, for example, were
far more sultry that straight female letters. The strip has a lovely
"Alice in Wonderland" quality, although the concept may have seemed
limiting.
Jim later played with the medium in "Blackboard," a daily strip
designed to be white-on-black, to imitate chalk on a classroom
blackboard. The stars were Dick, Jane and their TeacheR; although not as
overly educational as "Alpha-Betty," this strip also was aimed at young
audiences.
Jim’s final attempt at syndication was produced in the early 1970s,
after he first went into research hibernation, jotting down enough
celebrity birthdays to fill every day of a calendar year. The resulting
single-panel strips were a precursor to the "On this day in history..."
informational nuggets that have become so ubiquitous The panel for
March 28, for example, illustrated and revealed a few choice facts about
orchestra leader Paul Whiteman. March 29 was devoted to President John
Tyler, while Francisco Goya was featured on March 30.
Sadly, this fared no better with syndicators than any of the
others. "Joe Cipher," "Aunty Climax," "Confessions of a French Poodle,"
"Friends and Foes," "Alpha-Betty," "Blackboard" and "Birthdays" exist only
in Jim’s carefully preserved office files. More’s the pity, because even
the weakest of these strips displays a Puckish wit and clean, attractive
line work too often absent from many of the rushed, imitative strips
that generate little more than reader apathy these days.
Following the dust-up with Schulz and the move to Berkeley, Helga
-- who was delighted by the more rarefied atmosphere of a university
community -- became the family bread-winner. She took a job with a
German importer/exporter and commuted daily across the Bay Bridge.
Eventually succumbing to the need for steady employment, in April
1960 Jim took a job as a graphic designer with Varian, one of the
leading radar companies, located in California’s greater San Francisco
Bay Area. The fit proved comfortable, and he remained with the company
until he retired in 1990.
But the career shift wasn’t immediate; Jim first spent most of 1959
working up his own aforementioned comic strip proposals, and
occasionally sold individual gag cartoons to magazines. But his New
York-based agent took 35% of those one-shots.
"That’s when I started with Varian," Jim recalls, with a chuckle.
"I knew I’d never make it as a gag cartoonist."
Be that as it may, Jim never stopped his cartooning efforts; while
at Varian, he became famous for the birthday cards that he drew for
fellow employees.
Helga, meanwhile, got a job at Stanford, which prompted another
move; the couple then purchased their first home in 1960, in Mountain
View.
Three years later, they moved for what would be the last time. Jim
and his wife paid $28,000 for the house that remains his home to this
day. Just last year the retired artist was offered a cool million bucks
-- in cash -- by a dot-commer who wanted to develop the property. Still
loyal to the memories of his wife, with which the house is filled, Jim
politely declined. Helga died in 1995; he clearly still misses her.
Today, Parkinson’s Disease and the recent stroke have conspired to
deliver the ultimate nightmare Jim no longer can hold a pen well enough
to draw. ("I always marveled at Sparky’s ability to incorporate his
shaking hand into his line work.") But his mind and memory remain
acutely sharp, and his Puckish sense of humor is unbowed. He speaks with
clarity and certainty of his years at Art Instruction School, and with
Schulz, and of his never-successful efforts to market his own original
material.
Jim remains philosophical about his life, and in fact composed
another of his verses to express such feelings
I’m all for equal measures
Losses should be matched by gain;
And since I’ve missed life’s pleasures,
I’ll just double up with pain!
Definitely too harsh, but then we’re always hardest on ourselves.
Jim Sasseville deserves far more than the obscurity into which he has
settled; for a time, he was allied with the man who would become the
world’s most successful cartoonist, and for a time he helped chaperone
the faithfully rendered adventures of Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Linus, Lucy
and the rest ... no small feat.
And I’m particularly transfixed by a remark Jim made during one of
our later phone calls "I don’t know how one should behave, in a
situation like this," he said, referring to our ongoing conversations,
"but it’s like I’ve been resurrected."
Perhaps this article will kick-start our long-overdue obligation to
sing his praises.
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All PEANUTS characters pictured are copyrighted by United Feature Syndicate, Inc. They are used here with permission. They may not be reproduced by any means in any form.
After being discharged, Jim entered the Minneapolis School of Art
(at the time, a trade school) for a three-year term, and graduated in
1948. He gravitated toward Art Instruction School (which already
included a certain Charles M. "Sparky" Schulz among its staff), and in
the summer of 1949, while 22 years old, prepared a gorgeous hand-drawn
and lettered portfolio, with a self-portrait in full watercolor, to
introduce himself and his artistic talents; the brochure’s dozen or so
pages must have been one of the most ambitious job applications that the
institution ever had received.
Although interested in cartooning, at that point Jim preferred
painting, which this full-color introductory portfolio makes abundantly
clear. (He still has it, lovingly preserved and in excellent condition.)
Obviously, the ploy worked. Jim was hired at a starting salary of
$35 per week. The oversized 1950 Art Instruction Schools Inc. booklet
("Your Art School!"), produced not much later and handed out to all
prospective clients, includes his photo on Page 3, immediately before
Schulz’s picture.
"James F. Sasseville," reads the caption beneath the photo, "is an
instructor in rendering and advertising illustration. He is one of our
best figure illustrators in color."
While at Art Instruction, Jim joined the team that graded all the
submissions -- the "Can you draw me?" applications -- that arrived via
mail or hand delivery. The bottom-line desire, of course, was to
encourage those with even the smallest shred of talent, in order to get
an AIS salesman in the family’s front door; after all, the money was
made by selling art instruction courses. Since manilla envelopes poured
in like mad, speed-grading was essential.
"I spent years correcting Lesson No. 5, which was an advertising
project, where the students had to design a streetcar poster on the
theme ‘See the Orient.’ "
Jim remembers marking all but the very best submissions with
nothing more than alpha-numeric codes (A6, A17, and so forth), which AIS
secretaries then would translate into form paragraph replies.
"But they always were nicely typed up," Jim remembers, knowing full
well that the recipients carefully scrutinized every analytical word.
Sasseville and Schulz became good friends ("We had a similar sense
of humor"), and Sparky encouraged Jim to pursue comic strips. Jim even
got his hair cut more than once in Schulz’s father’s barbershop.
"Sparky bet me, in late 1949, that I’d sell a comic strip to a
syndicate before he would," Jim remembers, with a smile. "As it turned
out, I won that bet hands-down."
In between grading assignments, Jim and his fellow employees
produced thousands upon thousands of quickly penciled drawings on
4-by-7-inch sketchpads. In this respect, these artists were no different
than their counterparts at Disney and Warner Brothers animation studios,
who also filled the minutes between "real work" with impressive little
doodles and caricatures of each other, all of which are the envy of
collectors today (when they surface in the first place). Jim still has
stacks and stacks of such impromptu efforts, including a few caricatures
of Schulz and other AIS friends, and several pages of "Peanuts"
character roughs. (Even then, he must have been planning ahead...) Most
are plain pencil on paper, but some are blue-line; in either case, they
reveal one of Jim’s artistic strengths an ability to capture a person’s
eyes with remarkably lifelike clarity.
(Unfortunately, he did not save his collection of Schulz originals.
"I gave away all my junk foolishly, many years ago ... somebody conned
me out of almost all my original Schulz drawings.")
Jim never lost his art-school fascination with centaurs and nudes,
and many of his sketchpad pages are filled with fetchingly unclad
cuties. Hiring and drawing undraped models was fairly common among Jim
and his colleagues, although not quite all of his colleagues "I can’t
remember Sparky taking any part in that whatsoever."
Such figure studies also sparked Jim’s impish literary talents,
honed by a life-long fascination with poetry (T.S. Eliot’s "Distracted
from distraction by distraction" remains a personal mantra).
Jim still recalls many of his favorite invented verses, such as
this one, which would have been loved by Ogden Nash
A centaur met a mermaid, as he trotted by the sea;
She noticed not his heavy hooves, nor he her single knee,
As they lingered there, expelling time with heart-inspired chatter
The direction of their love so strong ... bottoms didn’t matter!
Jim’s tenure at Art Instruction was interrupted in mid 1952, when
Uncle Sam tapped his shoulder again. The Korean War was underway, and
those who previously had served less than a full year were being
recalled ... so those two days shy of a year forced a second hitch that
lasted through 1954.
"I was sent to the Philippines," Jim notes dryly, thinking back to
all the Lesson No. 5 submissions that he had graded, "so I certainly saw
the Orient."
This second 14-month hitch of active duty certainly wasn’t wasted,
in terms of Jim’s artistic skills; he worked for an Irish Catholic
chaplain and did a weekly mimeographed newspaper for U.S. Naval Mobile
Construction Battalion 9 ("I was drawing cartoons up the gazoo"). The
unit’s 1952-53 Cruise Book features a great full-page Jim illustration
on Page 33; titled "Cubi Point, P.I.," it shows five sailors watching a
dog face off with a monkey.
Jim’s relationship with Father John James Kileen never was dull, in
part because the artist was a lapsed Catholic.
"He worked the hell out of me, but then he’d always invite me into
his quarters for a nip, and then try to entice me back into the fold."
After his second stint in the Navy concluded, Jim returned to
civilian life (this time for good), and to Art Instruction Schools,
where he and Schulz picked up where they’d left off. In between grading
assignments and sketching his office buddies, Jim placed a few gag
cartoons in magazines, such as a droll three-panel sequence of a guy
having trouble with a jack, while attempting to fix a flat tire, which
appeared on Page 45 of the August 1957 issue of Gent, a
long-discontinued men’s magazine.
Jim met Helga, his future wife, as a result of his Navy friendship
with Charles Cuddy. She had immigrated to the United States when
sponsored by a South Dakota politician and his family ("mostly for slave
labor," Jim perceptively remarks); Helga was unfamiliar with the farm
environment, and decamped for Minneapolis as soon as she could. She
entered the University of Minnesota with a vengeance; her half-Jewish
heritage had kept her out of institutions of higher learning in her
native Germany.
She also enrolled in art school and wound up in one class being
taught by Dave Ratner, a colleague and friend with whom Jim went to art
school; she also landed in some of the same classes as Cuddy, who for a
time shared a boarding house attic ("a garret") with Jim. Since this
colony of Minneapolis artists wasn’t all that large, it was inevitable
that Jim and Helga would meet. ("Destiny," he happily acknowledges.)
They married in 1956.
"I’d just bought a brand-new Mercury," Jim remembers, with a
chuckle, "and I had to get rid of it when we got married, because Helga
couldn’t drive a stick-shift."
Within a few short months, Sasseville’s life turned around again,
when he became the best of Schulz’s never-credited "Peanuts" ghosts.
Whenever asked, Charles Schulz would repeat the statement that
became ubiquitous Unlike those involved with other "assembly-line"
newspaper comic strips, he remained the only person whose hands touched
the adventures of Charlie Brown and the gang. Schulz wrote, drew, inked
and lettered his strip, and did so during the entire run October 2,
1950, to February 13, 2000. Schulz always insisted that the strip would
cease production when he finally called it quits, a wish that his family
has honored. Unlike other classic strips that have been revived, often
by lesser talents, "Peanuts" will forevermore remain solely a Schulz
legacy.
Except ... that’s not entirely true.
During the 1950s and early ’60s, Charlie Brown and his friends
didn’t just appear in newspaper strips; they also were a popular feature
of comic books ... a medium usually dominated by the likes of Superman
and Captain America, but one that included plenty of room for lighter
fare.
And -- surprise, surprise! -- when the "Peanuts" comic book
appearances stopped being newspaper reprints and "graduated" into
original features in 1957, sharp-eyed fans probably could discern that
somebody other than Sparky Schulz was doing the artwork.
To keep the chronology consistent, let’s turn back the clock to
1952, when "Peanuts" simultaneously debuted as a supporting feature in
two comic books -- the March-April issues of Tip Top Comics (#173) and
United Comics (#21) -- both published by United Feature Syndicate, which
routinely recycled many of its newspaper features in these and other
comic books. The "Peanuts" supporting feature moved into a third book,
Tip Topper, beginning with #17 (June-July 1952); it remained there until
the book was discontinued after #28 (April-May 1954). Shortly before
this final issue of Tip Topper, "Peanuts" returned to Tip Top as a
supporting feature, beginning with #184 (Jan.-Feb. 1954) and continuing
through #188 (Sept.-Oct. 1954). Several of these later issues feature
gorgeous Peanuts covers, which -- although not signed -- appear to be by
Schulz.
"Peanuts" also appeared, during this same period, as a back-up
feature in most issues of United Comics, later retitled Fritzi Ritz
(beginning with #27). The run here also was consecutive #21-#33 (the
latter dated March-April 1954). Stray issues of Sparkler Comics and
Sparkle Comics also included some "Peanuts" reprints, although not on a
regular basis.
UFS got out of the comic book publishing business at the end of
1954, and some of its titles were picked up by St. John in 1955,
including Fritzi Ritz and Tip Top. Despite a noticeable gap of several
months, the numbering of both books continued consecutively. Thus, Tip
Top resumed with #189 (May 1955), and continued to include "Peanuts" as
a supporting feature during St. John’s entire run of this book, through
#210 (July 1957). "Peanuts" was only an occasional supporting feature in
St. John’s run of Fritzi Ritz, starting with #37 (July 1955) and
continuing through #55. Finally, at least one issue of Nancy -- #142
(March 1957) -- also featured Peanuts reprints.
Big changes came in late 1957, and not just because St. John
abandoned these books and turned them over to Dell Comics (Western
Publishing). After a delay of several months to half a year -- depending
on the title -- Dell revived the flagship St. John titles, again with
consecutive numbering. Thus, Tip Top #211 returned as a quarterly with a
cover date of Nov. 1957-Jan. 1958. Fritzi Ritz resumed with #56, dated
Dec. 1957-Feb. 1958.
Under Dell’s stewardship, Charlie Brown and the gang also became a
regular supporting feature in Nancy, beginning with #146 (Sept. 1957).
The biggest change, however, concerned the content in all three books.
When Dell took over, the covers promised "All brand-new stories" ... and
they meant it.
"Peanuts" fans spotted the change in Nancy #146, which boasted a
four-page story with a baseball theme, clearly produced by Schulz
himself (although unsigned); Jim confirms Sparky’s linework. But Schulz
quickly realized that producing four full pages of original art for
Nancy on a monthly basis, not to mention similar duties for the
quarterly Tip Top and Fritzi Ritz, would be more than he was willing to
handle. Then, too, he was only months away from debuting his own second
newspaper strip, "It’s Only a Game" (about which more below).
Schulz allowed Dell’s house art department to handle his characters
in Nancy #147, but was unhappy with the results. (No surprise; the art
is quite weak.) Schulz stepped in again for issue #148, but the workload
problem hadn’t changed. Wanting greater fidelity to his own style,
Schulz turned to Jim, who took over the reins with issue #149 and
continued through #168 (July 1959). Jim essentially became Schulz’s
employee and was paid $100 per week for this work; since he was making
only $80 per week at Art Instruction, this -- along with the even higher
paycheck he’d soon receive, for helping Schulz with "It’s Only a Game"
-- was a substantial raise.
As a ghosting assignment, the results are impressive. Charlie Brown
and Linus’ heads are notoriously difficult to reproduce in Schulz’s
signature style, but Jim came damn close. More to the point, the
characters are posed and conduct themselves in a way that’s absolutely
typical of their behavior in Sparky’s newspaper strip. Art purists may
have noticed that Jim wasn’t Schulz, but casual readers were unlikely to
have detected the difference.
The four-page story above is taken from Nancy #151, February 1958.
(Click on the pages to enlarge them.)
"He gave me carte blanche on writing them, and I felt like a
faithful uncle," Jim says, with no small amount of pride at his ability
to reproduce Charlie Brown and the gang.
Although Jim’s take on the "Peanuts" gang in Nancy #149 was the
first to reach fans, it was not the ghost artist’s debut crack at
Charlie Brown. Jim’s first completed "Peanuts" comic book adventure was
"The Trip," one of a quartet of eight-page stories (packaged with three
one-page stories) that eventually appeared as issue #878 (Feb. 1958) of
Dell’s Four Color Comics, an "umbrella title" that rotated various
stars; this issue, boasting a gorgeous signed Schulz cover, was the
first one devoted to "Peanuts."
Ever the imp, Jim inserted a personal reference into "The Trip."
The number on the dog license that Charlie Brown uses -- 891-68-14 -- to
justify his getting behind the wheel of a station wagon, was the
artist’s Navy serial number.
Jim also did the work in the Fritzi Ritz and Tip Top issues during
this time, and it’s important to note that he had a completely free rein
with these comic book stories, handling both art and writing chores.
Fritzi Ritz lasted only four issues under the Dell label, before
being discontinued after #59 (Sept.-Nov. 1958). "Peanuts" did not appear
in #56, but each of the remaining three issues included a new four-page
story by Jim. He also handled the work for Tip Top #211 through #215
(Nov. 1958-Jan. 1959). In Tip Top, Charlie Brown and his friends shared
covers with Nancy, Sluggo, and the Captain and the Kids. Although
unsigned, Schulz drew these "Peanuts" cover panels for issues 211-213,
and Jim handled 214 and 215.
Sasseville did the Peanuts art in these issues of Tip Top, #214 and #215.
(Click on the pages to enlarge them.)
All told, then, Jim drew the interior stories in 20 issues of
Nancy, three issues of Fritzi Ritz, and five issues of Tip Top, along
with Four Color #878. This relationship with Schulz and Dell Comics took
an unexpected turn when the two men parted unhappily, and Jim’s final
work for Dell was the long kite story in the second all-"Peanuts" issue
of Four Color Comics (#969, Feb. 1959), along with the inside front and
inside back cover one-pagers.
The completion of that particular issue became something of a
marathon art session. After announcing that he and Helga would be moving
to Berkeley, Jim took stock of the pending Dell workload, and discovered
that the deadline for the second all-Peanuts issue of Four Color Comics
was imminent. Jim promised to finish this before the move, but Sparky
suggested that the job would proceed faster if they worked on it
together. The two men thus divided the work between them, and began
early one morning with what turned into a lengthy session stretching
well into the evening. During that time, Jim completed the
aforementioned two one-page stories and one eight-page story, while
Sparky handled the remaining one-page story and THREE eight-page
stories.
"There’s no doubt who was the faster artist," Jim notes, with a
chuckle. "He certainly put me in my place!"
Jim still remembers that session as a euphoric rush ... but it
concluded on a gloomy note, when, resting in the happy afterglow of a
job well done, Schulz revealed the fate of "It’s Only a Game" (see
below).
In the aftermath, Schulz also stepped in and handled all the work
for Nancy #169 (August 1959). Clearly, this was a rush job, and Schulz
borrowed from himself The final panel of this four-page story is almost
identical to the final panel of the June 23, 1957, "Peanuts" Sunday
strip. The comic book storyline is an expansion of that Sunday strip,
and the aforementioned final panel in the comic book is signed by Schulz
... the only case where any interior comic book stories bear his
signature.
Because the split was far from amicable, Jim did not follow the
subsequent comic book adventures of Charlie Brown and his friends, in
Nancy and Tip Top. On close examination just a few weeks ago -- in many
cases, seeing this work for the first time -- Jim pointed to specific
poses, characteristics and lettering attributes ("Sparky always rounded
out the bottoms of his W’s") that leave him convinced that Schulz either
penciled and inked the next several issues of both Nancy and Tip Top, or
at least roughed in the panel layout, inked the primary characters --
particularly their heads -- and lettered the word balloons. This seems
likely; carefully examination of individual pages reveals an occasional
Snoopy or Lucy which, not matching the rest, clearly must have been
inked by somebody else.
But Dale Hale, Schulz’s new apprentice and ghost -- and another
associate from Art Instruction Schools -- caught on quickly, and the
artwork in both books retained its Schulz-like characteristics through
roughly late 1960 or early 1961. At this point, other hands clearly took
over -- possibly Tony Pocrnick, another Schulz associate from Art
Instruction -- and the "Peanuts" characters became ever-more distant
from the Schulz ideal until the final issues of Tip Top (#225, May-July
1961) and Nancy. (By then the latter had been retitled Nancy and Sluggo,
and its final five issues were released under the Gold Key imprint; the
book was discontinued with issue #192, October 1963.) The "Peanuts"
artwork in the last issues of both books is, in a word, dreadful.
A third all-"Peanuts" issue of Four Color Comics was produced
(#1015, August-October 1959), after which the characters got their own
book that began with issue #4 (Feb.-April 1960), by way of acknowledging
those first three appearances in Four Color Comics. This lasted through
#13 (May-July 1962), after which the book was discontinued. Each of
these issues features a signed Schulz cover, but other hands --
certainly Hale, at first -- handled all the interior artwork and writing
(which, as with the latter issues of Nancy and Tip Top, grew less
Schulz-like over time).
But what had happened, to sever the friendship between Schulz and
Jim, which stretched back a decade?
Bouncing back a year or so...
Although already quite popular and gaining fans -- and syndicate
clients -- all the time, in 1957 "Peanuts" was not yet the multimedia
sensation it was to become within another decade. Schulz must have had
some free time that needed filling, and therefore was comfortable with
the concept of pitching a second strip concept to United Features
Syndicate. The artist had lots of ideas about games near and dear to his
heart, including golf, tennis, baseball and bridge. No doubt realizing
that twice as much Schulz per week was a good thing, UFS jumped at the
chance, and the sports and recreation-themed "It’s Only a Game" was
born. For awhile, Schulz joined later stars such as Johnny Hart ("B.C."
and "The Wizard of Id"), Mell Lazarus ("Miss Peach" and "Momma") and
Jerry Scott ("Baby Blues" and "Zits"), with two newspaper strips running
simultaneously.
Each installment of "It’s Only a Game, by Charles M. Schulz,"
hearkening back to Schulz’s very early work on "Li’l Folks" in The St.
Paul Pioneer Press, was comprised of three separate single-panel gag
strips. The package was offered to clients in two different formats as
three single-panel strips per week, to run on Mondays, Wednesdays and
Fridays; or as a combined grouping of three that would appear in Sunday
comics sections. The combined Sunday grouping also had a bonus fourth
cartoon a tiny, captionless visual gag -- very much like the
intermarginal gags that Sergio Aragonés would pepper throughout future
issues of Mad Magazine -- that appeared to the right of the title and
Schulz’s byline. The subject matter of the Monday and Wednesday panels
varied from week to week, but the Friday installment always centered
around bridge, the then-popular card game that Schulz loved. (Further
evidence of this affection could be seen in "Peanuts," where the kids
routinely played the game in the early 1950s, and Woodstock and a
foursome of his bird buddies picked it up in the 1970s and beyond.)
Charles Schulz did this January 12, 1958, "It's Only a Game" panel himself. Note his signature within the art of the right-most panel.
During an October 6, 1957, interview with Schulz, the Chicago
Tribune proudly boasted that it would be one of the flagship newspapers
to carry this new feature. The Tribune selected the weekly option, and
ran "It’s Only a Game" in its Sunday magazine. The debut installment
appeared November 3, 1957, and immediately set the tone for what would
follow, with panels devoted to boxing, golf and bridge. The middle panel
is a hoot, with a middle-aged duffer -- one easily can imagine Charlie
Brown in his 40s -- lamenting a putt that has left his ball perched at
the edge of the cup (but not in), and saying, "I think I’m going to
cry."
Subsequent installments covered checkers, bowling, curling (!),
table tennis, croquet, billiards, ice fishing, darts and even camping.
But as 1957 turned into 1958, something must have changed. Perhaps
Schulz had underestimated the amount of time involved with producing a
second weekly newspaper strip; maybe he also was spending more time than
expected overseeing the new "Peanuts" content in the Dell comic books.
Or, more likely, the "Peanuts" empire as a whole was occupying more of
his time; 1958 saw the production of the first "Peanuts" toys -- plastic
dolls of the major characters, produced by Hungerford -- and of course
this was just the tip of an approaching iceberg.
Whatever the reason, Schulz decided to hand over the lion’s share
of the artistic chores to Jim. Schulz’s solo involvement with "It’s Only
a Game" continued through the January 12, 1958, installment; this is the
last one to bear his signature on one of the cartoon panels. (Schulz’s
name continued to run alone in the masthead, however, making Jim a true
ghost.) As of January 19, 1958, Jim -- often working from hastily
penciled sketches and captions supplied by Schulz -- did all the
newspaper strip’s finished art and lettering.
Sasseville did this January 26, 1958, "It's Only a Game" panel himself. Note that Schulz's signature is nowhere to be seen within the art.
Jim vividly remembers this transition date, because just one week later,
with his second time at bat with the solo art chores, he was paid a
singular honor. That week’s Monday panel, a bowling strip, featured
three league players welcoming a fourth, apparently a little tardy, with
the exclamation of, "Three cheers, gang! Our number one man has
arrived!" A loyal reader sent UFS a black-and-white photo of himself
with three friends, staged to look precisely like the four figures in
Jim’s illustration. The "camera angle" was identical, along with
clothing, body position, and everything else in the frame. The
resemblance even extended to the men themselves, who had body shapes and
hairstyles eerily similar to those found in the panel art.
Jim still has the photo.
Sasseville received this photo recreation of his "It's Only a Game" gag from a fan. Note the date stamp at the top of the photo.
The degree to which Jim successfully imitated Schulz’s linework can
be seen by the fact that the transition was seamless; no casual reader
could have discerned that the hand on the inker’s pen had changed.
During the remainder of 1958, the two men continued to work in the same
fashion, Jim often finishing Schulz’s rough concepts, but also
contributing many of his own original ideas. He also inserted the
occasional personal reference; the boat from which a husband and wife
fish, in one of the June 29, 1958, panels, is the Helga, named after
Jim’s wife.
But Jim remembers that he never came up with any of the concepts
for Friday’s bridge panels, for the simple reason that he didn’t know
the game.
Although he labored in anonymity, Jim was well compensated
financially, and he still speaks appreciatively of Sparky’s generosity.
Schulz had negotiated for 50% of the strip’s income, the other half
going to UFS. This 50% amounted to slightly more than $500 per week;
when Jim came on board, Schulz generously gave half of HIS half to his
new partner, and so Jim brought home $250 per week (after expenses) for
his efforts ... quite a lot of money in 1958.
The two men were living in Minneapolis when this collaboration
began; after the first five months, in May 1958, Jim and his wife
followed the Schulz family to Northern California. Lacking a place to
stay in Sebastopol -- not to mention furniture and other amenities --
the Sassevilles first spent a couple of months a bit south, in Corta
Madera. "For two or three weeks, I drew the comic book stuff and ‘It’s
Only a Game’ on a portable drawing board. But I stayed in touch with
Sparky on the phone, and he supplied the ideas for ‘It’s Only a Game.’ "
The Sassevilles then found a home in Sebastopol. Between "It’s Only
a Game" and the work he also was doing for the "Peanuts" strips in the
Dell comic books, Jim was quite gainfully employed by his new partner
and boss.
Unfortunately, it was not to last.
"It’s Only a Game" began with 30 client newspapers; nearly a year
later, it had ... 30 client newspapers.
(A complete client list has been lost to the mists of time, although
it is known that the feature was carried by The Boston Globe, the Detroit
Free Press, The Chicago Tribune, The Minneapolis Tribune, the San Francisco
Chronicle and The Baltimore Sun.)
The strip never took off, despite strong support from fans such as
bridge expert Charles Goren (who wrote a couple of letters), and even
Schulz’s name didn’t seem to make much of a difference.
But we also can assume that the proud and perfectionist-minded
Schulz -- who in later years, as mentioned above, often made a point of
describing how in "Peanuts" he penciled and inked every line, and
lettered every word balloon -- probably was bothered by the fact that he
wasn’t similarly in sole control of "It’s Only a Game." To be sure, he
was INVOLVED, but he wasn’t actually drawing what appeared in those 30
client newspapers.
"He didn’t like his name being used on somebody else’s work," Jim
recalls, "and I don’t blame him for that."
That, coupled with moribund sales and some tension with the head
UFS salesman to whom Schulz initially had pitched the idea, eventually
prompted an astonishing decision In late 1958, just 12 months into a
solid five-year contract, Schulz made it plain to UFS that he wished to
discontinue "It’s Only a Game." Perhaps recognizing that the strip
wasn’t performing as hoped, UFS agreed.
Schulz did not consult Jim before taking this step; indeed, the
news came as a complete shock to Schulz’s ghost, who’d been very happy
with his work, and the strip, and the $250 per week.
Schulz even tried to sugar-coat the news "You’re off the hook,"
Jim recalls his employer saying (as if this were a GOOD thing), at the
end of that euphoric day when they finished work on the second
all-Peanuts issue of Dell’s Four Color Comics. Jim had just assured
Sparky that his pending move to Berkeley would not affect his ability to
work on "It’s Only a Game," and now the rug had been pulled out from
under him.
The fallout was immediate; it certainly was the final straw for
Helga, who already had been dissatisfied with their home in Sebastopol
-- hence the move to Berkeley -- and also was unhappy about the friction
that existed between her and Joyce, Schulz’s first wife. Helga had
endured Nazi Germany, survived the entire war -- in and out of work
camps -- and had lost her father at Dachau; she was not a woman to keep
opinions to herself.
"I realized I was working on a flawed product, which the creator
and marketer wanted nothing more to do with. Still, I had held out the
hope that maybe Sparky might offer the entire feature to me, although I
realized that there’d be problems with the syndicate," Jim admits, a
touch of wistfulness still clouding the memory after more than 40 years.
"They should have been pretty familiar with my work by then."
It didn’t happen. By the time the final installment of "It’s Only a
Game" appeared, on January 11, 1959 -- the two always had worked six
weeks ahead -- Jim and Schulz had severed all relations, professional
and personal. This also included Jim’s ghosting work on the Dell comic
books. The split was permanent, and the two men never reconciled.
Although "It’s Only a Game" ran for 63 consecutive weeks, it
quickly became a fading memory -- and then an overlooked footnote -- in
Schulz’s career. He rarely mentioned it during later interviews, and
then only obliquely, citing neither date specifics nor his collaboration
with Jim.
"We were the best of friends at first," Jim recalls ruefully. He
happily remembers attending the 1951 National Cartoonists Convention
with Sparky, and also another time when they both went to visit and swap
stories with a fellow artist, Robert M. Brinkerhoff, who lived in
Minneapolis and was known for a newspaper strip called "Little Mary
Mix-Up." Brinkerhoff, in turn -- like many other cartoonists at that
time -- greatly admired J.R. Williams (creator of "Out Our Way"), whom
he once described as "the greatest cowboy ever to walk the streets of
New York." Brinkerhoff related how he had wheedled, begged and finally
finagled an invitation to Williams’ ranch in Montana. Although only
interested in seeing the fabulous studio that he assumed his idol must
have on so massive a spread, Brinkerhoff first had to put up with being
shown all the livestock and the other attractions of a working ranch. As
the visit stretched on, Brinkerhoff finally couldn’t stand it any longer
and demanded to see where Williams did his work.
With a resigned sigh (as Jim recalls Brinkerhoff describing this
incident), Williams walked over to his wife’s sewing machine, took off
the cover, and flipped it over ... and that was it The great J.R.
Williams did all his drawing on the cover of his wife’s sewing machine.
As others have observed, there’s never any reason to embrace
technology or an environment any fancier than that required to get the
job done.
Cartoonists love to talk shop, and Jim’s no different; merely
relating this little tale brings a sparkle into his eyes. And, to this
day, he doesn’t really understand what happened between him and Schulz.
"I feel kind of weird about all this. Sparky obviously wanted me to
succeed in the early days, and even was willing to collaborate with me
on one of my own projects (one of the many variations of "Joe Cipher,"
discussed below). But then when he had a chance to really help me out,
he didn’t make any effort whatsoever ... and left me in rather dire
straits."
Such feelings notwithstanding, all these years later Jim is firm on
one point "Charles M. Schulz was the greatest comic strip artist ever."
And although he certainly couldn’t have known it at the time, Jim
never again would earn his living as a cartoonist.
Before, during and after his working association with Schulz, Jim
played around with many of his own ideas.
If persistence counts for anything, he deserves considerable credit
for his ongoing efforts to sell "Joe Cipher" ("a character kinda based
on me"), a daily strip that underwent quite a few transmutations during
the decade-plus that he tried to place it with a syndicate.
The character first appeared in a sample series of daily strips Jim
produced in late 1949. The strip’s gentle humor is faintly reminiscent
of "Gasoline Alley" and other character-driven work of the era; the
title character is introduced driving an old jalopy that obligingly runs
out of gas at a filling station. The silver-tongued Joe, lacking any
money, eventually impresses the station owner into offering him a job;
Joe celebrates by stepping into a nearby diner for lunch, where he’s
immediately smitten by the young woman behind the counter, and...
...and that’s where the presentation panels concluded.
Perhaps feeling that the strip lacked dramatic impact, a few years
later -- while still at AIS -- Jim tried again, shifting the action to a
tiny island in the middle of the ocean, where the shipwrecked Joe is
joined by an attractive young woman named Ginny, survivor of a second
sea-going calamity. (What are the odds?) Although their relationship is
mildly prickly for the first few days, Ginny eventually wishes aloud
that they could be rescued, so that she can go on a "proper date" with
Joe, and perhaps even kiss him when the evening concludes. Once again,
the story cut off abruptly, as Jim produced just two weeks’ worth of
strips enough to (hopefully) interest a buyer.
Sasseville tried several times to place a comic strip starring Joe Cipher, the pleasant-looking chap
featured in these examples. The two left-most strips are taken from the first run Sasseville designed on his own;
the two right-most strips, starring the same character but
in a different setting, are from Sasseville's third
test run; Charles Schulz contributed story input on these.
(Click on the image to see an enlarged version.)
After getting back from his return hitch in the Navy, Jim
went back to work on Joe Cipher and got a nibble from an
unexpected quarter: Something about this particular setting
touched Schulz, who suggested they collaborate on yet
a third incarnation of "Joe Cipher." (At the time, both men still were
unmarried, and it’s not hard to see a little male fantasy
wish-fulfillment at work.) With narrative input from Schulz and Jim
handling the art chores, the scene shifted again, this time to a
typically romantic South Seas setting, on an island large enough to
support a population of curvaceous young cuties and at least one
villain. Joe and Ginny remained the central focus, but this time the
former saw genuine action, on the receiving end of the villain’s fists.
Schulz and Jim took this newest version of "Joe Cipher" to United
Features Syndicate in spring of 1954; it was turned down flat. The
trip to New York wasn't a complete waste, though, because Sasseville
and Schulz caught a couple of plays: a T.S. Elliot drama called
Confidential Clerk, and another called The King of
Hearts, which starred Jackie Cooper as (what are the odds?)
a cartoonist!
Sasseville also remembers going from suite to suite in New
York's Waldorf hotel during this trip, visiting one cartoonist
after another; meeting Al Capp was a high point. But at least
part of the reason for the trip -- the newest Joe Cipher -- proved
unsellable, and Schulz bowed out at that point.
When Jim finally returned to "Joe Cipher," the 1950s were almost
over. Jim’s association with "Peanuts" and "It’s Only a Game" had
concluded, so the writer/artist returned to his favorite unsold
property. Jim recast his hero in yet another new setting, this time a
business office populated by characters clearly derived from his days at
Art Instruction. Although the sample panels display even cleaner, more
attractive line work -- a sure sign of his growing comfort as an artist
-- Jim had no better luck this time around.
Still refusing to abandon hope, Jim tried one more time In early
1960, after having moved to Berkeley, he once again changed the setting
completely, and turned Joe Cipher into "Sir Joe." This Arthurian-based
concept focused on genuinely whimsical gags involving heavy armor,
maidens in distress, and fire-breathing dragons. Jim’s dragons are
particularly funny, and this newest reboot seems ripe with
possibilities; it’s not at all hard to envision a daily strip evolving
from these samples.
Alas, syndicates once again failed to see any potential, and "Joe
Cipher" was put into Jim’s trunk as no more than another engaging
footnote in the artist’s collection of rejection slips.
Jim didn’t confine his efforts to "Joe Cipher"; the writer/artist
had no shortage of ideas, quite a few of which also wound up as
submission concepts. "Aunty Climax," produced in early 1957 -- just
prior to Jim’s ghost work for Dell comics -- was a single-panel gag
strip that starred a feisty little old lady who was far sharper than
most people assumed. She was based on Louise Cassidy, an AIS colleague
who also was the landlady for the building where Jim briefly lived with
Charles Cuddy. Jim produced a few dozen "Aunty Climax" panels, all of
which are vastly superior -- both in terms of writing and artwork -- to
many of the single-panel cartoons cluttering today’s newspapers.
"Confessions of a French Poodle" was a 1959 concept that didn’t
emerge much further than a few finished panels and lots of pencil
sketches; Jim good-naturedly admits that the idea went nowhere, and so
he abandoned it. That may have been shrewd market analysis, as the
medium never has lacked for dog-oriented material. Even so, French
poodles are funny in their own right, and Jim’s concept sketches are a
hoot.
When not working on Peanuts-related material, Sasseville tried to sell many of his own strip ideas
to a syndicate. From left to right, these examples are "Aunty Climax," "Friends and Foes," "Alpha-Betty" and "Happy Birthday."
(Click on the image to see an enlarged version.)
"Friends and Foes," another single-panel tryout, also emerged from
Jim’s pen in 1959. A little later, shortly after he started putting food
on the table with a "real job" -- and perhaps motivated by the explosion
of children’s television shows, which eventually led to "Sesame Street"
and everything that followed -- Jim tried a kid-oriented educational
strip called "Alpha-Betty," which starred a little girl who finds
herself in an other-worldly land populated by men and women shaped like
letters of the alphabet. The personalities of these individuals were
defined by their appearance; curved female letters, for example, were
far more sultry that straight female letters. The strip has a lovely
"Alice in Wonderland" quality, although the concept may have seemed
limiting.
Jim later played with the medium in "Blackboard," a daily strip
designed to be white-on-black, to imitate chalk on a classroom
blackboard. The stars were Dick, Jane and their TeacheR; although not as
overly educational as "Alpha-Betty," this strip also was aimed at young
audiences.
Jim’s final attempt at syndication was produced in the early 1970s,
after he first went into research hibernation, jotting down enough
celebrity birthdays to fill every day of a calendar year. The resulting
single-panel strips were a precursor to the "On this day in history..."
informational nuggets that have become so ubiquitous The panel for
March 28, for example, illustrated and revealed a few choice facts about
orchestra leader Paul Whiteman. March 29 was devoted to President John
Tyler, while Francisco Goya was featured on March 30.
Sadly, this fared no better with syndicators than any of the
others. "Joe Cipher," "Aunty Climax," "Confessions of a French Poodle,"
"Friends and Foes," "Alpha-Betty," "Blackboard" and "Birthdays" exist only
in Jim’s carefully preserved office files. More’s the pity, because even
the weakest of these strips displays a Puckish wit and clean, attractive
line work too often absent from many of the rushed, imitative strips
that generate little more than reader apathy these days.
Following the dust-up with Schulz and the move to Berkeley, Helga
-- who was delighted by the more rarefied atmosphere of a university
community -- became the family bread-winner. She took a job with a
German importer/exporter and commuted daily across the Bay Bridge.
Eventually succumbing to the need for steady employment, in April
1960 Jim took a job as a graphic designer with Varian, one of the
leading radar companies, located in California’s greater San Francisco
Bay Area. The fit proved comfortable, and he remained with the company
until he retired in 1990.
But the career shift wasn’t immediate; Jim first spent most of 1959
working up his own aforementioned comic strip proposals, and
occasionally sold individual gag cartoons to magazines. But his New
York-based agent took 35% of those one-shots.
"That’s when I started with Varian," Jim recalls, with a chuckle.
"I knew I’d never make it as a gag cartoonist."
Be that as it may, Jim never stopped his cartooning efforts; while
at Varian, he became famous for the birthday cards that he drew for
fellow employees.
Helga, meanwhile, got a job at Stanford, which prompted another
move; the couple then purchased their first home in 1960, in Mountain
View.
Three years later, they moved for what would be the last time. Jim
and his wife paid $28,000 for the house that remains his home to this
day. Just last year the retired artist was offered a cool million bucks
-- in cash -- by a dot-commer who wanted to develop the property. Still
loyal to the memories of his wife, with which the house is filled, Jim
politely declined. Helga died in 1995; he clearly still misses her.
Today, Parkinson’s Disease and the recent stroke have conspired to
deliver the ultimate nightmare Jim no longer can hold a pen well enough
to draw. ("I always marveled at Sparky’s ability to incorporate his
shaking hand into his line work.") But his mind and memory remain
acutely sharp, and his Puckish sense of humor is unbowed. He speaks with
clarity and certainty of his years at Art Instruction School, and with
Schulz, and of his never-successful efforts to market his own original
material.
Jim remains philosophical about his life, and in fact composed
another of his verses to express such feelings
I’m all for equal measures
Losses should be matched by gain;
And since I’ve missed life’s pleasures,
I’ll just double up with pain!
Definitely too harsh, but then we’re always hardest on ourselves.
Jim Sasseville deserves far more than the obscurity into which he has
settled; for a time, he was allied with the man who would become the
world’s most successful cartoonist, and for a time he helped chaperone
the faithfully rendered adventures of Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Linus, Lucy
and the rest ... no small feat.
And I’m particularly transfixed by a remark Jim made during one of
our later phone calls "I don’t know how one should behave, in a
situation like this," he said, referring to our ongoing conversations,
"but it’s like I’ve been resurrected."
Perhaps this article will kick-start our long-overdue obligation to
sing his praises.
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All PEANUTS characters pictured are copyrighted by United Feature Syndicate, Inc. They are used here with permission. They may not be reproduced by any means in any form.
Obviously, the ploy worked. Jim was hired at a starting salary of
$35 per week. The oversized 1950 Art Instruction Schools Inc. booklet
("Your Art School!"), produced not much later and handed out to all
prospective clients, includes his photo on Page 3, immediately before
Schulz’s picture.
"James F. Sasseville," reads the caption beneath the photo, "is an
instructor in rendering and advertising illustration. He is one of our
best figure illustrators in color."
While at Art Instruction, Jim joined the team that graded all the
submissions -- the "Can you draw me?" applications -- that arrived via
mail or hand delivery. The bottom-line desire, of course, was to
encourage those with even the smallest shred of talent, in order to get
an AIS salesman in the family’s front door; after all, the money was
made by selling art instruction courses. Since manilla envelopes poured
in like mad, speed-grading was essential.
"I spent years correcting Lesson No. 5, which was an advertising
project, where the students had to design a streetcar poster on the
theme ‘See the Orient.’ "
Jim remembers marking all but the very best submissions with
nothing more than alpha-numeric codes (A6, A17, and so forth), which AIS
secretaries then would translate into form paragraph replies.
"But they always were nicely typed up," Jim remembers, knowing full
well that the recipients carefully scrutinized every analytical word.
Sasseville and Schulz became good friends ("We had a similar sense
of humor"), and Sparky encouraged Jim to pursue comic strips. Jim even
got his hair cut more than once in Schulz’s father’s barbershop.
"Sparky bet me, in late 1949, that I’d sell a comic strip to a
syndicate before he would," Jim remembers, with a smile. "As it turned
out, I won that bet hands-down."
In between grading assignments, Jim and his fellow employees
produced thousands upon thousands of quickly penciled drawings on
4-by-7-inch sketchpads. In this respect, these artists were no different
than their counterparts at Disney and Warner Brothers animation studios,
who also filled the minutes between "real work" with impressive little
doodles and caricatures of each other, all of which are the envy of
collectors today (when they surface in the first place). Jim still has
stacks and stacks of such impromptu efforts, including a few caricatures
of Schulz and other AIS friends, and several pages of "Peanuts"
character roughs. (Even then, he must have been planning ahead...) Most
are plain pencil on paper, but some are blue-line; in either case, they
reveal one of Jim’s artistic strengths an ability to capture a person’s
eyes with remarkably lifelike clarity.
(Unfortunately, he did not save his collection of Schulz originals.
"I gave away all my junk foolishly, many years ago ... somebody conned
me out of almost all my original Schulz drawings.")
Jim never lost his art-school fascination with centaurs and nudes,
and many of his sketchpad pages are filled with fetchingly unclad
cuties. Hiring and drawing undraped models was fairly common among Jim
and his colleagues, although not quite all of his colleagues "I can’t
remember Sparky taking any part in that whatsoever."
Such figure studies also sparked Jim’s impish literary talents,
honed by a life-long fascination with poetry (T.S. Eliot’s "Distracted
from distraction by distraction" remains a personal mantra).
Jim still recalls many of his favorite invented verses, such as
this one, which would have been loved by Ogden Nash
A centaur met a mermaid, as he trotted by the sea;
She noticed not his heavy hooves, nor he her single knee,
As they lingered there, expelling time with heart-inspired chatter
The direction of their love so strong ... bottoms didn’t matter!
Jim’s tenure at Art Instruction was interrupted in mid 1952, when
Uncle Sam tapped his shoulder again. The Korean War was underway, and
those who previously had served less than a full year were being
recalled ... so those two days shy of a year forced a second hitch that
lasted through 1954.
"I was sent to the Philippines," Jim notes dryly, thinking back to
all the Lesson No. 5 submissions that he had graded, "so I certainly saw
the Orient."
This second 14-month hitch of active duty certainly wasn’t wasted,
in terms of Jim’s artistic skills; he worked for an Irish Catholic
chaplain and did a weekly mimeographed newspaper for U.S. Naval Mobile
Construction Battalion 9 ("I was drawing cartoons up the gazoo"). The
unit’s 1952-53 Cruise Book features a great full-page Jim illustration
on Page 33; titled "Cubi Point, P.I.," it shows five sailors watching a
dog face off with a monkey.
Jim’s relationship with Father John James Kileen never was dull, in
part because the artist was a lapsed Catholic.
"He worked the hell out of me, but then he’d always invite me into
his quarters for a nip, and then try to entice me back into the fold."
After his second stint in the Navy concluded, Jim returned to
civilian life (this time for good), and to Art Instruction Schools,
where he and Schulz picked up where they’d left off. In between grading
assignments and sketching his office buddies, Jim placed a few gag
cartoons in magazines, such as a droll three-panel sequence of a guy
having trouble with a jack, while attempting to fix a flat tire, which
appeared on Page 45 of the August 1957 issue of Gent, a
long-discontinued men’s magazine.
Jim met Helga, his future wife, as a result of his Navy friendship
with Charles Cuddy. She had immigrated to the United States when
sponsored by a South Dakota politician and his family ("mostly for slave
labor," Jim perceptively remarks); Helga was unfamiliar with the farm
environment, and decamped for Minneapolis as soon as she could. She
entered the University of Minnesota with a vengeance; her half-Jewish
heritage had kept her out of institutions of higher learning in her
native Germany.
She also enrolled in art school and wound up in one class being
taught by Dave Ratner, a colleague and friend with whom Jim went to art
school; she also landed in some of the same classes as Cuddy, who for a
time shared a boarding house attic ("a garret") with Jim. Since this
colony of Minneapolis artists wasn’t all that large, it was inevitable
that Jim and Helga would meet. ("Destiny," he happily acknowledges.)
They married in 1956.
"I’d just bought a brand-new Mercury," Jim remembers, with a
chuckle, "and I had to get rid of it when we got married, because Helga
couldn’t drive a stick-shift."
Within a few short months, Sasseville’s life turned around again,
when he became the best of Schulz’s never-credited "Peanuts" ghosts.
Whenever asked, Charles Schulz would repeat the statement that
became ubiquitous Unlike those involved with other "assembly-line"
newspaper comic strips, he remained the only person whose hands touched
the adventures of Charlie Brown and the gang. Schulz wrote, drew, inked
and lettered his strip, and did so during the entire run October 2,
1950, to February 13, 2000. Schulz always insisted that the strip would
cease production when he finally called it quits, a wish that his family
has honored. Unlike other classic strips that have been revived, often
by lesser talents, "Peanuts" will forevermore remain solely a Schulz
legacy.
Except ... that’s not entirely true.
During the 1950s and early ’60s, Charlie Brown and his friends
didn’t just appear in newspaper strips; they also were a popular feature
of comic books ... a medium usually dominated by the likes of Superman
and Captain America, but one that included plenty of room for lighter
fare.
And -- surprise, surprise! -- when the "Peanuts" comic book
appearances stopped being newspaper reprints and "graduated" into
original features in 1957, sharp-eyed fans probably could discern that
somebody other than Sparky Schulz was doing the artwork.
To keep the chronology consistent, let’s turn back the clock to
1952, when "Peanuts" simultaneously debuted as a supporting feature in
two comic books -- the March-April issues of Tip Top Comics (#173) and
United Comics (#21) -- both published by United Feature Syndicate, which
routinely recycled many of its newspaper features in these and other
comic books. The "Peanuts" supporting feature moved into a third book,
Tip Topper, beginning with #17 (June-July 1952); it remained there until
the book was discontinued after #28 (April-May 1954). Shortly before
this final issue of Tip Topper, "Peanuts" returned to Tip Top as a
supporting feature, beginning with #184 (Jan.-Feb. 1954) and continuing
through #188 (Sept.-Oct. 1954). Several of these later issues feature
gorgeous Peanuts covers, which -- although not signed -- appear to be by
Schulz.
"Peanuts" also appeared, during this same period, as a back-up
feature in most issues of United Comics, later retitled Fritzi Ritz
(beginning with #27). The run here also was consecutive #21-#33 (the
latter dated March-April 1954). Stray issues of Sparkler Comics and
Sparkle Comics also included some "Peanuts" reprints, although not on a
regular basis.
UFS got out of the comic book publishing business at the end of
1954, and some of its titles were picked up by St. John in 1955,
including Fritzi Ritz and Tip Top. Despite a noticeable gap of several
months, the numbering of both books continued consecutively. Thus, Tip
Top resumed with #189 (May 1955), and continued to include "Peanuts" as
a supporting feature during St. John’s entire run of this book, through
#210 (July 1957). "Peanuts" was only an occasional supporting feature in
St. John’s run of Fritzi Ritz, starting with #37 (July 1955) and
continuing through #55. Finally, at least one issue of Nancy -- #142
(March 1957) -- also featured Peanuts reprints.
Big changes came in late 1957, and not just because St. John
abandoned these books and turned them over to Dell Comics (Western
Publishing). After a delay of several months to half a year -- depending
on the title -- Dell revived the flagship St. John titles, again with
consecutive numbering. Thus, Tip Top #211 returned as a quarterly with a
cover date of Nov. 1957-Jan. 1958. Fritzi Ritz resumed with #56, dated
Dec. 1957-Feb. 1958.
Under Dell’s stewardship, Charlie Brown and the gang also became a
regular supporting feature in Nancy, beginning with #146 (Sept. 1957).
The biggest change, however, concerned the content in all three books.
When Dell took over, the covers promised "All brand-new stories" ... and
they meant it.
"Peanuts" fans spotted the change in Nancy #146, which boasted a
four-page story with a baseball theme, clearly produced by Schulz
himself (although unsigned); Jim confirms Sparky’s linework. But Schulz
quickly realized that producing four full pages of original art for
Nancy on a monthly basis, not to mention similar duties for the
quarterly Tip Top and Fritzi Ritz, would be more than he was willing to
handle. Then, too, he was only months away from debuting his own second
newspaper strip, "It’s Only a Game" (about which more below).
Schulz allowed Dell’s house art department to handle his characters
in Nancy #147, but was unhappy with the results. (No surprise; the art
is quite weak.) Schulz stepped in again for issue #148, but the workload
problem hadn’t changed. Wanting greater fidelity to his own style,
Schulz turned to Jim, who took over the reins with issue #149 and
continued through #168 (July 1959). Jim essentially became Schulz’s
employee and was paid $100 per week for this work; since he was making
only $80 per week at Art Instruction, this -- along with the even higher
paycheck he’d soon receive, for helping Schulz with "It’s Only a Game"
-- was a substantial raise.
As a ghosting assignment, the results are impressive. Charlie Brown
and Linus’ heads are notoriously difficult to reproduce in Schulz’s
signature style, but Jim came damn close. More to the point, the
characters are posed and conduct themselves in a way that’s absolutely
typical of their behavior in Sparky’s newspaper strip. Art purists may
have noticed that Jim wasn’t Schulz, but casual readers were unlikely to
have detected the difference.
The four-page story above is taken from Nancy #151, February 1958.
(Click on the pages to enlarge them.)
"He gave me carte blanche on writing them, and I felt like a
faithful uncle," Jim says, with no small amount of pride at his ability
to reproduce Charlie Brown and the gang.
Although Jim’s take on the "Peanuts" gang in Nancy #149 was the
first to reach fans, it was not the ghost artist’s debut crack at
Charlie Brown. Jim’s first completed "Peanuts" comic book adventure was
"The Trip," one of a quartet of eight-page stories (packaged with three
one-page stories) that eventually appeared as issue #878 (Feb. 1958) of
Dell’s Four Color Comics, an "umbrella title" that rotated various
stars; this issue, boasting a gorgeous signed Schulz cover, was the
first one devoted to "Peanuts."
Ever the imp, Jim inserted a personal reference into "The Trip."
The number on the dog license that Charlie Brown uses -- 891-68-14 -- to
justify his getting behind the wheel of a station wagon, was the
artist’s Navy serial number.
Jim also did the work in the Fritzi Ritz and Tip Top issues during
this time, and it’s important to note that he had a completely free rein
with these comic book stories, handling both art and writing chores.
Fritzi Ritz lasted only four issues under the Dell label, before
being discontinued after #59 (Sept.-Nov. 1958). "Peanuts" did not appear
in #56, but each of the remaining three issues included a new four-page
story by Jim. He also handled the work for Tip Top #211 through #215
(Nov. 1958-Jan. 1959). In Tip Top, Charlie Brown and his friends shared
covers with Nancy, Sluggo, and the Captain and the Kids. Although
unsigned, Schulz drew these "Peanuts" cover panels for issues 211-213,
and Jim handled 214 and 215.
Sasseville did the Peanuts art in these issues of Tip Top, #214 and #215.
(Click on the pages to enlarge them.)
All told, then, Jim drew the interior stories in 20 issues of
Nancy, three issues of Fritzi Ritz, and five issues of Tip Top, along
with Four Color #878. This relationship with Schulz and Dell Comics took
an unexpected turn when the two men parted unhappily, and Jim’s final
work for Dell was the long kite story in the second all-"Peanuts" issue
of Four Color Comics (#969, Feb. 1959), along with the inside front and
inside back cover one-pagers.
The completion of that particular issue became something of a
marathon art session. After announcing that he and Helga would be moving
to Berkeley, Jim took stock of the pending Dell workload, and discovered
that the deadline for the second all-Peanuts issue of Four Color Comics
was imminent. Jim promised to finish this before the move, but Sparky
suggested that the job would proceed faster if they worked on it
together. The two men thus divided the work between them, and began
early one morning with what turned into a lengthy session stretching
well into the evening. During that time, Jim completed the
aforementioned two one-page stories and one eight-page story, while
Sparky handled the remaining one-page story and THREE eight-page
stories.
"There’s no doubt who was the faster artist," Jim notes, with a
chuckle. "He certainly put me in my place!"
Jim still remembers that session as a euphoric rush ... but it
concluded on a gloomy note, when, resting in the happy afterglow of a
job well done, Schulz revealed the fate of "It’s Only a Game" (see
below).
In the aftermath, Schulz also stepped in and handled all the work
for Nancy #169 (August 1959). Clearly, this was a rush job, and Schulz
borrowed from himself The final panel of this four-page story is almost
identical to the final panel of the June 23, 1957, "Peanuts" Sunday
strip. The comic book storyline is an expansion of that Sunday strip,
and the aforementioned final panel in the comic book is signed by Schulz
... the only case where any interior comic book stories bear his
signature.
Because the split was far from amicable, Jim did not follow the
subsequent comic book adventures of Charlie Brown and his friends, in
Nancy and Tip Top. On close examination just a few weeks ago -- in many
cases, seeing this work for the first time -- Jim pointed to specific
poses, characteristics and lettering attributes ("Sparky always rounded
out the bottoms of his W’s") that leave him convinced that Schulz either
penciled and inked the next several issues of both Nancy and Tip Top, or
at least roughed in the panel layout, inked the primary characters --
particularly their heads -- and lettered the word balloons. This seems
likely; carefully examination of individual pages reveals an occasional
Snoopy or Lucy which, not matching the rest, clearly must have been
inked by somebody else.
But Dale Hale, Schulz’s new apprentice and ghost -- and another
associate from Art Instruction Schools -- caught on quickly, and the
artwork in both books retained its Schulz-like characteristics through
roughly late 1960 or early 1961. At this point, other hands clearly took
over -- possibly Tony Pocrnick, another Schulz associate from Art
Instruction -- and the "Peanuts" characters became ever-more distant
from the Schulz ideal until the final issues of Tip Top (#225, May-July
1961) and Nancy. (By then the latter had been retitled Nancy and Sluggo,
and its final five issues were released under the Gold Key imprint; the
book was discontinued with issue #192, October 1963.) The "Peanuts"
artwork in the last issues of both books is, in a word, dreadful.
A third all-"Peanuts" issue of Four Color Comics was produced
(#1015, August-October 1959), after which the characters got their own
book that began with issue #4 (Feb.-April 1960), by way of acknowledging
those first three appearances in Four Color Comics. This lasted through
#13 (May-July 1962), after which the book was discontinued. Each of
these issues features a signed Schulz cover, but other hands --
certainly Hale, at first -- handled all the interior artwork and writing
(which, as with the latter issues of Nancy and Tip Top, grew less
Schulz-like over time).
But what had happened, to sever the friendship between Schulz and
Jim, which stretched back a decade?
Bouncing back a year or so...
Although already quite popular and gaining fans -- and syndicate
clients -- all the time, in 1957 "Peanuts" was not yet the multimedia
sensation it was to become within another decade. Schulz must have had
some free time that needed filling, and therefore was comfortable with
the concept of pitching a second strip concept to United Features
Syndicate. The artist had lots of ideas about games near and dear to his
heart, including golf, tennis, baseball and bridge. No doubt realizing
that twice as much Schulz per week was a good thing, UFS jumped at the
chance, and the sports and recreation-themed "It’s Only a Game" was
born. For awhile, Schulz joined later stars such as Johnny Hart ("B.C."
and "The Wizard of Id"), Mell Lazarus ("Miss Peach" and "Momma") and
Jerry Scott ("Baby Blues" and "Zits"), with two newspaper strips running
simultaneously.
Each installment of "It’s Only a Game, by Charles M. Schulz,"
hearkening back to Schulz’s very early work on "Li’l Folks" in The St.
Paul Pioneer Press, was comprised of three separate single-panel gag
strips. The package was offered to clients in two different formats as
three single-panel strips per week, to run on Mondays, Wednesdays and
Fridays; or as a combined grouping of three that would appear in Sunday
comics sections. The combined Sunday grouping also had a bonus fourth
cartoon a tiny, captionless visual gag -- very much like the
intermarginal gags that Sergio Aragonés would pepper throughout future
issues of Mad Magazine -- that appeared to the right of the title and
Schulz’s byline. The subject matter of the Monday and Wednesday panels
varied from week to week, but the Friday installment always centered
around bridge, the then-popular card game that Schulz loved. (Further
evidence of this affection could be seen in "Peanuts," where the kids
routinely played the game in the early 1950s, and Woodstock and a
foursome of his bird buddies picked it up in the 1970s and beyond.)
Charles Schulz did this January 12, 1958, "It's Only a Game" panel himself. Note his signature within the art of the right-most panel.
During an October 6, 1957, interview with Schulz, the Chicago
Tribune proudly boasted that it would be one of the flagship newspapers
to carry this new feature. The Tribune selected the weekly option, and
ran "It’s Only a Game" in its Sunday magazine. The debut installment
appeared November 3, 1957, and immediately set the tone for what would
follow, with panels devoted to boxing, golf and bridge. The middle panel
is a hoot, with a middle-aged duffer -- one easily can imagine Charlie
Brown in his 40s -- lamenting a putt that has left his ball perched at
the edge of the cup (but not in), and saying, "I think I’m going to
cry."
Subsequent installments covered checkers, bowling, curling (!),
table tennis, croquet, billiards, ice fishing, darts and even camping.
But as 1957 turned into 1958, something must have changed. Perhaps
Schulz had underestimated the amount of time involved with producing a
second weekly newspaper strip; maybe he also was spending more time than
expected overseeing the new "Peanuts" content in the Dell comic books.
Or, more likely, the "Peanuts" empire as a whole was occupying more of
his time; 1958 saw the production of the first "Peanuts" toys -- plastic
dolls of the major characters, produced by Hungerford -- and of course
this was just the tip of an approaching iceberg.
Whatever the reason, Schulz decided to hand over the lion’s share
of the artistic chores to Jim. Schulz’s solo involvement with "It’s Only
a Game" continued through the January 12, 1958, installment; this is the
last one to bear his signature on one of the cartoon panels. (Schulz’s
name continued to run alone in the masthead, however, making Jim a true
ghost.) As of January 19, 1958, Jim -- often working from hastily
penciled sketches and captions supplied by Schulz -- did all the
newspaper strip’s finished art and lettering.
Sasseville did this January 26, 1958, "It's Only a Game" panel himself. Note that Schulz's signature is nowhere to be seen within the art.
Jim vividly remembers this transition date, because just one week later,
with his second time at bat with the solo art chores, he was paid a
singular honor. That week’s Monday panel, a bowling strip, featured
three league players welcoming a fourth, apparently a little tardy, with
the exclamation of, "Three cheers, gang! Our number one man has
arrived!" A loyal reader sent UFS a black-and-white photo of himself
with three friends, staged to look precisely like the four figures in
Jim’s illustration. The "camera angle" was identical, along with
clothing, body position, and everything else in the frame. The
resemblance even extended to the men themselves, who had body shapes and
hairstyles eerily similar to those found in the panel art.
Jim still has the photo.
Sasseville received this photo recreation of his "It's Only a Game" gag from a fan. Note the date stamp at the top of the photo.
The degree to which Jim successfully imitated Schulz’s linework can
be seen by the fact that the transition was seamless; no casual reader
could have discerned that the hand on the inker’s pen had changed.
During the remainder of 1958, the two men continued to work in the same
fashion, Jim often finishing Schulz’s rough concepts, but also
contributing many of his own original ideas. He also inserted the
occasional personal reference; the boat from which a husband and wife
fish, in one of the June 29, 1958, panels, is the Helga, named after
Jim’s wife.
But Jim remembers that he never came up with any of the concepts
for Friday’s bridge panels, for the simple reason that he didn’t know
the game.
Although he labored in anonymity, Jim was well compensated
financially, and he still speaks appreciatively of Sparky’s generosity.
Schulz had negotiated for 50% of the strip’s income, the other half
going to UFS. This 50% amounted to slightly more than $500 per week;
when Jim came on board, Schulz generously gave half of HIS half to his
new partner, and so Jim brought home $250 per week (after expenses) for
his efforts ... quite a lot of money in 1958.
The two men were living in Minneapolis when this collaboration
began; after the first five months, in May 1958, Jim and his wife
followed the Schulz family to Northern California. Lacking a place to
stay in Sebastopol -- not to mention furniture and other amenities --
the Sassevilles first spent a couple of months a bit south, in Corta
Madera. "For two or three weeks, I drew the comic book stuff and ‘It’s
Only a Game’ on a portable drawing board. But I stayed in touch with
Sparky on the phone, and he supplied the ideas for ‘It’s Only a Game.’ "
The Sassevilles then found a home in Sebastopol. Between "It’s Only
a Game" and the work he also was doing for the "Peanuts" strips in the
Dell comic books, Jim was quite gainfully employed by his new partner
and boss.
Unfortunately, it was not to last.
"It’s Only a Game" began with 30 client newspapers; nearly a year
later, it had ... 30 client newspapers.
(A complete client list has been lost to the mists of time, although
it is known that the feature was carried by The Boston Globe, the Detroit
Free Press, The Chicago Tribune, The Minneapolis Tribune, the San Francisco
Chronicle and The Baltimore Sun.)
The strip never took off, despite strong support from fans such as
bridge expert Charles Goren (who wrote a couple of letters), and even
Schulz’s name didn’t seem to make much of a difference.
But we also can assume that the proud and perfectionist-minded
Schulz -- who in later years, as mentioned above, often made a point of
describing how in "Peanuts" he penciled and inked every line, and
lettered every word balloon -- probably was bothered by the fact that he
wasn’t similarly in sole control of "It’s Only a Game." To be sure, he
was INVOLVED, but he wasn’t actually drawing what appeared in those 30
client newspapers.
"He didn’t like his name being used on somebody else’s work," Jim
recalls, "and I don’t blame him for that."
That, coupled with moribund sales and some tension with the head
UFS salesman to whom Schulz initially had pitched the idea, eventually
prompted an astonishing decision In late 1958, just 12 months into a
solid five-year contract, Schulz made it plain to UFS that he wished to
discontinue "It’s Only a Game." Perhaps recognizing that the strip
wasn’t performing as hoped, UFS agreed.
Schulz did not consult Jim before taking this step; indeed, the
news came as a complete shock to Schulz’s ghost, who’d been very happy
with his work, and the strip, and the $250 per week.
Schulz even tried to sugar-coat the news "You’re off the hook,"
Jim recalls his employer saying (as if this were a GOOD thing), at the
end of that euphoric day when they finished work on the second
all-Peanuts issue of Dell’s Four Color Comics. Jim had just assured
Sparky that his pending move to Berkeley would not affect his ability to
work on "It’s Only a Game," and now the rug had been pulled out from
under him.
The fallout was immediate; it certainly was the final straw for
Helga, who already had been dissatisfied with their home in Sebastopol
-- hence the move to Berkeley -- and also was unhappy about the friction
that existed between her and Joyce, Schulz’s first wife. Helga had
endured Nazi Germany, survived the entire war -- in and out of work
camps -- and had lost her father at Dachau; she was not a woman to keep
opinions to herself.
"I realized I was working on a flawed product, which the creator
and marketer wanted nothing more to do with. Still, I had held out the
hope that maybe Sparky might offer the entire feature to me, although I
realized that there’d be problems with the syndicate," Jim admits, a
touch of wistfulness still clouding the memory after more than 40 years.
"They should have been pretty familiar with my work by then."
It didn’t happen. By the time the final installment of "It’s Only a
Game" appeared, on January 11, 1959 -- the two always had worked six
weeks ahead -- Jim and Schulz had severed all relations, professional
and personal. This also included Jim’s ghosting work on the Dell comic
books. The split was permanent, and the two men never reconciled.
Although "It’s Only a Game" ran for 63 consecutive weeks, it
quickly became a fading memory -- and then an overlooked footnote -- in
Schulz’s career. He rarely mentioned it during later interviews, and
then only obliquely, citing neither date specifics nor his collaboration
with Jim.
"We were the best of friends at first," Jim recalls ruefully. He
happily remembers attending the 1951 National Cartoonists Convention
with Sparky, and also another time when they both went to visit and swap
stories with a fellow artist, Robert M. Brinkerhoff, who lived in
Minneapolis and was known for a newspaper strip called "Little Mary
Mix-Up." Brinkerhoff, in turn -- like many other cartoonists at that
time -- greatly admired J.R. Williams (creator of "Out Our Way"), whom
he once described as "the greatest cowboy ever to walk the streets of
New York." Brinkerhoff related how he had wheedled, begged and finally
finagled an invitation to Williams’ ranch in Montana. Although only
interested in seeing the fabulous studio that he assumed his idol must
have on so massive a spread, Brinkerhoff first had to put up with being
shown all the livestock and the other attractions of a working ranch. As
the visit stretched on, Brinkerhoff finally couldn’t stand it any longer
and demanded to see where Williams did his work.
With a resigned sigh (as Jim recalls Brinkerhoff describing this
incident), Williams walked over to his wife’s sewing machine, took off
the cover, and flipped it over ... and that was it The great J.R.
Williams did all his drawing on the cover of his wife’s sewing machine.
As others have observed, there’s never any reason to embrace
technology or an environment any fancier than that required to get the
job done.
Cartoonists love to talk shop, and Jim’s no different; merely
relating this little tale brings a sparkle into his eyes. And, to this
day, he doesn’t really understand what happened between him and Schulz.
"I feel kind of weird about all this. Sparky obviously wanted me to
succeed in the early days, and even was willing to collaborate with me
on one of my own projects (one of the many variations of "Joe Cipher,"
discussed below). But then when he had a chance to really help me out,
he didn’t make any effort whatsoever ... and left me in rather dire
straits."
Such feelings notwithstanding, all these years later Jim is firm on
one point "Charles M. Schulz was the greatest comic strip artist ever."
And although he certainly couldn’t have known it at the time, Jim
never again would earn his living as a cartoonist.
Before, during and after his working association with Schulz, Jim
played around with many of his own ideas.
If persistence counts for anything, he deserves considerable credit
for his ongoing efforts to sell "Joe Cipher" ("a character kinda based
on me"), a daily strip that underwent quite a few transmutations during
the decade-plus that he tried to place it with a syndicate.
The character first appeared in a sample series of daily strips Jim
produced in late 1949. The strip’s gentle humor is faintly reminiscent
of "Gasoline Alley" and other character-driven work of the era; the
title character is introduced driving an old jalopy that obligingly runs
out of gas at a filling station. The silver-tongued Joe, lacking any
money, eventually impresses the station owner into offering him a job;
Joe celebrates by stepping into a nearby diner for lunch, where he’s
immediately smitten by the young woman behind the counter, and...
...and that’s where the presentation panels concluded.
Perhaps feeling that the strip lacked dramatic impact, a few years
later -- while still at AIS -- Jim tried again, shifting the action to a
tiny island in the middle of the ocean, where the shipwrecked Joe is
joined by an attractive young woman named Ginny, survivor of a second
sea-going calamity. (What are the odds?) Although their relationship is
mildly prickly for the first few days, Ginny eventually wishes aloud
that they could be rescued, so that she can go on a "proper date" with
Joe, and perhaps even kiss him when the evening concludes. Once again,
the story cut off abruptly, as Jim produced just two weeks’ worth of
strips enough to (hopefully) interest a buyer.
Sasseville tried several times to place a comic strip starring Joe Cipher, the pleasant-looking chap
featured in these examples. The two left-most strips are taken from the first run Sasseville designed on his own;
the two right-most strips, starring the same character but
in a different setting, are from Sasseville's third
test run; Charles Schulz contributed story input on these.
(Click on the image to see an enlarged version.)
After getting back from his return hitch in the Navy, Jim
went back to work on Joe Cipher and got a nibble from an
unexpected quarter: Something about this particular setting
touched Schulz, who suggested they collaborate on yet
a third incarnation of "Joe Cipher." (At the time, both men still were
unmarried, and it’s not hard to see a little male fantasy
wish-fulfillment at work.) With narrative input from Schulz and Jim
handling the art chores, the scene shifted again, this time to a
typically romantic South Seas setting, on an island large enough to
support a population of curvaceous young cuties and at least one
villain. Joe and Ginny remained the central focus, but this time the
former saw genuine action, on the receiving end of the villain’s fists.
Schulz and Jim took this newest version of "Joe Cipher" to United
Features Syndicate in spring of 1954; it was turned down flat. The
trip to New York wasn't a complete waste, though, because Sasseville
and Schulz caught a couple of plays: a T.S. Elliot drama called
Confidential Clerk, and another called The King of
Hearts, which starred Jackie Cooper as (what are the odds?)
a cartoonist!
Sasseville also remembers going from suite to suite in New
York's Waldorf hotel during this trip, visiting one cartoonist
after another; meeting Al Capp was a high point. But at least
part of the reason for the trip -- the newest Joe Cipher -- proved
unsellable, and Schulz bowed out at that point.
When Jim finally returned to "Joe Cipher," the 1950s were almost
over. Jim’s association with "Peanuts" and "It’s Only a Game" had
concluded, so the writer/artist returned to his favorite unsold
property. Jim recast his hero in yet another new setting, this time a
business office populated by characters clearly derived from his days at
Art Instruction. Although the sample panels display even cleaner, more
attractive line work -- a sure sign of his growing comfort as an artist
-- Jim had no better luck this time around.
Still refusing to abandon hope, Jim tried one more time In early
1960, after having moved to Berkeley, he once again changed the setting
completely, and turned Joe Cipher into "Sir Joe." This Arthurian-based
concept focused on genuinely whimsical gags involving heavy armor,
maidens in distress, and fire-breathing dragons. Jim’s dragons are
particularly funny, and this newest reboot seems ripe with
possibilities; it’s not at all hard to envision a daily strip evolving
from these samples.
Alas, syndicates once again failed to see any potential, and "Joe
Cipher" was put into Jim’s trunk as no more than another engaging
footnote in the artist’s collection of rejection slips.
Jim didn’t confine his efforts to "Joe Cipher"; the writer/artist
had no shortage of ideas, quite a few of which also wound up as
submission concepts. "Aunty Climax," produced in early 1957 -- just
prior to Jim’s ghost work for Dell comics -- was a single-panel gag
strip that starred a feisty little old lady who was far sharper than
most people assumed. She was based on Louise Cassidy, an AIS colleague
who also was the landlady for the building where Jim briefly lived with
Charles Cuddy. Jim produced a few dozen "Aunty Climax" panels, all of
which are vastly superior -- both in terms of writing and artwork -- to
many of the single-panel cartoons cluttering today’s newspapers.
"Confessions of a French Poodle" was a 1959 concept that didn’t
emerge much further than a few finished panels and lots of pencil
sketches; Jim good-naturedly admits that the idea went nowhere, and so
he abandoned it. That may have been shrewd market analysis, as the
medium never has lacked for dog-oriented material. Even so, French
poodles are funny in their own right, and Jim’s concept sketches are a
hoot.
When not working on Peanuts-related material, Sasseville tried to sell many of his own strip ideas
to a syndicate. From left to right, these examples are "Aunty Climax," "Friends and Foes," "Alpha-Betty" and "Happy Birthday."
(Click on the image to see an enlarged version.)
"Friends and Foes," another single-panel tryout, also emerged from
Jim’s pen in 1959. A little later, shortly after he started putting food
on the table with a "real job" -- and perhaps motivated by the explosion
of children’s television shows, which eventually led to "Sesame Street"
and everything that followed -- Jim tried a kid-oriented educational
strip called "Alpha-Betty," which starred a little girl who finds
herself in an other-worldly land populated by men and women shaped like
letters of the alphabet. The personalities of these individuals were
defined by their appearance; curved female letters, for example, were
far more sultry that straight female letters. The strip has a lovely
"Alice in Wonderland" quality, although the concept may have seemed
limiting.
Jim later played with the medium in "Blackboard," a daily strip
designed to be white-on-black, to imitate chalk on a classroom
blackboard. The stars were Dick, Jane and their TeacheR; although not as
overly educational as "Alpha-Betty," this strip also was aimed at young
audiences.
Jim’s final attempt at syndication was produced in the early 1970s,
after he first went into research hibernation, jotting down enough
celebrity birthdays to fill every day of a calendar year. The resulting
single-panel strips were a precursor to the "On this day in history..."
informational nuggets that have become so ubiquitous The panel for
March 28, for example, illustrated and revealed a few choice facts about
orchestra leader Paul Whiteman. March 29 was devoted to President John
Tyler, while Francisco Goya was featured on March 30.
Sadly, this fared no better with syndicators than any of the
others. "Joe Cipher," "Aunty Climax," "Confessions of a French Poodle,"
"Friends and Foes," "Alpha-Betty," "Blackboard" and "Birthdays" exist only
in Jim’s carefully preserved office files. More’s the pity, because even
the weakest of these strips displays a Puckish wit and clean, attractive
line work too often absent from many of the rushed, imitative strips
that generate little more than reader apathy these days.
Following the dust-up with Schulz and the move to Berkeley, Helga
-- who was delighted by the more rarefied atmosphere of a university
community -- became the family bread-winner. She took a job with a
German importer/exporter and commuted daily across the Bay Bridge.
Eventually succumbing to the need for steady employment, in April
1960 Jim took a job as a graphic designer with Varian, one of the
leading radar companies, located in California’s greater San Francisco
Bay Area. The fit proved comfortable, and he remained with the company
until he retired in 1990.
But the career shift wasn’t immediate; Jim first spent most of 1959
working up his own aforementioned comic strip proposals, and
occasionally sold individual gag cartoons to magazines. But his New
York-based agent took 35% of those one-shots.
"That’s when I started with Varian," Jim recalls, with a chuckle.
"I knew I’d never make it as a gag cartoonist."
Be that as it may, Jim never stopped his cartooning efforts; while
at Varian, he became famous for the birthday cards that he drew for
fellow employees.
Helga, meanwhile, got a job at Stanford, which prompted another
move; the couple then purchased their first home in 1960, in Mountain
View.
Three years later, they moved for what would be the last time. Jim
and his wife paid $28,000 for the house that remains his home to this
day. Just last year the retired artist was offered a cool million bucks
-- in cash -- by a dot-commer who wanted to develop the property. Still
loyal to the memories of his wife, with which the house is filled, Jim
politely declined. Helga died in 1995; he clearly still misses her.
Today, Parkinson’s Disease and the recent stroke have conspired to
deliver the ultimate nightmare Jim no longer can hold a pen well enough
to draw. ("I always marveled at Sparky’s ability to incorporate his
shaking hand into his line work.") But his mind and memory remain
acutely sharp, and his Puckish sense of humor is unbowed. He speaks with
clarity and certainty of his years at Art Instruction School, and with
Schulz, and of his never-successful efforts to market his own original
material.
Jim remains philosophical about his life, and in fact composed
another of his verses to express such feelings
I’m all for equal measures
Losses should be matched by gain;
And since I’ve missed life’s pleasures,
I’ll just double up with pain!
Definitely too harsh, but then we’re always hardest on ourselves.
Jim Sasseville deserves far more than the obscurity into which he has
settled; for a time, he was allied with the man who would become the
world’s most successful cartoonist, and for a time he helped chaperone
the faithfully rendered adventures of Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Linus, Lucy
and the rest ... no small feat.
And I’m particularly transfixed by a remark Jim made during one of
our later phone calls "I don’t know how one should behave, in a
situation like this," he said, referring to our ongoing conversations,
"but it’s like I’ve been resurrected."
Perhaps this article will kick-start our long-overdue obligation to
sing his praises.
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All PEANUTS characters pictured are copyrighted by United Feature Syndicate, Inc. They are used here with permission. They may not be reproduced by any means in any form.
While at Art Instruction, Jim joined the team that graded all the
submissions -- the "Can you draw me?" applications -- that arrived via
mail or hand delivery. The bottom-line desire, of course, was to
encourage those with even the smallest shred of talent, in order to get
an AIS salesman in the family’s front door; after all, the money was
made by selling art instruction courses. Since manilla envelopes poured
in like mad, speed-grading was essential.
"I spent years correcting Lesson No. 5, which was an advertising
project, where the students had to design a streetcar poster on the
theme ‘See the Orient.’ "
Jim remembers marking all but the very best submissions with
nothing more than alpha-numeric codes (A6, A17, and so forth), which AIS
secretaries then would translate into form paragraph replies.
"But they always were nicely typed up," Jim remembers, knowing full
well that the recipients carefully scrutinized every analytical word.
Sasseville and Schulz became good friends ("We had a similar sense
of humor"), and Sparky encouraged Jim to pursue comic strips. Jim even
got his hair cut more than once in Schulz’s father’s barbershop.
"Sparky bet me, in late 1949, that I’d sell a comic strip to a
syndicate before he would," Jim remembers, with a smile. "As it turned
out, I won that bet hands-down."
In between grading assignments, Jim and his fellow employees
produced thousands upon thousands of quickly penciled drawings on
4-by-7-inch sketchpads. In this respect, these artists were no different
than their counterparts at Disney and Warner Brothers animation studios,
who also filled the minutes between "real work" with impressive little
doodles and caricatures of each other, all of which are the envy of
collectors today (when they surface in the first place). Jim still has
stacks and stacks of such impromptu efforts, including a few caricatures
of Schulz and other AIS friends, and several pages of "Peanuts"
character roughs. (Even then, he must have been planning ahead...) Most
are plain pencil on paper, but some are blue-line; in either case, they
reveal one of Jim’s artistic strengths an ability to capture a person’s
eyes with remarkably lifelike clarity.
(Unfortunately, he did not save his collection of Schulz originals.
"I gave away all my junk foolishly, many years ago ... somebody conned
me out of almost all my original Schulz drawings.")
Jim never lost his art-school fascination with centaurs and nudes,
and many of his sketchpad pages are filled with fetchingly unclad
cuties. Hiring and drawing undraped models was fairly common among Jim
and his colleagues, although not quite all of his colleagues "I can’t
remember Sparky taking any part in that whatsoever."
Such figure studies also sparked Jim’s impish literary talents,
honed by a life-long fascination with poetry (T.S. Eliot’s "Distracted
from distraction by distraction" remains a personal mantra).
Jim still recalls many of his favorite invented verses, such as
this one, which would have been loved by Ogden Nash
A centaur met a mermaid, as he trotted by the sea;
She noticed not his heavy hooves, nor he her single knee,
As they lingered there, expelling time with heart-inspired chatter
The direction of their love so strong ... bottoms didn’t matter!
Jim’s tenure at Art Instruction was interrupted in mid 1952, when
Uncle Sam tapped his shoulder again. The Korean War was underway, and
those who previously had served less than a full year were being
recalled ... so those two days shy of a year forced a second hitch that
lasted through 1954.
"I was sent to the Philippines," Jim notes dryly, thinking back to
all the Lesson No. 5 submissions that he had graded, "so I certainly saw
the Orient."
This second 14-month hitch of active duty certainly wasn’t wasted,
in terms of Jim’s artistic skills; he worked for an Irish Catholic
chaplain and did a weekly mimeographed newspaper for U.S. Naval Mobile
Construction Battalion 9 ("I was drawing cartoons up the gazoo"). The
unit’s 1952-53 Cruise Book features a great full-page Jim illustration
on Page 33; titled "Cubi Point, P.I.," it shows five sailors watching a
dog face off with a monkey.
Jim’s relationship with Father John James Kileen never was dull, in
part because the artist was a lapsed Catholic.
"He worked the hell out of me, but then he’d always invite me into
his quarters for a nip, and then try to entice me back into the fold."
After his second stint in the Navy concluded, Jim returned to
civilian life (this time for good), and to Art Instruction Schools,
where he and Schulz picked up where they’d left off. In between grading
assignments and sketching his office buddies, Jim placed a few gag
cartoons in magazines, such as a droll three-panel sequence of a guy
having trouble with a jack, while attempting to fix a flat tire, which
appeared on Page 45 of the August 1957 issue of Gent, a
long-discontinued men’s magazine.
Jim met Helga, his future wife, as a result of his Navy friendship
with Charles Cuddy. She had immigrated to the United States when
sponsored by a South Dakota politician and his family ("mostly for slave
labor," Jim perceptively remarks); Helga was unfamiliar with the farm
environment, and decamped for Minneapolis as soon as she could. She
entered the University of Minnesota with a vengeance; her half-Jewish
heritage had kept her out of institutions of higher learning in her
native Germany.
She also enrolled in art school and wound up in one class being
taught by Dave Ratner, a colleague and friend with whom Jim went to art
school; she also landed in some of the same classes as Cuddy, who for a
time shared a boarding house attic ("a garret") with Jim. Since this
colony of Minneapolis artists wasn’t all that large, it was inevitable
that Jim and Helga would meet. ("Destiny," he happily acknowledges.)
They married in 1956.
"I’d just bought a brand-new Mercury," Jim remembers, with a
chuckle, "and I had to get rid of it when we got married, because Helga
couldn’t drive a stick-shift."
Within a few short months, Sasseville’s life turned around again,
when he became the best of Schulz’s never-credited "Peanuts" ghosts.
Whenever asked, Charles Schulz would repeat the statement that
became ubiquitous Unlike those involved with other "assembly-line"
newspaper comic strips, he remained the only person whose hands touched
the adventures of Charlie Brown and the gang. Schulz wrote, drew, inked
and lettered his strip, and did so during the entire run October 2,
1950, to February 13, 2000. Schulz always insisted that the strip would
cease production when he finally called it quits, a wish that his family
has honored. Unlike other classic strips that have been revived, often
by lesser talents, "Peanuts" will forevermore remain solely a Schulz
legacy.
Except ... that’s not entirely true.
During the 1950s and early ’60s, Charlie Brown and his friends
didn’t just appear in newspaper strips; they also were a popular feature
of comic books ... a medium usually dominated by the likes of Superman
and Captain America, but one that included plenty of room for lighter
fare.
And -- surprise, surprise! -- when the "Peanuts" comic book
appearances stopped being newspaper reprints and "graduated" into
original features in 1957, sharp-eyed fans probably could discern that
somebody other than Sparky Schulz was doing the artwork.
To keep the chronology consistent, let’s turn back the clock to
1952, when "Peanuts" simultaneously debuted as a supporting feature in
two comic books -- the March-April issues of Tip Top Comics (#173) and
United Comics (#21) -- both published by United Feature Syndicate, which
routinely recycled many of its newspaper features in these and other
comic books. The "Peanuts" supporting feature moved into a third book,
Tip Topper, beginning with #17 (June-July 1952); it remained there until
the book was discontinued after #28 (April-May 1954). Shortly before
this final issue of Tip Topper, "Peanuts" returned to Tip Top as a
supporting feature, beginning with #184 (Jan.-Feb. 1954) and continuing
through #188 (Sept.-Oct. 1954). Several of these later issues feature
gorgeous Peanuts covers, which -- although not signed -- appear to be by
Schulz.
"Peanuts" also appeared, during this same period, as a back-up
feature in most issues of United Comics, later retitled Fritzi Ritz
(beginning with #27). The run here also was consecutive #21-#33 (the
latter dated March-April 1954). Stray issues of Sparkler Comics and
Sparkle Comics also included some "Peanuts" reprints, although not on a
regular basis.
UFS got out of the comic book publishing business at the end of
1954, and some of its titles were picked up by St. John in 1955,
including Fritzi Ritz and Tip Top. Despite a noticeable gap of several
months, the numbering of both books continued consecutively. Thus, Tip
Top resumed with #189 (May 1955), and continued to include "Peanuts" as
a supporting feature during St. John’s entire run of this book, through
#210 (July 1957). "Peanuts" was only an occasional supporting feature in
St. John’s run of Fritzi Ritz, starting with #37 (July 1955) and
continuing through #55. Finally, at least one issue of Nancy -- #142
(March 1957) -- also featured Peanuts reprints.
Big changes came in late 1957, and not just because St. John
abandoned these books and turned them over to Dell Comics (Western
Publishing). After a delay of several months to half a year -- depending
on the title -- Dell revived the flagship St. John titles, again with
consecutive numbering. Thus, Tip Top #211 returned as a quarterly with a
cover date of Nov. 1957-Jan. 1958. Fritzi Ritz resumed with #56, dated
Dec. 1957-Feb. 1958.
Under Dell’s stewardship, Charlie Brown and the gang also became a
regular supporting feature in Nancy, beginning with #146 (Sept. 1957).
The biggest change, however, concerned the content in all three books.
When Dell took over, the covers promised "All brand-new stories" ... and
they meant it.
"Peanuts" fans spotted the change in Nancy #146, which boasted a
four-page story with a baseball theme, clearly produced by Schulz
himself (although unsigned); Jim confirms Sparky’s linework. But Schulz
quickly realized that producing four full pages of original art for
Nancy on a monthly basis, not to mention similar duties for the
quarterly Tip Top and Fritzi Ritz, would be more than he was willing to
handle. Then, too, he was only months away from debuting his own second
newspaper strip, "It’s Only a Game" (about which more below).
Schulz allowed Dell’s house art department to handle his characters
in Nancy #147, but was unhappy with the results. (No surprise; the art
is quite weak.) Schulz stepped in again for issue #148, but the workload
problem hadn’t changed. Wanting greater fidelity to his own style,
Schulz turned to Jim, who took over the reins with issue #149 and
continued through #168 (July 1959). Jim essentially became Schulz’s
employee and was paid $100 per week for this work; since he was making
only $80 per week at Art Instruction, this -- along with the even higher
paycheck he’d soon receive, for helping Schulz with "It’s Only a Game"
-- was a substantial raise.
As a ghosting assignment, the results are impressive. Charlie Brown
and Linus’ heads are notoriously difficult to reproduce in Schulz’s
signature style, but Jim came damn close. More to the point, the
characters are posed and conduct themselves in a way that’s absolutely
typical of their behavior in Sparky’s newspaper strip. Art purists may
have noticed that Jim wasn’t Schulz, but casual readers were unlikely to
have detected the difference.
The four-page story above is taken from Nancy #151, February 1958.
(Click on the pages to enlarge them.)
"He gave me carte blanche on writing them, and I felt like a
faithful uncle," Jim says, with no small amount of pride at his ability
to reproduce Charlie Brown and the gang.
Although Jim’s take on the "Peanuts" gang in Nancy #149 was the
first to reach fans, it was not the ghost artist’s debut crack at
Charlie Brown. Jim’s first completed "Peanuts" comic book adventure was
"The Trip," one of a quartet of eight-page stories (packaged with three
one-page stories) that eventually appeared as issue #878 (Feb. 1958) of
Dell’s Four Color Comics, an "umbrella title" that rotated various
stars; this issue, boasting a gorgeous signed Schulz cover, was the
first one devoted to "Peanuts."
Ever the imp, Jim inserted a personal reference into "The Trip."
The number on the dog license that Charlie Brown uses -- 891-68-14 -- to
justify his getting behind the wheel of a station wagon, was the
artist’s Navy serial number.
Jim also did the work in the Fritzi Ritz and Tip Top issues during
this time, and it’s important to note that he had a completely free rein
with these comic book stories, handling both art and writing chores.
Fritzi Ritz lasted only four issues under the Dell label, before
being discontinued after #59 (Sept.-Nov. 1958). "Peanuts" did not appear
in #56, but each of the remaining three issues included a new four-page
story by Jim. He also handled the work for Tip Top #211 through #215
(Nov. 1958-Jan. 1959). In Tip Top, Charlie Brown and his friends shared
covers with Nancy, Sluggo, and the Captain and the Kids. Although
unsigned, Schulz drew these "Peanuts" cover panels for issues 211-213,
and Jim handled 214 and 215.
Sasseville did the Peanuts art in these issues of Tip Top, #214 and #215.
(Click on the pages to enlarge them.)
All told, then, Jim drew the interior stories in 20 issues of
Nancy, three issues of Fritzi Ritz, and five issues of Tip Top, along
with Four Color #878. This relationship with Schulz and Dell Comics took
an unexpected turn when the two men parted unhappily, and Jim’s final
work for Dell was the long kite story in the second all-"Peanuts" issue
of Four Color Comics (#969, Feb. 1959), along with the inside front and
inside back cover one-pagers.
The completion of that particular issue became something of a
marathon art session. After announcing that he and Helga would be moving
to Berkeley, Jim took stock of the pending Dell workload, and discovered
that the deadline for the second all-Peanuts issue of Four Color Comics
was imminent. Jim promised to finish this before the move, but Sparky
suggested that the job would proceed faster if they worked on it
together. The two men thus divided the work between them, and began
early one morning with what turned into a lengthy session stretching
well into the evening. During that time, Jim completed the
aforementioned two one-page stories and one eight-page story, while
Sparky handled the remaining one-page story and THREE eight-page
stories.
"There’s no doubt who was the faster artist," Jim notes, with a
chuckle. "He certainly put me in my place!"
Jim still remembers that session as a euphoric rush ... but it
concluded on a gloomy note, when, resting in the happy afterglow of a
job well done, Schulz revealed the fate of "It’s Only a Game" (see
below).
In the aftermath, Schulz also stepped in and handled all the work
for Nancy #169 (August 1959). Clearly, this was a rush job, and Schulz
borrowed from himself The final panel of this four-page story is almost
identical to the final panel of the June 23, 1957, "Peanuts" Sunday
strip. The comic book storyline is an expansion of that Sunday strip,
and the aforementioned final panel in the comic book is signed by Schulz
... the only case where any interior comic book stories bear his
signature.
Because the split was far from amicable, Jim did not follow the
subsequent comic book adventures of Charlie Brown and his friends, in
Nancy and Tip Top. On close examination just a few weeks ago -- in many
cases, seeing this work for the first time -- Jim pointed to specific
poses, characteristics and lettering attributes ("Sparky always rounded
out the bottoms of his W’s") that leave him convinced that Schulz either
penciled and inked the next several issues of both Nancy and Tip Top, or
at least roughed in the panel layout, inked the primary characters --
particularly their heads -- and lettered the word balloons. This seems
likely; carefully examination of individual pages reveals an occasional
Snoopy or Lucy which, not matching the rest, clearly must have been
inked by somebody else.
But Dale Hale, Schulz’s new apprentice and ghost -- and another
associate from Art Instruction Schools -- caught on quickly, and the
artwork in both books retained its Schulz-like characteristics through
roughly late 1960 or early 1961. At this point, other hands clearly took
over -- possibly Tony Pocrnick, another Schulz associate from Art
Instruction -- and the "Peanuts" characters became ever-more distant
from the Schulz ideal until the final issues of Tip Top (#225, May-July
1961) and Nancy. (By then the latter had been retitled Nancy and Sluggo,
and its final five issues were released under the Gold Key imprint; the
book was discontinued with issue #192, October 1963.) The "Peanuts"
artwork in the last issues of both books is, in a word, dreadful.
A third all-"Peanuts" issue of Four Color Comics was produced
(#1015, August-October 1959), after which the characters got their own
book that began with issue #4 (Feb.-April 1960), by way of acknowledging
those first three appearances in Four Color Comics. This lasted through
#13 (May-July 1962), after which the book was discontinued. Each of
these issues features a signed Schulz cover, but other hands --
certainly Hale, at first -- handled all the interior artwork and writing
(which, as with the latter issues of Nancy and Tip Top, grew less
Schulz-like over time).
But what had happened, to sever the friendship between Schulz and
Jim, which stretched back a decade?
Bouncing back a year or so...
Although already quite popular and gaining fans -- and syndicate
clients -- all the time, in 1957 "Peanuts" was not yet the multimedia
sensation it was to become within another decade. Schulz must have had
some free time that needed filling, and therefore was comfortable with
the concept of pitching a second strip concept to United Features
Syndicate. The artist had lots of ideas about games near and dear to his
heart, including golf, tennis, baseball and bridge. No doubt realizing
that twice as much Schulz per week was a good thing, UFS jumped at the
chance, and the sports and recreation-themed "It’s Only a Game" was
born. For awhile, Schulz joined later stars such as Johnny Hart ("B.C."
and "The Wizard of Id"), Mell Lazarus ("Miss Peach" and "Momma") and
Jerry Scott ("Baby Blues" and "Zits"), with two newspaper strips running
simultaneously.
Each installment of "It’s Only a Game, by Charles M. Schulz,"
hearkening back to Schulz’s very early work on "Li’l Folks" in The St.
Paul Pioneer Press, was comprised of three separate single-panel gag
strips. The package was offered to clients in two different formats as
three single-panel strips per week, to run on Mondays, Wednesdays and
Fridays; or as a combined grouping of three that would appear in Sunday
comics sections. The combined Sunday grouping also had a bonus fourth
cartoon a tiny, captionless visual gag -- very much like the
intermarginal gags that Sergio Aragonés would pepper throughout future
issues of Mad Magazine -- that appeared to the right of the title and
Schulz’s byline. The subject matter of the Monday and Wednesday panels
varied from week to week, but the Friday installment always centered
around bridge, the then-popular card game that Schulz loved. (Further
evidence of this affection could be seen in "Peanuts," where the kids
routinely played the game in the early 1950s, and Woodstock and a
foursome of his bird buddies picked it up in the 1970s and beyond.)
Charles Schulz did this January 12, 1958, "It's Only a Game" panel himself. Note his signature within the art of the right-most panel.
During an October 6, 1957, interview with Schulz, the Chicago
Tribune proudly boasted that it would be one of the flagship newspapers
to carry this new feature. The Tribune selected the weekly option, and
ran "It’s Only a Game" in its Sunday magazine. The debut installment
appeared November 3, 1957, and immediately set the tone for what would
follow, with panels devoted to boxing, golf and bridge. The middle panel
is a hoot, with a middle-aged duffer -- one easily can imagine Charlie
Brown in his 40s -- lamenting a putt that has left his ball perched at
the edge of the cup (but not in), and saying, "I think I’m going to
cry."
Subsequent installments covered checkers, bowling, curling (!),
table tennis, croquet, billiards, ice fishing, darts and even camping.
But as 1957 turned into 1958, something must have changed. Perhaps
Schulz had underestimated the amount of time involved with producing a
second weekly newspaper strip; maybe he also was spending more time than
expected overseeing the new "Peanuts" content in the Dell comic books.
Or, more likely, the "Peanuts" empire as a whole was occupying more of
his time; 1958 saw the production of the first "Peanuts" toys -- plastic
dolls of the major characters, produced by Hungerford -- and of course
this was just the tip of an approaching iceberg.
Whatever the reason, Schulz decided to hand over the lion’s share
of the artistic chores to Jim. Schulz’s solo involvement with "It’s Only
a Game" continued through the January 12, 1958, installment; this is the
last one to bear his signature on one of the cartoon panels. (Schulz’s
name continued to run alone in the masthead, however, making Jim a true
ghost.) As of January 19, 1958, Jim -- often working from hastily
penciled sketches and captions supplied by Schulz -- did all the
newspaper strip’s finished art and lettering.
Sasseville did this January 26, 1958, "It's Only a Game" panel himself. Note that Schulz's signature is nowhere to be seen within the art.
Jim vividly remembers this transition date, because just one week later,
with his second time at bat with the solo art chores, he was paid a
singular honor. That week’s Monday panel, a bowling strip, featured
three league players welcoming a fourth, apparently a little tardy, with
the exclamation of, "Three cheers, gang! Our number one man has
arrived!" A loyal reader sent UFS a black-and-white photo of himself
with three friends, staged to look precisely like the four figures in
Jim’s illustration. The "camera angle" was identical, along with
clothing, body position, and everything else in the frame. The
resemblance even extended to the men themselves, who had body shapes and
hairstyles eerily similar to those found in the panel art.
Jim still has the photo.
Sasseville received this photo recreation of his "It's Only a Game" gag from a fan. Note the date stamp at the top of the photo.
The degree to which Jim successfully imitated Schulz’s linework can
be seen by the fact that the transition was seamless; no casual reader
could have discerned that the hand on the inker’s pen had changed.
During the remainder of 1958, the two men continued to work in the same
fashion, Jim often finishing Schulz’s rough concepts, but also
contributing many of his own original ideas. He also inserted the
occasional personal reference; the boat from which a husband and wife
fish, in one of the June 29, 1958, panels, is the Helga, named after
Jim’s wife.
But Jim remembers that he never came up with any of the concepts
for Friday’s bridge panels, for the simple reason that he didn’t know
the game.
Although he labored in anonymity, Jim was well compensated
financially, and he still speaks appreciatively of Sparky’s generosity.
Schulz had negotiated for 50% of the strip’s income, the other half
going to UFS. This 50% amounted to slightly more than $500 per week;
when Jim came on board, Schulz generously gave half of HIS half to his
new partner, and so Jim brought home $250 per week (after expenses) for
his efforts ... quite a lot of money in 1958.
The two men were living in Minneapolis when this collaboration
began; after the first five months, in May 1958, Jim and his wife
followed the Schulz family to Northern California. Lacking a place to
stay in Sebastopol -- not to mention furniture and other amenities --
the Sassevilles first spent a couple of months a bit south, in Corta
Madera. "For two or three weeks, I drew the comic book stuff and ‘It’s
Only a Game’ on a portable drawing board. But I stayed in touch with
Sparky on the phone, and he supplied the ideas for ‘It’s Only a Game.’ "
The Sassevilles then found a home in Sebastopol. Between "It’s Only
a Game" and the work he also was doing for the "Peanuts" strips in the
Dell comic books, Jim was quite gainfully employed by his new partner
and boss.
Unfortunately, it was not to last.
"It’s Only a Game" began with 30 client newspapers; nearly a year
later, it had ... 30 client newspapers.
(A complete client list has been lost to the mists of time, although
it is known that the feature was carried by The Boston Globe, the Detroit
Free Press, The Chicago Tribune, The Minneapolis Tribune, the San Francisco
Chronicle and The Baltimore Sun.)
The strip never took off, despite strong support from fans such as
bridge expert Charles Goren (who wrote a couple of letters), and even
Schulz’s name didn’t seem to make much of a difference.
But we also can assume that the proud and perfectionist-minded
Schulz -- who in later years, as mentioned above, often made a point of
describing how in "Peanuts" he penciled and inked every line, and
lettered every word balloon -- probably was bothered by the fact that he
wasn’t similarly in sole control of "It’s Only a Game." To be sure, he
was INVOLVED, but he wasn’t actually drawing what appeared in those 30
client newspapers.
"He didn’t like his name being used on somebody else’s work," Jim
recalls, "and I don’t blame him for that."
That, coupled with moribund sales and some tension with the head
UFS salesman to whom Schulz initially had pitched the idea, eventually
prompted an astonishing decision In late 1958, just 12 months into a
solid five-year contract, Schulz made it plain to UFS that he wished to
discontinue "It’s Only a Game." Perhaps recognizing that the strip
wasn’t performing as hoped, UFS agreed.
Schulz did not consult Jim before taking this step; indeed, the
news came as a complete shock to Schulz’s ghost, who’d been very happy
with his work, and the strip, and the $250 per week.
Schulz even tried to sugar-coat the news "You’re off the hook,"
Jim recalls his employer saying (as if this were a GOOD thing), at the
end of that euphoric day when they finished work on the second
all-Peanuts issue of Dell’s Four Color Comics. Jim had just assured
Sparky that his pending move to Berkeley would not affect his ability to
work on "It’s Only a Game," and now the rug had been pulled out from
under him.
The fallout was immediate; it certainly was the final straw for
Helga, who already had been dissatisfied with their home in Sebastopol
-- hence the move to Berkeley -- and also was unhappy about the friction
that existed between her and Joyce, Schulz’s first wife. Helga had
endured Nazi Germany, survived the entire war -- in and out of work
camps -- and had lost her father at Dachau; she was not a woman to keep
opinions to herself.
"I realized I was working on a flawed product, which the creator
and marketer wanted nothing more to do with. Still, I had held out the
hope that maybe Sparky might offer the entire feature to me, although I
realized that there’d be problems with the syndicate," Jim admits, a
touch of wistfulness still clouding the memory after more than 40 years.
"They should have been pretty familiar with my work by then."
It didn’t happen. By the time the final installment of "It’s Only a
Game" appeared, on January 11, 1959 -- the two always had worked six
weeks ahead -- Jim and Schulz had severed all relations, professional
and personal. This also included Jim’s ghosting work on the Dell comic
books. The split was permanent, and the two men never reconciled.
Although "It’s Only a Game" ran for 63 consecutive weeks, it
quickly became a fading memory -- and then an overlooked footnote -- in
Schulz’s career. He rarely mentioned it during later interviews, and
then only obliquely, citing neither date specifics nor his collaboration
with Jim.
"We were the best of friends at first," Jim recalls ruefully. He
happily remembers attending the 1951 National Cartoonists Convention
with Sparky, and also another time when they both went to visit and swap
stories with a fellow artist, Robert M. Brinkerhoff, who lived in
Minneapolis and was known for a newspaper strip called "Little Mary
Mix-Up." Brinkerhoff, in turn -- like many other cartoonists at that
time -- greatly admired J.R. Williams (creator of "Out Our Way"), whom
he once described as "the greatest cowboy ever to walk the streets of
New York." Brinkerhoff related how he had wheedled, begged and finally
finagled an invitation to Williams’ ranch in Montana. Although only
interested in seeing the fabulous studio that he assumed his idol must
have on so massive a spread, Brinkerhoff first had to put up with being
shown all the livestock and the other attractions of a working ranch. As
the visit stretched on, Brinkerhoff finally couldn’t stand it any longer
and demanded to see where Williams did his work.
With a resigned sigh (as Jim recalls Brinkerhoff describing this
incident), Williams walked over to his wife’s sewing machine, took off
the cover, and flipped it over ... and that was it The great J.R.
Williams did all his drawing on the cover of his wife’s sewing machine.
As others have observed, there’s never any reason to embrace
technology or an environment any fancier than that required to get the
job done.
Cartoonists love to talk shop, and Jim’s no different; merely
relating this little tale brings a sparkle into his eyes. And, to this
day, he doesn’t really understand what happened between him and Schulz.
"I feel kind of weird about all this. Sparky obviously wanted me to
succeed in the early days, and even was willing to collaborate with me
on one of my own projects (one of the many variations of "Joe Cipher,"
discussed below). But then when he had a chance to really help me out,
he didn’t make any effort whatsoever ... and left me in rather dire
straits."
Such feelings notwithstanding, all these years later Jim is firm on
one point "Charles M. Schulz was the greatest comic strip artist ever."
And although he certainly couldn’t have known it at the time, Jim
never again would earn his living as a cartoonist.
Before, during and after his working association with Schulz, Jim
played around with many of his own ideas.
If persistence counts for anything, he deserves considerable credit
for his ongoing efforts to sell "Joe Cipher" ("a character kinda based
on me"), a daily strip that underwent quite a few transmutations during
the decade-plus that he tried to place it with a syndicate.
The character first appeared in a sample series of daily strips Jim
produced in late 1949. The strip’s gentle humor is faintly reminiscent
of "Gasoline Alley" and other character-driven work of the era; the
title character is introduced driving an old jalopy that obligingly runs
out of gas at a filling station. The silver-tongued Joe, lacking any
money, eventually impresses the station owner into offering him a job;
Joe celebrates by stepping into a nearby diner for lunch, where he’s
immediately smitten by the young woman behind the counter, and...
...and that’s where the presentation panels concluded.
Perhaps feeling that the strip lacked dramatic impact, a few years
later -- while still at AIS -- Jim tried again, shifting the action to a
tiny island in the middle of the ocean, where the shipwrecked Joe is
joined by an attractive young woman named Ginny, survivor of a second
sea-going calamity. (What are the odds?) Although their relationship is
mildly prickly for the first few days, Ginny eventually wishes aloud
that they could be rescued, so that she can go on a "proper date" with
Joe, and perhaps even kiss him when the evening concludes. Once again,
the story cut off abruptly, as Jim produced just two weeks’ worth of
strips enough to (hopefully) interest a buyer.
Sasseville tried several times to place a comic strip starring Joe Cipher, the pleasant-looking chap
featured in these examples. The two left-most strips are taken from the first run Sasseville designed on his own;
the two right-most strips, starring the same character but
in a different setting, are from Sasseville's third
test run; Charles Schulz contributed story input on these.
(Click on the image to see an enlarged version.)
After getting back from his return hitch in the Navy, Jim
went back to work on Joe Cipher and got a nibble from an
unexpected quarter: Something about this particular setting
touched Schulz, who suggested they collaborate on yet
a third incarnation of "Joe Cipher." (At the time, both men still were
unmarried, and it’s not hard to see a little male fantasy
wish-fulfillment at work.) With narrative input from Schulz and Jim
handling the art chores, the scene shifted again, this time to a
typically romantic South Seas setting, on an island large enough to
support a population of curvaceous young cuties and at least one
villain. Joe and Ginny remained the central focus, but this time the
former saw genuine action, on the receiving end of the villain’s fists.
Schulz and Jim took this newest version of "Joe Cipher" to United
Features Syndicate in spring of 1954; it was turned down flat. The
trip to New York wasn't a complete waste, though, because Sasseville
and Schulz caught a couple of plays: a T.S. Elliot drama called
Confidential Clerk, and another called The King of
Hearts, which starred Jackie Cooper as (what are the odds?)
a cartoonist!
Sasseville also remembers going from suite to suite in New
York's Waldorf hotel during this trip, visiting one cartoonist
after another; meeting Al Capp was a high point. But at least
part of the reason for the trip -- the newest Joe Cipher -- proved
unsellable, and Schulz bowed out at that point.
When Jim finally returned to "Joe Cipher," the 1950s were almost
over. Jim’s association with "Peanuts" and "It’s Only a Game" had
concluded, so the writer/artist returned to his favorite unsold
property. Jim recast his hero in yet another new setting, this time a
business office populated by characters clearly derived from his days at
Art Instruction. Although the sample panels display even cleaner, more
attractive line work -- a sure sign of his growing comfort as an artist
-- Jim had no better luck this time around.
Still refusing to abandon hope, Jim tried one more time In early
1960, after having moved to Berkeley, he once again changed the setting
completely, and turned Joe Cipher into "Sir Joe." This Arthurian-based
concept focused on genuinely whimsical gags involving heavy armor,
maidens in distress, and fire-breathing dragons. Jim’s dragons are
particularly funny, and this newest reboot seems ripe with
possibilities; it’s not at all hard to envision a daily strip evolving
from these samples.
Alas, syndicates once again failed to see any potential, and "Joe
Cipher" was put into Jim’s trunk as no more than another engaging
footnote in the artist’s collection of rejection slips.
Jim didn’t confine his efforts to "Joe Cipher"; the writer/artist
had no shortage of ideas, quite a few of which also wound up as
submission concepts. "Aunty Climax," produced in early 1957 -- just
prior to Jim’s ghost work for Dell comics -- was a single-panel gag
strip that starred a feisty little old lady who was far sharper than
most people assumed. She was based on Louise Cassidy, an AIS colleague
who also was the landlady for the building where Jim briefly lived with
Charles Cuddy. Jim produced a few dozen "Aunty Climax" panels, all of
which are vastly superior -- both in terms of writing and artwork -- to
many of the single-panel cartoons cluttering today’s newspapers.
"Confessions of a French Poodle" was a 1959 concept that didn’t
emerge much further than a few finished panels and lots of pencil
sketches; Jim good-naturedly admits that the idea went nowhere, and so
he abandoned it. That may have been shrewd market analysis, as the
medium never has lacked for dog-oriented material. Even so, French
poodles are funny in their own right, and Jim’s concept sketches are a
hoot.
When not working on Peanuts-related material, Sasseville tried to sell many of his own strip ideas
to a syndicate. From left to right, these examples are "Aunty Climax," "Friends and Foes," "Alpha-Betty" and "Happy Birthday."
(Click on the image to see an enlarged version.)
"Friends and Foes," another single-panel tryout, also emerged from
Jim’s pen in 1959. A little later, shortly after he started putting food
on the table with a "real job" -- and perhaps motivated by the explosion
of children’s television shows, which eventually led to "Sesame Street"
and everything that followed -- Jim tried a kid-oriented educational
strip called "Alpha-Betty," which starred a little girl who finds
herself in an other-worldly land populated by men and women shaped like
letters of the alphabet. The personalities of these individuals were
defined by their appearance; curved female letters, for example, were
far more sultry that straight female letters. The strip has a lovely
"Alice in Wonderland" quality, although the concept may have seemed
limiting.
Jim later played with the medium in "Blackboard," a daily strip
designed to be white-on-black, to imitate chalk on a classroom
blackboard. The stars were Dick, Jane and their TeacheR; although not as
overly educational as "Alpha-Betty," this strip also was aimed at young
audiences.
Jim’s final attempt at syndication was produced in the early 1970s,
after he first went into research hibernation, jotting down enough
celebrity birthdays to fill every day of a calendar year. The resulting
single-panel strips were a precursor to the "On this day in history..."
informational nuggets that have become so ubiquitous The panel for
March 28, for example, illustrated and revealed a few choice facts about
orchestra leader Paul Whiteman. March 29 was devoted to President John
Tyler, while Francisco Goya was featured on March 30.
Sadly, this fared no better with syndicators than any of the
others. "Joe Cipher," "Aunty Climax," "Confessions of a French Poodle,"
"Friends and Foes," "Alpha-Betty," "Blackboard" and "Birthdays" exist only
in Jim’s carefully preserved office files. More’s the pity, because even
the weakest of these strips displays a Puckish wit and clean, attractive
line work too often absent from many of the rushed, imitative strips
that generate little more than reader apathy these days.
Following the dust-up with Schulz and the move to Berkeley, Helga
-- who was delighted by the more rarefied atmosphere of a university
community -- became the family bread-winner. She took a job with a
German importer/exporter and commuted daily across the Bay Bridge.
Eventually succumbing to the need for steady employment, in April
1960 Jim took a job as a graphic designer with Varian, one of the
leading radar companies, located in California’s greater San Francisco
Bay Area. The fit proved comfortable, and he remained with the company
until he retired in 1990.
But the career shift wasn’t immediate; Jim first spent most of 1959
working up his own aforementioned comic strip proposals, and
occasionally sold individual gag cartoons to magazines. But his New
York-based agent took 35% of those one-shots.
"That’s when I started with Varian," Jim recalls, with a chuckle.
"I knew I’d never make it as a gag cartoonist."
Be that as it may, Jim never stopped his cartooning efforts; while
at Varian, he became famous for the birthday cards that he drew for
fellow employees.
Helga, meanwhile, got a job at Stanford, which prompted another
move; the couple then purchased their first home in 1960, in Mountain
View.
Three years later, they moved for what would be the last time. Jim
and his wife paid $28,000 for the house that remains his home to this
day. Just last year the retired artist was offered a cool million bucks
-- in cash -- by a dot-commer who wanted to develop the property. Still
loyal to the memories of his wife, with which the house is filled, Jim
politely declined. Helga died in 1995; he clearly still misses her.
Today, Parkinson’s Disease and the recent stroke have conspired to
deliver the ultimate nightmare Jim no longer can hold a pen well enough
to draw. ("I always marveled at Sparky’s ability to incorporate his
shaking hand into his line work.") But his mind and memory remain
acutely sharp, and his Puckish sense of humor is unbowed. He speaks with
clarity and certainty of his years at Art Instruction School, and with
Schulz, and of his never-successful efforts to market his own original
material.
Jim remains philosophical about his life, and in fact composed
another of his verses to express such feelings
I’m all for equal measures
Losses should be matched by gain;
And since I’ve missed life’s pleasures,
I’ll just double up with pain!
Definitely too harsh, but then we’re always hardest on ourselves.
Jim Sasseville deserves far more than the obscurity into which he has
settled; for a time, he was allied with the man who would become the
world’s most successful cartoonist, and for a time he helped chaperone
the faithfully rendered adventures of Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Linus, Lucy
and the rest ... no small feat.
And I’m particularly transfixed by a remark Jim made during one of
our later phone calls "I don’t know how one should behave, in a
situation like this," he said, referring to our ongoing conversations,
"but it’s like I’ve been resurrected."
Perhaps this article will kick-start our long-overdue obligation to
sing his praises.
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Jim remembers marking all but the very best submissions with
nothing more than alpha-numeric codes (A6, A17, and so forth), which AIS
secretaries then would translate into form paragraph replies.
"But they always were nicely typed up," Jim remembers, knowing full
well that the recipients carefully scrutinized every analytical word.
Sasseville and Schulz became good friends ("We had a similar sense
of humor"), and Sparky encouraged Jim to pursue comic strips. Jim even
got his hair cut more than once in Schulz’s father’s barbershop.
"Sparky bet me, in late 1949, that I’d sell a comic strip to a
syndicate before he would," Jim remembers, with a smile. "As it turned
out, I won that bet hands-down."
In between grading assignments, Jim and his fellow employees
produced thousands upon thousands of quickly penciled drawings on
4-by-7-inch sketchpads. In this respect, these artists were no different
than their counterparts at Disney and Warner Brothers animation studios,
who also filled the minutes between "real work" with impressive little
doodles and caricatures of each other, all of which are the envy of
collectors today (when they surface in the first place). Jim still has
stacks and stacks of such impromptu efforts, including a few caricatures
of Schulz and other AIS friends, and several pages of "Peanuts"
character roughs. (Even then, he must have been planning ahead...) Most
are plain pencil on paper, but some are blue-line; in either case, they
reveal one of Jim’s artistic strengths an ability to capture a person’s
eyes with remarkably lifelike clarity.
(Unfortunately, he did not save his collection of Schulz originals.
"I gave away all my junk foolishly, many years ago ... somebody conned
me out of almost all my original Schulz drawings.")
Jim never lost his art-school fascination with centaurs and nudes,
and many of his sketchpad pages are filled with fetchingly unclad
cuties. Hiring and drawing undraped models was fairly common among Jim
and his colleagues, although not quite all of his colleagues "I can’t
remember Sparky taking any part in that whatsoever."
Such figure studies also sparked Jim’s impish literary talents,
honed by a life-long fascination with poetry (T.S. Eliot’s "Distracted
from distraction by distraction" remains a personal mantra).
Jim still recalls many of his favorite invented verses, such as
this one, which would have been loved by Ogden Nash
A centaur met a mermaid, as he trotted by the sea;
She noticed not his heavy hooves, nor he her single knee,
As they lingered there, expelling time with heart-inspired chatter
The direction of their love so strong ... bottoms didn’t matter!
Jim’s tenure at Art Instruction was interrupted in mid 1952, when
Uncle Sam tapped his shoulder again. The Korean War was underway, and
those who previously had served less than a full year were being
recalled ... so those two days shy of a year forced a second hitch that
lasted through 1954.
"I was sent to the Philippines," Jim notes dryly, thinking back to
all the Lesson No. 5 submissions that he had graded, "so I certainly saw
the Orient."
This second 14-month hitch of active duty certainly wasn’t wasted,
in terms of Jim’s artistic skills; he worked for an Irish Catholic
chaplain and did a weekly mimeographed newspaper for U.S. Naval Mobile
Construction Battalion 9 ("I was drawing cartoons up the gazoo"). The
unit’s 1952-53 Cruise Book features a great full-page Jim illustration
on Page 33; titled "Cubi Point, P.I.," it shows five sailors watching a
dog face off with a monkey.
Jim’s relationship with Father John James Kileen never was dull, in
part because the artist was a lapsed Catholic.
"He worked the hell out of me, but then he’d always invite me into
his quarters for a nip, and then try to entice me back into the fold."
After his second stint in the Navy concluded, Jim returned to
civilian life (this time for good), and to Art Instruction Schools,
where he and Schulz picked up where they’d left off. In between grading
assignments and sketching his office buddies, Jim placed a few gag
cartoons in magazines, such as a droll three-panel sequence of a guy
having trouble with a jack, while attempting to fix a flat tire, which
appeared on Page 45 of the August 1957 issue of Gent, a
long-discontinued men’s magazine.
Jim met Helga, his future wife, as a result of his Navy friendship
with Charles Cuddy. She had immigrated to the United States when
sponsored by a South Dakota politician and his family ("mostly for slave
labor," Jim perceptively remarks); Helga was unfamiliar with the farm
environment, and decamped for Minneapolis as soon as she could. She
entered the University of Minnesota with a vengeance; her half-Jewish
heritage had kept her out of institutions of higher learning in her
native Germany.
She also enrolled in art school and wound up in one class being
taught by Dave Ratner, a colleague and friend with whom Jim went to art
school; she also landed in some of the same classes as Cuddy, who for a
time shared a boarding house attic ("a garret") with Jim. Since this
colony of Minneapolis artists wasn’t all that large, it was inevitable
that Jim and Helga would meet. ("Destiny," he happily acknowledges.)
They married in 1956.
"I’d just bought a brand-new Mercury," Jim remembers, with a
chuckle, "and I had to get rid of it when we got married, because Helga
couldn’t drive a stick-shift."
Within a few short months, Sasseville’s life turned around again,
when he became the best of Schulz’s never-credited "Peanuts" ghosts.
Whenever asked, Charles Schulz would repeat the statement that
became ubiquitous Unlike those involved with other "assembly-line"
newspaper comic strips, he remained the only person whose hands touched
the adventures of Charlie Brown and the gang. Schulz wrote, drew, inked
and lettered his strip, and did so during the entire run October 2,
1950, to February 13, 2000. Schulz always insisted that the strip would
cease production when he finally called it quits, a wish that his family
has honored. Unlike other classic strips that have been revived, often
by lesser talents, "Peanuts" will forevermore remain solely a Schulz
legacy.
Except ... that’s not entirely true.
During the 1950s and early ’60s, Charlie Brown and his friends
didn’t just appear in newspaper strips; they also were a popular feature
of comic books ... a medium usually dominated by the likes of Superman
and Captain America, but one that included plenty of room for lighter
fare.
And -- surprise, surprise! -- when the "Peanuts" comic book
appearances stopped being newspaper reprints and "graduated" into
original features in 1957, sharp-eyed fans probably could discern that
somebody other than Sparky Schulz was doing the artwork.
To keep the chronology consistent, let’s turn back the clock to
1952, when "Peanuts" simultaneously debuted as a supporting feature in
two comic books -- the March-April issues of Tip Top Comics (#173) and
United Comics (#21) -- both published by United Feature Syndicate, which
routinely recycled many of its newspaper features in these and other
comic books. The "Peanuts" supporting feature moved into a third book,
Tip Topper, beginning with #17 (June-July 1952); it remained there until
the book was discontinued after #28 (April-May 1954). Shortly before
this final issue of Tip Topper, "Peanuts" returned to Tip Top as a
supporting feature, beginning with #184 (Jan.-Feb. 1954) and continuing
through #188 (Sept.-Oct. 1954). Several of these later issues feature
gorgeous Peanuts covers, which -- although not signed -- appear to be by
Schulz.
"Peanuts" also appeared, during this same period, as a back-up
feature in most issues of United Comics, later retitled Fritzi Ritz
(beginning with #27). The run here also was consecutive #21-#33 (the
latter dated March-April 1954). Stray issues of Sparkler Comics and
Sparkle Comics also included some "Peanuts" reprints, although not on a
regular basis.
UFS got out of the comic book publishing business at the end of
1954, and some of its titles were picked up by St. John in 1955,
including Fritzi Ritz and Tip Top. Despite a noticeable gap of several
months, the numbering of both books continued consecutively. Thus, Tip
Top resumed with #189 (May 1955), and continued to include "Peanuts" as
a supporting feature during St. John’s entire run of this book, through
#210 (July 1957). "Peanuts" was only an occasional supporting feature in
St. John’s run of Fritzi Ritz, starting with #37 (July 1955) and
continuing through #55. Finally, at least one issue of Nancy -- #142
(March 1957) -- also featured Peanuts reprints.
Big changes came in late 1957, and not just because St. John
abandoned these books and turned them over to Dell Comics (Western
Publishing). After a delay of several months to half a year -- depending
on the title -- Dell revived the flagship St. John titles, again with
consecutive numbering. Thus, Tip Top #211 returned as a quarterly with a
cover date of Nov. 1957-Jan. 1958. Fritzi Ritz resumed with #56, dated
Dec. 1957-Feb. 1958.
Under Dell’s stewardship, Charlie Brown and the gang also became a
regular supporting feature in Nancy, beginning with #146 (Sept. 1957).
The biggest change, however, concerned the content in all three books.
When Dell took over, the covers promised "All brand-new stories" ... and
they meant it.
"Peanuts" fans spotted the change in Nancy #146, which boasted a
four-page story with a baseball theme, clearly produced by Schulz
himself (although unsigned); Jim confirms Sparky’s linework. But Schulz
quickly realized that producing four full pages of original art for
Nancy on a monthly basis, not to mention similar duties for the
quarterly Tip Top and Fritzi Ritz, would be more than he was willing to
handle. Then, too, he was only months away from debuting his own second
newspaper strip, "It’s Only a Game" (about which more below).
Schulz allowed Dell’s house art department to handle his characters
in Nancy #147, but was unhappy with the results. (No surprise; the art
is quite weak.) Schulz stepped in again for issue #148, but the workload
problem hadn’t changed. Wanting greater fidelity to his own style,
Schulz turned to Jim, who took over the reins with issue #149 and
continued through #168 (July 1959). Jim essentially became Schulz’s
employee and was paid $100 per week for this work; since he was making
only $80 per week at Art Instruction, this -- along with the even higher
paycheck he’d soon receive, for helping Schulz with "It’s Only a Game"
-- was a substantial raise.
As a ghosting assignment, the results are impressive. Charlie Brown
and Linus’ heads are notoriously difficult to reproduce in Schulz’s
signature style, but Jim came damn close. More to the point, the
characters are posed and conduct themselves in a way that’s absolutely
typical of their behavior in Sparky’s newspaper strip. Art purists may
have noticed that Jim wasn’t Schulz, but casual readers were unlikely to
have detected the difference.
The four-page story above is taken from Nancy #151, February 1958.
(Click on the pages to enlarge them.)
"He gave me carte blanche on writing them, and I felt like a
faithful uncle," Jim says, with no small amount of pride at his ability
to reproduce Charlie Brown and the gang.
Although Jim’s take on the "Peanuts" gang in Nancy #149 was the
first to reach fans, it was not the ghost artist’s debut crack at
Charlie Brown. Jim’s first completed "Peanuts" comic book adventure was
"The Trip," one of a quartet of eight-page stories (packaged with three
one-page stories) that eventually appeared as issue #878 (Feb. 1958) of
Dell’s Four Color Comics, an "umbrella title" that rotated various
stars; this issue, boasting a gorgeous signed Schulz cover, was the
first one devoted to "Peanuts."
Ever the imp, Jim inserted a personal reference into "The Trip."
The number on the dog license that Charlie Brown uses -- 891-68-14 -- to
justify his getting behind the wheel of a station wagon, was the
artist’s Navy serial number.
Jim also did the work in the Fritzi Ritz and Tip Top issues during
this time, and it’s important to note that he had a completely free rein
with these comic book stories, handling both art and writing chores.
Fritzi Ritz lasted only four issues under the Dell label, before
being discontinued after #59 (Sept.-Nov. 1958). "Peanuts" did not appear
in #56, but each of the remaining three issues included a new four-page
story by Jim. He also handled the work for Tip Top #211 through #215
(Nov. 1958-Jan. 1959). In Tip Top, Charlie Brown and his friends shared
covers with Nancy, Sluggo, and the Captain and the Kids. Although
unsigned, Schulz drew these "Peanuts" cover panels for issues 211-213,
and Jim handled 214 and 215.
Sasseville did the Peanuts art in these issues of Tip Top, #214 and #215.
(Click on the pages to enlarge them.)
All told, then, Jim drew the interior stories in 20 issues of
Nancy, three issues of Fritzi Ritz, and five issues of Tip Top, along
with Four Color #878. This relationship with Schulz and Dell Comics took
an unexpected turn when the two men parted unhappily, and Jim’s final
work for Dell was the long kite story in the second all-"Peanuts" issue
of Four Color Comics (#969, Feb. 1959), along with the inside front and
inside back cover one-pagers.
The completion of that particular issue became something of a
marathon art session. After announcing that he and Helga would be moving
to Berkeley, Jim took stock of the pending Dell workload, and discovered
that the deadline for the second all-Peanuts issue of Four Color Comics
was imminent. Jim promised to finish this before the move, but Sparky
suggested that the job would proceed faster if they worked on it
together. The two men thus divided the work between them, and began
early one morning with what turned into a lengthy session stretching
well into the evening. During that time, Jim completed the
aforementioned two one-page stories and one eight-page story, while
Sparky handled the remaining one-page story and THREE eight-page
stories.
"There’s no doubt who was the faster artist," Jim notes, with a
chuckle. "He certainly put me in my place!"
Jim still remembers that session as a euphoric rush ... but it
concluded on a gloomy note, when, resting in the happy afterglow of a
job well done, Schulz revealed the fate of "It’s Only a Game" (see
below).
In the aftermath, Schulz also stepped in and handled all the work
for Nancy #169 (August 1959). Clearly, this was a rush job, and Schulz
borrowed from himself The final panel of this four-page story is almost
identical to the final panel of the June 23, 1957, "Peanuts" Sunday
strip. The comic book storyline is an expansion of that Sunday strip,
and the aforementioned final panel in the comic book is signed by Schulz
... the only case where any interior comic book stories bear his
signature.
Because the split was far from amicable, Jim did not follow the
subsequent comic book adventures of Charlie Brown and his friends, in
Nancy and Tip Top. On close examination just a few weeks ago -- in many
cases, seeing this work for the first time -- Jim pointed to specific
poses, characteristics and lettering attributes ("Sparky always rounded
out the bottoms of his W’s") that leave him convinced that Schulz either
penciled and inked the next several issues of both Nancy and Tip Top, or
at least roughed in the panel layout, inked the primary characters --
particularly their heads -- and lettered the word balloons. This seems
likely; carefully examination of individual pages reveals an occasional
Snoopy or Lucy which, not matching the rest, clearly must have been
inked by somebody else.
But Dale Hale, Schulz’s new apprentice and ghost -- and another
associate from Art Instruction Schools -- caught on quickly, and the
artwork in both books retained its Schulz-like characteristics through
roughly late 1960 or early 1961. At this point, other hands clearly took
over -- possibly Tony Pocrnick, another Schulz associate from Art
Instruction -- and the "Peanuts" characters became ever-more distant
from the Schulz ideal until the final issues of Tip Top (#225, May-July
1961) and Nancy. (By then the latter had been retitled Nancy and Sluggo,
and its final five issues were released under the Gold Key imprint; the
book was discontinued with issue #192, October 1963.) The "Peanuts"
artwork in the last issues of both books is, in a word, dreadful.
A third all-"Peanuts" issue of Four Color Comics was produced
(#1015, August-October 1959), after which the characters got their own
book that began with issue #4 (Feb.-April 1960), by way of acknowledging
those first three appearances in Four Color Comics. This lasted through
#13 (May-July 1962), after which the book was discontinued. Each of
these issues features a signed Schulz cover, but other hands --
certainly Hale, at first -- handled all the interior artwork and writing
(which, as with the latter issues of Nancy and Tip Top, grew less
Schulz-like over time).
But what had happened, to sever the friendship between Schulz and
Jim, which stretched back a decade?
Bouncing back a year or so...
Although already quite popular and gaining fans -- and syndicate
clients -- all the time, in 1957 "Peanuts" was not yet the multimedia
sensation it was to become within another decade. Schulz must have had
some free time that needed filling, and therefore was comfortable with
the concept of pitching a second strip concept to United Features
Syndicate. The artist had lots of ideas about games near and dear to his
heart, including golf, tennis, baseball and bridge. No doubt realizing
that twice as much Schulz per week was a good thing, UFS jumped at the
chance, and the sports and recreation-themed "It’s Only a Game" was
born. For awhile, Schulz joined later stars such as Johnny Hart ("B.C."
and "The Wizard of Id"), Mell Lazarus ("Miss Peach" and "Momma") and
Jerry Scott ("Baby Blues" and "Zits"), with two newspaper strips running
simultaneously.
Each installment of "It’s Only a Game, by Charles M. Schulz,"
hearkening back to Schulz’s very early work on "Li’l Folks" in The St.
Paul Pioneer Press, was comprised of three separate single-panel gag
strips. The package was offered to clients in two different formats as
three single-panel strips per week, to run on Mondays, Wednesdays and
Fridays; or as a combined grouping of three that would appear in Sunday
comics sections. The combined Sunday grouping also had a bonus fourth
cartoon a tiny, captionless visual gag -- very much like the
intermarginal gags that Sergio Aragonés would pepper throughout future
issues of Mad Magazine -- that appeared to the right of the title and
Schulz’s byline. The subject matter of the Monday and Wednesday panels
varied from week to week, but the Friday installment always centered
around bridge, the then-popular card game that Schulz loved. (Further
evidence of this affection could be seen in "Peanuts," where the kids
routinely played the game in the early 1950s, and Woodstock and a
foursome of his bird buddies picked it up in the 1970s and beyond.)
Charles Schulz did this January 12, 1958, "It's Only a Game" panel himself. Note his signature within the art of the right-most panel.
During an October 6, 1957, interview with Schulz, the Chicago
Tribune proudly boasted that it would be one of the flagship newspapers
to carry this new feature. The Tribune selected the weekly option, and
ran "It’s Only a Game" in its Sunday magazine. The debut installment
appeared November 3, 1957, and immediately set the tone for what would
follow, with panels devoted to boxing, golf and bridge. The middle panel
is a hoot, with a middle-aged duffer -- one easily can imagine Charlie
Brown in his 40s -- lamenting a putt that has left his ball perched at
the edge of the cup (but not in), and saying, "I think I’m going to
cry."
Subsequent installments covered checkers, bowling, curling (!),
table tennis, croquet, billiards, ice fishing, darts and even camping.
But as 1957 turned into 1958, something must have changed. Perhaps
Schulz had underestimated the amount of time involved with producing a
second weekly newspaper strip; maybe he also was spending more time than
expected overseeing the new "Peanuts" content in the Dell comic books.
Or, more likely, the "Peanuts" empire as a whole was occupying more of
his time; 1958 saw the production of the first "Peanuts" toys -- plastic
dolls of the major characters, produced by Hungerford -- and of course
this was just the tip of an approaching iceberg.
Whatever the reason, Schulz decided to hand over the lion’s share
of the artistic chores to Jim. Schulz’s solo involvement with "It’s Only
a Game" continued through the January 12, 1958, installment; this is the
last one to bear his signature on one of the cartoon panels. (Schulz’s
name continued to run alone in the masthead, however, making Jim a true
ghost.) As of January 19, 1958, Jim -- often working from hastily
penciled sketches and captions supplied by Schulz -- did all the
newspaper strip’s finished art and lettering.
Sasseville did this January 26, 1958, "It's Only a Game" panel himself. Note that Schulz's signature is nowhere to be seen within the art.
Jim vividly remembers this transition date, because just one week later,
with his second time at bat with the solo art chores, he was paid a
singular honor. That week’s Monday panel, a bowling strip, featured
three league players welcoming a fourth, apparently a little tardy, with
the exclamation of, "Three cheers, gang! Our number one man has
arrived!" A loyal reader sent UFS a black-and-white photo of himself
with three friends, staged to look precisely like the four figures in
Jim’s illustration. The "camera angle" was identical, along with
clothing, body position, and everything else in the frame. The
resemblance even extended to the men themselves, who had body shapes and
hairstyles eerily similar to those found in the panel art.
Jim still has the photo.
Sasseville received this photo recreation of his "It's Only a Game" gag from a fan. Note the date stamp at the top of the photo.
The degree to which Jim successfully imitated Schulz’s linework can
be seen by the fact that the transition was seamless; no casual reader
could have discerned that the hand on the inker’s pen had changed.
During the remainder of 1958, the two men continued to work in the same
fashion, Jim often finishing Schulz’s rough concepts, but also
contributing many of his own original ideas. He also inserted the
occasional personal reference; the boat from which a husband and wife
fish, in one of the June 29, 1958, panels, is the Helga, named after
Jim’s wife.
But Jim remembers that he never came up with any of the concepts
for Friday’s bridge panels, for the simple reason that he didn’t know
the game.
Although he labored in anonymity, Jim was well compensated
financially, and he still speaks appreciatively of Sparky’s generosity.
Schulz had negotiated for 50% of the strip’s income, the other half
going to UFS. This 50% amounted to slightly more than $500 per week;
when Jim came on board, Schulz generously gave half of HIS half to his
new partner, and so Jim brought home $250 per week (after expenses) for
his efforts ... quite a lot of money in 1958.
The two men were living in Minneapolis when this collaboration
began; after the first five months, in May 1958, Jim and his wife
followed the Schulz family to Northern California. Lacking a place to
stay in Sebastopol -- not to mention furniture and other amenities --
the Sassevilles first spent a couple of months a bit south, in Corta
Madera. "For two or three weeks, I drew the comic book stuff and ‘It’s
Only a Game’ on a portable drawing board. But I stayed in touch with
Sparky on the phone, and he supplied the ideas for ‘It’s Only a Game.’ "
The Sassevilles then found a home in Sebastopol. Between "It’s Only
a Game" and the work he also was doing for the "Peanuts" strips in the
Dell comic books, Jim was quite gainfully employed by his new partner
and boss.
Unfortunately, it was not to last.
"It’s Only a Game" began with 30 client newspapers; nearly a year
later, it had ... 30 client newspapers.
(A complete client list has been lost to the mists of time, although
it is known that the feature was carried by The Boston Globe, the Detroit
Free Press, The Chicago Tribune, The Minneapolis Tribune, the San Francisco
Chronicle and The Baltimore Sun.)
The strip never took off, despite strong support from fans such as
bridge expert Charles Goren (who wrote a couple of letters), and even
Schulz’s name didn’t seem to make much of a difference.
But we also can assume that the proud and perfectionist-minded
Schulz -- who in later years, as mentioned above, often made a point of
describing how in "Peanuts" he penciled and inked every line, and
lettered every word balloon -- probably was bothered by the fact that he
wasn’t similarly in sole control of "It’s Only a Game." To be sure, he
was INVOLVED, but he wasn’t actually drawing what appeared in those 30
client newspapers.
"He didn’t like his name being used on somebody else’s work," Jim
recalls, "and I don’t blame him for that."
That, coupled with moribund sales and some tension with the head
UFS salesman to whom Schulz initially had pitched the idea, eventually
prompted an astonishing decision In late 1958, just 12 months into a
solid five-year contract, Schulz made it plain to UFS that he wished to
discontinue "It’s Only a Game." Perhaps recognizing that the strip
wasn’t performing as hoped, UFS agreed.
Schulz did not consult Jim before taking this step; indeed, the
news came as a complete shock to Schulz’s ghost, who’d been very happy
with his work, and the strip, and the $250 per week.
Schulz even tried to sugar-coat the news "You’re off the hook,"
Jim recalls his employer saying (as if this were a GOOD thing), at the
end of that euphoric day when they finished work on the second
all-Peanuts issue of Dell’s Four Color Comics. Jim had just assured
Sparky that his pending move to Berkeley would not affect his ability to
work on "It’s Only a Game," and now the rug had been pulled out from
under him.
The fallout was immediate; it certainly was the final straw for
Helga, who already had been dissatisfied with their home in Sebastopol
-- hence the move to Berkeley -- and also was unhappy about the friction
that existed between her and Joyce, Schulz’s first wife. Helga had
endured Nazi Germany, survived the entire war -- in and out of work
camps -- and had lost her father at Dachau; she was not a woman to keep
opinions to herself.
"I realized I was working on a flawed product, which the creator
and marketer wanted nothing more to do with. Still, I had held out the
hope that maybe Sparky might offer the entire feature to me, although I
realized that there’d be problems with the syndicate," Jim admits, a
touch of wistfulness still clouding the memory after more than 40 years.
"They should have been pretty familiar with my work by then."
It didn’t happen. By the time the final installment of "It’s Only a
Game" appeared, on January 11, 1959 -- the two always had worked six
weeks ahead -- Jim and Schulz had severed all relations, professional
and personal. This also included Jim’s ghosting work on the Dell comic
books. The split was permanent, and the two men never reconciled.
Although "It’s Only a Game" ran for 63 consecutive weeks, it
quickly became a fading memory -- and then an overlooked footnote -- in
Schulz’s career. He rarely mentioned it during later interviews, and
then only obliquely, citing neither date specifics nor his collaboration
with Jim.
"We were the best of friends at first," Jim recalls ruefully. He
happily remembers attending the 1951 National Cartoonists Convention
with Sparky, and also another time when they both went to visit and swap
stories with a fellow artist, Robert M. Brinkerhoff, who lived in
Minneapolis and was known for a newspaper strip called "Little Mary
Mix-Up." Brinkerhoff, in turn -- like many other cartoonists at that
time -- greatly admired J.R. Williams (creator of "Out Our Way"), whom
he once described as "the greatest cowboy ever to walk the streets of
New York." Brinkerhoff related how he had wheedled, begged and finally
finagled an invitation to Williams’ ranch in Montana. Although only
interested in seeing the fabulous studio that he assumed his idol must
have on so massive a spread, Brinkerhoff first had to put up with being
shown all the livestock and the other attractions of a working ranch. As
the visit stretched on, Brinkerhoff finally couldn’t stand it any longer
and demanded to see where Williams did his work.
With a resigned sigh (as Jim recalls Brinkerhoff describing this
incident), Williams walked over to his wife’s sewing machine, took off
the cover, and flipped it over ... and that was it The great J.R.
Williams did all his drawing on the cover of his wife’s sewing machine.
As others have observed, there’s never any reason to embrace
technology or an environment any fancier than that required to get the
job done.
Cartoonists love to talk shop, and Jim’s no different; merely
relating this little tale brings a sparkle into his eyes. And, to this
day, he doesn’t really understand what happened between him and Schulz.
"I feel kind of weird about all this. Sparky obviously wanted me to
succeed in the early days, and even was willing to collaborate with me
on one of my own projects (one of the many variations of "Joe Cipher,"
discussed below). But then when he had a chance to really help me out,
he didn’t make any effort whatsoever ... and left me in rather dire
straits."
Such feelings notwithstanding, all these years later Jim is firm on
one point "Charles M. Schulz was the greatest comic strip artist ever."
And although he certainly couldn’t have known it at the time, Jim
never again would earn his living as a cartoonist.
Before, during and after his working association with Schulz, Jim
played around with many of his own ideas.
If persistence counts for anything, he deserves considerable credit
for his ongoing efforts to sell "Joe Cipher" ("a character kinda based
on me"), a daily strip that underwent quite a few transmutations during
the decade-plus that he tried to place it with a syndicate.
The character first appeared in a sample series of daily strips Jim
produced in late 1949. The strip’s gentle humor is faintly reminiscent
of "Gasoline Alley" and other character-driven work of the era; the
title character is introduced driving an old jalopy that obligingly runs
out of gas at a filling station. The silver-tongued Joe, lacking any
money, eventually impresses the station owner into offering him a job;
Joe celebrates by stepping into a nearby diner for lunch, where he’s
immediately smitten by the young woman behind the counter, and...
...and that’s where the presentation panels concluded.
Perhaps feeling that the strip lacked dramatic impact, a few years
later -- while still at AIS -- Jim tried again, shifting the action to a
tiny island in the middle of the ocean, where the shipwrecked Joe is
joined by an attractive young woman named Ginny, survivor of a second
sea-going calamity. (What are the odds?) Although their relationship is
mildly prickly for the first few days, Ginny eventually wishes aloud
that they could be rescued, so that she can go on a "proper date" with
Joe, and perhaps even kiss him when the evening concludes. Once again,
the story cut off abruptly, as Jim produced just two weeks’ worth of
strips enough to (hopefully) interest a buyer.
Sasseville tried several times to place a comic strip starring Joe Cipher, the pleasant-looking chap
featured in these examples. The two left-most strips are taken from the first run Sasseville designed on his own;
the two right-most strips, starring the same character but
in a different setting, are from Sasseville's third
test run; Charles Schulz contributed story input on these.
(Click on the image to see an enlarged version.)
After getting back from his return hitch in the Navy, Jim
went back to work on Joe Cipher and got a nibble from an
unexpected quarter: Something about this particular setting
touched Schulz, who suggested they collaborate on yet
a third incarnation of "Joe Cipher." (At the time, both men still were
unmarried, and it’s not hard to see a little male fantasy
wish-fulfillment at work.) With narrative input from Schulz and Jim
handling the art chores, the scene shifted again, this time to a
typically romantic South Seas setting, on an island large enough to
support a population of curvaceous young cuties and at least one
villain. Joe and Ginny remained the central focus, but this time the
former saw genuine action, on the receiving end of the villain’s fists.
Schulz and Jim took this newest version of "Joe Cipher" to United
Features Syndicate in spring of 1954; it was turned down flat. The
trip to New York wasn't a complete waste, though, because Sasseville
and Schulz caught a couple of plays: a T.S. Elliot drama called
Confidential Clerk, and another called The King of
Hearts, which starred Jackie Cooper as (what are the odds?)
a cartoonist!
Sasseville also remembers going from suite to suite in New
York's Waldorf hotel during this trip, visiting one cartoonist
after another; meeting Al Capp was a high point. But at least
part of the reason for the trip -- the newest Joe Cipher -- proved
unsellable, and Schulz bowed out at that point.
When Jim finally returned to "Joe Cipher," the 1950s were almost
over. Jim’s association with "Peanuts" and "It’s Only a Game" had
concluded, so the writer/artist returned to his favorite unsold
property. Jim recast his hero in yet another new setting, this time a
business office populated by characters clearly derived from his days at
Art Instruction. Although the sample panels display even cleaner, more
attractive line work -- a sure sign of his growing comfort as an artist
-- Jim had no better luck this time around.
Still refusing to abandon hope, Jim tried one more time In early
1960, after having moved to Berkeley, he once again changed the setting
completely, and turned Joe Cipher into "Sir Joe." This Arthurian-based
concept focused on genuinely whimsical gags involving heavy armor,
maidens in distress, and fire-breathing dragons. Jim’s dragons are
particularly funny, and this newest reboot seems ripe with
possibilities; it’s not at all hard to envision a daily strip evolving
from these samples.
Alas, syndicates once again failed to see any potential, and "Joe
Cipher" was put into Jim’s trunk as no more than another engaging
footnote in the artist’s collection of rejection slips.
Jim didn’t confine his efforts to "Joe Cipher"; the writer/artist
had no shortage of ideas, quite a few of which also wound up as
submission concepts. "Aunty Climax," produced in early 1957 -- just
prior to Jim’s ghost work for Dell comics -- was a single-panel gag
strip that starred a feisty little old lady who was far sharper than
most people assumed. She was based on Louise Cassidy, an AIS colleague
who also was the landlady for the building where Jim briefly lived with
Charles Cuddy. Jim produced a few dozen "Aunty Climax" panels, all of
which are vastly superior -- both in terms of writing and artwork -- to
many of the single-panel cartoons cluttering today’s newspapers.
"Confessions of a French Poodle" was a 1959 concept that didn’t
emerge much further than a few finished panels and lots of pencil
sketches; Jim good-naturedly admits that the idea went nowhere, and so
he abandoned it. That may have been shrewd market analysis, as the
medium never has lacked for dog-oriented material. Even so, French
poodles are funny in their own right, and Jim’s concept sketches are a
hoot.
When not working on Peanuts-related material, Sasseville tried to sell many of his own strip ideas
to a syndicate. From left to right, these examples are "Aunty Climax," "Friends and Foes," "Alpha-Betty" and "Happy Birthday."
(Click on the image to see an enlarged version.)
"Friends and Foes," another single-panel tryout, also emerged from
Jim’s pen in 1959. A little later, shortly after he started putting food
on the table with a "real job" -- and perhaps motivated by the explosion
of children’s television shows, which eventually led to "Sesame Street"
and everything that followed -- Jim tried a kid-oriented educational
strip called "Alpha-Betty," which starred a little girl who finds
herself in an other-worldly land populated by men and women shaped like
letters of the alphabet. The personalities of these individuals were
defined by their appearance; curved female letters, for example, were
far more sultry that straight female letters. The strip has a lovely
"Alice in Wonderland" quality, although the concept may have seemed
limiting.
Jim later played with the medium in "Blackboard," a daily strip
designed to be white-on-black, to imitate chalk on a classroom
blackboard. The stars were Dick, Jane and their TeacheR; although not as
overly educational as "Alpha-Betty," this strip also was aimed at young
audiences.
Jim’s final attempt at syndication was produced in the early 1970s,
after he first went into research hibernation, jotting down enough
celebrity birthdays to fill every day of a calendar year. The resulting
single-panel strips were a precursor to the "On this day in history..."
informational nuggets that have become so ubiquitous The panel for
March 28, for example, illustrated and revealed a few choice facts about
orchestra leader Paul Whiteman. March 29 was devoted to President John
Tyler, while Francisco Goya was featured on March 30.
Sadly, this fared no better with syndicators than any of the
others. "Joe Cipher," "Aunty Climax," "Confessions of a French Poodle,"
"Friends and Foes," "Alpha-Betty," "Blackboard" and "Birthdays" exist only
in Jim’s carefully preserved office files. More’s the pity, because even
the weakest of these strips displays a Puckish wit and clean, attractive
line work too often absent from many of the rushed, imitative strips
that generate little more than reader apathy these days.
Following the dust-up with Schulz and the move to Berkeley, Helga
-- who was delighted by the more rarefied atmosphere of a university
community -- became the family bread-winner. She took a job with a
German importer/exporter and commuted daily across the Bay Bridge.
Eventually succumbing to the need for steady employment, in April
1960 Jim took a job as a graphic designer with Varian, one of the
leading radar companies, located in California’s greater San Francisco
Bay Area. The fit proved comfortable, and he remained with the company
until he retired in 1990.
But the career shift wasn’t immediate; Jim first spent most of 1959
working up his own aforementioned comic strip proposals, and
occasionally sold individual gag cartoons to magazines. But his New
York-based agent took 35% of those one-shots.
"That’s when I started with Varian," Jim recalls, with a chuckle.
"I knew I’d never make it as a gag cartoonist."
Be that as it may, Jim never stopped his cartooning efforts; while
at Varian, he became famous for the birthday cards that he drew for
fellow employees.
Helga, meanwhile, got a job at Stanford, which prompted another
move; the couple then purchased their first home in 1960, in Mountain
View.
Three years later, they moved for what would be the last time. Jim
and his wife paid $28,000 for the house that remains his home to this
day. Just last year the retired artist was offered a cool million bucks
-- in cash -- by a dot-commer who wanted to develop the property. Still
loyal to the memories of his wife, with which the house is filled, Jim
politely declined. Helga died in 1995; he clearly still misses her.
Today, Parkinson’s Disease and the recent stroke have conspired to
deliver the ultimate nightmare Jim no longer can hold a pen well enough
to draw. ("I always marveled at Sparky’s ability to incorporate his
shaking hand into his line work.") But his mind and memory remain
acutely sharp, and his Puckish sense of humor is unbowed. He speaks with
clarity and certainty of his years at Art Instruction School, and with
Schulz, and of his never-successful efforts to market his own original
material.
Jim remains philosophical about his life, and in fact composed
another of his verses to express such feelings
I’m all for equal measures
Losses should be matched by gain;
And since I’ve missed life’s pleasures,
I’ll just double up with pain!
Definitely too harsh, but then we’re always hardest on ourselves.
Jim Sasseville deserves far more than the obscurity into which he has
settled; for a time, he was allied with the man who would become the
world’s most successful cartoonist, and for a time he helped chaperone
the faithfully rendered adventures of Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Linus, Lucy
and the rest ... no small feat.
And I’m particularly transfixed by a remark Jim made during one of
our later phone calls "I don’t know how one should behave, in a
situation like this," he said, referring to our ongoing conversations,
"but it’s like I’ve been resurrected."
Perhaps this article will kick-start our long-overdue obligation to
sing his praises.
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All PEANUTS characters pictured are copyrighted by United Feature Syndicate, Inc. They are used here with permission. They may not be reproduced by any means in any form.
Sasseville and Schulz became good friends ("We had a similar sense
of humor"), and Sparky encouraged Jim to pursue comic strips. Jim even
got his hair cut more than once in Schulz’s father’s barbershop.
"Sparky bet me, in late 1949, that I’d sell a comic strip to a
syndicate before he would," Jim remembers, with a smile. "As it turned
out, I won that bet hands-down."
In between grading assignments, Jim and his fellow employees
produced thousands upon thousands of quickly penciled drawings on
4-by-7-inch sketchpads. In this respect, these artists were no different
than their counterparts at Disney and Warner Brothers animation studios,
who also filled the minutes between "real work" with impressive little
doodles and caricatures of each other, all of which are the envy of
collectors today (when they surface in the first place). Jim still has
stacks and stacks of such impromptu efforts, including a few caricatures
of Schulz and other AIS friends, and several pages of "Peanuts"
character roughs. (Even then, he must have been planning ahead...) Most
are plain pencil on paper, but some are blue-line; in either case, they
reveal one of Jim’s artistic strengths an ability to capture a person’s
eyes with remarkably lifelike clarity.
(Unfortunately, he did not save his collection of Schulz originals.
"I gave away all my junk foolishly, many years ago ... somebody conned
me out of almost all my original Schulz drawings.")
Jim never lost his art-school fascination with centaurs and nudes,
and many of his sketchpad pages are filled with fetchingly unclad
cuties. Hiring and drawing undraped models was fairly common among Jim
and his colleagues, although not quite all of his colleagues "I can’t
remember Sparky taking any part in that whatsoever."
Such figure studies also sparked Jim’s impish literary talents,
honed by a life-long fascination with poetry (T.S. Eliot’s "Distracted
from distraction by distraction" remains a personal mantra).
Jim still recalls many of his favorite invented verses, such as
this one, which would have been loved by Ogden Nash
A centaur met a mermaid, as he trotted by the sea;
She noticed not his heavy hooves, nor he her single knee,
As they lingered there, expelling time with heart-inspired chatter
The direction of their love so strong ... bottoms didn’t matter!
Jim’s tenure at Art Instruction was interrupted in mid 1952, when
Uncle Sam tapped his shoulder again. The Korean War was underway, and
those who previously had served less than a full year were being
recalled ... so those two days shy of a year forced a second hitch that
lasted through 1954.
"I was sent to the Philippines," Jim notes dryly, thinking back to
all the Lesson No. 5 submissions that he had graded, "so I certainly saw
the Orient."
This second 14-month hitch of active duty certainly wasn’t wasted,
in terms of Jim’s artistic skills; he worked for an Irish Catholic
chaplain and did a weekly mimeographed newspaper for U.S. Naval Mobile
Construction Battalion 9 ("I was drawing cartoons up the gazoo"). The
unit’s 1952-53 Cruise Book features a great full-page Jim illustration
on Page 33; titled "Cubi Point, P.I.," it shows five sailors watching a
dog face off with a monkey.
Jim’s relationship with Father John James Kileen never was dull, in
part because the artist was a lapsed Catholic.
"He worked the hell out of me, but then he’d always invite me into
his quarters for a nip, and then try to entice me back into the fold."
After his second stint in the Navy concluded, Jim returned to
civilian life (this time for good), and to Art Instruction Schools,
where he and Schulz picked up where they’d left off. In between grading
assignments and sketching his office buddies, Jim placed a few gag
cartoons in magazines, such as a droll three-panel sequence of a guy
having trouble with a jack, while attempting to fix a flat tire, which
appeared on Page 45 of the August 1957 issue of Gent, a
long-discontinued men’s magazine.
Jim met Helga, his future wife, as a result of his Navy friendship
with Charles Cuddy. She had immigrated to the United States when
sponsored by a South Dakota politician and his family ("mostly for slave
labor," Jim perceptively remarks); Helga was unfamiliar with the farm
environment, and decamped for Minneapolis as soon as she could. She
entered the University of Minnesota with a vengeance; her half-Jewish
heritage had kept her out of institutions of higher learning in her
native Germany.
She also enrolled in art school and wound up in one class being
taught by Dave Ratner, a colleague and friend with whom Jim went to art
school; she also landed in some of the same classes as Cuddy, who for a
time shared a boarding house attic ("a garret") with Jim. Since this
colony of Minneapolis artists wasn’t all that large, it was inevitable
that Jim and Helga would meet. ("Destiny," he happily acknowledges.)
They married in 1956.
"I’d just bought a brand-new Mercury," Jim remembers, with a
chuckle, "and I had to get rid of it when we got married, because Helga
couldn’t drive a stick-shift."
Within a few short months, Sasseville’s life turned around again,
when he became the best of Schulz’s never-credited "Peanuts" ghosts.
Whenever asked, Charles Schulz would repeat the statement that
became ubiquitous Unlike those involved with other "assembly-line"
newspaper comic strips, he remained the only person whose hands touched
the adventures of Charlie Brown and the gang. Schulz wrote, drew, inked
and lettered his strip, and did so during the entire run October 2,
1950, to February 13, 2000. Schulz always insisted that the strip would
cease production when he finally called it quits, a wish that his family
has honored. Unlike other classic strips that have been revived, often
by lesser talents, "Peanuts" will forevermore remain solely a Schulz
legacy.
Except ... that’s not entirely true.
During the 1950s and early ’60s, Charlie Brown and his friends
didn’t just appear in newspaper strips; they also were a popular feature
of comic books ... a medium usually dominated by the likes of Superman
and Captain America, but one that included plenty of room for lighter
fare.
And -- surprise, surprise! -- when the "Peanuts" comic book
appearances stopped being newspaper reprints and "graduated" into
original features in 1957, sharp-eyed fans probably could discern that
somebody other than Sparky Schulz was doing the artwork.
To keep the chronology consistent, let’s turn back the clock to
1952, when "Peanuts" simultaneously debuted as a supporting feature in
two comic books -- the March-April issues of Tip Top Comics (#173) and
United Comics (#21) -- both published by United Feature Syndicate, which
routinely recycled many of its newspaper features in these and other
comic books. The "Peanuts" supporting feature moved into a third book,
Tip Topper, beginning with #17 (June-July 1952); it remained there until
the book was discontinued after #28 (April-May 1954). Shortly before
this final issue of Tip Topper, "Peanuts" returned to Tip Top as a
supporting feature, beginning with #184 (Jan.-Feb. 1954) and continuing
through #188 (Sept.-Oct. 1954). Several of these later issues feature
gorgeous Peanuts covers, which -- although not signed -- appear to be by
Schulz.
"Peanuts" also appeared, during this same period, as a back-up
feature in most issues of United Comics, later retitled Fritzi Ritz
(beginning with #27). The run here also was consecutive #21-#33 (the
latter dated March-April 1954). Stray issues of Sparkler Comics and
Sparkle Comics also included some "Peanuts" reprints, although not on a
regular basis.
UFS got out of the comic book publishing business at the end of
1954, and some of its titles were picked up by St. John in 1955,
including Fritzi Ritz and Tip Top. Despite a noticeable gap of several
months, the numbering of both books continued consecutively. Thus, Tip
Top resumed with #189 (May 1955), and continued to include "Peanuts" as
a supporting feature during St. John’s entire run of this book, through
#210 (July 1957). "Peanuts" was only an occasional supporting feature in
St. John’s run of Fritzi Ritz, starting with #37 (July 1955) and
continuing through #55. Finally, at least one issue of Nancy -- #142
(March 1957) -- also featured Peanuts reprints.
Big changes came in late 1957, and not just because St. John
abandoned these books and turned them over to Dell Comics (Western
Publishing). After a delay of several months to half a year -- depending
on the title -- Dell revived the flagship St. John titles, again with
consecutive numbering. Thus, Tip Top #211 returned as a quarterly with a
cover date of Nov. 1957-Jan. 1958. Fritzi Ritz resumed with #56, dated
Dec. 1957-Feb. 1958.
Under Dell’s stewardship, Charlie Brown and the gang also became a
regular supporting feature in Nancy, beginning with #146 (Sept. 1957).
The biggest change, however, concerned the content in all three books.
When Dell took over, the covers promised "All brand-new stories" ... and
they meant it.
"Peanuts" fans spotted the change in Nancy #146, which boasted a
four-page story with a baseball theme, clearly produced by Schulz
himself (although unsigned); Jim confirms Sparky’s linework. But Schulz
quickly realized that producing four full pages of original art for
Nancy on a monthly basis, not to mention similar duties for the
quarterly Tip Top and Fritzi Ritz, would be more than he was willing to
handle. Then, too, he was only months away from debuting his own second
newspaper strip, "It’s Only a Game" (about which more below).
Schulz allowed Dell’s house art department to handle his characters
in Nancy #147, but was unhappy with the results. (No surprise; the art
is quite weak.) Schulz stepped in again for issue #148, but the workload
problem hadn’t changed. Wanting greater fidelity to his own style,
Schulz turned to Jim, who took over the reins with issue #149 and
continued through #168 (July 1959). Jim essentially became Schulz’s
employee and was paid $100 per week for this work; since he was making
only $80 per week at Art Instruction, this -- along with the even higher
paycheck he’d soon receive, for helping Schulz with "It’s Only a Game"
-- was a substantial raise.
As a ghosting assignment, the results are impressive. Charlie Brown
and Linus’ heads are notoriously difficult to reproduce in Schulz’s
signature style, but Jim came damn close. More to the point, the
characters are posed and conduct themselves in a way that’s absolutely
typical of their behavior in Sparky’s newspaper strip. Art purists may
have noticed that Jim wasn’t Schulz, but casual readers were unlikely to
have detected the difference.
The four-page story above is taken from Nancy #151, February 1958.
(Click on the pages to enlarge them.)
"He gave me carte blanche on writing them, and I felt like a
faithful uncle," Jim says, with no small amount of pride at his ability
to reproduce Charlie Brown and the gang.
Although Jim’s take on the "Peanuts" gang in Nancy #149 was the
first to reach fans, it was not the ghost artist’s debut crack at
Charlie Brown. Jim’s first completed "Peanuts" comic book adventure was
"The Trip," one of a quartet of eight-page stories (packaged with three
one-page stories) that eventually appeared as issue #878 (Feb. 1958) of
Dell’s Four Color Comics, an "umbrella title" that rotated various
stars; this issue, boasting a gorgeous signed Schulz cover, was the
first one devoted to "Peanuts."
Ever the imp, Jim inserted a personal reference into "The Trip."
The number on the dog license that Charlie Brown uses -- 891-68-14 -- to
justify his getting behind the wheel of a station wagon, was the
artist’s Navy serial number.
Jim also did the work in the Fritzi Ritz and Tip Top issues during
this time, and it’s important to note that he had a completely free rein
with these comic book stories, handling both art and writing chores.
Fritzi Ritz lasted only four issues under the Dell label, before
being discontinued after #59 (Sept.-Nov. 1958). "Peanuts" did not appear
in #56, but each of the remaining three issues included a new four-page
story by Jim. He also handled the work for Tip Top #211 through #215
(Nov. 1958-Jan. 1959). In Tip Top, Charlie Brown and his friends shared
covers with Nancy, Sluggo, and the Captain and the Kids. Although
unsigned, Schulz drew these "Peanuts" cover panels for issues 211-213,
and Jim handled 214 and 215.
Sasseville did the Peanuts art in these issues of Tip Top, #214 and #215.
(Click on the pages to enlarge them.)
All told, then, Jim drew the interior stories in 20 issues of
Nancy, three issues of Fritzi Ritz, and five issues of Tip Top, along
with Four Color #878. This relationship with Schulz and Dell Comics took
an unexpected turn when the two men parted unhappily, and Jim’s final
work for Dell was the long kite story in the second all-"Peanuts" issue
of Four Color Comics (#969, Feb. 1959), along with the inside front and
inside back cover one-pagers.
The completion of that particular issue became something of a
marathon art session. After announcing that he and Helga would be moving
to Berkeley, Jim took stock of the pending Dell workload, and discovered
that the deadline for the second all-Peanuts issue of Four Color Comics
was imminent. Jim promised to finish this before the move, but Sparky
suggested that the job would proceed faster if they worked on it
together. The two men thus divided the work between them, and began
early one morning with what turned into a lengthy session stretching
well into the evening. During that time, Jim completed the
aforementioned two one-page stories and one eight-page story, while
Sparky handled the remaining one-page story and THREE eight-page
stories.
"There’s no doubt who was the faster artist," Jim notes, with a
chuckle. "He certainly put me in my place!"
Jim still remembers that session as a euphoric rush ... but it
concluded on a gloomy note, when, resting in the happy afterglow of a
job well done, Schulz revealed the fate of "It’s Only a Game" (see
below).
In the aftermath, Schulz also stepped in and handled all the work
for Nancy #169 (August 1959). Clearly, this was a rush job, and Schulz
borrowed from himself The final panel of this four-page story is almost
identical to the final panel of the June 23, 1957, "Peanuts" Sunday
strip. The comic book storyline is an expansion of that Sunday strip,
and the aforementioned final panel in the comic book is signed by Schulz
... the only case where any interior comic book stories bear his
signature.
Because the split was far from amicable, Jim did not follow the
subsequent comic book adventures of Charlie Brown and his friends, in
Nancy and Tip Top. On close examination just a few weeks ago -- in many
cases, seeing this work for the first time -- Jim pointed to specific
poses, characteristics and lettering attributes ("Sparky always rounded
out the bottoms of his W’s") that leave him convinced that Schulz either
penciled and inked the next several issues of both Nancy and Tip Top, or
at least roughed in the panel layout, inked the primary characters --
particularly their heads -- and lettered the word balloons. This seems
likely; carefully examination of individual pages reveals an occasional
Snoopy or Lucy which, not matching the rest, clearly must have been
inked by somebody else.
But Dale Hale, Schulz’s new apprentice and ghost -- and another
associate from Art Instruction Schools -- caught on quickly, and the
artwork in both books retained its Schulz-like characteristics through
roughly late 1960 or early 1961. At this point, other hands clearly took
over -- possibly Tony Pocrnick, another Schulz associate from Art
Instruction -- and the "Peanuts" characters became ever-more distant
from the Schulz ideal until the final issues of Tip Top (#225, May-July
1961) and Nancy. (By then the latter had been retitled Nancy and Sluggo,
and its final five issues were released under the Gold Key imprint; the
book was discontinued with issue #192, October 1963.) The "Peanuts"
artwork in the last issues of both books is, in a word, dreadful.
A third all-"Peanuts" issue of Four Color Comics was produced
(#1015, August-October 1959), after which the characters got their own
book that began with issue #4 (Feb.-April 1960), by way of acknowledging
those first three appearances in Four Color Comics. This lasted through
#13 (May-July 1962), after which the book was discontinued. Each of
these issues features a signed Schulz cover, but other hands --
certainly Hale, at first -- handled all the interior artwork and writing
(which, as with the latter issues of Nancy and Tip Top, grew less
Schulz-like over time).
But what had happened, to sever the friendship between Schulz and
Jim, which stretched back a decade?
Bouncing back a year or so...
Although already quite popular and gaining fans -- and syndicate
clients -- all the time, in 1957 "Peanuts" was not yet the multimedia
sensation it was to become within another decade. Schulz must have had
some free time that needed filling, and therefore was comfortable with
the concept of pitching a second strip concept to United Features
Syndicate. The artist had lots of ideas about games near and dear to his
heart, including golf, tennis, baseball and bridge. No doubt realizing
that twice as much Schulz per week was a good thing, UFS jumped at the
chance, and the sports and recreation-themed "It’s Only a Game" was
born. For awhile, Schulz joined later stars such as Johnny Hart ("B.C."
and "The Wizard of Id"), Mell Lazarus ("Miss Peach" and "Momma") and
Jerry Scott ("Baby Blues" and "Zits"), with two newspaper strips running
simultaneously.
Each installment of "It’s Only a Game, by Charles M. Schulz,"
hearkening back to Schulz’s very early work on "Li’l Folks" in The St.
Paul Pioneer Press, was comprised of three separate single-panel gag
strips. The package was offered to clients in two different formats as
three single-panel strips per week, to run on Mondays, Wednesdays and
Fridays; or as a combined grouping of three that would appear in Sunday
comics sections. The combined Sunday grouping also had a bonus fourth
cartoon a tiny, captionless visual gag -- very much like the
intermarginal gags that Sergio Aragonés would pepper throughout future
issues of Mad Magazine -- that appeared to the right of the title and
Schulz’s byline. The subject matter of the Monday and Wednesday panels
varied from week to week, but the Friday installment always centered
around bridge, the then-popular card game that Schulz loved. (Further
evidence of this affection could be seen in "Peanuts," where the kids
routinely played the game in the early 1950s, and Woodstock and a
foursome of his bird buddies picked it up in the 1970s and beyond.)
Charles Schulz did this January 12, 1958, "It's Only a Game" panel himself. Note his signature within the art of the right-most panel.
During an October 6, 1957, interview with Schulz, the Chicago
Tribune proudly boasted that it would be one of the flagship newspapers
to carry this new feature. The Tribune selected the weekly option, and
ran "It’s Only a Game" in its Sunday magazine. The debut installment
appeared November 3, 1957, and immediately set the tone for what would
follow, with panels devoted to boxing, golf and bridge. The middle panel
is a hoot, with a middle-aged duffer -- one easily can imagine Charlie
Brown in his 40s -- lamenting a putt that has left his ball perched at
the edge of the cup (but not in), and saying, "I think I’m going to
cry."
Subsequent installments covered checkers, bowling, curling (!),
table tennis, croquet, billiards, ice fishing, darts and even camping.
But as 1957 turned into 1958, something must have changed. Perhaps
Schulz had underestimated the amount of time involved with producing a
second weekly newspaper strip; maybe he also was spending more time than
expected overseeing the new "Peanuts" content in the Dell comic books.
Or, more likely, the "Peanuts" empire as a whole was occupying more of
his time; 1958 saw the production of the first "Peanuts" toys -- plastic
dolls of the major characters, produced by Hungerford -- and of course
this was just the tip of an approaching iceberg.
Whatever the reason, Schulz decided to hand over the lion’s share
of the artistic chores to Jim. Schulz’s solo involvement with "It’s Only
a Game" continued through the January 12, 1958, installment; this is the
last one to bear his signature on one of the cartoon panels. (Schulz’s
name continued to run alone in the masthead, however, making Jim a true
ghost.) As of January 19, 1958, Jim -- often working from hastily
penciled sketches and captions supplied by Schulz -- did all the
newspaper strip’s finished art and lettering.
Sasseville did this January 26, 1958, "It's Only a Game" panel himself. Note that Schulz's signature is nowhere to be seen within the art.
Jim vividly remembers this transition date, because just one week later,
with his second time at bat with the solo art chores, he was paid a
singular honor. That week’s Monday panel, a bowling strip, featured
three league players welcoming a fourth, apparently a little tardy, with
the exclamation of, "Three cheers, gang! Our number one man has
arrived!" A loyal reader sent UFS a black-and-white photo of himself
with three friends, staged to look precisely like the four figures in
Jim’s illustration. The "camera angle" was identical, along with
clothing, body position, and everything else in the frame. The
resemblance even extended to the men themselves, who had body shapes and
hairstyles eerily similar to those found in the panel art.
Jim still has the photo.
Sasseville received this photo recreation of his "It's Only a Game" gag from a fan. Note the date stamp at the top of the photo.
The degree to which Jim successfully imitated Schulz’s linework can
be seen by the fact that the transition was seamless; no casual reader
could have discerned that the hand on the inker’s pen had changed.
During the remainder of 1958, the two men continued to work in the same
fashion, Jim often finishing Schulz’s rough concepts, but also
contributing many of his own original ideas. He also inserted the
occasional personal reference; the boat from which a husband and wife
fish, in one of the June 29, 1958, panels, is the Helga, named after
Jim’s wife.
But Jim remembers that he never came up with any of the concepts
for Friday’s bridge panels, for the simple reason that he didn’t know
the game.
Although he labored in anonymity, Jim was well compensated
financially, and he still speaks appreciatively of Sparky’s generosity.
Schulz had negotiated for 50% of the strip’s income, the other half
going to UFS. This 50% amounted to slightly more than $500 per week;
when Jim came on board, Schulz generously gave half of HIS half to his
new partner, and so Jim brought home $250 per week (after expenses) for
his efforts ... quite a lot of money in 1958.
The two men were living in Minneapolis when this collaboration
began; after the first five months, in May 1958, Jim and his wife
followed the Schulz family to Northern California. Lacking a place to
stay in Sebastopol -- not to mention furniture and other amenities --
the Sassevilles first spent a couple of months a bit south, in Corta
Madera. "For two or three weeks, I drew the comic book stuff and ‘It’s
Only a Game’ on a portable drawing board. But I stayed in touch with
Sparky on the phone, and he supplied the ideas for ‘It’s Only a Game.’ "
The Sassevilles then found a home in Sebastopol. Between "It’s Only
a Game" and the work he also was doing for the "Peanuts" strips in the
Dell comic books, Jim was quite gainfully employed by his new partner
and boss.
Unfortunately, it was not to last.
"It’s Only a Game" began with 30 client newspapers; nearly a year
later, it had ... 30 client newspapers.
(A complete client list has been lost to the mists of time, although
it is known that the feature was carried by The Boston Globe, the Detroit
Free Press, The Chicago Tribune, The Minneapolis Tribune, the San Francisco
Chronicle and The Baltimore Sun.)
The strip never took off, despite strong support from fans such as
bridge expert Charles Goren (who wrote a couple of letters), and even
Schulz’s name didn’t seem to make much of a difference.
But we also can assume that the proud and perfectionist-minded
Schulz -- who in later years, as mentioned above, often made a point of
describing how in "Peanuts" he penciled and inked every line, and
lettered every word balloon -- probably was bothered by the fact that he
wasn’t similarly in sole control of "It’s Only a Game." To be sure, he
was INVOLVED, but he wasn’t actually drawing what appeared in those 30
client newspapers.
"He didn’t like his name being used on somebody else’s work," Jim
recalls, "and I don’t blame him for that."
That, coupled with moribund sales and some tension with the head
UFS salesman to whom Schulz initially had pitched the idea, eventually
prompted an astonishing decision In late 1958, just 12 months into a
solid five-year contract, Schulz made it plain to UFS that he wished to
discontinue "It’s Only a Game." Perhaps recognizing that the strip
wasn’t performing as hoped, UFS agreed.
Schulz did not consult Jim before taking this step; indeed, the
news came as a complete shock to Schulz’s ghost, who’d been very happy
with his work, and the strip, and the $250 per week.
Schulz even tried to sugar-coat the news "You’re off the hook,"
Jim recalls his employer saying (as if this were a GOOD thing), at the
end of that euphoric day when they finished work on the second
all-Peanuts issue of Dell’s Four Color Comics. Jim had just assured
Sparky that his pending move to Berkeley would not affect his ability to
work on "It’s Only a Game," and now the rug had been pulled out from
under him.
The fallout was immediate; it certainly was the final straw for
Helga, who already had been dissatisfied with their home in Sebastopol
-- hence the move to Berkeley -- and also was unhappy about the friction
that existed between her and Joyce, Schulz’s first wife. Helga had
endured Nazi Germany, survived the entire war -- in and out of work
camps -- and had lost her father at Dachau; she was not a woman to keep
opinions to herself.
"I realized I was working on a flawed product, which the creator
and marketer wanted nothing more to do with. Still, I had held out the
hope that maybe Sparky might offer the entire feature to me, although I
realized that there’d be problems with the syndicate," Jim admits, a
touch of wistfulness still clouding the memory after more than 40 years.
"They should have been pretty familiar with my work by then."
It didn’t happen. By the time the final installment of "It’s Only a
Game" appeared, on January 11, 1959 -- the two always had worked six
weeks ahead -- Jim and Schulz had severed all relations, professional
and personal. This also included Jim’s ghosting work on the Dell comic
books. The split was permanent, and the two men never reconciled.
Although "It’s Only a Game" ran for 63 consecutive weeks, it
quickly became a fading memory -- and then an overlooked footnote -- in
Schulz’s career. He rarely mentioned it during later interviews, and
then only obliquely, citing neither date specifics nor his collaboration
with Jim.
"We were the best of friends at first," Jim recalls ruefully. He
happily remembers attending the 1951 National Cartoonists Convention
with Sparky, and also another time when they both went to visit and swap
stories with a fellow artist, Robert M. Brinkerhoff, who lived in
Minneapolis and was known for a newspaper strip called "Little Mary
Mix-Up." Brinkerhoff, in turn -- like many other cartoonists at that
time -- greatly admired J.R. Williams (creator of "Out Our Way"), whom
he once described as "the greatest cowboy ever to walk the streets of
New York." Brinkerhoff related how he had wheedled, begged and finally
finagled an invitation to Williams’ ranch in Montana. Although only
interested in seeing the fabulous studio that he assumed his idol must
have on so massive a spread, Brinkerhoff first had to put up with being
shown all the livestock and the other attractions of a working ranch. As
the visit stretched on, Brinkerhoff finally couldn’t stand it any longer
and demanded to see where Williams did his work.
With a resigned sigh (as Jim recalls Brinkerhoff describing this
incident), Williams walked over to his wife’s sewing machine, took off
the cover, and flipped it over ... and that was it The great J.R.
Williams did all his drawing on the cover of his wife’s sewing machine.
As others have observed, there’s never any reason to embrace
technology or an environment any fancier than that required to get the
job done.
Cartoonists love to talk shop, and Jim’s no different; merely
relating this little tale brings a sparkle into his eyes. And, to this
day, he doesn’t really understand what happened between him and Schulz.
"I feel kind of weird about all this. Sparky obviously wanted me to
succeed in the early days, and even was willing to collaborate with me
on one of my own projects (one of the many variations of "Joe Cipher,"
discussed below). But then when he had a chance to really help me out,
he didn’t make any effort whatsoever ... and left me in rather dire
straits."
Such feelings notwithstanding, all these years later Jim is firm on
one point "Charles M. Schulz was the greatest comic strip artist ever."
And although he certainly couldn’t have known it at the time, Jim
never again would earn his living as a cartoonist.
Before, during and after his working association with Schulz, Jim
played around with many of his own ideas.
If persistence counts for anything, he deserves considerable credit
for his ongoing efforts to sell "Joe Cipher" ("a character kinda based
on me"), a daily strip that underwent quite a few transmutations during
the decade-plus that he tried to place it with a syndicate.
The character first appeared in a sample series of daily strips Jim
produced in late 1949. The strip’s gentle humor is faintly reminiscent
of "Gasoline Alley" and other character-driven work of the era; the
title character is introduced driving an old jalopy that obligingly runs
out of gas at a filling station. The silver-tongued Joe, lacking any
money, eventually impresses the station owner into offering him a job;
Joe celebrates by stepping into a nearby diner for lunch, where he’s
immediately smitten by the young woman behind the counter, and...
...and that’s where the presentation panels concluded.
Perhaps feeling that the strip lacked dramatic impact, a few years
later -- while still at AIS -- Jim tried again, shifting the action to a
tiny island in the middle of the ocean, where the shipwrecked Joe is
joined by an attractive young woman named Ginny, survivor of a second
sea-going calamity. (What are the odds?) Although their relationship is
mildly prickly for the first few days, Ginny eventually wishes aloud
that they could be rescued, so that she can go on a "proper date" with
Joe, and perhaps even kiss him when the evening concludes. Once again,
the story cut off abruptly, as Jim produced just two weeks’ worth of
strips enough to (hopefully) interest a buyer.
Sasseville tried several times to place a comic strip starring Joe Cipher, the pleasant-looking chap
featured in these examples. The two left-most strips are taken from the first run Sasseville designed on his own;
the two right-most strips, starring the same character but
in a different setting, are from Sasseville's third
test run; Charles Schulz contributed story input on these.
(Click on the image to see an enlarged version.)
After getting back from his return hitch in the Navy, Jim
went back to work on Joe Cipher and got a nibble from an
unexpected quarter: Something about this particular setting
touched Schulz, who suggested they collaborate on yet
a third incarnation of "Joe Cipher." (At the time, both men still were
unmarried, and it’s not hard to see a little male fantasy
wish-fulfillment at work.) With narrative input from Schulz and Jim
handling the art chores, the scene shifted again, this time to a
typically romantic South Seas setting, on an island large enough to
support a population of curvaceous young cuties and at least one
villain. Joe and Ginny remained the central focus, but this time the
former saw genuine action, on the receiving end of the villain’s fists.
Schulz and Jim took this newest version of "Joe Cipher" to United
Features Syndicate in spring of 1954; it was turned down flat. The
trip to New York wasn't a complete waste, though, because Sasseville
and Schulz caught a couple of plays: a T.S. Elliot drama called
Confidential Clerk, and another called The King of
Hearts, which starred Jackie Cooper as (what are the odds?)
a cartoonist!
Sasseville also remembers going from suite to suite in New
York's Waldorf hotel during this trip, visiting one cartoonist
after another; meeting Al Capp was a high point. But at least
part of the reason for the trip -- the newest Joe Cipher -- proved
unsellable, and Schulz bowed out at that point.
When Jim finally returned to "Joe Cipher," the 1950s were almost
over. Jim’s association with "Peanuts" and "It’s Only a Game" had
concluded, so the writer/artist returned to his favorite unsold
property. Jim recast his hero in yet another new setting, this time a
business office populated by characters clearly derived from his days at
Art Instruction. Although the sample panels display even cleaner, more
attractive line work -- a sure sign of his growing comfort as an artist
-- Jim had no better luck this time around.
Still refusing to abandon hope, Jim tried one more time In early
1960, after having moved to Berkeley, he once again changed the setting
completely, and turned Joe Cipher into "Sir Joe." This Arthurian-based
concept focused on genuinely whimsical gags involving heavy armor,
maidens in distress, and fire-breathing dragons. Jim’s dragons are
particularly funny, and this newest reboot seems ripe with
possibilities; it’s not at all hard to envision a daily strip evolving
from these samples.
Alas, syndicates once again failed to see any potential, and "Joe
Cipher" was put into Jim’s trunk as no more than another engaging
footnote in the artist’s collection of rejection slips.
Jim didn’t confine his efforts to "Joe Cipher"; the writer/artist
had no shortage of ideas, quite a few of which also wound up as
submission concepts. "Aunty Climax," produced in early 1957 -- just
prior to Jim’s ghost work for Dell comics -- was a single-panel gag
strip that starred a feisty little old lady who was far sharper than
most people assumed. She was based on Louise Cassidy, an AIS colleague
who also was the landlady for the building where Jim briefly lived with
Charles Cuddy. Jim produced a few dozen "Aunty Climax" panels, all of
which are vastly superior -- both in terms of writing and artwork -- to
many of the single-panel cartoons cluttering today’s newspapers.
"Confessions of a French Poodle" was a 1959 concept that didn’t
emerge much further than a few finished panels and lots of pencil
sketches; Jim good-naturedly admits that the idea went nowhere, and so
he abandoned it. That may have been shrewd market analysis, as the
medium never has lacked for dog-oriented material. Even so, French
poodles are funny in their own right, and Jim’s concept sketches are a
hoot.
When not working on Peanuts-related material, Sasseville tried to sell many of his own strip ideas
to a syndicate. From left to right, these examples are "Aunty Climax," "Friends and Foes," "Alpha-Betty" and "Happy Birthday."
(Click on the image to see an enlarged version.)
"Friends and Foes," another single-panel tryout, also emerged from
Jim’s pen in 1959. A little later, shortly after he started putting food
on the table with a "real job" -- and perhaps motivated by the explosion
of children’s television shows, which eventually led to "Sesame Street"
and everything that followed -- Jim tried a kid-oriented educational
strip called "Alpha-Betty," which starred a little girl who finds
herself in an other-worldly land populated by men and women shaped like
letters of the alphabet. The personalities of these individuals were
defined by their appearance; curved female letters, for example, were
far more sultry that straight female letters. The strip has a lovely
"Alice in Wonderland" quality, although the concept may have seemed
limiting.
Jim later played with the medium in "Blackboard," a daily strip
designed to be white-on-black, to imitate chalk on a classroom
blackboard. The stars were Dick, Jane and their TeacheR; although not as
overly educational as "Alpha-Betty," this strip also was aimed at young
audiences.
Jim’s final attempt at syndication was produced in the early 1970s,
after he first went into research hibernation, jotting down enough
celebrity birthdays to fill every day of a calendar year. The resulting
single-panel strips were a precursor to the "On this day in history..."
informational nuggets that have become so ubiquitous The panel for
March 28, for example, illustrated and revealed a few choice facts about
orchestra leader Paul Whiteman. March 29 was devoted to President John
Tyler, while Francisco Goya was featured on March 30.
Sadly, this fared no better with syndicators than any of the
others. "Joe Cipher," "Aunty Climax," "Confessions of a French Poodle,"
"Friends and Foes," "Alpha-Betty," "Blackboard" and "Birthdays" exist only
in Jim’s carefully preserved office files. More’s the pity, because even
the weakest of these strips displays a Puckish wit and clean, attractive
line work too often absent from many of the rushed, imitative strips
that generate little more than reader apathy these days.
Following the dust-up with Schulz and the move to Berkeley, Helga
-- who was delighted by the more rarefied atmosphere of a university
community -- became the family bread-winner. She took a job with a
German importer/exporter and commuted daily across the Bay Bridge.
Eventually succumbing to the need for steady employment, in April
1960 Jim took a job as a graphic designer with Varian, one of the
leading radar companies, located in California’s greater San Francisco
Bay Area. The fit proved comfortable, and he remained with the company
until he retired in 1990.
But the career shift wasn’t immediate; Jim first spent most of 1959
working up his own aforementioned comic strip proposals, and
occasionally sold individual gag cartoons to magazines. But his New
York-based agent took 35% of those one-shots.
"That’s when I started with Varian," Jim recalls, with a chuckle.
"I knew I’d never make it as a gag cartoonist."
Be that as it may, Jim never stopped his cartooning efforts; while
at Varian, he became famous for the birthday cards that he drew for
fellow employees.
Helga, meanwhile, got a job at Stanford, which prompted another
move; the couple then purchased their first home in 1960, in Mountain
View.
Three years later, they moved for what would be the last time. Jim
and his wife paid $28,000 for the house that remains his home to this
day. Just last year the retired artist was offered a cool million bucks
-- in cash -- by a dot-commer who wanted to develop the property. Still
loyal to the memories of his wife, with which the house is filled, Jim
politely declined. Helga died in 1995; he clearly still misses her.
Today, Parkinson’s Disease and the recent stroke have conspired to
deliver the ultimate nightmare Jim no longer can hold a pen well enough
to draw. ("I always marveled at Sparky’s ability to incorporate his
shaking hand into his line work.") But his mind and memory remain
acutely sharp, and his Puckish sense of humor is unbowed. He speaks with
clarity and certainty of his years at Art Instruction School, and with
Schulz, and of his never-successful efforts to market his own original
material.
Jim remains philosophical about his life, and in fact composed
another of his verses to express such feelings
I’m all for equal measures
Losses should be matched by gain;
And since I’ve missed life’s pleasures,
I’ll just double up with pain!
Definitely too harsh, but then we’re always hardest on ourselves.
Jim Sasseville deserves far more than the obscurity into which he has
settled; for a time, he was allied with the man who would become the
world’s most successful cartoonist, and for a time he helped chaperone
the faithfully rendered adventures of Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Linus, Lucy
and the rest ... no small feat.
And I’m particularly transfixed by a remark Jim made during one of
our later phone calls "I don’t know how one should behave, in a
situation like this," he said, referring to our ongoing conversations,
"but it’s like I’ve been resurrected."
Perhaps this article will kick-start our long-overdue obligation to
sing his praises.
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All PEANUTS characters pictured are copyrighted by United Feature Syndicate, Inc. They are used here with permission. They may not be reproduced by any means in any form.
In between grading assignments, Jim and his fellow employees
produced thousands upon thousands of quickly penciled drawings on
4-by-7-inch sketchpads. In this respect, these artists were no different
than their counterparts at Disney and Warner Brothers animation studios,
who also filled the minutes between "real work" with impressive little
doodles and caricatures of each other, all of which are the envy of
collectors today (when they surface in the first place). Jim still has
stacks and stacks of such impromptu efforts, including a few caricatures
of Schulz and other AIS friends, and several pages of "Peanuts"
character roughs. (Even then, he must have been planning ahead...) Most
are plain pencil on paper, but some are blue-line; in either case, they
reveal one of Jim’s artistic strengths an ability to capture a person’s
eyes with remarkably lifelike clarity.
(Unfortunately, he did not save his collection of Schulz originals.
"I gave away all my junk foolishly, many years ago ... somebody conned
me out of almost all my original Schulz drawings.")
Jim never lost his art-school fascination with centaurs and nudes,
and many of his sketchpad pages are filled with fetchingly unclad
cuties. Hiring and drawing undraped models was fairly common among Jim
and his colleagues, although not quite all of his colleagues "I can’t
remember Sparky taking any part in that whatsoever."
Such figure studies also sparked Jim’s impish literary talents,
honed by a life-long fascination with poetry (T.S. Eliot’s "Distracted
from distraction by distraction" remains a personal mantra).
Jim still recalls many of his favorite invented verses, such as
this one, which would have been loved by Ogden Nash
A centaur met a mermaid, as he trotted by the sea;
She noticed not his heavy hooves, nor he her single knee,
As they lingered there, expelling time with heart-inspired chatter
The direction of their love so strong ... bottoms didn’t matter!
Jim’s tenure at Art Instruction was interrupted in mid 1952, when
Uncle Sam tapped his shoulder again. The Korean War was underway, and
those who previously had served less than a full year were being
recalled ... so those two days shy of a year forced a second hitch that
lasted through 1954.
"I was sent to the Philippines," Jim notes dryly, thinking back to
all the Lesson No. 5 submissions that he had graded, "so I certainly saw
the Orient."
This second 14-month hitch of active duty certainly wasn’t wasted,
in terms of Jim’s artistic skills; he worked for an Irish Catholic
chaplain and did a weekly mimeographed newspaper for U.S. Naval Mobile
Construction Battalion 9 ("I was drawing cartoons up the gazoo"). The
unit’s 1952-53 Cruise Book features a great full-page Jim illustration
on Page 33; titled "Cubi Point, P.I.," it shows five sailors watching a
dog face off with a monkey.
Jim’s relationship with Father John James Kileen never was dull, in
part because the artist was a lapsed Catholic.
"He worked the hell out of me, but then he’d always invite me into
his quarters for a nip, and then try to entice me back into the fold."
After his second stint in the Navy concluded, Jim returned to
civilian life (this time for good), and to Art Instruction Schools,
where he and Schulz picked up where they’d left off. In between grading
assignments and sketching his office buddies, Jim placed a few gag
cartoons in magazines, such as a droll three-panel sequence of a guy
having trouble with a jack, while attempting to fix a flat tire, which
appeared on Page 45 of the August 1957 issue of Gent, a
long-discontinued men’s magazine.
Jim met Helga, his future wife, as a result of his Navy friendship
with Charles Cuddy. She had immigrated to the United States when
sponsored by a South Dakota politician and his family ("mostly for slave
labor," Jim perceptively remarks); Helga was unfamiliar with the farm
environment, and decamped for Minneapolis as soon as she could. She
entered the University of Minnesota with a vengeance; her half-Jewish
heritage had kept her out of institutions of higher learning in her
native Germany.
She also enrolled in art school and wound up in one class being
taught by Dave Ratner, a colleague and friend with whom Jim went to art
school; she also landed in some of the same classes as Cuddy, who for a
time shared a boarding house attic ("a garret") with Jim. Since this
colony of Minneapolis artists wasn’t all that large, it was inevitable
that Jim and Helga would meet. ("Destiny," he happily acknowledges.)
They married in 1956.
"I’d just bought a brand-new Mercury," Jim remembers, with a
chuckle, "and I had to get rid of it when we got married, because Helga
couldn’t drive a stick-shift."
Within a few short months, Sasseville’s life turned around again,
when he became the best of Schulz’s never-credited "Peanuts" ghosts.
Whenever asked, Charles Schulz would repeat the statement that
became ubiquitous Unlike those involved with other "assembly-line"
newspaper comic strips, he remained the only person whose hands touched
the adventures of Charlie Brown and the gang. Schulz wrote, drew, inked
and lettered his strip, and did so during the entire run October 2,
1950, to February 13, 2000. Schulz always insisted that the strip would
cease production when he finally called it quits, a wish that his family
has honored. Unlike other classic strips that have been revived, often
by lesser talents, "Peanuts" will forevermore remain solely a Schulz
legacy.
Except ... that’s not entirely true.
During the 1950s and early ’60s, Charlie Brown and his friends
didn’t just appear in newspaper strips; they also were a popular feature
of comic books ... a medium usually dominated by the likes of Superman
and Captain America, but one that included plenty of room for lighter
fare.
And -- surprise, surprise! -- when the "Peanuts" comic book
appearances stopped being newspaper reprints and "graduated" into
original features in 1957, sharp-eyed fans probably could discern that
somebody other than Sparky Schulz was doing the artwork.
To keep the chronology consistent, let’s turn back the clock to
1952, when "Peanuts" simultaneously debuted as a supporting feature in
two comic books -- the March-April issues of Tip Top Comics (#173) and
United Comics (#21) -- both published by United Feature Syndicate, which
routinely recycled many of its newspaper features in these and other
comic books. The "Peanuts" supporting feature moved into a third book,
Tip Topper, beginning with #17 (June-July 1952); it remained there until
the book was discontinued after #28 (April-May 1954). Shortly before
this final issue of Tip Topper, "Peanuts" returned to Tip Top as a
supporting feature, beginning with #184 (Jan.-Feb. 1954) and continuing
through #188 (Sept.-Oct. 1954). Several of these later issues feature
gorgeous Peanuts covers, which -- although not signed -- appear to be by
Schulz.
"Peanuts" also appeared, during this same period, as a back-up
feature in most issues of United Comics, later retitled Fritzi Ritz
(beginning with #27). The run here also was consecutive #21-#33 (the
latter dated March-April 1954). Stray issues of Sparkler Comics and
Sparkle Comics also included some "Peanuts" reprints, although not on a
regular basis.
UFS got out of the comic book publishing business at the end of
1954, and some of its titles were picked up by St. John in 1955,
including Fritzi Ritz and Tip Top. Despite a noticeable gap of several
months, the numbering of both books continued consecutively. Thus, Tip
Top resumed with #189 (May 1955), and continued to include "Peanuts" as
a supporting feature during St. John’s entire run of this book, through
#210 (July 1957). "Peanuts" was only an occasional supporting feature in
St. John’s run of Fritzi Ritz, starting with #37 (July 1955) and
continuing through #55. Finally, at least one issue of Nancy -- #142
(March 1957) -- also featured Peanuts reprints.
Big changes came in late 1957, and not just because St. John
abandoned these books and turned them over to Dell Comics (Western
Publishing). After a delay of several months to half a year -- depending
on the title -- Dell revived the flagship St. John titles, again with
consecutive numbering. Thus, Tip Top #211 returned as a quarterly with a
cover date of Nov. 1957-Jan. 1958. Fritzi Ritz resumed with #56, dated
Dec. 1957-Feb. 1958.
Under Dell’s stewardship, Charlie Brown and the gang also became a
regular supporting feature in Nancy, beginning with #146 (Sept. 1957).
The biggest change, however, concerned the content in all three books.
When Dell took over, the covers promised "All brand-new stories" ... and
they meant it.
"Peanuts" fans spotted the change in Nancy #146, which boasted a
four-page story with a baseball theme, clearly produced by Schulz
himself (although unsigned); Jim confirms Sparky’s linework. But Schulz
quickly realized that producing four full pages of original art for
Nancy on a monthly basis, not to mention similar duties for the
quarterly Tip Top and Fritzi Ritz, would be more than he was willing to
handle. Then, too, he was only months away from debuting his own second
newspaper strip, "It’s Only a Game" (about which more below).
Schulz allowed Dell’s house art department to handle his characters
in Nancy #147, but was unhappy with the results. (No surprise; the art
is quite weak.) Schulz stepped in again for issue #148, but the workload
problem hadn’t changed. Wanting greater fidelity to his own style,
Schulz turned to Jim, who took over the reins with issue #149 and
continued through #168 (July 1959). Jim essentially became Schulz’s
employee and was paid $100 per week for this work; since he was making
only $80 per week at Art Instruction, this -- along with the even higher
paycheck he’d soon receive, for helping Schulz with "It’s Only a Game"
-- was a substantial raise.
As a ghosting assignment, the results are impressive. Charlie Brown
and Linus’ heads are notoriously difficult to reproduce in Schulz’s
signature style, but Jim came damn close. More to the point, the
characters are posed and conduct themselves in a way that’s absolutely
typical of their behavior in Sparky’s newspaper strip. Art purists may
have noticed that Jim wasn’t Schulz, but casual readers were unlikely to
have detected the difference.
The four-page story above is taken from Nancy #151, February 1958.
(Click on the pages to enlarge them.)
"He gave me carte blanche on writing them, and I felt like a
faithful uncle," Jim says, with no small amount of pride at his ability
to reproduce Charlie Brown and the gang.
Although Jim’s take on the "Peanuts" gang in Nancy #149 was the
first to reach fans, it was not the ghost artist’s debut crack at
Charlie Brown. Jim’s first completed "Peanuts" comic book adventure was
"The Trip," one of a quartet of eight-page stories (packaged with three
one-page stories) that eventually appeared as issue #878 (Feb. 1958) of
Dell’s Four Color Comics, an "umbrella title" that rotated various
stars; this issue, boasting a gorgeous signed Schulz cover, was the
first one devoted to "Peanuts."
Ever the imp, Jim inserted a personal reference into "The Trip."
The number on the dog license that Charlie Brown uses -- 891-68-14 -- to
justify his getting behind the wheel of a station wagon, was the
artist’s Navy serial number.
Jim also did the work in the Fritzi Ritz and Tip Top issues during
this time, and it’s important to note that he had a completely free rein
with these comic book stories, handling both art and writing chores.
Fritzi Ritz lasted only four issues under the Dell label, before
being discontinued after #59 (Sept.-Nov. 1958). "Peanuts" did not appear
in #56, but each of the remaining three issues included a new four-page
story by Jim. He also handled the work for Tip Top #211 through #215
(Nov. 1958-Jan. 1959). In Tip Top, Charlie Brown and his friends shared
covers with Nancy, Sluggo, and the Captain and the Kids. Although
unsigned, Schulz drew these "Peanuts" cover panels for issues 211-213,
and Jim handled 214 and 215.
Sasseville did the Peanuts art in these issues of Tip Top, #214 and #215.
(Click on the pages to enlarge them.)
All told, then, Jim drew the interior stories in 20 issues of
Nancy, three issues of Fritzi Ritz, and five issues of Tip Top, along
with Four Color #878. This relationship with Schulz and Dell Comics took
an unexpected turn when the two men parted unhappily, and Jim’s final
work for Dell was the long kite story in the second all-"Peanuts" issue
of Four Color Comics (#969, Feb. 1959), along with the inside front and
inside back cover one-pagers.
The completion of that particular issue became something of a
marathon art session. After announcing that he and Helga would be moving
to Berkeley, Jim took stock of the pending Dell workload, and discovered
that the deadline for the second all-Peanuts issue of Four Color Comics
was imminent. Jim promised to finish this before the move, but Sparky
suggested that the job would proceed faster if they worked on it
together. The two men thus divided the work between them, and began
early one morning with what turned into a lengthy session stretching
well into the evening. During that time, Jim completed the
aforementioned two one-page stories and one eight-page story, while
Sparky handled the remaining one-page story and THREE eight-page
stories.
"There’s no doubt who was the faster artist," Jim notes, with a
chuckle. "He certainly put me in my place!"
Jim still remembers that session as a euphoric rush ... but it
concluded on a gloomy note, when, resting in the happy afterglow of a
job well done, Schulz revealed the fate of "It’s Only a Game" (see
below).
In the aftermath, Schulz also stepped in and handled all the work
for Nancy #169 (August 1959). Clearly, this was a rush job, and Schulz
borrowed from himself The final panel of this four-page story is almost
identical to the final panel of the June 23, 1957, "Peanuts" Sunday
strip. The comic book storyline is an expansion of that Sunday strip,
and the aforementioned final panel in the comic book is signed by Schulz
... the only case where any interior comic book stories bear his
signature.
Because the split was far from amicable, Jim did not follow the
subsequent comic book adventures of Charlie Brown and his friends, in
Nancy and Tip Top. On close examination just a few weeks ago -- in many
cases, seeing this work for the first time -- Jim pointed to specific
poses, characteristics and lettering attributes ("Sparky always rounded
out the bottoms of his W’s") that leave him convinced that Schulz either
penciled and inked the next several issues of both Nancy and Tip Top, or
at least roughed in the panel layout, inked the primary characters --
particularly their heads -- and lettered the word balloons. This seems
likely; carefully examination of individual pages reveals an occasional
Snoopy or Lucy which, not matching the rest, clearly must have been
inked by somebody else.
But Dale Hale, Schulz’s new apprentice and ghost -- and another
associate from Art Instruction Schools -- caught on quickly, and the
artwork in both books retained its Schulz-like characteristics through
roughly late 1960 or early 1961. At this point, other hands clearly took
over -- possibly Tony Pocrnick, another Schulz associate from Art
Instruction -- and the "Peanuts" characters became ever-more distant
from the Schulz ideal until the final issues of Tip Top (#225, May-July
1961) and Nancy. (By then the latter had been retitled Nancy and Sluggo,
and its final five issues were released under the Gold Key imprint; the
book was discontinued with issue #192, October 1963.) The "Peanuts"
artwork in the last issues of both books is, in a word, dreadful.
A third all-"Peanuts" issue of Four Color Comics was produced
(#1015, August-October 1959), after which the characters got their own
book that began with issue #4 (Feb.-April 1960), by way of acknowledging
those first three appearances in Four Color Comics. This lasted through
#13 (May-July 1962), after which the book was discontinued. Each of
these issues features a signed Schulz cover, but other hands --
certainly Hale, at first -- handled all the interior artwork and writing
(which, as with the latter issues of Nancy and Tip Top, grew less
Schulz-like over time).
But what had happened, to sever the friendship between Schulz and
Jim, which stretched back a decade?
Bouncing back a year or so...
Although already quite popular and gaining fans -- and syndicate
clients -- all the time, in 1957 "Peanuts" was not yet the multimedia
sensation it was to become within another decade. Schulz must have had
some free time that needed filling, and therefore was comfortable with
the concept of pitching a second strip concept to United Features
Syndicate. The artist had lots of ideas about games near and dear to his
heart, including golf, tennis, baseball and bridge. No doubt realizing
that twice as much Schulz per week was a good thing, UFS jumped at the
chance, and the sports and recreation-themed "It’s Only a Game" was
born. For awhile, Schulz joined later stars such as Johnny Hart ("B.C."
and "The Wizard of Id"), Mell Lazarus ("Miss Peach" and "Momma") and
Jerry Scott ("Baby Blues" and "Zits"), with two newspaper strips running
simultaneously.
Each installment of "It’s Only a Game, by Charles M. Schulz,"
hearkening back to Schulz’s very early work on "Li’l Folks" in The St.
Paul Pioneer Press, was comprised of three separate single-panel gag
strips. The package was offered to clients in two different formats as
three single-panel strips per week, to run on Mondays, Wednesdays and
Fridays; or as a combined grouping of three that would appear in Sunday
comics sections. The combined Sunday grouping also had a bonus fourth
cartoon a tiny, captionless visual gag -- very much like the
intermarginal gags that Sergio Aragonés would pepper throughout future
issues of Mad Magazine -- that appeared to the right of the title and
Schulz’s byline. The subject matter of the Monday and Wednesday panels
varied from week to week, but the Friday installment always centered
around bridge, the then-popular card game that Schulz loved. (Further
evidence of this affection could be seen in "Peanuts," where the kids
routinely played the game in the early 1950s, and Woodstock and a
foursome of his bird buddies picked it up in the 1970s and beyond.)
Charles Schulz did this January 12, 1958, "It's Only a Game" panel himself. Note his signature within the art of the right-most panel.
During an October 6, 1957, interview with Schulz, the Chicago
Tribune proudly boasted that it would be one of the flagship newspapers
to carry this new feature. The Tribune selected the weekly option, and
ran "It’s Only a Game" in its Sunday magazine. The debut installment
appeared November 3, 1957, and immediately set the tone for what would
follow, with panels devoted to boxing, golf and bridge. The middle panel
is a hoot, with a middle-aged duffer -- one easily can imagine Charlie
Brown in his 40s -- lamenting a putt that has left his ball perched at
the edge of the cup (but not in), and saying, "I think I’m going to
cry."
Subsequent installments covered checkers, bowling, curling (!),
table tennis, croquet, billiards, ice fishing, darts and even camping.
But as 1957 turned into 1958, something must have changed. Perhaps
Schulz had underestimated the amount of time involved with producing a
second weekly newspaper strip; maybe he also was spending more time than
expected overseeing the new "Peanuts" content in the Dell comic books.
Or, more likely, the "Peanuts" empire as a whole was occupying more of
his time; 1958 saw the production of the first "Peanuts" toys -- plastic
dolls of the major characters, produced by Hungerford -- and of course
this was just the tip of an approaching iceberg.
Whatever the reason, Schulz decided to hand over the lion’s share
of the artistic chores to Jim. Schulz’s solo involvement with "It’s Only
a Game" continued through the January 12, 1958, installment; this is the
last one to bear his signature on one of the cartoon panels. (Schulz’s
name continued to run alone in the masthead, however, making Jim a true
ghost.) As of January 19, 1958, Jim -- often working from hastily
penciled sketches and captions supplied by Schulz -- did all the
newspaper strip’s finished art and lettering.
Sasseville did this January 26, 1958, "It's Only a Game" panel himself. Note that Schulz's signature is nowhere to be seen within the art.
Jim vividly remembers this transition date, because just one week later,
with his second time at bat with the solo art chores, he was paid a
singular honor. That week’s Monday panel, a bowling strip, featured
three league players welcoming a fourth, apparently a little tardy, with
the exclamation of, "Three cheers, gang! Our number one man has
arrived!" A loyal reader sent UFS a black-and-white photo of himself
with three friends, staged to look precisely like the four figures in
Jim’s illustration. The "camera angle" was identical, along with
clothing, body position, and everything else in the frame. The
resemblance even extended to the men themselves, who had body shapes and
hairstyles eerily similar to those found in the panel art.
Jim still has the photo.
Sasseville received this photo recreation of his "It's Only a Game" gag from a fan. Note the date stamp at the top of the photo.
The degree to which Jim successfully imitated Schulz’s linework can
be seen by the fact that the transition was seamless; no casual reader
could have discerned that the hand on the inker’s pen had changed.
During the remainder of 1958, the two men continued to work in the same
fashion, Jim often finishing Schulz’s rough concepts, but also
contributing many of his own original ideas. He also inserted the
occasional personal reference; the boat from which a husband and wife
fish, in one of the June 29, 1958, panels, is the Helga, named after
Jim’s wife.
But Jim remembers that he never came up with any of the concepts
for Friday’s bridge panels, for the simple reason that he didn’t know
the game.
Although he labored in anonymity, Jim was well compensated
financially, and he still speaks appreciatively of Sparky’s generosity.
Schulz had negotiated for 50% of the strip’s income, the other half
going to UFS. This 50% amounted to slightly more than $500 per week;
when Jim came on board, Schulz generously gave half of HIS half to his
new partner, and so Jim brought home $250 per week (after expenses) for
his efforts ... quite a lot of money in 1958.
The two men were living in Minneapolis when this collaboration
began; after the first five months, in May 1958, Jim and his wife
followed the Schulz family to Northern California. Lacking a place to
stay in Sebastopol -- not to mention furniture and other amenities --
the Sassevilles first spent a couple of months a bit south, in Corta
Madera. "For two or three weeks, I drew the comic book stuff and ‘It’s
Only a Game’ on a portable drawing board. But I stayed in touch with
Sparky on the phone, and he supplied the ideas for ‘It’s Only a Game.’ "
The Sassevilles then found a home in Sebastopol. Between "It’s Only
a Game" and the work he also was doing for the "Peanuts" strips in the
Dell comic books, Jim was quite gainfully employed by his new partner
and boss.
Unfortunately, it was not to last.
"It’s Only a Game" began with 30 client newspapers; nearly a year
later, it had ... 30 client newspapers.
(A complete client list has been lost to the mists of time, although
it is known that the feature was carried by The Boston Globe, the Detroit
Free Press, The Chicago Tribune, The Minneapolis Tribune, the San Francisco
Chronicle and The Baltimore Sun.)
The strip never took off, despite strong support from fans such as
bridge expert Charles Goren (who wrote a couple of letters), and even
Schulz’s name didn’t seem to make much of a difference.
But we also can assume that the proud and perfectionist-minded
Schulz -- who in later years, as mentioned above, often made a point of
describing how in "Peanuts" he penciled and inked every line, and
lettered every word balloon -- probably was bothered by the fact that he
wasn’t similarly in sole control of "It’s Only a Game." To be sure, he
was INVOLVED, but he wasn’t actually drawing what appeared in those 30
client newspapers.
"He didn’t like his name being used on somebody else’s work," Jim
recalls, "and I don’t blame him for that."
That, coupled with moribund sales and some tension with the head
UFS salesman to whom Schulz initially had pitched the idea, eventually
prompted an astonishing decision In late 1958, just 12 months into a
solid five-year contract, Schulz made it plain to UFS that he wished to
discontinue "It’s Only a Game." Perhaps recognizing that the strip
wasn’t performing as hoped, UFS agreed.
Schulz did not consult Jim before taking this step; indeed, the
news came as a complete shock to Schulz’s ghost, who’d been very happy
with his work, and the strip, and the $250 per week.
Schulz even tried to sugar-coat the news "You’re off the hook,"
Jim recalls his employer saying (as if this were a GOOD thing), at the
end of that euphoric day when they finished work on the second
all-Peanuts issue of Dell’s Four Color Comics. Jim had just assured
Sparky that his pending move to Berkeley would not affect his ability to
work on "It’s Only a Game," and now the rug had been pulled out from
under him.
The fallout was immediate; it certainly was the final straw for
Helga, who already had been dissatisfied with their home in Sebastopol
-- hence the move to Berkeley -- and also was unhappy about the friction
that existed between her and Joyce, Schulz’s first wife. Helga had
endured Nazi Germany, survived the entire war -- in and out of work
camps -- and had lost her father at Dachau; she was not a woman to keep
opinions to herself.
"I realized I was working on a flawed product, which the creator
and marketer wanted nothing more to do with. Still, I had held out the
hope that maybe Sparky might offer the entire feature to me, although I
realized that there’d be problems with the syndicate," Jim admits, a
touch of wistfulness still clouding the memory after more than 40 years.
"They should have been pretty familiar with my work by then."
It didn’t happen. By the time the final installment of "It’s Only a
Game" appeared, on January 11, 1959 -- the two always had worked six
weeks ahead -- Jim and Schulz had severed all relations, professional
and personal. This also included Jim’s ghosting work on the Dell comic
books. The split was permanent, and the two men never reconciled.
Although "It’s Only a Game" ran for 63 consecutive weeks, it
quickly became a fading memory -- and then an overlooked footnote -- in
Schulz’s career. He rarely mentioned it during later interviews, and
then only obliquely, citing neither date specifics nor his collaboration
with Jim.
"We were the best of friends at first," Jim recalls ruefully. He
happily remembers attending the 1951 National Cartoonists Convention
with Sparky, and also another time when they both went to visit and swap
stories with a fellow artist, Robert M. Brinkerhoff, who lived in
Minneapolis and was known for a newspaper strip called "Little Mary
Mix-Up." Brinkerhoff, in turn -- like many other cartoonists at that
time -- greatly admired J.R. Williams (creator of "Out Our Way"), whom
he once described as "the greatest cowboy ever to walk the streets of
New York." Brinkerhoff related how he had wheedled, begged and finally
finagled an invitation to Williams’ ranch in Montana. Although only
interested in seeing the fabulous studio that he assumed his idol must
have on so massive a spread, Brinkerhoff first had to put up with being
shown all the livestock and the other attractions of a working ranch. As
the visit stretched on, Brinkerhoff finally couldn’t stand it any longer
and demanded to see where Williams did his work.
With a resigned sigh (as Jim recalls Brinkerhoff describing this
incident), Williams walked over to his wife’s sewing machine, took off
the cover, and flipped it over ... and that was it The great J.R.
Williams did all his drawing on the cover of his wife’s sewing machine.
As others have observed, there’s never any reason to embrace
technology or an environment any fancier than that required to get the
job done.
Cartoonists love to talk shop, and Jim’s no different; merely
relating this little tale brings a sparkle into his eyes. And, to this
day, he doesn’t really understand what happened between him and Schulz.
"I feel kind of weird about all this. Sparky obviously wanted me to
succeed in the early days, and even was willing to collaborate with me
on one of my own projects (one of the many variations of "Joe Cipher,"
discussed below). But then when he had a chance to really help me out,
he didn’t make any effort whatsoever ... and left me in rather dire
straits."
Such feelings notwithstanding, all these years later Jim is firm on
one point "Charles M. Schulz was the greatest comic strip artist ever."
And although he certainly couldn’t have known it at the time, Jim
never again would earn his living as a cartoonist.
Before, during and after his working association with Schulz, Jim
played around with many of his own ideas.
If persistence counts for anything, he deserves considerable credit
for his ongoing efforts to sell "Joe Cipher" ("a character kinda based
on me"), a daily strip that underwent quite a few transmutations during
the decade-plus that he tried to place it with a syndicate.
The character first appeared in a sample series of daily strips Jim
produced in late 1949. The strip’s gentle humor is faintly reminiscent
of "Gasoline Alley" and other character-driven work of the era; the
title character is introduced driving an old jalopy that obligingly runs
out of gas at a filling station. The silver-tongued Joe, lacking any
money, eventually impresses the station owner into offering him a job;
Joe celebrates by stepping into a nearby diner for lunch, where he’s
immediately smitten by the young woman behind the counter, and...
...and that’s where the presentation panels concluded.
Perhaps feeling that the strip lacked dramatic impact, a few years
later -- while still at AIS -- Jim tried again, shifting the action to a
tiny island in the middle of the ocean, where the shipwrecked Joe is
joined by an attractive young woman named Ginny, survivor of a second
sea-going calamity. (What are the odds?) Although their relationship is
mildly prickly for the first few days, Ginny eventually wishes aloud
that they could be rescued, so that she can go on a "proper date" with
Joe, and perhaps even kiss him when the evening concludes. Once again,
the story cut off abruptly, as Jim produced just two weeks’ worth of
strips enough to (hopefully) interest a buyer.
Sasseville tried several times to place a comic strip starring Joe Cipher, the pleasant-looking chap
featured in these examples. The two left-most strips are taken from the first run Sasseville designed on his own;
the two right-most strips, starring the same character but
in a different setting, are from Sasseville's third
test run; Charles Schulz contributed story input on these.
(Click on the image to see an enlarged version.)
After getting back from his return hitch in the Navy, Jim
went back to work on Joe Cipher and got a nibble from an
unexpected quarter: Something about this particular setting
touched Schulz, who suggested they collaborate on yet
a third incarnation of "Joe Cipher." (At the time, both men still were
unmarried, and it’s not hard to see a little male fantasy
wish-fulfillment at work.) With narrative input from Schulz and Jim
handling the art chores, the scene shifted again, this time to a
typically romantic South Seas setting, on an island large enough to
support a population of curvaceous young cuties and at least one
villain. Joe and Ginny remained the central focus, but this time the
former saw genuine action, on the receiving end of the villain’s fists.
Schulz and Jim took this newest version of "Joe Cipher" to United
Features Syndicate in spring of 1954; it was turned down flat. The
trip to New York wasn't a complete waste, though, because Sasseville
and Schulz caught a couple of plays: a T.S. Elliot drama called
Confidential Clerk, and another called The King of
Hearts, which starred Jackie Cooper as (what are the odds?)
a cartoonist!
Sasseville also remembers going from suite to suite in New
York's Waldorf hotel during this trip, visiting one cartoonist
after another; meeting Al Capp was a high point. But at least
part of the reason for the trip -- the newest Joe Cipher -- proved
unsellable, and Schulz bowed out at that point.
When Jim finally returned to "Joe Cipher," the 1950s were almost
over. Jim’s association with "Peanuts" and "It’s Only a Game" had
concluded, so the writer/artist returned to his favorite unsold
property. Jim recast his hero in yet another new setting, this time a
business office populated by characters clearly derived from his days at
Art Instruction. Although the sample panels display even cleaner, more
attractive line work -- a sure sign of his growing comfort as an artist
-- Jim had no better luck this time around.
Still refusing to abandon hope, Jim tried one more time In early
1960, after having moved to Berkeley, he once again changed the setting
completely, and turned Joe Cipher into "Sir Joe." This Arthurian-based
concept focused on genuinely whimsical gags involving heavy armor,
maidens in distress, and fire-breathing dragons. Jim’s dragons are
particularly funny, and this newest reboot seems ripe with
possibilities; it’s not at all hard to envision a daily strip evolving
from these samples.
Alas, syndicates once again failed to see any potential, and "Joe
Cipher" was put into Jim’s trunk as no more than another engaging
footnote in the artist’s collection of rejection slips.
Jim didn’t confine his efforts to "Joe Cipher"; the writer/artist
had no shortage of ideas, quite a few of which also wound up as
submission concepts. "Aunty Climax," produced in early 1957 -- just
prior to Jim’s ghost work for Dell comics -- was a single-panel gag
strip that starred a feisty little old lady who was far sharper than
most people assumed. She was based on Louise Cassidy, an AIS colleague
who also was the landlady for the building where Jim briefly lived with
Charles Cuddy. Jim produced a few dozen "Aunty Climax" panels, all of
which are vastly superior -- both in terms of writing and artwork -- to
many of the single-panel cartoons cluttering today’s newspapers.
"Confessions of a French Poodle" was a 1959 concept that didn’t
emerge much further than a few finished panels and lots of pencil
sketches; Jim good-naturedly admits that the idea went nowhere, and so
he abandoned it. That may have been shrewd market analysis, as the
medium never has lacked for dog-oriented material. Even so, French
poodles are funny in their own right, and Jim’s concept sketches are a
hoot.
When not working on Peanuts-related material, Sasseville tried to sell many of his own strip ideas
to a syndicate. From left to right, these examples are "Aunty Climax," "Friends and Foes," "Alpha-Betty" and "Happy Birthday."
(Click on the image to see an enlarged version.)
"Friends and Foes," another single-panel tryout, also emerged from
Jim’s pen in 1959. A little later, shortly after he started putting food
on the table with a "real job" -- and perhaps motivated by the explosion
of children’s television shows, which eventually led to "Sesame Street"
and everything that followed -- Jim tried a kid-oriented educational
strip called "Alpha-Betty," which starred a little girl who finds
herself in an other-worldly land populated by men and women shaped like
letters of the alphabet. The personalities of these individuals were
defined by their appearance; curved female letters, for example, were
far more sultry that straight female letters. The strip has a lovely
"Alice in Wonderland" quality, although the concept may have seemed
limiting.
Jim later played with the medium in "Blackboard," a daily strip
designed to be white-on-black, to imitate chalk on a classroom
blackboard. The stars were Dick, Jane and their TeacheR; although not as
overly educational as "Alpha-Betty," this strip also was aimed at young
audiences.
Jim’s final attempt at syndication was produced in the early 1970s,
after he first went into research hibernation, jotting down enough
celebrity birthdays to fill every day of a calendar year. The resulting
single-panel strips were a precursor to the "On this day in history..."
informational nuggets that have become so ubiquitous The panel for
March 28, for example, illustrated and revealed a few choice facts about
orchestra leader Paul Whiteman. March 29 was devoted to President John
Tyler, while Francisco Goya was featured on March 30.
Sadly, this fared no better with syndicators than any of the
others. "Joe Cipher," "Aunty Climax," "Confessions of a French Poodle,"
"Friends and Foes," "Alpha-Betty," "Blackboard" and "Birthdays" exist only
in Jim’s carefully preserved office files. More’s the pity, because even
the weakest of these strips displays a Puckish wit and clean, attractive
line work too often absent from many of the rushed, imitative strips
that generate little more than reader apathy these days.
Following the dust-up with Schulz and the move to Berkeley, Helga
-- who was delighted by the more rarefied atmosphere of a university
community -- became the family bread-winner. She took a job with a
German importer/exporter and commuted daily across the Bay Bridge.
Eventually succumbing to the need for steady employment, in April
1960 Jim took a job as a graphic designer with Varian, one of the
leading radar companies, located in California’s greater San Francisco
Bay Area. The fit proved comfortable, and he remained with the company
until he retired in 1990.
But the career shift wasn’t immediate; Jim first spent most of 1959
working up his own aforementioned comic strip proposals, and
occasionally sold individual gag cartoons to magazines. But his New
York-based agent took 35% of those one-shots.
"That’s when I started with Varian," Jim recalls, with a chuckle.
"I knew I’d never make it as a gag cartoonist."
Be that as it may, Jim never stopped his cartooning efforts; while
at Varian, he became famous for the birthday cards that he drew for
fellow employees.
Helga, meanwhile, got a job at Stanford, which prompted another
move; the couple then purchased their first home in 1960, in Mountain
View.
Three years later, they moved for what would be the last time. Jim
and his wife paid $28,000 for the house that remains his home to this
day. Just last year the retired artist was offered a cool million bucks
-- in cash -- by a dot-commer who wanted to develop the property. Still
loyal to the memories of his wife, with which the house is filled, Jim
politely declined. Helga died in 1995; he clearly still misses her.
Today, Parkinson’s Disease and the recent stroke have conspired to
deliver the ultimate nightmare Jim no longer can hold a pen well enough
to draw. ("I always marveled at Sparky’s ability to incorporate his
shaking hand into his line work.") But his mind and memory remain
acutely sharp, and his Puckish sense of humor is unbowed. He speaks with
clarity and certainty of his years at Art Instruction School, and with
Schulz, and of his never-successful efforts to market his own original
material.
Jim remains philosophical about his life, and in fact composed
another of his verses to express such feelings
I’m all for equal measures
Losses should be matched by gain;
And since I’ve missed life’s pleasures,
I’ll just double up with pain!
Definitely too harsh, but then we’re always hardest on ourselves.
Jim Sasseville deserves far more than the obscurity into which he has
settled; for a time, he was allied with the man who would become the
world’s most successful cartoonist, and for a time he helped chaperone
the faithfully rendered adventures of Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Linus, Lucy
and the rest ... no small feat.
And I’m particularly transfixed by a remark Jim made during one of
our later phone calls "I don’t know how one should behave, in a
situation like this," he said, referring to our ongoing conversations,
"but it’s like I’ve been resurrected."
Perhaps this article will kick-start our long-overdue obligation to
sing his praises.
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Jim never lost his art-school fascination with centaurs and nudes,
and many of his sketchpad pages are filled with fetchingly unclad
cuties. Hiring and drawing undraped models was fairly common among Jim
and his colleagues, although not quite all of his colleagues "I can’t
remember Sparky taking any part in that whatsoever."
Such figure studies also sparked Jim’s impish literary talents,
honed by a life-long fascination with poetry (T.S. Eliot’s "Distracted
from distraction by distraction" remains a personal mantra).
Jim still recalls many of his favorite invented verses, such as
this one, which would have been loved by Ogden Nash
A centaur met a mermaid, as he trotted by the sea;
She noticed not his heavy hooves, nor he her single knee,
As they lingered there, expelling time with heart-inspired chatter
The direction of their love so strong ... bottoms didn’t matter!
Jim’s tenure at Art Instruction was interrupted in mid 1952, when
Uncle Sam tapped his shoulder again. The Korean War was underway, and
those who previously had served less than a full year were being
recalled ... so those two days shy of a year forced a second hitch that
lasted through 1954.
"I was sent to the Philippines," Jim notes dryly, thinking back to
all the Lesson No. 5 submissions that he had graded, "so I certainly saw
the Orient."
This second 14-month hitch of active duty certainly wasn’t wasted,
in terms of Jim’s artistic skills; he worked for an Irish Catholic
chaplain and did a weekly mimeographed newspaper for U.S. Naval Mobile
Construction Battalion 9 ("I was drawing cartoons up the gazoo"). The
unit’s 1952-53 Cruise Book features a great full-page Jim illustration
on Page 33; titled "Cubi Point, P.I.," it shows five sailors watching a
dog face off with a monkey.
Jim’s relationship with Father John James Kileen never was dull, in
part because the artist was a lapsed Catholic.
"He worked the hell out of me, but then he’d always invite me into
his quarters for a nip, and then try to entice me back into the fold."
After his second stint in the Navy concluded, Jim returned to
civilian life (this time for good), and to Art Instruction Schools,
where he and Schulz picked up where they’d left off. In between grading
assignments and sketching his office buddies, Jim placed a few gag
cartoons in magazines, such as a droll three-panel sequence of a guy
having trouble with a jack, while attempting to fix a flat tire, which
appeared on Page 45 of the August 1957 issue of Gent, a
long-discontinued men’s magazine.
Jim met Helga, his future wife, as a result of his Navy friendship
with Charles Cuddy. She had immigrated to the United States when
sponsored by a South Dakota politician and his family ("mostly for slave
labor," Jim perceptively remarks); Helga was unfamiliar with the farm
environment, and decamped for Minneapolis as soon as she could. She
entered the University of Minnesota with a vengeance; her half-Jewish
heritage had kept her out of institutions of higher learning in her
native Germany.
She also enrolled in art school and wound up in one class being
taught by Dave Ratner, a colleague and friend with whom Jim went to art
school; she also landed in some of the same classes as Cuddy, who for a
time shared a boarding house attic ("a garret") with Jim. Since this
colony of Minneapolis artists wasn’t all that large, it was inevitable
that Jim and Helga would meet. ("Destiny," he happily acknowledges.)
They married in 1956.
"I’d just bought a brand-new Mercury," Jim remembers, with a
chuckle, "and I had to get rid of it when we got married, because Helga
couldn’t drive a stick-shift."
Within a few short months, Sasseville’s life turned around again,
when he became the best of Schulz’s never-credited "Peanuts" ghosts.
Whenever asked, Charles Schulz would repeat the statement that
became ubiquitous Unlike those involved with other "assembly-line"
newspaper comic strips, he remained the only person whose hands touched
the adventures of Charlie Brown and the gang. Schulz wrote, drew, inked
and lettered his strip, and did so during the entire run October 2,
1950, to February 13, 2000. Schulz always insisted that the strip would
cease production when he finally called it quits, a wish that his family
has honored. Unlike other classic strips that have been revived, often
by lesser talents, "Peanuts" will forevermore remain solely a Schulz
legacy.
Except ... that’s not entirely true.
During the 1950s and early ’60s, Charlie Brown and his friends
didn’t just appear in newspaper strips; they also were a popular feature
of comic books ... a medium usually dominated by the likes of Superman
and Captain America, but one that included plenty of room for lighter
fare.
And -- surprise, surprise! -- when the "Peanuts" comic book
appearances stopped being newspaper reprints and "graduated" into
original features in 1957, sharp-eyed fans probably could discern that
somebody other than Sparky Schulz was doing the artwork.
To keep the chronology consistent, let’s turn back the clock to
1952, when "Peanuts" simultaneously debuted as a supporting feature in
two comic books -- the March-April issues of Tip Top Comics (#173) and
United Comics (#21) -- both published by United Feature Syndicate, which
routinely recycled many of its newspaper features in these and other
comic books. The "Peanuts" supporting feature moved into a third book,
Tip Topper, beginning with #17 (June-July 1952); it remained there until
the book was discontinued after #28 (April-May 1954). Shortly before
this final issue of Tip Topper, "Peanuts" returned to Tip Top as a
supporting feature, beginning with #184 (Jan.-Feb. 1954) and continuing
through #188 (Sept.-Oct. 1954). Several of these later issues feature
gorgeous Peanuts covers, which -- although not signed -- appear to be by
Schulz.
"Peanuts" also appeared, during this same period, as a back-up
feature in most issues of United Comics, later retitled Fritzi Ritz
(beginning with #27). The run here also was consecutive #21-#33 (the
latter dated March-April 1954). Stray issues of Sparkler Comics and
Sparkle Comics also included some "Peanuts" reprints, although not on a
regular basis.
UFS got out of the comic book publishing business at the end of
1954, and some of its titles were picked up by St. John in 1955,
including Fritzi Ritz and Tip Top. Despite a noticeable gap of several
months, the numbering of both books continued consecutively. Thus, Tip
Top resumed with #189 (May 1955), and continued to include "Peanuts" as
a supporting feature during St. John’s entire run of this book, through
#210 (July 1957). "Peanuts" was only an occasional supporting feature in
St. John’s run of Fritzi Ritz, starting with #37 (July 1955) and
continuing through #55. Finally, at least one issue of Nancy -- #142
(March 1957) -- also featured Peanuts reprints.
Big changes came in late 1957, and not just because St. John
abandoned these books and turned them over to Dell Comics (Western
Publishing). After a delay of several months to half a year -- depending
on the title -- Dell revived the flagship St. John titles, again with
consecutive numbering. Thus, Tip Top #211 returned as a quarterly with a
cover date of Nov. 1957-Jan. 1958. Fritzi Ritz resumed with #56, dated
Dec. 1957-Feb. 1958.
Under Dell’s stewardship, Charlie Brown and the gang also became a
regular supporting feature in Nancy, beginning with #146 (Sept. 1957).
The biggest change, however, concerned the content in all three books.
When Dell took over, the covers promised "All brand-new stories" ... and
they meant it.
"Peanuts" fans spotted the change in Nancy #146, which boasted a
four-page story with a baseball theme, clearly produced by Schulz
himself (although unsigned); Jim confirms Sparky’s linework. But Schulz
quickly realized that producing four full pages of original art for
Nancy on a monthly basis, not to mention similar duties for the
quarterly Tip Top and Fritzi Ritz, would be more than he was willing to
handle. Then, too, he was only months away from debuting his own second
newspaper strip, "It’s Only a Game" (about which more below).
Schulz allowed Dell’s house art department to handle his characters
in Nancy #147, but was unhappy with the results. (No surprise; the art
is quite weak.) Schulz stepped in again for issue #148, but the workload
problem hadn’t changed. Wanting greater fidelity to his own style,
Schulz turned to Jim, who took over the reins with issue #149 and
continued through #168 (July 1959). Jim essentially became Schulz’s
employee and was paid $100 per week for this work; since he was making
only $80 per week at Art Instruction, this -- along with the even higher
paycheck he’d soon receive, for helping Schulz with "It’s Only a Game"
-- was a substantial raise.
As a ghosting assignment, the results are impressive. Charlie Brown
and Linus’ heads are notoriously difficult to reproduce in Schulz’s
signature style, but Jim came damn close. More to the point, the
characters are posed and conduct themselves in a way that’s absolutely
typical of their behavior in Sparky’s newspaper strip. Art purists may
have noticed that Jim wasn’t Schulz, but casual readers were unlikely to
have detected the difference.
The four-page story above is taken from Nancy #151, February 1958.
(Click on the pages to enlarge them.)
"He gave me carte blanche on writing them, and I felt like a
faithful uncle," Jim says, with no small amount of pride at his ability
to reproduce Charlie Brown and the gang.
Although Jim’s take on the "Peanuts" gang in Nancy #149 was the
first to reach fans, it was not the ghost artist’s debut crack at
Charlie Brown. Jim’s first completed "Peanuts" comic book adventure was
"The Trip," one of a quartet of eight-page stories (packaged with three
one-page stories) that eventually appeared as issue #878 (Feb. 1958) of
Dell’s Four Color Comics, an "umbrella title" that rotated various
stars; this issue, boasting a gorgeous signed Schulz cover, was the
first one devoted to "Peanuts."
Ever the imp, Jim inserted a personal reference into "The Trip."
The number on the dog license that Charlie Brown uses -- 891-68-14 -- to
justify his getting behind the wheel of a station wagon, was the
artist’s Navy serial number.
Jim also did the work in the Fritzi Ritz and Tip Top issues during
this time, and it’s important to note that he had a completely free rein
with these comic book stories, handling both art and writing chores.
Fritzi Ritz lasted only four issues under the Dell label, before
being discontinued after #59 (Sept.-Nov. 1958). "Peanuts" did not appear
in #56, but each of the remaining three issues included a new four-page
story by Jim. He also handled the work for Tip Top #211 through #215
(Nov. 1958-Jan. 1959). In Tip Top, Charlie Brown and his friends shared
covers with Nancy, Sluggo, and the Captain and the Kids. Although
unsigned, Schulz drew these "Peanuts" cover panels for issues 211-213,
and Jim handled 214 and 215.
Sasseville did the Peanuts art in these issues of Tip Top, #214 and #215.
(Click on the pages to enlarge them.)
All told, then, Jim drew the interior stories in 20 issues of
Nancy, three issues of Fritzi Ritz, and five issues of Tip Top, along
with Four Color #878. This relationship with Schulz and Dell Comics took
an unexpected turn when the two men parted unhappily, and Jim’s final
work for Dell was the long kite story in the second all-"Peanuts" issue
of Four Color Comics (#969, Feb. 1959), along with the inside front and
inside back cover one-pagers.
The completion of that particular issue became something of a
marathon art session. After announcing that he and Helga would be moving
to Berkeley, Jim took stock of the pending Dell workload, and discovered
that the deadline for the second all-Peanuts issue of Four Color Comics
was imminent. Jim promised to finish this before the move, but Sparky
suggested that the job would proceed faster if they worked on it
together. The two men thus divided the work between them, and began
early one morning with what turned into a lengthy session stretching
well into the evening. During that time, Jim completed the
aforementioned two one-page stories and one eight-page story, while
Sparky handled the remaining one-page story and THREE eight-page
stories.
"There’s no doubt who was the faster artist," Jim notes, with a
chuckle. "He certainly put me in my place!"
Jim still remembers that session as a euphoric rush ... but it
concluded on a gloomy note, when, resting in the happy afterglow of a
job well done, Schulz revealed the fate of "It’s Only a Game" (see
below).
In the aftermath, Schulz also stepped in and handled all the work
for Nancy #169 (August 1959). Clearly, this was a rush job, and Schulz
borrowed from himself The final panel of this four-page story is almost
identical to the final panel of the June 23, 1957, "Peanuts" Sunday
strip. The comic book storyline is an expansion of that Sunday strip,
and the aforementioned final panel in the comic book is signed by Schulz
... the only case where any interior comic book stories bear his
signature.
Because the split was far from amicable, Jim did not follow the
subsequent comic book adventures of Charlie Brown and his friends, in
Nancy and Tip Top. On close examination just a few weeks ago -- in many
cases, seeing this work for the first time -- Jim pointed to specific
poses, characteristics and lettering attributes ("Sparky always rounded
out the bottoms of his W’s") that leave him convinced that Schulz either
penciled and inked the next several issues of both Nancy and Tip Top, or
at least roughed in the panel layout, inked the primary characters --
particularly their heads -- and lettered the word balloons. This seems
likely; carefully examination of individual pages reveals an occasional
Snoopy or Lucy which, not matching the rest, clearly must have been
inked by somebody else.
But Dale Hale, Schulz’s new apprentice and ghost -- and another
associate from Art Instruction Schools -- caught on quickly, and the
artwork in both books retained its Schulz-like characteristics through
roughly late 1960 or early 1961. At this point, other hands clearly took
over -- possibly Tony Pocrnick, another Schulz associate from Art
Instruction -- and the "Peanuts" characters became ever-more distant
from the Schulz ideal until the final issues of Tip Top (#225, May-July
1961) and Nancy. (By then the latter had been retitled Nancy and Sluggo,
and its final five issues were released under the Gold Key imprint; the
book was discontinued with issue #192, October 1963.) The "Peanuts"
artwork in the last issues of both books is, in a word, dreadful.
A third all-"Peanuts" issue of Four Color Comics was produced
(#1015, August-October 1959), after which the characters got their own
book that began with issue #4 (Feb.-April 1960), by way of acknowledging
those first three appearances in Four Color Comics. This lasted through
#13 (May-July 1962), after which the book was discontinued. Each of
these issues features a signed Schulz cover, but other hands --
certainly Hale, at first -- handled all the interior artwork and writing
(which, as with the latter issues of Nancy and Tip Top, grew less
Schulz-like over time).
But what had happened, to sever the friendship between Schulz and
Jim, which stretched back a decade?
Bouncing back a year or so...
Although already quite popular and gaining fans -- and syndicate
clients -- all the time, in 1957 "Peanuts" was not yet the multimedia
sensation it was to become within another decade. Schulz must have had
some free time that needed filling, and therefore was comfortable with
the concept of pitching a second strip concept to United Features
Syndicate. The artist had lots of ideas about games near and dear to his
heart, including golf, tennis, baseball and bridge. No doubt realizing
that twice as much Schulz per week was a good thing, UFS jumped at the
chance, and the sports and recreation-themed "It’s Only a Game" was
born. For awhile, Schulz joined later stars such as Johnny Hart ("B.C."
and "The Wizard of Id"), Mell Lazarus ("Miss Peach" and "Momma") and
Jerry Scott ("Baby Blues" and "Zits"), with two newspaper strips running
simultaneously.
Each installment of "It’s Only a Game, by Charles M. Schulz,"
hearkening back to Schulz’s very early work on "Li’l Folks" in The St.
Paul Pioneer Press, was comprised of three separate single-panel gag
strips. The package was offered to clients in two different formats as
three single-panel strips per week, to run on Mondays, Wednesdays and
Fridays; or as a combined grouping of three that would appear in Sunday
comics sections. The combined Sunday grouping also had a bonus fourth
cartoon a tiny, captionless visual gag -- very much like the
intermarginal gags that Sergio Aragonés would pepper throughout future
issues of Mad Magazine -- that appeared to the right of the title and
Schulz’s byline. The subject matter of the Monday and Wednesday panels
varied from week to week, but the Friday installment always centered
around bridge, the then-popular card game that Schulz loved. (Further
evidence of this affection could be seen in "Peanuts," where the kids
routinely played the game in the early 1950s, and Woodstock and a
foursome of his bird buddies picked it up in the 1970s and beyond.)
Charles Schulz did this January 12, 1958, "It's Only a Game" panel himself. Note his signature within the art of the right-most panel.
During an October 6, 1957, interview with Schulz, the Chicago
Tribune proudly boasted that it would be one of the flagship newspapers
to carry this new feature. The Tribune selected the weekly option, and
ran "It’s Only a Game" in its Sunday magazine. The debut installment
appeared November 3, 1957, and immediately set the tone for what would
follow, with panels devoted to boxing, golf and bridge. The middle panel
is a hoot, with a middle-aged duffer -- one easily can imagine Charlie
Brown in his 40s -- lamenting a putt that has left his ball perched at
the edge of the cup (but not in), and saying, "I think I’m going to
cry."
Subsequent installments covered checkers, bowling, curling (!),
table tennis, croquet, billiards, ice fishing, darts and even camping.
But as 1957 turned into 1958, something must have changed. Perhaps
Schulz had underestimated the amount of time involved with producing a
second weekly newspaper strip; maybe he also was spending more time than
expected overseeing the new "Peanuts" content in the Dell comic books.
Or, more likely, the "Peanuts" empire as a whole was occupying more of
his time; 1958 saw the production of the first "Peanuts" toys -- plastic
dolls of the major characters, produced by Hungerford -- and of course
this was just the tip of an approaching iceberg.
Whatever the reason, Schulz decided to hand over the lion’s share
of the artistic chores to Jim. Schulz’s solo involvement with "It’s Only
a Game" continued through the January 12, 1958, installment; this is the
last one to bear his signature on one of the cartoon panels. (Schulz’s
name continued to run alone in the masthead, however, making Jim a true
ghost.) As of January 19, 1958, Jim -- often working from hastily
penciled sketches and captions supplied by Schulz -- did all the
newspaper strip’s finished art and lettering.
Sasseville did this January 26, 1958, "It's Only a Game" panel himself. Note that Schulz's signature is nowhere to be seen within the art.
Jim vividly remembers this transition date, because just one week later,
with his second time at bat with the solo art chores, he was paid a
singular honor. That week’s Monday panel, a bowling strip, featured
three league players welcoming a fourth, apparently a little tardy, with
the exclamation of, "Three cheers, gang! Our number one man has
arrived!" A loyal reader sent UFS a black-and-white photo of himself
with three friends, staged to look precisely like the four figures in
Jim’s illustration. The "camera angle" was identical, along with
clothing, body position, and everything else in the frame. The
resemblance even extended to the men themselves, who had body shapes and
hairstyles eerily similar to those found in the panel art.
Jim still has the photo.
Sasseville received this photo recreation of his "It's Only a Game" gag from a fan. Note the date stamp at the top of the photo.
The degree to which Jim successfully imitated Schulz’s linework can
be seen by the fact that the transition was seamless; no casual reader
could have discerned that the hand on the inker’s pen had changed.
During the remainder of 1958, the two men continued to work in the same
fashion, Jim often finishing Schulz’s rough concepts, but also
contributing many of his own original ideas. He also inserted the
occasional personal reference; the boat from which a husband and wife
fish, in one of the June 29, 1958, panels, is the Helga, named after
Jim’s wife.
But Jim remembers that he never came up with any of the concepts
for Friday’s bridge panels, for the simple reason that he didn’t know
the game.
Although he labored in anonymity, Jim was well compensated
financially, and he still speaks appreciatively of Sparky’s generosity.
Schulz had negotiated for 50% of the strip’s income, the other half
going to UFS. This 50% amounted to slightly more than $500 per week;
when Jim came on board, Schulz generously gave half of HIS half to his
new partner, and so Jim brought home $250 per week (after expenses) for
his efforts ... quite a lot of money in 1958.
The two men were living in Minneapolis when this collaboration
began; after the first five months, in May 1958, Jim and his wife
followed the Schulz family to Northern California. Lacking a place to
stay in Sebastopol -- not to mention furniture and other amenities --
the Sassevilles first spent a couple of months a bit south, in Corta
Madera. "For two or three weeks, I drew the comic book stuff and ‘It’s
Only a Game’ on a portable drawing board. But I stayed in touch with
Sparky on the phone, and he supplied the ideas for ‘It’s Only a Game.’ "
The Sassevilles then found a home in Sebastopol. Between "It’s Only
a Game" and the work he also was doing for the "Peanuts" strips in the
Dell comic books, Jim was quite gainfully employed by his new partner
and boss.
Unfortunately, it was not to last.
"It’s Only a Game" began with 30 client newspapers; nearly a year
later, it had ... 30 client newspapers.
(A complete client list has been lost to the mists of time, although
it is known that the feature was carried by The Boston Globe, the Detroit
Free Press, The Chicago Tribune, The Minneapolis Tribune, the San Francisco
Chronicle and The Baltimore Sun.)
The strip never took off, despite strong support from fans such as
bridge expert Charles Goren (who wrote a couple of letters), and even
Schulz’s name didn’t seem to make much of a difference.
But we also can assume that the proud and perfectionist-minded
Schulz -- who in later years, as mentioned above, often made a point of
describing how in "Peanuts" he penciled and inked every line, and
lettered every word balloon -- probably was bothered by the fact that he
wasn’t similarly in sole control of "It’s Only a Game." To be sure, he
was INVOLVED, but he wasn’t actually drawing what appeared in those 30
client newspapers.
"He didn’t like his name being used on somebody else’s work," Jim
recalls, "and I don’t blame him for that."
That, coupled with moribund sales and some tension with the head
UFS salesman to whom Schulz initially had pitched the idea, eventually
prompted an astonishing decision In late 1958, just 12 months into a
solid five-year contract, Schulz made it plain to UFS that he wished to
discontinue "It’s Only a Game." Perhaps recognizing that the strip
wasn’t performing as hoped, UFS agreed.
Schulz did not consult Jim before taking this step; indeed, the
news came as a complete shock to Schulz’s ghost, who’d been very happy
with his work, and the strip, and the $250 per week.
Schulz even tried to sugar-coat the news "You’re off the hook,"
Jim recalls his employer saying (as if this were a GOOD thing), at the
end of that euphoric day when they finished work on the second
all-Peanuts issue of Dell’s Four Color Comics. Jim had just assured
Sparky that his pending move to Berkeley would not affect his ability to
work on "It’s Only a Game," and now the rug had been pulled out from
under him.
The fallout was immediate; it certainly was the final straw for
Helga, who already had been dissatisfied with their home in Sebastopol
-- hence the move to Berkeley -- and also was unhappy about the friction
that existed between her and Joyce, Schulz’s first wife. Helga had
endured Nazi Germany, survived the entire war -- in and out of work
camps -- and had lost her father at Dachau; she was not a woman to keep
opinions to herself.
"I realized I was working on a flawed product, which the creator
and marketer wanted nothing more to do with. Still, I had held out the
hope that maybe Sparky might offer the entire feature to me, although I
realized that there’d be problems with the syndicate," Jim admits, a
touch of wistfulness still clouding the memory after more than 40 years.
"They should have been pretty familiar with my work by then."
It didn’t happen. By the time the final installment of "It’s Only a
Game" appeared, on January 11, 1959 -- the two always had worked six
weeks ahead -- Jim and Schulz had severed all relations, professional
and personal. This also included Jim’s ghosting work on the Dell comic
books. The split was permanent, and the two men never reconciled.
Although "It’s Only a Game" ran for 63 consecutive weeks, it
quickly became a fading memory -- and then an overlooked footnote -- in
Schulz’s career. He rarely mentioned it during later interviews, and
then only obliquely, citing neither date specifics nor his collaboration
with Jim.
"We were the best of friends at first," Jim recalls ruefully. He
happily remembers attending the 1951 National Cartoonists Convention
with Sparky, and also another time when they both went to visit and swap
stories with a fellow artist, Robert M. Brinkerhoff, who lived in
Minneapolis and was known for a newspaper strip called "Little Mary
Mix-Up." Brinkerhoff, in turn -- like many other cartoonists at that
time -- greatly admired J.R. Williams (creator of "Out Our Way"), whom
he once described as "the greatest cowboy ever to walk the streets of
New York." Brinkerhoff related how he had wheedled, begged and finally
finagled an invitation to Williams’ ranch in Montana. Although only
interested in seeing the fabulous studio that he assumed his idol must
have on so massive a spread, Brinkerhoff first had to put up with being
shown all the livestock and the other attractions of a working ranch. As
the visit stretched on, Brinkerhoff finally couldn’t stand it any longer
and demanded to see where Williams did his work.
With a resigned sigh (as Jim recalls Brinkerhoff describing this
incident), Williams walked over to his wife’s sewing machine, took off
the cover, and flipped it over ... and that was it The great J.R.
Williams did all his drawing on the cover of his wife’s sewing machine.
As others have observed, there’s never any reason to embrace
technology or an environment any fancier than that required to get the
job done.
Cartoonists love to talk shop, and Jim’s no different; merely
relating this little tale brings a sparkle into his eyes. And, to this
day, he doesn’t really understand what happened between him and Schulz.
"I feel kind of weird about all this. Sparky obviously wanted me to
succeed in the early days, and even was willing to collaborate with me
on one of my own projects (one of the many variations of "Joe Cipher,"
discussed below). But then when he had a chance to really help me out,
he didn’t make any effort whatsoever ... and left me in rather dire
straits."
Such feelings notwithstanding, all these years later Jim is firm on
one point "Charles M. Schulz was the greatest comic strip artist ever."
And although he certainly couldn’t have known it at the time, Jim
never again would earn his living as a cartoonist.
Before, during and after his working association with Schulz, Jim
played around with many of his own ideas.
If persistence counts for anything, he deserves considerable credit
for his ongoing efforts to sell "Joe Cipher" ("a character kinda based
on me"), a daily strip that underwent quite a few transmutations during
the decade-plus that he tried to place it with a syndicate.
The character first appeared in a sample series of daily strips Jim
produced in late 1949. The strip’s gentle humor is faintly reminiscent
of "Gasoline Alley" and other character-driven work of the era; the
title character is introduced driving an old jalopy that obligingly runs
out of gas at a filling station. The silver-tongued Joe, lacking any
money, eventually impresses the station owner into offering him a job;
Joe celebrates by stepping into a nearby diner for lunch, where he’s
immediately smitten by the young woman behind the counter, and...
...and that’s where the presentation panels concluded.
Perhaps feeling that the strip lacked dramatic impact, a few years
later -- while still at AIS -- Jim tried again, shifting the action to a
tiny island in the middle of the ocean, where the shipwrecked Joe is
joined by an attractive young woman named Ginny, survivor of a second
sea-going calamity. (What are the odds?) Although their relationship is
mildly prickly for the first few days, Ginny eventually wishes aloud
that they could be rescued, so that she can go on a "proper date" with
Joe, and perhaps even kiss him when the evening concludes. Once again,
the story cut off abruptly, as Jim produced just two weeks’ worth of
strips enough to (hopefully) interest a buyer.
Sasseville tried several times to place a comic strip starring Joe Cipher, the pleasant-looking chap
featured in these examples. The two left-most strips are taken from the first run Sasseville designed on his own;
the two right-most strips, starring the same character but
in a different setting, are from Sasseville's third
test run; Charles Schulz contributed story input on these.
(Click on the image to see an enlarged version.)
After getting back from his return hitch in the Navy, Jim
went back to work on Joe Cipher and got a nibble from an
unexpected quarter: Something about this particular setting
touched Schulz, who suggested they collaborate on yet
a third incarnation of "Joe Cipher." (At the time, both men still were
unmarried, and it’s not hard to see a little male fantasy
wish-fulfillment at work.) With narrative input from Schulz and Jim
handling the art chores, the scene shifted again, this time to a
typically romantic South Seas setting, on an island large enough to
support a population of curvaceous young cuties and at least one
villain. Joe and Ginny remained the central focus, but this time the
former saw genuine action, on the receiving end of the villain’s fists.
Schulz and Jim took this newest version of "Joe Cipher" to United
Features Syndicate in spring of 1954; it was turned down flat. The
trip to New York wasn't a complete waste, though, because Sasseville
and Schulz caught a couple of plays: a T.S. Elliot drama called
Confidential Clerk, and another called The King of
Hearts, which starred Jackie Cooper as (what are the odds?)
a cartoonist!
Sasseville also remembers going from suite to suite in New
York's Waldorf hotel during this trip, visiting one cartoonist
after another; meeting Al Capp was a high point. But at least
part of the reason for the trip -- the newest Joe Cipher -- proved
unsellable, and Schulz bowed out at that point.
When Jim finally returned to "Joe Cipher," the 1950s were almost
over. Jim’s association with "Peanuts" and "It’s Only a Game" had
concluded, so the writer/artist returned to his favorite unsold
property. Jim recast his hero in yet another new setting, this time a
business office populated by characters clearly derived from his days at
Art Instruction. Although the sample panels display even cleaner, more
attractive line work -- a sure sign of his growing comfort as an artist
-- Jim had no better luck this time around.
Still refusing to abandon hope, Jim tried one more time In early
1960, after having moved to Berkeley, he once again changed the setting
completely, and turned Joe Cipher into "Sir Joe." This Arthurian-based
concept focused on genuinely whimsical gags involving heavy armor,
maidens in distress, and fire-breathing dragons. Jim’s dragons are
particularly funny, and this newest reboot seems ripe with
possibilities; it’s not at all hard to envision a daily strip evolving
from these samples.
Alas, syndicates once again failed to see any potential, and "Joe
Cipher" was put into Jim’s trunk as no more than another engaging
footnote in the artist’s collection of rejection slips.
Jim didn’t confine his efforts to "Joe Cipher"; the writer/artist
had no shortage of ideas, quite a few of which also wound up as
submission concepts. "Aunty Climax," produced in early 1957 -- just
prior to Jim’s ghost work for Dell comics -- was a single-panel gag
strip that starred a feisty little old lady who was far sharper than
most people assumed. She was based on Louise Cassidy, an AIS colleague
who also was the landlady for the building where Jim briefly lived with
Charles Cuddy. Jim produced a few dozen "Aunty Climax" panels, all of
which are vastly superior -- both in terms of writing and artwork -- to
many of the single-panel cartoons cluttering today’s newspapers.
"Confessions of a French Poodle" was a 1959 concept that didn’t
emerge much further than a few finished panels and lots of pencil
sketches; Jim good-naturedly admits that the idea went nowhere, and so
he abandoned it. That may have been shrewd market analysis, as the
medium never has lacked for dog-oriented material. Even so, French
poodles are funny in their own right, and Jim’s concept sketches are a
hoot.
When not working on Peanuts-related material, Sasseville tried to sell many of his own strip ideas
to a syndicate. From left to right, these examples are "Aunty Climax," "Friends and Foes," "Alpha-Betty" and "Happy Birthday."
(Click on the image to see an enlarged version.)
"Friends and Foes," another single-panel tryout, also emerged from
Jim’s pen in 1959. A little later, shortly after he started putting food
on the table with a "real job" -- and perhaps motivated by the explosion
of children’s television shows, which eventually led to "Sesame Street"
and everything that followed -- Jim tried a kid-oriented educational
strip called "Alpha-Betty," which starred a little girl who finds
herself in an other-worldly land populated by men and women shaped like
letters of the alphabet. The personalities of these individuals were
defined by their appearance; curved female letters, for example, were
far more sultry that straight female letters. The strip has a lovely
"Alice in Wonderland" quality, although the concept may have seemed
limiting.
Jim later played with the medium in "Blackboard," a daily strip
designed to be white-on-black, to imitate chalk on a classroom
blackboard. The stars were Dick, Jane and their TeacheR; although not as
overly educational as "Alpha-Betty," this strip also was aimed at young
audiences.
Jim’s final attempt at syndication was produced in the early 1970s,
after he first went into research hibernation, jotting down enough
celebrity birthdays to fill every day of a calendar year. The resulting
single-panel strips were a precursor to the "On this day in history..."
informational nuggets that have become so ubiquitous The panel for
March 28, for example, illustrated and revealed a few choice facts about
orchestra leader Paul Whiteman. March 29 was devoted to President John
Tyler, while Francisco Goya was featured on March 30.
Sadly, this fared no better with syndicators than any of the
others. "Joe Cipher," "Aunty Climax," "Confessions of a French Poodle,"
"Friends and Foes," "Alpha-Betty," "Blackboard" and "Birthdays" exist only
in Jim’s carefully preserved office files. More’s the pity, because even
the weakest of these strips displays a Puckish wit and clean, attractive
line work too often absent from many of the rushed, imitative strips
that generate little more than reader apathy these days.
Following the dust-up with Schulz and the move to Berkeley, Helga
-- who was delighted by the more rarefied atmosphere of a university
community -- became the family bread-winner. She took a job with a
German importer/exporter and commuted daily across the Bay Bridge.
Eventually succumbing to the need for steady employment, in April
1960 Jim took a job as a graphic designer with Varian, one of the
leading radar companies, located in California’s greater San Francisco
Bay Area. The fit proved comfortable, and he remained with the company
until he retired in 1990.
But the career shift wasn’t immediate; Jim first spent most of 1959
working up his own aforementioned comic strip proposals, and
occasionally sold individual gag cartoons to magazines. But his New
York-based agent took 35% of those one-shots.
"That’s when I started with Varian," Jim recalls, with a chuckle.
"I knew I’d never make it as a gag cartoonist."
Be that as it may, Jim never stopped his cartooning efforts; while
at Varian, he became famous for the birthday cards that he drew for
fellow employees.
Helga, meanwhile, got a job at Stanford, which prompted another
move; the couple then purchased their first home in 1960, in Mountain
View.
Three years later, they moved for what would be the last time. Jim
and his wife paid $28,000 for the house that remains his home to this
day. Just last year the retired artist was offered a cool million bucks
-- in cash -- by a dot-commer who wanted to develop the property. Still
loyal to the memories of his wife, with which the house is filled, Jim
politely declined. Helga died in 1995; he clearly still misses her.
Today, Parkinson’s Disease and the recent stroke have conspired to
deliver the ultimate nightmare Jim no longer can hold a pen well enough
to draw. ("I always marveled at Sparky’s ability to incorporate his
shaking hand into his line work.") But his mind and memory remain
acutely sharp, and his Puckish sense of humor is unbowed. He speaks with
clarity and certainty of his years at Art Instruction School, and with
Schulz, and of his never-successful efforts to market his own original
material.
Jim remains philosophical about his life, and in fact composed
another of his verses to express such feelings
I’m all for equal measures
Losses should be matched by gain;
And since I’ve missed life’s pleasures,
I’ll just double up with pain!
Definitely too harsh, but then we’re always hardest on ourselves.
Jim Sasseville deserves far more than the obscurity into which he has
settled; for a time, he was allied with the man who would become the
world’s most successful cartoonist, and for a time he helped chaperone
the faithfully rendered adventures of Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Linus, Lucy
and the rest ... no small feat.
And I’m particularly transfixed by a remark Jim made during one of
our later phone calls "I don’t know how one should behave, in a
situation like this," he said, referring to our ongoing conversations,
"but it’s like I’ve been resurrected."
Perhaps this article will kick-start our long-overdue obligation to
sing his praises.
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Jim still recalls many of his favorite invented verses, such as
this one, which would have been loved by Ogden Nash
A centaur met a mermaid, as he trotted by the sea;
She noticed not his heavy hooves, nor he her single knee,
As they lingered there, expelling time with heart-inspired chatter
The direction of their love so strong ... bottoms didn’t matter!
Jim’s tenure at Art Instruction was interrupted in mid 1952, when
Uncle Sam tapped his shoulder again. The Korean War was underway, and
those who previously had served less than a full year were being
recalled ... so those two days shy of a year forced a second hitch that
lasted through 1954.
"I was sent to the Philippines," Jim notes dryly, thinking back to
all the Lesson No. 5 submissions that he had graded, "so I certainly saw
the Orient."
This second 14-month hitch of active duty certainly wasn’t wasted,
in terms of Jim’s artistic skills; he worked for an Irish Catholic
chaplain and did a weekly mimeographed newspaper for U.S. Naval Mobile
Construction Battalion 9 ("I was drawing cartoons up the gazoo"). The
unit’s 1952-53 Cruise Book features a great full-page Jim illustration
on Page 33; titled "Cubi Point, P.I.," it shows five sailors watching a
dog face off with a monkey.
Jim’s relationship with Father John James Kileen never was dull, in
part because the artist was a lapsed Catholic.
"He worked the hell out of me, but then he’d always invite me into
his quarters for a nip, and then try to entice me back into the fold."
After his second stint in the Navy concluded, Jim returned to
civilian life (this time for good), and to Art Instruction Schools,
where he and Schulz picked up where they’d left off. In between grading
assignments and sketching his office buddies, Jim placed a few gag
cartoons in magazines, such as a droll three-panel sequence of a guy
having trouble with a jack, while attempting to fix a flat tire, which
appeared on Page 45 of the August 1957 issue of Gent, a
long-discontinued men’s magazine.
Jim met Helga, his future wife, as a result of his Navy friendship
with Charles Cuddy. She had immigrated to the United States when
sponsored by a South Dakota politician and his family ("mostly for slave
labor," Jim perceptively remarks); Helga was unfamiliar with the farm
environment, and decamped for Minneapolis as soon as she could. She
entered the University of Minnesota with a vengeance; her half-Jewish
heritage had kept her out of institutions of higher learning in her
native Germany.
She also enrolled in art school and wound up in one class being
taught by Dave Ratner, a colleague and friend with whom Jim went to art
school; she also landed in some of the same classes as Cuddy, who for a
time shared a boarding house attic ("a garret") with Jim. Since this
colony of Minneapolis artists wasn’t all that large, it was inevitable
that Jim and Helga would meet. ("Destiny," he happily acknowledges.)
They married in 1956.
"I’d just bought a brand-new Mercury," Jim remembers, with a
chuckle, "and I had to get rid of it when we got married, because Helga
couldn’t drive a stick-shift."
Within a few short months, Sasseville’s life turned around again,
when he became the best of Schulz’s never-credited "Peanuts" ghosts.
Whenever asked, Charles Schulz would repeat the statement that
became ubiquitous Unlike those involved with other "assembly-line"
newspaper comic strips, he remained the only person whose hands touched
the adventures of Charlie Brown and the gang. Schulz wrote, drew, inked
and lettered his strip, and did so during the entire run October 2,
1950, to February 13, 2000. Schulz always insisted that the strip would
cease production when he finally called it quits, a wish that his family
has honored. Unlike other classic strips that have been revived, often
by lesser talents, "Peanuts" will forevermore remain solely a Schulz
legacy.
Except ... that’s not entirely true.
During the 1950s and early ’60s, Charlie Brown and his friends
didn’t just appear in newspaper strips; they also were a popular feature
of comic books ... a medium usually dominated by the likes of Superman
and Captain America, but one that included plenty of room for lighter
fare.
And -- surprise, surprise! -- when the "Peanuts" comic book
appearances stopped being newspaper reprints and "graduated" into
original features in 1957, sharp-eyed fans probably could discern that
somebody other than Sparky Schulz was doing the artwork.
To keep the chronology consistent, let’s turn back the clock to
1952, when "Peanuts" simultaneously debuted as a supporting feature in
two comic books -- the March-April issues of Tip Top Comics (#173) and
United Comics (#21) -- both published by United Feature Syndicate, which
routinely recycled many of its newspaper features in these and other
comic books. The "Peanuts" supporting feature moved into a third book,
Tip Topper, beginning with #17 (June-July 1952); it remained there until
the book was discontinued after #28 (April-May 1954). Shortly before
this final issue of Tip Topper, "Peanuts" returned to Tip Top as a
supporting feature, beginning with #184 (Jan.-Feb. 1954) and continuing
through #188 (Sept.-Oct. 1954). Several of these later issues feature
gorgeous Peanuts covers, which -- although not signed -- appear to be by
Schulz.
"Peanuts" also appeared, during this same period, as a back-up
feature in most issues of United Comics, later retitled Fritzi Ritz
(beginning with #27). The run here also was consecutive #21-#33 (the
latter dated March-April 1954). Stray issues of Sparkler Comics and
Sparkle Comics also included some "Peanuts" reprints, although not on a
regular basis.
UFS got out of the comic book publishing business at the end of
1954, and some of its titles were picked up by St. John in 1955,
including Fritzi Ritz and Tip Top. Despite a noticeable gap of several
months, the numbering of both books continued consecutively. Thus, Tip
Top resumed with #189 (May 1955), and continued to include "Peanuts" as
a supporting feature during St. John’s entire run of this book, through
#210 (July 1957). "Peanuts" was only an occasional supporting feature in
St. John’s run of Fritzi Ritz, starting with #37 (July 1955) and
continuing through #55. Finally, at least one issue of Nancy -- #142
(March 1957) -- also featured Peanuts reprints.
Big changes came in late 1957, and not just because St. John
abandoned these books and turned them over to Dell Comics (Western
Publishing). After a delay of several months to half a year -- depending
on the title -- Dell revived the flagship St. John titles, again with
consecutive numbering. Thus, Tip Top #211 returned as a quarterly with a
cover date of Nov. 1957-Jan. 1958. Fritzi Ritz resumed with #56, dated
Dec. 1957-Feb. 1958.
Under Dell’s stewardship, Charlie Brown and the gang also became a
regular supporting feature in Nancy, beginning with #146 (Sept. 1957).
The biggest change, however, concerned the content in all three books.
When Dell took over, the covers promised "All brand-new stories" ... and
they meant it.
"Peanuts" fans spotted the change in Nancy #146, which boasted a
four-page story with a baseball theme, clearly produced by Schulz
himself (although unsigned); Jim confirms Sparky’s linework. But Schulz
quickly realized that producing four full pages of original art for
Nancy on a monthly basis, not to mention similar duties for the
quarterly Tip Top and Fritzi Ritz, would be more than he was willing to
handle. Then, too, he was only months away from debuting his own second
newspaper strip, "It’s Only a Game" (about which more below).
Schulz allowed Dell’s house art department to handle his characters
in Nancy #147, but was unhappy with the results. (No surprise; the art
is quite weak.) Schulz stepped in again for issue #148, but the workload
problem hadn’t changed. Wanting greater fidelity to his own style,
Schulz turned to Jim, who took over the reins with issue #149 and
continued through #168 (July 1959). Jim essentially became Schulz’s
employee and was paid $100 per week for this work; since he was making
only $80 per week at Art Instruction, this -- along with the even higher
paycheck he’d soon receive, for helping Schulz with "It’s Only a Game"
-- was a substantial raise.
As a ghosting assignment, the results are impressive. Charlie Brown
and Linus’ heads are notoriously difficult to reproduce in Schulz’s
signature style, but Jim came damn close. More to the point, the
characters are posed and conduct themselves in a way that’s absolutely
typical of their behavior in Sparky’s newspaper strip. Art purists may
have noticed that Jim wasn’t Schulz, but casual readers were unlikely to
have detected the difference.
The four-page story above is taken from Nancy #151, February 1958.
(Click on the pages to enlarge them.)
"He gave me carte blanche on writing them, and I felt like a
faithful uncle," Jim says, with no small amount of pride at his ability
to reproduce Charlie Brown and the gang.
Although Jim’s take on the "Peanuts" gang in Nancy #149 was the
first to reach fans, it was not the ghost artist’s debut crack at
Charlie Brown. Jim’s first completed "Peanuts" comic book adventure was
"The Trip," one of a quartet of eight-page stories (packaged with three
one-page stories) that eventually appeared as issue #878 (Feb. 1958) of
Dell’s Four Color Comics, an "umbrella title" that rotated various
stars; this issue, boasting a gorgeous signed Schulz cover, was the
first one devoted to "Peanuts."
Ever the imp, Jim inserted a personal reference into "The Trip."
The number on the dog license that Charlie Brown uses -- 891-68-14 -- to
justify his getting behind the wheel of a station wagon, was the
artist’s Navy serial number.
Jim also did the work in the Fritzi Ritz and Tip Top issues during
this time, and it’s important to note that he had a completely free rein
with these comic book stories, handling both art and writing chores.
Fritzi Ritz lasted only four issues under the Dell label, before
being discontinued after #59 (Sept.-Nov. 1958). "Peanuts" did not appear
in #56, but each of the remaining three issues included a new four-page
story by Jim. He also handled the work for Tip Top #211 through #215
(Nov. 1958-Jan. 1959). In Tip Top, Charlie Brown and his friends shared
covers with Nancy, Sluggo, and the Captain and the Kids. Although
unsigned, Schulz drew these "Peanuts" cover panels for issues 211-213,
and Jim handled 214 and 215.
Sasseville did the Peanuts art in these issues of Tip Top, #214 and #215.
(Click on the pages to enlarge them.)
All told, then, Jim drew the interior stories in 20 issues of
Nancy, three issues of Fritzi Ritz, and five issues of Tip Top, along
with Four Color #878. This relationship with Schulz and Dell Comics took
an unexpected turn when the two men parted unhappily, and Jim’s final
work for Dell was the long kite story in the second all-"Peanuts" issue
of Four Color Comics (#969, Feb. 1959), along with the inside front and
inside back cover one-pagers.
The completion of that particular issue became something of a
marathon art session. After announcing that he and Helga would be moving
to Berkeley, Jim took stock of the pending Dell workload, and discovered
that the deadline for the second all-Peanuts issue of Four Color Comics
was imminent. Jim promised to finish this before the move, but Sparky
suggested that the job would proceed faster if they worked on it
together. The two men thus divided the work between them, and began
early one morning with what turned into a lengthy session stretching
well into the evening. During that time, Jim completed the
aforementioned two one-page stories and one eight-page story, while
Sparky handled the remaining one-page story and THREE eight-page
stories.
"There’s no doubt who was the faster artist," Jim notes, with a
chuckle. "He certainly put me in my place!"
Jim still remembers that session as a euphoric rush ... but it
concluded on a gloomy note, when, resting in the happy afterglow of a
job well done, Schulz revealed the fate of "It’s Only a Game" (see
below).
In the aftermath, Schulz also stepped in and handled all the work
for Nancy #169 (August 1959). Clearly, this was a rush job, and Schulz
borrowed from himself The final panel of this four-page story is almost
identical to the final panel of the June 23, 1957, "Peanuts" Sunday
strip. The comic book storyline is an expansion of that Sunday strip,
and the aforementioned final panel in the comic book is signed by Schulz
... the only case where any interior comic book stories bear his
signature.
Because the split was far from amicable, Jim did not follow the
subsequent comic book adventures of Charlie Brown and his friends, in
Nancy and Tip Top. On close examination just a few weeks ago -- in many
cases, seeing this work for the first time -- Jim pointed to specific
poses, characteristics and lettering attributes ("Sparky always rounded
out the bottoms of his W’s") that leave him convinced that Schulz either
penciled and inked the next several issues of both Nancy and Tip Top, or
at least roughed in the panel layout, inked the primary characters --
particularly their heads -- and lettered the word balloons. This seems
likely; carefully examination of individual pages reveals an occasional
Snoopy or Lucy which, not matching the rest, clearly must have been
inked by somebody else.
But Dale Hale, Schulz’s new apprentice and ghost -- and another
associate from Art Instruction Schools -- caught on quickly, and the
artwork in both books retained its Schulz-like characteristics through
roughly late 1960 or early 1961. At this point, other hands clearly took
over -- possibly Tony Pocrnick, another Schulz associate from Art
Instruction -- and the "Peanuts" characters became ever-more distant
from the Schulz ideal until the final issues of Tip Top (#225, May-July
1961) and Nancy. (By then the latter had been retitled Nancy and Sluggo,
and its final five issues were released under the Gold Key imprint; the
book was discontinued with issue #192, October 1963.) The "Peanuts"
artwork in the last issues of both books is, in a word, dreadful.
A third all-"Peanuts" issue of Four Color Comics was produced
(#1015, August-October 1959), after which the characters got their own
book that began with issue #4 (Feb.-April 1960), by way of acknowledging
those first three appearances in Four Color Comics. This lasted through
#13 (May-July 1962), after which the book was discontinued. Each of
these issues features a signed Schulz cover, but other hands --
certainly Hale, at first -- handled all the interior artwork and writing
(which, as with the latter issues of Nancy and Tip Top, grew less
Schulz-like over time).
But what had happened, to sever the friendship between Schulz and
Jim, which stretched back a decade?
Bouncing back a year or so...
Although already quite popular and gaining fans -- and syndicate
clients -- all the time, in 1957 "Peanuts" was not yet the multimedia
sensation it was to become within another decade. Schulz must have had
some free time that needed filling, and therefore was comfortable with
the concept of pitching a second strip concept to United Features
Syndicate. The artist had lots of ideas about games near and dear to his
heart, including golf, tennis, baseball and bridge. No doubt realizing
that twice as much Schulz per week was a good thing, UFS jumped at the
chance, and the sports and recreation-themed "It’s Only a Game" was
born. For awhile, Schulz joined later stars such as Johnny Hart ("B.C."
and "The Wizard of Id"), Mell Lazarus ("Miss Peach" and "Momma") and
Jerry Scott ("Baby Blues" and "Zits"), with two newspaper strips running
simultaneously.
Each installment of "It’s Only a Game, by Charles M. Schulz,"
hearkening back to Schulz’s very early work on "Li’l Folks" in The St.
Paul Pioneer Press, was comprised of three separate single-panel gag
strips. The package was offered to clients in two different formats as
three single-panel strips per week, to run on Mondays, Wednesdays and
Fridays; or as a combined grouping of three that would appear in Sunday
comics sections. The combined Sunday grouping also had a bonus fourth
cartoon a tiny, captionless visual gag -- very much like the
intermarginal gags that Sergio Aragonés would pepper throughout future
issues of Mad Magazine -- that appeared to the right of the title and
Schulz’s byline. The subject matter of the Monday and Wednesday panels
varied from week to week, but the Friday installment always centered
around bridge, the then-popular card game that Schulz loved. (Further
evidence of this affection could be seen in "Peanuts," where the kids
routinely played the game in the early 1950s, and Woodstock and a
foursome of his bird buddies picked it up in the 1970s and beyond.)
Charles Schulz did this January 12, 1958, "It's Only a Game" panel himself. Note his signature within the art of the right-most panel.
During an October 6, 1957, interview with Schulz, the Chicago
Tribune proudly boasted that it would be one of the flagship newspapers
to carry this new feature. The Tribune selected the weekly option, and
ran "It’s Only a Game" in its Sunday magazine. The debut installment
appeared November 3, 1957, and immediately set the tone for what would
follow, with panels devoted to boxing, golf and bridge. The middle panel
is a hoot, with a middle-aged duffer -- one easily can imagine Charlie
Brown in his 40s -- lamenting a putt that has left his ball perched at
the edge of the cup (but not in), and saying, "I think I’m going to
cry."
Subsequent installments covered checkers, bowling, curling (!),
table tennis, croquet, billiards, ice fishing, darts and even camping.
But as 1957 turned into 1958, something must have changed. Perhaps
Schulz had underestimated the amount of time involved with producing a
second weekly newspaper strip; maybe he also was spending more time than
expected overseeing the new "Peanuts" content in the Dell comic books.
Or, more likely, the "Peanuts" empire as a whole was occupying more of
his time; 1958 saw the production of the first "Peanuts" toys -- plastic
dolls of the major characters, produced by Hungerford -- and of course
this was just the tip of an approaching iceberg.
Whatever the reason, Schulz decided to hand over the lion’s share
of the artistic chores to Jim. Schulz’s solo involvement with "It’s Only
a Game" continued through the January 12, 1958, installment; this is the
last one to bear his signature on one of the cartoon panels. (Schulz’s
name continued to run alone in the masthead, however, making Jim a true
ghost.) As of January 19, 1958, Jim -- often working from hastily
penciled sketches and captions supplied by Schulz -- did all the
newspaper strip’s finished art and lettering.
Sasseville did this January 26, 1958, "It's Only a Game" panel himself. Note that Schulz's signature is nowhere to be seen within the art.
Jim vividly remembers this transition date, because just one week later,
with his second time at bat with the solo art chores, he was paid a
singular honor. That week’s Monday panel, a bowling strip, featured
three league players welcoming a fourth, apparently a little tardy, with
the exclamation of, "Three cheers, gang! Our number one man has
arrived!" A loyal reader sent UFS a black-and-white photo of himself
with three friends, staged to look precisely like the four figures in
Jim’s illustration. The "camera angle" was identical, along with
clothing, body position, and everything else in the frame. The
resemblance even extended to the men themselves, who had body shapes and
hairstyles eerily similar to those found in the panel art.
Jim still has the photo.
Sasseville received this photo recreation of his "It's Only a Game" gag from a fan. Note the date stamp at the top of the photo.
The degree to which Jim successfully imitated Schulz’s linework can
be seen by the fact that the transition was seamless; no casual reader
could have discerned that the hand on the inker’s pen had changed.
During the remainder of 1958, the two men continued to work in the same
fashion, Jim often finishing Schulz’s rough concepts, but also
contributing many of his own original ideas. He also inserted the
occasional personal reference; the boat from which a husband and wife
fish, in one of the June 29, 1958, panels, is the Helga, named after
Jim’s wife.
But Jim remembers that he never came up with any of the concepts
for Friday’s bridge panels, for the simple reason that he didn’t know
the game.
Although he labored in anonymity, Jim was well compensated
financially, and he still speaks appreciatively of Sparky’s generosity.
Schulz had negotiated for 50% of the strip’s income, the other half
going to UFS. This 50% amounted to slightly more than $500 per week;
when Jim came on board, Schulz generously gave half of HIS half to his
new partner, and so Jim brought home $250 per week (after expenses) for
his efforts ... quite a lot of money in 1958.
The two men were living in Minneapolis when this collaboration
began; after the first five months, in May 1958, Jim and his wife
followed the Schulz family to Northern California. Lacking a place to
stay in Sebastopol -- not to mention furniture and other amenities --
the Sassevilles first spent a couple of months a bit south, in Corta
Madera. "For two or three weeks, I drew the comic book stuff and ‘It’s
Only a Game’ on a portable drawing board. But I stayed in touch with
Sparky on the phone, and he supplied the ideas for ‘It’s Only a Game.’ "
The Sassevilles then found a home in Sebastopol. Between "It’s Only
a Game" and the work he also was doing for the "Peanuts" strips in the
Dell comic books, Jim was quite gainfully employed by his new partner
and boss.
Unfortunately, it was not to last.
"It’s Only a Game" began with 30 client newspapers; nearly a year
later, it had ... 30 client newspapers.
(A complete client list has been lost to the mists of time, although
it is known that the feature was carried by The Boston Globe, the Detroit
Free Press, The Chicago Tribune, The Minneapolis Tribune, the San Francisco
Chronicle and The Baltimore Sun.)
The strip never took off, despite strong support from fans such as
bridge expert Charles Goren (who wrote a couple of letters), and even
Schulz’s name didn’t seem to make much of a difference.
But we also can assume that the proud and perfectionist-minded
Schulz -- who in later years, as mentioned above, often made a point of
describing how in "Peanuts" he penciled and inked every line, and
lettered every word balloon -- probably was bothered by the fact that he
wasn’t similarly in sole control of "It’s Only a Game." To be sure, he
was INVOLVED, but he wasn’t actually drawing what appeared in those 30
client newspapers.
"He didn’t like his name being used on somebody else’s work," Jim
recalls, "and I don’t blame him for that."
That, coupled with moribund sales and some tension with the head
UFS salesman to whom Schulz initially had pitched the idea, eventually
prompted an astonishing decision In late 1958, just 12 months into a
solid five-year contract, Schulz made it plain to UFS that he wished to
discontinue "It’s Only a Game." Perhaps recognizing that the strip
wasn’t performing as hoped, UFS agreed.
Schulz did not consult Jim before taking this step; indeed, the
news came as a complete shock to Schulz’s ghost, who’d been very happy
with his work, and the strip, and the $250 per week.
Schulz even tried to sugar-coat the news "You’re off the hook,"
Jim recalls his employer saying (as if this were a GOOD thing), at the
end of that euphoric day when they finished work on the second
all-Peanuts issue of Dell’s Four Color Comics. Jim had just assured
Sparky that his pending move to Berkeley would not affect his ability to
work on "It’s Only a Game," and now the rug had been pulled out from
under him.
The fallout was immediate; it certainly was the final straw for
Helga, who already had been dissatisfied with their home in Sebastopol
-- hence the move to Berkeley -- and also was unhappy about the friction
that existed between her and Joyce, Schulz’s first wife. Helga had
endured Nazi Germany, survived the entire war -- in and out of work
camps -- and had lost her father at Dachau; she was not a woman to keep
opinions to herself.
"I realized I was working on a flawed product, which the creator
and marketer wanted nothing more to do with. Still, I had held out the
hope that maybe Sparky might offer the entire feature to me, although I
realized that there’d be problems with the syndicate," Jim admits, a
touch of wistfulness still clouding the memory after more than 40 years.
"They should have been pretty familiar with my work by then."
It didn’t happen. By the time the final installment of "It’s Only a
Game" appeared, on January 11, 1959 -- the two always had worked six
weeks ahead -- Jim and Schulz had severed all relations, professional
and personal. This also included Jim’s ghosting work on the Dell comic
books. The split was permanent, and the two men never reconciled.
Although "It’s Only a Game" ran for 63 consecutive weeks, it
quickly became a fading memory -- and then an overlooked footnote -- in
Schulz’s career. He rarely mentioned it during later interviews, and
then only obliquely, citing neither date specifics nor his collaboration
with Jim.
"We were the best of friends at first," Jim recalls ruefully. He
happily remembers attending the 1951 National Cartoonists Convention
with Sparky, and also another time when they both went to visit and swap
stories with a fellow artist, Robert M. Brinkerhoff, who lived in
Minneapolis and was known for a newspaper strip called "Little Mary
Mix-Up." Brinkerhoff, in turn -- like many other cartoonists at that
time -- greatly admired J.R. Williams (creator of "Out Our Way"), whom
he once described as "the greatest cowboy ever to walk the streets of
New York." Brinkerhoff related how he had wheedled, begged and finally
finagled an invitation to Williams’ ranch in Montana. Although only
interested in seeing the fabulous studio that he assumed his idol must
have on so massive a spread, Brinkerhoff first had to put up with being
shown all the livestock and the other attractions of a working ranch. As
the visit stretched on, Brinkerhoff finally couldn’t stand it any longer
and demanded to see where Williams did his work.
With a resigned sigh (as Jim recalls Brinkerhoff describing this
incident), Williams walked over to his wife’s sewing machine, took off
the cover, and flipped it over ... and that was it The great J.R.
Williams did all his drawing on the cover of his wife’s sewing machine.
As others have observed, there’s never any reason to embrace
technology or an environment any fancier than that required to get the
job done.
Cartoonists love to talk shop, and Jim’s no different; merely
relating this little tale brings a sparkle into his eyes. And, to this
day, he doesn’t really understand what happened between him and Schulz.
"I feel kind of weird about all this. Sparky obviously wanted me to
succeed in the early days, and even was willing to collaborate with me
on one of my own projects (one of the many variations of "Joe Cipher,"
discussed below). But then when he had a chance to really help me out,
he didn’t make any effort whatsoever ... and left me in rather dire
straits."
Such feelings notwithstanding, all these years later Jim is firm on
one point "Charles M. Schulz was the greatest comic strip artist ever."
And although he certainly couldn’t have known it at the time, Jim
never again would earn his living as a cartoonist.
Before, during and after his working association with Schulz, Jim
played around with many of his own ideas.
If persistence counts for anything, he deserves considerable credit
for his ongoing efforts to sell "Joe Cipher" ("a character kinda based
on me"), a daily strip that underwent quite a few transmutations during
the decade-plus that he tried to place it with a syndicate.
The character first appeared in a sample series of daily strips Jim
produced in late 1949. The strip’s gentle humor is faintly reminiscent
of "Gasoline Alley" and other character-driven work of the era; the
title character is introduced driving an old jalopy that obligingly runs
out of gas at a filling station. The silver-tongued Joe, lacking any
money, eventually impresses the station owner into offering him a job;
Joe celebrates by stepping into a nearby diner for lunch, where he’s
immediately smitten by the young woman behind the counter, and...
...and that’s where the presentation panels concluded.
Perhaps feeling that the strip lacked dramatic impact, a few years
later -- while still at AIS -- Jim tried again, shifting the action to a
tiny island in the middle of the ocean, where the shipwrecked Joe is
joined by an attractive young woman named Ginny, survivor of a second
sea-going calamity. (What are the odds?) Although their relationship is
mildly prickly for the first few days, Ginny eventually wishes aloud
that they could be rescued, so that she can go on a "proper date" with
Joe, and perhaps even kiss him when the evening concludes. Once again,
the story cut off abruptly, as Jim produced just two weeks’ worth of
strips enough to (hopefully) interest a buyer.
Sasseville tried several times to place a comic strip starring Joe Cipher, the pleasant-looking chap
featured in these examples. The two left-most strips are taken from the first run Sasseville designed on his own;
the two right-most strips, starring the same character but
in a different setting, are from Sasseville's third
test run; Charles Schulz contributed story input on these.
(Click on the image to see an enlarged version.)
After getting back from his return hitch in the Navy, Jim
went back to work on Joe Cipher and got a nibble from an
unexpected quarter: Something about this particular setting
touched Schulz, who suggested they collaborate on yet
a third incarnation of "Joe Cipher." (At the time, both men still were
unmarried, and it’s not hard to see a little male fantasy
wish-fulfillment at work.) With narrative input from Schulz and Jim
handling the art chores, the scene shifted again, this time to a
typically romantic South Seas setting, on an island large enough to
support a population of curvaceous young cuties and at least one
villain. Joe and Ginny remained the central focus, but this time the
former saw genuine action, on the receiving end of the villain’s fists.
Schulz and Jim took this newest version of "Joe Cipher" to United
Features Syndicate in spring of 1954; it was turned down flat. The
trip to New York wasn't a complete waste, though, because Sasseville
and Schulz caught a couple of plays: a T.S. Elliot drama called
Confidential Clerk, and another called The King of
Hearts, which starred Jackie Cooper as (what are the odds?)
a cartoonist!
Sasseville also remembers going from suite to suite in New
York's Waldorf hotel during this trip, visiting one cartoonist
after another; meeting Al Capp was a high point. But at least
part of the reason for the trip -- the newest Joe Cipher -- proved
unsellable, and Schulz bowed out at that point.
When Jim finally returned to "Joe Cipher," the 1950s were almost
over. Jim’s association with "Peanuts" and "It’s Only a Game" had
concluded, so the writer/artist returned to his favorite unsold
property. Jim recast his hero in yet another new setting, this time a
business office populated by characters clearly derived from his days at
Art Instruction. Although the sample panels display even cleaner, more
attractive line work -- a sure sign of his growing comfort as an artist
-- Jim had no better luck this time around.
Still refusing to abandon hope, Jim tried one more time In early
1960, after having moved to Berkeley, he once again changed the setting
completely, and turned Joe Cipher into "Sir Joe." This Arthurian-based
concept focused on genuinely whimsical gags involving heavy armor,
maidens in distress, and fire-breathing dragons. Jim’s dragons are
particularly funny, and this newest reboot seems ripe with
possibilities; it’s not at all hard to envision a daily strip evolving
from these samples.
Alas, syndicates once again failed to see any potential, and "Joe
Cipher" was put into Jim’s trunk as no more than another engaging
footnote in the artist’s collection of rejection slips.
Jim didn’t confine his efforts to "Joe Cipher"; the writer/artist
had no shortage of ideas, quite a few of which also wound up as
submission concepts. "Aunty Climax," produced in early 1957 -- just
prior to Jim’s ghost work for Dell comics -- was a single-panel gag
strip that starred a feisty little old lady who was far sharper than
most people assumed. She was based on Louise Cassidy, an AIS colleague
who also was the landlady for the building where Jim briefly lived with
Charles Cuddy. Jim produced a few dozen "Aunty Climax" panels, all of
which are vastly superior -- both in terms of writing and artwork -- to
many of the single-panel cartoons cluttering today’s newspapers.
"Confessions of a French Poodle" was a 1959 concept that didn’t
emerge much further than a few finished panels and lots of pencil
sketches; Jim good-naturedly admits that the idea went nowhere, and so
he abandoned it. That may have been shrewd market analysis, as the
medium never has lacked for dog-oriented material. Even so, French
poodles are funny in their own right, and Jim’s concept sketches are a
hoot.
When not working on Peanuts-related material, Sasseville tried to sell many of his own strip ideas
to a syndicate. From left to right, these examples are "Aunty Climax," "Friends and Foes," "Alpha-Betty" and "Happy Birthday."
(Click on the image to see an enlarged version.)
"Friends and Foes," another single-panel tryout, also emerged from
Jim’s pen in 1959. A little later, shortly after he started putting food
on the table with a "real job" -- and perhaps motivated by the explosion
of children’s television shows, which eventually led to "Sesame Street"
and everything that followed -- Jim tried a kid-oriented educational
strip called "Alpha-Betty," which starred a little girl who finds
herself in an other-worldly land populated by men and women shaped like
letters of the alphabet. The personalities of these individuals were
defined by their appearance; curved female letters, for example, were
far more sultry that straight female letters. The strip has a lovely
"Alice in Wonderland" quality, although the concept may have seemed
limiting.
Jim later played with the medium in "Blackboard," a daily strip
designed to be white-on-black, to imitate chalk on a classroom
blackboard. The stars were Dick, Jane and their TeacheR; although not as
overly educational as "Alpha-Betty," this strip also was aimed at young
audiences.
Jim’s final attempt at syndication was produced in the early 1970s,
after he first went into research hibernation, jotting down enough
celebrity birthdays to fill every day of a calendar year. The resulting
single-panel strips were a precursor to the "On this day in history..."
informational nuggets that have become so ubiquitous The panel for
March 28, for example, illustrated and revealed a few choice facts about
orchestra leader Paul Whiteman. March 29 was devoted to President John
Tyler, while Francisco Goya was featured on March 30.
Sadly, this fared no better with syndicators than any of the
others. "Joe Cipher," "Aunty Climax," "Confessions of a French Poodle,"
"Friends and Foes," "Alpha-Betty," "Blackboard" and "Birthdays" exist only
in Jim’s carefully preserved office files. More’s the pity, because even
the weakest of these strips displays a Puckish wit and clean, attractive
line work too often absent from many of the rushed, imitative strips
that generate little more than reader apathy these days.
Following the dust-up with Schulz and the move to Berkeley, Helga
-- who was delighted by the more rarefied atmosphere of a university
community -- became the family bread-winner. She took a job with a
German importer/exporter and commuted daily across the Bay Bridge.
Eventually succumbing to the need for steady employment, in April
1960 Jim took a job as a graphic designer with Varian, one of the
leading radar companies, located in California’s greater San Francisco
Bay Area. The fit proved comfortable, and he remained with the company
until he retired in 1990.
But the career shift wasn’t immediate; Jim first spent most of 1959
working up his own aforementioned comic strip proposals, and
occasionally sold individual gag cartoons to magazines. But his New
York-based agent took 35% of those one-shots.
"That’s when I started with Varian," Jim recalls, with a chuckle.
"I knew I’d never make it as a gag cartoonist."
Be that as it may, Jim never stopped his cartooning efforts; while
at Varian, he became famous for the birthday cards that he drew for
fellow employees.
Helga, meanwhile, got a job at Stanford, which prompted another
move; the couple then purchased their first home in 1960, in Mountain
View.
Three years later, they moved for what would be the last time. Jim
and his wife paid $28,000 for the house that remains his home to this
day. Just last year the retired artist was offered a cool million bucks
-- in cash -- by a dot-commer who wanted to develop the property. Still
loyal to the memories of his wife, with which the house is filled, Jim
politely declined. Helga died in 1995; he clearly still misses her.
Today, Parkinson’s Disease and the recent stroke have conspired to
deliver the ultimate nightmare Jim no longer can hold a pen well enough
to draw. ("I always marveled at Sparky’s ability to incorporate his
shaking hand into his line work.") But his mind and memory remain
acutely sharp, and his Puckish sense of humor is unbowed. He speaks with
clarity and certainty of his years at Art Instruction School, and with
Schulz, and of his never-successful efforts to market his own original
material.
Jim remains philosophical about his life, and in fact composed
another of his verses to express such feelings
I’m all for equal measures
Losses should be matched by gain;
And since I’ve missed life’s pleasures,
I’ll just double up with pain!
Definitely too harsh, but then we’re always hardest on ourselves.
Jim Sasseville deserves far more than the obscurity into which he has
settled; for a time, he was allied with the man who would become the
world’s most successful cartoonist, and for a time he helped chaperone
the faithfully rendered adventures of Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Linus, Lucy
and the rest ... no small feat.
And I’m particularly transfixed by a remark Jim made during one of
our later phone calls "I don’t know how one should behave, in a
situation like this," he said, referring to our ongoing conversations,
"but it’s like I’ve been resurrected."
Perhaps this article will kick-start our long-overdue obligation to
sing his praises.
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All PEANUTS characters pictured are copyrighted by United Feature Syndicate, Inc. They are used here with permission. They may not be reproduced by any means in any form.
She noticed not his heavy hooves, nor he her single knee,
As they lingered there, expelling time with heart-inspired chatter
The direction of their love so strong ... bottoms didn’t matter!
Jim’s tenure at Art Instruction was interrupted in mid 1952, when
Uncle Sam tapped his shoulder again. The Korean War was underway, and
those who previously had served less than a full year were being
recalled ... so those two days shy of a year forced a second hitch that
lasted through 1954.
"I was sent to the Philippines," Jim notes dryly, thinking back to
all the Lesson No. 5 submissions that he had graded, "so I certainly saw
the Orient."
This second 14-month hitch of active duty certainly wasn’t wasted,
in terms of Jim’s artistic skills; he worked for an Irish Catholic
chaplain and did a weekly mimeographed newspaper for U.S. Naval Mobile
Construction Battalion 9 ("I was drawing cartoons up the gazoo"). The
unit’s 1952-53 Cruise Book features a great full-page Jim illustration
on Page 33; titled "Cubi Point, P.I.," it shows five sailors watching a
dog face off with a monkey.
Jim’s relationship with Father John James Kileen never was dull, in
part because the artist was a lapsed Catholic.
"He worked the hell out of me, but then he’d always invite me into
his quarters for a nip, and then try to entice me back into the fold."
After his second stint in the Navy concluded, Jim returned to
civilian life (this time for good), and to Art Instruction Schools,
where he and Schulz picked up where they’d left off. In between grading
assignments and sketching his office buddies, Jim placed a few gag
cartoons in magazines, such as a droll three-panel sequence of a guy
having trouble with a jack, while attempting to fix a flat tire, which
appeared on Page 45 of the August 1957 issue of Gent, a
long-discontinued men’s magazine.
Jim met Helga, his future wife, as a result of his Navy friendship
with Charles Cuddy. She had immigrated to the United States when
sponsored by a South Dakota politician and his family ("mostly for slave
labor," Jim perceptively remarks); Helga was unfamiliar with the farm
environment, and decamped for Minneapolis as soon as she could. She
entered the University of Minnesota with a vengeance; her half-Jewish
heritage had kept her out of institutions of higher learning in her
native Germany.
She also enrolled in art school and wound up in one class being
taught by Dave Ratner, a colleague and friend with whom Jim went to art
school; she also landed in some of the same classes as Cuddy, who for a
time shared a boarding house attic ("a garret") with Jim. Since this
colony of Minneapolis artists wasn’t all that large, it was inevitable
that Jim and Helga would meet. ("Destiny," he happily acknowledges.)
They married in 1956.
"I’d just bought a brand-new Mercury," Jim remembers, with a
chuckle, "and I had to get rid of it when we got married, because Helga
couldn’t drive a stick-shift."
Within a few short months, Sasseville’s life turned around again,
when he became the best of Schulz’s never-credited "Peanuts" ghosts.
Whenever asked, Charles Schulz would repeat the statement that
became ubiquitous Unlike those involved with other "assembly-line"
newspaper comic strips, he remained the only person whose hands touched
the adventures of Charlie Brown and the gang. Schulz wrote, drew, inked
and lettered his strip, and did so during the entire run October 2,
1950, to February 13, 2000. Schulz always insisted that the strip would
cease production when he finally called it quits, a wish that his family
has honored. Unlike other classic strips that have been revived, often
by lesser talents, "Peanuts" will forevermore remain solely a Schulz
legacy.
Except ... that’s not entirely true.
During the 1950s and early ’60s, Charlie Brown and his friends
didn’t just appear in newspaper strips; they also were a popular feature
of comic books ... a medium usually dominated by the likes of Superman
and Captain America, but one that included plenty of room for lighter
fare.
And -- surprise, surprise! -- when the "Peanuts" comic book
appearances stopped being newspaper reprints and "graduated" into
original features in 1957, sharp-eyed fans probably could discern that
somebody other than Sparky Schulz was doing the artwork.
To keep the chronology consistent, let’s turn back the clock to
1952, when "Peanuts" simultaneously debuted as a supporting feature in
two comic books -- the March-April issues of Tip Top Comics (#173) and
United Comics (#21) -- both published by United Feature Syndicate, which
routinely recycled many of its newspaper features in these and other
comic books. The "Peanuts" supporting feature moved into a third book,
Tip Topper, beginning with #17 (June-July 1952); it remained there until
the book was discontinued after #28 (April-May 1954). Shortly before
this final issue of Tip Topper, "Peanuts" returned to Tip Top as a
supporting feature, beginning with #184 (Jan.-Feb. 1954) and continuing
through #188 (Sept.-Oct. 1954). Several of these later issues feature
gorgeous Peanuts covers, which -- although not signed -- appear to be by
Schulz.
"Peanuts" also appeared, during this same period, as a back-up
feature in most issues of United Comics, later retitled Fritzi Ritz
(beginning with #27). The run here also was consecutive #21-#33 (the
latter dated March-April 1954). Stray issues of Sparkler Comics and
Sparkle Comics also included some "Peanuts" reprints, although not on a
regular basis.
UFS got out of the comic book publishing business at the end of
1954, and some of its titles were picked up by St. John in 1955,
including Fritzi Ritz and Tip Top. Despite a noticeable gap of several
months, the numbering of both books continued consecutively. Thus, Tip
Top resumed with #189 (May 1955), and continued to include "Peanuts" as
a supporting feature during St. John’s entire run of this book, through
#210 (July 1957). "Peanuts" was only an occasional supporting feature in
St. John’s run of Fritzi Ritz, starting with #37 (July 1955) and
continuing through #55. Finally, at least one issue of Nancy -- #142
(March 1957) -- also featured Peanuts reprints.
Big changes came in late 1957, and not just because St. John
abandoned these books and turned them over to Dell Comics (Western
Publishing). After a delay of several months to half a year -- depending
on the title -- Dell revived the flagship St. John titles, again with
consecutive numbering. Thus, Tip Top #211 returned as a quarterly with a
cover date of Nov. 1957-Jan. 1958. Fritzi Ritz resumed with #56, dated
Dec. 1957-Feb. 1958.
Under Dell’s stewardship, Charlie Brown and the gang also became a
regular supporting feature in Nancy, beginning with #146 (Sept. 1957).
The biggest change, however, concerned the content in all three books.
When Dell took over, the covers promised "All brand-new stories" ... and
they meant it.
"Peanuts" fans spotted the change in Nancy #146, which boasted a
four-page story with a baseball theme, clearly produced by Schulz
himself (although unsigned); Jim confirms Sparky’s linework. But Schulz
quickly realized that producing four full pages of original art for
Nancy on a monthly basis, not to mention similar duties for the
quarterly Tip Top and Fritzi Ritz, would be more than he was willing to
handle. Then, too, he was only months away from debuting his own second
newspaper strip, "It’s Only a Game" (about which more below).
Schulz allowed Dell’s house art department to handle his characters
in Nancy #147, but was unhappy with the results. (No surprise; the art
is quite weak.) Schulz stepped in again for issue #148, but the workload
problem hadn’t changed. Wanting greater fidelity to his own style,
Schulz turned to Jim, who took over the reins with issue #149 and
continued through #168 (July 1959). Jim essentially became Schulz’s
employee and was paid $100 per week for this work; since he was making
only $80 per week at Art Instruction, this -- along with the even higher
paycheck he’d soon receive, for helping Schulz with "It’s Only a Game"
-- was a substantial raise.
As a ghosting assignment, the results are impressive. Charlie Brown
and Linus’ heads are notoriously difficult to reproduce in Schulz’s
signature style, but Jim came damn close. More to the point, the
characters are posed and conduct themselves in a way that’s absolutely
typical of their behavior in Sparky’s newspaper strip. Art purists may
have noticed that Jim wasn’t Schulz, but casual readers were unlikely to
have detected the difference.
The four-page story above is taken from Nancy #151, February 1958.
(Click on the pages to enlarge them.)
"He gave me carte blanche on writing them, and I felt like a
faithful uncle," Jim says, with no small amount of pride at his ability
to reproduce Charlie Brown and the gang.
Although Jim’s take on the "Peanuts" gang in Nancy #149 was the
first to reach fans, it was not the ghost artist’s debut crack at
Charlie Brown. Jim’s first completed "Peanuts" comic book adventure was
"The Trip," one of a quartet of eight-page stories (packaged with three
one-page stories) that eventually appeared as issue #878 (Feb. 1958) of
Dell’s Four Color Comics, an "umbrella title" that rotated various
stars; this issue, boasting a gorgeous signed Schulz cover, was the
first one devoted to "Peanuts."
Ever the imp, Jim inserted a personal reference into "The Trip."
The number on the dog license that Charlie Brown uses -- 891-68-14 -- to
justify his getting behind the wheel of a station wagon, was the
artist’s Navy serial number.
Jim also did the work in the Fritzi Ritz and Tip Top issues during
this time, and it’s important to note that he had a completely free rein
with these comic book stories, handling both art and writing chores.
Fritzi Ritz lasted only four issues under the Dell label, before
being discontinued after #59 (Sept.-Nov. 1958). "Peanuts" did not appear
in #56, but each of the remaining three issues included a new four-page
story by Jim. He also handled the work for Tip Top #211 through #215
(Nov. 1958-Jan. 1959). In Tip Top, Charlie Brown and his friends shared
covers with Nancy, Sluggo, and the Captain and the Kids. Although
unsigned, Schulz drew these "Peanuts" cover panels for issues 211-213,
and Jim handled 214 and 215.
Sasseville did the Peanuts art in these issues of Tip Top, #214 and #215.
(Click on the pages to enlarge them.)
All told, then, Jim drew the interior stories in 20 issues of
Nancy, three issues of Fritzi Ritz, and five issues of Tip Top, along
with Four Color #878. This relationship with Schulz and Dell Comics took
an unexpected turn when the two men parted unhappily, and Jim’s final
work for Dell was the long kite story in the second all-"Peanuts" issue
of Four Color Comics (#969, Feb. 1959), along with the inside front and
inside back cover one-pagers.
The completion of that particular issue became something of a
marathon art session. After announcing that he and Helga would be moving
to Berkeley, Jim took stock of the pending Dell workload, and discovered
that the deadline for the second all-Peanuts issue of Four Color Comics
was imminent. Jim promised to finish this before the move, but Sparky
suggested that the job would proceed faster if they worked on it
together. The two men thus divided the work between them, and began
early one morning with what turned into a lengthy session stretching
well into the evening. During that time, Jim completed the
aforementioned two one-page stories and one eight-page story, while
Sparky handled the remaining one-page story and THREE eight-page
stories.
"There’s no doubt who was the faster artist," Jim notes, with a
chuckle. "He certainly put me in my place!"
Jim still remembers that session as a euphoric rush ... but it
concluded on a gloomy note, when, resting in the happy afterglow of a
job well done, Schulz revealed the fate of "It’s Only a Game" (see
below).
In the aftermath, Schulz also stepped in and handled all the work
for Nancy #169 (August 1959). Clearly, this was a rush job, and Schulz
borrowed from himself The final panel of this four-page story is almost
identical to the final panel of the June 23, 1957, "Peanuts" Sunday
strip. The comic book storyline is an expansion of that Sunday strip,
and the aforementioned final panel in the comic book is signed by Schulz
... the only case where any interior comic book stories bear his
signature.
Because the split was far from amicable, Jim did not follow the
subsequent comic book adventures of Charlie Brown and his friends, in
Nancy and Tip Top. On close examination just a few weeks ago -- in many
cases, seeing this work for the first time -- Jim pointed to specific
poses, characteristics and lettering attributes ("Sparky always rounded
out the bottoms of his W’s") that leave him convinced that Schulz either
penciled and inked the next several issues of both Nancy and Tip Top, or
at least roughed in the panel layout, inked the primary characters --
particularly their heads -- and lettered the word balloons. This seems
likely; carefully examination of individual pages reveals an occasional
Snoopy or Lucy which, not matching the rest, clearly must have been
inked by somebody else.
But Dale Hale, Schulz’s new apprentice and ghost -- and another
associate from Art Instruction Schools -- caught on quickly, and the
artwork in both books retained its Schulz-like characteristics through
roughly late 1960 or early 1961. At this point, other hands clearly took
over -- possibly Tony Pocrnick, another Schulz associate from Art
Instruction -- and the "Peanuts" characters became ever-more distant
from the Schulz ideal until the final issues of Tip Top (#225, May-July
1961) and Nancy. (By then the latter had been retitled Nancy and Sluggo,
and its final five issues were released under the Gold Key imprint; the
book was discontinued with issue #192, October 1963.) The "Peanuts"
artwork in the last issues of both books is, in a word, dreadful.
A third all-"Peanuts" issue of Four Color Comics was produced
(#1015, August-October 1959), after which the characters got their own
book that began with issue #4 (Feb.-April 1960), by way of acknowledging
those first three appearances in Four Color Comics. This lasted through
#13 (May-July 1962), after which the book was discontinued. Each of
these issues features a signed Schulz cover, but other hands --
certainly Hale, at first -- handled all the interior artwork and writing
(which, as with the latter issues of Nancy and Tip Top, grew less
Schulz-like over time).
But what had happened, to sever the friendship between Schulz and
Jim, which stretched back a decade?
Bouncing back a year or so...
Although already quite popular and gaining fans -- and syndicate
clients -- all the time, in 1957 "Peanuts" was not yet the multimedia
sensation it was to become within another decade. Schulz must have had
some free time that needed filling, and therefore was comfortable with
the concept of pitching a second strip concept to United Features
Syndicate. The artist had lots of ideas about games near and dear to his
heart, including golf, tennis, baseball and bridge. No doubt realizing
that twice as much Schulz per week was a good thing, UFS jumped at the
chance, and the sports and recreation-themed "It’s Only a Game" was
born. For awhile, Schulz joined later stars such as Johnny Hart ("B.C."
and "The Wizard of Id"), Mell Lazarus ("Miss Peach" and "Momma") and
Jerry Scott ("Baby Blues" and "Zits"), with two newspaper strips running
simultaneously.
Each installment of "It’s Only a Game, by Charles M. Schulz,"
hearkening back to Schulz’s very early work on "Li’l Folks" in The St.
Paul Pioneer Press, was comprised of three separate single-panel gag
strips. The package was offered to clients in two different formats as
three single-panel strips per week, to run on Mondays, Wednesdays and
Fridays; or as a combined grouping of three that would appear in Sunday
comics sections. The combined Sunday grouping also had a bonus fourth
cartoon a tiny, captionless visual gag -- very much like the
intermarginal gags that Sergio Aragonés would pepper throughout future
issues of Mad Magazine -- that appeared to the right of the title and
Schulz’s byline. The subject matter of the Monday and Wednesday panels
varied from week to week, but the Friday installment always centered
around bridge, the then-popular card game that Schulz loved. (Further
evidence of this affection could be seen in "Peanuts," where the kids
routinely played the game in the early 1950s, and Woodstock and a
foursome of his bird buddies picked it up in the 1970s and beyond.)
Charles Schulz did this January 12, 1958, "It's Only a Game" panel himself. Note his signature within the art of the right-most panel.
During an October 6, 1957, interview with Schulz, the Chicago
Tribune proudly boasted that it would be one of the flagship newspapers
to carry this new feature. The Tribune selected the weekly option, and
ran "It’s Only a Game" in its Sunday magazine. The debut installment
appeared November 3, 1957, and immediately set the tone for what would
follow, with panels devoted to boxing, golf and bridge. The middle panel
is a hoot, with a middle-aged duffer -- one easily can imagine Charlie
Brown in his 40s -- lamenting a putt that has left his ball perched at
the edge of the cup (but not in), and saying, "I think I’m going to
cry."
Subsequent installments covered checkers, bowling, curling (!),
table tennis, croquet, billiards, ice fishing, darts and even camping.
But as 1957 turned into 1958, something must have changed. Perhaps
Schulz had underestimated the amount of time involved with producing a
second weekly newspaper strip; maybe he also was spending more time than
expected overseeing the new "Peanuts" content in the Dell comic books.
Or, more likely, the "Peanuts" empire as a whole was occupying more of
his time; 1958 saw the production of the first "Peanuts" toys -- plastic
dolls of the major characters, produced by Hungerford -- and of course
this was just the tip of an approaching iceberg.
Whatever the reason, Schulz decided to hand over the lion’s share
of the artistic chores to Jim. Schulz’s solo involvement with "It’s Only
a Game" continued through the January 12, 1958, installment; this is the
last one to bear his signature on one of the cartoon panels. (Schulz’s
name continued to run alone in the masthead, however, making Jim a true
ghost.) As of January 19, 1958, Jim -- often working from hastily
penciled sketches and captions supplied by Schulz -- did all the
newspaper strip’s finished art and lettering.
Sasseville did this January 26, 1958, "It's Only a Game" panel himself. Note that Schulz's signature is nowhere to be seen within the art.
Jim vividly remembers this transition date, because just one week later,
with his second time at bat with the solo art chores, he was paid a
singular honor. That week’s Monday panel, a bowling strip, featured
three league players welcoming a fourth, apparently a little tardy, with
the exclamation of, "Three cheers, gang! Our number one man has
arrived!" A loyal reader sent UFS a black-and-white photo of himself
with three friends, staged to look precisely like the four figures in
Jim’s illustration. The "camera angle" was identical, along with
clothing, body position, and everything else in the frame. The
resemblance even extended to the men themselves, who had body shapes and
hairstyles eerily similar to those found in the panel art.
Jim still has the photo.
Sasseville received this photo recreation of his "It's Only a Game" gag from a fan. Note the date stamp at the top of the photo.
The degree to which Jim successfully imitated Schulz’s linework can
be seen by the fact that the transition was seamless; no casual reader
could have discerned that the hand on the inker’s pen had changed.
During the remainder of 1958, the two men continued to work in the same
fashion, Jim often finishing Schulz’s rough concepts, but also
contributing many of his own original ideas. He also inserted the
occasional personal reference; the boat from which a husband and wife
fish, in one of the June 29, 1958, panels, is the Helga, named after
Jim’s wife.
But Jim remembers that he never came up with any of the concepts
for Friday’s bridge panels, for the simple reason that he didn’t know
the game.
Although he labored in anonymity, Jim was well compensated
financially, and he still speaks appreciatively of Sparky’s generosity.
Schulz had negotiated for 50% of the strip’s income, the other half
going to UFS. This 50% amounted to slightly more than $500 per week;
when Jim came on board, Schulz generously gave half of HIS half to his
new partner, and so Jim brought home $250 per week (after expenses) for
his efforts ... quite a lot of money in 1958.
The two men were living in Minneapolis when this collaboration
began; after the first five months, in May 1958, Jim and his wife
followed the Schulz family to Northern California. Lacking a place to
stay in Sebastopol -- not to mention furniture and other amenities --
the Sassevilles first spent a couple of months a bit south, in Corta
Madera. "For two or three weeks, I drew the comic book stuff and ‘It’s
Only a Game’ on a portable drawing board. But I stayed in touch with
Sparky on the phone, and he supplied the ideas for ‘It’s Only a Game.’ "
The Sassevilles then found a home in Sebastopol. Between "It’s Only
a Game" and the work he also was doing for the "Peanuts" strips in the
Dell comic books, Jim was quite gainfully employed by his new partner
and boss.
Unfortunately, it was not to last.
"It’s Only a Game" began with 30 client newspapers; nearly a year
later, it had ... 30 client newspapers.
(A complete client list has been lost to the mists of time, although
it is known that the feature was carried by The Boston Globe, the Detroit
Free Press, The Chicago Tribune, The Minneapolis Tribune, the San Francisco
Chronicle and The Baltimore Sun.)
The strip never took off, despite strong support from fans such as
bridge expert Charles Goren (who wrote a couple of letters), and even
Schulz’s name didn’t seem to make much of a difference.
But we also can assume that the proud and perfectionist-minded
Schulz -- who in later years, as mentioned above, often made a point of
describing how in "Peanuts" he penciled and inked every line, and
lettered every word balloon -- probably was bothered by the fact that he
wasn’t similarly in sole control of "It’s Only a Game." To be sure, he
was INVOLVED, but he wasn’t actually drawing what appeared in those 30
client newspapers.
"He didn’t like his name being used on somebody else’s work," Jim
recalls, "and I don’t blame him for that."
That, coupled with moribund sales and some tension with the head
UFS salesman to whom Schulz initially had pitched the idea, eventually
prompted an astonishing decision In late 1958, just 12 months into a
solid five-year contract, Schulz made it plain to UFS that he wished to
discontinue "It’s Only a Game." Perhaps recognizing that the strip
wasn’t performing as hoped, UFS agreed.
Schulz did not consult Jim before taking this step; indeed, the
news came as a complete shock to Schulz’s ghost, who’d been very happy
with his work, and the strip, and the $250 per week.
Schulz even tried to sugar-coat the news "You’re off the hook,"
Jim recalls his employer saying (as if this were a GOOD thing), at the
end of that euphoric day when they finished work on the second
all-Peanuts issue of Dell’s Four Color Comics. Jim had just assured
Sparky that his pending move to Berkeley would not affect his ability to
work on "It’s Only a Game," and now the rug had been pulled out from
under him.
The fallout was immediate; it certainly was the final straw for
Helga, who already had been dissatisfied with their home in Sebastopol
-- hence the move to Berkeley -- and also was unhappy about the friction
that existed between her and Joyce, Schulz’s first wife. Helga had
endured Nazi Germany, survived the entire war -- in and out of work
camps -- and had lost her father at Dachau; she was not a woman to keep
opinions to herself.
"I realized I was working on a flawed product, which the creator
and marketer wanted nothing more to do with. Still, I had held out the
hope that maybe Sparky might offer the entire feature to me, although I
realized that there’d be problems with the syndicate," Jim admits, a
touch of wistfulness still clouding the memory after more than 40 years.
"They should have been pretty familiar with my work by then."
It didn’t happen. By the time the final installment of "It’s Only a
Game" appeared, on January 11, 1959 -- the two always had worked six
weeks ahead -- Jim and Schulz had severed all relations, professional
and personal. This also included Jim’s ghosting work on the Dell comic
books. The split was permanent, and the two men never reconciled.
Although "It’s Only a Game" ran for 63 consecutive weeks, it
quickly became a fading memory -- and then an overlooked footnote -- in
Schulz’s career. He rarely mentioned it during later interviews, and
then only obliquely, citing neither date specifics nor his collaboration
with Jim.
"We were the best of friends at first," Jim recalls ruefully. He
happily remembers attending the 1951 National Cartoonists Convention
with Sparky, and also another time when they both went to visit and swap
stories with a fellow artist, Robert M. Brinkerhoff, who lived in
Minneapolis and was known for a newspaper strip called "Little Mary
Mix-Up." Brinkerhoff, in turn -- like many other cartoonists at that
time -- greatly admired J.R. Williams (creator of "Out Our Way"), whom
he once described as "the greatest cowboy ever to walk the streets of
New York." Brinkerhoff related how he had wheedled, begged and finally
finagled an invitation to Williams’ ranch in Montana. Although only
interested in seeing the fabulous studio that he assumed his idol must
have on so massive a spread, Brinkerhoff first had to put up with being
shown all the livestock and the other attractions of a working ranch. As
the visit stretched on, Brinkerhoff finally couldn’t stand it any longer
and demanded to see where Williams did his work.
With a resigned sigh (as Jim recalls Brinkerhoff describing this
incident), Williams walked over to his wife’s sewing machine, took off
the cover, and flipped it over ... and that was it The great J.R.
Williams did all his drawing on the cover of his wife’s sewing machine.
As others have observed, there’s never any reason to embrace
technology or an environment any fancier than that required to get the
job done.
Cartoonists love to talk shop, and Jim’s no different; merely
relating this little tale brings a sparkle into his eyes. And, to this
day, he doesn’t really understand what happened between him and Schulz.
"I feel kind of weird about all this. Sparky obviously wanted me to
succeed in the early days, and even was willing to collaborate with me
on one of my own projects (one of the many variations of "Joe Cipher,"
discussed below). But then when he had a chance to really help me out,
he didn’t make any effort whatsoever ... and left me in rather dire
straits."
Such feelings notwithstanding, all these years later Jim is firm on
one point "Charles M. Schulz was the greatest comic strip artist ever."
And although he certainly couldn’t have known it at the time, Jim
never again would earn his living as a cartoonist.
Before, during and after his working association with Schulz, Jim
played around with many of his own ideas.
If persistence counts for anything, he deserves considerable credit
for his ongoing efforts to sell "Joe Cipher" ("a character kinda based
on me"), a daily strip that underwent quite a few transmutations during
the decade-plus that he tried to place it with a syndicate.
The character first appeared in a sample series of daily strips Jim
produced in late 1949. The strip’s gentle humor is faintly reminiscent
of "Gasoline Alley" and other character-driven work of the era; the
title character is introduced driving an old jalopy that obligingly runs
out of gas at a filling station. The silver-tongued Joe, lacking any
money, eventually impresses the station owner into offering him a job;
Joe celebrates by stepping into a nearby diner for lunch, where he’s
immediately smitten by the young woman behind the counter, and...
...and that’s where the presentation panels concluded.
Perhaps feeling that the strip lacked dramatic impact, a few years
later -- while still at AIS -- Jim tried again, shifting the action to a
tiny island in the middle of the ocean, where the shipwrecked Joe is
joined by an attractive young woman named Ginny, survivor of a second
sea-going calamity. (What are the odds?) Although their relationship is
mildly prickly for the first few days, Ginny eventually wishes aloud
that they could be rescued, so that she can go on a "proper date" with
Joe, and perhaps even kiss him when the evening concludes. Once again,
the story cut off abruptly, as Jim produced just two weeks’ worth of
strips enough to (hopefully) interest a buyer.
Sasseville tried several times to place a comic strip starring Joe Cipher, the pleasant-looking chap
featured in these examples. The two left-most strips are taken from the first run Sasseville designed on his own;
the two right-most strips, starring the same character but
in a different setting, are from Sasseville's third
test run; Charles Schulz contributed story input on these.
(Click on the image to see an enlarged version.)
After getting back from his return hitch in the Navy, Jim
went back to work on Joe Cipher and got a nibble from an
unexpected quarter: Something about this particular setting
touched Schulz, who suggested they collaborate on yet
a third incarnation of "Joe Cipher." (At the time, both men still were
unmarried, and it’s not hard to see a little male fantasy
wish-fulfillment at work.) With narrative input from Schulz and Jim
handling the art chores, the scene shifted again, this time to a
typically romantic South Seas setting, on an island large enough to
support a population of curvaceous young cuties and at least one
villain. Joe and Ginny remained the central focus, but this time the
former saw genuine action, on the receiving end of the villain’s fists.
Schulz and Jim took this newest version of "Joe Cipher" to United
Features Syndicate in spring of 1954; it was turned down flat. The
trip to New York wasn't a complete waste, though, because Sasseville
and Schulz caught a couple of plays: a T.S. Elliot drama called
Confidential Clerk, and another called The King of
Hearts, which starred Jackie Cooper as (what are the odds?)
a cartoonist!
Sasseville also remembers going from suite to suite in New
York's Waldorf hotel during this trip, visiting one cartoonist
after another; meeting Al Capp was a high point. But at least
part of the reason for the trip -- the newest Joe Cipher -- proved
unsellable, and Schulz bowed out at that point.
When Jim finally returned to "Joe Cipher," the 1950s were almost
over. Jim’s association with "Peanuts" and "It’s Only a Game" had
concluded, so the writer/artist returned to his favorite unsold
property. Jim recast his hero in yet another new setting, this time a
business office populated by characters clearly derived from his days at
Art Instruction. Although the sample panels display even cleaner, more
attractive line work -- a sure sign of his growing comfort as an artist
-- Jim had no better luck this time around.
Still refusing to abandon hope, Jim tried one more time In early
1960, after having moved to Berkeley, he once again changed the setting
completely, and turned Joe Cipher into "Sir Joe." This Arthurian-based
concept focused on genuinely whimsical gags involving heavy armor,
maidens in distress, and fire-breathing dragons. Jim’s dragons are
particularly funny, and this newest reboot seems ripe with
possibilities; it’s not at all hard to envision a daily strip evolving
from these samples.
Alas, syndicates once again failed to see any potential, and "Joe
Cipher" was put into Jim’s trunk as no more than another engaging
footnote in the artist’s collection of rejection slips.
Jim didn’t confine his efforts to "Joe Cipher"; the writer/artist
had no shortage of ideas, quite a few of which also wound up as
submission concepts. "Aunty Climax," produced in early 1957 -- just
prior to Jim’s ghost work for Dell comics -- was a single-panel gag
strip that starred a feisty little old lady who was far sharper than
most people assumed. She was based on Louise Cassidy, an AIS colleague
who also was the landlady for the building where Jim briefly lived with
Charles Cuddy. Jim produced a few dozen "Aunty Climax" panels, all of
which are vastly superior -- both in terms of writing and artwork -- to
many of the single-panel cartoons cluttering today’s newspapers.
"Confessions of a French Poodle" was a 1959 concept that didn’t
emerge much further than a few finished panels and lots of pencil
sketches; Jim good-naturedly admits that the idea went nowhere, and so
he abandoned it. That may have been shrewd market analysis, as the
medium never has lacked for dog-oriented material. Even so, French
poodles are funny in their own right, and Jim’s concept sketches are a
hoot.
When not working on Peanuts-related material, Sasseville tried to sell many of his own strip ideas
to a syndicate. From left to right, these examples are "Aunty Climax," "Friends and Foes," "Alpha-Betty" and "Happy Birthday."
(Click on the image to see an enlarged version.)
"Friends and Foes," another single-panel tryout, also emerged from
Jim’s pen in 1959. A little later, shortly after he started putting food
on the table with a "real job" -- and perhaps motivated by the explosion
of children’s television shows, which eventually led to "Sesame Street"
and everything that followed -- Jim tried a kid-oriented educational
strip called "Alpha-Betty," which starred a little girl who finds
herself in an other-worldly land populated by men and women shaped like
letters of the alphabet. The personalities of these individuals were
defined by their appearance; curved female letters, for example, were
far more sultry that straight female letters. The strip has a lovely
"Alice in Wonderland" quality, although the concept may have seemed
limiting.
Jim later played with the medium in "Blackboard," a daily strip
designed to be white-on-black, to imitate chalk on a classroom
blackboard. The stars were Dick, Jane and their TeacheR; although not as
overly educational as "Alpha-Betty," this strip also was aimed at young
audiences.
Jim’s final attempt at syndication was produced in the early 1970s,
after he first went into research hibernation, jotting down enough
celebrity birthdays to fill every day of a calendar year. The resulting
single-panel strips were a precursor to the "On this day in history..."
informational nuggets that have become so ubiquitous The panel for
March 28, for example, illustrated and revealed a few choice facts about
orchestra leader Paul Whiteman. March 29 was devoted to President John
Tyler, while Francisco Goya was featured on March 30.
Sadly, this fared no better with syndicators than any of the
others. "Joe Cipher," "Aunty Climax," "Confessions of a French Poodle,"
"Friends and Foes," "Alpha-Betty," "Blackboard" and "Birthdays" exist only
in Jim’s carefully preserved office files. More’s the pity, because even
the weakest of these strips displays a Puckish wit and clean, attractive
line work too often absent from many of the rushed, imitative strips
that generate little more than reader apathy these days.
Following the dust-up with Schulz and the move to Berkeley, Helga
-- who was delighted by the more rarefied atmosphere of a university
community -- became the family bread-winner. She took a job with a
German importer/exporter and commuted daily across the Bay Bridge.
Eventually succumbing to the need for steady employment, in April
1960 Jim took a job as a graphic designer with Varian, one of the
leading radar companies, located in California’s greater San Francisco
Bay Area. The fit proved comfortable, and he remained with the company
until he retired in 1990.
But the career shift wasn’t immediate; Jim first spent most of 1959
working up his own aforementioned comic strip proposals, and
occasionally sold individual gag cartoons to magazines. But his New
York-based agent took 35% of those one-shots.
"That’s when I started with Varian," Jim recalls, with a chuckle.
"I knew I’d never make it as a gag cartoonist."
Be that as it may, Jim never stopped his cartooning efforts; while
at Varian, he became famous for the birthday cards that he drew for
fellow employees.
Helga, meanwhile, got a job at Stanford, which prompted another
move; the couple then purchased their first home in 1960, in Mountain
View.
Three years later, they moved for what would be the last time. Jim
and his wife paid $28,000 for the house that remains his home to this
day. Just last year the retired artist was offered a cool million bucks
-- in cash -- by a dot-commer who wanted to develop the property. Still
loyal to the memories of his wife, with which the house is filled, Jim
politely declined. Helga died in 1995; he clearly still misses her.
Today, Parkinson’s Disease and the recent stroke have conspired to
deliver the ultimate nightmare Jim no longer can hold a pen well enough
to draw. ("I always marveled at Sparky’s ability to incorporate his
shaking hand into his line work.") But his mind and memory remain
acutely sharp, and his Puckish sense of humor is unbowed. He speaks with
clarity and certainty of his years at Art Instruction School, and with
Schulz, and of his never-successful efforts to market his own original
material.
Jim remains philosophical about his life, and in fact composed
another of his verses to express such feelings
I’m all for equal measures
Losses should be matched by gain;
And since I’ve missed life’s pleasures,
I’ll just double up with pain!
Definitely too harsh, but then we’re always hardest on ourselves.
Jim Sasseville deserves far more than the obscurity into which he has
settled; for a time, he was allied with the man who would become the
world’s most successful cartoonist, and for a time he helped chaperone
the faithfully rendered adventures of Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Linus, Lucy
and the rest ... no small feat.
And I’m particularly transfixed by a remark Jim made during one of
our later phone calls "I don’t know how one should behave, in a
situation like this," he said, referring to our ongoing conversations,
"but it’s like I’ve been resurrected."
Perhaps this article will kick-start our long-overdue obligation to
sing his praises.
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This second 14-month hitch of active duty certainly wasn’t wasted,
in terms of Jim’s artistic skills; he worked for an Irish Catholic
chaplain and did a weekly mimeographed newspaper for U.S. Naval Mobile
Construction Battalion 9 ("I was drawing cartoons up the gazoo"). The
unit’s 1952-53 Cruise Book features a great full-page Jim illustration
on Page 33; titled "Cubi Point, P.I.," it shows five sailors watching a
dog face off with a monkey.
Jim’s relationship with Father John James Kileen never was dull, in
part because the artist was a lapsed Catholic.
"He worked the hell out of me, but then he’d always invite me into
his quarters for a nip, and then try to entice me back into the fold."
After his second stint in the Navy concluded, Jim returned to
civilian life (this time for good), and to Art Instruction Schools,
where he and Schulz picked up where they’d left off. In between grading
assignments and sketching his office buddies, Jim placed a few gag
cartoons in magazines, such as a droll three-panel sequence of a guy
having trouble with a jack, while attempting to fix a flat tire, which
appeared on Page 45 of the August 1957 issue of Gent, a
long-discontinued men’s magazine.
Jim met Helga, his future wife, as a result of his Navy friendship
with Charles Cuddy. She had immigrated to the United States when
sponsored by a South Dakota politician and his family ("mostly for slave
labor," Jim perceptively remarks); Helga was unfamiliar with the farm
environment, and decamped for Minneapolis as soon as she could. She
entered the University of Minnesota with a vengeance; her half-Jewish
heritage had kept her out of institutions of higher learning in her
native Germany.
She also enrolled in art school and wound up in one class being
taught by Dave Ratner, a colleague and friend with whom Jim went to art
school; she also landed in some of the same classes as Cuddy, who for a
time shared a boarding house attic ("a garret") with Jim. Since this
colony of Minneapolis artists wasn’t all that large, it was inevitable
that Jim and Helga would meet. ("Destiny," he happily acknowledges.)
They married in 1956.
"I’d just bought a brand-new Mercury," Jim remembers, with a
chuckle, "and I had to get rid of it when we got married, because Helga
couldn’t drive a stick-shift."
Within a few short months, Sasseville’s life turned around again,
when he became the best of Schulz’s never-credited "Peanuts" ghosts.
Whenever asked, Charles Schulz would repeat the statement that
became ubiquitous Unlike those involved with other "assembly-line"
newspaper comic strips, he remained the only person whose hands touched
the adventures of Charlie Brown and the gang. Schulz wrote, drew, inked
and lettered his strip, and did so during the entire run October 2,
1950, to February 13, 2000. Schulz always insisted that the strip would
cease production when he finally called it quits, a wish that his family
has honored. Unlike other classic strips that have been revived, often
by lesser talents, "Peanuts" will forevermore remain solely a Schulz
legacy.
Except ... that’s not entirely true.
During the 1950s and early ’60s, Charlie Brown and his friends
didn’t just appear in newspaper strips; they also were a popular feature
of comic books ... a medium usually dominated by the likes of Superman
and Captain America, but one that included plenty of room for lighter
fare.
And -- surprise, surprise! -- when the "Peanuts" comic book
appearances stopped being newspaper reprints and "graduated" into
original features in 1957, sharp-eyed fans probably could discern that
somebody other than Sparky Schulz was doing the artwork.
To keep the chronology consistent, let’s turn back the clock to
1952, when "Peanuts" simultaneously debuted as a supporting feature in
two comic books -- the March-April issues of Tip Top Comics (#173) and
United Comics (#21) -- both published by United Feature Syndicate, which
routinely recycled many of its newspaper features in these and other
comic books. The "Peanuts" supporting feature moved into a third book,
Tip Topper, beginning with #17 (June-July 1952); it remained there until
the book was discontinued after #28 (April-May 1954). Shortly before
this final issue of Tip Topper, "Peanuts" returned to Tip Top as a
supporting feature, beginning with #184 (Jan.-Feb. 1954) and continuing
through #188 (Sept.-Oct. 1954). Several of these later issues feature
gorgeous Peanuts covers, which -- although not signed -- appear to be by
Schulz.
"Peanuts" also appeared, during this same period, as a back-up
feature in most issues of United Comics, later retitled Fritzi Ritz
(beginning with #27). The run here also was consecutive #21-#33 (the
latter dated March-April 1954). Stray issues of Sparkler Comics and
Sparkle Comics also included some "Peanuts" reprints, although not on a
regular basis.
UFS got out of the comic book publishing business at the end of
1954, and some of its titles were picked up by St. John in 1955,
including Fritzi Ritz and Tip Top. Despite a noticeable gap of several
months, the numbering of both books continued consecutively. Thus, Tip
Top resumed with #189 (May 1955), and continued to include "Peanuts" as
a supporting feature during St. John’s entire run of this book, through
#210 (July 1957). "Peanuts" was only an occasional supporting feature in
St. John’s run of Fritzi Ritz, starting with #37 (July 1955) and
continuing through #55. Finally, at least one issue of Nancy -- #142
(March 1957) -- also featured Peanuts reprints.
Big changes came in late 1957, and not just because St. John
abandoned these books and turned them over to Dell Comics (Western
Publishing). After a delay of several months to half a year -- depending
on the title -- Dell revived the flagship St. John titles, again with
consecutive numbering. Thus, Tip Top #211 returned as a quarterly with a
cover date of Nov. 1957-Jan. 1958. Fritzi Ritz resumed with #56, dated
Dec. 1957-Feb. 1958.
Under Dell’s stewardship, Charlie Brown and the gang also became a
regular supporting feature in Nancy, beginning with #146 (Sept. 1957).
The biggest change, however, concerned the content in all three books.
When Dell took over, the covers promised "All brand-new stories" ... and
they meant it.
"Peanuts" fans spotted the change in Nancy #146, which boasted a
four-page story with a baseball theme, clearly produced by Schulz
himself (although unsigned); Jim confirms Sparky’s linework. But Schulz
quickly realized that producing four full pages of original art for
Nancy on a monthly basis, not to mention similar duties for the
quarterly Tip Top and Fritzi Ritz, would be more than he was willing to
handle. Then, too, he was only months away from debuting his own second
newspaper strip, "It’s Only a Game" (about which more below).
Schulz allowed Dell’s house art department to handle his characters
in Nancy #147, but was unhappy with the results. (No surprise; the art
is quite weak.) Schulz stepped in again for issue #148, but the workload
problem hadn’t changed. Wanting greater fidelity to his own style,
Schulz turned to Jim, who took over the reins with issue #149 and
continued through #168 (July 1959). Jim essentially became Schulz’s
employee and was paid $100 per week for this work; since he was making
only $80 per week at Art Instruction, this -- along with the even higher
paycheck he’d soon receive, for helping Schulz with "It’s Only a Game"
-- was a substantial raise.
As a ghosting assignment, the results are impressive. Charlie Brown
and Linus’ heads are notoriously difficult to reproduce in Schulz’s
signature style, but Jim came damn close. More to the point, the
characters are posed and conduct themselves in a way that’s absolutely
typical of their behavior in Sparky’s newspaper strip. Art purists may
have noticed that Jim wasn’t Schulz, but casual readers were unlikely to
have detected the difference.
The four-page story above is taken from Nancy #151, February 1958.
(Click on the pages to enlarge them.)
"He gave me carte blanche on writing them, and I felt like a
faithful uncle," Jim says, with no small amount of pride at his ability
to reproduce Charlie Brown and the gang.
Although Jim’s take on the "Peanuts" gang in Nancy #149 was the
first to reach fans, it was not the ghost artist’s debut crack at
Charlie Brown. Jim’s first completed "Peanuts" comic book adventure was
"The Trip," one of a quartet of eight-page stories (packaged with three
one-page stories) that eventually appeared as issue #878 (Feb. 1958) of
Dell’s Four Color Comics, an "umbrella title" that rotated various
stars; this issue, boasting a gorgeous signed Schulz cover, was the
first one devoted to "Peanuts."
Ever the imp, Jim inserted a personal reference into "The Trip."
The number on the dog license that Charlie Brown uses -- 891-68-14 -- to
justify his getting behind the wheel of a station wagon, was the
artist’s Navy serial number.
Jim also did the work in the Fritzi Ritz and Tip Top issues during
this time, and it’s important to note that he had a completely free rein
with these comic book stories, handling both art and writing chores.
Fritzi Ritz lasted only four issues under the Dell label, before
being discontinued after #59 (Sept.-Nov. 1958). "Peanuts" did not appear
in #56, but each of the remaining three issues included a new four-page
story by Jim. He also handled the work for Tip Top #211 through #215
(Nov. 1958-Jan. 1959). In Tip Top, Charlie Brown and his friends shared
covers with Nancy, Sluggo, and the Captain and the Kids. Although
unsigned, Schulz drew these "Peanuts" cover panels for issues 211-213,
and Jim handled 214 and 215.
Sasseville did the Peanuts art in these issues of Tip Top, #214 and #215.
(Click on the pages to enlarge them.)
All told, then, Jim drew the interior stories in 20 issues of
Nancy, three issues of Fritzi Ritz, and five issues of Tip Top, along
with Four Color #878. This relationship with Schulz and Dell Comics took
an unexpected turn when the two men parted unhappily, and Jim’s final
work for Dell was the long kite story in the second all-"Peanuts" issue
of Four Color Comics (#969, Feb. 1959), along with the inside front and
inside back cover one-pagers.
The completion of that particular issue became something of a
marathon art session. After announcing that he and Helga would be moving
to Berkeley, Jim took stock of the pending Dell workload, and discovered
that the deadline for the second all-Peanuts issue of Four Color Comics
was imminent. Jim promised to finish this before the move, but Sparky
suggested that the job would proceed faster if they worked on it
together. The two men thus divided the work between them, and began
early one morning with what turned into a lengthy session stretching
well into the evening. During that time, Jim completed the
aforementioned two one-page stories and one eight-page story, while
Sparky handled the remaining one-page story and THREE eight-page
stories.
"There’s no doubt who was the faster artist," Jim notes, with a
chuckle. "He certainly put me in my place!"
Jim still remembers that session as a euphoric rush ... but it
concluded on a gloomy note, when, resting in the happy afterglow of a
job well done, Schulz revealed the fate of "It’s Only a Game" (see
below).
In the aftermath, Schulz also stepped in and handled all the work
for Nancy #169 (August 1959). Clearly, this was a rush job, and Schulz
borrowed from himself The final panel of this four-page story is almost
identical to the final panel of the June 23, 1957, "Peanuts" Sunday
strip. The comic book storyline is an expansion of that Sunday strip,
and the aforementioned final panel in the comic book is signed by Schulz
... the only case where any interior comic book stories bear his
signature.
Because the split was far from amicable, Jim did not follow the
subsequent comic book adventures of Charlie Brown and his friends, in
Nancy and Tip Top. On close examination just a few weeks ago -- in many
cases, seeing this work for the first time -- Jim pointed to specific
poses, characteristics and lettering attributes ("Sparky always rounded
out the bottoms of his W’s") that leave him convinced that Schulz either
penciled and inked the next several issues of both Nancy and Tip Top, or
at least roughed in the panel layout, inked the primary characters --
particularly their heads -- and lettered the word balloons. This seems
likely; carefully examination of individual pages reveals an occasional
Snoopy or Lucy which, not matching the rest, clearly must have been
inked by somebody else.
But Dale Hale, Schulz’s new apprentice and ghost -- and another
associate from Art Instruction Schools -- caught on quickly, and the
artwork in both books retained its Schulz-like characteristics through
roughly late 1960 or early 1961. At this point, other hands clearly took
over -- possibly Tony Pocrnick, another Schulz associate from Art
Instruction -- and the "Peanuts" characters became ever-more distant
from the Schulz ideal until the final issues of Tip Top (#225, May-July
1961) and Nancy. (By then the latter had been retitled Nancy and Sluggo,
and its final five issues were released under the Gold Key imprint; the
book was discontinued with issue #192, October 1963.) The "Peanuts"
artwork in the last issues of both books is, in a word, dreadful.
A third all-"Peanuts" issue of Four Color Comics was produced
(#1015, August-October 1959), after which the characters got their own
book that began with issue #4 (Feb.-April 1960), by way of acknowledging
those first three appearances in Four Color Comics. This lasted through
#13 (May-July 1962), after which the book was discontinued. Each of
these issues features a signed Schulz cover, but other hands --
certainly Hale, at first -- handled all the interior artwork and writing
(which, as with the latter issues of Nancy and Tip Top, grew less
Schulz-like over time).
But what had happened, to sever the friendship between Schulz and
Jim, which stretched back a decade?
Bouncing back a year or so...
Although already quite popular and gaining fans -- and syndicate
clients -- all the time, in 1957 "Peanuts" was not yet the multimedia
sensation it was to become within another decade. Schulz must have had
some free time that needed filling, and therefore was comfortable with
the concept of pitching a second strip concept to United Features
Syndicate. The artist had lots of ideas about games near and dear to his
heart, including golf, tennis, baseball and bridge. No doubt realizing
that twice as much Schulz per week was a good thing, UFS jumped at the
chance, and the sports and recreation-themed "It’s Only a Game" was
born. For awhile, Schulz joined later stars such as Johnny Hart ("B.C."
and "The Wizard of Id"), Mell Lazarus ("Miss Peach" and "Momma") and
Jerry Scott ("Baby Blues" and "Zits"), with two newspaper strips running
simultaneously.
Each installment of "It’s Only a Game, by Charles M. Schulz,"
hearkening back to Schulz’s very early work on "Li’l Folks" in The St.
Paul Pioneer Press, was comprised of three separate single-panel gag
strips. The package was offered to clients in two different formats as
three single-panel strips per week, to run on Mondays, Wednesdays and
Fridays; or as a combined grouping of three that would appear in Sunday
comics sections. The combined Sunday grouping also had a bonus fourth
cartoon a tiny, captionless visual gag -- very much like the
intermarginal gags that Sergio Aragonés would pepper throughout future
issues of Mad Magazine -- that appeared to the right of the title and
Schulz’s byline. The subject matter of the Monday and Wednesday panels
varied from week to week, but the Friday installment always centered
around bridge, the then-popular card game that Schulz loved. (Further
evidence of this affection could be seen in "Peanuts," where the kids
routinely played the game in the early 1950s, and Woodstock and a
foursome of his bird buddies picked it up in the 1970s and beyond.)
Charles Schulz did this January 12, 1958, "It's Only a Game" panel himself. Note his signature within the art of the right-most panel.
During an October 6, 1957, interview with Schulz, the Chicago
Tribune proudly boasted that it would be one of the flagship newspapers
to carry this new feature. The Tribune selected the weekly option, and
ran "It’s Only a Game" in its Sunday magazine. The debut installment
appeared November 3, 1957, and immediately set the tone for what would
follow, with panels devoted to boxing, golf and bridge. The middle panel
is a hoot, with a middle-aged duffer -- one easily can imagine Charlie
Brown in his 40s -- lamenting a putt that has left his ball perched at
the edge of the cup (but not in), and saying, "I think I’m going to
cry."
Subsequent installments covered checkers, bowling, curling (!),
table tennis, croquet, billiards, ice fishing, darts and even camping.
But as 1957 turned into 1958, something must have changed. Perhaps
Schulz had underestimated the amount of time involved with producing a
second weekly newspaper strip; maybe he also was spending more time than
expected overseeing the new "Peanuts" content in the Dell comic books.
Or, more likely, the "Peanuts" empire as a whole was occupying more of
his time; 1958 saw the production of the first "Peanuts" toys -- plastic
dolls of the major characters, produced by Hungerford -- and of course
this was just the tip of an approaching iceberg.
Whatever the reason, Schulz decided to hand over the lion’s share
of the artistic chores to Jim. Schulz’s solo involvement with "It’s Only
a Game" continued through the January 12, 1958, installment; this is the
last one to bear his signature on one of the cartoon panels. (Schulz’s
name continued to run alone in the masthead, however, making Jim a true
ghost.) As of January 19, 1958, Jim -- often working from hastily
penciled sketches and captions supplied by Schulz -- did all the
newspaper strip’s finished art and lettering.
Sasseville did this January 26, 1958, "It's Only a Game" panel himself. Note that Schulz's signature is nowhere to be seen within the art.
Jim vividly remembers this transition date, because just one week later,
with his second time at bat with the solo art chores, he was paid a
singular honor. That week’s Monday panel, a bowling strip, featured
three league players welcoming a fourth, apparently a little tardy, with
the exclamation of, "Three cheers, gang! Our number one man has
arrived!" A loyal reader sent UFS a black-and-white photo of himself
with three friends, staged to look precisely like the four figures in
Jim’s illustration. The "camera angle" was identical, along with
clothing, body position, and everything else in the frame. The
resemblance even extended to the men themselves, who had body shapes and
hairstyles eerily similar to those found in the panel art.
Jim still has the photo.
Sasseville received this photo recreation of his "It's Only a Game" gag from a fan. Note the date stamp at the top of the photo.
The degree to which Jim successfully imitated Schulz’s linework can
be seen by the fact that the transition was seamless; no casual reader
could have discerned that the hand on the inker’s pen had changed.
During the remainder of 1958, the two men continued to work in the same
fashion, Jim often finishing Schulz’s rough concepts, but also
contributing many of his own original ideas. He also inserted the
occasional personal reference; the boat from which a husband and wife
fish, in one of the June 29, 1958, panels, is the Helga, named after
Jim’s wife.
But Jim remembers that he never came up with any of the concepts
for Friday’s bridge panels, for the simple reason that he didn’t know
the game.
Although he labored in anonymity, Jim was well compensated
financially, and he still speaks appreciatively of Sparky’s generosity.
Schulz had negotiated for 50% of the strip’s income, the other half
going to UFS. This 50% amounted to slightly more than $500 per week;
when Jim came on board, Schulz generously gave half of HIS half to his
new partner, and so Jim brought home $250 per week (after expenses) for
his efforts ... quite a lot of money in 1958.
The two men were living in Minneapolis when this collaboration
began; after the first five months, in May 1958, Jim and his wife
followed the Schulz family to Northern California. Lacking a place to
stay in Sebastopol -- not to mention furniture and other amenities --
the Sassevilles first spent a couple of months a bit south, in Corta
Madera. "For two or three weeks, I drew the comic book stuff and ‘It’s
Only a Game’ on a portable drawing board. But I stayed in touch with
Sparky on the phone, and he supplied the ideas for ‘It’s Only a Game.’ "
The Sassevilles then found a home in Sebastopol. Between "It’s Only
a Game" and the work he also was doing for the "Peanuts" strips in the
Dell comic books, Jim was quite gainfully employed by his new partner
and boss.
Unfortunately, it was not to last.
"It’s Only a Game" began with 30 client newspapers; nearly a year
later, it had ... 30 client newspapers.
(A complete client list has been lost to the mists of time, although
it is known that the feature was carried by The Boston Globe, the Detroit
Free Press, The Chicago Tribune, The Minneapolis Tribune, the San Francisco
Chronicle and The Baltimore Sun.)
The strip never took off, despite strong support from fans such as
bridge expert Charles Goren (who wrote a couple of letters), and even
Schulz’s name didn’t seem to make much of a difference.
But we also can assume that the proud and perfectionist-minded
Schulz -- who in later years, as mentioned above, often made a point of
describing how in "Peanuts" he penciled and inked every line, and
lettered every word balloon -- probably was bothered by the fact that he
wasn’t similarly in sole control of "It’s Only a Game." To be sure, he
was INVOLVED, but he wasn’t actually drawing what appeared in those 30
client newspapers.
"He didn’t like his name being used on somebody else’s work," Jim
recalls, "and I don’t blame him for that."
That, coupled with moribund sales and some tension with the head
UFS salesman to whom Schulz initially had pitched the idea, eventually
prompted an astonishing decision In late 1958, just 12 months into a
solid five-year contract, Schulz made it plain to UFS that he wished to
discontinue "It’s Only a Game." Perhaps recognizing that the strip
wasn’t performing as hoped, UFS agreed.
Schulz did not consult Jim before taking this step; indeed, the
news came as a complete shock to Schulz’s ghost, who’d been very happy
with his work, and the strip, and the $250 per week.
Schulz even tried to sugar-coat the news "You’re off the hook,"
Jim recalls his employer saying (as if this were a GOOD thing), at the
end of that euphoric day when they finished work on the second
all-Peanuts issue of Dell’s Four Color Comics. Jim had just assured
Sparky that his pending move to Berkeley would not affect his ability to
work on "It’s Only a Game," and now the rug had been pulled out from
under him.
The fallout was immediate; it certainly was the final straw for
Helga, who already had been dissatisfied with their home in Sebastopol
-- hence the move to Berkeley -- and also was unhappy about the friction
that existed between her and Joyce, Schulz’s first wife. Helga had
endured Nazi Germany, survived the entire war -- in and out of work
camps -- and had lost her father at Dachau; she was not a woman to keep
opinions to herself.
"I realized I was working on a flawed product, which the creator
and marketer wanted nothing more to do with. Still, I had held out the
hope that maybe Sparky might offer the entire feature to me, although I
realized that there’d be problems with the syndicate," Jim admits, a
touch of wistfulness still clouding the memory after more than 40 years.
"They should have been pretty familiar with my work by then."
It didn’t happen. By the time the final installment of "It’s Only a
Game" appeared, on January 11, 1959 -- the two always had worked six
weeks ahead -- Jim and Schulz had severed all relations, professional
and personal. This also included Jim’s ghosting work on the Dell comic
books. The split was permanent, and the two men never reconciled.
Although "It’s Only a Game" ran for 63 consecutive weeks, it
quickly became a fading memory -- and then an overlooked footnote -- in
Schulz’s career. He rarely mentioned it during later interviews, and
then only obliquely, citing neither date specifics nor his collaboration
with Jim.
"We were the best of friends at first," Jim recalls ruefully. He
happily remembers attending the 1951 National Cartoonists Convention
with Sparky, and also another time when they both went to visit and swap
stories with a fellow artist, Robert M. Brinkerhoff, who lived in
Minneapolis and was known for a newspaper strip called "Little Mary
Mix-Up." Brinkerhoff, in turn -- like many other cartoonists at that
time -- greatly admired J.R. Williams (creator of "Out Our Way"), whom
he once described as "the greatest cowboy ever to walk the streets of
New York." Brinkerhoff related how he had wheedled, begged and finally
finagled an invitation to Williams’ ranch in Montana. Although only
interested in seeing the fabulous studio that he assumed his idol must
have on so massive a spread, Brinkerhoff first had to put up with being
shown all the livestock and the other attractions of a working ranch. As
the visit stretched on, Brinkerhoff finally couldn’t stand it any longer
and demanded to see where Williams did his work.
With a resigned sigh (as Jim recalls Brinkerhoff describing this
incident), Williams walked over to his wife’s sewing machine, took off
the cover, and flipped it over ... and that was it The great J.R.
Williams did all his drawing on the cover of his wife’s sewing machine.
As others have observed, there’s never any reason to embrace
technology or an environment any fancier than that required to get the
job done.
Cartoonists love to talk shop, and Jim’s no different; merely
relating this little tale brings a sparkle into his eyes. And, to this
day, he doesn’t really understand what happened between him and Schulz.
"I feel kind of weird about all this. Sparky obviously wanted me to
succeed in the early days, and even was willing to collaborate with me
on one of my own projects (one of the many variations of "Joe Cipher,"
discussed below). But then when he had a chance to really help me out,
he didn’t make any effort whatsoever ... and left me in rather dire
straits."
Such feelings notwithstanding, all these years later Jim is firm on
one point "Charles M. Schulz was the greatest comic strip artist ever."
And although he certainly couldn’t have known it at the time, Jim
never again would earn his living as a cartoonist.
Before, during and after his working association with Schulz, Jim
played around with many of his own ideas.
If persistence counts for anything, he deserves considerable credit
for his ongoing efforts to sell "Joe Cipher" ("a character kinda based
on me"), a daily strip that underwent quite a few transmutations during
the decade-plus that he tried to place it with a syndicate.
The character first appeared in a sample series of daily strips Jim
produced in late 1949. The strip’s gentle humor is faintly reminiscent
of "Gasoline Alley" and other character-driven work of the era; the
title character is introduced driving an old jalopy that obligingly runs
out of gas at a filling station. The silver-tongued Joe, lacking any
money, eventually impresses the station owner into offering him a job;
Joe celebrates by stepping into a nearby diner for lunch, where he’s
immediately smitten by the young woman behind the counter, and...
...and that’s where the presentation panels concluded.
Perhaps feeling that the strip lacked dramatic impact, a few years
later -- while still at AIS -- Jim tried again, shifting the action to a
tiny island in the middle of the ocean, where the shipwrecked Joe is
joined by an attractive young woman named Ginny, survivor of a second
sea-going calamity. (What are the odds?) Although their relationship is
mildly prickly for the first few days, Ginny eventually wishes aloud
that they could be rescued, so that she can go on a "proper date" with
Joe, and perhaps even kiss him when the evening concludes. Once again,
the story cut off abruptly, as Jim produced just two weeks’ worth of
strips enough to (hopefully) interest a buyer.
Sasseville tried several times to place a comic strip starring Joe Cipher, the pleasant-looking chap
featured in these examples. The two left-most strips are taken from the first run Sasseville designed on his own;
the two right-most strips, starring the same character but
in a different setting, are from Sasseville's third
test run; Charles Schulz contributed story input on these.
(Click on the image to see an enlarged version.)
After getting back from his return hitch in the Navy, Jim
went back to work on Joe Cipher and got a nibble from an
unexpected quarter: Something about this particular setting
touched Schulz, who suggested they collaborate on yet
a third incarnation of "Joe Cipher." (At the time, both men still were
unmarried, and it’s not hard to see a little male fantasy
wish-fulfillment at work.) With narrative input from Schulz and Jim
handling the art chores, the scene shifted again, this time to a
typically romantic South Seas setting, on an island large enough to
support a population of curvaceous young cuties and at least one
villain. Joe and Ginny remained the central focus, but this time the
former saw genuine action, on the receiving end of the villain’s fists.
Schulz and Jim took this newest version of "Joe Cipher" to United
Features Syndicate in spring of 1954; it was turned down flat. The
trip to New York wasn't a complete waste, though, because Sasseville
and Schulz caught a couple of plays: a T.S. Elliot drama called
Confidential Clerk, and another called The King of
Hearts, which starred Jackie Cooper as (what are the odds?)
a cartoonist!
Sasseville also remembers going from suite to suite in New
York's Waldorf hotel during this trip, visiting one cartoonist
after another; meeting Al Capp was a high point. But at least
part of the reason for the trip -- the newest Joe Cipher -- proved
unsellable, and Schulz bowed out at that point.
When Jim finally returned to "Joe Cipher," the 1950s were almost
over. Jim’s association with "Peanuts" and "It’s Only a Game" had
concluded, so the writer/artist returned to his favorite unsold
property. Jim recast his hero in yet another new setting, this time a
business office populated by characters clearly derived from his days at
Art Instruction. Although the sample panels display even cleaner, more
attractive line work -- a sure sign of his growing comfort as an artist
-- Jim had no better luck this time around.
Still refusing to abandon hope, Jim tried one more time In early
1960, after having moved to Berkeley, he once again changed the setting
completely, and turned Joe Cipher into "Sir Joe." This Arthurian-based
concept focused on genuinely whimsical gags involving heavy armor,
maidens in distress, and fire-breathing dragons. Jim’s dragons are
particularly funny, and this newest reboot seems ripe with
possibilities; it’s not at all hard to envision a daily strip evolving
from these samples.
Alas, syndicates once again failed to see any potential, and "Joe
Cipher" was put into Jim’s trunk as no more than another engaging
footnote in the artist’s collection of rejection slips.
Jim didn’t confine his efforts to "Joe Cipher"; the writer/artist
had no shortage of ideas, quite a few of which also wound up as
submission concepts. "Aunty Climax," produced in early 1957 -- just
prior to Jim’s ghost work for Dell comics -- was a single-panel gag
strip that starred a feisty little old lady who was far sharper than
most people assumed. She was based on Louise Cassidy, an AIS colleague
who also was the landlady for the building where Jim briefly lived with
Charles Cuddy. Jim produced a few dozen "Aunty Climax" panels, all of
which are vastly superior -- both in terms of writing and artwork -- to
many of the single-panel cartoons cluttering today’s newspapers.
"Confessions of a French Poodle" was a 1959 concept that didn’t
emerge much further than a few finished panels and lots of pencil
sketches; Jim good-naturedly admits that the idea went nowhere, and so
he abandoned it. That may have been shrewd market analysis, as the
medium never has lacked for dog-oriented material. Even so, French
poodles are funny in their own right, and Jim’s concept sketches are a
hoot.
When not working on Peanuts-related material, Sasseville tried to sell many of his own strip ideas
to a syndicate. From left to right, these examples are "Aunty Climax," "Friends and Foes," "Alpha-Betty" and "Happy Birthday."
(Click on the image to see an enlarged version.)
"Friends and Foes," another single-panel tryout, also emerged from
Jim’s pen in 1959. A little later, shortly after he started putting food
on the table with a "real job" -- and perhaps motivated by the explosion
of children’s television shows, which eventually led to "Sesame Street"
and everything that followed -- Jim tried a kid-oriented educational
strip called "Alpha-Betty," which starred a little girl who finds
herself in an other-worldly land populated by men and women shaped like
letters of the alphabet. The personalities of these individuals were
defined by their appearance; curved female letters, for example, were
far more sultry that straight female letters. The strip has a lovely
"Alice in Wonderland" quality, although the concept may have seemed
limiting.
Jim later played with the medium in "Blackboard," a daily strip
designed to be white-on-black, to imitate chalk on a classroom
blackboard. The stars were Dick, Jane and their TeacheR; although not as
overly educational as "Alpha-Betty," this strip also was aimed at young
audiences.
Jim’s final attempt at syndication was produced in the early 1970s,
after he first went into research hibernation, jotting down enough
celebrity birthdays to fill every day of a calendar year. The resulting
single-panel strips were a precursor to the "On this day in history..."
informational nuggets that have become so ubiquitous The panel for
March 28, for example, illustrated and revealed a few choice facts about
orchestra leader Paul Whiteman. March 29 was devoted to President John
Tyler, while Francisco Goya was featured on March 30.
Sadly, this fared no better with syndicators than any of the
others. "Joe Cipher," "Aunty Climax," "Confessions of a French Poodle,"
"Friends and Foes," "Alpha-Betty," "Blackboard" and "Birthdays" exist only
in Jim’s carefully preserved office files. More’s the pity, because even
the weakest of these strips displays a Puckish wit and clean, attractive
line work too often absent from many of the rushed, imitative strips
that generate little more than reader apathy these days.
Following the dust-up with Schulz and the move to Berkeley, Helga
-- who was delighted by the more rarefied atmosphere of a university
community -- became the family bread-winner. She took a job with a
German importer/exporter and commuted daily across the Bay Bridge.
Eventually succumbing to the need for steady employment, in April
1960 Jim took a job as a graphic designer with Varian, one of the
leading radar companies, located in California’s greater San Francisco
Bay Area. The fit proved comfortable, and he remained with the company
until he retired in 1990.
But the career shift wasn’t immediate; Jim first spent most of 1959
working up his own aforementioned comic strip proposals, and
occasionally sold individual gag cartoons to magazines. But his New
York-based agent took 35% of those one-shots.
"That’s when I started with Varian," Jim recalls, with a chuckle.
"I knew I’d never make it as a gag cartoonist."
Be that as it may, Jim never stopped his cartooning efforts; while
at Varian, he became famous for the birthday cards that he drew for
fellow employees.
Helga, meanwhile, got a job at Stanford, which prompted another
move; the couple then purchased their first home in 1960, in Mountain
View.
Three years later, they moved for what would be the last time. Jim
and his wife paid $28,000 for the house that remains his home to this
day. Just last year the retired artist was offered a cool million bucks
-- in cash -- by a dot-commer who wanted to develop the property. Still
loyal to the memories of his wife, with which the house is filled, Jim
politely declined. Helga died in 1995; he clearly still misses her.
Today, Parkinson’s Disease and the recent stroke have conspired to
deliver the ultimate nightmare Jim no longer can hold a pen well enough
to draw. ("I always marveled at Sparky’s ability to incorporate his
shaking hand into his line work.") But his mind and memory remain
acutely sharp, and his Puckish sense of humor is unbowed. He speaks with
clarity and certainty of his years at Art Instruction School, and with
Schulz, and of his never-successful efforts to market his own original
material.
Jim remains philosophical about his life, and in fact composed
another of his verses to express such feelings
I’m all for equal measures
Losses should be matched by gain;
And since I’ve missed life’s pleasures,
I’ll just double up with pain!
Definitely too harsh, but then we’re always hardest on ourselves.
Jim Sasseville deserves far more than the obscurity into which he has
settled; for a time, he was allied with the man who would become the
world’s most successful cartoonist, and for a time he helped chaperone
the faithfully rendered adventures of Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Linus, Lucy
and the rest ... no small feat.
And I’m particularly transfixed by a remark Jim made during one of
our later phone calls "I don’t know how one should behave, in a
situation like this," he said, referring to our ongoing conversations,
"but it’s like I’ve been resurrected."
Perhaps this article will kick-start our long-overdue obligation to
sing his praises.
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"He worked the hell out of me, but then he’d always invite me into
his quarters for a nip, and then try to entice me back into the fold."
After his second stint in the Navy concluded, Jim returned to
civilian life (this time for good), and to Art Instruction Schools,
where he and Schulz picked up where they’d left off. In between grading
assignments and sketching his office buddies, Jim placed a few gag
cartoons in magazines, such as a droll three-panel sequence of a guy
having trouble with a jack, while attempting to fix a flat tire, which
appeared on Page 45 of the August 1957 issue of Gent, a
long-discontinued men’s magazine.
Jim met Helga, his future wife, as a result of his Navy friendship
with Charles Cuddy. She had immigrated to the United States when
sponsored by a South Dakota politician and his family ("mostly for slave
labor," Jim perceptively remarks); Helga was unfamiliar with the farm
environment, and decamped for Minneapolis as soon as she could. She
entered the University of Minnesota with a vengeance; her half-Jewish
heritage had kept her out of institutions of higher learning in her
native Germany.
She also enrolled in art school and wound up in one class being
taught by Dave Ratner, a colleague and friend with whom Jim went to art
school; she also landed in some of the same classes as Cuddy, who for a
time shared a boarding house attic ("a garret") with Jim. Since this
colony of Minneapolis artists wasn’t all that large, it was inevitable
that Jim and Helga would meet. ("Destiny," he happily acknowledges.)
They married in 1956.
"I’d just bought a brand-new Mercury," Jim remembers, with a
chuckle, "and I had to get rid of it when we got married, because Helga
couldn’t drive a stick-shift."
Within a few short months, Sasseville’s life turned around again,
when he became the best of Schulz’s never-credited "Peanuts" ghosts.
Whenever asked, Charles Schulz would repeat the statement that
became ubiquitous Unlike those involved with other "assembly-line"
newspaper comic strips, he remained the only person whose hands touched
the adventures of Charlie Brown and the gang. Schulz wrote, drew, inked
and lettered his strip, and did so during the entire run October 2,
1950, to February 13, 2000. Schulz always insisted that the strip would
cease production when he finally called it quits, a wish that his family
has honored. Unlike other classic strips that have been revived, often
by lesser talents, "Peanuts" will forevermore remain solely a Schulz
legacy.
Except ... that’s not entirely true.
During the 1950s and early ’60s, Charlie Brown and his friends
didn’t just appear in newspaper strips; they also were a popular feature
of comic books ... a medium usually dominated by the likes of Superman
and Captain America, but one that included plenty of room for lighter
fare.
And -- surprise, surprise! -- when the "Peanuts" comic book
appearances stopped being newspaper reprints and "graduated" into
original features in 1957, sharp-eyed fans probably could discern that
somebody other than Sparky Schulz was doing the artwork.
To keep the chronology consistent, let’s turn back the clock to
1952, when "Peanuts" simultaneously debuted as a supporting feature in
two comic books -- the March-April issues of Tip Top Comics (#173) and
United Comics (#21) -- both published by United Feature Syndicate, which
routinely recycled many of its newspaper features in these and other
comic books. The "Peanuts" supporting feature moved into a third book,
Tip Topper, beginning with #17 (June-July 1952); it remained there until
the book was discontinued after #28 (April-May 1954). Shortly before
this final issue of Tip Topper, "Peanuts" returned to Tip Top as a
supporting feature, beginning with #184 (Jan.-Feb. 1954) and continuing
through #188 (Sept.-Oct. 1954). Several of these later issues feature
gorgeous Peanuts covers, which -- although not signed -- appear to be by
Schulz.
"Peanuts" also appeared, during this same period, as a back-up
feature in most issues of United Comics, later retitled Fritzi Ritz
(beginning with #27). The run here also was consecutive #21-#33 (the
latter dated March-April 1954). Stray issues of Sparkler Comics and
Sparkle Comics also included some "Peanuts" reprints, although not on a
regular basis.
UFS got out of the comic book publishing business at the end of
1954, and some of its titles were picked up by St. John in 1955,
including Fritzi Ritz and Tip Top. Despite a noticeable gap of several
months, the numbering of both books continued consecutively. Thus, Tip
Top resumed with #189 (May 1955), and continued to include "Peanuts" as
a supporting feature during St. John’s entire run of this book, through
#210 (July 1957). "Peanuts" was only an occasional supporting feature in
St. John’s run of Fritzi Ritz, starting with #37 (July 1955) and
continuing through #55. Finally, at least one issue of Nancy -- #142
(March 1957) -- also featured Peanuts reprints.
Big changes came in late 1957, and not just because St. John
abandoned these books and turned them over to Dell Comics (Western
Publishing). After a delay of several months to half a year -- depending
on the title -- Dell revived the flagship St. John titles, again with
consecutive numbering. Thus, Tip Top #211 returned as a quarterly with a
cover date of Nov. 1957-Jan. 1958. Fritzi Ritz resumed with #56, dated
Dec. 1957-Feb. 1958.
Under Dell’s stewardship, Charlie Brown and the gang also became a
regular supporting feature in Nancy, beginning with #146 (Sept. 1957).
The biggest change, however, concerned the content in all three books.
When Dell took over, the covers promised "All brand-new stories" ... and
they meant it.
"Peanuts" fans spotted the change in Nancy #146, which boasted a
four-page story with a baseball theme, clearly produced by Schulz
himself (although unsigned); Jim confirms Sparky’s linework. But Schulz
quickly realized that producing four full pages of original art for
Nancy on a monthly basis, not to mention similar duties for the
quarterly Tip Top and Fritzi Ritz, would be more than he was willing to
handle. Then, too, he was only months away from debuting his own second
newspaper strip, "It’s Only a Game" (about which more below).
Schulz allowed Dell’s house art department to handle his characters
in Nancy #147, but was unhappy with the results. (No surprise; the art
is quite weak.) Schulz stepped in again for issue #148, but the workload
problem hadn’t changed. Wanting greater fidelity to his own style,
Schulz turned to Jim, who took over the reins with issue #149 and
continued through #168 (July 1959). Jim essentially became Schulz’s
employee and was paid $100 per week for this work; since he was making
only $80 per week at Art Instruction, this -- along with the even higher
paycheck he’d soon receive, for helping Schulz with "It’s Only a Game"
-- was a substantial raise.
As a ghosting assignment, the results are impressive. Charlie Brown
and Linus’ heads are notoriously difficult to reproduce in Schulz’s
signature style, but Jim came damn close. More to the point, the
characters are posed and conduct themselves in a way that’s absolutely
typical of their behavior in Sparky’s newspaper strip. Art purists may
have noticed that Jim wasn’t Schulz, but casual readers were unlikely to
have detected the difference.
The four-page story above is taken from Nancy #151, February 1958.
(Click on the pages to enlarge them.)
"He gave me carte blanche on writing them, and I felt like a
faithful uncle," Jim says, with no small amount of pride at his ability
to reproduce Charlie Brown and the gang.
Although Jim’s take on the "Peanuts" gang in Nancy #149 was the
first to reach fans, it was not the ghost artist’s debut crack at
Charlie Brown. Jim’s first completed "Peanuts" comic book adventure was
"The Trip," one of a quartet of eight-page stories (packaged with three
one-page stories) that eventually appeared as issue #878 (Feb. 1958) of
Dell’s Four Color Comics, an "umbrella title" that rotated various
stars; this issue, boasting a gorgeous signed Schulz cover, was the
first one devoted to "Peanuts."
Ever the imp, Jim inserted a personal reference into "The Trip."
The number on the dog license that Charlie Brown uses -- 891-68-14 -- to
justify his getting behind the wheel of a station wagon, was the
artist’s Navy serial number.
Jim also did the work in the Fritzi Ritz and Tip Top issues during
this time, and it’s important to note that he had a completely free rein
with these comic book stories, handling both art and writing chores.
Fritzi Ritz lasted only four issues under the Dell label, before
being discontinued after #59 (Sept.-Nov. 1958). "Peanuts" did not appear
in #56, but each of the remaining three issues included a new four-page
story by Jim. He also handled the work for Tip Top #211 through #215
(Nov. 1958-Jan. 1959). In Tip Top, Charlie Brown and his friends shared
covers with Nancy, Sluggo, and the Captain and the Kids. Although
unsigned, Schulz drew these "Peanuts" cover panels for issues 211-213,
and Jim handled 214 and 215.
Sasseville did the Peanuts art in these issues of Tip Top, #214 and #215.
(Click on the pages to enlarge them.)
All told, then, Jim drew the interior stories in 20 issues of
Nancy, three issues of Fritzi Ritz, and five issues of Tip Top, along
with Four Color #878. This relationship with Schulz and Dell Comics took
an unexpected turn when the two men parted unhappily, and Jim’s final
work for Dell was the long kite story in the second all-"Peanuts" issue
of Four Color Comics (#969, Feb. 1959), along with the inside front and
inside back cover one-pagers.
The completion of that particular issue became something of a
marathon art session. After announcing that he and Helga would be moving
to Berkeley, Jim took stock of the pending Dell workload, and discovered
that the deadline for the second all-Peanuts issue of Four Color Comics
was imminent. Jim promised to finish this before the move, but Sparky
suggested that the job would proceed faster if they worked on it
together. The two men thus divided the work between them, and began
early one morning with what turned into a lengthy session stretching
well into the evening. During that time, Jim completed the
aforementioned two one-page stories and one eight-page story, while
Sparky handled the remaining one-page story and THREE eight-page
stories.
"There’s no doubt who was the faster artist," Jim notes, with a
chuckle. "He certainly put me in my place!"
Jim still remembers that session as a euphoric rush ... but it
concluded on a gloomy note, when, resting in the happy afterglow of a
job well done, Schulz revealed the fate of "It’s Only a Game" (see
below).
In the aftermath, Schulz also stepped in and handled all the work
for Nancy #169 (August 1959). Clearly, this was a rush job, and Schulz
borrowed from himself The final panel of this four-page story is almost
identical to the final panel of the June 23, 1957, "Peanuts" Sunday
strip. The comic book storyline is an expansion of that Sunday strip,
and the aforementioned final panel in the comic book is signed by Schulz
... the only case where any interior comic book stories bear his
signature.
Because the split was far from amicable, Jim did not follow the
subsequent comic book adventures of Charlie Brown and his friends, in
Nancy and Tip Top. On close examination just a few weeks ago -- in many
cases, seeing this work for the first time -- Jim pointed to specific
poses, characteristics and lettering attributes ("Sparky always rounded
out the bottoms of his W’s") that leave him convinced that Schulz either
penciled and inked the next several issues of both Nancy and Tip Top, or
at least roughed in the panel layout, inked the primary characters --
particularly their heads -- and lettered the word balloons. This seems
likely; carefully examination of individual pages reveals an occasional
Snoopy or Lucy which, not matching the rest, clearly must have been
inked by somebody else.
But Dale Hale, Schulz’s new apprentice and ghost -- and another
associate from Art Instruction Schools -- caught on quickly, and the
artwork in both books retained its Schulz-like characteristics through
roughly late 1960 or early 1961. At this point, other hands clearly took
over -- possibly Tony Pocrnick, another Schulz associate from Art
Instruction -- and the "Peanuts" characters became ever-more distant
from the Schulz ideal until the final issues of Tip Top (#225, May-July
1961) and Nancy. (By then the latter had been retitled Nancy and Sluggo,
and its final five issues were released under the Gold Key imprint; the
book was discontinued with issue #192, October 1963.) The "Peanuts"
artwork in the last issues of both books is, in a word, dreadful.
A third all-"Peanuts" issue of Four Color Comics was produced
(#1015, August-October 1959), after which the characters got their own
book that began with issue #4 (Feb.-April 1960), by way of acknowledging
those first three appearances in Four Color Comics. This lasted through
#13 (May-July 1962), after which the book was discontinued. Each of
these issues features a signed Schulz cover, but other hands --
certainly Hale, at first -- handled all the interior artwork and writing
(which, as with the latter issues of Nancy and Tip Top, grew less
Schulz-like over time).
But what had happened, to sever the friendship between Schulz and
Jim, which stretched back a decade?
Bouncing back a year or so...
Although already quite popular and gaining fans -- and syndicate
clients -- all the time, in 1957 "Peanuts" was not yet the multimedia
sensation it was to become within another decade. Schulz must have had
some free time that needed filling, and therefore was comfortable with
the concept of pitching a second strip concept to United Features
Syndicate. The artist had lots of ideas about games near and dear to his
heart, including golf, tennis, baseball and bridge. No doubt realizing
that twice as much Schulz per week was a good thing, UFS jumped at the
chance, and the sports and recreation-themed "It’s Only a Game" was
born. For awhile, Schulz joined later stars such as Johnny Hart ("B.C."
and "The Wizard of Id"), Mell Lazarus ("Miss Peach" and "Momma") and
Jerry Scott ("Baby Blues" and "Zits"), with two newspaper strips running
simultaneously.
Each installment of "It’s Only a Game, by Charles M. Schulz,"
hearkening back to Schulz’s very early work on "Li’l Folks" in The St.
Paul Pioneer Press, was comprised of three separate single-panel gag
strips. The package was offered to clients in two different formats as
three single-panel strips per week, to run on Mondays, Wednesdays and
Fridays; or as a combined grouping of three that would appear in Sunday
comics sections. The combined Sunday grouping also had a bonus fourth
cartoon a tiny, captionless visual gag -- very much like the
intermarginal gags that Sergio Aragonés would pepper throughout future
issues of Mad Magazine -- that appeared to the right of the title and
Schulz’s byline. The subject matter of the Monday and Wednesday panels
varied from week to week, but the Friday installment always centered
around bridge, the then-popular card game that Schulz loved. (Further
evidence of this affection could be seen in "Peanuts," where the kids
routinely played the game in the early 1950s, and Woodstock and a
foursome of his bird buddies picked it up in the 1970s and beyond.)
Charles Schulz did this January 12, 1958, "It's Only a Game" panel himself. Note his signature within the art of the right-most panel.
During an October 6, 1957, interview with Schulz, the Chicago
Tribune proudly boasted that it would be one of the flagship newspapers
to carry this new feature. The Tribune selected the weekly option, and
ran "It’s Only a Game" in its Sunday magazine. The debut installment
appeared November 3, 1957, and immediately set the tone for what would
follow, with panels devoted to boxing, golf and bridge. The middle panel
is a hoot, with a middle-aged duffer -- one easily can imagine Charlie
Brown in his 40s -- lamenting a putt that has left his ball perched at
the edge of the cup (but not in), and saying, "I think I’m going to
cry."
Subsequent installments covered checkers, bowling, curling (!),
table tennis, croquet, billiards, ice fishing, darts and even camping.
But as 1957 turned into 1958, something must have changed. Perhaps
Schulz had underestimated the amount of time involved with producing a
second weekly newspaper strip; maybe he also was spending more time than
expected overseeing the new "Peanuts" content in the Dell comic books.
Or, more likely, the "Peanuts" empire as a whole was occupying more of
his time; 1958 saw the production of the first "Peanuts" toys -- plastic
dolls of the major characters, produced by Hungerford -- and of course
this was just the tip of an approaching iceberg.
Whatever the reason, Schulz decided to hand over the lion’s share
of the artistic chores to Jim. Schulz’s solo involvement with "It’s Only
a Game" continued through the January 12, 1958, installment; this is the
last one to bear his signature on one of the cartoon panels. (Schulz’s
name continued to run alone in the masthead, however, making Jim a true
ghost.) As of January 19, 1958, Jim -- often working from hastily
penciled sketches and captions supplied by Schulz -- did all the
newspaper strip’s finished art and lettering.
Sasseville did this January 26, 1958, "It's Only a Game" panel himself. Note that Schulz's signature is nowhere to be seen within the art.
Jim vividly remembers this transition date, because just one week later,
with his second time at bat with the solo art chores, he was paid a
singular honor. That week’s Monday panel, a bowling strip, featured
three league players welcoming a fourth, apparently a little tardy, with
the exclamation of, "Three cheers, gang! Our number one man has
arrived!" A loyal reader sent UFS a black-and-white photo of himself
with three friends, staged to look precisely like the four figures in
Jim’s illustration. The "camera angle" was identical, along with
clothing, body position, and everything else in the frame. The
resemblance even extended to the men themselves, who had body shapes and
hairstyles eerily similar to those found in the panel art.
Jim still has the photo.
Sasseville received this photo recreation of his "It's Only a Game" gag from a fan. Note the date stamp at the top of the photo.
The degree to which Jim successfully imitated Schulz’s linework can
be seen by the fact that the transition was seamless; no casual reader
could have discerned that the hand on the inker’s pen had changed.
During the remainder of 1958, the two men continued to work in the same
fashion, Jim often finishing Schulz’s rough concepts, but also
contributing many of his own original ideas. He also inserted the
occasional personal reference; the boat from which a husband and wife
fish, in one of the June 29, 1958, panels, is the Helga, named after
Jim’s wife.
But Jim remembers that he never came up with any of the concepts
for Friday’s bridge panels, for the simple reason that he didn’t know
the game.
Although he labored in anonymity, Jim was well compensated
financially, and he still speaks appreciatively of Sparky’s generosity.
Schulz had negotiated for 50% of the strip’s income, the other half
going to UFS. This 50% amounted to slightly more than $500 per week;
when Jim came on board, Schulz generously gave half of HIS half to his
new partner, and so Jim brought home $250 per week (after expenses) for
his efforts ... quite a lot of money in 1958.
The two men were living in Minneapolis when this collaboration
began; after the first five months, in May 1958, Jim and his wife
followed the Schulz family to Northern California. Lacking a place to
stay in Sebastopol -- not to mention furniture and other amenities --
the Sassevilles first spent a couple of months a bit south, in Corta
Madera. "For two or three weeks, I drew the comic book stuff and ‘It’s
Only a Game’ on a portable drawing board. But I stayed in touch with
Sparky on the phone, and he supplied the ideas for ‘It’s Only a Game.’ "
The Sassevilles then found a home in Sebastopol. Between "It’s Only
a Game" and the work he also was doing for the "Peanuts" strips in the
Dell comic books, Jim was quite gainfully employed by his new partner
and boss.
Unfortunately, it was not to last.
"It’s Only a Game" began with 30 client newspapers; nearly a year
later, it had ... 30 client newspapers.
(A complete client list has been lost to the mists of time, although
it is known that the feature was carried by The Boston Globe, the Detroit
Free Press, The Chicago Tribune, The Minneapolis Tribune, the San Francisco
Chronicle and The Baltimore Sun.)
The strip never took off, despite strong support from fans such as
bridge expert Charles Goren (who wrote a couple of letters), and even
Schulz’s name didn’t seem to make much of a difference.
But we also can assume that the proud and perfectionist-minded
Schulz -- who in later years, as mentioned above, often made a point of
describing how in "Peanuts" he penciled and inked every line, and
lettered every word balloon -- probably was bothered by the fact that he
wasn’t similarly in sole control of "It’s Only a Game." To be sure, he
was INVOLVED, but he wasn’t actually drawing what appeared in those 30
client newspapers.
"He didn’t like his name being used on somebody else’s work," Jim
recalls, "and I don’t blame him for that."
That, coupled with moribund sales and some tension with the head
UFS salesman to whom Schulz initially had pitched the idea, eventually
prompted an astonishing decision In late 1958, just 12 months into a
solid five-year contract, Schulz made it plain to UFS that he wished to
discontinue "It’s Only a Game." Perhaps recognizing that the strip
wasn’t performing as hoped, UFS agreed.
Schulz did not consult Jim before taking this step; indeed, the
news came as a complete shock to Schulz’s ghost, who’d been very happy
with his work, and the strip, and the $250 per week.
Schulz even tried to sugar-coat the news "You’re off the hook,"
Jim recalls his employer saying (as if this were a GOOD thing), at the
end of that euphoric day when they finished work on the second
all-Peanuts issue of Dell’s Four Color Comics. Jim had just assured
Sparky that his pending move to Berkeley would not affect his ability to
work on "It’s Only a Game," and now the rug had been pulled out from
under him.
The fallout was immediate; it certainly was the final straw for
Helga, who already had been dissatisfied with their home in Sebastopol
-- hence the move to Berkeley -- and also was unhappy about the friction
that existed between her and Joyce, Schulz’s first wife. Helga had
endured Nazi Germany, survived the entire war -- in and out of work
camps -- and had lost her father at Dachau; she was not a woman to keep
opinions to herself.
"I realized I was working on a flawed product, which the creator
and marketer wanted nothing more to do with. Still, I had held out the
hope that maybe Sparky might offer the entire feature to me, although I
realized that there’d be problems with the syndicate," Jim admits, a
touch of wistfulness still clouding the memory after more than 40 years.
"They should have been pretty familiar with my work by then."
It didn’t happen. By the time the final installment of "It’s Only a
Game" appeared, on January 11, 1959 -- the two always had worked six
weeks ahead -- Jim and Schulz had severed all relations, professional
and personal. This also included Jim’s ghosting work on the Dell comic
books. The split was permanent, and the two men never reconciled.
Although "It’s Only a Game" ran for 63 consecutive weeks, it
quickly became a fading memory -- and then an overlooked footnote -- in
Schulz’s career. He rarely mentioned it during later interviews, and
then only obliquely, citing neither date specifics nor his collaboration
with Jim.
"We were the best of friends at first," Jim recalls ruefully. He
happily remembers attending the 1951 National Cartoonists Convention
with Sparky, and also another time when they both went to visit and swap
stories with a fellow artist, Robert M. Brinkerhoff, who lived in
Minneapolis and was known for a newspaper strip called "Little Mary
Mix-Up." Brinkerhoff, in turn -- like many other cartoonists at that
time -- greatly admired J.R. Williams (creator of "Out Our Way"), whom
he once described as "the greatest cowboy ever to walk the streets of
New York." Brinkerhoff related how he had wheedled, begged and finally
finagled an invitation to Williams’ ranch in Montana. Although only
interested in seeing the fabulous studio that he assumed his idol must
have on so massive a spread, Brinkerhoff first had to put up with being
shown all the livestock and the other attractions of a working ranch. As
the visit stretched on, Brinkerhoff finally couldn’t stand it any longer
and demanded to see where Williams did his work.
With a resigned sigh (as Jim recalls Brinkerhoff describing this
incident), Williams walked over to his wife’s sewing machine, took off
the cover, and flipped it over ... and that was it The great J.R.
Williams did all his drawing on the cover of his wife’s sewing machine.
As others have observed, there’s never any reason to embrace
technology or an environment any fancier than that required to get the
job done.
Cartoonists love to talk shop, and Jim’s no different; merely
relating this little tale brings a sparkle into his eyes. And, to this
day, he doesn’t really understand what happened between him and Schulz.
"I feel kind of weird about all this. Sparky obviously wanted me to
succeed in the early days, and even was willing to collaborate with me
on one of my own projects (one of the many variations of "Joe Cipher,"
discussed below). But then when he had a chance to really help me out,
he didn’t make any effort whatsoever ... and left me in rather dire
straits."
Such feelings notwithstanding, all these years later Jim is firm on
one point "Charles M. Schulz was the greatest comic strip artist ever."
And although he certainly couldn’t have known it at the time, Jim
never again would earn his living as a cartoonist.
Before, during and after his working association with Schulz, Jim
played around with many of his own ideas.
If persistence counts for anything, he deserves considerable credit
for his ongoing efforts to sell "Joe Cipher" ("a character kinda based
on me"), a daily strip that underwent quite a few transmutations during
the decade-plus that he tried to place it with a syndicate.
The character first appeared in a sample series of daily strips Jim
produced in late 1949. The strip’s gentle humor is faintly reminiscent
of "Gasoline Alley" and other character-driven work of the era; the
title character is introduced driving an old jalopy that obligingly runs
out of gas at a filling station. The silver-tongued Joe, lacking any
money, eventually impresses the station owner into offering him a job;
Joe celebrates by stepping into a nearby diner for lunch, where he’s
immediately smitten by the young woman behind the counter, and...
...and that’s where the presentation panels concluded.
Perhaps feeling that the strip lacked dramatic impact, a few years
later -- while still at AIS -- Jim tried again, shifting the action to a
tiny island in the middle of the ocean, where the shipwrecked Joe is
joined by an attractive young woman named Ginny, survivor of a second
sea-going calamity. (What are the odds?) Although their relationship is
mildly prickly for the first few days, Ginny eventually wishes aloud
that they could be rescued, so that she can go on a "proper date" with
Joe, and perhaps even kiss him when the evening concludes. Once again,
the story cut off abruptly, as Jim produced just two weeks’ worth of
strips enough to (hopefully) interest a buyer.
Sasseville tried several times to place a comic strip starring Joe Cipher, the pleasant-looking chap
featured in these examples. The two left-most strips are taken from the first run Sasseville designed on his own;
the two right-most strips, starring the same character but
in a different setting, are from Sasseville's third
test run; Charles Schulz contributed story input on these.
(Click on the image to see an enlarged version.)
After getting back from his return hitch in the Navy, Jim
went back to work on Joe Cipher and got a nibble from an
unexpected quarter: Something about this particular setting
touched Schulz, who suggested they collaborate on yet
a third incarnation of "Joe Cipher." (At the time, both men still were
unmarried, and it’s not hard to see a little male fantasy
wish-fulfillment at work.) With narrative input from Schulz and Jim
handling the art chores, the scene shifted again, this time to a
typically romantic South Seas setting, on an island large enough to
support a population of curvaceous young cuties and at least one
villain. Joe and Ginny remained the central focus, but this time the
former saw genuine action, on the receiving end of the villain’s fists.
Schulz and Jim took this newest version of "Joe Cipher" to United
Features Syndicate in spring of 1954; it was turned down flat. The
trip to New York wasn't a complete waste, though, because Sasseville
and Schulz caught a couple of plays: a T.S. Elliot drama called
Confidential Clerk, and another called The King of
Hearts, which starred Jackie Cooper as (what are the odds?)
a cartoonist!
Sasseville also remembers going from suite to suite in New
York's Waldorf hotel during this trip, visiting one cartoonist
after another; meeting Al Capp was a high point. But at least
part of the reason for the trip -- the newest Joe Cipher -- proved
unsellable, and Schulz bowed out at that point.
When Jim finally returned to "Joe Cipher," the 1950s were almost
over. Jim’s association with "Peanuts" and "It’s Only a Game" had
concluded, so the writer/artist returned to his favorite unsold
property. Jim recast his hero in yet another new setting, this time a
business office populated by characters clearly derived from his days at
Art Instruction. Although the sample panels display even cleaner, more
attractive line work -- a sure sign of his growing comfort as an artist
-- Jim had no better luck this time around.
Still refusing to abandon hope, Jim tried one more time In early
1960, after having moved to Berkeley, he once again changed the setting
completely, and turned Joe Cipher into "Sir Joe." This Arthurian-based
concept focused on genuinely whimsical gags involving heavy armor,
maidens in distress, and fire-breathing dragons. Jim’s dragons are
particularly funny, and this newest reboot seems ripe with
possibilities; it’s not at all hard to envision a daily strip evolving
from these samples.
Alas, syndicates once again failed to see any potential, and "Joe
Cipher" was put into Jim’s trunk as no more than another engaging
footnote in the artist’s collection of rejection slips.
Jim didn’t confine his efforts to "Joe Cipher"; the writer/artist
had no shortage of ideas, quite a few of which also wound up as
submission concepts. "Aunty Climax," produced in early 1957 -- just
prior to Jim’s ghost work for Dell comics -- was a single-panel gag
strip that starred a feisty little old lady who was far sharper than
most people assumed. She was based on Louise Cassidy, an AIS colleague
who also was the landlady for the building where Jim briefly lived with
Charles Cuddy. Jim produced a few dozen "Aunty Climax" panels, all of
which are vastly superior -- both in terms of writing and artwork -- to
many of the single-panel cartoons cluttering today’s newspapers.
"Confessions of a French Poodle" was a 1959 concept that didn’t
emerge much further than a few finished panels and lots of pencil
sketches; Jim good-naturedly admits that the idea went nowhere, and so
he abandoned it. That may have been shrewd market analysis, as the
medium never has lacked for dog-oriented material. Even so, French
poodles are funny in their own right, and Jim’s concept sketches are a
hoot.
When not working on Peanuts-related material, Sasseville tried to sell many of his own strip ideas
to a syndicate. From left to right, these examples are "Aunty Climax," "Friends and Foes," "Alpha-Betty" and "Happy Birthday."
(Click on the image to see an enlarged version.)
"Friends and Foes," another single-panel tryout, also emerged from
Jim’s pen in 1959. A little later, shortly after he started putting food
on the table with a "real job" -- and perhaps motivated by the explosion
of children’s television shows, which eventually led to "Sesame Street"
and everything that followed -- Jim tried a kid-oriented educational
strip called "Alpha-Betty," which starred a little girl who finds
herself in an other-worldly land populated by men and women shaped like
letters of the alphabet. The personalities of these individuals were
defined by their appearance; curved female letters, for example, were
far more sultry that straight female letters. The strip has a lovely
"Alice in Wonderland" quality, although the concept may have seemed
limiting.
Jim later played with the medium in "Blackboard," a daily strip
designed to be white-on-black, to imitate chalk on a classroom
blackboard. The stars were Dick, Jane and their TeacheR; although not as
overly educational as "Alpha-Betty," this strip also was aimed at young
audiences.
Jim’s final attempt at syndication was produced in the early 1970s,
after he first went into research hibernation, jotting down enough
celebrity birthdays to fill every day of a calendar year. The resulting
single-panel strips were a precursor to the "On this day in history..."
informational nuggets that have become so ubiquitous The panel for
March 28, for example, illustrated and revealed a few choice facts about
orchestra leader Paul Whiteman. March 29 was devoted to President John
Tyler, while Francisco Goya was featured on March 30.
Sadly, this fared no better with syndicators than any of the
others. "Joe Cipher," "Aunty Climax," "Confessions of a French Poodle,"
"Friends and Foes," "Alpha-Betty," "Blackboard" and "Birthdays" exist only
in Jim’s carefully preserved office files. More’s the pity, because even
the weakest of these strips displays a Puckish wit and clean, attractive
line work too often absent from many of the rushed, imitative strips
that generate little more than reader apathy these days.
Following the dust-up with Schulz and the move to Berkeley, Helga
-- who was delighted by the more rarefied atmosphere of a university
community -- became the family bread-winner. She took a job with a
German importer/exporter and commuted daily across the Bay Bridge.
Eventually succumbing to the need for steady employment, in April
1960 Jim took a job as a graphic designer with Varian, one of the
leading radar companies, located in California’s greater San Francisco
Bay Area. The fit proved comfortable, and he remained with the company
until he retired in 1990.
But the career shift wasn’t immediate; Jim first spent most of 1959
working up his own aforementioned comic strip proposals, and
occasionally sold individual gag cartoons to magazines. But his New
York-based agent took 35% of those one-shots.
"That’s when I started with Varian," Jim recalls, with a chuckle.
"I knew I’d never make it as a gag cartoonist."
Be that as it may, Jim never stopped his cartooning efforts; while
at Varian, he became famous for the birthday cards that he drew for
fellow employees.
Helga, meanwhile, got a job at Stanford, which prompted another
move; the couple then purchased their first home in 1960, in Mountain
View.
Three years later, they moved for what would be the last time. Jim
and his wife paid $28,000 for the house that remains his home to this
day. Just last year the retired artist was offered a cool million bucks
-- in cash -- by a dot-commer who wanted to develop the property. Still
loyal to the memories of his wife, with which the house is filled, Jim
politely declined. Helga died in 1995; he clearly still misses her.
Today, Parkinson’s Disease and the recent stroke have conspired to
deliver the ultimate nightmare Jim no longer can hold a pen well enough
to draw. ("I always marveled at Sparky’s ability to incorporate his
shaking hand into his line work.") But his mind and memory remain
acutely sharp, and his Puckish sense of humor is unbowed. He speaks with
clarity and certainty of his years at Art Instruction School, and with
Schulz, and of his never-successful efforts to market his own original
material.
Jim remains philosophical about his life, and in fact composed
another of his verses to express such feelings
I’m all for equal measures
Losses should be matched by gain;
And since I’ve missed life’s pleasures,
I’ll just double up with pain!
Definitely too harsh, but then we’re always hardest on ourselves.
Jim Sasseville deserves far more than the obscurity into which he has
settled; for a time, he was allied with the man who would become the
world’s most successful cartoonist, and for a time he helped chaperone
the faithfully rendered adventures of Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Linus, Lucy
and the rest ... no small feat.
And I’m particularly transfixed by a remark Jim made during one of
our later phone calls "I don’t know how one should behave, in a
situation like this," he said, referring to our ongoing conversations,
"but it’s like I’ve been resurrected."
Perhaps this article will kick-start our long-overdue obligation to
sing his praises.
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All PEANUTS characters pictured are copyrighted by United Feature Syndicate, Inc. They are used here with permission. They may not be reproduced by any means in any form.
Jim met Helga, his future wife, as a result of his Navy friendship
with Charles Cuddy. She had immigrated to the United States when
sponsored by a South Dakota politician and his family ("mostly for slave
labor," Jim perceptively remarks); Helga was unfamiliar with the farm
environment, and decamped for Minneapolis as soon as she could. She
entered the University of Minnesota with a vengeance; her half-Jewish
heritage had kept her out of institutions of higher learning in her
native Germany.
She also enrolled in art school and wound up in one class being
taught by Dave Ratner, a colleague and friend with whom Jim went to art
school; she also landed in some of the same classes as Cuddy, who for a
time shared a boarding house attic ("a garret") with Jim. Since this
colony of Minneapolis artists wasn’t all that large, it was inevitable
that Jim and Helga would meet. ("Destiny," he happily acknowledges.)
They married in 1956.
"I’d just bought a brand-new Mercury," Jim remembers, with a
chuckle, "and I had to get rid of it when we got married, because Helga
couldn’t drive a stick-shift."
Within a few short months, Sasseville’s life turned around again,
when he became the best of Schulz’s never-credited "Peanuts" ghosts.
Whenever asked, Charles Schulz would repeat the statement that
became ubiquitous Unlike those involved with other "assembly-line"
newspaper comic strips, he remained the only person whose hands touched
the adventures of Charlie Brown and the gang. Schulz wrote, drew, inked
and lettered his strip, and did so during the entire run October 2,
1950, to February 13, 2000. Schulz always insisted that the strip would
cease production when he finally called it quits, a wish that his family
has honored. Unlike other classic strips that have been revived, often
by lesser talents, "Peanuts" will forevermore remain solely a Schulz
legacy.
Except ... that’s not entirely true.
During the 1950s and early ’60s, Charlie Brown and his friends
didn’t just appear in newspaper strips; they also were a popular feature
of comic books ... a medium usually dominated by the likes of Superman
and Captain America, but one that included plenty of room for lighter
fare.
And -- surprise, surprise! -- when the "Peanuts" comic book
appearances stopped being newspaper reprints and "graduated" into
original features in 1957, sharp-eyed fans probably could discern that
somebody other than Sparky Schulz was doing the artwork.
To keep the chronology consistent, let’s turn back the clock to
1952, when "Peanuts" simultaneously debuted as a supporting feature in
two comic books -- the March-April issues of Tip Top Comics (#173) and
United Comics (#21) -- both published by United Feature Syndicate, which
routinely recycled many of its newspaper features in these and other
comic books. The "Peanuts" supporting feature moved into a third book,
Tip Topper, beginning with #17 (June-July 1952); it remained there until
the book was discontinued after #28 (April-May 1954). Shortly before
this final issue of Tip Topper, "Peanuts" returned to Tip Top as a
supporting feature, beginning with #184 (Jan.-Feb. 1954) and continuing
through #188 (Sept.-Oct. 1954). Several of these later issues feature
gorgeous Peanuts covers, which -- although not signed -- appear to be by
Schulz.
"Peanuts" also appeared, during this same period, as a back-up
feature in most issues of United Comics, later retitled Fritzi Ritz
(beginning with #27). The run here also was consecutive #21-#33 (the
latter dated March-April 1954). Stray issues of Sparkler Comics and
Sparkle Comics also included some "Peanuts" reprints, although not on a
regular basis.
UFS got out of the comic book publishing business at the end of
1954, and some of its titles were picked up by St. John in 1955,
including Fritzi Ritz and Tip Top. Despite a noticeable gap of several
months, the numbering of both books continued consecutively. Thus, Tip
Top resumed with #189 (May 1955), and continued to include "Peanuts" as
a supporting feature during St. John’s entire run of this book, through
#210 (July 1957). "Peanuts" was only an occasional supporting feature in
St. John’s run of Fritzi Ritz, starting with #37 (July 1955) and
continuing through #55. Finally, at least one issue of Nancy -- #142
(March 1957) -- also featured Peanuts reprints.
Big changes came in late 1957, and not just because St. John
abandoned these books and turned them over to Dell Comics (Western
Publishing). After a delay of several months to half a year -- depending
on the title -- Dell revived the flagship St. John titles, again with
consecutive numbering. Thus, Tip Top #211 returned as a quarterly with a
cover date of Nov. 1957-Jan. 1958. Fritzi Ritz resumed with #56, dated
Dec. 1957-Feb. 1958.
Under Dell’s stewardship, Charlie Brown and the gang also became a
regular supporting feature in Nancy, beginning with #146 (Sept. 1957).
The biggest change, however, concerned the content in all three books.
When Dell took over, the covers promised "All brand-new stories" ... and
they meant it.
"Peanuts" fans spotted the change in Nancy #146, which boasted a
four-page story with a baseball theme, clearly produced by Schulz
himself (although unsigned); Jim confirms Sparky’s linework. But Schulz
quickly realized that producing four full pages of original art for
Nancy on a monthly basis, not to mention similar duties for the
quarterly Tip Top and Fritzi Ritz, would be more than he was willing to
handle. Then, too, he was only months away from debuting his own second
newspaper strip, "It’s Only a Game" (about which more below).
Schulz allowed Dell’s house art department to handle his characters
in Nancy #147, but was unhappy with the results. (No surprise; the art
is quite weak.) Schulz stepped in again for issue #148, but the workload
problem hadn’t changed. Wanting greater fidelity to his own style,
Schulz turned to Jim, who took over the reins with issue #149 and
continued through #168 (July 1959). Jim essentially became Schulz’s
employee and was paid $100 per week for this work; since he was making
only $80 per week at Art Instruction, this -- along with the even higher
paycheck he’d soon receive, for helping Schulz with "It’s Only a Game"
-- was a substantial raise.
As a ghosting assignment, the results are impressive. Charlie Brown
and Linus’ heads are notoriously difficult to reproduce in Schulz’s
signature style, but Jim came damn close. More to the point, the
characters are posed and conduct themselves in a way that’s absolutely
typical of their behavior in Sparky’s newspaper strip. Art purists may
have noticed that Jim wasn’t Schulz, but casual readers were unlikely to
have detected the difference.
The four-page story above is taken from Nancy #151, February 1958.
(Click on the pages to enlarge them.)
"He gave me carte blanche on writing them, and I felt like a
faithful uncle," Jim says, with no small amount of pride at his ability
to reproduce Charlie Brown and the gang.
Although Jim’s take on the "Peanuts" gang in Nancy #149 was the
first to reach fans, it was not the ghost artist’s debut crack at
Charlie Brown. Jim’s first completed "Peanuts" comic book adventure was
"The Trip," one of a quartet of eight-page stories (packaged with three
one-page stories) that eventually appeared as issue #878 (Feb. 1958) of
Dell’s Four Color Comics, an "umbrella title" that rotated various
stars; this issue, boasting a gorgeous signed Schulz cover, was the
first one devoted to "Peanuts."
Ever the imp, Jim inserted a personal reference into "The Trip."
The number on the dog license that Charlie Brown uses -- 891-68-14 -- to
justify his getting behind the wheel of a station wagon, was the
artist’s Navy serial number.
Jim also did the work in the Fritzi Ritz and Tip Top issues during
this time, and it’s important to note that he had a completely free rein
with these comic book stories, handling both art and writing chores.
Fritzi Ritz lasted only four issues under the Dell label, before
being discontinued after #59 (Sept.-Nov. 1958). "Peanuts" did not appear
in #56, but each of the remaining three issues included a new four-page
story by Jim. He also handled the work for Tip Top #211 through #215
(Nov. 1958-Jan. 1959). In Tip Top, Charlie Brown and his friends shared
covers with Nancy, Sluggo, and the Captain and the Kids. Although
unsigned, Schulz drew these "Peanuts" cover panels for issues 211-213,
and Jim handled 214 and 215.
Sasseville did the Peanuts art in these issues of Tip Top, #214 and #215.
(Click on the pages to enlarge them.)
All told, then, Jim drew the interior stories in 20 issues of
Nancy, three issues of Fritzi Ritz, and five issues of Tip Top, along
with Four Color #878. This relationship with Schulz and Dell Comics took
an unexpected turn when the two men parted unhappily, and Jim’s final
work for Dell was the long kite story in the second all-"Peanuts" issue
of Four Color Comics (#969, Feb. 1959), along with the inside front and
inside back cover one-pagers.
The completion of that particular issue became something of a
marathon art session. After announcing that he and Helga would be moving
to Berkeley, Jim took stock of the pending Dell workload, and discovered
that the deadline for the second all-Peanuts issue of Four Color Comics
was imminent. Jim promised to finish this before the move, but Sparky
suggested that the job would proceed faster if they worked on it
together. The two men thus divided the work between them, and began
early one morning with what turned into a lengthy session stretching
well into the evening. During that time, Jim completed the
aforementioned two one-page stories and one eight-page story, while
Sparky handled the remaining one-page story and THREE eight-page
stories.
"There’s no doubt who was the faster artist," Jim notes, with a
chuckle. "He certainly put me in my place!"
Jim still remembers that session as a euphoric rush ... but it
concluded on a gloomy note, when, resting in the happy afterglow of a
job well done, Schulz revealed the fate of "It’s Only a Game" (see
below).
In the aftermath, Schulz also stepped in and handled all the work
for Nancy #169 (August 1959). Clearly, this was a rush job, and Schulz
borrowed from himself The final panel of this four-page story is almost
identical to the final panel of the June 23, 1957, "Peanuts" Sunday
strip. The comic book storyline is an expansion of that Sunday strip,
and the aforementioned final panel in the comic book is signed by Schulz
... the only case where any interior comic book stories bear his
signature.
Because the split was far from amicable, Jim did not follow the
subsequent comic book adventures of Charlie Brown and his friends, in
Nancy and Tip Top. On close examination just a few weeks ago -- in many
cases, seeing this work for the first time -- Jim pointed to specific
poses, characteristics and lettering attributes ("Sparky always rounded
out the bottoms of his W’s") that leave him convinced that Schulz either
penciled and inked the next several issues of both Nancy and Tip Top, or
at least roughed in the panel layout, inked the primary characters --
particularly their heads -- and lettered the word balloons. This seems
likely; carefully examination of individual pages reveals an occasional
Snoopy or Lucy which, not matching the rest, clearly must have been
inked by somebody else.
But Dale Hale, Schulz’s new apprentice and ghost -- and another
associate from Art Instruction Schools -- caught on quickly, and the
artwork in both books retained its Schulz-like characteristics through
roughly late 1960 or early 1961. At this point, other hands clearly took
over -- possibly Tony Pocrnick, another Schulz associate from Art
Instruction -- and the "Peanuts" characters became ever-more distant
from the Schulz ideal until the final issues of Tip Top (#225, May-July
1961) and Nancy. (By then the latter had been retitled Nancy and Sluggo,
and its final five issues were released under the Gold Key imprint; the
book was discontinued with issue #192, October 1963.) The "Peanuts"
artwork in the last issues of both books is, in a word, dreadful.
A third all-"Peanuts" issue of Four Color Comics was produced
(#1015, August-October 1959), after which the characters got their own
book that began with issue #4 (Feb.-April 1960), by way of acknowledging
those first three appearances in Four Color Comics. This lasted through
#13 (May-July 1962), after which the book was discontinued. Each of
these issues features a signed Schulz cover, but other hands --
certainly Hale, at first -- handled all the interior artwork and writing
(which, as with the latter issues of Nancy and Tip Top, grew less
Schulz-like over time).
But what had happened, to sever the friendship between Schulz and
Jim, which stretched back a decade?
Bouncing back a year or so...
Although already quite popular and gaining fans -- and syndicate
clients -- all the time, in 1957 "Peanuts" was not yet the multimedia
sensation it was to become within another decade. Schulz must have had
some free time that needed filling, and therefore was comfortable with
the concept of pitching a second strip concept to United Features
Syndicate. The artist had lots of ideas about games near and dear to his
heart, including golf, tennis, baseball and bridge. No doubt realizing
that twice as much Schulz per week was a good thing, UFS jumped at the
chance, and the sports and recreation-themed "It’s Only a Game" was
born. For awhile, Schulz joined later stars such as Johnny Hart ("B.C."
and "The Wizard of Id"), Mell Lazarus ("Miss Peach" and "Momma") and
Jerry Scott ("Baby Blues" and "Zits"), with two newspaper strips running
simultaneously.
Each installment of "It’s Only a Game, by Charles M. Schulz,"
hearkening back to Schulz’s very early work on "Li’l Folks" in The St.
Paul Pioneer Press, was comprised of three separate single-panel gag
strips. The package was offered to clients in two different formats as
three single-panel strips per week, to run on Mondays, Wednesdays and
Fridays; or as a combined grouping of three that would appear in Sunday
comics sections. The combined Sunday grouping also had a bonus fourth
cartoon a tiny, captionless visual gag -- very much like the
intermarginal gags that Sergio Aragonés would pepper throughout future
issues of Mad Magazine -- that appeared to the right of the title and
Schulz’s byline. The subject matter of the Monday and Wednesday panels
varied from week to week, but the Friday installment always centered
around bridge, the then-popular card game that Schulz loved. (Further
evidence of this affection could be seen in "Peanuts," where the kids
routinely played the game in the early 1950s, and Woodstock and a
foursome of his bird buddies picked it up in the 1970s and beyond.)
Charles Schulz did this January 12, 1958, "It's Only a Game" panel himself. Note his signature within the art of the right-most panel.
During an October 6, 1957, interview with Schulz, the Chicago
Tribune proudly boasted that it would be one of the flagship newspapers
to carry this new feature. The Tribune selected the weekly option, and
ran "It’s Only a Game" in its Sunday magazine. The debut installment
appeared November 3, 1957, and immediately set the tone for what would
follow, with panels devoted to boxing, golf and bridge. The middle panel
is a hoot, with a middle-aged duffer -- one easily can imagine Charlie
Brown in his 40s -- lamenting a putt that has left his ball perched at
the edge of the cup (but not in), and saying, "I think I’m going to
cry."
Subsequent installments covered checkers, bowling, curling (!),
table tennis, croquet, billiards, ice fishing, darts and even camping.
But as 1957 turned into 1958, something must have changed. Perhaps
Schulz had underestimated the amount of time involved with producing a
second weekly newspaper strip; maybe he also was spending more time than
expected overseeing the new "Peanuts" content in the Dell comic books.
Or, more likely, the "Peanuts" empire as a whole was occupying more of
his time; 1958 saw the production of the first "Peanuts" toys -- plastic
dolls of the major characters, produced by Hungerford -- and of course
this was just the tip of an approaching iceberg.
Whatever the reason, Schulz decided to hand over the lion’s share
of the artistic chores to Jim. Schulz’s solo involvement with "It’s Only
a Game" continued through the January 12, 1958, installment; this is the
last one to bear his signature on one of the cartoon panels. (Schulz’s
name continued to run alone in the masthead, however, making Jim a true
ghost.) As of January 19, 1958, Jim -- often working from hastily
penciled sketches and captions supplied by Schulz -- did all the
newspaper strip’s finished art and lettering.
Sasseville did this January 26, 1958, "It's Only a Game" panel himself. Note that Schulz's signature is nowhere to be seen within the art.
Jim vividly remembers this transition date, because just one week later,
with his second time at bat with the solo art chores, he was paid a
singular honor. That week’s Monday panel, a bowling strip, featured
three league players welcoming a fourth, apparently a little tardy, with
the exclamation of, "Three cheers, gang! Our number one man has
arrived!" A loyal reader sent UFS a black-and-white photo of himself
with three friends, staged to look precisely like the four figures in
Jim’s illustration. The "camera angle" was identical, along with
clothing, body position, and everything else in the frame. The
resemblance even extended to the men themselves, who had body shapes and
hairstyles eerily similar to those found in the panel art.
Jim still has the photo.
Sasseville received this photo recreation of his "It's Only a Game" gag from a fan. Note the date stamp at the top of the photo.
The degree to which Jim successfully imitated Schulz’s linework can
be seen by the fact that the transition was seamless; no casual reader
could have discerned that the hand on the inker’s pen had changed.
During the remainder of 1958, the two men continued to work in the same
fashion, Jim often finishing Schulz’s rough concepts, but also
contributing many of his own original ideas. He also inserted the
occasional personal reference; the boat from which a husband and wife
fish, in one of the June 29, 1958, panels, is the Helga, named after
Jim’s wife.
But Jim remembers that he never came up with any of the concepts
for Friday’s bridge panels, for the simple reason that he didn’t know
the game.
Although he labored in anonymity, Jim was well compensated
financially, and he still speaks appreciatively of Sparky’s generosity.
Schulz had negotiated for 50% of the strip’s income, the other half
going to UFS. This 50% amounted to slightly more than $500 per week;
when Jim came on board, Schulz generously gave half of HIS half to his
new partner, and so Jim brought home $250 per week (after expenses) for
his efforts ... quite a lot of money in 1958.
The two men were living in Minneapolis when this collaboration
began; after the first five months, in May 1958, Jim and his wife
followed the Schulz family to Northern California. Lacking a place to
stay in Sebastopol -- not to mention furniture and other amenities --
the Sassevilles first spent a couple of months a bit south, in Corta
Madera. "For two or three weeks, I drew the comic book stuff and ‘It’s
Only a Game’ on a portable drawing board. But I stayed in touch with
Sparky on the phone, and he supplied the ideas for ‘It’s Only a Game.’ "
The Sassevilles then found a home in Sebastopol. Between "It’s Only
a Game" and the work he also was doing for the "Peanuts" strips in the
Dell comic books, Jim was quite gainfully employed by his new partner
and boss.
Unfortunately, it was not to last.
"It’s Only a Game" began with 30 client newspapers; nearly a year
later, it had ... 30 client newspapers.
(A complete client list has been lost to the mists of time, although
it is known that the feature was carried by The Boston Globe, the Detroit
Free Press, The Chicago Tribune, The Minneapolis Tribune, the San Francisco
Chronicle and The Baltimore Sun.)
The strip never took off, despite strong support from fans such as
bridge expert Charles Goren (who wrote a couple of letters), and even
Schulz’s name didn’t seem to make much of a difference.
But we also can assume that the proud and perfectionist-minded
Schulz -- who in later years, as mentioned above, often made a point of
describing how in "Peanuts" he penciled and inked every line, and
lettered every word balloon -- probably was bothered by the fact that he
wasn’t similarly in sole control of "It’s Only a Game." To be sure, he
was INVOLVED, but he wasn’t actually drawing what appeared in those 30
client newspapers.
"He didn’t like his name being used on somebody else’s work," Jim
recalls, "and I don’t blame him for that."
That, coupled with moribund sales and some tension with the head
UFS salesman to whom Schulz initially had pitched the idea, eventually
prompted an astonishing decision In late 1958, just 12 months into a
solid five-year contract, Schulz made it plain to UFS that he wished to
discontinue "It’s Only a Game." Perhaps recognizing that the strip
wasn’t performing as hoped, UFS agreed.
Schulz did not consult Jim before taking this step; indeed, the
news came as a complete shock to Schulz’s ghost, who’d been very happy
with his work, and the strip, and the $250 per week.
Schulz even tried to sugar-coat the news "You’re off the hook,"
Jim recalls his employer saying (as if this were a GOOD thing), at the
end of that euphoric day when they finished work on the second
all-Peanuts issue of Dell’s Four Color Comics. Jim had just assured
Sparky that his pending move to Berkeley would not affect his ability to
work on "It’s Only a Game," and now the rug had been pulled out from
under him.
The fallout was immediate; it certainly was the final straw for
Helga, who already had been dissatisfied with their home in Sebastopol
-- hence the move to Berkeley -- and also was unhappy about the friction
that existed between her and Joyce, Schulz’s first wife. Helga had
endured Nazi Germany, survived the entire war -- in and out of work
camps -- and had lost her father at Dachau; she was not a woman to keep
opinions to herself.
"I realized I was working on a flawed product, which the creator
and marketer wanted nothing more to do with. Still, I had held out the
hope that maybe Sparky might offer the entire feature to me, although I
realized that there’d be problems with the syndicate," Jim admits, a
touch of wistfulness still clouding the memory after more than 40 years.
"They should have been pretty familiar with my work by then."
It didn’t happen. By the time the final installment of "It’s Only a
Game" appeared, on January 11, 1959 -- the two always had worked six
weeks ahead -- Jim and Schulz had severed all relations, professional
and personal. This also included Jim’s ghosting work on the Dell comic
books. The split was permanent, and the two men never reconciled.
Although "It’s Only a Game" ran for 63 consecutive weeks, it
quickly became a fading memory -- and then an overlooked footnote -- in
Schulz’s career. He rarely mentioned it during later interviews, and
then only obliquely, citing neither date specifics nor his collaboration
with Jim.
"We were the best of friends at first," Jim recalls ruefully. He
happily remembers attending the 1951 National Cartoonists Convention
with Sparky, and also another time when they both went to visit and swap
stories with a fellow artist, Robert M. Brinkerhoff, who lived in
Minneapolis and was known for a newspaper strip called "Little Mary
Mix-Up." Brinkerhoff, in turn -- like many other cartoonists at that
time -- greatly admired J.R. Williams (creator of "Out Our Way"), whom
he once described as "the greatest cowboy ever to walk the streets of
New York." Brinkerhoff related how he had wheedled, begged and finally
finagled an invitation to Williams’ ranch in Montana. Although only
interested in seeing the fabulous studio that he assumed his idol must
have on so massive a spread, Brinkerhoff first had to put up with being
shown all the livestock and the other attractions of a working ranch. As
the visit stretched on, Brinkerhoff finally couldn’t stand it any longer
and demanded to see where Williams did his work.
With a resigned sigh (as Jim recalls Brinkerhoff describing this
incident), Williams walked over to his wife’s sewing machine, took off
the cover, and flipped it over ... and that was it The great J.R.
Williams did all his drawing on the cover of his wife’s sewing machine.
As others have observed, there’s never any reason to embrace
technology or an environment any fancier than that required to get the
job done.
Cartoonists love to talk shop, and Jim’s no different; merely
relating this little tale brings a sparkle into his eyes. And, to this
day, he doesn’t really understand what happened between him and Schulz.
"I feel kind of weird about all this. Sparky obviously wanted me to
succeed in the early days, and even was willing to collaborate with me
on one of my own projects (one of the many variations of "Joe Cipher,"
discussed below). But then when he had a chance to really help me out,
he didn’t make any effort whatsoever ... and left me in rather dire
straits."
Such feelings notwithstanding, all these years later Jim is firm on
one point "Charles M. Schulz was the greatest comic strip artist ever."
And although he certainly couldn’t have known it at the time, Jim
never again would earn his living as a cartoonist.
Before, during and after his working association with Schulz, Jim
played around with many of his own ideas.
If persistence counts for anything, he deserves considerable credit
for his ongoing efforts to sell "Joe Cipher" ("a character kinda based
on me"), a daily strip that underwent quite a few transmutations during
the decade-plus that he tried to place it with a syndicate.
The character first appeared in a sample series of daily strips Jim
produced in late 1949. The strip’s gentle humor is faintly reminiscent
of "Gasoline Alley" and other character-driven work of the era; the
title character is introduced driving an old jalopy that obligingly runs
out of gas at a filling station. The silver-tongued Joe, lacking any
money, eventually impresses the station owner into offering him a job;
Joe celebrates by stepping into a nearby diner for lunch, where he’s
immediately smitten by the young woman behind the counter, and...
...and that’s where the presentation panels concluded.
Perhaps feeling that the strip lacked dramatic impact, a few years
later -- while still at AIS -- Jim tried again, shifting the action to a
tiny island in the middle of the ocean, where the shipwrecked Joe is
joined by an attractive young woman named Ginny, survivor of a second
sea-going calamity. (What are the odds?) Although their relationship is
mildly prickly for the first few days, Ginny eventually wishes aloud
that they could be rescued, so that she can go on a "proper date" with
Joe, and perhaps even kiss him when the evening concludes. Once again,
the story cut off abruptly, as Jim produced just two weeks’ worth of
strips enough to (hopefully) interest a buyer.
Sasseville tried several times to place a comic strip starring Joe Cipher, the pleasant-looking chap
featured in these examples. The two left-most strips are taken from the first run Sasseville designed on his own;
the two right-most strips, starring the same character but
in a different setting, are from Sasseville's third
test run; Charles Schulz contributed story input on these.
(Click on the image to see an enlarged version.)
After getting back from his return hitch in the Navy, Jim
went back to work on Joe Cipher and got a nibble from an
unexpected quarter: Something about this particular setting
touched Schulz, who suggested they collaborate on yet
a third incarnation of "Joe Cipher." (At the time, both men still were
unmarried, and it’s not hard to see a little male fantasy
wish-fulfillment at work.) With narrative input from Schulz and Jim
handling the art chores, the scene shifted again, this time to a
typically romantic South Seas setting, on an island large enough to
support a population of curvaceous young cuties and at least one
villain. Joe and Ginny remained the central focus, but this time the
former saw genuine action, on the receiving end of the villain’s fists.
Schulz and Jim took this newest version of "Joe Cipher" to United
Features Syndicate in spring of 1954; it was turned down flat. The
trip to New York wasn't a complete waste, though, because Sasseville
and Schulz caught a couple of plays: a T.S. Elliot drama called
Confidential Clerk, and another called The King of
Hearts, which starred Jackie Cooper as (what are the odds?)
a cartoonist!
Sasseville also remembers going from suite to suite in New
York's Waldorf hotel during this trip, visiting one cartoonist
after another; meeting Al Capp was a high point. But at least
part of the reason for the trip -- the newest Joe Cipher -- proved
unsellable, and Schulz bowed out at that point.
When Jim finally returned to "Joe Cipher," the 1950s were almost
over. Jim’s association with "Peanuts" and "It’s Only a Game" had
concluded, so the writer/artist returned to his favorite unsold
property. Jim recast his hero in yet another new setting, this time a
business office populated by characters clearly derived from his days at
Art Instruction. Although the sample panels display even cleaner, more
attractive line work -- a sure sign of his growing comfort as an artist
-- Jim had no better luck this time around.
Still refusing to abandon hope, Jim tried one more time In early
1960, after having moved to Berkeley, he once again changed the setting
completely, and turned Joe Cipher into "Sir Joe." This Arthurian-based
concept focused on genuinely whimsical gags involving heavy armor,
maidens in distress, and fire-breathing dragons. Jim’s dragons are
particularly funny, and this newest reboot seems ripe with
possibilities; it’s not at all hard to envision a daily strip evolving
from these samples.
Alas, syndicates once again failed to see any potential, and "Joe
Cipher" was put into Jim’s trunk as no more than another engaging
footnote in the artist’s collection of rejection slips.
Jim didn’t confine his efforts to "Joe Cipher"; the writer/artist
had no shortage of ideas, quite a few of which also wound up as
submission concepts. "Aunty Climax," produced in early 1957 -- just
prior to Jim’s ghost work for Dell comics -- was a single-panel gag
strip that starred a feisty little old lady who was far sharper than
most people assumed. She was based on Louise Cassidy, an AIS colleague
who also was the landlady for the building where Jim briefly lived with
Charles Cuddy. Jim produced a few dozen "Aunty Climax" panels, all of
which are vastly superior -- both in terms of writing and artwork -- to
many of the single-panel cartoons cluttering today’s newspapers.
"Confessions of a French Poodle" was a 1959 concept that didn’t
emerge much further than a few finished panels and lots of pencil
sketches; Jim good-naturedly admits that the idea went nowhere, and so
he abandoned it. That may have been shrewd market analysis, as the
medium never has lacked for dog-oriented material. Even so, French
poodles are funny in their own right, and Jim’s concept sketches are a
hoot.
When not working on Peanuts-related material, Sasseville tried to sell many of his own strip ideas
to a syndicate. From left to right, these examples are "Aunty Climax," "Friends and Foes," "Alpha-Betty" and "Happy Birthday."
(Click on the image to see an enlarged version.)
"Friends and Foes," another single-panel tryout, also emerged from
Jim’s pen in 1959. A little later, shortly after he started putting food
on the table with a "real job" -- and perhaps motivated by the explosion
of children’s television shows, which eventually led to "Sesame Street"
and everything that followed -- Jim tried a kid-oriented educational
strip called "Alpha-Betty," which starred a little girl who finds
herself in an other-worldly land populated by men and women shaped like
letters of the alphabet. The personalities of these individuals were
defined by their appearance; curved female letters, for example, were
far more sultry that straight female letters. The strip has a lovely
"Alice in Wonderland" quality, although the concept may have seemed
limiting.
Jim later played with the medium in "Blackboard," a daily strip
designed to be white-on-black, to imitate chalk on a classroom
blackboard. The stars were Dick, Jane and their TeacheR; although not as
overly educational as "Alpha-Betty," this strip also was aimed at young
audiences.
Jim’s final attempt at syndication was produced in the early 1970s,
after he first went into research hibernation, jotting down enough
celebrity birthdays to fill every day of a calendar year. The resulting
single-panel strips were a precursor to the "On this day in history..."
informational nuggets that have become so ubiquitous The panel for
March 28, for example, illustrated and revealed a few choice facts about
orchestra leader Paul Whiteman. March 29 was devoted to President John
Tyler, while Francisco Goya was featured on March 30.
Sadly, this fared no better with syndicators than any of the
others. "Joe Cipher," "Aunty Climax," "Confessions of a French Poodle,"
"Friends and Foes," "Alpha-Betty," "Blackboard" and "Birthdays" exist only
in Jim’s carefully preserved office files. More’s the pity, because even
the weakest of these strips displays a Puckish wit and clean, attractive
line work too often absent from many of the rushed, imitative strips
that generate little more than reader apathy these days.
Following the dust-up with Schulz and the move to Berkeley, Helga
-- who was delighted by the more rarefied atmosphere of a university
community -- became the family bread-winner. She took a job with a
German importer/exporter and commuted daily across the Bay Bridge.
Eventually succumbing to the need for steady employment, in April
1960 Jim took a job as a graphic designer with Varian, one of the
leading radar companies, located in California’s greater San Francisco
Bay Area. The fit proved comfortable, and he remained with the company
until he retired in 1990.
But the career shift wasn’t immediate; Jim first spent most of 1959
working up his own aforementioned comic strip proposals, and
occasionally sold individual gag cartoons to magazines. But his New
York-based agent took 35% of those one-shots.
"That’s when I started with Varian," Jim recalls, with a chuckle.
"I knew I’d never make it as a gag cartoonist."
Be that as it may, Jim never stopped his cartooning efforts; while
at Varian, he became famous for the birthday cards that he drew for
fellow employees.
Helga, meanwhile, got a job at Stanford, which prompted another
move; the couple then purchased their first home in 1960, in Mountain
View.
Three years later, they moved for what would be the last time. Jim
and his wife paid $28,000 for the house that remains his home to this
day. Just last year the retired artist was offered a cool million bucks
-- in cash -- by a dot-commer who wanted to develop the property. Still
loyal to the memories of his wife, with which the house is filled, Jim
politely declined. Helga died in 1995; he clearly still misses her.
Today, Parkinson’s Disease and the recent stroke have conspired to
deliver the ultimate nightmare Jim no longer can hold a pen well enough
to draw. ("I always marveled at Sparky’s ability to incorporate his
shaking hand into his line work.") But his mind and memory remain
acutely sharp, and his Puckish sense of humor is unbowed. He speaks with
clarity and certainty of his years at Art Instruction School, and with
Schulz, and of his never-successful efforts to market his own original
material.
Jim remains philosophical about his life, and in fact composed
another of his verses to express such feelings
I’m all for equal measures
Losses should be matched by gain;
And since I’ve missed life’s pleasures,
I’ll just double up with pain!
Definitely too harsh, but then we’re always hardest on ourselves.
Jim Sasseville deserves far more than the obscurity into which he has
settled; for a time, he was allied with the man who would become the
world’s most successful cartoonist, and for a time he helped chaperone
the faithfully rendered adventures of Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Linus, Lucy
and the rest ... no small feat.
And I’m particularly transfixed by a remark Jim made during one of
our later phone calls "I don’t know how one should behave, in a
situation like this," he said, referring to our ongoing conversations,
"but it’s like I’ve been resurrected."
Perhaps this article will kick-start our long-overdue obligation to
sing his praises.
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All PEANUTS characters pictured are copyrighted by United Feature Syndicate, Inc. They are used here with permission. They may not be reproduced by any means in any form.
"I’d just bought a brand-new Mercury," Jim remembers, with a
chuckle, "and I had to get rid of it when we got married, because Helga
couldn’t drive a stick-shift."
Within a few short months, Sasseville’s life turned around again,
when he became the best of Schulz’s never-credited "Peanuts" ghosts.
Whenever asked, Charles Schulz would repeat the statement that
became ubiquitous Unlike those involved with other "assembly-line"
newspaper comic strips, he remained the only person whose hands touched
the adventures of Charlie Brown and the gang. Schulz wrote, drew, inked
and lettered his strip, and did so during the entire run October 2,
1950, to February 13, 2000. Schulz always insisted that the strip would
cease production when he finally called it quits, a wish that his family
has honored. Unlike other classic strips that have been revived, often
by lesser talents, "Peanuts" will forevermore remain solely a Schulz
legacy.
Except ... that’s not entirely true.
During the 1950s and early ’60s, Charlie Brown and his friends
didn’t just appear in newspaper strips; they also were a popular feature
of comic books ... a medium usually dominated by the likes of Superman
and Captain America, but one that included plenty of room for lighter
fare.
And -- surprise, surprise! -- when the "Peanuts" comic book
appearances stopped being newspaper reprints and "graduated" into
original features in 1957, sharp-eyed fans probably could discern that
somebody other than Sparky Schulz was doing the artwork.
To keep the chronology consistent, let’s turn back the clock to
1952, when "Peanuts" simultaneously debuted as a supporting feature in
two comic books -- the March-April issues of Tip Top Comics (#173) and
United Comics (#21) -- both published by United Feature Syndicate, which
routinely recycled many of its newspaper features in these and other
comic books. The "Peanuts" supporting feature moved into a third book,
Tip Topper, beginning with #17 (June-July 1952); it remained there until
the book was discontinued after #28 (April-May 1954). Shortly before
this final issue of Tip Topper, "Peanuts" returned to Tip Top as a
supporting feature, beginning with #184 (Jan.-Feb. 1954) and continuing
through #188 (Sept.-Oct. 1954). Several of these later issues feature
gorgeous Peanuts covers, which -- although not signed -- appear to be by
Schulz.
"Peanuts" also appeared, during this same period, as a back-up
feature in most issues of United Comics, later retitled Fritzi Ritz
(beginning with #27). The run here also was consecutive #21-#33 (the
latter dated March-April 1954). Stray issues of Sparkler Comics and
Sparkle Comics also included some "Peanuts" reprints, although not on a
regular basis.
UFS got out of the comic book publishing business at the end of
1954, and some of its titles were picked up by St. John in 1955,
including Fritzi Ritz and Tip Top. Despite a noticeable gap of several
months, the numbering of both books continued consecutively. Thus, Tip
Top resumed with #189 (May 1955), and continued to include "Peanuts" as
a supporting feature during St. John’s entire run of this book, through
#210 (July 1957). "Peanuts" was only an occasional supporting feature in
St. John’s run of Fritzi Ritz, starting with #37 (July 1955) and
continuing through #55. Finally, at least one issue of Nancy -- #142
(March 1957) -- also featured Peanuts reprints.
Big changes came in late 1957, and not just because St. John
abandoned these books and turned them over to Dell Comics (Western
Publishing). After a delay of several months to half a year -- depending
on the title -- Dell revived the flagship St. John titles, again with
consecutive numbering. Thus, Tip Top #211 returned as a quarterly with a
cover date of Nov. 1957-Jan. 1958. Fritzi Ritz resumed with #56, dated
Dec. 1957-Feb. 1958.
Under Dell’s stewardship, Charlie Brown and the gang also became a
regular supporting feature in Nancy, beginning with #146 (Sept. 1957).
The biggest change, however, concerned the content in all three books.
When Dell took over, the covers promised "All brand-new stories" ... and
they meant it.
"Peanuts" fans spotted the change in Nancy #146, which boasted a
four-page story with a baseball theme, clearly produced by Schulz
himself (although unsigned); Jim confirms Sparky’s linework. But Schulz
quickly realized that producing four full pages of original art for
Nancy on a monthly basis, not to mention similar duties for the
quarterly Tip Top and Fritzi Ritz, would be more than he was willing to
handle. Then, too, he was only months away from debuting his own second
newspaper strip, "It’s Only a Game" (about which more below).
Schulz allowed Dell’s house art department to handle his characters
in Nancy #147, but was unhappy with the results. (No surprise; the art
is quite weak.) Schulz stepped in again for issue #148, but the workload
problem hadn’t changed. Wanting greater fidelity to his own style,
Schulz turned to Jim, who took over the reins with issue #149 and
continued through #168 (July 1959). Jim essentially became Schulz’s
employee and was paid $100 per week for this work; since he was making
only $80 per week at Art Instruction, this -- along with the even higher
paycheck he’d soon receive, for helping Schulz with "It’s Only a Game"
-- was a substantial raise.
As a ghosting assignment, the results are impressive. Charlie Brown
and Linus’ heads are notoriously difficult to reproduce in Schulz’s
signature style, but Jim came damn close. More to the point, the
characters are posed and conduct themselves in a way that’s absolutely
typical of their behavior in Sparky’s newspaper strip. Art purists may
have noticed that Jim wasn’t Schulz, but casual readers were unlikely to
have detected the difference.
The four-page story above is taken from Nancy #151, February 1958.
(Click on the pages to enlarge them.)
"He gave me carte blanche on writing them, and I felt like a
faithful uncle," Jim says, with no small amount of pride at his ability
to reproduce Charlie Brown and the gang.
Although Jim’s take on the "Peanuts" gang in Nancy #149 was the
first to reach fans, it was not the ghost artist’s debut crack at
Charlie Brown. Jim’s first completed "Peanuts" comic book adventure was
"The Trip," one of a quartet of eight-page stories (packaged with three
one-page stories) that eventually appeared as issue #878 (Feb. 1958) of
Dell’s Four Color Comics, an "umbrella title" that rotated various
stars; this issue, boasting a gorgeous signed Schulz cover, was the
first one devoted to "Peanuts."
Ever the imp, Jim inserted a personal reference into "The Trip."
The number on the dog license that Charlie Brown uses -- 891-68-14 -- to
justify his getting behind the wheel of a station wagon, was the
artist’s Navy serial number.
Jim also did the work in the Fritzi Ritz and Tip Top issues during
this time, and it’s important to note that he had a completely free rein
with these comic book stories, handling both art and writing chores.
Fritzi Ritz lasted only four issues under the Dell label, before
being discontinued after #59 (Sept.-Nov. 1958). "Peanuts" did not appear
in #56, but each of the remaining three issues included a new four-page
story by Jim. He also handled the work for Tip Top #211 through #215
(Nov. 1958-Jan. 1959). In Tip Top, Charlie Brown and his friends shared
covers with Nancy, Sluggo, and the Captain and the Kids. Although
unsigned, Schulz drew these "Peanuts" cover panels for issues 211-213,
and Jim handled 214 and 215.
Sasseville did the Peanuts art in these issues of Tip Top, #214 and #215.
(Click on the pages to enlarge them.)
All told, then, Jim drew the interior stories in 20 issues of
Nancy, three issues of Fritzi Ritz, and five issues of Tip Top, along
with Four Color #878. This relationship with Schulz and Dell Comics took
an unexpected turn when the two men parted unhappily, and Jim’s final
work for Dell was the long kite story in the second all-"Peanuts" issue
of Four Color Comics (#969, Feb. 1959), along with the inside front and
inside back cover one-pagers.
The completion of that particular issue became something of a
marathon art session. After announcing that he and Helga would be moving
to Berkeley, Jim took stock of the pending Dell workload, and discovered
that the deadline for the second all-Peanuts issue of Four Color Comics
was imminent. Jim promised to finish this before the move, but Sparky
suggested that the job would proceed faster if they worked on it
together. The two men thus divided the work between them, and began
early one morning with what turned into a lengthy session stretching
well into the evening. During that time, Jim completed the
aforementioned two one-page stories and one eight-page story, while
Sparky handled the remaining one-page story and THREE eight-page
stories.
"There’s no doubt who was the faster artist," Jim notes, with a
chuckle. "He certainly put me in my place!"
Jim still remembers that session as a euphoric rush ... but it
concluded on a gloomy note, when, resting in the happy afterglow of a
job well done, Schulz revealed the fate of "It’s Only a Game" (see
below).
In the aftermath, Schulz also stepped in and handled all the work
for Nancy #169 (August 1959). Clearly, this was a rush job, and Schulz
borrowed from himself The final panel of this four-page story is almost
identical to the final panel of the June 23, 1957, "Peanuts" Sunday
strip. The comic book storyline is an expansion of that Sunday strip,
and the aforementioned final panel in the comic book is signed by Schulz
... the only case where any interior comic book stories bear his
signature.
Because the split was far from amicable, Jim did not follow the
subsequent comic book adventures of Charlie Brown and his friends, in
Nancy and Tip Top. On close examination just a few weeks ago -- in many
cases, seeing this work for the first time -- Jim pointed to specific
poses, characteristics and lettering attributes ("Sparky always rounded
out the bottoms of his W’s") that leave him convinced that Schulz either
penciled and inked the next several issues of both Nancy and Tip Top, or
at least roughed in the panel layout, inked the primary characters --
particularly their heads -- and lettered the word balloons. This seems
likely; carefully examination of individual pages reveals an occasional
Snoopy or Lucy which, not matching the rest, clearly must have been
inked by somebody else.
But Dale Hale, Schulz’s new apprentice and ghost -- and another
associate from Art Instruction Schools -- caught on quickly, and the
artwork in both books retained its Schulz-like characteristics through
roughly late 1960 or early 1961. At this point, other hands clearly took
over -- possibly Tony Pocrnick, another Schulz associate from Art
Instruction -- and the "Peanuts" characters became ever-more distant
from the Schulz ideal until the final issues of Tip Top (#225, May-July
1961) and Nancy. (By then the latter had been retitled Nancy and Sluggo,
and its final five issues were released under the Gold Key imprint; the
book was discontinued with issue #192, October 1963.) The "Peanuts"
artwork in the last issues of both books is, in a word, dreadful.
A third all-"Peanuts" issue of Four Color Comics was produced
(#1015, August-October 1959), after which the characters got their own
book that began with issue #4 (Feb.-April 1960), by way of acknowledging
those first three appearances in Four Color Comics. This lasted through
#13 (May-July 1962), after which the book was discontinued. Each of
these issues features a signed Schulz cover, but other hands --
certainly Hale, at first -- handled all the interior artwork and writing
(which, as with the latter issues of Nancy and Tip Top, grew less
Schulz-like over time).
But what had happened, to sever the friendship between Schulz and
Jim, which stretched back a decade?
Bouncing back a year or so...
Although already quite popular and gaining fans -- and syndicate
clients -- all the time, in 1957 "Peanuts" was not yet the multimedia
sensation it was to become within another decade. Schulz must have had
some free time that needed filling, and therefore was comfortable with
the concept of pitching a second strip concept to United Features
Syndicate. The artist had lots of ideas about games near and dear to his
heart, including golf, tennis, baseball and bridge. No doubt realizing
that twice as much Schulz per week was a good thing, UFS jumped at the
chance, and the sports and recreation-themed "It’s Only a Game" was
born. For awhile, Schulz joined later stars such as Johnny Hart ("B.C."
and "The Wizard of Id"), Mell Lazarus ("Miss Peach" and "Momma") and
Jerry Scott ("Baby Blues" and "Zits"), with two newspaper strips running
simultaneously.
Each installment of "It’s Only a Game, by Charles M. Schulz,"
hearkening back to Schulz’s very early work on "Li’l Folks" in The St.
Paul Pioneer Press, was comprised of three separate single-panel gag
strips. The package was offered to clients in two different formats as
three single-panel strips per week, to run on Mondays, Wednesdays and
Fridays; or as a combined grouping of three that would appear in Sunday
comics sections. The combined Sunday grouping also had a bonus fourth
cartoon a tiny, captionless visual gag -- very much like the
intermarginal gags that Sergio Aragonés would pepper throughout future
issues of Mad Magazine -- that appeared to the right of the title and
Schulz’s byline. The subject matter of the Monday and Wednesday panels
varied from week to week, but the Friday installment always centered
around bridge, the then-popular card game that Schulz loved. (Further
evidence of this affection could be seen in "Peanuts," where the kids
routinely played the game in the early 1950s, and Woodstock and a
foursome of his bird buddies picked it up in the 1970s and beyond.)
Charles Schulz did this January 12, 1958, "It's Only a Game" panel himself. Note his signature within the art of the right-most panel.
During an October 6, 1957, interview with Schulz, the Chicago
Tribune proudly boasted that it would be one of the flagship newspapers
to carry this new feature. The Tribune selected the weekly option, and
ran "It’s Only a Game" in its Sunday magazine. The debut installment
appeared November 3, 1957, and immediately set the tone for what would
follow, with panels devoted to boxing, golf and bridge. The middle panel
is a hoot, with a middle-aged duffer -- one easily can imagine Charlie
Brown in his 40s -- lamenting a putt that has left his ball perched at
the edge of the cup (but not in), and saying, "I think I’m going to
cry."
Subsequent installments covered checkers, bowling, curling (!),
table tennis, croquet, billiards, ice fishing, darts and even camping.
But as 1957 turned into 1958, something must have changed. Perhaps
Schulz had underestimated the amount of time involved with producing a
second weekly newspaper strip; maybe he also was spending more time than
expected overseeing the new "Peanuts" content in the Dell comic books.
Or, more likely, the "Peanuts" empire as a whole was occupying more of
his time; 1958 saw the production of the first "Peanuts" toys -- plastic
dolls of the major characters, produced by Hungerford -- and of course
this was just the tip of an approaching iceberg.
Whatever the reason, Schulz decided to hand over the lion’s share
of the artistic chores to Jim. Schulz’s solo involvement with "It’s Only
a Game" continued through the January 12, 1958, installment; this is the
last one to bear his signature on one of the cartoon panels. (Schulz’s
name continued to run alone in the masthead, however, making Jim a true
ghost.) As of January 19, 1958, Jim -- often working from hastily
penciled sketches and captions supplied by Schulz -- did all the
newspaper strip’s finished art and lettering.
Sasseville did this January 26, 1958, "It's Only a Game" panel himself. Note that Schulz's signature is nowhere to be seen within the art.
Jim vividly remembers this transition date, because just one week later,
with his second time at bat with the solo art chores, he was paid a
singular honor. That week’s Monday panel, a bowling strip, featured
three league players welcoming a fourth, apparently a little tardy, with
the exclamation of, "Three cheers, gang! Our number one man has
arrived!" A loyal reader sent UFS a black-and-white photo of himself
with three friends, staged to look precisely like the four figures in
Jim’s illustration. The "camera angle" was identical, along with
clothing, body position, and everything else in the frame. The
resemblance even extended to the men themselves, who had body shapes and
hairstyles eerily similar to those found in the panel art.
Jim still has the photo.
Sasseville received this photo recreation of his "It's Only a Game" gag from a fan. Note the date stamp at the top of the photo.
The degree to which Jim successfully imitated Schulz’s linework can
be seen by the fact that the transition was seamless; no casual reader
could have discerned that the hand on the inker’s pen had changed.
During the remainder of 1958, the two men continued to work in the same
fashion, Jim often finishing Schulz’s rough concepts, but also
contributing many of his own original ideas. He also inserted the
occasional personal reference; the boat from which a husband and wife
fish, in one of the June 29, 1958, panels, is the Helga, named after
Jim’s wife.
But Jim remembers that he never came up with any of the concepts
for Friday’s bridge panels, for the simple reason that he didn’t know
the game.
Although he labored in anonymity, Jim was well compensated
financially, and he still speaks appreciatively of Sparky’s generosity.
Schulz had negotiated for 50% of the strip’s income, the other half
going to UFS. This 50% amounted to slightly more than $500 per week;
when Jim came on board, Schulz generously gave half of HIS half to his
new partner, and so Jim brought home $250 per week (after expenses) for
his efforts ... quite a lot of money in 1958.
The two men were living in Minneapolis when this collaboration
began; after the first five months, in May 1958, Jim and his wife
followed the Schulz family to Northern California. Lacking a place to
stay in Sebastopol -- not to mention furniture and other amenities --
the Sassevilles first spent a couple of months a bit south, in Corta
Madera. "For two or three weeks, I drew the comic book stuff and ‘It’s
Only a Game’ on a portable drawing board. But I stayed in touch with
Sparky on the phone, and he supplied the ideas for ‘It’s Only a Game.’ "
The Sassevilles then found a home in Sebastopol. Between "It’s Only
a Game" and the work he also was doing for the "Peanuts" strips in the
Dell comic books, Jim was quite gainfully employed by his new partner
and boss.
Unfortunately, it was not to last.
"It’s Only a Game" began with 30 client newspapers; nearly a year
later, it had ... 30 client newspapers.
(A complete client list has been lost to the mists of time, although
it is known that the feature was carried by The Boston Globe, the Detroit
Free Press, The Chicago Tribune, The Minneapolis Tribune, the San Francisco
Chronicle and The Baltimore Sun.)
The strip never took off, despite strong support from fans such as
bridge expert Charles Goren (who wrote a couple of letters), and even
Schulz’s name didn’t seem to make much of a difference.
But we also can assume that the proud and perfectionist-minded
Schulz -- who in later years, as mentioned above, often made a point of
describing how in "Peanuts" he penciled and inked every line, and
lettered every word balloon -- probably was bothered by the fact that he
wasn’t similarly in sole control of "It’s Only a Game." To be sure, he
was INVOLVED, but he wasn’t actually drawing what appeared in those 30
client newspapers.
"He didn’t like his name being used on somebody else’s work," Jim
recalls, "and I don’t blame him for that."
That, coupled with moribund sales and some tension with the head
UFS salesman to whom Schulz initially had pitched the idea, eventually
prompted an astonishing decision In late 1958, just 12 months into a
solid five-year contract, Schulz made it plain to UFS that he wished to
discontinue "It’s Only a Game." Perhaps recognizing that the strip
wasn’t performing as hoped, UFS agreed.
Schulz did not consult Jim before taking this step; indeed, the
news came as a complete shock to Schulz’s ghost, who’d been very happy
with his work, and the strip, and the $250 per week.
Schulz even tried to sugar-coat the news "You’re off the hook,"
Jim recalls his employer saying (as if this were a GOOD thing), at the
end of that euphoric day when they finished work on the second
all-Peanuts issue of Dell’s Four Color Comics. Jim had just assured
Sparky that his pending move to Berkeley would not affect his ability to
work on "It’s Only a Game," and now the rug had been pulled out from
under him.
The fallout was immediate; it certainly was the final straw for
Helga, who already had been dissatisfied with their home in Sebastopol
-- hence the move to Berkeley -- and also was unhappy about the friction
that existed between her and Joyce, Schulz’s first wife. Helga had
endured Nazi Germany, survived the entire war -- in and out of work
camps -- and had lost her father at Dachau; she was not a woman to keep
opinions to herself.
"I realized I was working on a flawed product, which the creator
and marketer wanted nothing more to do with. Still, I had held out the
hope that maybe Sparky might offer the entire feature to me, although I
realized that there’d be problems with the syndicate," Jim admits, a
touch of wistfulness still clouding the memory after more than 40 years.
"They should have been pretty familiar with my work by then."
It didn’t happen. By the time the final installment of "It’s Only a
Game" appeared, on January 11, 1959 -- the two always had worked six
weeks ahead -- Jim and Schulz had severed all relations, professional
and personal. This also included Jim’s ghosting work on the Dell comic
books. The split was permanent, and the two men never reconciled.
Although "It’s Only a Game" ran for 63 consecutive weeks, it
quickly became a fading memory -- and then an overlooked footnote -- in
Schulz’s career. He rarely mentioned it during later interviews, and
then only obliquely, citing neither date specifics nor his collaboration
with Jim.
"We were the best of friends at first," Jim recalls ruefully. He
happily remembers attending the 1951 National Cartoonists Convention
with Sparky, and also another time when they both went to visit and swap
stories with a fellow artist, Robert M. Brinkerhoff, who lived in
Minneapolis and was known for a newspaper strip called "Little Mary
Mix-Up." Brinkerhoff, in turn -- like many other cartoonists at that
time -- greatly admired J.R. Williams (creator of "Out Our Way"), whom
he once described as "the greatest cowboy ever to walk the streets of
New York." Brinkerhoff related how he had wheedled, begged and finally
finagled an invitation to Williams’ ranch in Montana. Although only
interested in seeing the fabulous studio that he assumed his idol must
have on so massive a spread, Brinkerhoff first had to put up with being
shown all the livestock and the other attractions of a working ranch. As
the visit stretched on, Brinkerhoff finally couldn’t stand it any longer
and demanded to see where Williams did his work.
With a resigned sigh (as Jim recalls Brinkerhoff describing this
incident), Williams walked over to his wife’s sewing machine, took off
the cover, and flipped it over ... and that was it The great J.R.
Williams did all his drawing on the cover of his wife’s sewing machine.
As others have observed, there’s never any reason to embrace
technology or an environment any fancier than that required to get the
job done.
Cartoonists love to talk shop, and Jim’s no different; merely
relating this little tale brings a sparkle into his eyes. And, to this
day, he doesn’t really understand what happened between him and Schulz.
"I feel kind of weird about all this. Sparky obviously wanted me to
succeed in the early days, and even was willing to collaborate with me
on one of my own projects (one of the many variations of "Joe Cipher,"
discussed below). But then when he had a chance to really help me out,
he didn’t make any effort whatsoever ... and left me in rather dire
straits."
Such feelings notwithstanding, all these years later Jim is firm on
one point "Charles M. Schulz was the greatest comic strip artist ever."
And although he certainly couldn’t have known it at the time, Jim
never again would earn his living as a cartoonist.
Before, during and after his working association with Schulz, Jim
played around with many of his own ideas.
If persistence counts for anything, he deserves considerable credit
for his ongoing efforts to sell "Joe Cipher" ("a character kinda based
on me"), a daily strip that underwent quite a few transmutations during
the decade-plus that he tried to place it with a syndicate.
The character first appeared in a sample series of daily strips Jim
produced in late 1949. The strip’s gentle humor is faintly reminiscent
of "Gasoline Alley" and other character-driven work of the era; the
title character is introduced driving an old jalopy that obligingly runs
out of gas at a filling station. The silver-tongued Joe, lacking any
money, eventually impresses the station owner into offering him a job;
Joe celebrates by stepping into a nearby diner for lunch, where he’s
immediately smitten by the young woman behind the counter, and...
...and that’s where the presentation panels concluded.
Perhaps feeling that the strip lacked dramatic impact, a few years
later -- while still at AIS -- Jim tried again, shifting the action to a
tiny island in the middle of the ocean, where the shipwrecked Joe is
joined by an attractive young woman named Ginny, survivor of a second
sea-going calamity. (What are the odds?) Although their relationship is
mildly prickly for the first few days, Ginny eventually wishes aloud
that they could be rescued, so that she can go on a "proper date" with
Joe, and perhaps even kiss him when the evening concludes. Once again,
the story cut off abruptly, as Jim produced just two weeks’ worth of
strips enough to (hopefully) interest a buyer.
Sasseville tried several times to place a comic strip starring Joe Cipher, the pleasant-looking chap
featured in these examples. The two left-most strips are taken from the first run Sasseville designed on his own;
the two right-most strips, starring the same character but
in a different setting, are from Sasseville's third
test run; Charles Schulz contributed story input on these.
(Click on the image to see an enlarged version.)
After getting back from his return hitch in the Navy, Jim
went back to work on Joe Cipher and got a nibble from an
unexpected quarter: Something about this particular setting
touched Schulz, who suggested they collaborate on yet
a third incarnation of "Joe Cipher." (At the time, both men still were
unmarried, and it’s not hard to see a little male fantasy
wish-fulfillment at work.) With narrative input from Schulz and Jim
handling the art chores, the scene shifted again, this time to a
typically romantic South Seas setting, on an island large enough to
support a population of curvaceous young cuties and at least one
villain. Joe and Ginny remained the central focus, but this time the
former saw genuine action, on the receiving end of the villain’s fists.
Schulz and Jim took this newest version of "Joe Cipher" to United
Features Syndicate in spring of 1954; it was turned down flat. The
trip to New York wasn't a complete waste, though, because Sasseville
and Schulz caught a couple of plays: a T.S. Elliot drama called
Confidential Clerk, and another called The King of
Hearts, which starred Jackie Cooper as (what are the odds?)
a cartoonist!
Sasseville also remembers going from suite to suite in New
York's Waldorf hotel during this trip, visiting one cartoonist
after another; meeting Al Capp was a high point. But at least
part of the reason for the trip -- the newest Joe Cipher -- proved
unsellable, and Schulz bowed out at that point.
When Jim finally returned to "Joe Cipher," the 1950s were almost
over. Jim’s association with "Peanuts" and "It’s Only a Game" had
concluded, so the writer/artist returned to his favorite unsold
property. Jim recast his hero in yet another new setting, this time a
business office populated by characters clearly derived from his days at
Art Instruction. Although the sample panels display even cleaner, more
attractive line work -- a sure sign of his growing comfort as an artist
-- Jim had no better luck this time around.
Still refusing to abandon hope, Jim tried one more time In early
1960, after having moved to Berkeley, he once again changed the setting
completely, and turned Joe Cipher into "Sir Joe." This Arthurian-based
concept focused on genuinely whimsical gags involving heavy armor,
maidens in distress, and fire-breathing dragons. Jim’s dragons are
particularly funny, and this newest reboot seems ripe with
possibilities; it’s not at all hard to envision a daily strip evolving
from these samples.
Alas, syndicates once again failed to see any potential, and "Joe
Cipher" was put into Jim’s trunk as no more than another engaging
footnote in the artist’s collection of rejection slips.
Jim didn’t confine his efforts to "Joe Cipher"; the writer/artist
had no shortage of ideas, quite a few of which also wound up as
submission concepts. "Aunty Climax," produced in early 1957 -- just
prior to Jim’s ghost work for Dell comics -- was a single-panel gag
strip that starred a feisty little old lady who was far sharper than
most people assumed. She was based on Louise Cassidy, an AIS colleague
who also was the landlady for the building where Jim briefly lived with
Charles Cuddy. Jim produced a few dozen "Aunty Climax" panels, all of
which are vastly superior -- both in terms of writing and artwork -- to
many of the single-panel cartoons cluttering today’s newspapers.
"Confessions of a French Poodle" was a 1959 concept that didn’t
emerge much further than a few finished panels and lots of pencil
sketches; Jim good-naturedly admits that the idea went nowhere, and so
he abandoned it. That may have been shrewd market analysis, as the
medium never has lacked for dog-oriented material. Even so, French
poodles are funny in their own right, and Jim’s concept sketches are a
hoot.
When not working on Peanuts-related material, Sasseville tried to sell many of his own strip ideas
to a syndicate. From left to right, these examples are "Aunty Climax," "Friends and Foes," "Alpha-Betty" and "Happy Birthday."
(Click on the image to see an enlarged version.)
"Friends and Foes," another single-panel tryout, also emerged from
Jim’s pen in 1959. A little later, shortly after he started putting food
on the table with a "real job" -- and perhaps motivated by the explosion
of children’s television shows, which eventually led to "Sesame Street"
and everything that followed -- Jim tried a kid-oriented educational
strip called "Alpha-Betty," which starred a little girl who finds
herself in an other-worldly land populated by men and women shaped like
letters of the alphabet. The personalities of these individuals were
defined by their appearance; curved female letters, for example, were
far more sultry that straight female letters. The strip has a lovely
"Alice in Wonderland" quality, although the concept may have seemed
limiting.
Jim later played with the medium in "Blackboard," a daily strip
designed to be white-on-black, to imitate chalk on a classroom
blackboard. The stars were Dick, Jane and their TeacheR; although not as
overly educational as "Alpha-Betty," this strip also was aimed at young
audiences.
Jim’s final attempt at syndication was produced in the early 1970s,
after he first went into research hibernation, jotting down enough
celebrity birthdays to fill every day of a calendar year. The resulting
single-panel strips were a precursor to the "On this day in history..."
informational nuggets that have become so ubiquitous The panel for
March 28, for example, illustrated and revealed a few choice facts about
orchestra leader Paul Whiteman. March 29 was devoted to President John
Tyler, while Francisco Goya was featured on March 30.
Sadly, this fared no better with syndicators than any of the
others. "Joe Cipher," "Aunty Climax," "Confessions of a French Poodle,"
"Friends and Foes," "Alpha-Betty," "Blackboard" and "Birthdays" exist only
in Jim’s carefully preserved office files. More’s the pity, because even
the weakest of these strips displays a Puckish wit and clean, attractive
line work too often absent from many of the rushed, imitative strips
that generate little more than reader apathy these days.
Following the dust-up with Schulz and the move to Berkeley, Helga
-- who was delighted by the more rarefied atmosphere of a university
community -- became the family bread-winner. She took a job with a
German importer/exporter and commuted daily across the Bay Bridge.
Eventually succumbing to the need for steady employment, in April
1960 Jim took a job as a graphic designer with Varian, one of the
leading radar companies, located in California’s greater San Francisco
Bay Area. The fit proved comfortable, and he remained with the company
until he retired in 1990.
But the career shift wasn’t immediate; Jim first spent most of 1959
working up his own aforementioned comic strip proposals, and
occasionally sold individual gag cartoons to magazines. But his New
York-based agent took 35% of those one-shots.
"That’s when I started with Varian," Jim recalls, with a chuckle.
"I knew I’d never make it as a gag cartoonist."
Be that as it may, Jim never stopped his cartooning efforts; while
at Varian, he became famous for the birthday cards that he drew for
fellow employees.
Helga, meanwhile, got a job at Stanford, which prompted another
move; the couple then purchased their first home in 1960, in Mountain
View.
Three years later, they moved for what would be the last time. Jim
and his wife paid $28,000 for the house that remains his home to this
day. Just last year the retired artist was offered a cool million bucks
-- in cash -- by a dot-commer who wanted to develop the property. Still
loyal to the memories of his wife, with which the house is filled, Jim
politely declined. Helga died in 1995; he clearly still misses her.
Today, Parkinson’s Disease and the recent stroke have conspired to
deliver the ultimate nightmare Jim no longer can hold a pen well enough
to draw. ("I always marveled at Sparky’s ability to incorporate his
shaking hand into his line work.") But his mind and memory remain
acutely sharp, and his Puckish sense of humor is unbowed. He speaks with
clarity and certainty of his years at Art Instruction School, and with
Schulz, and of his never-successful efforts to market his own original
material.
Jim remains philosophical about his life, and in fact composed
another of his verses to express such feelings
I’m all for equal measures
Losses should be matched by gain;
And since I’ve missed life’s pleasures,
I’ll just double up with pain!
Definitely too harsh, but then we’re always hardest on ourselves.
Jim Sasseville deserves far more than the obscurity into which he has
settled; for a time, he was allied with the man who would become the
world’s most successful cartoonist, and for a time he helped chaperone
the faithfully rendered adventures of Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Linus, Lucy
and the rest ... no small feat.
And I’m particularly transfixed by a remark Jim made during one of
our later phone calls "I don’t know how one should behave, in a
situation like this," he said, referring to our ongoing conversations,
"but it’s like I’ve been resurrected."
Perhaps this article will kick-start our long-overdue obligation to
sing his praises.
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All PEANUTS characters pictured are copyrighted by United Feature Syndicate, Inc. They are used here with permission. They may not be reproduced by any means in any form.
Whenever asked, Charles Schulz would repeat the statement that
became ubiquitous Unlike those involved with other "assembly-line"
newspaper comic strips, he remained the only person whose hands touched
the adventures of Charlie Brown and the gang. Schulz wrote, drew, inked
and lettered his strip, and did so during the entire run October 2,
1950, to February 13, 2000. Schulz always insisted that the strip would
cease production when he finally called it quits, a wish that his family
has honored. Unlike other classic strips that have been revived, often
by lesser talents, "Peanuts" will forevermore remain solely a Schulz
legacy.
Except ... that’s not entirely true.
During the 1950s and early ’60s, Charlie Brown and his friends
didn’t just appear in newspaper strips; they also were a popular feature
of comic books ... a medium usually dominated by the likes of Superman
and Captain America, but one that included plenty of room for lighter
fare.
And -- surprise, surprise! -- when the "Peanuts" comic book
appearances stopped being newspaper reprints and "graduated" into
original features in 1957, sharp-eyed fans probably could discern that
somebody other than Sparky Schulz was doing the artwork.
To keep the chronology consistent, let’s turn back the clock to
1952, when "Peanuts" simultaneously debuted as a supporting feature in
two comic books -- the March-April issues of Tip Top Comics (#173) and
United Comics (#21) -- both published by United Feature Syndicate, which
routinely recycled many of its newspaper features in these and other
comic books. The "Peanuts" supporting feature moved into a third book,
Tip Topper, beginning with #17 (June-July 1952); it remained there until
the book was discontinued after #28 (April-May 1954). Shortly before
this final issue of Tip Topper, "Peanuts" returned to Tip Top as a
supporting feature, beginning with #184 (Jan.-Feb. 1954) and continuing
through #188 (Sept.-Oct. 1954). Several of these later issues feature
gorgeous Peanuts covers, which -- although not signed -- appear to be by
Schulz.
"Peanuts" also appeared, during this same period, as a back-up
feature in most issues of United Comics, later retitled Fritzi Ritz
(beginning with #27). The run here also was consecutive #21-#33 (the
latter dated March-April 1954). Stray issues of Sparkler Comics and
Sparkle Comics also included some "Peanuts" reprints, although not on a
regular basis.
UFS got out of the comic book publishing business at the end of
1954, and some of its titles were picked up by St. John in 1955,
including Fritzi Ritz and Tip Top. Despite a noticeable gap of several
months, the numbering of both books continued consecutively. Thus, Tip
Top resumed with #189 (May 1955), and continued to include "Peanuts" as
a supporting feature during St. John’s entire run of this book, through
#210 (July 1957). "Peanuts" was only an occasional supporting feature in
St. John’s run of Fritzi Ritz, starting with #37 (July 1955) and
continuing through #55. Finally, at least one issue of Nancy -- #142
(March 1957) -- also featured Peanuts reprints.
Big changes came in late 1957, and not just because St. John
abandoned these books and turned them over to Dell Comics (Western
Publishing). After a delay of several months to half a year -- depending
on the title -- Dell revived the flagship St. John titles, again with
consecutive numbering. Thus, Tip Top #211 returned as a quarterly with a
cover date of Nov. 1957-Jan. 1958. Fritzi Ritz resumed with #56, dated
Dec. 1957-Feb. 1958.
Under Dell’s stewardship, Charlie Brown and the gang also became a
regular supporting feature in Nancy, beginning with #146 (Sept. 1957).
The biggest change, however, concerned the content in all three books.
When Dell took over, the covers promised "All brand-new stories" ... and
they meant it.
"Peanuts" fans spotted the change in Nancy #146, which boasted a
four-page story with a baseball theme, clearly produced by Schulz
himself (although unsigned); Jim confirms Sparky’s linework. But Schulz
quickly realized that producing four full pages of original art for
Nancy on a monthly basis, not to mention similar duties for the
quarterly Tip Top and Fritzi Ritz, would be more than he was willing to
handle. Then, too, he was only months away from debuting his own second
newspaper strip, "It’s Only a Game" (about which more below).
Schulz allowed Dell’s house art department to handle his characters
in Nancy #147, but was unhappy with the results. (No surprise; the art
is quite weak.) Schulz stepped in again for issue #148, but the workload
problem hadn’t changed. Wanting greater fidelity to his own style,
Schulz turned to Jim, who took over the reins with issue #149 and
continued through #168 (July 1959). Jim essentially became Schulz’s
employee and was paid $100 per week for this work; since he was making
only $80 per week at Art Instruction, this -- along with the even higher
paycheck he’d soon receive, for helping Schulz with "It’s Only a Game"
-- was a substantial raise.
As a ghosting assignment, the results are impressive. Charlie Brown
and Linus’ heads are notoriously difficult to reproduce in Schulz’s
signature style, but Jim came damn close. More to the point, the
characters are posed and conduct themselves in a way that’s absolutely
typical of their behavior in Sparky’s newspaper strip. Art purists may
have noticed that Jim wasn’t Schulz, but casual readers were unlikely to
have detected the difference.
The four-page story above is taken from Nancy #151, February 1958.
(Click on the pages to enlarge them.)
"He gave me carte blanche on writing them, and I felt like a
faithful uncle," Jim says, with no small amount of pride at his ability
to reproduce Charlie Brown and the gang.
Although Jim’s take on the "Peanuts" gang in Nancy #149 was the
first to reach fans, it was not the ghost artist’s debut crack at
Charlie Brown. Jim’s first completed "Peanuts" comic book adventure was
"The Trip," one of a quartet of eight-page stories (packaged with three
one-page stories) that eventually appeared as issue #878 (Feb. 1958) of
Dell’s Four Color Comics, an "umbrella title" that rotated various
stars; this issue, boasting a gorgeous signed Schulz cover, was the
first one devoted to "Peanuts."
Ever the imp, Jim inserted a personal reference into "The Trip."
The number on the dog license that Charlie Brown uses -- 891-68-14 -- to
justify his getting behind the wheel of a station wagon, was the
artist’s Navy serial number.
Jim also did the work in the Fritzi Ritz and Tip Top issues during
this time, and it’s important to note that he had a completely free rein
with these comic book stories, handling both art and writing chores.
Fritzi Ritz lasted only four issues under the Dell label, before
being discontinued after #59 (Sept.-Nov. 1958). "Peanuts" did not appear
in #56, but each of the remaining three issues included a new four-page
story by Jim. He also handled the work for Tip Top #211 through #215
(Nov. 1958-Jan. 1959). In Tip Top, Charlie Brown and his friends shared
covers with Nancy, Sluggo, and the Captain and the Kids. Although
unsigned, Schulz drew these "Peanuts" cover panels for issues 211-213,
and Jim handled 214 and 215.
Sasseville did the Peanuts art in these issues of Tip Top, #214 and #215.
(Click on the pages to enlarge them.)
All told, then, Jim drew the interior stories in 20 issues of
Nancy, three issues of Fritzi Ritz, and five issues of Tip Top, along
with Four Color #878. This relationship with Schulz and Dell Comics took
an unexpected turn when the two men parted unhappily, and Jim’s final
work for Dell was the long kite story in the second all-"Peanuts" issue
of Four Color Comics (#969, Feb. 1959), along with the inside front and
inside back cover one-pagers.
The completion of that particular issue became something of a
marathon art session. After announcing that he and Helga would be moving
to Berkeley, Jim took stock of the pending Dell workload, and discovered
that the deadline for the second all-Peanuts issue of Four Color Comics
was imminent. Jim promised to finish this before the move, but Sparky
suggested that the job would proceed faster if they worked on it
together. The two men thus divided the work between them, and began
early one morning with what turned into a lengthy session stretching
well into the evening. During that time, Jim completed the
aforementioned two one-page stories and one eight-page story, while
Sparky handled the remaining one-page story and THREE eight-page
stories.
"There’s no doubt who was the faster artist," Jim notes, with a
chuckle. "He certainly put me in my place!"
Jim still remembers that session as a euphoric rush ... but it
concluded on a gloomy note, when, resting in the happy afterglow of a
job well done, Schulz revealed the fate of "It’s Only a Game" (see
below).
In the aftermath, Schulz also stepped in and handled all the work
for Nancy #169 (August 1959). Clearly, this was a rush job, and Schulz
borrowed from himself The final panel of this four-page story is almost
identical to the final panel of the June 23, 1957, "Peanuts" Sunday
strip. The comic book storyline is an expansion of that Sunday strip,
and the aforementioned final panel in the comic book is signed by Schulz
... the only case where any interior comic book stories bear his
signature.
Because the split was far from amicable, Jim did not follow the
subsequent comic book adventures of Charlie Brown and his friends, in
Nancy and Tip Top. On close examination just a few weeks ago -- in many
cases, seeing this work for the first time -- Jim pointed to specific
poses, characteristics and lettering attributes ("Sparky always rounded
out the bottoms of his W’s") that leave him convinced that Schulz either
penciled and inked the next several issues of both Nancy and Tip Top, or
at least roughed in the panel layout, inked the primary characters --
particularly their heads -- and lettered the word balloons. This seems
likely; carefully examination of individual pages reveals an occasional
Snoopy or Lucy which, not matching the rest, clearly must have been
inked by somebody else.
But Dale Hale, Schulz’s new apprentice and ghost -- and another
associate from Art Instruction Schools -- caught on quickly, and the
artwork in both books retained its Schulz-like characteristics through
roughly late 1960 or early 1961. At this point, other hands clearly took
over -- possibly Tony Pocrnick, another Schulz associate from Art
Instruction -- and the "Peanuts" characters became ever-more distant
from the Schulz ideal until the final issues of Tip Top (#225, May-July
1961) and Nancy. (By then the latter had been retitled Nancy and Sluggo,
and its final five issues were released under the Gold Key imprint; the
book was discontinued with issue #192, October 1963.) The "Peanuts"
artwork in the last issues of both books is, in a word, dreadful.
A third all-"Peanuts" issue of Four Color Comics was produced
(#1015, August-October 1959), after which the characters got their own
book that began with issue #4 (Feb.-April 1960), by way of acknowledging
those first three appearances in Four Color Comics. This lasted through
#13 (May-July 1962), after which the book was discontinued. Each of
these issues features a signed Schulz cover, but other hands --
certainly Hale, at first -- handled all the interior artwork and writing
(which, as with the latter issues of Nancy and Tip Top, grew less
Schulz-like over time).
But what had happened, to sever the friendship between Schulz and
Jim, which stretched back a decade?
Bouncing back a year or so...
Although already quite popular and gaining fans -- and syndicate
clients -- all the time, in 1957 "Peanuts" was not yet the multimedia
sensation it was to become within another decade. Schulz must have had
some free time that needed filling, and therefore was comfortable with
the concept of pitching a second strip concept to United Features
Syndicate. The artist had lots of ideas about games near and dear to his
heart, including golf, tennis, baseball and bridge. No doubt realizing
that twice as much Schulz per week was a good thing, UFS jumped at the
chance, and the sports and recreation-themed "It’s Only a Game" was
born. For awhile, Schulz joined later stars such as Johnny Hart ("B.C."
and "The Wizard of Id"), Mell Lazarus ("Miss Peach" and "Momma") and
Jerry Scott ("Baby Blues" and "Zits"), with two newspaper strips running
simultaneously.
Each installment of "It’s Only a Game, by Charles M. Schulz,"
hearkening back to Schulz’s very early work on "Li’l Folks" in The St.
Paul Pioneer Press, was comprised of three separate single-panel gag
strips. The package was offered to clients in two different formats as
three single-panel strips per week, to run on Mondays, Wednesdays and
Fridays; or as a combined grouping of three that would appear in Sunday
comics sections. The combined Sunday grouping also had a bonus fourth
cartoon a tiny, captionless visual gag -- very much like the
intermarginal gags that Sergio Aragonés would pepper throughout future
issues of Mad Magazine -- that appeared to the right of the title and
Schulz’s byline. The subject matter of the Monday and Wednesday panels
varied from week to week, but the Friday installment always centered
around bridge, the then-popular card game that Schulz loved. (Further
evidence of this affection could be seen in "Peanuts," where the kids
routinely played the game in the early 1950s, and Woodstock and a
foursome of his bird buddies picked it up in the 1970s and beyond.)
Charles Schulz did this January 12, 1958, "It's Only a Game" panel himself. Note his signature within the art of the right-most panel.
During an October 6, 1957, interview with Schulz, the Chicago
Tribune proudly boasted that it would be one of the flagship newspapers
to carry this new feature. The Tribune selected the weekly option, and
ran "It’s Only a Game" in its Sunday magazine. The debut installment
appeared November 3, 1957, and immediately set the tone for what would
follow, with panels devoted to boxing, golf and bridge. The middle panel
is a hoot, with a middle-aged duffer -- one easily can imagine Charlie
Brown in his 40s -- lamenting a putt that has left his ball perched at
the edge of the cup (but not in), and saying, "I think I’m going to
cry."
Subsequent installments covered checkers, bowling, curling (!),
table tennis, croquet, billiards, ice fishing, darts and even camping.
But as 1957 turned into 1958, something must have changed. Perhaps
Schulz had underestimated the amount of time involved with producing a
second weekly newspaper strip; maybe he also was spending more time than
expected overseeing the new "Peanuts" content in the Dell comic books.
Or, more likely, the "Peanuts" empire as a whole was occupying more of
his time; 1958 saw the production of the first "Peanuts" toys -- plastic
dolls of the major characters, produced by Hungerford -- and of course
this was just the tip of an approaching iceberg.
Whatever the reason, Schulz decided to hand over the lion’s share
of the artistic chores to Jim. Schulz’s solo involvement with "It’s Only
a Game" continued through the January 12, 1958, installment; this is the
last one to bear his signature on one of the cartoon panels. (Schulz’s
name continued to run alone in the masthead, however, making Jim a true
ghost.) As of January 19, 1958, Jim -- often working from hastily
penciled sketches and captions supplied by Schulz -- did all the
newspaper strip’s finished art and lettering.
Sasseville did this January 26, 1958, "It's Only a Game" panel himself. Note that Schulz's signature is nowhere to be seen within the art.
Jim vividly remembers this transition date, because just one week later,
with his second time at bat with the solo art chores, he was paid a
singular honor. That week’s Monday panel, a bowling strip, featured
three league players welcoming a fourth, apparently a little tardy, with
the exclamation of, "Three cheers, gang! Our number one man has
arrived!" A loyal reader sent UFS a black-and-white photo of himself
with three friends, staged to look precisely like the four figures in
Jim’s illustration. The "camera angle" was identical, along with
clothing, body position, and everything else in the frame. The
resemblance even extended to the men themselves, who had body shapes and
hairstyles eerily similar to those found in the panel art.
Jim still has the photo.
Sasseville received this photo recreation of his "It's Only a Game" gag from a fan. Note the date stamp at the top of the photo.
The degree to which Jim successfully imitated Schulz’s linework can
be seen by the fact that the transition was seamless; no casual reader
could have discerned that the hand on the inker’s pen had changed.
During the remainder of 1958, the two men continued to work in the same
fashion, Jim often finishing Schulz’s rough concepts, but also
contributing many of his own original ideas. He also inserted the
occasional personal reference; the boat from which a husband and wife
fish, in one of the June 29, 1958, panels, is the Helga, named after
Jim’s wife.
But Jim remembers that he never came up with any of the concepts
for Friday’s bridge panels, for the simple reason that he didn’t know
the game.
Although he labored in anonymity, Jim was well compensated
financially, and he still speaks appreciatively of Sparky’s generosity.
Schulz had negotiated for 50% of the strip’s income, the other half
going to UFS. This 50% amounted to slightly more than $500 per week;
when Jim came on board, Schulz generously gave half of HIS half to his
new partner, and so Jim brought home $250 per week (after expenses) for
his efforts ... quite a lot of money in 1958.
The two men were living in Minneapolis when this collaboration
began; after the first five months, in May 1958, Jim and his wife
followed the Schulz family to Northern California. Lacking a place to
stay in Sebastopol -- not to mention furniture and other amenities --
the Sassevilles first spent a couple of months a bit south, in Corta
Madera. "For two or three weeks, I drew the comic book stuff and ‘It’s
Only a Game’ on a portable drawing board. But I stayed in touch with
Sparky on the phone, and he supplied the ideas for ‘It’s Only a Game.’ "
The Sassevilles then found a home in Sebastopol. Between "It’s Only
a Game" and the work he also was doing for the "Peanuts" strips in the
Dell comic books, Jim was quite gainfully employed by his new partner
and boss.
Unfortunately, it was not to last.
"It’s Only a Game" began with 30 client newspapers; nearly a year
later, it had ... 30 client newspapers.
(A complete client list has been lost to the mists of time, although
it is known that the feature was carried by The Boston Globe, the Detroit
Free Press, The Chicago Tribune, The Minneapolis Tribune, the San Francisco
Chronicle and The Baltimore Sun.)
The strip never took off, despite strong support from fans such as
bridge expert Charles Goren (who wrote a couple of letters), and even
Schulz’s name didn’t seem to make much of a difference.
But we also can assume that the proud and perfectionist-minded
Schulz -- who in later years, as mentioned above, often made a point of
describing how in "Peanuts" he penciled and inked every line, and
lettered every word balloon -- probably was bothered by the fact that he
wasn’t similarly in sole control of "It’s Only a Game." To be sure, he
was INVOLVED, but he wasn’t actually drawing what appeared in those 30
client newspapers.
"He didn’t like his name being used on somebody else’s work," Jim
recalls, "and I don’t blame him for that."
That, coupled with moribund sales and some tension with the head
UFS salesman to whom Schulz initially had pitched the idea, eventually
prompted an astonishing decision In late 1958, just 12 months into a
solid five-year contract, Schulz made it plain to UFS that he wished to
discontinue "It’s Only a Game." Perhaps recognizing that the strip
wasn’t performing as hoped, UFS agreed.
Schulz did not consult Jim before taking this step; indeed, the
news came as a complete shock to Schulz’s ghost, who’d been very happy
with his work, and the strip, and the $250 per week.
Schulz even tried to sugar-coat the news "You’re off the hook,"
Jim recalls his employer saying (as if this were a GOOD thing), at the
end of that euphoric day when they finished work on the second
all-Peanuts issue of Dell’s Four Color Comics. Jim had just assured
Sparky that his pending move to Berkeley would not affect his ability to
work on "It’s Only a Game," and now the rug had been pulled out from
under him.
The fallout was immediate; it certainly was the final straw for
Helga, who already had been dissatisfied with their home in Sebastopol
-- hence the move to Berkeley -- and also was unhappy about the friction
that existed between her and Joyce, Schulz’s first wife. Helga had
endured Nazi Germany, survived the entire war -- in and out of work
camps -- and had lost her father at Dachau; she was not a woman to keep
opinions to herself.
"I realized I was working on a flawed product, which the creator
and marketer wanted nothing more to do with. Still, I had held out the
hope that maybe Sparky might offer the entire feature to me, although I
realized that there’d be problems with the syndicate," Jim admits, a
touch of wistfulness still clouding the memory after more than 40 years.
"They should have been pretty familiar with my work by then."
It didn’t happen. By the time the final installment of "It’s Only a
Game" appeared, on January 11, 1959 -- the two always had worked six
weeks ahead -- Jim and Schulz had severed all relations, professional
and personal. This also included Jim’s ghosting work on the Dell comic
books. The split was permanent, and the two men never reconciled.
Although "It’s Only a Game" ran for 63 consecutive weeks, it
quickly became a fading memory -- and then an overlooked footnote -- in
Schulz’s career. He rarely mentioned it during later interviews, and
then only obliquely, citing neither date specifics nor his collaboration
with Jim.
"We were the best of friends at first," Jim recalls ruefully. He
happily remembers attending the 1951 National Cartoonists Convention
with Sparky, and also another time when they both went to visit and swap
stories with a fellow artist, Robert M. Brinkerhoff, who lived in
Minneapolis and was known for a newspaper strip called "Little Mary
Mix-Up." Brinkerhoff, in turn -- like many other cartoonists at that
time -- greatly admired J.R. Williams (creator of "Out Our Way"), whom
he once described as "the greatest cowboy ever to walk the streets of
New York." Brinkerhoff related how he had wheedled, begged and finally
finagled an invitation to Williams’ ranch in Montana. Although only
interested in seeing the fabulous studio that he assumed his idol must
have on so massive a spread, Brinkerhoff first had to put up with being
shown all the livestock and the other attractions of a working ranch. As
the visit stretched on, Brinkerhoff finally couldn’t stand it any longer
and demanded to see where Williams did his work.
With a resigned sigh (as Jim recalls Brinkerhoff describing this
incident), Williams walked over to his wife’s sewing machine, took off
the cover, and flipped it over ... and that was it The great J.R.
Williams did all his drawing on the cover of his wife’s sewing machine.
As others have observed, there’s never any reason to embrace
technology or an environment any fancier than that required to get the
job done.
Cartoonists love to talk shop, and Jim’s no different; merely
relating this little tale brings a sparkle into his eyes. And, to this
day, he doesn’t really understand what happened between him and Schulz.
"I feel kind of weird about all this. Sparky obviously wanted me to
succeed in the early days, and even was willing to collaborate with me
on one of my own projects (one of the many variations of "Joe Cipher,"
discussed below). But then when he had a chance to really help me out,
he didn’t make any effort whatsoever ... and left me in rather dire
straits."
Such feelings notwithstanding, all these years later Jim is firm on
one point "Charles M. Schulz was the greatest comic strip artist ever."
And although he certainly couldn’t have known it at the time, Jim
never again would earn his living as a cartoonist.
Before, during and after his working association with Schulz, Jim
played around with many of his own ideas.
If persistence counts for anything, he deserves considerable credit
for his ongoing efforts to sell "Joe Cipher" ("a character kinda based
on me"), a daily strip that underwent quite a few transmutations during
the decade-plus that he tried to place it with a syndicate.
The character first appeared in a sample series of daily strips Jim
produced in late 1949. The strip’s gentle humor is faintly reminiscent
of "Gasoline Alley" and other character-driven work of the era; the
title character is introduced driving an old jalopy that obligingly runs
out of gas at a filling station. The silver-tongued Joe, lacking any
money, eventually impresses the station owner into offering him a job;
Joe celebrates by stepping into a nearby diner for lunch, where he’s
immediately smitten by the young woman behind the counter, and...
...and that’s where the presentation panels concluded.
Perhaps feeling that the strip lacked dramatic impact, a few years
later -- while still at AIS -- Jim tried again, shifting the action to a
tiny island in the middle of the ocean, where the shipwrecked Joe is
joined by an attractive young woman named Ginny, survivor of a second
sea-going calamity. (What are the odds?) Although their relationship is
mildly prickly for the first few days, Ginny eventually wishes aloud
that they could be rescued, so that she can go on a "proper date" with
Joe, and perhaps even kiss him when the evening concludes. Once again,
the story cut off abruptly, as Jim produced just two weeks’ worth of
strips enough to (hopefully) interest a buyer.
Sasseville tried several times to place a comic strip starring Joe Cipher, the pleasant-looking chap
featured in these examples. The two left-most strips are taken from the first run Sasseville designed on his own;
the two right-most strips, starring the same character but
in a different setting, are from Sasseville's third
test run; Charles Schulz contributed story input on these.
(Click on the image to see an enlarged version.)
After getting back from his return hitch in the Navy, Jim
went back to work on Joe Cipher and got a nibble from an
unexpected quarter: Something about this particular setting
touched Schulz, who suggested they collaborate on yet
a third incarnation of "Joe Cipher." (At the time, both men still were
unmarried, and it’s not hard to see a little male fantasy
wish-fulfillment at work.) With narrative input from Schulz and Jim
handling the art chores, the scene shifted again, this time to a
typically romantic South Seas setting, on an island large enough to
support a population of curvaceous young cuties and at least one
villain. Joe and Ginny remained the central focus, but this time the
former saw genuine action, on the receiving end of the villain’s fists.
Schulz and Jim took this newest version of "Joe Cipher" to United
Features Syndicate in spring of 1954; it was turned down flat. The
trip to New York wasn't a complete waste, though, because Sasseville
and Schulz caught a couple of plays: a T.S. Elliot drama called
Confidential Clerk, and another called The King of
Hearts, which starred Jackie Cooper as (what are the odds?)
a cartoonist!
Sasseville also remembers going from suite to suite in New
York's Waldorf hotel during this trip, visiting one cartoonist
after another; meeting Al Capp was a high point. But at least
part of the reason for the trip -- the newest Joe Cipher -- proved
unsellable, and Schulz bowed out at that point.
When Jim finally returned to "Joe Cipher," the 1950s were almost
over. Jim’s association with "Peanuts" and "It’s Only a Game" had
concluded, so the writer/artist returned to his favorite unsold
property. Jim recast his hero in yet another new setting, this time a
business office populated by characters clearly derived from his days at
Art Instruction. Although the sample panels display even cleaner, more
attractive line work -- a sure sign of his growing comfort as an artist
-- Jim had no better luck this time around.
Still refusing to abandon hope, Jim tried one more time In early
1960, after having moved to Berkeley, he once again changed the setting
completely, and turned Joe Cipher into "Sir Joe." This Arthurian-based
concept focused on genuinely whimsical gags involving heavy armor,
maidens in distress, and fire-breathing dragons. Jim’s dragons are
particularly funny, and this newest reboot seems ripe with
possibilities; it’s not at all hard to envision a daily strip evolving
from these samples.
Alas, syndicates once again failed to see any potential, and "Joe
Cipher" was put into Jim’s trunk as no more than another engaging
footnote in the artist’s collection of rejection slips.
Jim didn’t confine his efforts to "Joe Cipher"; the writer/artist
had no shortage of ideas, quite a few of which also wound up as
submission concepts. "Aunty Climax," produced in early 1957 -- just
prior to Jim’s ghost work for Dell comics -- was a single-panel gag
strip that starred a feisty little old lady who was far sharper than
most people assumed. She was based on Louise Cassidy, an AIS colleague
who also was the landlady for the building where Jim briefly lived with
Charles Cuddy. Jim produced a few dozen "Aunty Climax" panels, all of
which are vastly superior -- both in terms of writing and artwork -- to
many of the single-panel cartoons cluttering today’s newspapers.
"Confessions of a French Poodle" was a 1959 concept that didn’t
emerge much further than a few finished panels and lots of pencil
sketches; Jim good-naturedly admits that the idea went nowhere, and so
he abandoned it. That may have been shrewd market analysis, as the
medium never has lacked for dog-oriented material. Even so, French
poodles are funny in their own right, and Jim’s concept sketches are a
hoot.
When not working on Peanuts-related material, Sasseville tried to sell many of his own strip ideas
to a syndicate. From left to right, these examples are "Aunty Climax," "Friends and Foes," "Alpha-Betty" and "Happy Birthday."
(Click on the image to see an enlarged version.)
"Friends and Foes," another single-panel tryout, also emerged from
Jim’s pen in 1959. A little later, shortly after he started putting food
on the table with a "real job" -- and perhaps motivated by the explosion
of children’s television shows, which eventually led to "Sesame Street"
and everything that followed -- Jim tried a kid-oriented educational
strip called "Alpha-Betty," which starred a little girl who finds
herself in an other-worldly land populated by men and women shaped like
letters of the alphabet. The personalities of these individuals were
defined by their appearance; curved female letters, for example, were
far more sultry that straight female letters. The strip has a lovely
"Alice in Wonderland" quality, although the concept may have seemed
limiting.
Jim later played with the medium in "Blackboard," a daily strip
designed to be white-on-black, to imitate chalk on a classroom
blackboard. The stars were Dick, Jane and their TeacheR; although not as
overly educational as "Alpha-Betty," this strip also was aimed at young
audiences.
Jim’s final attempt at syndication was produced in the early 1970s,
after he first went into research hibernation, jotting down enough
celebrity birthdays to fill every day of a calendar year. The resulting
single-panel strips were a precursor to the "On this day in history..."
informational nuggets that have become so ubiquitous The panel for
March 28, for example, illustrated and revealed a few choice facts about
orchestra leader Paul Whiteman. March 29 was devoted to President John
Tyler, while Francisco Goya was featured on March 30.
Sadly, this fared no better with syndicators than any of the
others. "Joe Cipher," "Aunty Climax," "Confessions of a French Poodle,"
"Friends and Foes," "Alpha-Betty," "Blackboard" and "Birthdays" exist only
in Jim’s carefully preserved office files. More’s the pity, because even
the weakest of these strips displays a Puckish wit and clean, attractive
line work too often absent from many of the rushed, imitative strips
that generate little more than reader apathy these days.
Following the dust-up with Schulz and the move to Berkeley, Helga
-- who was delighted by the more rarefied atmosphere of a university
community -- became the family bread-winner. She took a job with a
German importer/exporter and commuted daily across the Bay Bridge.
Eventually succumbing to the need for steady employment, in April
1960 Jim took a job as a graphic designer with Varian, one of the
leading radar companies, located in California’s greater San Francisco
Bay Area. The fit proved comfortable, and he remained with the company
until he retired in 1990.
But the career shift wasn’t immediate; Jim first spent most of 1959
working up his own aforementioned comic strip proposals, and
occasionally sold individual gag cartoons to magazines. But his New
York-based agent took 35% of those one-shots.
"That’s when I started with Varian," Jim recalls, with a chuckle.
"I knew I’d never make it as a gag cartoonist."
Be that as it may, Jim never stopped his cartooning efforts; while
at Varian, he became famous for the birthday cards that he drew for
fellow employees.
Helga, meanwhile, got a job at Stanford, which prompted another
move; the couple then purchased their first home in 1960, in Mountain
View.
Three years later, they moved for what would be the last time. Jim
and his wife paid $28,000 for the house that remains his home to this
day. Just last year the retired artist was offered a cool million bucks
-- in cash -- by a dot-commer who wanted to develop the property. Still
loyal to the memories of his wife, with which the house is filled, Jim
politely declined. Helga died in 1995; he clearly still misses her.
Today, Parkinson’s Disease and the recent stroke have conspired to
deliver the ultimate nightmare Jim no longer can hold a pen well enough
to draw. ("I always marveled at Sparky’s ability to incorporate his
shaking hand into his line work.") But his mind and memory remain
acutely sharp, and his Puckish sense of humor is unbowed. He speaks with
clarity and certainty of his years at Art Instruction School, and with
Schulz, and of his never-successful efforts to market his own original
material.
Jim remains philosophical about his life, and in fact composed
another of his verses to express such feelings
I’m all for equal measures
Losses should be matched by gain;
And since I’ve missed life’s pleasures,
I’ll just double up with pain!
Definitely too harsh, but then we’re always hardest on ourselves.
Jim Sasseville deserves far more than the obscurity into which he has
settled; for a time, he was allied with the man who would become the
world’s most successful cartoonist, and for a time he helped chaperone
the faithfully rendered adventures of Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Linus, Lucy
and the rest ... no small feat.
And I’m particularly transfixed by a remark Jim made during one of
our later phone calls "I don’t know how one should behave, in a
situation like this," he said, referring to our ongoing conversations,
"but it’s like I’ve been resurrected."
Perhaps this article will kick-start our long-overdue obligation to
sing his praises.
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During the 1950s and early ’60s, Charlie Brown and his friends
didn’t just appear in newspaper strips; they also were a popular feature
of comic books ... a medium usually dominated by the likes of Superman
and Captain America, but one that included plenty of room for lighter
fare.
And -- surprise, surprise! -- when the "Peanuts" comic book
appearances stopped being newspaper reprints and "graduated" into
original features in 1957, sharp-eyed fans probably could discern that
somebody other than Sparky Schulz was doing the artwork.
To keep the chronology consistent, let’s turn back the clock to
1952, when "Peanuts" simultaneously debuted as a supporting feature in
two comic books -- the March-April issues of Tip Top Comics (#173) and
United Comics (#21) -- both published by United Feature Syndicate, which
routinely recycled many of its newspaper features in these and other
comic books. The "Peanuts" supporting feature moved into a third book,
Tip Topper, beginning with #17 (June-July 1952); it remained there until
the book was discontinued after #28 (April-May 1954). Shortly before
this final issue of Tip Topper, "Peanuts" returned to Tip Top as a
supporting feature, beginning with #184 (Jan.-Feb. 1954) and continuing
through #188 (Sept.-Oct. 1954). Several of these later issues feature
gorgeous Peanuts covers, which -- although not signed -- appear to be by
Schulz.
"Peanuts" also appeared, during this same period, as a back-up
feature in most issues of United Comics, later retitled Fritzi Ritz
(beginning with #27). The run here also was consecutive #21-#33 (the
latter dated March-April 1954). Stray issues of Sparkler Comics and
Sparkle Comics also included some "Peanuts" reprints, although not on a
regular basis.
UFS got out of the comic book publishing business at the end of
1954, and some of its titles were picked up by St. John in 1955,
including Fritzi Ritz and Tip Top. Despite a noticeable gap of several
months, the numbering of both books continued consecutively. Thus, Tip
Top resumed with #189 (May 1955), and continued to include "Peanuts" as
a supporting feature during St. John’s entire run of this book, through
#210 (July 1957). "Peanuts" was only an occasional supporting feature in
St. John’s run of Fritzi Ritz, starting with #37 (July 1955) and
continuing through #55. Finally, at least one issue of Nancy -- #142
(March 1957) -- also featured Peanuts reprints.
Big changes came in late 1957, and not just because St. John
abandoned these books and turned them over to Dell Comics (Western
Publishing). After a delay of several months to half a year -- depending
on the title -- Dell revived the flagship St. John titles, again with
consecutive numbering. Thus, Tip Top #211 returned as a quarterly with a
cover date of Nov. 1957-Jan. 1958. Fritzi Ritz resumed with #56, dated
Dec. 1957-Feb. 1958.
Under Dell’s stewardship, Charlie Brown and the gang also became a
regular supporting feature in Nancy, beginning with #146 (Sept. 1957).
The biggest change, however, concerned the content in all three books.
When Dell took over, the covers promised "All brand-new stories" ... and
they meant it.
"Peanuts" fans spotted the change in Nancy #146, which boasted a
four-page story with a baseball theme, clearly produced by Schulz
himself (although unsigned); Jim confirms Sparky’s linework. But Schulz
quickly realized that producing four full pages of original art for
Nancy on a monthly basis, not to mention similar duties for the
quarterly Tip Top and Fritzi Ritz, would be more than he was willing to
handle. Then, too, he was only months away from debuting his own second
newspaper strip, "It’s Only a Game" (about which more below).
Schulz allowed Dell’s house art department to handle his characters
in Nancy #147, but was unhappy with the results. (No surprise; the art
is quite weak.) Schulz stepped in again for issue #148, but the workload
problem hadn’t changed. Wanting greater fidelity to his own style,
Schulz turned to Jim, who took over the reins with issue #149 and
continued through #168 (July 1959). Jim essentially became Schulz’s
employee and was paid $100 per week for this work; since he was making
only $80 per week at Art Instruction, this -- along with the even higher
paycheck he’d soon receive, for helping Schulz with "It’s Only a Game"
-- was a substantial raise.
As a ghosting assignment, the results are impressive. Charlie Brown
and Linus’ heads are notoriously difficult to reproduce in Schulz’s
signature style, but Jim came damn close. More to the point, the
characters are posed and conduct themselves in a way that’s absolutely
typical of their behavior in Sparky’s newspaper strip. Art purists may
have noticed that Jim wasn’t Schulz, but casual readers were unlikely to
have detected the difference.
The four-page story above is taken from Nancy #151, February 1958.
(Click on the pages to enlarge them.)
"He gave me carte blanche on writing them, and I felt like a
faithful uncle," Jim says, with no small amount of pride at his ability
to reproduce Charlie Brown and the gang.
Although Jim’s take on the "Peanuts" gang in Nancy #149 was the
first to reach fans, it was not the ghost artist’s debut crack at
Charlie Brown. Jim’s first completed "Peanuts" comic book adventure was
"The Trip," one of a quartet of eight-page stories (packaged with three
one-page stories) that eventually appeared as issue #878 (Feb. 1958) of
Dell’s Four Color Comics, an "umbrella title" that rotated various
stars; this issue, boasting a gorgeous signed Schulz cover, was the
first one devoted to "Peanuts."
Ever the imp, Jim inserted a personal reference into "The Trip."
The number on the dog license that Charlie Brown uses -- 891-68-14 -- to
justify his getting behind the wheel of a station wagon, was the
artist’s Navy serial number.
Jim also did the work in the Fritzi Ritz and Tip Top issues during
this time, and it’s important to note that he had a completely free rein
with these comic book stories, handling both art and writing chores.
Fritzi Ritz lasted only four issues under the Dell label, before
being discontinued after #59 (Sept.-Nov. 1958). "Peanuts" did not appear
in #56, but each of the remaining three issues included a new four-page
story by Jim. He also handled the work for Tip Top #211 through #215
(Nov. 1958-Jan. 1959). In Tip Top, Charlie Brown and his friends shared
covers with Nancy, Sluggo, and the Captain and the Kids. Although
unsigned, Schulz drew these "Peanuts" cover panels for issues 211-213,
and Jim handled 214 and 215.
Sasseville did the Peanuts art in these issues of Tip Top, #214 and #215.
(Click on the pages to enlarge them.)
All told, then, Jim drew the interior stories in 20 issues of
Nancy, three issues of Fritzi Ritz, and five issues of Tip Top, along
with Four Color #878. This relationship with Schulz and Dell Comics took
an unexpected turn when the two men parted unhappily, and Jim’s final
work for Dell was the long kite story in the second all-"Peanuts" issue
of Four Color Comics (#969, Feb. 1959), along with the inside front and
inside back cover one-pagers.
The completion of that particular issue became something of a
marathon art session. After announcing that he and Helga would be moving
to Berkeley, Jim took stock of the pending Dell workload, and discovered
that the deadline for the second all-Peanuts issue of Four Color Comics
was imminent. Jim promised to finish this before the move, but Sparky
suggested that the job would proceed faster if they worked on it
together. The two men thus divided the work between them, and began
early one morning with what turned into a lengthy session stretching
well into the evening. During that time, Jim completed the
aforementioned two one-page stories and one eight-page story, while
Sparky handled the remaining one-page story and THREE eight-page
stories.
"There’s no doubt who was the faster artist," Jim notes, with a
chuckle. "He certainly put me in my place!"
Jim still remembers that session as a euphoric rush ... but it
concluded on a gloomy note, when, resting in the happy afterglow of a
job well done, Schulz revealed the fate of "It’s Only a Game" (see
below).
In the aftermath, Schulz also stepped in and handled all the work
for Nancy #169 (August 1959). Clearly, this was a rush job, and Schulz
borrowed from himself The final panel of this four-page story is almost
identical to the final panel of the June 23, 1957, "Peanuts" Sunday
strip. The comic book storyline is an expansion of that Sunday strip,
and the aforementioned final panel in the comic book is signed by Schulz
... the only case where any interior comic book stories bear his
signature.
Because the split was far from amicable, Jim did not follow the
subsequent comic book adventures of Charlie Brown and his friends, in
Nancy and Tip Top. On close examination just a few weeks ago -- in many
cases, seeing this work for the first time -- Jim pointed to specific
poses, characteristics and lettering attributes ("Sparky always rounded
out the bottoms of his W’s") that leave him convinced that Schulz either
penciled and inked the next several issues of both Nancy and Tip Top, or
at least roughed in the panel layout, inked the primary characters --
particularly their heads -- and lettered the word balloons. This seems
likely; carefully examination of individual pages reveals an occasional
Snoopy or Lucy which, not matching the rest, clearly must have been
inked by somebody else.
But Dale Hale, Schulz’s new apprentice and ghost -- and another
associate from Art Instruction Schools -- caught on quickly, and the
artwork in both books retained its Schulz-like characteristics through
roughly late 1960 or early 1961. At this point, other hands clearly took
over -- possibly Tony Pocrnick, another Schulz associate from Art
Instruction -- and the "Peanuts" characters became ever-more distant
from the Schulz ideal until the final issues of Tip Top (#225, May-July
1961) and Nancy. (By then the latter had been retitled Nancy and Sluggo,
and its final five issues were released under the Gold Key imprint; the
book was discontinued with issue #192, October 1963.) The "Peanuts"
artwork in the last issues of both books is, in a word, dreadful.
A third all-"Peanuts" issue of Four Color Comics was produced
(#1015, August-October 1959), after which the characters got their own
book that began with issue #4 (Feb.-April 1960), by way of acknowledging
those first three appearances in Four Color Comics. This lasted through
#13 (May-July 1962), after which the book was discontinued. Each of
these issues features a signed Schulz cover, but other hands --
certainly Hale, at first -- handled all the interior artwork and writing
(which, as with the latter issues of Nancy and Tip Top, grew less
Schulz-like over time).
But what had happened, to sever the friendship between Schulz and
Jim, which stretched back a decade?
Bouncing back a year or so...
Although already quite popular and gaining fans -- and syndicate
clients -- all the time, in 1957 "Peanuts" was not yet the multimedia
sensation it was to become within another decade. Schulz must have had
some free time that needed filling, and therefore was comfortable with
the concept of pitching a second strip concept to United Features
Syndicate. The artist had lots of ideas about games near and dear to his
heart, including golf, tennis, baseball and bridge. No doubt realizing
that twice as much Schulz per week was a good thing, UFS jumped at the
chance, and the sports and recreation-themed "It’s Only a Game" was
born. For awhile, Schulz joined later stars such as Johnny Hart ("B.C."
and "The Wizard of Id"), Mell Lazarus ("Miss Peach" and "Momma") and
Jerry Scott ("Baby Blues" and "Zits"), with two newspaper strips running
simultaneously.
Each installment of "It’s Only a Game, by Charles M. Schulz,"
hearkening back to Schulz’s very early work on "Li’l Folks" in The St.
Paul Pioneer Press, was comprised of three separate single-panel gag
strips. The package was offered to clients in two different formats as
three single-panel strips per week, to run on Mondays, Wednesdays and
Fridays; or as a combined grouping of three that would appear in Sunday
comics sections. The combined Sunday grouping also had a bonus fourth
cartoon a tiny, captionless visual gag -- very much like the
intermarginal gags that Sergio Aragonés would pepper throughout future
issues of Mad Magazine -- that appeared to the right of the title and
Schulz’s byline. The subject matter of the Monday and Wednesday panels
varied from week to week, but the Friday installment always centered
around bridge, the then-popular card game that Schulz loved. (Further
evidence of this affection could be seen in "Peanuts," where the kids
routinely played the game in the early 1950s, and Woodstock and a
foursome of his bird buddies picked it up in the 1970s and beyond.)
Charles Schulz did this January 12, 1958, "It's Only a Game" panel himself. Note his signature within the art of the right-most panel.
During an October 6, 1957, interview with Schulz, the Chicago
Tribune proudly boasted that it would be one of the flagship newspapers
to carry this new feature. The Tribune selected the weekly option, and
ran "It’s Only a Game" in its Sunday magazine. The debut installment
appeared November 3, 1957, and immediately set the tone for what would
follow, with panels devoted to boxing, golf and bridge. The middle panel
is a hoot, with a middle-aged duffer -- one easily can imagine Charlie
Brown in his 40s -- lamenting a putt that has left his ball perched at
the edge of the cup (but not in), and saying, "I think I’m going to
cry."
Subsequent installments covered checkers, bowling, curling (!),
table tennis, croquet, billiards, ice fishing, darts and even camping.
But as 1957 turned into 1958, something must have changed. Perhaps
Schulz had underestimated the amount of time involved with producing a
second weekly newspaper strip; maybe he also was spending more time than
expected overseeing the new "Peanuts" content in the Dell comic books.
Or, more likely, the "Peanuts" empire as a whole was occupying more of
his time; 1958 saw the production of the first "Peanuts" toys -- plastic
dolls of the major characters, produced by Hungerford -- and of course
this was just the tip of an approaching iceberg.
Whatever the reason, Schulz decided to hand over the lion’s share
of the artistic chores to Jim. Schulz’s solo involvement with "It’s Only
a Game" continued through the January 12, 1958, installment; this is the
last one to bear his signature on one of the cartoon panels. (Schulz’s
name continued to run alone in the masthead, however, making Jim a true
ghost.) As of January 19, 1958, Jim -- often working from hastily
penciled sketches and captions supplied by Schulz -- did all the
newspaper strip’s finished art and lettering.
Sasseville did this January 26, 1958, "It's Only a Game" panel himself. Note that Schulz's signature is nowhere to be seen within the art.
Jim vividly remembers this transition date, because just one week later,
with his second time at bat with the solo art chores, he was paid a
singular honor. That week’s Monday panel, a bowling strip, featured
three league players welcoming a fourth, apparently a little tardy, with
the exclamation of, "Three cheers, gang! Our number one man has
arrived!" A loyal reader sent UFS a black-and-white photo of himself
with three friends, staged to look precisely like the four figures in
Jim’s illustration. The "camera angle" was identical, along with
clothing, body position, and everything else in the frame. The
resemblance even extended to the men themselves, who had body shapes and
hairstyles eerily similar to those found in the panel art.
Jim still has the photo.
Sasseville received this photo recreation of his "It's Only a Game" gag from a fan. Note the date stamp at the top of the photo.
The degree to which Jim successfully imitated Schulz’s linework can
be seen by the fact that the transition was seamless; no casual reader
could have discerned that the hand on the inker’s pen had changed.
During the remainder of 1958, the two men continued to work in the same
fashion, Jim often finishing Schulz’s rough concepts, but also
contributing many of his own original ideas. He also inserted the
occasional personal reference; the boat from which a husband and wife
fish, in one of the June 29, 1958, panels, is the Helga, named after
Jim’s wife.
But Jim remembers that he never came up with any of the concepts
for Friday’s bridge panels, for the simple reason that he didn’t know
the game.
Although he labored in anonymity, Jim was well compensated
financially, and he still speaks appreciatively of Sparky’s generosity.
Schulz had negotiated for 50% of the strip’s income, the other half
going to UFS. This 50% amounted to slightly more than $500 per week;
when Jim came on board, Schulz generously gave half of HIS half to his
new partner, and so Jim brought home $250 per week (after expenses) for
his efforts ... quite a lot of money in 1958.
The two men were living in Minneapolis when this collaboration
began; after the first five months, in May 1958, Jim and his wife
followed the Schulz family to Northern California. Lacking a place to
stay in Sebastopol -- not to mention furniture and other amenities --
the Sassevilles first spent a couple of months a bit south, in Corta
Madera. "For two or three weeks, I drew the comic book stuff and ‘It’s
Only a Game’ on a portable drawing board. But I stayed in touch with
Sparky on the phone, and he supplied the ideas for ‘It’s Only a Game.’ "
The Sassevilles then found a home in Sebastopol. Between "It’s Only
a Game" and the work he also was doing for the "Peanuts" strips in the
Dell comic books, Jim was quite gainfully employed by his new partner
and boss.
Unfortunately, it was not to last.
"It’s Only a Game" began with 30 client newspapers; nearly a year
later, it had ... 30 client newspapers.
(A complete client list has been lost to the mists of time, although
it is known that the feature was carried by The Boston Globe, the Detroit
Free Press, The Chicago Tribune, The Minneapolis Tribune, the San Francisco
Chronicle and The Baltimore Sun.)
The strip never took off, despite strong support from fans such as
bridge expert Charles Goren (who wrote a couple of letters), and even
Schulz’s name didn’t seem to make much of a difference.
But we also can assume that the proud and perfectionist-minded
Schulz -- who in later years, as mentioned above, often made a point of
describing how in "Peanuts" he penciled and inked every line, and
lettered every word balloon -- probably was bothered by the fact that he
wasn’t similarly in sole control of "It’s Only a Game." To be sure, he
was INVOLVED, but he wasn’t actually drawing what appeared in those 30
client newspapers.
"He didn’t like his name being used on somebody else’s work," Jim
recalls, "and I don’t blame him for that."
That, coupled with moribund sales and some tension with the head
UFS salesman to whom Schulz initially had pitched the idea, eventually
prompted an astonishing decision In late 1958, just 12 months into a
solid five-year contract, Schulz made it plain to UFS that he wished to
discontinue "It’s Only a Game." Perhaps recognizing that the strip
wasn’t performing as hoped, UFS agreed.
Schulz did not consult Jim before taking this step; indeed, the
news came as a complete shock to Schulz’s ghost, who’d been very happy
with his work, and the strip, and the $250 per week.
Schulz even tried to sugar-coat the news "You’re off the hook,"
Jim recalls his employer saying (as if this were a GOOD thing), at the
end of that euphoric day when they finished work on the second
all-Peanuts issue of Dell’s Four Color Comics. Jim had just assured
Sparky that his pending move to Berkeley would not affect his ability to
work on "It’s Only a Game," and now the rug had been pulled out from
under him.
The fallout was immediate; it certainly was the final straw for
Helga, who already had been dissatisfied with their home in Sebastopol
-- hence the move to Berkeley -- and also was unhappy about the friction
that existed between her and Joyce, Schulz’s first wife. Helga had
endured Nazi Germany, survived the entire war -- in and out of work
camps -- and had lost her father at Dachau; she was not a woman to keep
opinions to herself.
"I realized I was working on a flawed product, which the creator
and marketer wanted nothing more to do with. Still, I had held out the
hope that maybe Sparky might offer the entire feature to me, although I
realized that there’d be problems with the syndicate," Jim admits, a
touch of wistfulness still clouding the memory after more than 40 years.
"They should have been pretty familiar with my work by then."
It didn’t happen. By the time the final installment of "It’s Only a
Game" appeared, on January 11, 1959 -- the two always had worked six
weeks ahead -- Jim and Schulz had severed all relations, professional
and personal. This also included Jim’s ghosting work on the Dell comic
books. The split was permanent, and the two men never reconciled.
Although "It’s Only a Game" ran for 63 consecutive weeks, it
quickly became a fading memory -- and then an overlooked footnote -- in
Schulz’s career. He rarely mentioned it during later interviews, and
then only obliquely, citing neither date specifics nor his collaboration
with Jim.
"We were the best of friends at first," Jim recalls ruefully. He
happily remembers attending the 1951 National Cartoonists Convention
with Sparky, and also another time when they both went to visit and swap
stories with a fellow artist, Robert M. Brinkerhoff, who lived in
Minneapolis and was known for a newspaper strip called "Little Mary
Mix-Up." Brinkerhoff, in turn -- like many other cartoonists at that
time -- greatly admired J.R. Williams (creator of "Out Our Way"), whom
he once described as "the greatest cowboy ever to walk the streets of
New York." Brinkerhoff related how he had wheedled, begged and finally
finagled an invitation to Williams’ ranch in Montana. Although only
interested in seeing the fabulous studio that he assumed his idol must
have on so massive a spread, Brinkerhoff first had to put up with being
shown all the livestock and the other attractions of a working ranch. As
the visit stretched on, Brinkerhoff finally couldn’t stand it any longer
and demanded to see where Williams did his work.
With a resigned sigh (as Jim recalls Brinkerhoff describing this
incident), Williams walked over to his wife’s sewing machine, took off
the cover, and flipped it over ... and that was it The great J.R.
Williams did all his drawing on the cover of his wife’s sewing machine.
As others have observed, there’s never any reason to embrace
technology or an environment any fancier than that required to get the
job done.
Cartoonists love to talk shop, and Jim’s no different; merely
relating this little tale brings a sparkle into his eyes. And, to this
day, he doesn’t really understand what happened between him and Schulz.
"I feel kind of weird about all this. Sparky obviously wanted me to
succeed in the early days, and even was willing to collaborate with me
on one of my own projects (one of the many variations of "Joe Cipher,"
discussed below). But then when he had a chance to really help me out,
he didn’t make any effort whatsoever ... and left me in rather dire
straits."
Such feelings notwithstanding, all these years later Jim is firm on
one point "Charles M. Schulz was the greatest comic strip artist ever."
And although he certainly couldn’t have known it at the time, Jim
never again would earn his living as a cartoonist.
Before, during and after his working association with Schulz, Jim
played around with many of his own ideas.
If persistence counts for anything, he deserves considerable credit
for his ongoing efforts to sell "Joe Cipher" ("a character kinda based
on me"), a daily strip that underwent quite a few transmutations during
the decade-plus that he tried to place it with a syndicate.
The character first appeared in a sample series of daily strips Jim
produced in late 1949. The strip’s gentle humor is faintly reminiscent
of "Gasoline Alley" and other character-driven work of the era; the
title character is introduced driving an old jalopy that obligingly runs
out of gas at a filling station. The silver-tongued Joe, lacking any
money, eventually impresses the station owner into offering him a job;
Joe celebrates by stepping into a nearby diner for lunch, where he’s
immediately smitten by the young woman behind the counter, and...
...and that’s where the presentation panels concluded.
Perhaps feeling that the strip lacked dramatic impact, a few years
later -- while still at AIS -- Jim tried again, shifting the action to a
tiny island in the middle of the ocean, where the shipwrecked Joe is
joined by an attractive young woman named Ginny, survivor of a second
sea-going calamity. (What are the odds?) Although their relationship is
mildly prickly for the first few days, Ginny eventually wishes aloud
that they could be rescued, so that she can go on a "proper date" with
Joe, and perhaps even kiss him when the evening concludes. Once again,
the story cut off abruptly, as Jim produced just two weeks’ worth of
strips enough to (hopefully) interest a buyer.
Sasseville tried several times to place a comic strip starring Joe Cipher, the pleasant-looking chap
featured in these examples. The two left-most strips are taken from the first run Sasseville designed on his own;
the two right-most strips, starring the same character but
in a different setting, are from Sasseville's third
test run; Charles Schulz contributed story input on these.
(Click on the image to see an enlarged version.)
After getting back from his return hitch in the Navy, Jim
went back to work on Joe Cipher and got a nibble from an
unexpected quarter: Something about this particular setting
touched Schulz, who suggested they collaborate on yet
a third incarnation of "Joe Cipher." (At the time, both men still were
unmarried, and it’s not hard to see a little male fantasy
wish-fulfillment at work.) With narrative input from Schulz and Jim
handling the art chores, the scene shifted again, this time to a
typically romantic South Seas setting, on an island large enough to
support a population of curvaceous young cuties and at least one
villain. Joe and Ginny remained the central focus, but this time the
former saw genuine action, on the receiving end of the villain’s fists.
Schulz and Jim took this newest version of "Joe Cipher" to United
Features Syndicate in spring of 1954; it was turned down flat. The
trip to New York wasn't a complete waste, though, because Sasseville
and Schulz caught a couple of plays: a T.S. Elliot drama called
Confidential Clerk, and another called The King of
Hearts, which starred Jackie Cooper as (what are the odds?)
a cartoonist!
Sasseville also remembers going from suite to suite in New
York's Waldorf hotel during this trip, visiting one cartoonist
after another; meeting Al Capp was a high point. But at least
part of the reason for the trip -- the newest Joe Cipher -- proved
unsellable, and Schulz bowed out at that point.
When Jim finally returned to "Joe Cipher," the 1950s were almost
over. Jim’s association with "Peanuts" and "It’s Only a Game" had
concluded, so the writer/artist returned to his favorite unsold
property. Jim recast his hero in yet another new setting, this time a
business office populated by characters clearly derived from his days at
Art Instruction. Although the sample panels display even cleaner, more
attractive line work -- a sure sign of his growing comfort as an artist
-- Jim had no better luck this time around.
Still refusing to abandon hope, Jim tried one more time In early
1960, after having moved to Berkeley, he once again changed the setting
completely, and turned Joe Cipher into "Sir Joe." This Arthurian-based
concept focused on genuinely whimsical gags involving heavy armor,
maidens in distress, and fire-breathing dragons. Jim’s dragons are
particularly funny, and this newest reboot seems ripe with
possibilities; it’s not at all hard to envision a daily strip evolving
from these samples.
Alas, syndicates once again failed to see any potential, and "Joe
Cipher" was put into Jim’s trunk as no more than another engaging
footnote in the artist’s collection of rejection slips.
Jim didn’t confine his efforts to "Joe Cipher"; the writer/artist
had no shortage of ideas, quite a few of which also wound up as
submission concepts. "Aunty Climax," produced in early 1957 -- just
prior to Jim’s ghost work for Dell comics -- was a single-panel gag
strip that starred a feisty little old lady who was far sharper than
most people assumed. She was based on Louise Cassidy, an AIS colleague
who also was the landlady for the building where Jim briefly lived with
Charles Cuddy. Jim produced a few dozen "Aunty Climax" panels, all of
which are vastly superior -- both in terms of writing and artwork -- to
many of the single-panel cartoons cluttering today’s newspapers.
"Confessions of a French Poodle" was a 1959 concept that didn’t
emerge much further than a few finished panels and lots of pencil
sketches; Jim good-naturedly admits that the idea went nowhere, and so
he abandoned it. That may have been shrewd market analysis, as the
medium never has lacked for dog-oriented material. Even so, French
poodles are funny in their own right, and Jim’s concept sketches are a
hoot.
When not working on Peanuts-related material, Sasseville tried to sell many of his own strip ideas
to a syndicate. From left to right, these examples are "Aunty Climax," "Friends and Foes," "Alpha-Betty" and "Happy Birthday."
(Click on the image to see an enlarged version.)
"Friends and Foes," another single-panel tryout, also emerged from
Jim’s pen in 1959. A little later, shortly after he started putting food
on the table with a "real job" -- and perhaps motivated by the explosion
of children’s television shows, which eventually led to "Sesame Street"
and everything that followed -- Jim tried a kid-oriented educational
strip called "Alpha-Betty," which starred a little girl who finds
herself in an other-worldly land populated by men and women shaped like
letters of the alphabet. The personalities of these individuals were
defined by their appearance; curved female letters, for example, were
far more sultry that straight female letters. The strip has a lovely
"Alice in Wonderland" quality, although the concept may have seemed
limiting.
Jim later played with the medium in "Blackboard," a daily strip
designed to be white-on-black, to imitate chalk on a classroom
blackboard. The stars were Dick, Jane and their TeacheR; although not as
overly educational as "Alpha-Betty," this strip also was aimed at young
audiences.
Jim’s final attempt at syndication was produced in the early 1970s,
after he first went into research hibernation, jotting down enough
celebrity birthdays to fill every day of a calendar year. The resulting
single-panel strips were a precursor to the "On this day in history..."
informational nuggets that have become so ubiquitous The panel for
March 28, for example, illustrated and revealed a few choice facts about
orchestra leader Paul Whiteman. March 29 was devoted to President John
Tyler, while Francisco Goya was featured on March 30.
Sadly, this fared no better with syndicators than any of the
others. "Joe Cipher," "Aunty Climax," "Confessions of a French Poodle,"
"Friends and Foes," "Alpha-Betty," "Blackboard" and "Birthdays" exist only
in Jim’s carefully preserved office files. More’s the pity, because even
the weakest of these strips displays a Puckish wit and clean, attractive
line work too often absent from many of the rushed, imitative strips
that generate little more than reader apathy these days.
Following the dust-up with Schulz and the move to Berkeley, Helga
-- who was delighted by the more rarefied atmosphere of a university
community -- became the family bread-winner. She took a job with a
German importer/exporter and commuted daily across the Bay Bridge.
Eventually succumbing to the need for steady employment, in April
1960 Jim took a job as a graphic designer with Varian, one of the
leading radar companies, located in California’s greater San Francisco
Bay Area. The fit proved comfortable, and he remained with the company
until he retired in 1990.
But the career shift wasn’t immediate; Jim first spent most of 1959
working up his own aforementioned comic strip proposals, and
occasionally sold individual gag cartoons to magazines. But his New
York-based agent took 35% of those one-shots.
"That’s when I started with Varian," Jim recalls, with a chuckle.
"I knew I’d never make it as a gag cartoonist."
Be that as it may, Jim never stopped his cartooning efforts; while
at Varian, he became famous for the birthday cards that he drew for
fellow employees.
Helga, meanwhile, got a job at Stanford, which prompted another
move; the couple then purchased their first home in 1960, in Mountain
View.
Three years later, they moved for what would be the last time. Jim
and his wife paid $28,000 for the house that remains his home to this
day. Just last year the retired artist was offered a cool million bucks
-- in cash -- by a dot-commer who wanted to develop the property. Still
loyal to the memories of his wife, with which the house is filled, Jim
politely declined. Helga died in 1995; he clearly still misses her.
Today, Parkinson’s Disease and the recent stroke have conspired to
deliver the ultimate nightmare Jim no longer can hold a pen well enough
to draw. ("I always marveled at Sparky’s ability to incorporate his
shaking hand into his line work.") But his mind and memory remain
acutely sharp, and his Puckish sense of humor is unbowed. He speaks with
clarity and certainty of his years at Art Instruction School, and with
Schulz, and of his never-successful efforts to market his own original
material.
Jim remains philosophical about his life, and in fact composed
another of his verses to express such feelings
I’m all for equal measures
Losses should be matched by gain;
And since I’ve missed life’s pleasures,
I’ll just double up with pain!
Definitely too harsh, but then we’re always hardest on ourselves.
Jim Sasseville deserves far more than the obscurity into which he has
settled; for a time, he was allied with the man who would become the
world’s most successful cartoonist, and for a time he helped chaperone
the faithfully rendered adventures of Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Linus, Lucy
and the rest ... no small feat.
And I’m particularly transfixed by a remark Jim made during one of
our later phone calls "I don’t know how one should behave, in a
situation like this," he said, referring to our ongoing conversations,
"but it’s like I’ve been resurrected."
Perhaps this article will kick-start our long-overdue obligation to
sing his praises.
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To keep the chronology consistent, let’s turn back the clock to
1952, when "Peanuts" simultaneously debuted as a supporting feature in
two comic books -- the March-April issues of Tip Top Comics (#173) and
United Comics (#21) -- both published by United Feature Syndicate, which
routinely recycled many of its newspaper features in these and other
comic books. The "Peanuts" supporting feature moved into a third book,
Tip Topper, beginning with #17 (June-July 1952); it remained there until
the book was discontinued after #28 (April-May 1954). Shortly before
this final issue of Tip Topper, "Peanuts" returned to Tip Top as a
supporting feature, beginning with #184 (Jan.-Feb. 1954) and continuing
through #188 (Sept.-Oct. 1954). Several of these later issues feature
gorgeous Peanuts covers, which -- although not signed -- appear to be by
Schulz.
"Peanuts" also appeared, during this same period, as a back-up
feature in most issues of United Comics, later retitled Fritzi Ritz
(beginning with #27). The run here also was consecutive #21-#33 (the
latter dated March-April 1954). Stray issues of Sparkler Comics and
Sparkle Comics also included some "Peanuts" reprints, although not on a
regular basis.
UFS got out of the comic book publishing business at the end of
1954, and some of its titles were picked up by St. John in 1955,
including Fritzi Ritz and Tip Top. Despite a noticeable gap of several
months, the numbering of both books continued consecutively. Thus, Tip
Top resumed with #189 (May 1955), and continued to include "Peanuts" as
a supporting feature during St. John’s entire run of this book, through
#210 (July 1957). "Peanuts" was only an occasional supporting feature in
St. John’s run of Fritzi Ritz, starting with #37 (July 1955) and
continuing through #55. Finally, at least one issue of Nancy -- #142
(March 1957) -- also featured Peanuts reprints.
Big changes came in late 1957, and not just because St. John
abandoned these books and turned them over to Dell Comics (Western
Publishing). After a delay of several months to half a year -- depending
on the title -- Dell revived the flagship St. John titles, again with
consecutive numbering. Thus, Tip Top #211 returned as a quarterly with a
cover date of Nov. 1957-Jan. 1958. Fritzi Ritz resumed with #56, dated
Dec. 1957-Feb. 1958.
Under Dell’s stewardship, Charlie Brown and the gang also became a
regular supporting feature in Nancy, beginning with #146 (Sept. 1957).
The biggest change, however, concerned the content in all three books.
When Dell took over, the covers promised "All brand-new stories" ... and
they meant it.
"Peanuts" fans spotted the change in Nancy #146, which boasted a
four-page story with a baseball theme, clearly produced by Schulz
himself (although unsigned); Jim confirms Sparky’s linework. But Schulz
quickly realized that producing four full pages of original art for
Nancy on a monthly basis, not to mention similar duties for the
quarterly Tip Top and Fritzi Ritz, would be more than he was willing to
handle. Then, too, he was only months away from debuting his own second
newspaper strip, "It’s Only a Game" (about which more below).
Schulz allowed Dell’s house art department to handle his characters
in Nancy #147, but was unhappy with the results. (No surprise; the art
is quite weak.) Schulz stepped in again for issue #148, but the workload
problem hadn’t changed. Wanting greater fidelity to his own style,
Schulz turned to Jim, who took over the reins with issue #149 and
continued through #168 (July 1959). Jim essentially became Schulz’s
employee and was paid $100 per week for this work; since he was making
only $80 per week at Art Instruction, this -- along with the even higher
paycheck he’d soon receive, for helping Schulz with "It’s Only a Game"
-- was a substantial raise.
As a ghosting assignment, the results are impressive. Charlie Brown
and Linus’ heads are notoriously difficult to reproduce in Schulz’s
signature style, but Jim came damn close. More to the point, the
characters are posed and conduct themselves in a way that’s absolutely
typical of their behavior in Sparky’s newspaper strip. Art purists may
have noticed that Jim wasn’t Schulz, but casual readers were unlikely to
have detected the difference.
The four-page story above is taken from Nancy #151, February 1958.
(Click on the pages to enlarge them.)
"He gave me carte blanche on writing them, and I felt like a
faithful uncle," Jim says, with no small amount of pride at his ability
to reproduce Charlie Brown and the gang.
Although Jim’s take on the "Peanuts" gang in Nancy #149 was the
first to reach fans, it was not the ghost artist’s debut crack at
Charlie Brown. Jim’s first completed "Peanuts" comic book adventure was
"The Trip," one of a quartet of eight-page stories (packaged with three
one-page stories) that eventually appeared as issue #878 (Feb. 1958) of
Dell’s Four Color Comics, an "umbrella title" that rotated various
stars; this issue, boasting a gorgeous signed Schulz cover, was the
first one devoted to "Peanuts."
Ever the imp, Jim inserted a personal reference into "The Trip."
The number on the dog license that Charlie Brown uses -- 891-68-14 -- to
justify his getting behind the wheel of a station wagon, was the
artist’s Navy serial number.
Jim also did the work in the Fritzi Ritz and Tip Top issues during
this time, and it’s important to note that he had a completely free rein
with these comic book stories, handling both art and writing chores.
Fritzi Ritz lasted only four issues under the Dell label, before
being discontinued after #59 (Sept.-Nov. 1958). "Peanuts" did not appear
in #56, but each of the remaining three issues included a new four-page
story by Jim. He also handled the work for Tip Top #211 through #215
(Nov. 1958-Jan. 1959). In Tip Top, Charlie Brown and his friends shared
covers with Nancy, Sluggo, and the Captain and the Kids. Although
unsigned, Schulz drew these "Peanuts" cover panels for issues 211-213,
and Jim handled 214 and 215.
Sasseville did the Peanuts art in these issues of Tip Top, #214 and #215.
(Click on the pages to enlarge them.)
All told, then, Jim drew the interior stories in 20 issues of
Nancy, three issues of Fritzi Ritz, and five issues of Tip Top, along
with Four Color #878. This relationship with Schulz and Dell Comics took
an unexpected turn when the two men parted unhappily, and Jim’s final
work for Dell was the long kite story in the second all-"Peanuts" issue
of Four Color Comics (#969, Feb. 1959), along with the inside front and
inside back cover one-pagers.
The completion of that particular issue became something of a
marathon art session. After announcing that he and Helga would be moving
to Berkeley, Jim took stock of the pending Dell workload, and discovered
that the deadline for the second all-Peanuts issue of Four Color Comics
was imminent. Jim promised to finish this before the move, but Sparky
suggested that the job would proceed faster if they worked on it
together. The two men thus divided the work between them, and began
early one morning with what turned into a lengthy session stretching
well into the evening. During that time, Jim completed the
aforementioned two one-page stories and one eight-page story, while
Sparky handled the remaining one-page story and THREE eight-page
stories.
"There’s no doubt who was the faster artist," Jim notes, with a
chuckle. "He certainly put me in my place!"
Jim still remembers that session as a euphoric rush ... but it
concluded on a gloomy note, when, resting in the happy afterglow of a
job well done, Schulz revealed the fate of "It’s Only a Game" (see
below).
In the aftermath, Schulz also stepped in and handled all the work
for Nancy #169 (August 1959). Clearly, this was a rush job, and Schulz
borrowed from himself The final panel of this four-page story is almost
identical to the final panel of the June 23, 1957, "Peanuts" Sunday
strip. The comic book storyline is an expansion of that Sunday strip,
and the aforementioned final panel in the comic book is signed by Schulz
... the only case where any interior comic book stories bear his
signature.
Because the split was far from amicable, Jim did not follow the
subsequent comic book adventures of Charlie Brown and his friends, in
Nancy and Tip Top. On close examination just a few weeks ago -- in many
cases, seeing this work for the first time -- Jim pointed to specific
poses, characteristics and lettering attributes ("Sparky always rounded
out the bottoms of his W’s") that leave him convinced that Schulz either
penciled and inked the next several issues of both Nancy and Tip Top, or
at least roughed in the panel layout, inked the primary characters --
particularly their heads -- and lettered the word balloons. This seems
likely; carefully examination of individual pages reveals an occasional
Snoopy or Lucy which, not matching the rest, clearly must have been
inked by somebody else.
But Dale Hale, Schulz’s new apprentice and ghost -- and another
associate from Art Instruction Schools -- caught on quickly, and the
artwork in both books retained its Schulz-like characteristics through
roughly late 1960 or early 1961. At this point, other hands clearly took
over -- possibly Tony Pocrnick, another Schulz associate from Art
Instruction -- and the "Peanuts" characters became ever-more distant
from the Schulz ideal until the final issues of Tip Top (#225, May-July
1961) and Nancy. (By then the latter had been retitled Nancy and Sluggo,
and its final five issues were released under the Gold Key imprint; the
book was discontinued with issue #192, October 1963.) The "Peanuts"
artwork in the last issues of both books is, in a word, dreadful.
A third all-"Peanuts" issue of Four Color Comics was produced
(#1015, August-October 1959), after which the characters got their own
book that began with issue #4 (Feb.-April 1960), by way of acknowledging
those first three appearances in Four Color Comics. This lasted through
#13 (May-July 1962), after which the book was discontinued. Each of
these issues features a signed Schulz cover, but other hands --
certainly Hale, at first -- handled all the interior artwork and writing
(which, as with the latter issues of Nancy and Tip Top, grew less
Schulz-like over time).
But what had happened, to sever the friendship between Schulz and
Jim, which stretched back a decade?
Bouncing back a year or so...
Although already quite popular and gaining fans -- and syndicate
clients -- all the time, in 1957 "Peanuts" was not yet the multimedia
sensation it was to become within another decade. Schulz must have had
some free time that needed filling, and therefore was comfortable with
the concept of pitching a second strip concept to United Features
Syndicate. The artist had lots of ideas about games near and dear to his
heart, including golf, tennis, baseball and bridge. No doubt realizing
that twice as much Schulz per week was a good thing, UFS jumped at the
chance, and the sports and recreation-themed "It’s Only a Game" was
born. For awhile, Schulz joined later stars such as Johnny Hart ("B.C."
and "The Wizard of Id"), Mell Lazarus ("Miss Peach" and "Momma") and
Jerry Scott ("Baby Blues" and "Zits"), with two newspaper strips running
simultaneously.
Each installment of "It’s Only a Game, by Charles M. Schulz,"
hearkening back to Schulz’s very early work on "Li’l Folks" in The St.
Paul Pioneer Press, was comprised of three separate single-panel gag
strips. The package was offered to clients in two different formats as
three single-panel strips per week, to run on Mondays, Wednesdays and
Fridays; or as a combined grouping of three that would appear in Sunday
comics sections. The combined Sunday grouping also had a bonus fourth
cartoon a tiny, captionless visual gag -- very much like the
intermarginal gags that Sergio Aragonés would pepper throughout future
issues of Mad Magazine -- that appeared to the right of the title and
Schulz’s byline. The subject matter of the Monday and Wednesday panels
varied from week to week, but the Friday installment always centered
around bridge, the then-popular card game that Schulz loved. (Further
evidence of this affection could be seen in "Peanuts," where the kids
routinely played the game in the early 1950s, and Woodstock and a
foursome of his bird buddies picked it up in the 1970s and beyond.)
Charles Schulz did this January 12, 1958, "It's Only a Game" panel himself. Note his signature within the art of the right-most panel.
During an October 6, 1957, interview with Schulz, the Chicago
Tribune proudly boasted that it would be one of the flagship newspapers
to carry this new feature. The Tribune selected the weekly option, and
ran "It’s Only a Game" in its Sunday magazine. The debut installment
appeared November 3, 1957, and immediately set the tone for what would
follow, with panels devoted to boxing, golf and bridge. The middle panel
is a hoot, with a middle-aged duffer -- one easily can imagine Charlie
Brown in his 40s -- lamenting a putt that has left his ball perched at
the edge of the cup (but not in), and saying, "I think I’m going to
cry."
Subsequent installments covered checkers, bowling, curling (!),
table tennis, croquet, billiards, ice fishing, darts and even camping.
But as 1957 turned into 1958, something must have changed. Perhaps
Schulz had underestimated the amount of time involved with producing a
second weekly newspaper strip; maybe he also was spending more time than
expected overseeing the new "Peanuts" content in the Dell comic books.
Or, more likely, the "Peanuts" empire as a whole was occupying more of
his time; 1958 saw the production of the first "Peanuts" toys -- plastic
dolls of the major characters, produced by Hungerford -- and of course
this was just the tip of an approaching iceberg.
Whatever the reason, Schulz decided to hand over the lion’s share
of the artistic chores to Jim. Schulz’s solo involvement with "It’s Only
a Game" continued through the January 12, 1958, installment; this is the
last one to bear his signature on one of the cartoon panels. (Schulz’s
name continued to run alone in the masthead, however, making Jim a true
ghost.) As of January 19, 1958, Jim -- often working from hastily
penciled sketches and captions supplied by Schulz -- did all the
newspaper strip’s finished art and lettering.
Sasseville did this January 26, 1958, "It's Only a Game" panel himself. Note that Schulz's signature is nowhere to be seen within the art.
Jim vividly remembers this transition date, because just one week later,
with his second time at bat with the solo art chores, he was paid a
singular honor. That week’s Monday panel, a bowling strip, featured
three league players welcoming a fourth, apparently a little tardy, with
the exclamation of, "Three cheers, gang! Our number one man has
arrived!" A loyal reader sent UFS a black-and-white photo of himself
with three friends, staged to look precisely like the four figures in
Jim’s illustration. The "camera angle" was identical, along with
clothing, body position, and everything else in the frame. The
resemblance even extended to the men themselves, who had body shapes and
hairstyles eerily similar to those found in the panel art.
Jim still has the photo.
Sasseville received this photo recreation of his "It's Only a Game" gag from a fan. Note the date stamp at the top of the photo.
The degree to which Jim successfully imitated Schulz’s linework can
be seen by the fact that the transition was seamless; no casual reader
could have discerned that the hand on the inker’s pen had changed.
During the remainder of 1958, the two men continued to work in the same
fashion, Jim often finishing Schulz’s rough concepts, but also
contributing many of his own original ideas. He also inserted the
occasional personal reference; the boat from which a husband and wife
fish, in one of the June 29, 1958, panels, is the Helga, named after
Jim’s wife.
But Jim remembers that he never came up with any of the concepts
for Friday’s bridge panels, for the simple reason that he didn’t know
the game.
Although he labored in anonymity, Jim was well compensated
financially, and he still speaks appreciatively of Sparky’s generosity.
Schulz had negotiated for 50% of the strip’s income, the other half
going to UFS. This 50% amounted to slightly more than $500 per week;
when Jim came on board, Schulz generously gave half of HIS half to his
new partner, and so Jim brought home $250 per week (after expenses) for
his efforts ... quite a lot of money in 1958.
The two men were living in Minneapolis when this collaboration
began; after the first five months, in May 1958, Jim and his wife
followed the Schulz family to Northern California. Lacking a place to
stay in Sebastopol -- not to mention furniture and other amenities --
the Sassevilles first spent a couple of months a bit south, in Corta
Madera. "For two or three weeks, I drew the comic book stuff and ‘It’s
Only a Game’ on a portable drawing board. But I stayed in touch with
Sparky on the phone, and he supplied the ideas for ‘It’s Only a Game.’ "
The Sassevilles then found a home in Sebastopol. Between "It’s Only
a Game" and the work he also was doing for the "Peanuts" strips in the
Dell comic books, Jim was quite gainfully employed by his new partner
and boss.
Unfortunately, it was not to last.
"It’s Only a Game" began with 30 client newspapers; nearly a year
later, it had ... 30 client newspapers.
(A complete client list has been lost to the mists of time, although
it is known that the feature was carried by The Boston Globe, the Detroit
Free Press, The Chicago Tribune, The Minneapolis Tribune, the San Francisco
Chronicle and The Baltimore Sun.)
The strip never took off, despite strong support from fans such as
bridge expert Charles Goren (who wrote a couple of letters), and even
Schulz’s name didn’t seem to make much of a difference.
But we also can assume that the proud and perfectionist-minded
Schulz -- who in later years, as mentioned above, often made a point of
describing how in "Peanuts" he penciled and inked every line, and
lettered every word balloon -- probably was bothered by the fact that he
wasn’t similarly in sole control of "It’s Only a Game." To be sure, he
was INVOLVED, but he wasn’t actually drawing what appeared in those 30
client newspapers.
"He didn’t like his name being used on somebody else’s work," Jim
recalls, "and I don’t blame him for that."
That, coupled with moribund sales and some tension with the head
UFS salesman to whom Schulz initially had pitched the idea, eventually
prompted an astonishing decision In late 1958, just 12 months into a
solid five-year contract, Schulz made it plain to UFS that he wished to
discontinue "It’s Only a Game." Perhaps recognizing that the strip
wasn’t performing as hoped, UFS agreed.
Schulz did not consult Jim before taking this step; indeed, the
news came as a complete shock to Schulz’s ghost, who’d been very happy
with his work, and the strip, and the $250 per week.
Schulz even tried to sugar-coat the news "You’re off the hook,"
Jim recalls his employer saying (as if this were a GOOD thing), at the
end of that euphoric day when they finished work on the second
all-Peanuts issue of Dell’s Four Color Comics. Jim had just assured
Sparky that his pending move to Berkeley would not affect his ability to
work on "It’s Only a Game," and now the rug had been pulled out from
under him.
The fallout was immediate; it certainly was the final straw for
Helga, who already had been dissatisfied with their home in Sebastopol
-- hence the move to Berkeley -- and also was unhappy about the friction
that existed between her and Joyce, Schulz’s first wife. Helga had
endured Nazi Germany, survived the entire war -- in and out of work
camps -- and had lost her father at Dachau; she was not a woman to keep
opinions to herself.
"I realized I was working on a flawed product, which the creator
and marketer wanted nothing more to do with. Still, I had held out the
hope that maybe Sparky might offer the entire feature to me, although I
realized that there’d be problems with the syndicate," Jim admits, a
touch of wistfulness still clouding the memory after more than 40 years.
"They should have been pretty familiar with my work by then."
It didn’t happen. By the time the final installment of "It’s Only a
Game" appeared, on January 11, 1959 -- the two always had worked six
weeks ahead -- Jim and Schulz had severed all relations, professional
and personal. This also included Jim’s ghosting work on the Dell comic
books. The split was permanent, and the two men never reconciled.
Although "It’s Only a Game" ran for 63 consecutive weeks, it
quickly became a fading memory -- and then an overlooked footnote -- in
Schulz’s career. He rarely mentioned it during later interviews, and
then only obliquely, citing neither date specifics nor his collaboration
with Jim.
"We were the best of friends at first," Jim recalls ruefully. He
happily remembers attending the 1951 National Cartoonists Convention
with Sparky, and also another time when they both went to visit and swap
stories with a fellow artist, Robert M. Brinkerhoff, who lived in
Minneapolis and was known for a newspaper strip called "Little Mary
Mix-Up." Brinkerhoff, in turn -- like many other cartoonists at that
time -- greatly admired J.R. Williams (creator of "Out Our Way"), whom
he once described as "the greatest cowboy ever to walk the streets of
New York." Brinkerhoff related how he had wheedled, begged and finally
finagled an invitation to Williams’ ranch in Montana. Although only
interested in seeing the fabulous studio that he assumed his idol must
have on so massive a spread, Brinkerhoff first had to put up with being
shown all the livestock and the other attractions of a working ranch. As
the visit stretched on, Brinkerhoff finally couldn’t stand it any longer
and demanded to see where Williams did his work.
With a resigned sigh (as Jim recalls Brinkerhoff describing this
incident), Williams walked over to his wife’s sewing machine, took off
the cover, and flipped it over ... and that was it The great J.R.
Williams did all his drawing on the cover of his wife’s sewing machine.
As others have observed, there’s never any reason to embrace
technology or an environment any fancier than that required to get the
job done.
Cartoonists love to talk shop, and Jim’s no different; merely
relating this little tale brings a sparkle into his eyes. And, to this
day, he doesn’t really understand what happened between him and Schulz.
"I feel kind of weird about all this. Sparky obviously wanted me to
succeed in the early days, and even was willing to collaborate with me
on one of my own projects (one of the many variations of "Joe Cipher,"
discussed below). But then when he had a chance to really help me out,
he didn’t make any effort whatsoever ... and left me in rather dire
straits."
Such feelings notwithstanding, all these years later Jim is firm on
one point "Charles M. Schulz was the greatest comic strip artist ever."
And although he certainly couldn’t have known it at the time, Jim
never again would earn his living as a cartoonist.
Before, during and after his working association with Schulz, Jim
played around with many of his own ideas.
If persistence counts for anything, he deserves considerable credit
for his ongoing efforts to sell "Joe Cipher" ("a character kinda based
on me"), a daily strip that underwent quite a few transmutations during
the decade-plus that he tried to place it with a syndicate.
The character first appeared in a sample series of daily strips Jim
produced in late 1949. The strip’s gentle humor is faintly reminiscent
of "Gasoline Alley" and other character-driven work of the era; the
title character is introduced driving an old jalopy that obligingly runs
out of gas at a filling station. The silver-tongued Joe, lacking any
money, eventually impresses the station owner into offering him a job;
Joe celebrates by stepping into a nearby diner for lunch, where he’s
immediately smitten by the young woman behind the counter, and...
...and that’s where the presentation panels concluded.
Perhaps feeling that the strip lacked dramatic impact, a few years
later -- while still at AIS -- Jim tried again, shifting the action to a
tiny island in the middle of the ocean, where the shipwrecked Joe is
joined by an attractive young woman named Ginny, survivor of a second
sea-going calamity. (What are the odds?) Although their relationship is
mildly prickly for the first few days, Ginny eventually wishes aloud
that they could be rescued, so that she can go on a "proper date" with
Joe, and perhaps even kiss him when the evening concludes. Once again,
the story cut off abruptly, as Jim produced just two weeks’ worth of
strips enough to (hopefully) interest a buyer.
Sasseville tried several times to place a comic strip starring Joe Cipher, the pleasant-looking chap
featured in these examples. The two left-most strips are taken from the first run Sasseville designed on his own;
the two right-most strips, starring the same character but
in a different setting, are from Sasseville's third
test run; Charles Schulz contributed story input on these.
(Click on the image to see an enlarged version.)
After getting back from his return hitch in the Navy, Jim
went back to work on Joe Cipher and got a nibble from an
unexpected quarter: Something about this particular setting
touched Schulz, who suggested they collaborate on yet
a third incarnation of "Joe Cipher." (At the time, both men still were
unmarried, and it’s not hard to see a little male fantasy
wish-fulfillment at work.) With narrative input from Schulz and Jim
handling the art chores, the scene shifted again, this time to a
typically romantic South Seas setting, on an island large enough to
support a population of curvaceous young cuties and at least one
villain. Joe and Ginny remained the central focus, but this time the
former saw genuine action, on the receiving end of the villain’s fists.
Schulz and Jim took this newest version of "Joe Cipher" to United
Features Syndicate in spring of 1954; it was turned down flat. The
trip to New York wasn't a complete waste, though, because Sasseville
and Schulz caught a couple of plays: a T.S. Elliot drama called
Confidential Clerk, and another called The King of
Hearts, which starred Jackie Cooper as (what are the odds?)
a cartoonist!
Sasseville also remembers going from suite to suite in New
York's Waldorf hotel during this trip, visiting one cartoonist
after another; meeting Al Capp was a high point. But at least
part of the reason for the trip -- the newest Joe Cipher -- proved
unsellable, and Schulz bowed out at that point.
When Jim finally returned to "Joe Cipher," the 1950s were almost
over. Jim’s association with "Peanuts" and "It’s Only a Game" had
concluded, so the writer/artist returned to his favorite unsold
property. Jim recast his hero in yet another new setting, this time a
business office populated by characters clearly derived from his days at
Art Instruction. Although the sample panels display even cleaner, more
attractive line work -- a sure sign of his growing comfort as an artist
-- Jim had no better luck this time around.
Still refusing to abandon hope, Jim tried one more time In early
1960, after having moved to Berkeley, he once again changed the setting
completely, and turned Joe Cipher into "Sir Joe." This Arthurian-based
concept focused on genuinely whimsical gags involving heavy armor,
maidens in distress, and fire-breathing dragons. Jim’s dragons are
particularly funny, and this newest reboot seems ripe with
possibilities; it’s not at all hard to envision a daily strip evolving
from these samples.
Alas, syndicates once again failed to see any potential, and "Joe
Cipher" was put into Jim’s trunk as no more than another engaging
footnote in the artist’s collection of rejection slips.
Jim didn’t confine his efforts to "Joe Cipher"; the writer/artist
had no shortage of ideas, quite a few of which also wound up as
submission concepts. "Aunty Climax," produced in early 1957 -- just
prior to Jim’s ghost work for Dell comics -- was a single-panel gag
strip that starred a feisty little old lady who was far sharper than
most people assumed. She was based on Louise Cassidy, an AIS colleague
who also was the landlady for the building where Jim briefly lived with
Charles Cuddy. Jim produced a few dozen "Aunty Climax" panels, all of
which are vastly superior -- both in terms of writing and artwork -- to
many of the single-panel cartoons cluttering today’s newspapers.
"Confessions of a French Poodle" was a 1959 concept that didn’t
emerge much further than a few finished panels and lots of pencil
sketches; Jim good-naturedly admits that the idea went nowhere, and so
he abandoned it. That may have been shrewd market analysis, as the
medium never has lacked for dog-oriented material. Even so, French
poodles are funny in their own right, and Jim’s concept sketches are a
hoot.
When not working on Peanuts-related material, Sasseville tried to sell many of his own strip ideas
to a syndicate. From left to right, these examples are "Aunty Climax," "Friends and Foes," "Alpha-Betty" and "Happy Birthday."
(Click on the image to see an enlarged version.)
"Friends and Foes," another single-panel tryout, also emerged from
Jim’s pen in 1959. A little later, shortly after he started putting food
on the table with a "real job" -- and perhaps motivated by the explosion
of children’s television shows, which eventually led to "Sesame Street"
and everything that followed -- Jim tried a kid-oriented educational
strip called "Alpha-Betty," which starred a little girl who finds
herself in an other-worldly land populated by men and women shaped like
letters of the alphabet. The personalities of these individuals were
defined by their appearance; curved female letters, for example, were
far more sultry that straight female letters. The strip has a lovely
"Alice in Wonderland" quality, although the concept may have seemed
limiting.
Jim later played with the medium in "Blackboard," a daily strip
designed to be white-on-black, to imitate chalk on a classroom
blackboard. The stars were Dick, Jane and their TeacheR; although not as
overly educational as "Alpha-Betty," this strip also was aimed at young
audiences.
Jim’s final attempt at syndication was produced in the early 1970s,
after he first went into research hibernation, jotting down enough
celebrity birthdays to fill every day of a calendar year. The resulting
single-panel strips were a precursor to the "On this day in history..."
informational nuggets that have become so ubiquitous The panel for
March 28, for example, illustrated and revealed a few choice facts about
orchestra leader Paul Whiteman. March 29 was devoted to President John
Tyler, while Francisco Goya was featured on March 30.
Sadly, this fared no better with syndicators than any of the
others. "Joe Cipher," "Aunty Climax," "Confessions of a French Poodle,"
"Friends and Foes," "Alpha-Betty," "Blackboard" and "Birthdays" exist only
in Jim’s carefully preserved office files. More’s the pity, because even
the weakest of these strips displays a Puckish wit and clean, attractive
line work too often absent from many of the rushed, imitative strips
that generate little more than reader apathy these days.
Following the dust-up with Schulz and the move to Berkeley, Helga
-- who was delighted by the more rarefied atmosphere of a university
community -- became the family bread-winner. She took a job with a
German importer/exporter and commuted daily across the Bay Bridge.
Eventually succumbing to the need for steady employment, in April
1960 Jim took a job as a graphic designer with Varian, one of the
leading radar companies, located in California’s greater San Francisco
Bay Area. The fit proved comfortable, and he remained with the company
until he retired in 1990.
But the career shift wasn’t immediate; Jim first spent most of 1959
working up his own aforementioned comic strip proposals, and
occasionally sold individual gag cartoons to magazines. But his New
York-based agent took 35% of those one-shots.
"That’s when I started with Varian," Jim recalls, with a chuckle.
"I knew I’d never make it as a gag cartoonist."
Be that as it may, Jim never stopped his cartooning efforts; while
at Varian, he became famous for the birthday cards that he drew for
fellow employees.
Helga, meanwhile, got a job at Stanford, which prompted another
move; the couple then purchased their first home in 1960, in Mountain
View.
Three years later, they moved for what would be the last time. Jim
and his wife paid $28,000 for the house that remains his home to this
day. Just last year the retired artist was offered a cool million bucks
-- in cash -- by a dot-commer who wanted to develop the property. Still
loyal to the memories of his wife, with which the house is filled, Jim
politely declined. Helga died in 1995; he clearly still misses her.
Today, Parkinson’s Disease and the recent stroke have conspired to
deliver the ultimate nightmare Jim no longer can hold a pen well enough
to draw. ("I always marveled at Sparky’s ability to incorporate his
shaking hand into his line work.") But his mind and memory remain
acutely sharp, and his Puckish sense of humor is unbowed. He speaks with
clarity and certainty of his years at Art Instruction School, and with
Schulz, and of his never-successful efforts to market his own original
material.
Jim remains philosophical about his life, and in fact composed
another of his verses to express such feelings
I’m all for equal measures
Losses should be matched by gain;
And since I’ve missed life’s pleasures,
I’ll just double up with pain!
Definitely too harsh, but then we’re always hardest on ourselves.
Jim Sasseville deserves far more than the obscurity into which he has
settled; for a time, he was allied with the man who would become the
world’s most successful cartoonist, and for a time he helped chaperone
the faithfully rendered adventures of Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Linus, Lucy
and the rest ... no small feat.
And I’m particularly transfixed by a remark Jim made during one of
our later phone calls "I don’t know how one should behave, in a
situation like this," he said, referring to our ongoing conversations,
"but it’s like I’ve been resurrected."
Perhaps this article will kick-start our long-overdue obligation to
sing his praises.
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All PEANUTS characters pictured are copyrighted by United Feature Syndicate, Inc. They are used here with permission. They may not be reproduced by any means in any form.
UFS got out of the comic book publishing business at the end of
1954, and some of its titles were picked up by St. John in 1955,
including Fritzi Ritz and Tip Top. Despite a noticeable gap of several
months, the numbering of both books continued consecutively. Thus, Tip
Top resumed with #189 (May 1955), and continued to include "Peanuts" as
a supporting feature during St. John’s entire run of this book, through
#210 (July 1957). "Peanuts" was only an occasional supporting feature in
St. John’s run of Fritzi Ritz, starting with #37 (July 1955) and
continuing through #55. Finally, at least one issue of Nancy -- #142
(March 1957) -- also featured Peanuts reprints.
Big changes came in late 1957, and not just because St. John
abandoned these books and turned them over to Dell Comics (Western
Publishing). After a delay of several months to half a year -- depending
on the title -- Dell revived the flagship St. John titles, again with
consecutive numbering. Thus, Tip Top #211 returned as a quarterly with a
cover date of Nov. 1957-Jan. 1958. Fritzi Ritz resumed with #56, dated
Dec. 1957-Feb. 1958.
Under Dell’s stewardship, Charlie Brown and the gang also became a
regular supporting feature in Nancy, beginning with #146 (Sept. 1957).
The biggest change, however, concerned the content in all three books.
When Dell took over, the covers promised "All brand-new stories" ... and
they meant it.
"Peanuts" fans spotted the change in Nancy #146, which boasted a
four-page story with a baseball theme, clearly produced by Schulz
himself (although unsigned); Jim confirms Sparky’s linework. But Schulz
quickly realized that producing four full pages of original art for
Nancy on a monthly basis, not to mention similar duties for the
quarterly Tip Top and Fritzi Ritz, would be more than he was willing to
handle. Then, too, he was only months away from debuting his own second
newspaper strip, "It’s Only a Game" (about which more below).
Schulz allowed Dell’s house art department to handle his characters
in Nancy #147, but was unhappy with the results. (No surprise; the art
is quite weak.) Schulz stepped in again for issue #148, but the workload
problem hadn’t changed. Wanting greater fidelity to his own style,
Schulz turned to Jim, who took over the reins with issue #149 and
continued through #168 (July 1959). Jim essentially became Schulz’s
employee and was paid $100 per week for this work; since he was making
only $80 per week at Art Instruction, this -- along with the even higher
paycheck he’d soon receive, for helping Schulz with "It’s Only a Game"
-- was a substantial raise.
As a ghosting assignment, the results are impressive. Charlie Brown
and Linus’ heads are notoriously difficult to reproduce in Schulz’s
signature style, but Jim came damn close. More to the point, the
characters are posed and conduct themselves in a way that’s absolutely
typical of their behavior in Sparky’s newspaper strip. Art purists may
have noticed that Jim wasn’t Schulz, but casual readers were unlikely to
have detected the difference.
The four-page story above is taken from Nancy #151, February 1958.
(Click on the pages to enlarge them.)
"He gave me carte blanche on writing them, and I felt like a
faithful uncle," Jim says, with no small amount of pride at his ability
to reproduce Charlie Brown and the gang.
Although Jim’s take on the "Peanuts" gang in Nancy #149 was the
first to reach fans, it was not the ghost artist’s debut crack at
Charlie Brown. Jim’s first completed "Peanuts" comic book adventure was
"The Trip," one of a quartet of eight-page stories (packaged with three
one-page stories) that eventually appeared as issue #878 (Feb. 1958) of
Dell’s Four Color Comics, an "umbrella title" that rotated various
stars; this issue, boasting a gorgeous signed Schulz cover, was the
first one devoted to "Peanuts."
Ever the imp, Jim inserted a personal reference into "The Trip."
The number on the dog license that Charlie Brown uses -- 891-68-14 -- to
justify his getting behind the wheel of a station wagon, was the
artist’s Navy serial number.
Jim also did the work in the Fritzi Ritz and Tip Top issues during
this time, and it’s important to note that he had a completely free rein
with these comic book stories, handling both art and writing chores.
Fritzi Ritz lasted only four issues under the Dell label, before
being discontinued after #59 (Sept.-Nov. 1958). "Peanuts" did not appear
in #56, but each of the remaining three issues included a new four-page
story by Jim. He also handled the work for Tip Top #211 through #215
(Nov. 1958-Jan. 1959). In Tip Top, Charlie Brown and his friends shared
covers with Nancy, Sluggo, and the Captain and the Kids. Although
unsigned, Schulz drew these "Peanuts" cover panels for issues 211-213,
and Jim handled 214 and 215.
Sasseville did the Peanuts art in these issues of Tip Top, #214 and #215.
(Click on the pages to enlarge them.)
All told, then, Jim drew the interior stories in 20 issues of
Nancy, three issues of Fritzi Ritz, and five issues of Tip Top, along
with Four Color #878. This relationship with Schulz and Dell Comics took
an unexpected turn when the two men parted unhappily, and Jim’s final
work for Dell was the long kite story in the second all-"Peanuts" issue
of Four Color Comics (#969, Feb. 1959), along with the inside front and
inside back cover one-pagers.
The completion of that particular issue became something of a
marathon art session. After announcing that he and Helga would be moving
to Berkeley, Jim took stock of the pending Dell workload, and discovered
that the deadline for the second all-Peanuts issue of Four Color Comics
was imminent. Jim promised to finish this before the move, but Sparky
suggested that the job would proceed faster if they worked on it
together. The two men thus divided the work between them, and began
early one morning with what turned into a lengthy session stretching
well into the evening. During that time, Jim completed the
aforementioned two one-page stories and one eight-page story, while
Sparky handled the remaining one-page story and THREE eight-page
stories.
"There’s no doubt who was the faster artist," Jim notes, with a
chuckle. "He certainly put me in my place!"
Jim still remembers that session as a euphoric rush ... but it
concluded on a gloomy note, when, resting in the happy afterglow of a
job well done, Schulz revealed the fate of "It’s Only a Game" (see
below).
In the aftermath, Schulz also stepped in and handled all the work
for Nancy #169 (August 1959). Clearly, this was a rush job, and Schulz
borrowed from himself The final panel of this four-page story is almost
identical to the final panel of the June 23, 1957, "Peanuts" Sunday
strip. The comic book storyline is an expansion of that Sunday strip,
and the aforementioned final panel in the comic book is signed by Schulz
... the only case where any interior comic book stories bear his
signature.
Because the split was far from amicable, Jim did not follow the
subsequent comic book adventures of Charlie Brown and his friends, in
Nancy and Tip Top. On close examination just a few weeks ago -- in many
cases, seeing this work for the first time -- Jim pointed to specific
poses, characteristics and lettering attributes ("Sparky always rounded
out the bottoms of his W’s") that leave him convinced that Schulz either
penciled and inked the next several issues of both Nancy and Tip Top, or
at least roughed in the panel layout, inked the primary characters --
particularly their heads -- and lettered the word balloons. This seems
likely; carefully examination of individual pages reveals an occasional
Snoopy or Lucy which, not matching the rest, clearly must have been
inked by somebody else.
But Dale Hale, Schulz’s new apprentice and ghost -- and another
associate from Art Instruction Schools -- caught on quickly, and the
artwork in both books retained its Schulz-like characteristics through
roughly late 1960 or early 1961. At this point, other hands clearly took
over -- possibly Tony Pocrnick, another Schulz associate from Art
Instruction -- and the "Peanuts" characters became ever-more distant
from the Schulz ideal until the final issues of Tip Top (#225, May-July
1961) and Nancy. (By then the latter had been retitled Nancy and Sluggo,
and its final five issues were released under the Gold Key imprint; the
book was discontinued with issue #192, October 1963.) The "Peanuts"
artwork in the last issues of both books is, in a word, dreadful.
A third all-"Peanuts" issue of Four Color Comics was produced
(#1015, August-October 1959), after which the characters got their own
book that began with issue #4 (Feb.-April 1960), by way of acknowledging
those first three appearances in Four Color Comics. This lasted through
#13 (May-July 1962), after which the book was discontinued. Each of
these issues features a signed Schulz cover, but other hands --
certainly Hale, at first -- handled all the interior artwork and writing
(which, as with the latter issues of Nancy and Tip Top, grew less
Schulz-like over time).
But what had happened, to sever the friendship between Schulz and
Jim, which stretched back a decade?
Bouncing back a year or so...
Although already quite popular and gaining fans -- and syndicate
clients -- all the time, in 1957 "Peanuts" was not yet the multimedia
sensation it was to become within another decade. Schulz must have had
some free time that needed filling, and therefore was comfortable with
the concept of pitching a second strip concept to United Features
Syndicate. The artist had lots of ideas about games near and dear to his
heart, including golf, tennis, baseball and bridge. No doubt realizing
that twice as much Schulz per week was a good thing, UFS jumped at the
chance, and the sports and recreation-themed "It’s Only a Game" was
born. For awhile, Schulz joined later stars such as Johnny Hart ("B.C."
and "The Wizard of Id"), Mell Lazarus ("Miss Peach" and "Momma") and
Jerry Scott ("Baby Blues" and "Zits"), with two newspaper strips running
simultaneously.
Each installment of "It’s Only a Game, by Charles M. Schulz,"
hearkening back to Schulz’s very early work on "Li’l Folks" in The St.
Paul Pioneer Press, was comprised of three separate single-panel gag
strips. The package was offered to clients in two different formats as
three single-panel strips per week, to run on Mondays, Wednesdays and
Fridays; or as a combined grouping of three that would appear in Sunday
comics sections. The combined Sunday grouping also had a bonus fourth
cartoon a tiny, captionless visual gag -- very much like the
intermarginal gags that Sergio Aragonés would pepper throughout future
issues of Mad Magazine -- that appeared to the right of the title and
Schulz’s byline. The subject matter of the Monday and Wednesday panels
varied from week to week, but the Friday installment always centered
around bridge, the then-popular card game that Schulz loved. (Further
evidence of this affection could be seen in "Peanuts," where the kids
routinely played the game in the early 1950s, and Woodstock and a
foursome of his bird buddies picked it up in the 1970s and beyond.)
Charles Schulz did this January 12, 1958, "It's Only a Game" panel himself. Note his signature within the art of the right-most panel.
During an October 6, 1957, interview with Schulz, the Chicago
Tribune proudly boasted that it would be one of the flagship newspapers
to carry this new feature. The Tribune selected the weekly option, and
ran "It’s Only a Game" in its Sunday magazine. The debut installment
appeared November 3, 1957, and immediately set the tone for what would
follow, with panels devoted to boxing, golf and bridge. The middle panel
is a hoot, with a middle-aged duffer -- one easily can imagine Charlie
Brown in his 40s -- lamenting a putt that has left his ball perched at
the edge of the cup (but not in), and saying, "I think I’m going to
cry."
Subsequent installments covered checkers, bowling, curling (!),
table tennis, croquet, billiards, ice fishing, darts and even camping.
But as 1957 turned into 1958, something must have changed. Perhaps
Schulz had underestimated the amount of time involved with producing a
second weekly newspaper strip; maybe he also was spending more time than
expected overseeing the new "Peanuts" content in the Dell comic books.
Or, more likely, the "Peanuts" empire as a whole was occupying more of
his time; 1958 saw the production of the first "Peanuts" toys -- plastic
dolls of the major characters, produced by Hungerford -- and of course
this was just the tip of an approaching iceberg.
Whatever the reason, Schulz decided to hand over the lion’s share
of the artistic chores to Jim. Schulz’s solo involvement with "It’s Only
a Game" continued through the January 12, 1958, installment; this is the
last one to bear his signature on one of the cartoon panels. (Schulz’s
name continued to run alone in the masthead, however, making Jim a true
ghost.) As of January 19, 1958, Jim -- often working from hastily
penciled sketches and captions supplied by Schulz -- did all the
newspaper strip’s finished art and lettering.
Sasseville did this January 26, 1958, "It's Only a Game" panel himself. Note that Schulz's signature is nowhere to be seen within the art.
Jim vividly remembers this transition date, because just one week later,
with his second time at bat with the solo art chores, he was paid a
singular honor. That week’s Monday panel, a bowling strip, featured
three league players welcoming a fourth, apparently a little tardy, with
the exclamation of, "Three cheers, gang! Our number one man has
arrived!" A loyal reader sent UFS a black-and-white photo of himself
with three friends, staged to look precisely like the four figures in
Jim’s illustration. The "camera angle" was identical, along with
clothing, body position, and everything else in the frame. The
resemblance even extended to the men themselves, who had body shapes and
hairstyles eerily similar to those found in the panel art.
Jim still has the photo.
Sasseville received this photo recreation of his "It's Only a Game" gag from a fan. Note the date stamp at the top of the photo.
The degree to which Jim successfully imitated Schulz’s linework can
be seen by the fact that the transition was seamless; no casual reader
could have discerned that the hand on the inker’s pen had changed.
During the remainder of 1958, the two men continued to work in the same
fashion, Jim often finishing Schulz’s rough concepts, but also
contributing many of his own original ideas. He also inserted the
occasional personal reference; the boat from which a husband and wife
fish, in one of the June 29, 1958, panels, is the Helga, named after
Jim’s wife.
But Jim remembers that he never came up with any of the concepts
for Friday’s bridge panels, for the simple reason that he didn’t know
the game.
Although he labored in anonymity, Jim was well compensated
financially, and he still speaks appreciatively of Sparky’s generosity.
Schulz had negotiated for 50% of the strip’s income, the other half
going to UFS. This 50% amounted to slightly more than $500 per week;
when Jim came on board, Schulz generously gave half of HIS half to his
new partner, and so Jim brought home $250 per week (after expenses) for
his efforts ... quite a lot of money in 1958.
The two men were living in Minneapolis when this collaboration
began; after the first five months, in May 1958, Jim and his wife
followed the Schulz family to Northern California. Lacking a place to
stay in Sebastopol -- not to mention furniture and other amenities --
the Sassevilles first spent a couple of months a bit south, in Corta
Madera. "For two or three weeks, I drew the comic book stuff and ‘It’s
Only a Game’ on a portable drawing board. But I stayed in touch with
Sparky on the phone, and he supplied the ideas for ‘It’s Only a Game.’ "
The Sassevilles then found a home in Sebastopol. Between "It’s Only
a Game" and the work he also was doing for the "Peanuts" strips in the
Dell comic books, Jim was quite gainfully employed by his new partner
and boss.
Unfortunately, it was not to last.
"It’s Only a Game" began with 30 client newspapers; nearly a year
later, it had ... 30 client newspapers.
(A complete client list has been lost to the mists of time, although
it is known that the feature was carried by The Boston Globe, the Detroit
Free Press, The Chicago Tribune, The Minneapolis Tribune, the San Francisco
Chronicle and The Baltimore Sun.)
The strip never took off, despite strong support from fans such as
bridge expert Charles Goren (who wrote a couple of letters), and even
Schulz’s name didn’t seem to make much of a difference.
But we also can assume that the proud and perfectionist-minded
Schulz -- who in later years, as mentioned above, often made a point of
describing how in "Peanuts" he penciled and inked every line, and
lettered every word balloon -- probably was bothered by the fact that he
wasn’t similarly in sole control of "It’s Only a Game." To be sure, he
was INVOLVED, but he wasn’t actually drawing what appeared in those 30
client newspapers.
"He didn’t like his name being used on somebody else’s work," Jim
recalls, "and I don’t blame him for that."
That, coupled with moribund sales and some tension with the head
UFS salesman to whom Schulz initially had pitched the idea, eventually
prompted an astonishing decision In late 1958, just 12 months into a
solid five-year contract, Schulz made it plain to UFS that he wished to
discontinue "It’s Only a Game." Perhaps recognizing that the strip
wasn’t performing as hoped, UFS agreed.
Schulz did not consult Jim before taking this step; indeed, the
news came as a complete shock to Schulz’s ghost, who’d been very happy
with his work, and the strip, and the $250 per week.
Schulz even tried to sugar-coat the news "You’re off the hook,"
Jim recalls his employer saying (as if this were a GOOD thing), at the
end of that euphoric day when they finished work on the second
all-Peanuts issue of Dell’s Four Color Comics. Jim had just assured
Sparky that his pending move to Berkeley would not affect his ability to
work on "It’s Only a Game," and now the rug had been pulled out from
under him.
The fallout was immediate; it certainly was the final straw for
Helga, who already had been dissatisfied with their home in Sebastopol
-- hence the move to Berkeley -- and also was unhappy about the friction
that existed between her and Joyce, Schulz’s first wife. Helga had
endured Nazi Germany, survived the entire war -- in and out of work
camps -- and had lost her father at Dachau; she was not a woman to keep
opinions to herself.
"I realized I was working on a flawed product, which the creator
and marketer wanted nothing more to do with. Still, I had held out the
hope that maybe Sparky might offer the entire feature to me, although I
realized that there’d be problems with the syndicate," Jim admits, a
touch of wistfulness still clouding the memory after more than 40 years.
"They should have been pretty familiar with my work by then."
It didn’t happen. By the time the final installment of "It’s Only a
Game" appeared, on January 11, 1959 -- the two always had worked six
weeks ahead -- Jim and Schulz had severed all relations, professional
and personal. This also included Jim’s ghosting work on the Dell comic
books. The split was permanent, and the two men never reconciled.
Although "It’s Only a Game" ran for 63 consecutive weeks, it
quickly became a fading memory -- and then an overlooked footnote -- in
Schulz’s career. He rarely mentioned it during later interviews, and
then only obliquely, citing neither date specifics nor his collaboration
with Jim.
"We were the best of friends at first," Jim recalls ruefully. He
happily remembers attending the 1951 National Cartoonists Convention
with Sparky, and also another time when they both went to visit and swap
stories with a fellow artist, Robert M. Brinkerhoff, who lived in
Minneapolis and was known for a newspaper strip called "Little Mary
Mix-Up." Brinkerhoff, in turn -- like many other cartoonists at that
time -- greatly admired J.R. Williams (creator of "Out Our Way"), whom
he once described as "the greatest cowboy ever to walk the streets of
New York." Brinkerhoff related how he had wheedled, begged and finally
finagled an invitation to Williams’ ranch in Montana. Although only
interested in seeing the fabulous studio that he assumed his idol must
have on so massive a spread, Brinkerhoff first had to put up with being
shown all the livestock and the other attractions of a working ranch. As
the visit stretched on, Brinkerhoff finally couldn’t stand it any longer
and demanded to see where Williams did his work.
With a resigned sigh (as Jim recalls Brinkerhoff describing this
incident), Williams walked over to his wife’s sewing machine, took off
the cover, and flipped it over ... and that was it The great J.R.
Williams did all his drawing on the cover of his wife’s sewing machine.
As others have observed, there’s never any reason to embrace
technology or an environment any fancier than that required to get the
job done.
Cartoonists love to talk shop, and Jim’s no different; merely
relating this little tale brings a sparkle into his eyes. And, to this
day, he doesn’t really understand what happened between him and Schulz.
"I feel kind of weird about all this. Sparky obviously wanted me to
succeed in the early days, and even was willing to collaborate with me
on one of my own projects (one of the many variations of "Joe Cipher,"
discussed below). But then when he had a chance to really help me out,
he didn’t make any effort whatsoever ... and left me in rather dire
straits."
Such feelings notwithstanding, all these years later Jim is firm on
one point "Charles M. Schulz was the greatest comic strip artist ever."
And although he certainly couldn’t have known it at the time, Jim
never again would earn his living as a cartoonist.
Before, during and after his working association with Schulz, Jim
played around with many of his own ideas.
If persistence counts for anything, he deserves considerable credit
for his ongoing efforts to sell "Joe Cipher" ("a character kinda based
on me"), a daily strip that underwent quite a few transmutations during
the decade-plus that he tried to place it with a syndicate.
The character first appeared in a sample series of daily strips Jim
produced in late 1949. The strip’s gentle humor is faintly reminiscent
of "Gasoline Alley" and other character-driven work of the era; the
title character is introduced driving an old jalopy that obligingly runs
out of gas at a filling station. The silver-tongued Joe, lacking any
money, eventually impresses the station owner into offering him a job;
Joe celebrates by stepping into a nearby diner for lunch, where he’s
immediately smitten by the young woman behind the counter, and...
...and that’s where the presentation panels concluded.
Perhaps feeling that the strip lacked dramatic impact, a few years
later -- while still at AIS -- Jim tried again, shifting the action to a
tiny island in the middle of the ocean, where the shipwrecked Joe is
joined by an attractive young woman named Ginny, survivor of a second
sea-going calamity. (What are the odds?) Although their relationship is
mildly prickly for the first few days, Ginny eventually wishes aloud
that they could be rescued, so that she can go on a "proper date" with
Joe, and perhaps even kiss him when the evening concludes. Once again,
the story cut off abruptly, as Jim produced just two weeks’ worth of
strips enough to (hopefully) interest a buyer.
Sasseville tried several times to place a comic strip starring Joe Cipher, the pleasant-looking chap
featured in these examples. The two left-most strips are taken from the first run Sasseville designed on his own;
the two right-most strips, starring the same character but
in a different setting, are from Sasseville's third
test run; Charles Schulz contributed story input on these.
(Click on the image to see an enlarged version.)
After getting back from his return hitch in the Navy, Jim
went back to work on Joe Cipher and got a nibble from an
unexpected quarter: Something about this particular setting
touched Schulz, who suggested they collaborate on yet
a third incarnation of "Joe Cipher." (At the time, both men still were
unmarried, and it’s not hard to see a little male fantasy
wish-fulfillment at work.) With narrative input from Schulz and Jim
handling the art chores, the scene shifted again, this time to a
typically romantic South Seas setting, on an island large enough to
support a population of curvaceous young cuties and at least one
villain. Joe and Ginny remained the central focus, but this time the
former saw genuine action, on the receiving end of the villain’s fists.
Schulz and Jim took this newest version of "Joe Cipher" to United
Features Syndicate in spring of 1954; it was turned down flat. The
trip to New York wasn't a complete waste, though, because Sasseville
and Schulz caught a couple of plays: a T.S. Elliot drama called
Confidential Clerk, and another called The King of
Hearts, which starred Jackie Cooper as (what are the odds?)
a cartoonist!
Sasseville also remembers going from suite to suite in New
York's Waldorf hotel during this trip, visiting one cartoonist
after another; meeting Al Capp was a high point. But at least
part of the reason for the trip -- the newest Joe Cipher -- proved
unsellable, and Schulz bowed out at that point.
When Jim finally returned to "Joe Cipher," the 1950s were almost
over. Jim’s association with "Peanuts" and "It’s Only a Game" had
concluded, so the writer/artist returned to his favorite unsold
property. Jim recast his hero in yet another new setting, this time a
business office populated by characters clearly derived from his days at
Art Instruction. Although the sample panels display even cleaner, more
attractive line work -- a sure sign of his growing comfort as an artist
-- Jim had no better luck this time around.
Still refusing to abandon hope, Jim tried one more time In early
1960, after having moved to Berkeley, he once again changed the setting
completely, and turned Joe Cipher into "Sir Joe." This Arthurian-based
concept focused on genuinely whimsical gags involving heavy armor,
maidens in distress, and fire-breathing dragons. Jim’s dragons are
particularly funny, and this newest reboot seems ripe with
possibilities; it’s not at all hard to envision a daily strip evolving
from these samples.
Alas, syndicates once again failed to see any potential, and "Joe
Cipher" was put into Jim’s trunk as no more than another engaging
footnote in the artist’s collection of rejection slips.
Jim didn’t confine his efforts to "Joe Cipher"; the writer/artist
had no shortage of ideas, quite a few of which also wound up as
submission concepts. "Aunty Climax," produced in early 1957 -- just
prior to Jim’s ghost work for Dell comics -- was a single-panel gag
strip that starred a feisty little old lady who was far sharper than
most people assumed. She was based on Louise Cassidy, an AIS colleague
who also was the landlady for the building where Jim briefly lived with
Charles Cuddy. Jim produced a few dozen "Aunty Climax" panels, all of
which are vastly superior -- both in terms of writing and artwork -- to
many of the single-panel cartoons cluttering today’s newspapers.
"Confessions of a French Poodle" was a 1959 concept that didn’t
emerge much further than a few finished panels and lots of pencil
sketches; Jim good-naturedly admits that the idea went nowhere, and so
he abandoned it. That may have been shrewd market analysis, as the
medium never has lacked for dog-oriented material. Even so, French
poodles are funny in their own right, and Jim’s concept sketches are a
hoot.
When not working on Peanuts-related material, Sasseville tried to sell many of his own strip ideas
to a syndicate. From left to right, these examples are "Aunty Climax," "Friends and Foes," "Alpha-Betty" and "Happy Birthday."
(Click on the image to see an enlarged version.)
"Friends and Foes," another single-panel tryout, also emerged from
Jim’s pen in 1959. A little later, shortly after he started putting food
on the table with a "real job" -- and perhaps motivated by the explosion
of children’s television shows, which eventually led to "Sesame Street"
and everything that followed -- Jim tried a kid-oriented educational
strip called "Alpha-Betty," which starred a little girl who finds
herself in an other-worldly land populated by men and women shaped like
letters of the alphabet. The personalities of these individuals were
defined by their appearance; curved female letters, for example, were
far more sultry that straight female letters. The strip has a lovely
"Alice in Wonderland" quality, although the concept may have seemed
limiting.
Jim later played with the medium in "Blackboard," a daily strip
designed to be white-on-black, to imitate chalk on a classroom
blackboard. The stars were Dick, Jane and their TeacheR; although not as
overly educational as "Alpha-Betty," this strip also was aimed at young
audiences.
Jim’s final attempt at syndication was produced in the early 1970s,
after he first went into research hibernation, jotting down enough
celebrity birthdays to fill every day of a calendar year. The resulting
single-panel strips were a precursor to the "On this day in history..."
informational nuggets that have become so ubiquitous The panel for
March 28, for example, illustrated and revealed a few choice facts about
orchestra leader Paul Whiteman. March 29 was devoted to President John
Tyler, while Francisco Goya was featured on March 30.
Sadly, this fared no better with syndicators than any of the
others. "Joe Cipher," "Aunty Climax," "Confessions of a French Poodle,"
"Friends and Foes," "Alpha-Betty," "Blackboard" and "Birthdays" exist only
in Jim’s carefully preserved office files. More’s the pity, because even
the weakest of these strips displays a Puckish wit and clean, attractive
line work too often absent from many of the rushed, imitative strips
that generate little more than reader apathy these days.
Following the dust-up with Schulz and the move to Berkeley, Helga
-- who was delighted by the more rarefied atmosphere of a university
community -- became the family bread-winner. She took a job with a
German importer/exporter and commuted daily across the Bay Bridge.
Eventually succumbing to the need for steady employment, in April
1960 Jim took a job as a graphic designer with Varian, one of the
leading radar companies, located in California’s greater San Francisco
Bay Area. The fit proved comfortable, and he remained with the company
until he retired in 1990.
But the career shift wasn’t immediate; Jim first spent most of 1959
working up his own aforementioned comic strip proposals, and
occasionally sold individual gag cartoons to magazines. But his New
York-based agent took 35% of those one-shots.
"That’s when I started with Varian," Jim recalls, with a chuckle.
"I knew I’d never make it as a gag cartoonist."
Be that as it may, Jim never stopped his cartooning efforts; while
at Varian, he became famous for the birthday cards that he drew for
fellow employees.
Helga, meanwhile, got a job at Stanford, which prompted another
move; the couple then purchased their first home in 1960, in Mountain
View.
Three years later, they moved for what would be the last time. Jim
and his wife paid $28,000 for the house that remains his home to this
day. Just last year the retired artist was offered a cool million bucks
-- in cash -- by a dot-commer who wanted to develop the property. Still
loyal to the memories of his wife, with which the house is filled, Jim
politely declined. Helga died in 1995; he clearly still misses her.
Today, Parkinson’s Disease and the recent stroke have conspired to
deliver the ultimate nightmare Jim no longer can hold a pen well enough
to draw. ("I always marveled at Sparky’s ability to incorporate his
shaking hand into his line work.") But his mind and memory remain
acutely sharp, and his Puckish sense of humor is unbowed. He speaks with
clarity and certainty of his years at Art Instruction School, and with
Schulz, and of his never-successful efforts to market his own original
material.
Jim remains philosophical about his life, and in fact composed
another of his verses to express such feelings
I’m all for equal measures
Losses should be matched by gain;
And since I’ve missed life’s pleasures,
I’ll just double up with pain!
Definitely too harsh, but then we’re always hardest on ourselves.
Jim Sasseville deserves far more than the obscurity into which he has
settled; for a time, he was allied with the man who would become the
world’s most successful cartoonist, and for a time he helped chaperone
the faithfully rendered adventures of Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Linus, Lucy
and the rest ... no small feat.
And I’m particularly transfixed by a remark Jim made during one of
our later phone calls "I don’t know how one should behave, in a
situation like this," he said, referring to our ongoing conversations,
"but it’s like I’ve been resurrected."
Perhaps this article will kick-start our long-overdue obligation to
sing his praises.
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All PEANUTS characters pictured are copyrighted by United Feature Syndicate, Inc. They are used here with permission. They may not be reproduced by any means in any form.
Under Dell’s stewardship, Charlie Brown and the gang also became a
regular supporting feature in Nancy, beginning with #146 (Sept. 1957).
The biggest change, however, concerned the content in all three books.
When Dell took over, the covers promised "All brand-new stories" ... and
they meant it.
"Peanuts" fans spotted the change in Nancy #146, which boasted a
four-page story with a baseball theme, clearly produced by Schulz
himself (although unsigned); Jim confirms Sparky’s linework. But Schulz
quickly realized that producing four full pages of original art for
Nancy on a monthly basis, not to mention similar duties for the
quarterly Tip Top and Fritzi Ritz, would be more than he was willing to
handle. Then, too, he was only months away from debuting his own second
newspaper strip, "It’s Only a Game" (about which more below).
Schulz allowed Dell’s house art department to handle his characters
in Nancy #147, but was unhappy with the results. (No surprise; the art
is quite weak.) Schulz stepped in again for issue #148, but the workload
problem hadn’t changed. Wanting greater fidelity to his own style,
Schulz turned to Jim, who took over the reins with issue #149 and
continued through #168 (July 1959). Jim essentially became Schulz’s
employee and was paid $100 per week for this work; since he was making
only $80 per week at Art Instruction, this -- along with the even higher
paycheck he’d soon receive, for helping Schulz with "It’s Only a Game"
-- was a substantial raise.
As a ghosting assignment, the results are impressive. Charlie Brown
and Linus’ heads are notoriously difficult to reproduce in Schulz’s
signature style, but Jim came damn close. More to the point, the
characters are posed and conduct themselves in a way that’s absolutely
typical of their behavior in Sparky’s newspaper strip. Art purists may
have noticed that Jim wasn’t Schulz, but casual readers were unlikely to
have detected the difference.
The four-page story above is taken from Nancy #151, February 1958.
(Click on the pages to enlarge them.)
"He gave me carte blanche on writing them, and I felt like a
faithful uncle," Jim says, with no small amount of pride at his ability
to reproduce Charlie Brown and the gang.
Although Jim’s take on the "Peanuts" gang in Nancy #149 was the
first to reach fans, it was not the ghost artist’s debut crack at
Charlie Brown. Jim’s first completed "Peanuts" comic book adventure was
"The Trip," one of a quartet of eight-page stories (packaged with three
one-page stories) that eventually appeared as issue #878 (Feb. 1958) of
Dell’s Four Color Comics, an "umbrella title" that rotated various
stars; this issue, boasting a gorgeous signed Schulz cover, was the
first one devoted to "Peanuts."
Ever the imp, Jim inserted a personal reference into "The Trip."
The number on the dog license that Charlie Brown uses -- 891-68-14 -- to
justify his getting behind the wheel of a station wagon, was the
artist’s Navy serial number.
Jim also did the work in the Fritzi Ritz and Tip Top issues during
this time, and it’s important to note that he had a completely free rein
with these comic book stories, handling both art and writing chores.
Fritzi Ritz lasted only four issues under the Dell label, before
being discontinued after #59 (Sept.-Nov. 1958). "Peanuts" did not appear
in #56, but each of the remaining three issues included a new four-page
story by Jim. He also handled the work for Tip Top #211 through #215
(Nov. 1958-Jan. 1959). In Tip Top, Charlie Brown and his friends shared
covers with Nancy, Sluggo, and the Captain and the Kids. Although
unsigned, Schulz drew these "Peanuts" cover panels for issues 211-213,
and Jim handled 214 and 215.
Sasseville did the Peanuts art in these issues of Tip Top, #214 and #215.
(Click on the pages to enlarge them.)
All told, then, Jim drew the interior stories in 20 issues of
Nancy, three issues of Fritzi Ritz, and five issues of Tip Top, along
with Four Color #878. This relationship with Schulz and Dell Comics took
an unexpected turn when the two men parted unhappily, and Jim’s final
work for Dell was the long kite story in the second all-"Peanuts" issue
of Four Color Comics (#969, Feb. 1959), along with the inside front and
inside back cover one-pagers.
The completion of that particular issue became something of a
marathon art session. After announcing that he and Helga would be moving
to Berkeley, Jim took stock of the pending Dell workload, and discovered
that the deadline for the second all-Peanuts issue of Four Color Comics
was imminent. Jim promised to finish this before the move, but Sparky
suggested that the job would proceed faster if they worked on it
together. The two men thus divided the work between them, and began
early one morning with what turned into a lengthy session stretching
well into the evening. During that time, Jim completed the
aforementioned two one-page stories and one eight-page story, while
Sparky handled the remaining one-page story and THREE eight-page
stories.
"There’s no doubt who was the faster artist," Jim notes, with a
chuckle. "He certainly put me in my place!"
Jim still remembers that session as a euphoric rush ... but it
concluded on a gloomy note, when, resting in the happy afterglow of a
job well done, Schulz revealed the fate of "It’s Only a Game" (see
below).
In the aftermath, Schulz also stepped in and handled all the work
for Nancy #169 (August 1959). Clearly, this was a rush job, and Schulz
borrowed from himself The final panel of this four-page story is almost
identical to the final panel of the June 23, 1957, "Peanuts" Sunday
strip. The comic book storyline is an expansion of that Sunday strip,
and the aforementioned final panel in the comic book is signed by Schulz
... the only case where any interior comic book stories bear his
signature.
Because the split was far from amicable, Jim did not follow the
subsequent comic book adventures of Charlie Brown and his friends, in
Nancy and Tip Top. On close examination just a few weeks ago -- in many
cases, seeing this work for the first time -- Jim pointed to specific
poses, characteristics and lettering attributes ("Sparky always rounded
out the bottoms of his W’s") that leave him convinced that Schulz either
penciled and inked the next several issues of both Nancy and Tip Top, or
at least roughed in the panel layout, inked the primary characters --
particularly their heads -- and lettered the word balloons. This seems
likely; carefully examination of individual pages reveals an occasional
Snoopy or Lucy which, not matching the rest, clearly must have been
inked by somebody else.
But Dale Hale, Schulz’s new apprentice and ghost -- and another
associate from Art Instruction Schools -- caught on quickly, and the
artwork in both books retained its Schulz-like characteristics through
roughly late 1960 or early 1961. At this point, other hands clearly took
over -- possibly Tony Pocrnick, another Schulz associate from Art
Instruction -- and the "Peanuts" characters became ever-more distant
from the Schulz ideal until the final issues of Tip Top (#225, May-July
1961) and Nancy. (By then the latter had been retitled Nancy and Sluggo,
and its final five issues were released under the Gold Key imprint; the
book was discontinued with issue #192, October 1963.) The "Peanuts"
artwork in the last issues of both books is, in a word, dreadful.
A third all-"Peanuts" issue of Four Color Comics was produced
(#1015, August-October 1959), after which the characters got their own
book that began with issue #4 (Feb.-April 1960), by way of acknowledging
those first three appearances in Four Color Comics. This lasted through
#13 (May-July 1962), after which the book was discontinued. Each of
these issues features a signed Schulz cover, but other hands --
certainly Hale, at first -- handled all the interior artwork and writing
(which, as with the latter issues of Nancy and Tip Top, grew less
Schulz-like over time).
But what had happened, to sever the friendship between Schulz and
Jim, which stretched back a decade?
Bouncing back a year or so...
Although already quite popular and gaining fans -- and syndicate
clients -- all the time, in 1957 "Peanuts" was not yet the multimedia
sensation it was to become within another decade. Schulz must have had
some free time that needed filling, and therefore was comfortable with
the concept of pitching a second strip concept to United Features
Syndicate. The artist had lots of ideas about games near and dear to his
heart, including golf, tennis, baseball and bridge. No doubt realizing
that twice as much Schulz per week was a good thing, UFS jumped at the
chance, and the sports and recreation-themed "It’s Only a Game" was
born. For awhile, Schulz joined later stars such as Johnny Hart ("B.C."
and "The Wizard of Id"), Mell Lazarus ("Miss Peach" and "Momma") and
Jerry Scott ("Baby Blues" and "Zits"), with two newspaper strips running
simultaneously.
Each installment of "It’s Only a Game, by Charles M. Schulz,"
hearkening back to Schulz’s very early work on "Li’l Folks" in The St.
Paul Pioneer Press, was comprised of three separate single-panel gag
strips. The package was offered to clients in two different formats as
three single-panel strips per week, to run on Mondays, Wednesdays and
Fridays; or as a combined grouping of three that would appear in Sunday
comics sections. The combined Sunday grouping also had a bonus fourth
cartoon a tiny, captionless visual gag -- very much like the
intermarginal gags that Sergio Aragonés would pepper throughout future
issues of Mad Magazine -- that appeared to the right of the title and
Schulz’s byline. The subject matter of the Monday and Wednesday panels
varied from week to week, but the Friday installment always centered
around bridge, the then-popular card game that Schulz loved. (Further
evidence of this affection could be seen in "Peanuts," where the kids
routinely played the game in the early 1950s, and Woodstock and a
foursome of his bird buddies picked it up in the 1970s and beyond.)
Charles Schulz did this January 12, 1958, "It's Only a Game" panel himself. Note his signature within the art of the right-most panel.
During an October 6, 1957, interview with Schulz, the Chicago
Tribune proudly boasted that it would be one of the flagship newspapers
to carry this new feature. The Tribune selected the weekly option, and
ran "It’s Only a Game" in its Sunday magazine. The debut installment
appeared November 3, 1957, and immediately set the tone for what would
follow, with panels devoted to boxing, golf and bridge. The middle panel
is a hoot, with a middle-aged duffer -- one easily can imagine Charlie
Brown in his 40s -- lamenting a putt that has left his ball perched at
the edge of the cup (but not in), and saying, "I think I’m going to
cry."
Subsequent installments covered checkers, bowling, curling (!),
table tennis, croquet, billiards, ice fishing, darts and even camping.
But as 1957 turned into 1958, something must have changed. Perhaps
Schulz had underestimated the amount of time involved with producing a
second weekly newspaper strip; maybe he also was spending more time than
expected overseeing the new "Peanuts" content in the Dell comic books.
Or, more likely, the "Peanuts" empire as a whole was occupying more of
his time; 1958 saw the production of the first "Peanuts" toys -- plastic
dolls of the major characters, produced by Hungerford -- and of course
this was just the tip of an approaching iceberg.
Whatever the reason, Schulz decided to hand over the lion’s share
of the artistic chores to Jim. Schulz’s solo involvement with "It’s Only
a Game" continued through the January 12, 1958, installment; this is the
last one to bear his signature on one of the cartoon panels. (Schulz’s
name continued to run alone in the masthead, however, making Jim a true
ghost.) As of January 19, 1958, Jim -- often working from hastily
penciled sketches and captions supplied by Schulz -- did all the
newspaper strip’s finished art and lettering.
Sasseville did this January 26, 1958, "It's Only a Game" panel himself. Note that Schulz's signature is nowhere to be seen within the art.
Jim vividly remembers this transition date, because just one week later,
with his second time at bat with the solo art chores, he was paid a
singular honor. That week’s Monday panel, a bowling strip, featured
three league players welcoming a fourth, apparently a little tardy, with
the exclamation of, "Three cheers, gang! Our number one man has
arrived!" A loyal reader sent UFS a black-and-white photo of himself
with three friends, staged to look precisely like the four figures in
Jim’s illustration. The "camera angle" was identical, along with
clothing, body position, and everything else in the frame. The
resemblance even extended to the men themselves, who had body shapes and
hairstyles eerily similar to those found in the panel art.
Jim still has the photo.
Sasseville received this photo recreation of his "It's Only a Game" gag from a fan. Note the date stamp at the top of the photo.
The degree to which Jim successfully imitated Schulz’s linework can
be seen by the fact that the transition was seamless; no casual reader
could have discerned that the hand on the inker’s pen had changed.
During the remainder of 1958, the two men continued to work in the same
fashion, Jim often finishing Schulz’s rough concepts, but also
contributing many of his own original ideas. He also inserted the
occasional personal reference; the boat from which a husband and wife
fish, in one of the June 29, 1958, panels, is the Helga, named after
Jim’s wife.
But Jim remembers that he never came up with any of the concepts
for Friday’s bridge panels, for the simple reason that he didn’t know
the game.
Although he labored in anonymity, Jim was well compensated
financially, and he still speaks appreciatively of Sparky’s generosity.
Schulz had negotiated for 50% of the strip’s income, the other half
going to UFS. This 50% amounted to slightly more than $500 per week;
when Jim came on board, Schulz generously gave half of HIS half to his
new partner, and so Jim brought home $250 per week (after expenses) for
his efforts ... quite a lot of money in 1958.
The two men were living in Minneapolis when this collaboration
began; after the first five months, in May 1958, Jim and his wife
followed the Schulz family to Northern California. Lacking a place to
stay in Sebastopol -- not to mention furniture and other amenities --
the Sassevilles first spent a couple of months a bit south, in Corta
Madera. "For two or three weeks, I drew the comic book stuff and ‘It’s
Only a Game’ on a portable drawing board. But I stayed in touch with
Sparky on the phone, and he supplied the ideas for ‘It’s Only a Game.’ "
The Sassevilles then found a home in Sebastopol. Between "It’s Only
a Game" and the work he also was doing for the "Peanuts" strips in the
Dell comic books, Jim was quite gainfully employed by his new partner
and boss.
Unfortunately, it was not to last.
"It’s Only a Game" began with 30 client newspapers; nearly a year
later, it had ... 30 client newspapers.
(A complete client list has been lost to the mists of time, although
it is known that the feature was carried by The Boston Globe, the Detroit
Free Press, The Chicago Tribune, The Minneapolis Tribune, the San Francisco
Chronicle and The Baltimore Sun.)
The strip never took off, despite strong support from fans such as
bridge expert Charles Goren (who wrote a couple of letters), and even
Schulz’s name didn’t seem to make much of a difference.
But we also can assume that the proud and perfectionist-minded
Schulz -- who in later years, as mentioned above, often made a point of
describing how in "Peanuts" he penciled and inked every line, and
lettered every word balloon -- probably was bothered by the fact that he
wasn’t similarly in sole control of "It’s Only a Game." To be sure, he
was INVOLVED, but he wasn’t actually drawing what appeared in those 30
client newspapers.
"He didn’t like his name being used on somebody else’s work," Jim
recalls, "and I don’t blame him for that."
That, coupled with moribund sales and some tension with the head
UFS salesman to whom Schulz initially had pitched the idea, eventually
prompted an astonishing decision In late 1958, just 12 months into a
solid five-year contract, Schulz made it plain to UFS that he wished to
discontinue "It’s Only a Game." Perhaps recognizing that the strip
wasn’t performing as hoped, UFS agreed.
Schulz did not consult Jim before taking this step; indeed, the
news came as a complete shock to Schulz’s ghost, who’d been very happy
with his work, and the strip, and the $250 per week.
Schulz even tried to sugar-coat the news "You’re off the hook,"
Jim recalls his employer saying (as if this were a GOOD thing), at the
end of that euphoric day when they finished work on the second
all-Peanuts issue of Dell’s Four Color Comics. Jim had just assured
Sparky that his pending move to Berkeley would not affect his ability to
work on "It’s Only a Game," and now the rug had been pulled out from
under him.
The fallout was immediate; it certainly was the final straw for
Helga, who already had been dissatisfied with their home in Sebastopol
-- hence the move to Berkeley -- and also was unhappy about the friction
that existed between her and Joyce, Schulz’s first wife. Helga had
endured Nazi Germany, survived the entire war -- in and out of work
camps -- and had lost her father at Dachau; she was not a woman to keep
opinions to herself.
"I realized I was working on a flawed product, which the creator
and marketer wanted nothing more to do with. Still, I had held out the
hope that maybe Sparky might offer the entire feature to me, although I
realized that there’d be problems with the syndicate," Jim admits, a
touch of wistfulness still clouding the memory after more than 40 years.
"They should have been pretty familiar with my work by then."
It didn’t happen. By the time the final installment of "It’s Only a
Game" appeared, on January 11, 1959 -- the two always had worked six
weeks ahead -- Jim and Schulz had severed all relations, professional
and personal. This also included Jim’s ghosting work on the Dell comic
books. The split was permanent, and the two men never reconciled.
Although "It’s Only a Game" ran for 63 consecutive weeks, it
quickly became a fading memory -- and then an overlooked footnote -- in
Schulz’s career. He rarely mentioned it during later interviews, and
then only obliquely, citing neither date specifics nor his collaboration
with Jim.
"We were the best of friends at first," Jim recalls ruefully. He
happily remembers attending the 1951 National Cartoonists Convention
with Sparky, and also another time when they both went to visit and swap
stories with a fellow artist, Robert M. Brinkerhoff, who lived in
Minneapolis and was known for a newspaper strip called "Little Mary
Mix-Up." Brinkerhoff, in turn -- like many other cartoonists at that
time -- greatly admired J.R. Williams (creator of "Out Our Way"), whom
he once described as "the greatest cowboy ever to walk the streets of
New York." Brinkerhoff related how he had wheedled, begged and finally
finagled an invitation to Williams’ ranch in Montana. Although only
interested in seeing the fabulous studio that he assumed his idol must
have on so massive a spread, Brinkerhoff first had to put up with being
shown all the livestock and the other attractions of a working ranch. As
the visit stretched on, Brinkerhoff finally couldn’t stand it any longer
and demanded to see where Williams did his work.
With a resigned sigh (as Jim recalls Brinkerhoff describing this
incident), Williams walked over to his wife’s sewing machine, took off
the cover, and flipped it over ... and that was it The great J.R.
Williams did all his drawing on the cover of his wife’s sewing machine.
As others have observed, there’s never any reason to embrace
technology or an environment any fancier than that required to get the
job done.
Cartoonists love to talk shop, and Jim’s no different; merely
relating this little tale brings a sparkle into his eyes. And, to this
day, he doesn’t really understand what happened between him and Schulz.
"I feel kind of weird about all this. Sparky obviously wanted me to
succeed in the early days, and even was willing to collaborate with me
on one of my own projects (one of the many variations of "Joe Cipher,"
discussed below). But then when he had a chance to really help me out,
he didn’t make any effort whatsoever ... and left me in rather dire
straits."
Such feelings notwithstanding, all these years later Jim is firm on
one point "Charles M. Schulz was the greatest comic strip artist ever."
And although he certainly couldn’t have known it at the time, Jim
never again would earn his living as a cartoonist.
Before, during and after his working association with Schulz, Jim
played around with many of his own ideas.
If persistence counts for anything, he deserves considerable credit
for his ongoing efforts to sell "Joe Cipher" ("a character kinda based
on me"), a daily strip that underwent quite a few transmutations during
the decade-plus that he tried to place it with a syndicate.
The character first appeared in a sample series of daily strips Jim
produced in late 1949. The strip’s gentle humor is faintly reminiscent
of "Gasoline Alley" and other character-driven work of the era; the
title character is introduced driving an old jalopy that obligingly runs
out of gas at a filling station. The silver-tongued Joe, lacking any
money, eventually impresses the station owner into offering him a job;
Joe celebrates by stepping into a nearby diner for lunch, where he’s
immediately smitten by the young woman behind the counter, and...
...and that’s where the presentation panels concluded.
Perhaps feeling that the strip lacked dramatic impact, a few years
later -- while still at AIS -- Jim tried again, shifting the action to a
tiny island in the middle of the ocean, where the shipwrecked Joe is
joined by an attractive young woman named Ginny, survivor of a second
sea-going calamity. (What are the odds?) Although their relationship is
mildly prickly for the first few days, Ginny eventually wishes aloud
that they could be rescued, so that she can go on a "proper date" with
Joe, and perhaps even kiss him when the evening concludes. Once again,
the story cut off abruptly, as Jim produced just two weeks’ worth of
strips enough to (hopefully) interest a buyer.
Sasseville tried several times to place a comic strip starring Joe Cipher, the pleasant-looking chap
featured in these examples. The two left-most strips are taken from the first run Sasseville designed on his own;
the two right-most strips, starring the same character but
in a different setting, are from Sasseville's third
test run; Charles Schulz contributed story input on these.
(Click on the image to see an enlarged version.)
After getting back from his return hitch in the Navy, Jim
went back to work on Joe Cipher and got a nibble from an
unexpected quarter: Something about this particular setting
touched Schulz, who suggested they collaborate on yet
a third incarnation of "Joe Cipher." (At the time, both men still were
unmarried, and it’s not hard to see a little male fantasy
wish-fulfillment at work.) With narrative input from Schulz and Jim
handling the art chores, the scene shifted again, this time to a
typically romantic South Seas setting, on an island large enough to
support a population of curvaceous young cuties and at least one
villain. Joe and Ginny remained the central focus, but this time the
former saw genuine action, on the receiving end of the villain’s fists.
Schulz and Jim took this newest version of "Joe Cipher" to United
Features Syndicate in spring of 1954; it was turned down flat. The
trip to New York wasn't a complete waste, though, because Sasseville
and Schulz caught a couple of plays: a T.S. Elliot drama called
Confidential Clerk, and another called The King of
Hearts, which starred Jackie Cooper as (what are the odds?)
a cartoonist!
Sasseville also remembers going from suite to suite in New
York's Waldorf hotel during this trip, visiting one cartoonist
after another; meeting Al Capp was a high point. But at least
part of the reason for the trip -- the newest Joe Cipher -- proved
unsellable, and Schulz bowed out at that point.
When Jim finally returned to "Joe Cipher," the 1950s were almost
over. Jim’s association with "Peanuts" and "It’s Only a Game" had
concluded, so the writer/artist returned to his favorite unsold
property. Jim recast his hero in yet another new setting, this time a
business office populated by characters clearly derived from his days at
Art Instruction. Although the sample panels display even cleaner, more
attractive line work -- a sure sign of his growing comfort as an artist
-- Jim had no better luck this time around.
Still refusing to abandon hope, Jim tried one more time In early
1960, after having moved to Berkeley, he once again changed the setting
completely, and turned Joe Cipher into "Sir Joe." This Arthurian-based
concept focused on genuinely whimsical gags involving heavy armor,
maidens in distress, and fire-breathing dragons. Jim’s dragons are
particularly funny, and this newest reboot seems ripe with
possibilities; it’s not at all hard to envision a daily strip evolving
from these samples.
Alas, syndicates once again failed to see any potential, and "Joe
Cipher" was put into Jim’s trunk as no more than another engaging
footnote in the artist’s collection of rejection slips.
Jim didn’t confine his efforts to "Joe Cipher"; the writer/artist
had no shortage of ideas, quite a few of which also wound up as
submission concepts. "Aunty Climax," produced in early 1957 -- just
prior to Jim’s ghost work for Dell comics -- was a single-panel gag
strip that starred a feisty little old lady who was far sharper than
most people assumed. She was based on Louise Cassidy, an AIS colleague
who also was the landlady for the building where Jim briefly lived with
Charles Cuddy. Jim produced a few dozen "Aunty Climax" panels, all of
which are vastly superior -- both in terms of writing and artwork -- to
many of the single-panel cartoons cluttering today’s newspapers.
"Confessions of a French Poodle" was a 1959 concept that didn’t
emerge much further than a few finished panels and lots of pencil
sketches; Jim good-naturedly admits that the idea went nowhere, and so
he abandoned it. That may have been shrewd market analysis, as the
medium never has lacked for dog-oriented material. Even so, French
poodles are funny in their own right, and Jim’s concept sketches are a
hoot.
When not working on Peanuts-related material, Sasseville tried to sell many of his own strip ideas
to a syndicate. From left to right, these examples are "Aunty Climax," "Friends and Foes," "Alpha-Betty" and "Happy Birthday."
(Click on the image to see an enlarged version.)
"Friends and Foes," another single-panel tryout, also emerged from
Jim’s pen in 1959. A little later, shortly after he started putting food
on the table with a "real job" -- and perhaps motivated by the explosion
of children’s television shows, which eventually led to "Sesame Street"
and everything that followed -- Jim tried a kid-oriented educational
strip called "Alpha-Betty," which starred a little girl who finds
herself in an other-worldly land populated by men and women shaped like
letters of the alphabet. The personalities of these individuals were
defined by their appearance; curved female letters, for example, were
far more sultry that straight female letters. The strip has a lovely
"Alice in Wonderland" quality, although the concept may have seemed
limiting.
Jim later played with the medium in "Blackboard," a daily strip
designed to be white-on-black, to imitate chalk on a classroom
blackboard. The stars were Dick, Jane and their TeacheR; although not as
overly educational as "Alpha-Betty," this strip also was aimed at young
audiences.
Jim’s final attempt at syndication was produced in the early 1970s,
after he first went into research hibernation, jotting down enough
celebrity birthdays to fill every day of a calendar year. The resulting
single-panel strips were a precursor to the "On this day in history..."
informational nuggets that have become so ubiquitous The panel for
March 28, for example, illustrated and revealed a few choice facts about
orchestra leader Paul Whiteman. March 29 was devoted to President John
Tyler, while Francisco Goya was featured on March 30.
Sadly, this fared no better with syndicators than any of the
others. "Joe Cipher," "Aunty Climax," "Confessions of a French Poodle,"
"Friends and Foes," "Alpha-Betty," "Blackboard" and "Birthdays" exist only
in Jim’s carefully preserved office files. More’s the pity, because even
the weakest of these strips displays a Puckish wit and clean, attractive
line work too often absent from many of the rushed, imitative strips
that generate little more than reader apathy these days.
Following the dust-up with Schulz and the move to Berkeley, Helga
-- who was delighted by the more rarefied atmosphere of a university
community -- became the family bread-winner. She took a job with a
German importer/exporter and commuted daily across the Bay Bridge.
Eventually succumbing to the need for steady employment, in April
1960 Jim took a job as a graphic designer with Varian, one of the
leading radar companies, located in California’s greater San Francisco
Bay Area. The fit proved comfortable, and he remained with the company
until he retired in 1990.
But the career shift wasn’t immediate; Jim first spent most of 1959
working up his own aforementioned comic strip proposals, and
occasionally sold individual gag cartoons to magazines. But his New
York-based agent took 35% of those one-shots.
"That’s when I started with Varian," Jim recalls, with a chuckle.
"I knew I’d never make it as a gag cartoonist."
Be that as it may, Jim never stopped his cartooning efforts; while
at Varian, he became famous for the birthday cards that he drew for
fellow employees.
Helga, meanwhile, got a job at Stanford, which prompted another
move; the couple then purchased their first home in 1960, in Mountain
View.
Three years later, they moved for what would be the last time. Jim
and his wife paid $28,000 for the house that remains his home to this
day. Just last year the retired artist was offered a cool million bucks
-- in cash -- by a dot-commer who wanted to develop the property. Still
loyal to the memories of his wife, with which the house is filled, Jim
politely declined. Helga died in 1995; he clearly still misses her.
Today, Parkinson’s Disease and the recent stroke have conspired to
deliver the ultimate nightmare Jim no longer can hold a pen well enough
to draw. ("I always marveled at Sparky’s ability to incorporate his
shaking hand into his line work.") But his mind and memory remain
acutely sharp, and his Puckish sense of humor is unbowed. He speaks with
clarity and certainty of his years at Art Instruction School, and with
Schulz, and of his never-successful efforts to market his own original
material.
Jim remains philosophical about his life, and in fact composed
another of his verses to express such feelings
I’m all for equal measures
Losses should be matched by gain;
And since I’ve missed life’s pleasures,
I’ll just double up with pain!
Definitely too harsh, but then we’re always hardest on ourselves.
Jim Sasseville deserves far more than the obscurity into which he has
settled; for a time, he was allied with the man who would become the
world’s most successful cartoonist, and for a time he helped chaperone
the faithfully rendered adventures of Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Linus, Lucy
and the rest ... no small feat.
And I’m particularly transfixed by a remark Jim made during one of
our later phone calls "I don’t know how one should behave, in a
situation like this," he said, referring to our ongoing conversations,
"but it’s like I’ve been resurrected."
Perhaps this article will kick-start our long-overdue obligation to
sing his praises.
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All PEANUTS characters pictured are copyrighted by United Feature Syndicate, Inc. They are used here with permission. They may not be reproduced by any means in any form.
Schulz allowed Dell’s house art department to handle his characters
in Nancy #147, but was unhappy with the results. (No surprise; the art
is quite weak.) Schulz stepped in again for issue #148, but the workload
problem hadn’t changed. Wanting greater fidelity to his own style,
Schulz turned to Jim, who took over the reins with issue #149 and
continued through #168 (July 1959). Jim essentially became Schulz’s
employee and was paid $100 per week for this work; since he was making
only $80 per week at Art Instruction, this -- along with the even higher
paycheck he’d soon receive, for helping Schulz with "It’s Only a Game"
-- was a substantial raise.
As a ghosting assignment, the results are impressive. Charlie Brown
and Linus’ heads are notoriously difficult to reproduce in Schulz’s
signature style, but Jim came damn close. More to the point, the
characters are posed and conduct themselves in a way that’s absolutely
typical of their behavior in Sparky’s newspaper strip. Art purists may
have noticed that Jim wasn’t Schulz, but casual readers were unlikely to
have detected the difference.
The four-page story above is taken from Nancy #151, February 1958.
(Click on the pages to enlarge them.)
"He gave me carte blanche on writing them, and I felt like a
faithful uncle," Jim says, with no small amount of pride at his ability
to reproduce Charlie Brown and the gang.
Although Jim’s take on the "Peanuts" gang in Nancy #149 was the
first to reach fans, it was not the ghost artist’s debut crack at
Charlie Brown. Jim’s first completed "Peanuts" comic book adventure was
"The Trip," one of a quartet of eight-page stories (packaged with three
one-page stories) that eventually appeared as issue #878 (Feb. 1958) of
Dell’s Four Color Comics, an "umbrella title" that rotated various
stars; this issue, boasting a gorgeous signed Schulz cover, was the
first one devoted to "Peanuts."
Ever the imp, Jim inserted a personal reference into "The Trip."
The number on the dog license that Charlie Brown uses -- 891-68-14 -- to
justify his getting behind the wheel of a station wagon, was the
artist’s Navy serial number.
Jim also did the work in the Fritzi Ritz and Tip Top issues during
this time, and it’s important to note that he had a completely free rein
with these comic book stories, handling both art and writing chores.
Fritzi Ritz lasted only four issues under the Dell label, before
being discontinued after #59 (Sept.-Nov. 1958). "Peanuts" did not appear
in #56, but each of the remaining three issues included a new four-page
story by Jim. He also handled the work for Tip Top #211 through #215
(Nov. 1958-Jan. 1959). In Tip Top, Charlie Brown and his friends shared
covers with Nancy, Sluggo, and the Captain and the Kids. Although
unsigned, Schulz drew these "Peanuts" cover panels for issues 211-213,
and Jim handled 214 and 215.
Sasseville did the Peanuts art in these issues of Tip Top, #214 and #215.
(Click on the pages to enlarge them.)
All told, then, Jim drew the interior stories in 20 issues of
Nancy, three issues of Fritzi Ritz, and five issues of Tip Top, along
with Four Color #878. This relationship with Schulz and Dell Comics took
an unexpected turn when the two men parted unhappily, and Jim’s final
work for Dell was the long kite story in the second all-"Peanuts" issue
of Four Color Comics (#969, Feb. 1959), along with the inside front and
inside back cover one-pagers.
The completion of that particular issue became something of a
marathon art session. After announcing that he and Helga would be moving
to Berkeley, Jim took stock of the pending Dell workload, and discovered
that the deadline for the second all-Peanuts issue of Four Color Comics
was imminent. Jim promised to finish this before the move, but Sparky
suggested that the job would proceed faster if they worked on it
together. The two men thus divided the work between them, and began
early one morning with what turned into a lengthy session stretching
well into the evening. During that time, Jim completed the
aforementioned two one-page stories and one eight-page story, while
Sparky handled the remaining one-page story and THREE eight-page
stories.
"There’s no doubt who was the faster artist," Jim notes, with a
chuckle. "He certainly put me in my place!"
Jim still remembers that session as a euphoric rush ... but it
concluded on a gloomy note, when, resting in the happy afterglow of a
job well done, Schulz revealed the fate of "It’s Only a Game" (see
below).
In the aftermath, Schulz also stepped in and handled all the work
for Nancy #169 (August 1959). Clearly, this was a rush job, and Schulz
borrowed from himself The final panel of this four-page story is almost
identical to the final panel of the June 23, 1957, "Peanuts" Sunday
strip. The comic book storyline is an expansion of that Sunday strip,
and the aforementioned final panel in the comic book is signed by Schulz
... the only case where any interior comic book stories bear his
signature.
Because the split was far from amicable, Jim did not follow the
subsequent comic book adventures of Charlie Brown and his friends, in
Nancy and Tip Top. On close examination just a few weeks ago -- in many
cases, seeing this work for the first time -- Jim pointed to specific
poses, characteristics and lettering attributes ("Sparky always rounded
out the bottoms of his W’s") that leave him convinced that Schulz either
penciled and inked the next several issues of both Nancy and Tip Top, or
at least roughed in the panel layout, inked the primary characters --
particularly their heads -- and lettered the word balloons. This seems
likely; carefully examination of individual pages reveals an occasional
Snoopy or Lucy which, not matching the rest, clearly must have been
inked by somebody else.
But Dale Hale, Schulz’s new apprentice and ghost -- and another
associate from Art Instruction Schools -- caught on quickly, and the
artwork in both books retained its Schulz-like characteristics through
roughly late 1960 or early 1961. At this point, other hands clearly took
over -- possibly Tony Pocrnick, another Schulz associate from Art
Instruction -- and the "Peanuts" characters became ever-more distant
from the Schulz ideal until the final issues of Tip Top (#225, May-July
1961) and Nancy. (By then the latter had been retitled Nancy and Sluggo,
and its final five issues were released under the Gold Key imprint; the
book was discontinued with issue #192, October 1963.) The "Peanuts"
artwork in the last issues of both books is, in a word, dreadful.
A third all-"Peanuts" issue of Four Color Comics was produced
(#1015, August-October 1959), after which the characters got their own
book that began with issue #4 (Feb.-April 1960), by way of acknowledging
those first three appearances in Four Color Comics. This lasted through
#13 (May-July 1962), after which the book was discontinued. Each of
these issues features a signed Schulz cover, but other hands --
certainly Hale, at first -- handled all the interior artwork and writing
(which, as with the latter issues of Nancy and Tip Top, grew less
Schulz-like over time).
But what had happened, to sever the friendship between Schulz and
Jim, which stretched back a decade?
Bouncing back a year or so...
Although already quite popular and gaining fans -- and syndicate
clients -- all the time, in 1957 "Peanuts" was not yet the multimedia
sensation it was to become within another decade. Schulz must have had
some free time that needed filling, and therefore was comfortable with
the concept of pitching a second strip concept to United Features
Syndicate. The artist had lots of ideas about games near and dear to his
heart, including golf, tennis, baseball and bridge. No doubt realizing
that twice as much Schulz per week was a good thing, UFS jumped at the
chance, and the sports and recreation-themed "It’s Only a Game" was
born. For awhile, Schulz joined later stars such as Johnny Hart ("B.C."
and "The Wizard of Id"), Mell Lazarus ("Miss Peach" and "Momma") and
Jerry Scott ("Baby Blues" and "Zits"), with two newspaper strips running
simultaneously.
Each installment of "It’s Only a Game, by Charles M. Schulz,"
hearkening back to Schulz’s very early work on "Li’l Folks" in The St.
Paul Pioneer Press, was comprised of three separate single-panel gag
strips. The package was offered to clients in two different formats as
three single-panel strips per week, to run on Mondays, Wednesdays and
Fridays; or as a combined grouping of three that would appear in Sunday
comics sections. The combined Sunday grouping also had a bonus fourth
cartoon a tiny, captionless visual gag -- very much like the
intermarginal gags that Sergio Aragonés would pepper throughout future
issues of Mad Magazine -- that appeared to the right of the title and
Schulz’s byline. The subject matter of the Monday and Wednesday panels
varied from week to week, but the Friday installment always centered
around bridge, the then-popular card game that Schulz loved. (Further
evidence of this affection could be seen in "Peanuts," where the kids
routinely played the game in the early 1950s, and Woodstock and a
foursome of his bird buddies picked it up in the 1970s and beyond.)
Charles Schulz did this January 12, 1958, "It's Only a Game" panel himself. Note his signature within the art of the right-most panel.
During an October 6, 1957, interview with Schulz, the Chicago
Tribune proudly boasted that it would be one of the flagship newspapers
to carry this new feature. The Tribune selected the weekly option, and
ran "It’s Only a Game" in its Sunday magazine. The debut installment
appeared November 3, 1957, and immediately set the tone for what would
follow, with panels devoted to boxing, golf and bridge. The middle panel
is a hoot, with a middle-aged duffer -- one easily can imagine Charlie
Brown in his 40s -- lamenting a putt that has left his ball perched at
the edge of the cup (but not in), and saying, "I think I’m going to
cry."
Subsequent installments covered checkers, bowling, curling (!),
table tennis, croquet, billiards, ice fishing, darts and even camping.
But as 1957 turned into 1958, something must have changed. Perhaps
Schulz had underestimated the amount of time involved with producing a
second weekly newspaper strip; maybe he also was spending more time than
expected overseeing the new "Peanuts" content in the Dell comic books.
Or, more likely, the "Peanuts" empire as a whole was occupying more of
his time; 1958 saw the production of the first "Peanuts" toys -- plastic
dolls of the major characters, produced by Hungerford -- and of course
this was just the tip of an approaching iceberg.
Whatever the reason, Schulz decided to hand over the lion’s share
of the artistic chores to Jim. Schulz’s solo involvement with "It’s Only
a Game" continued through the January 12, 1958, installment; this is the
last one to bear his signature on one of the cartoon panels. (Schulz’s
name continued to run alone in the masthead, however, making Jim a true
ghost.) As of January 19, 1958, Jim -- often working from hastily
penciled sketches and captions supplied by Schulz -- did all the
newspaper strip’s finished art and lettering.
Sasseville did this January 26, 1958, "It's Only a Game" panel himself. Note that Schulz's signature is nowhere to be seen within the art.
Jim vividly remembers this transition date, because just one week later,
with his second time at bat with the solo art chores, he was paid a
singular honor. That week’s Monday panel, a bowling strip, featured
three league players welcoming a fourth, apparently a little tardy, with
the exclamation of, "Three cheers, gang! Our number one man has
arrived!" A loyal reader sent UFS a black-and-white photo of himself
with three friends, staged to look precisely like the four figures in
Jim’s illustration. The "camera angle" was identical, along with
clothing, body position, and everything else in the frame. The
resemblance even extended to the men themselves, who had body shapes and
hairstyles eerily similar to those found in the panel art.
Jim still has the photo.
Sasseville received this photo recreation of his "It's Only a Game" gag from a fan. Note the date stamp at the top of the photo.
The degree to which Jim successfully imitated Schulz’s linework can
be seen by the fact that the transition was seamless; no casual reader
could have discerned that the hand on the inker’s pen had changed.
During the remainder of 1958, the two men continued to work in the same
fashion, Jim often finishing Schulz’s rough concepts, but also
contributing many of his own original ideas. He also inserted the
occasional personal reference; the boat from which a husband and wife
fish, in one of the June 29, 1958, panels, is the Helga, named after
Jim’s wife.
But Jim remembers that he never came up with any of the concepts
for Friday’s bridge panels, for the simple reason that he didn’t know
the game.
Although he labored in anonymity, Jim was well compensated
financially, and he still speaks appreciatively of Sparky’s generosity.
Schulz had negotiated for 50% of the strip’s income, the other half
going to UFS. This 50% amounted to slightly more than $500 per week;
when Jim came on board, Schulz generously gave half of HIS half to his
new partner, and so Jim brought home $250 per week (after expenses) for
his efforts ... quite a lot of money in 1958.
The two men were living in Minneapolis when this collaboration
began; after the first five months, in May 1958, Jim and his wife
followed the Schulz family to Northern California. Lacking a place to
stay in Sebastopol -- not to mention furniture and other amenities --
the Sassevilles first spent a couple of months a bit south, in Corta
Madera. "For two or three weeks, I drew the comic book stuff and ‘It’s
Only a Game’ on a portable drawing board. But I stayed in touch with
Sparky on the phone, and he supplied the ideas for ‘It’s Only a Game.’ "
The Sassevilles then found a home in Sebastopol. Between "It’s Only
a Game" and the work he also was doing for the "Peanuts" strips in the
Dell comic books, Jim was quite gainfully employed by his new partner
and boss.
Unfortunately, it was not to last.
"It’s Only a Game" began with 30 client newspapers; nearly a year
later, it had ... 30 client newspapers.
(A complete client list has been lost to the mists of time, although
it is known that the feature was carried by The Boston Globe, the Detroit
Free Press, The Chicago Tribune, The Minneapolis Tribune, the San Francisco
Chronicle and The Baltimore Sun.)
The strip never took off, despite strong support from fans such as
bridge expert Charles Goren (who wrote a couple of letters), and even
Schulz’s name didn’t seem to make much of a difference.
But we also can assume that the proud and perfectionist-minded
Schulz -- who in later years, as mentioned above, often made a point of
describing how in "Peanuts" he penciled and inked every line, and
lettered every word balloon -- probably was bothered by the fact that he
wasn’t similarly in sole control of "It’s Only a Game." To be sure, he
was INVOLVED, but he wasn’t actually drawing what appeared in those 30
client newspapers.
"He didn’t like his name being used on somebody else’s work," Jim
recalls, "and I don’t blame him for that."
That, coupled with moribund sales and some tension with the head
UFS salesman to whom Schulz initially had pitched the idea, eventually
prompted an astonishing decision In late 1958, just 12 months into a
solid five-year contract, Schulz made it plain to UFS that he wished to
discontinue "It’s Only a Game." Perhaps recognizing that the strip
wasn’t performing as hoped, UFS agreed.
Schulz did not consult Jim before taking this step; indeed, the
news came as a complete shock to Schulz’s ghost, who’d been very happy
with his work, and the strip, and the $250 per week.
Schulz even tried to sugar-coat the news "You’re off the hook,"
Jim recalls his employer saying (as if this were a GOOD thing), at the
end of that euphoric day when they finished work on the second
all-Peanuts issue of Dell’s Four Color Comics. Jim had just assured
Sparky that his pending move to Berkeley would not affect his ability to
work on "It’s Only a Game," and now the rug had been pulled out from
under him.
The fallout was immediate; it certainly was the final straw for
Helga, who already had been dissatisfied with their home in Sebastopol
-- hence the move to Berkeley -- and also was unhappy about the friction
that existed between her and Joyce, Schulz’s first wife. Helga had
endured Nazi Germany, survived the entire war -- in and out of work
camps -- and had lost her father at Dachau; she was not a woman to keep
opinions to herself.
"I realized I was working on a flawed product, which the creator
and marketer wanted nothing more to do with. Still, I had held out the
hope that maybe Sparky might offer the entire feature to me, although I
realized that there’d be problems with the syndicate," Jim admits, a
touch of wistfulness still clouding the memory after more than 40 years.
"They should have been pretty familiar with my work by then."
It didn’t happen. By the time the final installment of "It’s Only a
Game" appeared, on January 11, 1959 -- the two always had worked six
weeks ahead -- Jim and Schulz had severed all relations, professional
and personal. This also included Jim’s ghosting work on the Dell comic
books. The split was permanent, and the two men never reconciled.
Although "It’s Only a Game" ran for 63 consecutive weeks, it
quickly became a fading memory -- and then an overlooked footnote -- in
Schulz’s career. He rarely mentioned it during later interviews, and
then only obliquely, citing neither date specifics nor his collaboration
with Jim.
"We were the best of friends at first," Jim recalls ruefully. He
happily remembers attending the 1951 National Cartoonists Convention
with Sparky, and also another time when they both went to visit and swap
stories with a fellow artist, Robert M. Brinkerhoff, who lived in
Minneapolis and was known for a newspaper strip called "Little Mary
Mix-Up." Brinkerhoff, in turn -- like many other cartoonists at that
time -- greatly admired J.R. Williams (creator of "Out Our Way"), whom
he once described as "the greatest cowboy ever to walk the streets of
New York." Brinkerhoff related how he had wheedled, begged and finally
finagled an invitation to Williams’ ranch in Montana. Although only
interested in seeing the fabulous studio that he assumed his idol must
have on so massive a spread, Brinkerhoff first had to put up with being
shown all the livestock and the other attractions of a working ranch. As
the visit stretched on, Brinkerhoff finally couldn’t stand it any longer
and demanded to see where Williams did his work.
With a resigned sigh (as Jim recalls Brinkerhoff describing this
incident), Williams walked over to his wife’s sewing machine, took off
the cover, and flipped it over ... and that was it The great J.R.
Williams did all his drawing on the cover of his wife’s sewing machine.
As others have observed, there’s never any reason to embrace
technology or an environment any fancier than that required to get the
job done.
Cartoonists love to talk shop, and Jim’s no different; merely
relating this little tale brings a sparkle into his eyes. And, to this
day, he doesn’t really understand what happened between him and Schulz.
"I feel kind of weird about all this. Sparky obviously wanted me to
succeed in the early days, and even was willing to collaborate with me
on one of my own projects (one of the many variations of "Joe Cipher,"
discussed below). But then when he had a chance to really help me out,
he didn’t make any effort whatsoever ... and left me in rather dire
straits."
Such feelings notwithstanding, all these years later Jim is firm on
one point "Charles M. Schulz was the greatest comic strip artist ever."
And although he certainly couldn’t have known it at the time, Jim
never again would earn his living as a cartoonist.
Before, during and after his working association with Schulz, Jim
played around with many of his own ideas.
If persistence counts for anything, he deserves considerable credit
for his ongoing efforts to sell "Joe Cipher" ("a character kinda based
on me"), a daily strip that underwent quite a few transmutations during
the decade-plus that he tried to place it with a syndicate.
The character first appeared in a sample series of daily strips Jim
produced in late 1949. The strip’s gentle humor is faintly reminiscent
of "Gasoline Alley" and other character-driven work of the era; the
title character is introduced driving an old jalopy that obligingly runs
out of gas at a filling station. The silver-tongued Joe, lacking any
money, eventually impresses the station owner into offering him a job;
Joe celebrates by stepping into a nearby diner for lunch, where he’s
immediately smitten by the young woman behind the counter, and...
...and that’s where the presentation panels concluded.
Perhaps feeling that the strip lacked dramatic impact, a few years
later -- while still at AIS -- Jim tried again, shifting the action to a
tiny island in the middle of the ocean, where the shipwrecked Joe is
joined by an attractive young woman named Ginny, survivor of a second
sea-going calamity. (What are the odds?) Although their relationship is
mildly prickly for the first few days, Ginny eventually wishes aloud
that they could be rescued, so that she can go on a "proper date" with
Joe, and perhaps even kiss him when the evening concludes. Once again,
the story cut off abruptly, as Jim produced just two weeks’ worth of
strips enough to (hopefully) interest a buyer.
Sasseville tried several times to place a comic strip starring Joe Cipher, the pleasant-looking chap
featured in these examples. The two left-most strips are taken from the first run Sasseville designed on his own;
the two right-most strips, starring the same character but
in a different setting, are from Sasseville's third
test run; Charles Schulz contributed story input on these.
(Click on the image to see an enlarged version.)
After getting back from his return hitch in the Navy, Jim
went back to work on Joe Cipher and got a nibble from an
unexpected quarter: Something about this particular setting
touched Schulz, who suggested they collaborate on yet
a third incarnation of "Joe Cipher." (At the time, both men still were
unmarried, and it’s not hard to see a little male fantasy
wish-fulfillment at work.) With narrative input from Schulz and Jim
handling the art chores, the scene shifted again, this time to a
typically romantic South Seas setting, on an island large enough to
support a population of curvaceous young cuties and at least one
villain. Joe and Ginny remained the central focus, but this time the
former saw genuine action, on the receiving end of the villain’s fists.
Schulz and Jim took this newest version of "Joe Cipher" to United
Features Syndicate in spring of 1954; it was turned down flat. The
trip to New York wasn't a complete waste, though, because Sasseville
and Schulz caught a couple of plays: a T.S. Elliot drama called
Confidential Clerk, and another called The King of
Hearts, which starred Jackie Cooper as (what are the odds?)
a cartoonist!
Sasseville also remembers going from suite to suite in New
York's Waldorf hotel during this trip, visiting one cartoonist
after another; meeting Al Capp was a high point. But at least
part of the reason for the trip -- the newest Joe Cipher -- proved
unsellable, and Schulz bowed out at that point.
When Jim finally returned to "Joe Cipher," the 1950s were almost
over. Jim’s association with "Peanuts" and "It’s Only a Game" had
concluded, so the writer/artist returned to his favorite unsold
property. Jim recast his hero in yet another new setting, this time a
business office populated by characters clearly derived from his days at
Art Instruction. Although the sample panels display even cleaner, more
attractive line work -- a sure sign of his growing comfort as an artist
-- Jim had no better luck this time around.
Still refusing to abandon hope, Jim tried one more time In early
1960, after having moved to Berkeley, he once again changed the setting
completely, and turned Joe Cipher into "Sir Joe." This Arthurian-based
concept focused on genuinely whimsical gags involving heavy armor,
maidens in distress, and fire-breathing dragons. Jim’s dragons are
particularly funny, and this newest reboot seems ripe with
possibilities; it’s not at all hard to envision a daily strip evolving
from these samples.
Alas, syndicates once again failed to see any potential, and "Joe
Cipher" was put into Jim’s trunk as no more than another engaging
footnote in the artist’s collection of rejection slips.
Jim didn’t confine his efforts to "Joe Cipher"; the writer/artist
had no shortage of ideas, quite a few of which also wound up as
submission concepts. "Aunty Climax," produced in early 1957 -- just
prior to Jim’s ghost work for Dell comics -- was a single-panel gag
strip that starred a feisty little old lady who was far sharper than
most people assumed. She was based on Louise Cassidy, an AIS colleague
who also was the landlady for the building where Jim briefly lived with
Charles Cuddy. Jim produced a few dozen "Aunty Climax" panels, all of
which are vastly superior -- both in terms of writing and artwork -- to
many of the single-panel cartoons cluttering today’s newspapers.
"Confessions of a French Poodle" was a 1959 concept that didn’t
emerge much further than a few finished panels and lots of pencil
sketches; Jim good-naturedly admits that the idea went nowhere, and so
he abandoned it. That may have been shrewd market analysis, as the
medium never has lacked for dog-oriented material. Even so, French
poodles are funny in their own right, and Jim’s concept sketches are a
hoot.
When not working on Peanuts-related material, Sasseville tried to sell many of his own strip ideas
to a syndicate. From left to right, these examples are "Aunty Climax," "Friends and Foes," "Alpha-Betty" and "Happy Birthday."
(Click on the image to see an enlarged version.)
"Friends and Foes," another single-panel tryout, also emerged from
Jim’s pen in 1959. A little later, shortly after he started putting food
on the table with a "real job" -- and perhaps motivated by the explosion
of children’s television shows, which eventually led to "Sesame Street"
and everything that followed -- Jim tried a kid-oriented educational
strip called "Alpha-Betty," which starred a little girl who finds
herself in an other-worldly land populated by men and women shaped like
letters of the alphabet. The personalities of these individuals were
defined by their appearance; curved female letters, for example, were
far more sultry that straight female letters. The strip has a lovely
"Alice in Wonderland" quality, although the concept may have seemed
limiting.
Jim later played with the medium in "Blackboard," a daily strip
designed to be white-on-black, to imitate chalk on a classroom
blackboard. The stars were Dick, Jane and their TeacheR; although not as
overly educational as "Alpha-Betty," this strip also was aimed at young
audiences.
Jim’s final attempt at syndication was produced in the early 1970s,
after he first went into research hibernation, jotting down enough
celebrity birthdays to fill every day of a calendar year. The resulting
single-panel strips were a precursor to the "On this day in history..."
informational nuggets that have become so ubiquitous The panel for
March 28, for example, illustrated and revealed a few choice facts about
orchestra leader Paul Whiteman. March 29 was devoted to President John
Tyler, while Francisco Goya was featured on March 30.
Sadly, this fared no better with syndicators than any of the
others. "Joe Cipher," "Aunty Climax," "Confessions of a French Poodle,"
"Friends and Foes," "Alpha-Betty," "Blackboard" and "Birthdays" exist only
in Jim’s carefully preserved office files. More’s the pity, because even
the weakest of these strips displays a Puckish wit and clean, attractive
line work too often absent from many of the rushed, imitative strips
that generate little more than reader apathy these days.
Following the dust-up with Schulz and the move to Berkeley, Helga
-- who was delighted by the more rarefied atmosphere of a university
community -- became the family bread-winner. She took a job with a
German importer/exporter and commuted daily across the Bay Bridge.
Eventually succumbing to the need for steady employment, in April
1960 Jim took a job as a graphic designer with Varian, one of the
leading radar companies, located in California’s greater San Francisco
Bay Area. The fit proved comfortable, and he remained with the company
until he retired in 1990.
But the career shift wasn’t immediate; Jim first spent most of 1959
working up his own aforementioned comic strip proposals, and
occasionally sold individual gag cartoons to magazines. But his New
York-based agent took 35% of those one-shots.
"That’s when I started with Varian," Jim recalls, with a chuckle.
"I knew I’d never make it as a gag cartoonist."
Be that as it may, Jim never stopped his cartooning efforts; while
at Varian, he became famous for the birthday cards that he drew for
fellow employees.
Helga, meanwhile, got a job at Stanford, which prompted another
move; the couple then purchased their first home in 1960, in Mountain
View.
Three years later, they moved for what would be the last time. Jim
and his wife paid $28,000 for the house that remains his home to this
day. Just last year the retired artist was offered a cool million bucks
-- in cash -- by a dot-commer who wanted to develop the property. Still
loyal to the memories of his wife, with which the house is filled, Jim
politely declined. Helga died in 1995; he clearly still misses her.
Today, Parkinson’s Disease and the recent stroke have conspired to
deliver the ultimate nightmare Jim no longer can hold a pen well enough
to draw. ("I always marveled at Sparky’s ability to incorporate his
shaking hand into his line work.") But his mind and memory remain
acutely sharp, and his Puckish sense of humor is unbowed. He speaks with
clarity and certainty of his years at Art Instruction School, and with
Schulz, and of his never-successful efforts to market his own original
material.
Jim remains philosophical about his life, and in fact composed
another of his verses to express such feelings
I’m all for equal measures
Losses should be matched by gain;
And since I’ve missed life’s pleasures,
I’ll just double up with pain!
Definitely too harsh, but then we’re always hardest on ourselves.
Jim Sasseville deserves far more than the obscurity into which he has
settled; for a time, he was allied with the man who would become the
world’s most successful cartoonist, and for a time he helped chaperone
the faithfully rendered adventures of Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Linus, Lucy
and the rest ... no small feat.
And I’m particularly transfixed by a remark Jim made during one of
our later phone calls "I don’t know how one should behave, in a
situation like this," he said, referring to our ongoing conversations,
"but it’s like I’ve been resurrected."
Perhaps this article will kick-start our long-overdue obligation to
sing his praises.
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All PEANUTS characters pictured are copyrighted by United Feature Syndicate, Inc. They are used here with permission. They may not be reproduced by any means in any form.
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The four-page story above is taken from Nancy #151, February 1958.
(Click on the pages to enlarge them.)
"He gave me carte blanche on writing them, and I felt like a
faithful uncle," Jim says, with no small amount of pride at his ability
to reproduce Charlie Brown and the gang.
Although Jim’s take on the "Peanuts" gang in Nancy #149 was the
first to reach fans, it was not the ghost artist’s debut crack at
Charlie Brown. Jim’s first completed "Peanuts" comic book adventure was
"The Trip," one of a quartet of eight-page stories (packaged with three
one-page stories) that eventually appeared as issue #878 (Feb. 1958) of
Dell’s Four Color Comics, an "umbrella title" that rotated various
stars; this issue, boasting a gorgeous signed Schulz cover, was the
first one devoted to "Peanuts."
Ever the imp, Jim inserted a personal reference into "The Trip."
The number on the dog license that Charlie Brown uses -- 891-68-14 -- to
justify his getting behind the wheel of a station wagon, was the
artist’s Navy serial number.
Jim also did the work in the Fritzi Ritz and Tip Top issues during
this time, and it’s important to note that he had a completely free rein
with these comic book stories, handling both art and writing chores.
Fritzi Ritz lasted only four issues under the Dell label, before
being discontinued after #59 (Sept.-Nov. 1958). "Peanuts" did not appear
in #56, but each of the remaining three issues included a new four-page
story by Jim. He also handled the work for Tip Top #211 through #215
(Nov. 1958-Jan. 1959). In Tip Top, Charlie Brown and his friends shared
covers with Nancy, Sluggo, and the Captain and the Kids. Although
unsigned, Schulz drew these "Peanuts" cover panels for issues 211-213,
and Jim handled 214 and 215.
Sasseville did the Peanuts art in these issues of Tip Top, #214 and #215.
(Click on the pages to enlarge them.)
All told, then, Jim drew the interior stories in 20 issues of
Nancy, three issues of Fritzi Ritz, and five issues of Tip Top, along
with Four Color #878. This relationship with Schulz and Dell Comics took
an unexpected turn when the two men parted unhappily, and Jim’s final
work for Dell was the long kite story in the second all-"Peanuts" issue
of Four Color Comics (#969, Feb. 1959), along with the inside front and
inside back cover one-pagers.
The completion of that particular issue became something of a
marathon art session. After announcing that he and Helga would be moving
to Berkeley, Jim took stock of the pending Dell workload, and discovered
that the deadline for the second all-Peanuts issue of Four Color Comics
was imminent. Jim promised to finish this before the move, but Sparky
suggested that the job would proceed faster if they worked on it
together. The two men thus divided the work between them, and began
early one morning with what turned into a lengthy session stretching
well into the evening. During that time, Jim completed the
aforementioned two one-page stories and one eight-page story, while
Sparky handled the remaining one-page story and THREE eight-page
stories.
"There’s no doubt who was the faster artist," Jim notes, with a
chuckle. "He certainly put me in my place!"
Jim still remembers that session as a euphoric rush ... but it
concluded on a gloomy note, when, resting in the happy afterglow of a
job well done, Schulz revealed the fate of "It’s Only a Game" (see
below).
In the aftermath, Schulz also stepped in and handled all the work
for Nancy #169 (August 1959). Clearly, this was a rush job, and Schulz
borrowed from himself The final panel of this four-page story is almost
identical to the final panel of the June 23, 1957, "Peanuts" Sunday
strip. The comic book storyline is an expansion of that Sunday strip,
and the aforementioned final panel in the comic book is signed by Schulz
... the only case where any interior comic book stories bear his
signature.
Because the split was far from amicable, Jim did not follow the
subsequent comic book adventures of Charlie Brown and his friends, in
Nancy and Tip Top. On close examination just a few weeks ago -- in many
cases, seeing this work for the first time -- Jim pointed to specific
poses, characteristics and lettering attributes ("Sparky always rounded
out the bottoms of his W’s") that leave him convinced that Schulz either
penciled and inked the next several issues of both Nancy and Tip Top, or
at least roughed in the panel layout, inked the primary characters --
particularly their heads -- and lettered the word balloons. This seems
likely; carefully examination of individual pages reveals an occasional
Snoopy or Lucy which, not matching the rest, clearly must have been
inked by somebody else.
But Dale Hale, Schulz’s new apprentice and ghost -- and another
associate from Art Instruction Schools -- caught on quickly, and the
artwork in both books retained its Schulz-like characteristics through
roughly late 1960 or early 1961. At this point, other hands clearly took
over -- possibly Tony Pocrnick, another Schulz associate from Art
Instruction -- and the "Peanuts" characters became ever-more distant
from the Schulz ideal until the final issues of Tip Top (#225, May-July
1961) and Nancy. (By then the latter had been retitled Nancy and Sluggo,
and its final five issues were released under the Gold Key imprint; the
book was discontinued with issue #192, October 1963.) The "Peanuts"
artwork in the last issues of both books is, in a word, dreadful.
A third all-"Peanuts" issue of Four Color Comics was produced
(#1015, August-October 1959), after which the characters got their own
book that began with issue #4 (Feb.-April 1960), by way of acknowledging
those first three appearances in Four Color Comics. This lasted through
#13 (May-July 1962), after which the book was discontinued. Each of
these issues features a signed Schulz cover, but other hands --
certainly Hale, at first -- handled all the interior artwork and writing
(which, as with the latter issues of Nancy and Tip Top, grew less
Schulz-like over time).
But what had happened, to sever the friendship between Schulz and
Jim, which stretched back a decade?
Bouncing back a year or so...
Although already quite popular and gaining fans -- and syndicate
clients -- all the time, in 1957 "Peanuts" was not yet the multimedia
sensation it was to become within another decade. Schulz must have had
some free time that needed filling, and therefore was comfortable with
the concept of pitching a second strip concept to United Features
Syndicate. The artist had lots of ideas about games near and dear to his
heart, including golf, tennis, baseball and bridge. No doubt realizing
that twice as much Schulz per week was a good thing, UFS jumped at the
chance, and the sports and recreation-themed "It’s Only a Game" was
born. For awhile, Schulz joined later stars such as Johnny Hart ("B.C."
and "The Wizard of Id"), Mell Lazarus ("Miss Peach" and "Momma") and
Jerry Scott ("Baby Blues" and "Zits"), with two newspaper strips running
simultaneously.
Each installment of "It’s Only a Game, by Charles M. Schulz,"
hearkening back to Schulz’s very early work on "Li’l Folks" in The St.
Paul Pioneer Press, was comprised of three separate single-panel gag
strips. The package was offered to clients in two different formats as
three single-panel strips per week, to run on Mondays, Wednesdays and
Fridays; or as a combined grouping of three that would appear in Sunday
comics sections. The combined Sunday grouping also had a bonus fourth
cartoon a tiny, captionless visual gag -- very much like the
intermarginal gags that Sergio Aragonés would pepper throughout future
issues of Mad Magazine -- that appeared to the right of the title and
Schulz’s byline. The subject matter of the Monday and Wednesday panels
varied from week to week, but the Friday installment always centered
around bridge, the then-popular card game that Schulz loved. (Further
evidence of this affection could be seen in "Peanuts," where the kids
routinely played the game in the early 1950s, and Woodstock and a
foursome of his bird buddies picked it up in the 1970s and beyond.)
Charles Schulz did this January 12, 1958, "It's Only a Game" panel himself. Note his signature within the art of the right-most panel.
During an October 6, 1957, interview with Schulz, the Chicago
Tribune proudly boasted that it would be one of the flagship newspapers
to carry this new feature. The Tribune selected the weekly option, and
ran "It’s Only a Game" in its Sunday magazine. The debut installment
appeared November 3, 1957, and immediately set the tone for what would
follow, with panels devoted to boxing, golf and bridge. The middle panel
is a hoot, with a middle-aged duffer -- one easily can imagine Charlie
Brown in his 40s -- lamenting a putt that has left his ball perched at
the edge of the cup (but not in), and saying, "I think I’m going to
cry."
Subsequent installments covered checkers, bowling, curling (!),
table tennis, croquet, billiards, ice fishing, darts and even camping.
But as 1957 turned into 1958, something must have changed. Perhaps
Schulz had underestimated the amount of time involved with producing a
second weekly newspaper strip; maybe he also was spending more time than
expected overseeing the new "Peanuts" content in the Dell comic books.
Or, more likely, the "Peanuts" empire as a whole was occupying more of
his time; 1958 saw the production of the first "Peanuts" toys -- plastic
dolls of the major characters, produced by Hungerford -- and of course
this was just the tip of an approaching iceberg.
Whatever the reason, Schulz decided to hand over the lion’s share
of the artistic chores to Jim. Schulz’s solo involvement with "It’s Only
a Game" continued through the January 12, 1958, installment; this is the
last one to bear his signature on one of the cartoon panels. (Schulz’s
name continued to run alone in the masthead, however, making Jim a true
ghost.) As of January 19, 1958, Jim -- often working from hastily
penciled sketches and captions supplied by Schulz -- did all the
newspaper strip’s finished art and lettering.
Sasseville did this January 26, 1958, "It's Only a Game" panel himself. Note that Schulz's signature is nowhere to be seen within the art.
Jim vividly remembers this transition date, because just one week later,
with his second time at bat with the solo art chores, he was paid a
singular honor. That week’s Monday panel, a bowling strip, featured
three league players welcoming a fourth, apparently a little tardy, with
the exclamation of, "Three cheers, gang! Our number one man has
arrived!" A loyal reader sent UFS a black-and-white photo of himself
with three friends, staged to look precisely like the four figures in
Jim’s illustration. The "camera angle" was identical, along with
clothing, body position, and everything else in the frame. The
resemblance even extended to the men themselves, who had body shapes and
hairstyles eerily similar to those found in the panel art.
Jim still has the photo.
Sasseville received this photo recreation of his "It's Only a Game" gag from a fan. Note the date stamp at the top of the photo.
The degree to which Jim successfully imitated Schulz’s linework can
be seen by the fact that the transition was seamless; no casual reader
could have discerned that the hand on the inker’s pen had changed.
During the remainder of 1958, the two men continued to work in the same
fashion, Jim often finishing Schulz’s rough concepts, but also
contributing many of his own original ideas. He also inserted the
occasional personal reference; the boat from which a husband and wife
fish, in one of the June 29, 1958, panels, is the Helga, named after
Jim’s wife.
But Jim remembers that he never came up with any of the concepts
for Friday’s bridge panels, for the simple reason that he didn’t know
the game.
Although he labored in anonymity, Jim was well compensated
financially, and he still speaks appreciatively of Sparky’s generosity.
Schulz had negotiated for 50% of the strip’s income, the other half
going to UFS. This 50% amounted to slightly more than $500 per week;
when Jim came on board, Schulz generously gave half of HIS half to his
new partner, and so Jim brought home $250 per week (after expenses) for
his efforts ... quite a lot of money in 1958.
The two men were living in Minneapolis when this collaboration
began; after the first five months, in May 1958, Jim and his wife
followed the Schulz family to Northern California. Lacking a place to
stay in Sebastopol -- not to mention furniture and other amenities --
the Sassevilles first spent a couple of months a bit south, in Corta
Madera. "For two or three weeks, I drew the comic book stuff and ‘It’s
Only a Game’ on a portable drawing board. But I stayed in touch with
Sparky on the phone, and he supplied the ideas for ‘It’s Only a Game.’ "
The Sassevilles then found a home in Sebastopol. Between "It’s Only
a Game" and the work he also was doing for the "Peanuts" strips in the
Dell comic books, Jim was quite gainfully employed by his new partner
and boss.
Unfortunately, it was not to last.
"It’s Only a Game" began with 30 client newspapers; nearly a year
later, it had ... 30 client newspapers.
(A complete client list has been lost to the mists of time, although
it is known that the feature was carried by The Boston Globe, the Detroit
Free Press, The Chicago Tribune, The Minneapolis Tribune, the San Francisco
Chronicle and The Baltimore Sun.)
The strip never took off, despite strong support from fans such as
bridge expert Charles Goren (who wrote a couple of letters), and even
Schulz’s name didn’t seem to make much of a difference.
But we also can assume that the proud and perfectionist-minded
Schulz -- who in later years, as mentioned above, often made a point of
describing how in "Peanuts" he penciled and inked every line, and
lettered every word balloon -- probably was bothered by the fact that he
wasn’t similarly in sole control of "It’s Only a Game." To be sure, he
was INVOLVED, but he wasn’t actually drawing what appeared in those 30
client newspapers.
"He didn’t like his name being used on somebody else’s work," Jim
recalls, "and I don’t blame him for that."
That, coupled with moribund sales and some tension with the head
UFS salesman to whom Schulz initially had pitched the idea, eventually
prompted an astonishing decision In late 1958, just 12 months into a
solid five-year contract, Schulz made it plain to UFS that he wished to
discontinue "It’s Only a Game." Perhaps recognizing that the strip
wasn’t performing as hoped, UFS agreed.
Schulz did not consult Jim before taking this step; indeed, the
news came as a complete shock to Schulz’s ghost, who’d been very happy
with his work, and the strip, and the $250 per week.
Schulz even tried to sugar-coat the news "You’re off the hook,"
Jim recalls his employer saying (as if this were a GOOD thing), at the
end of that euphoric day when they finished work on the second
all-Peanuts issue of Dell’s Four Color Comics. Jim had just assured
Sparky that his pending move to Berkeley would not affect his ability to
work on "It’s Only a Game," and now the rug had been pulled out from
under him.
The fallout was immediate; it certainly was the final straw for
Helga, who already had been dissatisfied with their home in Sebastopol
-- hence the move to Berkeley -- and also was unhappy about the friction
that existed between her and Joyce, Schulz’s first wife. Helga had
endured Nazi Germany, survived the entire war -- in and out of work
camps -- and had lost her father at Dachau; she was not a woman to keep
opinions to herself.
"I realized I was working on a flawed product, which the creator
and marketer wanted nothing more to do with. Still, I had held out the
hope that maybe Sparky might offer the entire feature to me, although I
realized that there’d be problems with the syndicate," Jim admits, a
touch of wistfulness still clouding the memory after more than 40 years.
"They should have been pretty familiar with my work by then."
It didn’t happen. By the time the final installment of "It’s Only a
Game" appeared, on January 11, 1959 -- the two always had worked six
weeks ahead -- Jim and Schulz had severed all relations, professional
and personal. This also included Jim’s ghosting work on the Dell comic
books. The split was permanent, and the two men never reconciled.
Although "It’s Only a Game" ran for 63 consecutive weeks, it
quickly became a fading memory -- and then an overlooked footnote -- in
Schulz’s career. He rarely mentioned it during later interviews, and
then only obliquely, citing neither date specifics nor his collaboration
with Jim.
"We were the best of friends at first," Jim recalls ruefully. He
happily remembers attending the 1951 National Cartoonists Convention
with Sparky, and also another time when they both went to visit and swap
stories with a fellow artist, Robert M. Brinkerhoff, who lived in
Minneapolis and was known for a newspaper strip called "Little Mary
Mix-Up." Brinkerhoff, in turn -- like many other cartoonists at that
time -- greatly admired J.R. Williams (creator of "Out Our Way"), whom
he once described as "the greatest cowboy ever to walk the streets of
New York." Brinkerhoff related how he had wheedled, begged and finally
finagled an invitation to Williams’ ranch in Montana. Although only
interested in seeing the fabulous studio that he assumed his idol must
have on so massive a spread, Brinkerhoff first had to put up with being
shown all the livestock and the other attractions of a working ranch. As
the visit stretched on, Brinkerhoff finally couldn’t stand it any longer
and demanded to see where Williams did his work.
With a resigned sigh (as Jim recalls Brinkerhoff describing this
incident), Williams walked over to his wife’s sewing machine, took off
the cover, and flipped it over ... and that was it The great J.R.
Williams did all his drawing on the cover of his wife’s sewing machine.
As others have observed, there’s never any reason to embrace
technology or an environment any fancier than that required to get the
job done.
Cartoonists love to talk shop, and Jim’s no different; merely
relating this little tale brings a sparkle into his eyes. And, to this
day, he doesn’t really understand what happened between him and Schulz.
"I feel kind of weird about all this. Sparky obviously wanted me to
succeed in the early days, and even was willing to collaborate with me
on one of my own projects (one of the many variations of "Joe Cipher,"
discussed below). But then when he had a chance to really help me out,
he didn’t make any effort whatsoever ... and left me in rather dire
straits."
Such feelings notwithstanding, all these years later Jim is firm on
one point "Charles M. Schulz was the greatest comic strip artist ever."
And although he certainly couldn’t have known it at the time, Jim
never again would earn his living as a cartoonist.
Before, during and after his working association with Schulz, Jim
played around with many of his own ideas.
If persistence counts for anything, he deserves considerable credit
for his ongoing efforts to sell "Joe Cipher" ("a character kinda based
on me"), a daily strip that underwent quite a few transmutations during
the decade-plus that he tried to place it with a syndicate.
The character first appeared in a sample series of daily strips Jim
produced in late 1949. The strip’s gentle humor is faintly reminiscent
of "Gasoline Alley" and other character-driven work of the era; the
title character is introduced driving an old jalopy that obligingly runs
out of gas at a filling station. The silver-tongued Joe, lacking any
money, eventually impresses the station owner into offering him a job;
Joe celebrates by stepping into a nearby diner for lunch, where he’s
immediately smitten by the young woman behind the counter, and...
...and that’s where the presentation panels concluded.
Perhaps feeling that the strip lacked dramatic impact, a few years
later -- while still at AIS -- Jim tried again, shifting the action to a
tiny island in the middle of the ocean, where the shipwrecked Joe is
joined by an attractive young woman named Ginny, survivor of a second
sea-going calamity. (What are the odds?) Although their relationship is
mildly prickly for the first few days, Ginny eventually wishes aloud
that they could be rescued, so that she can go on a "proper date" with
Joe, and perhaps even kiss him when the evening concludes. Once again,
the story cut off abruptly, as Jim produced just two weeks’ worth of
strips enough to (hopefully) interest a buyer.
Sasseville tried several times to place a comic strip starring Joe Cipher, the pleasant-looking chap
featured in these examples. The two left-most strips are taken from the first run Sasseville designed on his own;
the two right-most strips, starring the same character but
in a different setting, are from Sasseville's third
test run; Charles Schulz contributed story input on these.
(Click on the image to see an enlarged version.)
After getting back from his return hitch in the Navy, Jim
went back to work on Joe Cipher and got a nibble from an
unexpected quarter: Something about this particular setting
touched Schulz, who suggested they collaborate on yet
a third incarnation of "Joe Cipher." (At the time, both men still were
unmarried, and it’s not hard to see a little male fantasy
wish-fulfillment at work.) With narrative input from Schulz and Jim
handling the art chores, the scene shifted again, this time to a
typically romantic South Seas setting, on an island large enough to
support a population of curvaceous young cuties and at least one
villain. Joe and Ginny remained the central focus, but this time the
former saw genuine action, on the receiving end of the villain’s fists.
Schulz and Jim took this newest version of "Joe Cipher" to United
Features Syndicate in spring of 1954; it was turned down flat. The
trip to New York wasn't a complete waste, though, because Sasseville
and Schulz caught a couple of plays: a T.S. Elliot drama called
Confidential Clerk, and another called The King of
Hearts, which starred Jackie Cooper as (what are the odds?)
a cartoonist!
Sasseville also remembers going from suite to suite in New
York's Waldorf hotel during this trip, visiting one cartoonist
after another; meeting Al Capp was a high point. But at least
part of the reason for the trip -- the newest Joe Cipher -- proved
unsellable, and Schulz bowed out at that point.
When Jim finally returned to "Joe Cipher," the 1950s were almost
over. Jim’s association with "Peanuts" and "It’s Only a Game" had
concluded, so the writer/artist returned to his favorite unsold
property. Jim recast his hero in yet another new setting, this time a
business office populated by characters clearly derived from his days at
Art Instruction. Although the sample panels display even cleaner, more
attractive line work -- a sure sign of his growing comfort as an artist
-- Jim had no better luck this time around.
Still refusing to abandon hope, Jim tried one more time In early
1960, after having moved to Berkeley, he once again changed the setting
completely, and turned Joe Cipher into "Sir Joe." This Arthurian-based
concept focused on genuinely whimsical gags involving heavy armor,
maidens in distress, and fire-breathing dragons. Jim’s dragons are
particularly funny, and this newest reboot seems ripe with
possibilities; it’s not at all hard to envision a daily strip evolving
from these samples.
Alas, syndicates once again failed to see any potential, and "Joe
Cipher" was put into Jim’s trunk as no more than another engaging
footnote in the artist’s collection of rejection slips.
Jim didn’t confine his efforts to "Joe Cipher"; the writer/artist
had no shortage of ideas, quite a few of which also wound up as
submission concepts. "Aunty Climax," produced in early 1957 -- just
prior to Jim’s ghost work for Dell comics -- was a single-panel gag
strip that starred a feisty little old lady who was far sharper than
most people assumed. She was based on Louise Cassidy, an AIS colleague
who also was the landlady for the building where Jim briefly lived with
Charles Cuddy. Jim produced a few dozen "Aunty Climax" panels, all of
which are vastly superior -- both in terms of writing and artwork -- to
many of the single-panel cartoons cluttering today’s newspapers.
"Confessions of a French Poodle" was a 1959 concept that didn’t
emerge much further than a few finished panels and lots of pencil
sketches; Jim good-naturedly admits that the idea went nowhere, and so
he abandoned it. That may have been shrewd market analysis, as the
medium never has lacked for dog-oriented material. Even so, French
poodles are funny in their own right, and Jim’s concept sketches are a
hoot.
When not working on Peanuts-related material, Sasseville tried to sell many of his own strip ideas
to a syndicate. From left to right, these examples are "Aunty Climax," "Friends and Foes," "Alpha-Betty" and "Happy Birthday."
(Click on the image to see an enlarged version.)
"Friends and Foes," another single-panel tryout, also emerged from
Jim’s pen in 1959. A little later, shortly after he started putting food
on the table with a "real job" -- and perhaps motivated by the explosion
of children’s television shows, which eventually led to "Sesame Street"
and everything that followed -- Jim tried a kid-oriented educational
strip called "Alpha-Betty," which starred a little girl who finds
herself in an other-worldly land populated by men and women shaped like
letters of the alphabet. The personalities of these individuals were
defined by their appearance; curved female letters, for example, were
far more sultry that straight female letters. The strip has a lovely
"Alice in Wonderland" quality, although the concept may have seemed
limiting.
Jim later played with the medium in "Blackboard," a daily strip
designed to be white-on-black, to imitate chalk on a classroom
blackboard. The stars were Dick, Jane and their TeacheR; although not as
overly educational as "Alpha-Betty," this strip also was aimed at young
audiences.
Jim’s final attempt at syndication was produced in the early 1970s,
after he first went into research hibernation, jotting down enough
celebrity birthdays to fill every day of a calendar year. The resulting
single-panel strips were a precursor to the "On this day in history..."
informational nuggets that have become so ubiquitous The panel for
March 28, for example, illustrated and revealed a few choice facts about
orchestra leader Paul Whiteman. March 29 was devoted to President John
Tyler, while Francisco Goya was featured on March 30.
Sadly, this fared no better with syndicators than any of the
others. "Joe Cipher," "Aunty Climax," "Confessions of a French Poodle,"
"Friends and Foes," "Alpha-Betty," "Blackboard" and "Birthdays" exist only
in Jim’s carefully preserved office files. More’s the pity, because even
the weakest of these strips displays a Puckish wit and clean, attractive
line work too often absent from many of the rushed, imitative strips
that generate little more than reader apathy these days.
Following the dust-up with Schulz and the move to Berkeley, Helga
-- who was delighted by the more rarefied atmosphere of a university
community -- became the family bread-winner. She took a job with a
German importer/exporter and commuted daily across the Bay Bridge.
Eventually succumbing to the need for steady employment, in April
1960 Jim took a job as a graphic designer with Varian, one of the
leading radar companies, located in California’s greater San Francisco
Bay Area. The fit proved comfortable, and he remained with the company
until he retired in 1990.
But the career shift wasn’t immediate; Jim first spent most of 1959
working up his own aforementioned comic strip proposals, and
occasionally sold individual gag cartoons to magazines. But his New
York-based agent took 35% of those one-shots.
"That’s when I started with Varian," Jim recalls, with a chuckle.
"I knew I’d never make it as a gag cartoonist."
Be that as it may, Jim never stopped his cartooning efforts; while
at Varian, he became famous for the birthday cards that he drew for
fellow employees.
Helga, meanwhile, got a job at Stanford, which prompted another
move; the couple then purchased their first home in 1960, in Mountain
View.
Three years later, they moved for what would be the last time. Jim
and his wife paid $28,000 for the house that remains his home to this
day. Just last year the retired artist was offered a cool million bucks
-- in cash -- by a dot-commer who wanted to develop the property. Still
loyal to the memories of his wife, with which the house is filled, Jim
politely declined. Helga died in 1995; he clearly still misses her.
Today, Parkinson’s Disease and the recent stroke have conspired to
deliver the ultimate nightmare Jim no longer can hold a pen well enough
to draw. ("I always marveled at Sparky’s ability to incorporate his
shaking hand into his line work.") But his mind and memory remain
acutely sharp, and his Puckish sense of humor is unbowed. He speaks with
clarity and certainty of his years at Art Instruction School, and with
Schulz, and of his never-successful efforts to market his own original
material.
Jim remains philosophical about his life, and in fact composed
another of his verses to express such feelings
I’m all for equal measures
Losses should be matched by gain;
And since I’ve missed life’s pleasures,
I’ll just double up with pain!
Definitely too harsh, but then we’re always hardest on ourselves.
Jim Sasseville deserves far more than the obscurity into which he has
settled; for a time, he was allied with the man who would become the
world’s most successful cartoonist, and for a time he helped chaperone
the faithfully rendered adventures of Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Linus, Lucy
and the rest ... no small feat.
And I’m particularly transfixed by a remark Jim made during one of
our later phone calls "I don’t know how one should behave, in a
situation like this," he said, referring to our ongoing conversations,
"but it’s like I’ve been resurrected."
Perhaps this article will kick-start our long-overdue obligation to
sing his praises.
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(Click on the pages to enlarge them.)
Although Jim’s take on the "Peanuts" gang in Nancy #149 was the
first to reach fans, it was not the ghost artist’s debut crack at
Charlie Brown. Jim’s first completed "Peanuts" comic book adventure was
"The Trip," one of a quartet of eight-page stories (packaged with three
one-page stories) that eventually appeared as issue #878 (Feb. 1958) of
Dell’s Four Color Comics, an "umbrella title" that rotated various
stars; this issue, boasting a gorgeous signed Schulz cover, was the
first one devoted to "Peanuts."
Ever the imp, Jim inserted a personal reference into "The Trip."
The number on the dog license that Charlie Brown uses -- 891-68-14 -- to
justify his getting behind the wheel of a station wagon, was the
artist’s Navy serial number.
Jim also did the work in the Fritzi Ritz and Tip Top issues during
this time, and it’s important to note that he had a completely free rein
with these comic book stories, handling both art and writing chores.
Fritzi Ritz lasted only four issues under the Dell label, before
being discontinued after #59 (Sept.-Nov. 1958). "Peanuts" did not appear
in #56, but each of the remaining three issues included a new four-page
story by Jim. He also handled the work for Tip Top #211 through #215
(Nov. 1958-Jan. 1959). In Tip Top, Charlie Brown and his friends shared
covers with Nancy, Sluggo, and the Captain and the Kids. Although
unsigned, Schulz drew these "Peanuts" cover panels for issues 211-213,
and Jim handled 214 and 215.
Sasseville did the Peanuts art in these issues of Tip Top, #214 and #215.
(Click on the pages to enlarge them.)
All told, then, Jim drew the interior stories in 20 issues of
Nancy, three issues of Fritzi Ritz, and five issues of Tip Top, along
with Four Color #878. This relationship with Schulz and Dell Comics took
an unexpected turn when the two men parted unhappily, and Jim’s final
work for Dell was the long kite story in the second all-"Peanuts" issue
of Four Color Comics (#969, Feb. 1959), along with the inside front and
inside back cover one-pagers.
The completion of that particular issue became something of a
marathon art session. After announcing that he and Helga would be moving
to Berkeley, Jim took stock of the pending Dell workload, and discovered
that the deadline for the second all-Peanuts issue of Four Color Comics
was imminent. Jim promised to finish this before the move, but Sparky
suggested that the job would proceed faster if they worked on it
together. The two men thus divided the work between them, and began
early one morning with what turned into a lengthy session stretching
well into the evening. During that time, Jim completed the
aforementioned two one-page stories and one eight-page story, while
Sparky handled the remaining one-page story and THREE eight-page
stories.
"There’s no doubt who was the faster artist," Jim notes, with a
chuckle. "He certainly put me in my place!"
Jim still remembers that session as a euphoric rush ... but it
concluded on a gloomy note, when, resting in the happy afterglow of a
job well done, Schulz revealed the fate of "It’s Only a Game" (see
below).
In the aftermath, Schulz also stepped in and handled all the work
for Nancy #169 (August 1959). Clearly, this was a rush job, and Schulz
borrowed from himself The final panel of this four-page story is almost
identical to the final panel of the June 23, 1957, "Peanuts" Sunday
strip. The comic book storyline is an expansion of that Sunday strip,
and the aforementioned final panel in the comic book is signed by Schulz
... the only case where any interior comic book stories bear his
signature.
Because the split was far from amicable, Jim did not follow the
subsequent comic book adventures of Charlie Brown and his friends, in
Nancy and Tip Top. On close examination just a few weeks ago -- in many
cases, seeing this work for the first time -- Jim pointed to specific
poses, characteristics and lettering attributes ("Sparky always rounded
out the bottoms of his W’s") that leave him convinced that Schulz either
penciled and inked the next several issues of both Nancy and Tip Top, or
at least roughed in the panel layout, inked the primary characters --
particularly their heads -- and lettered the word balloons. This seems
likely; carefully examination of individual pages reveals an occasional
Snoopy or Lucy which, not matching the rest, clearly must have been
inked by somebody else.
But Dale Hale, Schulz’s new apprentice and ghost -- and another
associate from Art Instruction Schools -- caught on quickly, and the
artwork in both books retained its Schulz-like characteristics through
roughly late 1960 or early 1961. At this point, other hands clearly took
over -- possibly Tony Pocrnick, another Schulz associate from Art
Instruction -- and the "Peanuts" characters became ever-more distant
from the Schulz ideal until the final issues of Tip Top (#225, May-July
1961) and Nancy. (By then the latter had been retitled Nancy and Sluggo,
and its final five issues were released under the Gold Key imprint; the
book was discontinued with issue #192, October 1963.) The "Peanuts"
artwork in the last issues of both books is, in a word, dreadful.
A third all-"Peanuts" issue of Four Color Comics was produced
(#1015, August-October 1959), after which the characters got their own
book that began with issue #4 (Feb.-April 1960), by way of acknowledging
those first three appearances in Four Color Comics. This lasted through
#13 (May-July 1962), after which the book was discontinued. Each of
these issues features a signed Schulz cover, but other hands --
certainly Hale, at first -- handled all the interior artwork and writing
(which, as with the latter issues of Nancy and Tip Top, grew less
Schulz-like over time).
But what had happened, to sever the friendship between Schulz and
Jim, which stretched back a decade?
Bouncing back a year or so...
Although already quite popular and gaining fans -- and syndicate
clients -- all the time, in 1957 "Peanuts" was not yet the multimedia
sensation it was to become within another decade. Schulz must have had
some free time that needed filling, and therefore was comfortable with
the concept of pitching a second strip concept to United Features
Syndicate. The artist had lots of ideas about games near and dear to his
heart, including golf, tennis, baseball and bridge. No doubt realizing
that twice as much Schulz per week was a good thing, UFS jumped at the
chance, and the sports and recreation-themed "It’s Only a Game" was
born. For awhile, Schulz joined later stars such as Johnny Hart ("B.C."
and "The Wizard of Id"), Mell Lazarus ("Miss Peach" and "Momma") and
Jerry Scott ("Baby Blues" and "Zits"), with two newspaper strips running
simultaneously.
Each installment of "It’s Only a Game, by Charles M. Schulz,"
hearkening back to Schulz’s very early work on "Li’l Folks" in The St.
Paul Pioneer Press, was comprised of three separate single-panel gag
strips. The package was offered to clients in two different formats as
three single-panel strips per week, to run on Mondays, Wednesdays and
Fridays; or as a combined grouping of three that would appear in Sunday
comics sections. The combined Sunday grouping also had a bonus fourth
cartoon a tiny, captionless visual gag -- very much like the
intermarginal gags that Sergio Aragonés would pepper throughout future
issues of Mad Magazine -- that appeared to the right of the title and
Schulz’s byline. The subject matter of the Monday and Wednesday panels
varied from week to week, but the Friday installment always centered
around bridge, the then-popular card game that Schulz loved. (Further
evidence of this affection could be seen in "Peanuts," where the kids
routinely played the game in the early 1950s, and Woodstock and a
foursome of his bird buddies picked it up in the 1970s and beyond.)
Charles Schulz did this January 12, 1958, "It's Only a Game" panel himself. Note his signature within the art of the right-most panel.
During an October 6, 1957, interview with Schulz, the Chicago
Tribune proudly boasted that it would be one of the flagship newspapers
to carry this new feature. The Tribune selected the weekly option, and
ran "It’s Only a Game" in its Sunday magazine. The debut installment
appeared November 3, 1957, and immediately set the tone for what would
follow, with panels devoted to boxing, golf and bridge. The middle panel
is a hoot, with a middle-aged duffer -- one easily can imagine Charlie
Brown in his 40s -- lamenting a putt that has left his ball perched at
the edge of the cup (but not in), and saying, "I think I’m going to
cry."
Subsequent installments covered checkers, bowling, curling (!),
table tennis, croquet, billiards, ice fishing, darts and even camping.
But as 1957 turned into 1958, something must have changed. Perhaps
Schulz had underestimated the amount of time involved with producing a
second weekly newspaper strip; maybe he also was spending more time than
expected overseeing the new "Peanuts" content in the Dell comic books.
Or, more likely, the "Peanuts" empire as a whole was occupying more of
his time; 1958 saw the production of the first "Peanuts" toys -- plastic
dolls of the major characters, produced by Hungerford -- and of course
this was just the tip of an approaching iceberg.
Whatever the reason, Schulz decided to hand over the lion’s share
of the artistic chores to Jim. Schulz’s solo involvement with "It’s Only
a Game" continued through the January 12, 1958, installment; this is the
last one to bear his signature on one of the cartoon panels. (Schulz’s
name continued to run alone in the masthead, however, making Jim a true
ghost.) As of January 19, 1958, Jim -- often working from hastily
penciled sketches and captions supplied by Schulz -- did all the
newspaper strip’s finished art and lettering.
Sasseville did this January 26, 1958, "It's Only a Game" panel himself. Note that Schulz's signature is nowhere to be seen within the art.
Jim vividly remembers this transition date, because just one week later,
with his second time at bat with the solo art chores, he was paid a
singular honor. That week’s Monday panel, a bowling strip, featured
three league players welcoming a fourth, apparently a little tardy, with
the exclamation of, "Three cheers, gang! Our number one man has
arrived!" A loyal reader sent UFS a black-and-white photo of himself
with three friends, staged to look precisely like the four figures in
Jim’s illustration. The "camera angle" was identical, along with
clothing, body position, and everything else in the frame. The
resemblance even extended to the men themselves, who had body shapes and
hairstyles eerily similar to those found in the panel art.
Jim still has the photo.
Sasseville received this photo recreation of his "It's Only a Game" gag from a fan. Note the date stamp at the top of the photo.
The degree to which Jim successfully imitated Schulz’s linework can
be seen by the fact that the transition was seamless; no casual reader
could have discerned that the hand on the inker’s pen had changed.
During the remainder of 1958, the two men continued to work in the same
fashion, Jim often finishing Schulz’s rough concepts, but also
contributing many of his own original ideas. He also inserted the
occasional personal reference; the boat from which a husband and wife
fish, in one of the June 29, 1958, panels, is the Helga, named after
Jim’s wife.
But Jim remembers that he never came up with any of the concepts
for Friday’s bridge panels, for the simple reason that he didn’t know
the game.
Although he labored in anonymity, Jim was well compensated
financially, and he still speaks appreciatively of Sparky’s generosity.
Schulz had negotiated for 50% of the strip’s income, the other half
going to UFS. This 50% amounted to slightly more than $500 per week;
when Jim came on board, Schulz generously gave half of HIS half to his
new partner, and so Jim brought home $250 per week (after expenses) for
his efforts ... quite a lot of money in 1958.
The two men were living in Minneapolis when this collaboration
began; after the first five months, in May 1958, Jim and his wife
followed the Schulz family to Northern California. Lacking a place to
stay in Sebastopol -- not to mention furniture and other amenities --
the Sassevilles first spent a couple of months a bit south, in Corta
Madera. "For two or three weeks, I drew the comic book stuff and ‘It’s
Only a Game’ on a portable drawing board. But I stayed in touch with
Sparky on the phone, and he supplied the ideas for ‘It’s Only a Game.’ "
The Sassevilles then found a home in Sebastopol. Between "It’s Only
a Game" and the work he also was doing for the "Peanuts" strips in the
Dell comic books, Jim was quite gainfully employed by his new partner
and boss.
Unfortunately, it was not to last.
"It’s Only a Game" began with 30 client newspapers; nearly a year
later, it had ... 30 client newspapers.
(A complete client list has been lost to the mists of time, although
it is known that the feature was carried by The Boston Globe, the Detroit
Free Press, The Chicago Tribune, The Minneapolis Tribune, the San Francisco
Chronicle and The Baltimore Sun.)
The strip never took off, despite strong support from fans such as
bridge expert Charles Goren (who wrote a couple of letters), and even
Schulz’s name didn’t seem to make much of a difference.
But we also can assume that the proud and perfectionist-minded
Schulz -- who in later years, as mentioned above, often made a point of
describing how in "Peanuts" he penciled and inked every line, and
lettered every word balloon -- probably was bothered by the fact that he
wasn’t similarly in sole control of "It’s Only a Game." To be sure, he
was INVOLVED, but he wasn’t actually drawing what appeared in those 30
client newspapers.
"He didn’t like his name being used on somebody else’s work," Jim
recalls, "and I don’t blame him for that."
That, coupled with moribund sales and some tension with the head
UFS salesman to whom Schulz initially had pitched the idea, eventually
prompted an astonishing decision In late 1958, just 12 months into a
solid five-year contract, Schulz made it plain to UFS that he wished to
discontinue "It’s Only a Game." Perhaps recognizing that the strip
wasn’t performing as hoped, UFS agreed.
Schulz did not consult Jim before taking this step; indeed, the
news came as a complete shock to Schulz’s ghost, who’d been very happy
with his work, and the strip, and the $250 per week.
Schulz even tried to sugar-coat the news "You’re off the hook,"
Jim recalls his employer saying (as if this were a GOOD thing), at the
end of that euphoric day when they finished work on the second
all-Peanuts issue of Dell’s Four Color Comics. Jim had just assured
Sparky that his pending move to Berkeley would not affect his ability to
work on "It’s Only a Game," and now the rug had been pulled out from
under him.
The fallout was immediate; it certainly was the final straw for
Helga, who already had been dissatisfied with their home in Sebastopol
-- hence the move to Berkeley -- and also was unhappy about the friction
that existed between her and Joyce, Schulz’s first wife. Helga had
endured Nazi Germany, survived the entire war -- in and out of work
camps -- and had lost her father at Dachau; she was not a woman to keep
opinions to herself.
"I realized I was working on a flawed product, which the creator
and marketer wanted nothing more to do with. Still, I had held out the
hope that maybe Sparky might offer the entire feature to me, although I
realized that there’d be problems with the syndicate," Jim admits, a
touch of wistfulness still clouding the memory after more than 40 years.
"They should have been pretty familiar with my work by then."
It didn’t happen. By the time the final installment of "It’s Only a
Game" appeared, on January 11, 1959 -- the two always had worked six
weeks ahead -- Jim and Schulz had severed all relations, professional
and personal. This also included Jim’s ghosting work on the Dell comic
books. The split was permanent, and the two men never reconciled.
Although "It’s Only a Game" ran for 63 consecutive weeks, it
quickly became a fading memory -- and then an overlooked footnote -- in
Schulz’s career. He rarely mentioned it during later interviews, and
then only obliquely, citing neither date specifics nor his collaboration
with Jim.
"We were the best of friends at first," Jim recalls ruefully. He
happily remembers attending the 1951 National Cartoonists Convention
with Sparky, and also another time when they both went to visit and swap
stories with a fellow artist, Robert M. Brinkerhoff, who lived in
Minneapolis and was known for a newspaper strip called "Little Mary
Mix-Up." Brinkerhoff, in turn -- like many other cartoonists at that
time -- greatly admired J.R. Williams (creator of "Out Our Way"), whom
he once described as "the greatest cowboy ever to walk the streets of
New York." Brinkerhoff related how he had wheedled, begged and finally
finagled an invitation to Williams’ ranch in Montana. Although only
interested in seeing the fabulous studio that he assumed his idol must
have on so massive a spread, Brinkerhoff first had to put up with being
shown all the livestock and the other attractions of a working ranch. As
the visit stretched on, Brinkerhoff finally couldn’t stand it any longer
and demanded to see where Williams did his work.
With a resigned sigh (as Jim recalls Brinkerhoff describing this
incident), Williams walked over to his wife’s sewing machine, took off
the cover, and flipped it over ... and that was it The great J.R.
Williams did all his drawing on the cover of his wife’s sewing machine.
As others have observed, there’s never any reason to embrace
technology or an environment any fancier than that required to get the
job done.
Cartoonists love to talk shop, and Jim’s no different; merely
relating this little tale brings a sparkle into his eyes. And, to this
day, he doesn’t really understand what happened between him and Schulz.
"I feel kind of weird about all this. Sparky obviously wanted me to
succeed in the early days, and even was willing to collaborate with me
on one of my own projects (one of the many variations of "Joe Cipher,"
discussed below). But then when he had a chance to really help me out,
he didn’t make any effort whatsoever ... and left me in rather dire
straits."
Such feelings notwithstanding, all these years later Jim is firm on
one point "Charles M. Schulz was the greatest comic strip artist ever."
And although he certainly couldn’t have known it at the time, Jim
never again would earn his living as a cartoonist.
Before, during and after his working association with Schulz, Jim
played around with many of his own ideas.
If persistence counts for anything, he deserves considerable credit
for his ongoing efforts to sell "Joe Cipher" ("a character kinda based
on me"), a daily strip that underwent quite a few transmutations during
the decade-plus that he tried to place it with a syndicate.
The character first appeared in a sample series of daily strips Jim
produced in late 1949. The strip’s gentle humor is faintly reminiscent
of "Gasoline Alley" and other character-driven work of the era; the
title character is introduced driving an old jalopy that obligingly runs
out of gas at a filling station. The silver-tongued Joe, lacking any
money, eventually impresses the station owner into offering him a job;
Joe celebrates by stepping into a nearby diner for lunch, where he’s
immediately smitten by the young woman behind the counter, and...
...and that’s where the presentation panels concluded.
Perhaps feeling that the strip lacked dramatic impact, a few years
later -- while still at AIS -- Jim tried again, shifting the action to a
tiny island in the middle of the ocean, where the shipwrecked Joe is
joined by an attractive young woman named Ginny, survivor of a second
sea-going calamity. (What are the odds?) Although their relationship is
mildly prickly for the first few days, Ginny eventually wishes aloud
that they could be rescued, so that she can go on a "proper date" with
Joe, and perhaps even kiss him when the evening concludes. Once again,
the story cut off abruptly, as Jim produced just two weeks’ worth of
strips enough to (hopefully) interest a buyer.
Sasseville tried several times to place a comic strip starring Joe Cipher, the pleasant-looking chap
featured in these examples. The two left-most strips are taken from the first run Sasseville designed on his own;
the two right-most strips, starring the same character but
in a different setting, are from Sasseville's third
test run; Charles Schulz contributed story input on these.
(Click on the image to see an enlarged version.)
After getting back from his return hitch in the Navy, Jim
went back to work on Joe Cipher and got a nibble from an
unexpected quarter: Something about this particular setting
touched Schulz, who suggested they collaborate on yet
a third incarnation of "Joe Cipher." (At the time, both men still were
unmarried, and it’s not hard to see a little male fantasy
wish-fulfillment at work.) With narrative input from Schulz and Jim
handling the art chores, the scene shifted again, this time to a
typically romantic South Seas setting, on an island large enough to
support a population of curvaceous young cuties and at least one
villain. Joe and Ginny remained the central focus, but this time the
former saw genuine action, on the receiving end of the villain’s fists.
Schulz and Jim took this newest version of "Joe Cipher" to United
Features Syndicate in spring of 1954; it was turned down flat. The
trip to New York wasn't a complete waste, though, because Sasseville
and Schulz caught a couple of plays: a T.S. Elliot drama called
Confidential Clerk, and another called The King of
Hearts, which starred Jackie Cooper as (what are the odds?)
a cartoonist!
Sasseville also remembers going from suite to suite in New
York's Waldorf hotel during this trip, visiting one cartoonist
after another; meeting Al Capp was a high point. But at least
part of the reason for the trip -- the newest Joe Cipher -- proved
unsellable, and Schulz bowed out at that point.
When Jim finally returned to "Joe Cipher," the 1950s were almost
over. Jim’s association with "Peanuts" and "It’s Only a Game" had
concluded, so the writer/artist returned to his favorite unsold
property. Jim recast his hero in yet another new setting, this time a
business office populated by characters clearly derived from his days at
Art Instruction. Although the sample panels display even cleaner, more
attractive line work -- a sure sign of his growing comfort as an artist
-- Jim had no better luck this time around.
Still refusing to abandon hope, Jim tried one more time In early
1960, after having moved to Berkeley, he once again changed the setting
completely, and turned Joe Cipher into "Sir Joe." This Arthurian-based
concept focused on genuinely whimsical gags involving heavy armor,
maidens in distress, and fire-breathing dragons. Jim’s dragons are
particularly funny, and this newest reboot seems ripe with
possibilities; it’s not at all hard to envision a daily strip evolving
from these samples.
Alas, syndicates once again failed to see any potential, and "Joe
Cipher" was put into Jim’s trunk as no more than another engaging
footnote in the artist’s collection of rejection slips.
Jim didn’t confine his efforts to "Joe Cipher"; the writer/artist
had no shortage of ideas, quite a few of which also wound up as
submission concepts. "Aunty Climax," produced in early 1957 -- just
prior to Jim’s ghost work for Dell comics -- was a single-panel gag
strip that starred a feisty little old lady who was far sharper than
most people assumed. She was based on Louise Cassidy, an AIS colleague
who also was the landlady for the building where Jim briefly lived with
Charles Cuddy. Jim produced a few dozen "Aunty Climax" panels, all of
which are vastly superior -- both in terms of writing and artwork -- to
many of the single-panel cartoons cluttering today’s newspapers.
"Confessions of a French Poodle" was a 1959 concept that didn’t
emerge much further than a few finished panels and lots of pencil
sketches; Jim good-naturedly admits that the idea went nowhere, and so
he abandoned it. That may have been shrewd market analysis, as the
medium never has lacked for dog-oriented material. Even so, French
poodles are funny in their own right, and Jim’s concept sketches are a
hoot.
When not working on Peanuts-related material, Sasseville tried to sell many of his own strip ideas
to a syndicate. From left to right, these examples are "Aunty Climax," "Friends and Foes," "Alpha-Betty" and "Happy Birthday."
(Click on the image to see an enlarged version.)
"Friends and Foes," another single-panel tryout, also emerged from
Jim’s pen in 1959. A little later, shortly after he started putting food
on the table with a "real job" -- and perhaps motivated by the explosion
of children’s television shows, which eventually led to "Sesame Street"
and everything that followed -- Jim tried a kid-oriented educational
strip called "Alpha-Betty," which starred a little girl who finds
herself in an other-worldly land populated by men and women shaped like
letters of the alphabet. The personalities of these individuals were
defined by their appearance; curved female letters, for example, were
far more sultry that straight female letters. The strip has a lovely
"Alice in Wonderland" quality, although the concept may have seemed
limiting.
Jim later played with the medium in "Blackboard," a daily strip
designed to be white-on-black, to imitate chalk on a classroom
blackboard. The stars were Dick, Jane and their TeacheR; although not as
overly educational as "Alpha-Betty," this strip also was aimed at young
audiences.
Jim’s final attempt at syndication was produced in the early 1970s,
after he first went into research hibernation, jotting down enough
celebrity birthdays to fill every day of a calendar year. The resulting
single-panel strips were a precursor to the "On this day in history..."
informational nuggets that have become so ubiquitous The panel for
March 28, for example, illustrated and revealed a few choice facts about
orchestra leader Paul Whiteman. March 29 was devoted to President John
Tyler, while Francisco Goya was featured on March 30.
Sadly, this fared no better with syndicators than any of the
others. "Joe Cipher," "Aunty Climax," "Confessions of a French Poodle,"
"Friends and Foes," "Alpha-Betty," "Blackboard" and "Birthdays" exist only
in Jim’s carefully preserved office files. More’s the pity, because even
the weakest of these strips displays a Puckish wit and clean, attractive
line work too often absent from many of the rushed, imitative strips
that generate little more than reader apathy these days.
Following the dust-up with Schulz and the move to Berkeley, Helga
-- who was delighted by the more rarefied atmosphere of a university
community -- became the family bread-winner. She took a job with a
German importer/exporter and commuted daily across the Bay Bridge.
Eventually succumbing to the need for steady employment, in April
1960 Jim took a job as a graphic designer with Varian, one of the
leading radar companies, located in California’s greater San Francisco
Bay Area. The fit proved comfortable, and he remained with the company
until he retired in 1990.
But the career shift wasn’t immediate; Jim first spent most of 1959
working up his own aforementioned comic strip proposals, and
occasionally sold individual gag cartoons to magazines. But his New
York-based agent took 35% of those one-shots.
"That’s when I started with Varian," Jim recalls, with a chuckle.
"I knew I’d never make it as a gag cartoonist."
Be that as it may, Jim never stopped his cartooning efforts; while
at Varian, he became famous for the birthday cards that he drew for
fellow employees.
Helga, meanwhile, got a job at Stanford, which prompted another
move; the couple then purchased their first home in 1960, in Mountain
View.
Three years later, they moved for what would be the last time. Jim
and his wife paid $28,000 for the house that remains his home to this
day. Just last year the retired artist was offered a cool million bucks
-- in cash -- by a dot-commer who wanted to develop the property. Still
loyal to the memories of his wife, with which the house is filled, Jim
politely declined. Helga died in 1995; he clearly still misses her.
Today, Parkinson’s Disease and the recent stroke have conspired to
deliver the ultimate nightmare Jim no longer can hold a pen well enough
to draw. ("I always marveled at Sparky’s ability to incorporate his
shaking hand into his line work.") But his mind and memory remain
acutely sharp, and his Puckish sense of humor is unbowed. He speaks with
clarity and certainty of his years at Art Instruction School, and with
Schulz, and of his never-successful efforts to market his own original
material.
Jim remains philosophical about his life, and in fact composed
another of his verses to express such feelings
I’m all for equal measures
Losses should be matched by gain;
And since I’ve missed life’s pleasures,
I’ll just double up with pain!
Definitely too harsh, but then we’re always hardest on ourselves.
Jim Sasseville deserves far more than the obscurity into which he has
settled; for a time, he was allied with the man who would become the
world’s most successful cartoonist, and for a time he helped chaperone
the faithfully rendered adventures of Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Linus, Lucy
and the rest ... no small feat.
And I’m particularly transfixed by a remark Jim made during one of
our later phone calls "I don’t know how one should behave, in a
situation like this," he said, referring to our ongoing conversations,
"but it’s like I’ve been resurrected."
Perhaps this article will kick-start our long-overdue obligation to
sing his praises.
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Jim also did the work in the Fritzi Ritz and Tip Top issues during
this time, and it’s important to note that he had a completely free rein
with these comic book stories, handling both art and writing chores.
Fritzi Ritz lasted only four issues under the Dell label, before
being discontinued after #59 (Sept.-Nov. 1958). "Peanuts" did not appear
in #56, but each of the remaining three issues included a new four-page
story by Jim. He also handled the work for Tip Top #211 through #215
(Nov. 1958-Jan. 1959). In Tip Top, Charlie Brown and his friends shared
covers with Nancy, Sluggo, and the Captain and the Kids. Although
unsigned, Schulz drew these "Peanuts" cover panels for issues 211-213,
and Jim handled 214 and 215.
Sasseville did the Peanuts art in these issues of Tip Top, #214 and #215.
(Click on the pages to enlarge them.)
All told, then, Jim drew the interior stories in 20 issues of
Nancy, three issues of Fritzi Ritz, and five issues of Tip Top, along
with Four Color #878. This relationship with Schulz and Dell Comics took
an unexpected turn when the two men parted unhappily, and Jim’s final
work for Dell was the long kite story in the second all-"Peanuts" issue
of Four Color Comics (#969, Feb. 1959), along with the inside front and
inside back cover one-pagers.
The completion of that particular issue became something of a
marathon art session. After announcing that he and Helga would be moving
to Berkeley, Jim took stock of the pending Dell workload, and discovered
that the deadline for the second all-Peanuts issue of Four Color Comics
was imminent. Jim promised to finish this before the move, but Sparky
suggested that the job would proceed faster if they worked on it
together. The two men thus divided the work between them, and began
early one morning with what turned into a lengthy session stretching
well into the evening. During that time, Jim completed the
aforementioned two one-page stories and one eight-page story, while
Sparky handled the remaining one-page story and THREE eight-page
stories.
"There’s no doubt who was the faster artist," Jim notes, with a
chuckle. "He certainly put me in my place!"
Jim still remembers that session as a euphoric rush ... but it
concluded on a gloomy note, when, resting in the happy afterglow of a
job well done, Schulz revealed the fate of "It’s Only a Game" (see
below).
In the aftermath, Schulz also stepped in and handled all the work
for Nancy #169 (August 1959). Clearly, this was a rush job, and Schulz
borrowed from himself The final panel of this four-page story is almost
identical to the final panel of the June 23, 1957, "Peanuts" Sunday
strip. The comic book storyline is an expansion of that Sunday strip,
and the aforementioned final panel in the comic book is signed by Schulz
... the only case where any interior comic book stories bear his
signature.
Because the split was far from amicable, Jim did not follow the
subsequent comic book adventures of Charlie Brown and his friends, in
Nancy and Tip Top. On close examination just a few weeks ago -- in many
cases, seeing this work for the first time -- Jim pointed to specific
poses, characteristics and lettering attributes ("Sparky always rounded
out the bottoms of his W’s") that leave him convinced that Schulz either
penciled and inked the next several issues of both Nancy and Tip Top, or
at least roughed in the panel layout, inked the primary characters --
particularly their heads -- and lettered the word balloons. This seems
likely; carefully examination of individual pages reveals an occasional
Snoopy or Lucy which, not matching the rest, clearly must have been
inked by somebody else.
But Dale Hale, Schulz’s new apprentice and ghost -- and another
associate from Art Instruction Schools -- caught on quickly, and the
artwork in both books retained its Schulz-like characteristics through
roughly late 1960 or early 1961. At this point, other hands clearly took
over -- possibly Tony Pocrnick, another Schulz associate from Art
Instruction -- and the "Peanuts" characters became ever-more distant
from the Schulz ideal until the final issues of Tip Top (#225, May-July
1961) and Nancy. (By then the latter had been retitled Nancy and Sluggo,
and its final five issues were released under the Gold Key imprint; the
book was discontinued with issue #192, October 1963.) The "Peanuts"
artwork in the last issues of both books is, in a word, dreadful.
A third all-"Peanuts" issue of Four Color Comics was produced
(#1015, August-October 1959), after which the characters got their own
book that began with issue #4 (Feb.-April 1960), by way of acknowledging
those first three appearances in Four Color Comics. This lasted through
#13 (May-July 1962), after which the book was discontinued. Each of
these issues features a signed Schulz cover, but other hands --
certainly Hale, at first -- handled all the interior artwork and writing
(which, as with the latter issues of Nancy and Tip Top, grew less
Schulz-like over time).
But what had happened, to sever the friendship between Schulz and
Jim, which stretched back a decade?
Bouncing back a year or so...
Although already quite popular and gaining fans -- and syndicate
clients -- all the time, in 1957 "Peanuts" was not yet the multimedia
sensation it was to become within another decade. Schulz must have had
some free time that needed filling, and therefore was comfortable with
the concept of pitching a second strip concept to United Features
Syndicate. The artist had lots of ideas about games near and dear to his
heart, including golf, tennis, baseball and bridge. No doubt realizing
that twice as much Schulz per week was a good thing, UFS jumped at the
chance, and the sports and recreation-themed "It’s Only a Game" was
born. For awhile, Schulz joined later stars such as Johnny Hart ("B.C."
and "The Wizard of Id"), Mell Lazarus ("Miss Peach" and "Momma") and
Jerry Scott ("Baby Blues" and "Zits"), with two newspaper strips running
simultaneously.
Each installment of "It’s Only a Game, by Charles M. Schulz,"
hearkening back to Schulz’s very early work on "Li’l Folks" in The St.
Paul Pioneer Press, was comprised of three separate single-panel gag
strips. The package was offered to clients in two different formats as
three single-panel strips per week, to run on Mondays, Wednesdays and
Fridays; or as a combined grouping of three that would appear in Sunday
comics sections. The combined Sunday grouping also had a bonus fourth
cartoon a tiny, captionless visual gag -- very much like the
intermarginal gags that Sergio Aragonés would pepper throughout future
issues of Mad Magazine -- that appeared to the right of the title and
Schulz’s byline. The subject matter of the Monday and Wednesday panels
varied from week to week, but the Friday installment always centered
around bridge, the then-popular card game that Schulz loved. (Further
evidence of this affection could be seen in "Peanuts," where the kids
routinely played the game in the early 1950s, and Woodstock and a
foursome of his bird buddies picked it up in the 1970s and beyond.)
Charles Schulz did this January 12, 1958, "It's Only a Game" panel himself. Note his signature within the art of the right-most panel.
During an October 6, 1957, interview with Schulz, the Chicago
Tribune proudly boasted that it would be one of the flagship newspapers
to carry this new feature. The Tribune selected the weekly option, and
ran "It’s Only a Game" in its Sunday magazine. The debut installment
appeared November 3, 1957, and immediately set the tone for what would
follow, with panels devoted to boxing, golf and bridge. The middle panel
is a hoot, with a middle-aged duffer -- one easily can imagine Charlie
Brown in his 40s -- lamenting a putt that has left his ball perched at
the edge of the cup (but not in), and saying, "I think I’m going to
cry."
Subsequent installments covered checkers, bowling, curling (!),
table tennis, croquet, billiards, ice fishing, darts and even camping.
But as 1957 turned into 1958, something must have changed. Perhaps
Schulz had underestimated the amount of time involved with producing a
second weekly newspaper strip; maybe he also was spending more time than
expected overseeing the new "Peanuts" content in the Dell comic books.
Or, more likely, the "Peanuts" empire as a whole was occupying more of
his time; 1958 saw the production of the first "Peanuts" toys -- plastic
dolls of the major characters, produced by Hungerford -- and of course
this was just the tip of an approaching iceberg.
Whatever the reason, Schulz decided to hand over the lion’s share
of the artistic chores to Jim. Schulz’s solo involvement with "It’s Only
a Game" continued through the January 12, 1958, installment; this is the
last one to bear his signature on one of the cartoon panels. (Schulz’s
name continued to run alone in the masthead, however, making Jim a true
ghost.) As of January 19, 1958, Jim -- often working from hastily
penciled sketches and captions supplied by Schulz -- did all the
newspaper strip’s finished art and lettering.
Sasseville did this January 26, 1958, "It's Only a Game" panel himself. Note that Schulz's signature is nowhere to be seen within the art.
Jim vividly remembers this transition date, because just one week later,
with his second time at bat with the solo art chores, he was paid a
singular honor. That week’s Monday panel, a bowling strip, featured
three league players welcoming a fourth, apparently a little tardy, with
the exclamation of, "Three cheers, gang! Our number one man has
arrived!" A loyal reader sent UFS a black-and-white photo of himself
with three friends, staged to look precisely like the four figures in
Jim’s illustration. The "camera angle" was identical, along with
clothing, body position, and everything else in the frame. The
resemblance even extended to the men themselves, who had body shapes and
hairstyles eerily similar to those found in the panel art.
Jim still has the photo.
Sasseville received this photo recreation of his "It's Only a Game" gag from a fan. Note the date stamp at the top of the photo.
The degree to which Jim successfully imitated Schulz’s linework can
be seen by the fact that the transition was seamless; no casual reader
could have discerned that the hand on the inker’s pen had changed.
During the remainder of 1958, the two men continued to work in the same
fashion, Jim often finishing Schulz’s rough concepts, but also
contributing many of his own original ideas. He also inserted the
occasional personal reference; the boat from which a husband and wife
fish, in one of the June 29, 1958, panels, is the Helga, named after
Jim’s wife.
But Jim remembers that he never came up with any of the concepts
for Friday’s bridge panels, for the simple reason that he didn’t know
the game.
Although he labored in anonymity, Jim was well compensated
financially, and he still speaks appreciatively of Sparky’s generosity.
Schulz had negotiated for 50% of the strip’s income, the other half
going to UFS. This 50% amounted to slightly more than $500 per week;
when Jim came on board, Schulz generously gave half of HIS half to his
new partner, and so Jim brought home $250 per week (after expenses) for
his efforts ... quite a lot of money in 1958.
The two men were living in Minneapolis when this collaboration
began; after the first five months, in May 1958, Jim and his wife
followed the Schulz family to Northern California. Lacking a place to
stay in Sebastopol -- not to mention furniture and other amenities --
the Sassevilles first spent a couple of months a bit south, in Corta
Madera. "For two or three weeks, I drew the comic book stuff and ‘It’s
Only a Game’ on a portable drawing board. But I stayed in touch with
Sparky on the phone, and he supplied the ideas for ‘It’s Only a Game.’ "
The Sassevilles then found a home in Sebastopol. Between "It’s Only
a Game" and the work he also was doing for the "Peanuts" strips in the
Dell comic books, Jim was quite gainfully employed by his new partner
and boss.
Unfortunately, it was not to last.
"It’s Only a Game" began with 30 client newspapers; nearly a year
later, it had ... 30 client newspapers.
(A complete client list has been lost to the mists of time, although
it is known that the feature was carried by The Boston Globe, the Detroit
Free Press, The Chicago Tribune, The Minneapolis Tribune, the San Francisco
Chronicle and The Baltimore Sun.)
The strip never took off, despite strong support from fans such as
bridge expert Charles Goren (who wrote a couple of letters), and even
Schulz’s name didn’t seem to make much of a difference.
But we also can assume that the proud and perfectionist-minded
Schulz -- who in later years, as mentioned above, often made a point of
describing how in "Peanuts" he penciled and inked every line, and
lettered every word balloon -- probably was bothered by the fact that he
wasn’t similarly in sole control of "It’s Only a Game." To be sure, he
was INVOLVED, but he wasn’t actually drawing what appeared in those 30
client newspapers.
"He didn’t like his name being used on somebody else’s work," Jim
recalls, "and I don’t blame him for that."
That, coupled with moribund sales and some tension with the head
UFS salesman to whom Schulz initially had pitched the idea, eventually
prompted an astonishing decision In late 1958, just 12 months into a
solid five-year contract, Schulz made it plain to UFS that he wished to
discontinue "It’s Only a Game." Perhaps recognizing that the strip
wasn’t performing as hoped, UFS agreed.
Schulz did not consult Jim before taking this step; indeed, the
news came as a complete shock to Schulz’s ghost, who’d been very happy
with his work, and the strip, and the $250 per week.
Schulz even tried to sugar-coat the news "You’re off the hook,"
Jim recalls his employer saying (as if this were a GOOD thing), at the
end of that euphoric day when they finished work on the second
all-Peanuts issue of Dell’s Four Color Comics. Jim had just assured
Sparky that his pending move to Berkeley would not affect his ability to
work on "It’s Only a Game," and now the rug had been pulled out from
under him.
The fallout was immediate; it certainly was the final straw for
Helga, who already had been dissatisfied with their home in Sebastopol
-- hence the move to Berkeley -- and also was unhappy about the friction
that existed between her and Joyce, Schulz’s first wife. Helga had
endured Nazi Germany, survived the entire war -- in and out of work
camps -- and had lost her father at Dachau; she was not a woman to keep
opinions to herself.
"I realized I was working on a flawed product, which the creator
and marketer wanted nothing more to do with. Still, I had held out the
hope that maybe Sparky might offer the entire feature to me, although I
realized that there’d be problems with the syndicate," Jim admits, a
touch of wistfulness still clouding the memory after more than 40 years.
"They should have been pretty familiar with my work by then."
It didn’t happen. By the time the final installment of "It’s Only a
Game" appeared, on January 11, 1959 -- the two always had worked six
weeks ahead -- Jim and Schulz had severed all relations, professional
and personal. This also included Jim’s ghosting work on the Dell comic
books. The split was permanent, and the two men never reconciled.
Although "It’s Only a Game" ran for 63 consecutive weeks, it
quickly became a fading memory -- and then an overlooked footnote -- in
Schulz’s career. He rarely mentioned it during later interviews, and
then only obliquely, citing neither date specifics nor his collaboration
with Jim.
"We were the best of friends at first," Jim recalls ruefully. He
happily remembers attending the 1951 National Cartoonists Convention
with Sparky, and also another time when they both went to visit and swap
stories with a fellow artist, Robert M. Brinkerhoff, who lived in
Minneapolis and was known for a newspaper strip called "Little Mary
Mix-Up." Brinkerhoff, in turn -- like many other cartoonists at that
time -- greatly admired J.R. Williams (creator of "Out Our Way"), whom
he once described as "the greatest cowboy ever to walk the streets of
New York." Brinkerhoff related how he had wheedled, begged and finally
finagled an invitation to Williams’ ranch in Montana. Although only
interested in seeing the fabulous studio that he assumed his idol must
have on so massive a spread, Brinkerhoff first had to put up with being
shown all the livestock and the other attractions of a working ranch. As
the visit stretched on, Brinkerhoff finally couldn’t stand it any longer
and demanded to see where Williams did his work.
With a resigned sigh (as Jim recalls Brinkerhoff describing this
incident), Williams walked over to his wife’s sewing machine, took off
the cover, and flipped it over ... and that was it The great J.R.
Williams did all his drawing on the cover of his wife’s sewing machine.
As others have observed, there’s never any reason to embrace
technology or an environment any fancier than that required to get the
job done.
Cartoonists love to talk shop, and Jim’s no different; merely
relating this little tale brings a sparkle into his eyes. And, to this
day, he doesn’t really understand what happened between him and Schulz.
"I feel kind of weird about all this. Sparky obviously wanted me to
succeed in the early days, and even was willing to collaborate with me
on one of my own projects (one of the many variations of "Joe Cipher,"
discussed below). But then when he had a chance to really help me out,
he didn’t make any effort whatsoever ... and left me in rather dire
straits."
Such feelings notwithstanding, all these years later Jim is firm on
one point "Charles M. Schulz was the greatest comic strip artist ever."
And although he certainly couldn’t have known it at the time, Jim
never again would earn his living as a cartoonist.
Before, during and after his working association with Schulz, Jim
played around with many of his own ideas.
If persistence counts for anything, he deserves considerable credit
for his ongoing efforts to sell "Joe Cipher" ("a character kinda based
on me"), a daily strip that underwent quite a few transmutations during
the decade-plus that he tried to place it with a syndicate.
The character first appeared in a sample series of daily strips Jim
produced in late 1949. The strip’s gentle humor is faintly reminiscent
of "Gasoline Alley" and other character-driven work of the era; the
title character is introduced driving an old jalopy that obligingly runs
out of gas at a filling station. The silver-tongued Joe, lacking any
money, eventually impresses the station owner into offering him a job;
Joe celebrates by stepping into a nearby diner for lunch, where he’s
immediately smitten by the young woman behind the counter, and...
...and that’s where the presentation panels concluded.
Perhaps feeling that the strip lacked dramatic impact, a few years
later -- while still at AIS -- Jim tried again, shifting the action to a
tiny island in the middle of the ocean, where the shipwrecked Joe is
joined by an attractive young woman named Ginny, survivor of a second
sea-going calamity. (What are the odds?) Although their relationship is
mildly prickly for the first few days, Ginny eventually wishes aloud
that they could be rescued, so that she can go on a "proper date" with
Joe, and perhaps even kiss him when the evening concludes. Once again,
the story cut off abruptly, as Jim produced just two weeks’ worth of
strips enough to (hopefully) interest a buyer.
Sasseville tried several times to place a comic strip starring Joe Cipher, the pleasant-looking chap
featured in these examples. The two left-most strips are taken from the first run Sasseville designed on his own;
the two right-most strips, starring the same character but
in a different setting, are from Sasseville's third
test run; Charles Schulz contributed story input on these.
(Click on the image to see an enlarged version.)
After getting back from his return hitch in the Navy, Jim
went back to work on Joe Cipher and got a nibble from an
unexpected quarter: Something about this particular setting
touched Schulz, who suggested they collaborate on yet
a third incarnation of "Joe Cipher." (At the time, both men still were
unmarried, and it’s not hard to see a little male fantasy
wish-fulfillment at work.) With narrative input from Schulz and Jim
handling the art chores, the scene shifted again, this time to a
typically romantic South Seas setting, on an island large enough to
support a population of curvaceous young cuties and at least one
villain. Joe and Ginny remained the central focus, but this time the
former saw genuine action, on the receiving end of the villain’s fists.
Schulz and Jim took this newest version of "Joe Cipher" to United
Features Syndicate in spring of 1954; it was turned down flat. The
trip to New York wasn't a complete waste, though, because Sasseville
and Schulz caught a couple of plays: a T.S. Elliot drama called
Confidential Clerk, and another called The King of
Hearts, which starred Jackie Cooper as (what are the odds?)
a cartoonist!
Sasseville also remembers going from suite to suite in New
York's Waldorf hotel during this trip, visiting one cartoonist
after another; meeting Al Capp was a high point. But at least
part of the reason for the trip -- the newest Joe Cipher -- proved
unsellable, and Schulz bowed out at that point.
When Jim finally returned to "Joe Cipher," the 1950s were almost
over. Jim’s association with "Peanuts" and "It’s Only a Game" had
concluded, so the writer/artist returned to his favorite unsold
property. Jim recast his hero in yet another new setting, this time a
business office populated by characters clearly derived from his days at
Art Instruction. Although the sample panels display even cleaner, more
attractive line work -- a sure sign of his growing comfort as an artist
-- Jim had no better luck this time around.
Still refusing to abandon hope, Jim tried one more time In early
1960, after having moved to Berkeley, he once again changed the setting
completely, and turned Joe Cipher into "Sir Joe." This Arthurian-based
concept focused on genuinely whimsical gags involving heavy armor,
maidens in distress, and fire-breathing dragons. Jim’s dragons are
particularly funny, and this newest reboot seems ripe with
possibilities; it’s not at all hard to envision a daily strip evolving
from these samples.
Alas, syndicates once again failed to see any potential, and "Joe
Cipher" was put into Jim’s trunk as no more than another engaging
footnote in the artist’s collection of rejection slips.
Jim didn’t confine his efforts to "Joe Cipher"; the writer/artist
had no shortage of ideas, quite a few of which also wound up as
submission concepts. "Aunty Climax," produced in early 1957 -- just
prior to Jim’s ghost work for Dell comics -- was a single-panel gag
strip that starred a feisty little old lady who was far sharper than
most people assumed. She was based on Louise Cassidy, an AIS colleague
who also was the landlady for the building where Jim briefly lived with
Charles Cuddy. Jim produced a few dozen "Aunty Climax" panels, all of
which are vastly superior -- both in terms of writing and artwork -- to
many of the single-panel cartoons cluttering today’s newspapers.
"Confessions of a French Poodle" was a 1959 concept that didn’t
emerge much further than a few finished panels and lots of pencil
sketches; Jim good-naturedly admits that the idea went nowhere, and so
he abandoned it. That may have been shrewd market analysis, as the
medium never has lacked for dog-oriented material. Even so, French
poodles are funny in their own right, and Jim’s concept sketches are a
hoot.
When not working on Peanuts-related material, Sasseville tried to sell many of his own strip ideas
to a syndicate. From left to right, these examples are "Aunty Climax," "Friends and Foes," "Alpha-Betty" and "Happy Birthday."
(Click on the image to see an enlarged version.)
"Friends and Foes," another single-panel tryout, also emerged from
Jim’s pen in 1959. A little later, shortly after he started putting food
on the table with a "real job" -- and perhaps motivated by the explosion
of children’s television shows, which eventually led to "Sesame Street"
and everything that followed -- Jim tried a kid-oriented educational
strip called "Alpha-Betty," which starred a little girl who finds
herself in an other-worldly land populated by men and women shaped like
letters of the alphabet. The personalities of these individuals were
defined by their appearance; curved female letters, for example, were
far more sultry that straight female letters. The strip has a lovely
"Alice in Wonderland" quality, although the concept may have seemed
limiting.
Jim later played with the medium in "Blackboard," a daily strip
designed to be white-on-black, to imitate chalk on a classroom
blackboard. The stars were Dick, Jane and their TeacheR; although not as
overly educational as "Alpha-Betty," this strip also was aimed at young
audiences.
Jim’s final attempt at syndication was produced in the early 1970s,
after he first went into research hibernation, jotting down enough
celebrity birthdays to fill every day of a calendar year. The resulting
single-panel strips were a precursor to the "On this day in history..."
informational nuggets that have become so ubiquitous The panel for
March 28, for example, illustrated and revealed a few choice facts about
orchestra leader Paul Whiteman. March 29 was devoted to President John
Tyler, while Francisco Goya was featured on March 30.
Sadly, this fared no better with syndicators than any of the
others. "Joe Cipher," "Aunty Climax," "Confessions of a French Poodle,"
"Friends and Foes," "Alpha-Betty," "Blackboard" and "Birthdays" exist only
in Jim’s carefully preserved office files. More’s the pity, because even
the weakest of these strips displays a Puckish wit and clean, attractive
line work too often absent from many of the rushed, imitative strips
that generate little more than reader apathy these days.
Following the dust-up with Schulz and the move to Berkeley, Helga
-- who was delighted by the more rarefied atmosphere of a university
community -- became the family bread-winner. She took a job with a
German importer/exporter and commuted daily across the Bay Bridge.
Eventually succumbing to the need for steady employment, in April
1960 Jim took a job as a graphic designer with Varian, one of the
leading radar companies, located in California’s greater San Francisco
Bay Area. The fit proved comfortable, and he remained with the company
until he retired in 1990.
But the career shift wasn’t immediate; Jim first spent most of 1959
working up his own aforementioned comic strip proposals, and
occasionally sold individual gag cartoons to magazines. But his New
York-based agent took 35% of those one-shots.
"That’s when I started with Varian," Jim recalls, with a chuckle.
"I knew I’d never make it as a gag cartoonist."
Be that as it may, Jim never stopped his cartooning efforts; while
at Varian, he became famous for the birthday cards that he drew for
fellow employees.
Helga, meanwhile, got a job at Stanford, which prompted another
move; the couple then purchased their first home in 1960, in Mountain
View.
Three years later, they moved for what would be the last time. Jim
and his wife paid $28,000 for the house that remains his home to this
day. Just last year the retired artist was offered a cool million bucks
-- in cash -- by a dot-commer who wanted to develop the property. Still
loyal to the memories of his wife, with which the house is filled, Jim
politely declined. Helga died in 1995; he clearly still misses her.
Today, Parkinson’s Disease and the recent stroke have conspired to
deliver the ultimate nightmare Jim no longer can hold a pen well enough
to draw. ("I always marveled at Sparky’s ability to incorporate his
shaking hand into his line work.") But his mind and memory remain
acutely sharp, and his Puckish sense of humor is unbowed. He speaks with
clarity and certainty of his years at Art Instruction School, and with
Schulz, and of his never-successful efforts to market his own original
material.
Jim remains philosophical about his life, and in fact composed
another of his verses to express such feelings
I’m all for equal measures
Losses should be matched by gain;
And since I’ve missed life’s pleasures,
I’ll just double up with pain!
Definitely too harsh, but then we’re always hardest on ourselves.
Jim Sasseville deserves far more than the obscurity into which he has
settled; for a time, he was allied with the man who would become the
world’s most successful cartoonist, and for a time he helped chaperone
the faithfully rendered adventures of Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Linus, Lucy
and the rest ... no small feat.
And I’m particularly transfixed by a remark Jim made during one of
our later phone calls "I don’t know how one should behave, in a
situation like this," he said, referring to our ongoing conversations,
"but it’s like I’ve been resurrected."
Perhaps this article will kick-start our long-overdue obligation to
sing his praises.
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By Derrick Bang
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All PEANUTS characters pictured are copyrighted by United Feature Syndicate, Inc. They are used here with permission. They may not be reproduced by any means in any form.
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Sasseville did the Peanuts art in these issues of Tip Top, #214 and #215.
(Click on the pages to enlarge them.)
All told, then, Jim drew the interior stories in 20 issues of
Nancy, three issues of Fritzi Ritz, and five issues of Tip Top, along
with Four Color #878. This relationship with Schulz and Dell Comics took
an unexpected turn when the two men parted unhappily, and Jim’s final
work for Dell was the long kite story in the second all-"Peanuts" issue
of Four Color Comics (#969, Feb. 1959), along with the inside front and
inside back cover one-pagers.
The completion of that particular issue became something of a
marathon art session. After announcing that he and Helga would be moving
to Berkeley, Jim took stock of the pending Dell workload, and discovered
that the deadline for the second all-Peanuts issue of Four Color Comics
was imminent. Jim promised to finish this before the move, but Sparky
suggested that the job would proceed faster if they worked on it
together. The two men thus divided the work between them, and began
early one morning with what turned into a lengthy session stretching
well into the evening. During that time, Jim completed the
aforementioned two one-page stories and one eight-page story, while
Sparky handled the remaining one-page story and THREE eight-page
stories.
"There’s no doubt who was the faster artist," Jim notes, with a
chuckle. "He certainly put me in my place!"
Jim still remembers that session as a euphoric rush ... but it
concluded on a gloomy note, when, resting in the happy afterglow of a
job well done, Schulz revealed the fate of "It’s Only a Game" (see
below).
In the aftermath, Schulz also stepped in and handled all the work
for Nancy #169 (August 1959). Clearly, this was a rush job, and Schulz
borrowed from himself The final panel of this four-page story is almost
identical to the final panel of the June 23, 1957, "Peanuts" Sunday
strip. The comic book storyline is an expansion of that Sunday strip,
and the aforementioned final panel in the comic book is signed by Schulz
... the only case where any interior comic book stories bear his
signature.
Because the split was far from amicable, Jim did not follow the
subsequent comic book adventures of Charlie Brown and his friends, in
Nancy and Tip Top. On close examination just a few weeks ago -- in many
cases, seeing this work for the first time -- Jim pointed to specific
poses, characteristics and lettering attributes ("Sparky always rounded
out the bottoms of his W’s") that leave him convinced that Schulz either
penciled and inked the next several issues of both Nancy and Tip Top, or
at least roughed in the panel layout, inked the primary characters --
particularly their heads -- and lettered the word balloons. This seems
likely; carefully examination of individual pages reveals an occasional
Snoopy or Lucy which, not matching the rest, clearly must have been
inked by somebody else.
But Dale Hale, Schulz’s new apprentice and ghost -- and another
associate from Art Instruction Schools -- caught on quickly, and the
artwork in both books retained its Schulz-like characteristics through
roughly late 1960 or early 1961. At this point, other hands clearly took
over -- possibly Tony Pocrnick, another Schulz associate from Art
Instruction -- and the "Peanuts" characters became ever-more distant
from the Schulz ideal until the final issues of Tip Top (#225, May-July
1961) and Nancy. (By then the latter had been retitled Nancy and Sluggo,
and its final five issues were released under the Gold Key imprint; the
book was discontinued with issue #192, October 1963.) The "Peanuts"
artwork in the last issues of both books is, in a word, dreadful.
A third all-"Peanuts" issue of Four Color Comics was produced
(#1015, August-October 1959), after which the characters got their own
book that began with issue #4 (Feb.-April 1960), by way of acknowledging
those first three appearances in Four Color Comics. This lasted through
#13 (May-July 1962), after which the book was discontinued. Each of
these issues features a signed Schulz cover, but other hands --
certainly Hale, at first -- handled all the interior artwork and writing
(which, as with the latter issues of Nancy and Tip Top, grew less
Schulz-like over time).
But what had happened, to sever the friendship between Schulz and
Jim, which stretched back a decade?
Bouncing back a year or so...
Although already quite popular and gaining fans -- and syndicate
clients -- all the time, in 1957 "Peanuts" was not yet the multimedia
sensation it was to become within another decade. Schulz must have had
some free time that needed filling, and therefore was comfortable with
the concept of pitching a second strip concept to United Features
Syndicate. The artist had lots of ideas about games near and dear to his
heart, including golf, tennis, baseball and bridge. No doubt realizing
that twice as much Schulz per week was a good thing, UFS jumped at the
chance, and the sports and recreation-themed "It’s Only a Game" was
born. For awhile, Schulz joined later stars such as Johnny Hart ("B.C."
and "The Wizard of Id"), Mell Lazarus ("Miss Peach" and "Momma") and
Jerry Scott ("Baby Blues" and "Zits"), with two newspaper strips running
simultaneously.
Each installment of "It’s Only a Game, by Charles M. Schulz,"
hearkening back to Schulz’s very early work on "Li’l Folks" in The St.
Paul Pioneer Press, was comprised of three separate single-panel gag
strips. The package was offered to clients in two different formats as
three single-panel strips per week, to run on Mondays, Wednesdays and
Fridays; or as a combined grouping of three that would appear in Sunday
comics sections. The combined Sunday grouping also had a bonus fourth
cartoon a tiny, captionless visual gag -- very much like the
intermarginal gags that Sergio Aragonés would pepper throughout future
issues of Mad Magazine -- that appeared to the right of the title and
Schulz’s byline. The subject matter of the Monday and Wednesday panels
varied from week to week, but the Friday installment always centered
around bridge, the then-popular card game that Schulz loved. (Further
evidence of this affection could be seen in "Peanuts," where the kids
routinely played the game in the early 1950s, and Woodstock and a
foursome of his bird buddies picked it up in the 1970s and beyond.)
Charles Schulz did this January 12, 1958, "It's Only a Game" panel himself. Note his signature within the art of the right-most panel.
During an October 6, 1957, interview with Schulz, the Chicago
Tribune proudly boasted that it would be one of the flagship newspapers
to carry this new feature. The Tribune selected the weekly option, and
ran "It’s Only a Game" in its Sunday magazine. The debut installment
appeared November 3, 1957, and immediately set the tone for what would
follow, with panels devoted to boxing, golf and bridge. The middle panel
is a hoot, with a middle-aged duffer -- one easily can imagine Charlie
Brown in his 40s -- lamenting a putt that has left his ball perched at
the edge of the cup (but not in), and saying, "I think I’m going to
cry."
Subsequent installments covered checkers, bowling, curling (!),
table tennis, croquet, billiards, ice fishing, darts and even camping.
But as 1957 turned into 1958, something must have changed. Perhaps
Schulz had underestimated the amount of time involved with producing a
second weekly newspaper strip; maybe he also was spending more time than
expected overseeing the new "Peanuts" content in the Dell comic books.
Or, more likely, the "Peanuts" empire as a whole was occupying more of
his time; 1958 saw the production of the first "Peanuts" toys -- plastic
dolls of the major characters, produced by Hungerford -- and of course
this was just the tip of an approaching iceberg.
Whatever the reason, Schulz decided to hand over the lion’s share
of the artistic chores to Jim. Schulz’s solo involvement with "It’s Only
a Game" continued through the January 12, 1958, installment; this is the
last one to bear his signature on one of the cartoon panels. (Schulz’s
name continued to run alone in the masthead, however, making Jim a true
ghost.) As of January 19, 1958, Jim -- often working from hastily
penciled sketches and captions supplied by Schulz -- did all the
newspaper strip’s finished art and lettering.
Sasseville did this January 26, 1958, "It's Only a Game" panel himself. Note that Schulz's signature is nowhere to be seen within the art.
Jim vividly remembers this transition date, because just one week later,
with his second time at bat with the solo art chores, he was paid a
singular honor. That week’s Monday panel, a bowling strip, featured
three league players welcoming a fourth, apparently a little tardy, with
the exclamation of, "Three cheers, gang! Our number one man has
arrived!" A loyal reader sent UFS a black-and-white photo of himself
with three friends, staged to look precisely like the four figures in
Jim’s illustration. The "camera angle" was identical, along with
clothing, body position, and everything else in the frame. The
resemblance even extended to the men themselves, who had body shapes and
hairstyles eerily similar to those found in the panel art.
Jim still has the photo.
Sasseville received this photo recreation of his "It's Only a Game" gag from a fan. Note the date stamp at the top of the photo.
The degree to which Jim successfully imitated Schulz’s linework can
be seen by the fact that the transition was seamless; no casual reader
could have discerned that the hand on the inker’s pen had changed.
During the remainder of 1958, the two men continued to work in the same
fashion, Jim often finishing Schulz’s rough concepts, but also
contributing many of his own original ideas. He also inserted the
occasional personal reference; the boat from which a husband and wife
fish, in one of the June 29, 1958, panels, is the Helga, named after
Jim’s wife.
But Jim remembers that he never came up with any of the concepts
for Friday’s bridge panels, for the simple reason that he didn’t know
the game.
Although he labored in anonymity, Jim was well compensated
financially, and he still speaks appreciatively of Sparky’s generosity.
Schulz had negotiated for 50% of the strip’s income, the other half
going to UFS. This 50% amounted to slightly more than $500 per week;
when Jim came on board, Schulz generously gave half of HIS half to his
new partner, and so Jim brought home $250 per week (after expenses) for
his efforts ... quite a lot of money in 1958.
The two men were living in Minneapolis when this collaboration
began; after the first five months, in May 1958, Jim and his wife
followed the Schulz family to Northern California. Lacking a place to
stay in Sebastopol -- not to mention furniture and other amenities --
the Sassevilles first spent a couple of months a bit south, in Corta
Madera. "For two or three weeks, I drew the comic book stuff and ‘It’s
Only a Game’ on a portable drawing board. But I stayed in touch with
Sparky on the phone, and he supplied the ideas for ‘It’s Only a Game.’ "
The Sassevilles then found a home in Sebastopol. Between "It’s Only
a Game" and the work he also was doing for the "Peanuts" strips in the
Dell comic books, Jim was quite gainfully employed by his new partner
and boss.
Unfortunately, it was not to last.
"It’s Only a Game" began with 30 client newspapers; nearly a year
later, it had ... 30 client newspapers.
(A complete client list has been lost to the mists of time, although
it is known that the feature was carried by The Boston Globe, the Detroit
Free Press, The Chicago Tribune, The Minneapolis Tribune, the San Francisco
Chronicle and The Baltimore Sun.)
The strip never took off, despite strong support from fans such as
bridge expert Charles Goren (who wrote a couple of letters), and even
Schulz’s name didn’t seem to make much of a difference.
But we also can assume that the proud and perfectionist-minded
Schulz -- who in later years, as mentioned above, often made a point of
describing how in "Peanuts" he penciled and inked every line, and
lettered every word balloon -- probably was bothered by the fact that he
wasn’t similarly in sole control of "It’s Only a Game." To be sure, he
was INVOLVED, but he wasn’t actually drawing what appeared in those 30
client newspapers.
"He didn’t like his name being used on somebody else’s work," Jim
recalls, "and I don’t blame him for that."
That, coupled with moribund sales and some tension with the head
UFS salesman to whom Schulz initially had pitched the idea, eventually
prompted an astonishing decision In late 1958, just 12 months into a
solid five-year contract, Schulz made it plain to UFS that he wished to
discontinue "It’s Only a Game." Perhaps recognizing that the strip
wasn’t performing as hoped, UFS agreed.
Schulz did not consult Jim before taking this step; indeed, the
news came as a complete shock to Schulz’s ghost, who’d been very happy
with his work, and the strip, and the $250 per week.
Schulz even tried to sugar-coat the news "You’re off the hook,"
Jim recalls his employer saying (as if this were a GOOD thing), at the
end of that euphoric day when they finished work on the second
all-Peanuts issue of Dell’s Four Color Comics. Jim had just assured
Sparky that his pending move to Berkeley would not affect his ability to
work on "It’s Only a Game," and now the rug had been pulled out from
under him.
The fallout was immediate; it certainly was the final straw for
Helga, who already had been dissatisfied with their home in Sebastopol
-- hence the move to Berkeley -- and also was unhappy about the friction
that existed between her and Joyce, Schulz’s first wife. Helga had
endured Nazi Germany, survived the entire war -- in and out of work
camps -- and had lost her father at Dachau; she was not a woman to keep
opinions to herself.
"I realized I was working on a flawed product, which the creator
and marketer wanted nothing more to do with. Still, I had held out the
hope that maybe Sparky might offer the entire feature to me, although I
realized that there’d be problems with the syndicate," Jim admits, a
touch of wistfulness still clouding the memory after more than 40 years.
"They should have been pretty familiar with my work by then."
It didn’t happen. By the time the final installment of "It’s Only a
Game" appeared, on January 11, 1959 -- the two always had worked six
weeks ahead -- Jim and Schulz had severed all relations, professional
and personal. This also included Jim’s ghosting work on the Dell comic
books. The split was permanent, and the two men never reconciled.
Although "It’s Only a Game" ran for 63 consecutive weeks, it
quickly became a fading memory -- and then an overlooked footnote -- in
Schulz’s career. He rarely mentioned it during later interviews, and
then only obliquely, citing neither date specifics nor his collaboration
with Jim.
"We were the best of friends at first," Jim recalls ruefully. He
happily remembers attending the 1951 National Cartoonists Convention
with Sparky, and also another time when they both went to visit and swap
stories with a fellow artist, Robert M. Brinkerhoff, who lived in
Minneapolis and was known for a newspaper strip called "Little Mary
Mix-Up." Brinkerhoff, in turn -- like many other cartoonists at that
time -- greatly admired J.R. Williams (creator of "Out Our Way"), whom
he once described as "the greatest cowboy ever to walk the streets of
New York." Brinkerhoff related how he had wheedled, begged and finally
finagled an invitation to Williams’ ranch in Montana. Although only
interested in seeing the fabulous studio that he assumed his idol must
have on so massive a spread, Brinkerhoff first had to put up with being
shown all the livestock and the other attractions of a working ranch. As
the visit stretched on, Brinkerhoff finally couldn’t stand it any longer
and demanded to see where Williams did his work.
With a resigned sigh (as Jim recalls Brinkerhoff describing this
incident), Williams walked over to his wife’s sewing machine, took off
the cover, and flipped it over ... and that was it The great J.R.
Williams did all his drawing on the cover of his wife’s sewing machine.
As others have observed, there’s never any reason to embrace
technology or an environment any fancier than that required to get the
job done.
Cartoonists love to talk shop, and Jim’s no different; merely
relating this little tale brings a sparkle into his eyes. And, to this
day, he doesn’t really understand what happened between him and Schulz.
"I feel kind of weird about all this. Sparky obviously wanted me to
succeed in the early days, and even was willing to collaborate with me
on one of my own projects (one of the many variations of "Joe Cipher,"
discussed below). But then when he had a chance to really help me out,
he didn’t make any effort whatsoever ... and left me in rather dire
straits."
Such feelings notwithstanding, all these years later Jim is firm on
one point "Charles M. Schulz was the greatest comic strip artist ever."
And although he certainly couldn’t have known it at the time, Jim
never again would earn his living as a cartoonist.
Before, during and after his working association with Schulz, Jim
played around with many of his own ideas.
If persistence counts for anything, he deserves considerable credit
for his ongoing efforts to sell "Joe Cipher" ("a character kinda based
on me"), a daily strip that underwent quite a few transmutations during
the decade-plus that he tried to place it with a syndicate.
The character first appeared in a sample series of daily strips Jim
produced in late 1949. The strip’s gentle humor is faintly reminiscent
of "Gasoline Alley" and other character-driven work of the era; the
title character is introduced driving an old jalopy that obligingly runs
out of gas at a filling station. The silver-tongued Joe, lacking any
money, eventually impresses the station owner into offering him a job;
Joe celebrates by stepping into a nearby diner for lunch, where he’s
immediately smitten by the young woman behind the counter, and...
...and that’s where the presentation panels concluded.
Perhaps feeling that the strip lacked dramatic impact, a few years
later -- while still at AIS -- Jim tried again, shifting the action to a
tiny island in the middle of the ocean, where the shipwrecked Joe is
joined by an attractive young woman named Ginny, survivor of a second
sea-going calamity. (What are the odds?) Although their relationship is
mildly prickly for the first few days, Ginny eventually wishes aloud
that they could be rescued, so that she can go on a "proper date" with
Joe, and perhaps even kiss him when the evening concludes. Once again,
the story cut off abruptly, as Jim produced just two weeks’ worth of
strips enough to (hopefully) interest a buyer.
Sasseville tried several times to place a comic strip starring Joe Cipher, the pleasant-looking chap
featured in these examples. The two left-most strips are taken from the first run Sasseville designed on his own;
the two right-most strips, starring the same character but
in a different setting, are from Sasseville's third
test run; Charles Schulz contributed story input on these.
(Click on the image to see an enlarged version.)
After getting back from his return hitch in the Navy, Jim
went back to work on Joe Cipher and got a nibble from an
unexpected quarter: Something about this particular setting
touched Schulz, who suggested they collaborate on yet
a third incarnation of "Joe Cipher." (At the time, both men still were
unmarried, and it’s not hard to see a little male fantasy
wish-fulfillment at work.) With narrative input from Schulz and Jim
handling the art chores, the scene shifted again, this time to a
typically romantic South Seas setting, on an island large enough to
support a population of curvaceous young cuties and at least one
villain. Joe and Ginny remained the central focus, but this time the
former saw genuine action, on the receiving end of the villain’s fists.
Schulz and Jim took this newest version of "Joe Cipher" to United
Features Syndicate in spring of 1954; it was turned down flat. The
trip to New York wasn't a complete waste, though, because Sasseville
and Schulz caught a couple of plays: a T.S. Elliot drama called
Confidential Clerk, and another called The King of
Hearts, which starred Jackie Cooper as (what are the odds?)
a cartoonist!
Sasseville also remembers going from suite to suite in New
York's Waldorf hotel during this trip, visiting one cartoonist
after another; meeting Al Capp was a high point. But at least
part of the reason for the trip -- the newest Joe Cipher -- proved
unsellable, and Schulz bowed out at that point.
When Jim finally returned to "Joe Cipher," the 1950s were almost
over. Jim’s association with "Peanuts" and "It’s Only a Game" had
concluded, so the writer/artist returned to his favorite unsold
property. Jim recast his hero in yet another new setting, this time a
business office populated by characters clearly derived from his days at
Art Instruction. Although the sample panels display even cleaner, more
attractive line work -- a sure sign of his growing comfort as an artist
-- Jim had no better luck this time around.
Still refusing to abandon hope, Jim tried one more time In early
1960, after having moved to Berkeley, he once again changed the setting
completely, and turned Joe Cipher into "Sir Joe." This Arthurian-based
concept focused on genuinely whimsical gags involving heavy armor,
maidens in distress, and fire-breathing dragons. Jim’s dragons are
particularly funny, and this newest reboot seems ripe with
possibilities; it’s not at all hard to envision a daily strip evolving
from these samples.
Alas, syndicates once again failed to see any potential, and "Joe
Cipher" was put into Jim’s trunk as no more than another engaging
footnote in the artist’s collection of rejection slips.
Jim didn’t confine his efforts to "Joe Cipher"; the writer/artist
had no shortage of ideas, quite a few of which also wound up as
submission concepts. "Aunty Climax," produced in early 1957 -- just
prior to Jim’s ghost work for Dell comics -- was a single-panel gag
strip that starred a feisty little old lady who was far sharper than
most people assumed. She was based on Louise Cassidy, an AIS colleague
who also was the landlady for the building where Jim briefly lived with
Charles Cuddy. Jim produced a few dozen "Aunty Climax" panels, all of
which are vastly superior -- both in terms of writing and artwork -- to
many of the single-panel cartoons cluttering today’s newspapers.
"Confessions of a French Poodle" was a 1959 concept that didn’t
emerge much further than a few finished panels and lots of pencil
sketches; Jim good-naturedly admits that the idea went nowhere, and so
he abandoned it. That may have been shrewd market analysis, as the
medium never has lacked for dog-oriented material. Even so, French
poodles are funny in their own right, and Jim’s concept sketches are a
hoot.
When not working on Peanuts-related material, Sasseville tried to sell many of his own strip ideas
to a syndicate. From left to right, these examples are "Aunty Climax," "Friends and Foes," "Alpha-Betty" and "Happy Birthday."
(Click on the image to see an enlarged version.)
"Friends and Foes," another single-panel tryout, also emerged from
Jim’s pen in 1959. A little later, shortly after he started putting food
on the table with a "real job" -- and perhaps motivated by the explosion
of children’s television shows, which eventually led to "Sesame Street"
and everything that followed -- Jim tried a kid-oriented educational
strip called "Alpha-Betty," which starred a little girl who finds
herself in an other-worldly land populated by men and women shaped like
letters of the alphabet. The personalities of these individuals were
defined by their appearance; curved female letters, for example, were
far more sultry that straight female letters. The strip has a lovely
"Alice in Wonderland" quality, although the concept may have seemed
limiting.
Jim later played with the medium in "Blackboard," a daily strip
designed to be white-on-black, to imitate chalk on a classroom
blackboard. The stars were Dick, Jane and their TeacheR; although not as
overly educational as "Alpha-Betty," this strip also was aimed at young
audiences.
Jim’s final attempt at syndication was produced in the early 1970s,
after he first went into research hibernation, jotting down enough
celebrity birthdays to fill every day of a calendar year. The resulting
single-panel strips were a precursor to the "On this day in history..."
informational nuggets that have become so ubiquitous The panel for
March 28, for example, illustrated and revealed a few choice facts about
orchestra leader Paul Whiteman. March 29 was devoted to President John
Tyler, while Francisco Goya was featured on March 30.
Sadly, this fared no better with syndicators than any of the
others. "Joe Cipher," "Aunty Climax," "Confessions of a French Poodle,"
"Friends and Foes," "Alpha-Betty," "Blackboard" and "Birthdays" exist only
in Jim’s carefully preserved office files. More’s the pity, because even
the weakest of these strips displays a Puckish wit and clean, attractive
line work too often absent from many of the rushed, imitative strips
that generate little more than reader apathy these days.
Following the dust-up with Schulz and the move to Berkeley, Helga
-- who was delighted by the more rarefied atmosphere of a university
community -- became the family bread-winner. She took a job with a
German importer/exporter and commuted daily across the Bay Bridge.
Eventually succumbing to the need for steady employment, in April
1960 Jim took a job as a graphic designer with Varian, one of the
leading radar companies, located in California’s greater San Francisco
Bay Area. The fit proved comfortable, and he remained with the company
until he retired in 1990.
But the career shift wasn’t immediate; Jim first spent most of 1959
working up his own aforementioned comic strip proposals, and
occasionally sold individual gag cartoons to magazines. But his New
York-based agent took 35% of those one-shots.
"That’s when I started with Varian," Jim recalls, with a chuckle.
"I knew I’d never make it as a gag cartoonist."
Be that as it may, Jim never stopped his cartooning efforts; while
at Varian, he became famous for the birthday cards that he drew for
fellow employees.
Helga, meanwhile, got a job at Stanford, which prompted another
move; the couple then purchased their first home in 1960, in Mountain
View.
Three years later, they moved for what would be the last time. Jim
and his wife paid $28,000 for the house that remains his home to this
day. Just last year the retired artist was offered a cool million bucks
-- in cash -- by a dot-commer who wanted to develop the property. Still
loyal to the memories of his wife, with which the house is filled, Jim
politely declined. Helga died in 1995; he clearly still misses her.
Today, Parkinson’s Disease and the recent stroke have conspired to
deliver the ultimate nightmare Jim no longer can hold a pen well enough
to draw. ("I always marveled at Sparky’s ability to incorporate his
shaking hand into his line work.") But his mind and memory remain
acutely sharp, and his Puckish sense of humor is unbowed. He speaks with
clarity and certainty of his years at Art Instruction School, and with
Schulz, and of his never-successful efforts to market his own original
material.
Jim remains philosophical about his life, and in fact composed
another of his verses to express such feelings
I’m all for equal measures
Losses should be matched by gain;
And since I’ve missed life’s pleasures,
I’ll just double up with pain!
Definitely too harsh, but then we’re always hardest on ourselves.
Jim Sasseville deserves far more than the obscurity into which he has
settled; for a time, he was allied with the man who would become the
world’s most successful cartoonist, and for a time he helped chaperone
the faithfully rendered adventures of Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Linus, Lucy
and the rest ... no small feat.
And I’m particularly transfixed by a remark Jim made during one of
our later phone calls "I don’t know how one should behave, in a
situation like this," he said, referring to our ongoing conversations,
"but it’s like I’ve been resurrected."
Perhaps this article will kick-start our long-overdue obligation to
sing his praises.
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(Click on the pages to enlarge them.)
The completion of that particular issue became something of a
marathon art session. After announcing that he and Helga would be moving
to Berkeley, Jim took stock of the pending Dell workload, and discovered
that the deadline for the second all-Peanuts issue of Four Color Comics
was imminent. Jim promised to finish this before the move, but Sparky
suggested that the job would proceed faster if they worked on it
together. The two men thus divided the work between them, and began
early one morning with what turned into a lengthy session stretching
well into the evening. During that time, Jim completed the
aforementioned two one-page stories and one eight-page story, while
Sparky handled the remaining one-page story and THREE eight-page
stories.
"There’s no doubt who was the faster artist," Jim notes, with a
chuckle. "He certainly put me in my place!"
Jim still remembers that session as a euphoric rush ... but it
concluded on a gloomy note, when, resting in the happy afterglow of a
job well done, Schulz revealed the fate of "It’s Only a Game" (see
below).
In the aftermath, Schulz also stepped in and handled all the work
for Nancy #169 (August 1959). Clearly, this was a rush job, and Schulz
borrowed from himself The final panel of this four-page story is almost
identical to the final panel of the June 23, 1957, "Peanuts" Sunday
strip. The comic book storyline is an expansion of that Sunday strip,
and the aforementioned final panel in the comic book is signed by Schulz
... the only case where any interior comic book stories bear his
signature.
Because the split was far from amicable, Jim did not follow the
subsequent comic book adventures of Charlie Brown and his friends, in
Nancy and Tip Top. On close examination just a few weeks ago -- in many
cases, seeing this work for the first time -- Jim pointed to specific
poses, characteristics and lettering attributes ("Sparky always rounded
out the bottoms of his W’s") that leave him convinced that Schulz either
penciled and inked the next several issues of both Nancy and Tip Top, or
at least roughed in the panel layout, inked the primary characters --
particularly their heads -- and lettered the word balloons. This seems
likely; carefully examination of individual pages reveals an occasional
Snoopy or Lucy which, not matching the rest, clearly must have been
inked by somebody else.
But Dale Hale, Schulz’s new apprentice and ghost -- and another
associate from Art Instruction Schools -- caught on quickly, and the
artwork in both books retained its Schulz-like characteristics through
roughly late 1960 or early 1961. At this point, other hands clearly took
over -- possibly Tony Pocrnick, another Schulz associate from Art
Instruction -- and the "Peanuts" characters became ever-more distant
from the Schulz ideal until the final issues of Tip Top (#225, May-July
1961) and Nancy. (By then the latter had been retitled Nancy and Sluggo,
and its final five issues were released under the Gold Key imprint; the
book was discontinued with issue #192, October 1963.) The "Peanuts"
artwork in the last issues of both books is, in a word, dreadful.
A third all-"Peanuts" issue of Four Color Comics was produced
(#1015, August-October 1959), after which the characters got their own
book that began with issue #4 (Feb.-April 1960), by way of acknowledging
those first three appearances in Four Color Comics. This lasted through
#13 (May-July 1962), after which the book was discontinued. Each of
these issues features a signed Schulz cover, but other hands --
certainly Hale, at first -- handled all the interior artwork and writing
(which, as with the latter issues of Nancy and Tip Top, grew less
Schulz-like over time).
But what had happened, to sever the friendship between Schulz and
Jim, which stretched back a decade?
Bouncing back a year or so...
Although already quite popular and gaining fans -- and syndicate
clients -- all the time, in 1957 "Peanuts" was not yet the multimedia
sensation it was to become within another decade. Schulz must have had
some free time that needed filling, and therefore was comfortable with
the concept of pitching a second strip concept to United Features
Syndicate. The artist had lots of ideas about games near and dear to his
heart, including golf, tennis, baseball and bridge. No doubt realizing
that twice as much Schulz per week was a good thing, UFS jumped at the
chance, and the sports and recreation-themed "It’s Only a Game" was
born. For awhile, Schulz joined later stars such as Johnny Hart ("B.C."
and "The Wizard of Id"), Mell Lazarus ("Miss Peach" and "Momma") and
Jerry Scott ("Baby Blues" and "Zits"), with two newspaper strips running
simultaneously.
Each installment of "It’s Only a Game, by Charles M. Schulz,"
hearkening back to Schulz’s very early work on "Li’l Folks" in The St.
Paul Pioneer Press, was comprised of three separate single-panel gag
strips. The package was offered to clients in two different formats as
three single-panel strips per week, to run on Mondays, Wednesdays and
Fridays; or as a combined grouping of three that would appear in Sunday
comics sections. The combined Sunday grouping also had a bonus fourth
cartoon a tiny, captionless visual gag -- very much like the
intermarginal gags that Sergio Aragonés would pepper throughout future
issues of Mad Magazine -- that appeared to the right of the title and
Schulz’s byline. The subject matter of the Monday and Wednesday panels
varied from week to week, but the Friday installment always centered
around bridge, the then-popular card game that Schulz loved. (Further
evidence of this affection could be seen in "Peanuts," where the kids
routinely played the game in the early 1950s, and Woodstock and a
foursome of his bird buddies picked it up in the 1970s and beyond.)
Charles Schulz did this January 12, 1958, "It's Only a Game" panel himself. Note his signature within the art of the right-most panel.
During an October 6, 1957, interview with Schulz, the Chicago
Tribune proudly boasted that it would be one of the flagship newspapers
to carry this new feature. The Tribune selected the weekly option, and
ran "It’s Only a Game" in its Sunday magazine. The debut installment
appeared November 3, 1957, and immediately set the tone for what would
follow, with panels devoted to boxing, golf and bridge. The middle panel
is a hoot, with a middle-aged duffer -- one easily can imagine Charlie
Brown in his 40s -- lamenting a putt that has left his ball perched at
the edge of the cup (but not in), and saying, "I think I’m going to
cry."
Subsequent installments covered checkers, bowling, curling (!),
table tennis, croquet, billiards, ice fishing, darts and even camping.
But as 1957 turned into 1958, something must have changed. Perhaps
Schulz had underestimated the amount of time involved with producing a
second weekly newspaper strip; maybe he also was spending more time than
expected overseeing the new "Peanuts" content in the Dell comic books.
Or, more likely, the "Peanuts" empire as a whole was occupying more of
his time; 1958 saw the production of the first "Peanuts" toys -- plastic
dolls of the major characters, produced by Hungerford -- and of course
this was just the tip of an approaching iceberg.
Whatever the reason, Schulz decided to hand over the lion’s share
of the artistic chores to Jim. Schulz’s solo involvement with "It’s Only
a Game" continued through the January 12, 1958, installment; this is the
last one to bear his signature on one of the cartoon panels. (Schulz’s
name continued to run alone in the masthead, however, making Jim a true
ghost.) As of January 19, 1958, Jim -- often working from hastily
penciled sketches and captions supplied by Schulz -- did all the
newspaper strip’s finished art and lettering.
Sasseville did this January 26, 1958, "It's Only a Game" panel himself. Note that Schulz's signature is nowhere to be seen within the art.
Jim vividly remembers this transition date, because just one week later,
with his second time at bat with the solo art chores, he was paid a
singular honor. That week’s Monday panel, a bowling strip, featured
three league players welcoming a fourth, apparently a little tardy, with
the exclamation of, "Three cheers, gang! Our number one man has
arrived!" A loyal reader sent UFS a black-and-white photo of himself
with three friends, staged to look precisely like the four figures in
Jim’s illustration. The "camera angle" was identical, along with
clothing, body position, and everything else in the frame. The
resemblance even extended to the men themselves, who had body shapes and
hairstyles eerily similar to those found in the panel art.
Jim still has the photo.
Sasseville received this photo recreation of his "It's Only a Game" gag from a fan. Note the date stamp at the top of the photo.
The degree to which Jim successfully imitated Schulz’s linework can
be seen by the fact that the transition was seamless; no casual reader
could have discerned that the hand on the inker’s pen had changed.
During the remainder of 1958, the two men continued to work in the same
fashion, Jim often finishing Schulz’s rough concepts, but also
contributing many of his own original ideas. He also inserted the
occasional personal reference; the boat from which a husband and wife
fish, in one of the June 29, 1958, panels, is the Helga, named after
Jim’s wife.
But Jim remembers that he never came up with any of the concepts
for Friday’s bridge panels, for the simple reason that he didn’t know
the game.
Although he labored in anonymity, Jim was well compensated
financially, and he still speaks appreciatively of Sparky’s generosity.
Schulz had negotiated for 50% of the strip’s income, the other half
going to UFS. This 50% amounted to slightly more than $500 per week;
when Jim came on board, Schulz generously gave half of HIS half to his
new partner, and so Jim brought home $250 per week (after expenses) for
his efforts ... quite a lot of money in 1958.
The two men were living in Minneapolis when this collaboration
began; after the first five months, in May 1958, Jim and his wife
followed the Schulz family to Northern California. Lacking a place to
stay in Sebastopol -- not to mention furniture and other amenities --
the Sassevilles first spent a couple of months a bit south, in Corta
Madera. "For two or three weeks, I drew the comic book stuff and ‘It’s
Only a Game’ on a portable drawing board. But I stayed in touch with
Sparky on the phone, and he supplied the ideas for ‘It’s Only a Game.’ "
The Sassevilles then found a home in Sebastopol. Between "It’s Only
a Game" and the work he also was doing for the "Peanuts" strips in the
Dell comic books, Jim was quite gainfully employed by his new partner
and boss.
Unfortunately, it was not to last.
"It’s Only a Game" began with 30 client newspapers; nearly a year
later, it had ... 30 client newspapers.
(A complete client list has been lost to the mists of time, although
it is known that the feature was carried by The Boston Globe, the Detroit
Free Press, The Chicago Tribune, The Minneapolis Tribune, the San Francisco
Chronicle and The Baltimore Sun.)
The strip never took off, despite strong support from fans such as
bridge expert Charles Goren (who wrote a couple of letters), and even
Schulz’s name didn’t seem to make much of a difference.
But we also can assume that the proud and perfectionist-minded
Schulz -- who in later years, as mentioned above, often made a point of
describing how in "Peanuts" he penciled and inked every line, and
lettered every word balloon -- probably was bothered by the fact that he
wasn’t similarly in sole control of "It’s Only a Game." To be sure, he
was INVOLVED, but he wasn’t actually drawing what appeared in those 30
client newspapers.
"He didn’t like his name being used on somebody else’s work," Jim
recalls, "and I don’t blame him for that."
That, coupled with moribund sales and some tension with the head
UFS salesman to whom Schulz initially had pitched the idea, eventually
prompted an astonishing decision In late 1958, just 12 months into a
solid five-year contract, Schulz made it plain to UFS that he wished to
discontinue "It’s Only a Game." Perhaps recognizing that the strip
wasn’t performing as hoped, UFS agreed.
Schulz did not consult Jim before taking this step; indeed, the
news came as a complete shock to Schulz’s ghost, who’d been very happy
with his work, and the strip, and the $250 per week.
Schulz even tried to sugar-coat the news "You’re off the hook,"
Jim recalls his employer saying (as if this were a GOOD thing), at the
end of that euphoric day when they finished work on the second
all-Peanuts issue of Dell’s Four Color Comics. Jim had just assured
Sparky that his pending move to Berkeley would not affect his ability to
work on "It’s Only a Game," and now the rug had been pulled out from
under him.
The fallout was immediate; it certainly was the final straw for
Helga, who already had been dissatisfied with their home in Sebastopol
-- hence the move to Berkeley -- and also was unhappy about the friction
that existed between her and Joyce, Schulz’s first wife. Helga had
endured Nazi Germany, survived the entire war -- in and out of work
camps -- and had lost her father at Dachau; she was not a woman to keep
opinions to herself.
"I realized I was working on a flawed product, which the creator
and marketer wanted nothing more to do with. Still, I had held out the
hope that maybe Sparky might offer the entire feature to me, although I
realized that there’d be problems with the syndicate," Jim admits, a
touch of wistfulness still clouding the memory after more than 40 years.
"They should have been pretty familiar with my work by then."
It didn’t happen. By the time the final installment of "It’s Only a
Game" appeared, on January 11, 1959 -- the two always had worked six
weeks ahead -- Jim and Schulz had severed all relations, professional
and personal. This also included Jim’s ghosting work on the Dell comic
books. The split was permanent, and the two men never reconciled.
Although "It’s Only a Game" ran for 63 consecutive weeks, it
quickly became a fading memory -- and then an overlooked footnote -- in
Schulz’s career. He rarely mentioned it during later interviews, and
then only obliquely, citing neither date specifics nor his collaboration
with Jim.
"We were the best of friends at first," Jim recalls ruefully. He
happily remembers attending the 1951 National Cartoonists Convention
with Sparky, and also another time when they both went to visit and swap
stories with a fellow artist, Robert M. Brinkerhoff, who lived in
Minneapolis and was known for a newspaper strip called "Little Mary
Mix-Up." Brinkerhoff, in turn -- like many other cartoonists at that
time -- greatly admired J.R. Williams (creator of "Out Our Way"), whom
he once described as "the greatest cowboy ever to walk the streets of
New York." Brinkerhoff related how he had wheedled, begged and finally
finagled an invitation to Williams’ ranch in Montana. Although only
interested in seeing the fabulous studio that he assumed his idol must
have on so massive a spread, Brinkerhoff first had to put up with being
shown all the livestock and the other attractions of a working ranch. As
the visit stretched on, Brinkerhoff finally couldn’t stand it any longer
and demanded to see where Williams did his work.
With a resigned sigh (as Jim recalls Brinkerhoff describing this
incident), Williams walked over to his wife’s sewing machine, took off
the cover, and flipped it over ... and that was it The great J.R.
Williams did all his drawing on the cover of his wife’s sewing machine.
As others have observed, there’s never any reason to embrace
technology or an environment any fancier than that required to get the
job done.
Cartoonists love to talk shop, and Jim’s no different; merely
relating this little tale brings a sparkle into his eyes. And, to this
day, he doesn’t really understand what happened between him and Schulz.
"I feel kind of weird about all this. Sparky obviously wanted me to
succeed in the early days, and even was willing to collaborate with me
on one of my own projects (one of the many variations of "Joe Cipher,"
discussed below). But then when he had a chance to really help me out,
he didn’t make any effort whatsoever ... and left me in rather dire
straits."
Such feelings notwithstanding, all these years later Jim is firm on
one point "Charles M. Schulz was the greatest comic strip artist ever."
And although he certainly couldn’t have known it at the time, Jim
never again would earn his living as a cartoonist.
Before, during and after his working association with Schulz, Jim
played around with many of his own ideas.
If persistence counts for anything, he deserves considerable credit
for his ongoing efforts to sell "Joe Cipher" ("a character kinda based
on me"), a daily strip that underwent quite a few transmutations during
the decade-plus that he tried to place it with a syndicate.
The character first appeared in a sample series of daily strips Jim
produced in late 1949. The strip’s gentle humor is faintly reminiscent
of "Gasoline Alley" and other character-driven work of the era; the
title character is introduced driving an old jalopy that obligingly runs
out of gas at a filling station. The silver-tongued Joe, lacking any
money, eventually impresses the station owner into offering him a job;
Joe celebrates by stepping into a nearby diner for lunch, where he’s
immediately smitten by the young woman behind the counter, and...
...and that’s where the presentation panels concluded.
Perhaps feeling that the strip lacked dramatic impact, a few years
later -- while still at AIS -- Jim tried again, shifting the action to a
tiny island in the middle of the ocean, where the shipwrecked Joe is
joined by an attractive young woman named Ginny, survivor of a second
sea-going calamity. (What are the odds?) Although their relationship is
mildly prickly for the first few days, Ginny eventually wishes aloud
that they could be rescued, so that she can go on a "proper date" with
Joe, and perhaps even kiss him when the evening concludes. Once again,
the story cut off abruptly, as Jim produced just two weeks’ worth of
strips enough to (hopefully) interest a buyer.
Sasseville tried several times to place a comic strip starring Joe Cipher, the pleasant-looking chap
featured in these examples. The two left-most strips are taken from the first run Sasseville designed on his own;
the two right-most strips, starring the same character but
in a different setting, are from Sasseville's third
test run; Charles Schulz contributed story input on these.
(Click on the image to see an enlarged version.)
After getting back from his return hitch in the Navy, Jim
went back to work on Joe Cipher and got a nibble from an
unexpected quarter: Something about this particular setting
touched Schulz, who suggested they collaborate on yet
a third incarnation of "Joe Cipher." (At the time, both men still were
unmarried, and it’s not hard to see a little male fantasy
wish-fulfillment at work.) With narrative input from Schulz and Jim
handling the art chores, the scene shifted again, this time to a
typically romantic South Seas setting, on an island large enough to
support a population of curvaceous young cuties and at least one
villain. Joe and Ginny remained the central focus, but this time the
former saw genuine action, on the receiving end of the villain’s fists.
Schulz and Jim took this newest version of "Joe Cipher" to United
Features Syndicate in spring of 1954; it was turned down flat. The
trip to New York wasn't a complete waste, though, because Sasseville
and Schulz caught a couple of plays: a T.S. Elliot drama called
Confidential Clerk, and another called The King of
Hearts, which starred Jackie Cooper as (what are the odds?)
a cartoonist!
Sasseville also remembers going from suite to suite in New
York's Waldorf hotel during this trip, visiting one cartoonist
after another; meeting Al Capp was a high point. But at least
part of the reason for the trip -- the newest Joe Cipher -- proved
unsellable, and Schulz bowed out at that point.
When Jim finally returned to "Joe Cipher," the 1950s were almost
over. Jim’s association with "Peanuts" and "It’s Only a Game" had
concluded, so the writer/artist returned to his favorite unsold
property. Jim recast his hero in yet another new setting, this time a
business office populated by characters clearly derived from his days at
Art Instruction. Although the sample panels display even cleaner, more
attractive line work -- a sure sign of his growing comfort as an artist
-- Jim had no better luck this time around.
Still refusing to abandon hope, Jim tried one more time In early
1960, after having moved to Berkeley, he once again changed the setting
completely, and turned Joe Cipher into "Sir Joe." This Arthurian-based
concept focused on genuinely whimsical gags involving heavy armor,
maidens in distress, and fire-breathing dragons. Jim’s dragons are
particularly funny, and this newest reboot seems ripe with
possibilities; it’s not at all hard to envision a daily strip evolving
from these samples.
Alas, syndicates once again failed to see any potential, and "Joe
Cipher" was put into Jim’s trunk as no more than another engaging
footnote in the artist’s collection of rejection slips.
Jim didn’t confine his efforts to "Joe Cipher"; the writer/artist
had no shortage of ideas, quite a few of which also wound up as
submission concepts. "Aunty Climax," produced in early 1957 -- just
prior to Jim’s ghost work for Dell comics -- was a single-panel gag
strip that starred a feisty little old lady who was far sharper than
most people assumed. She was based on Louise Cassidy, an AIS colleague
who also was the landlady for the building where Jim briefly lived with
Charles Cuddy. Jim produced a few dozen "Aunty Climax" panels, all of
which are vastly superior -- both in terms of writing and artwork -- to
many of the single-panel cartoons cluttering today’s newspapers.
"Confessions of a French Poodle" was a 1959 concept that didn’t
emerge much further than a few finished panels and lots of pencil
sketches; Jim good-naturedly admits that the idea went nowhere, and so
he abandoned it. That may have been shrewd market analysis, as the
medium never has lacked for dog-oriented material. Even so, French
poodles are funny in their own right, and Jim’s concept sketches are a
hoot.
When not working on Peanuts-related material, Sasseville tried to sell many of his own strip ideas
to a syndicate. From left to right, these examples are "Aunty Climax," "Friends and Foes," "Alpha-Betty" and "Happy Birthday."
(Click on the image to see an enlarged version.)
"Friends and Foes," another single-panel tryout, also emerged from
Jim’s pen in 1959. A little later, shortly after he started putting food
on the table with a "real job" -- and perhaps motivated by the explosion
of children’s television shows, which eventually led to "Sesame Street"
and everything that followed -- Jim tried a kid-oriented educational
strip called "Alpha-Betty," which starred a little girl who finds
herself in an other-worldly land populated by men and women shaped like
letters of the alphabet. The personalities of these individuals were
defined by their appearance; curved female letters, for example, were
far more sultry that straight female letters. The strip has a lovely
"Alice in Wonderland" quality, although the concept may have seemed
limiting.
Jim later played with the medium in "Blackboard," a daily strip
designed to be white-on-black, to imitate chalk on a classroom
blackboard. The stars were Dick, Jane and their TeacheR; although not as
overly educational as "Alpha-Betty," this strip also was aimed at young
audiences.
Jim’s final attempt at syndication was produced in the early 1970s,
after he first went into research hibernation, jotting down enough
celebrity birthdays to fill every day of a calendar year. The resulting
single-panel strips were a precursor to the "On this day in history..."
informational nuggets that have become so ubiquitous The panel for
March 28, for example, illustrated and revealed a few choice facts about
orchestra leader Paul Whiteman. March 29 was devoted to President John
Tyler, while Francisco Goya was featured on March 30.
Sadly, this fared no better with syndicators than any of the
others. "Joe Cipher," "Aunty Climax," "Confessions of a French Poodle,"
"Friends and Foes," "Alpha-Betty," "Blackboard" and "Birthdays" exist only
in Jim’s carefully preserved office files. More’s the pity, because even
the weakest of these strips displays a Puckish wit and clean, attractive
line work too often absent from many of the rushed, imitative strips
that generate little more than reader apathy these days.
Following the dust-up with Schulz and the move to Berkeley, Helga
-- who was delighted by the more rarefied atmosphere of a university
community -- became the family bread-winner. She took a job with a
German importer/exporter and commuted daily across the Bay Bridge.
Eventually succumbing to the need for steady employment, in April
1960 Jim took a job as a graphic designer with Varian, one of the
leading radar companies, located in California’s greater San Francisco
Bay Area. The fit proved comfortable, and he remained with the company
until he retired in 1990.
But the career shift wasn’t immediate; Jim first spent most of 1959
working up his own aforementioned comic strip proposals, and
occasionally sold individual gag cartoons to magazines. But his New
York-based agent took 35% of those one-shots.
"That’s when I started with Varian," Jim recalls, with a chuckle.
"I knew I’d never make it as a gag cartoonist."
Be that as it may, Jim never stopped his cartooning efforts; while
at Varian, he became famous for the birthday cards that he drew for
fellow employees.
Helga, meanwhile, got a job at Stanford, which prompted another
move; the couple then purchased their first home in 1960, in Mountain
View.
Three years later, they moved for what would be the last time. Jim
and his wife paid $28,000 for the house that remains his home to this
day. Just last year the retired artist was offered a cool million bucks
-- in cash -- by a dot-commer who wanted to develop the property. Still
loyal to the memories of his wife, with which the house is filled, Jim
politely declined. Helga died in 1995; he clearly still misses her.
Today, Parkinson’s Disease and the recent stroke have conspired to
deliver the ultimate nightmare Jim no longer can hold a pen well enough
to draw. ("I always marveled at Sparky’s ability to incorporate his
shaking hand into his line work.") But his mind and memory remain
acutely sharp, and his Puckish sense of humor is unbowed. He speaks with
clarity and certainty of his years at Art Instruction School, and with
Schulz, and of his never-successful efforts to market his own original
material.
Jim remains philosophical about his life, and in fact composed
another of his verses to express such feelings
I’m all for equal measures
Losses should be matched by gain;
And since I’ve missed life’s pleasures,
I’ll just double up with pain!
Definitely too harsh, but then we’re always hardest on ourselves.
Jim Sasseville deserves far more than the obscurity into which he has
settled; for a time, he was allied with the man who would become the
world’s most successful cartoonist, and for a time he helped chaperone
the faithfully rendered adventures of Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Linus, Lucy
and the rest ... no small feat.
And I’m particularly transfixed by a remark Jim made during one of
our later phone calls "I don’t know how one should behave, in a
situation like this," he said, referring to our ongoing conversations,
"but it’s like I’ve been resurrected."
Perhaps this article will kick-start our long-overdue obligation to
sing his praises.
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Jim still remembers that session as a euphoric rush ... but it
concluded on a gloomy note, when, resting in the happy afterglow of a
job well done, Schulz revealed the fate of "It’s Only a Game" (see
below).
In the aftermath, Schulz also stepped in and handled all the work
for Nancy #169 (August 1959). Clearly, this was a rush job, and Schulz
borrowed from himself The final panel of this four-page story is almost
identical to the final panel of the June 23, 1957, "Peanuts" Sunday
strip. The comic book storyline is an expansion of that Sunday strip,
and the aforementioned final panel in the comic book is signed by Schulz
... the only case where any interior comic book stories bear his
signature.
Because the split was far from amicable, Jim did not follow the
subsequent comic book adventures of Charlie Brown and his friends, in
Nancy and Tip Top. On close examination just a few weeks ago -- in many
cases, seeing this work for the first time -- Jim pointed to specific
poses, characteristics and lettering attributes ("Sparky always rounded
out the bottoms of his W’s") that leave him convinced that Schulz either
penciled and inked the next several issues of both Nancy and Tip Top, or
at least roughed in the panel layout, inked the primary characters --
particularly their heads -- and lettered the word balloons. This seems
likely; carefully examination of individual pages reveals an occasional
Snoopy or Lucy which, not matching the rest, clearly must have been
inked by somebody else.
But Dale Hale, Schulz’s new apprentice and ghost -- and another
associate from Art Instruction Schools -- caught on quickly, and the
artwork in both books retained its Schulz-like characteristics through
roughly late 1960 or early 1961. At this point, other hands clearly took
over -- possibly Tony Pocrnick, another Schulz associate from Art
Instruction -- and the "Peanuts" characters became ever-more distant
from the Schulz ideal until the final issues of Tip Top (#225, May-July
1961) and Nancy. (By then the latter had been retitled Nancy and Sluggo,
and its final five issues were released under the Gold Key imprint; the
book was discontinued with issue #192, October 1963.) The "Peanuts"
artwork in the last issues of both books is, in a word, dreadful.
A third all-"Peanuts" issue of Four Color Comics was produced
(#1015, August-October 1959), after which the characters got their own
book that began with issue #4 (Feb.-April 1960), by way of acknowledging
those first three appearances in Four Color Comics. This lasted through
#13 (May-July 1962), after which the book was discontinued. Each of
these issues features a signed Schulz cover, but other hands --
certainly Hale, at first -- handled all the interior artwork and writing
(which, as with the latter issues of Nancy and Tip Top, grew less
Schulz-like over time).
But what had happened, to sever the friendship between Schulz and
Jim, which stretched back a decade?
Bouncing back a year or so...
Although already quite popular and gaining fans -- and syndicate
clients -- all the time, in 1957 "Peanuts" was not yet the multimedia
sensation it was to become within another decade. Schulz must have had
some free time that needed filling, and therefore was comfortable with
the concept of pitching a second strip concept to United Features
Syndicate. The artist had lots of ideas about games near and dear to his
heart, including golf, tennis, baseball and bridge. No doubt realizing
that twice as much Schulz per week was a good thing, UFS jumped at the
chance, and the sports and recreation-themed "It’s Only a Game" was
born. For awhile, Schulz joined later stars such as Johnny Hart ("B.C."
and "The Wizard of Id"), Mell Lazarus ("Miss Peach" and "Momma") and
Jerry Scott ("Baby Blues" and "Zits"), with two newspaper strips running
simultaneously.
Each installment of "It’s Only a Game, by Charles M. Schulz,"
hearkening back to Schulz’s very early work on "Li’l Folks" in The St.
Paul Pioneer Press, was comprised of three separate single-panel gag
strips. The package was offered to clients in two different formats as
three single-panel strips per week, to run on Mondays, Wednesdays and
Fridays; or as a combined grouping of three that would appear in Sunday
comics sections. The combined Sunday grouping also had a bonus fourth
cartoon a tiny, captionless visual gag -- very much like the
intermarginal gags that Sergio Aragonés would pepper throughout future
issues of Mad Magazine -- that appeared to the right of the title and
Schulz’s byline. The subject matter of the Monday and Wednesday panels
varied from week to week, but the Friday installment always centered
around bridge, the then-popular card game that Schulz loved. (Further
evidence of this affection could be seen in "Peanuts," where the kids
routinely played the game in the early 1950s, and Woodstock and a
foursome of his bird buddies picked it up in the 1970s and beyond.)
Charles Schulz did this January 12, 1958, "It's Only a Game" panel himself. Note his signature within the art of the right-most panel.
During an October 6, 1957, interview with Schulz, the Chicago
Tribune proudly boasted that it would be one of the flagship newspapers
to carry this new feature. The Tribune selected the weekly option, and
ran "It’s Only a Game" in its Sunday magazine. The debut installment
appeared November 3, 1957, and immediately set the tone for what would
follow, with panels devoted to boxing, golf and bridge. The middle panel
is a hoot, with a middle-aged duffer -- one easily can imagine Charlie
Brown in his 40s -- lamenting a putt that has left his ball perched at
the edge of the cup (but not in), and saying, "I think I’m going to
cry."
Subsequent installments covered checkers, bowling, curling (!),
table tennis, croquet, billiards, ice fishing, darts and even camping.
But as 1957 turned into 1958, something must have changed. Perhaps
Schulz had underestimated the amount of time involved with producing a
second weekly newspaper strip; maybe he also was spending more time than
expected overseeing the new "Peanuts" content in the Dell comic books.
Or, more likely, the "Peanuts" empire as a whole was occupying more of
his time; 1958 saw the production of the first "Peanuts" toys -- plastic
dolls of the major characters, produced by Hungerford -- and of course
this was just the tip of an approaching iceberg.
Whatever the reason, Schulz decided to hand over the lion’s share
of the artistic chores to Jim. Schulz’s solo involvement with "It’s Only
a Game" continued through the January 12, 1958, installment; this is the
last one to bear his signature on one of the cartoon panels. (Schulz’s
name continued to run alone in the masthead, however, making Jim a true
ghost.) As of January 19, 1958, Jim -- often working from hastily
penciled sketches and captions supplied by Schulz -- did all the
newspaper strip’s finished art and lettering.
Sasseville did this January 26, 1958, "It's Only a Game" panel himself. Note that Schulz's signature is nowhere to be seen within the art.
Jim vividly remembers this transition date, because just one week later,
with his second time at bat with the solo art chores, he was paid a
singular honor. That week’s Monday panel, a bowling strip, featured
three league players welcoming a fourth, apparently a little tardy, with
the exclamation of, "Three cheers, gang! Our number one man has
arrived!" A loyal reader sent UFS a black-and-white photo of himself
with three friends, staged to look precisely like the four figures in
Jim’s illustration. The "camera angle" was identical, along with
clothing, body position, and everything else in the frame. The
resemblance even extended to the men themselves, who had body shapes and
hairstyles eerily similar to those found in the panel art.
Jim still has the photo.
Sasseville received this photo recreation of his "It's Only a Game" gag from a fan. Note the date stamp at the top of the photo.
The degree to which Jim successfully imitated Schulz’s linework can
be seen by the fact that the transition was seamless; no casual reader
could have discerned that the hand on the inker’s pen had changed.
During the remainder of 1958, the two men continued to work in the same
fashion, Jim often finishing Schulz’s rough concepts, but also
contributing many of his own original ideas. He also inserted the
occasional personal reference; the boat from which a husband and wife
fish, in one of the June 29, 1958, panels, is the Helga, named after
Jim’s wife.
But Jim remembers that he never came up with any of the concepts
for Friday’s bridge panels, for the simple reason that he didn’t know
the game.
Although he labored in anonymity, Jim was well compensated
financially, and he still speaks appreciatively of Sparky’s generosity.
Schulz had negotiated for 50% of the strip’s income, the other half
going to UFS. This 50% amounted to slightly more than $500 per week;
when Jim came on board, Schulz generously gave half of HIS half to his
new partner, and so Jim brought home $250 per week (after expenses) for
his efforts ... quite a lot of money in 1958.
The two men were living in Minneapolis when this collaboration
began; after the first five months, in May 1958, Jim and his wife
followed the Schulz family to Northern California. Lacking a place to
stay in Sebastopol -- not to mention furniture and other amenities --
the Sassevilles first spent a couple of months a bit south, in Corta
Madera. "For two or three weeks, I drew the comic book stuff and ‘It’s
Only a Game’ on a portable drawing board. But I stayed in touch with
Sparky on the phone, and he supplied the ideas for ‘It’s Only a Game.’ "
The Sassevilles then found a home in Sebastopol. Between "It’s Only
a Game" and the work he also was doing for the "Peanuts" strips in the
Dell comic books, Jim was quite gainfully employed by his new partner
and boss.
Unfortunately, it was not to last.
"It’s Only a Game" began with 30 client newspapers; nearly a year
later, it had ... 30 client newspapers.
(A complete client list has been lost to the mists of time, although
it is known that the feature was carried by The Boston Globe, the Detroit
Free Press, The Chicago Tribune, The Minneapolis Tribune, the San Francisco
Chronicle and The Baltimore Sun.)
The strip never took off, despite strong support from fans such as
bridge expert Charles Goren (who wrote a couple of letters), and even
Schulz’s name didn’t seem to make much of a difference.
But we also can assume that the proud and perfectionist-minded
Schulz -- who in later years, as mentioned above, often made a point of
describing how in "Peanuts" he penciled and inked every line, and
lettered every word balloon -- probably was bothered by the fact that he
wasn’t similarly in sole control of "It’s Only a Game." To be sure, he
was INVOLVED, but he wasn’t actually drawing what appeared in those 30
client newspapers.
"He didn’t like his name being used on somebody else’s work," Jim
recalls, "and I don’t blame him for that."
That, coupled with moribund sales and some tension with the head
UFS salesman to whom Schulz initially had pitched the idea, eventually
prompted an astonishing decision In late 1958, just 12 months into a
solid five-year contract, Schulz made it plain to UFS that he wished to
discontinue "It’s Only a Game." Perhaps recognizing that the strip
wasn’t performing as hoped, UFS agreed.
Schulz did not consult Jim before taking this step; indeed, the
news came as a complete shock to Schulz’s ghost, who’d been very happy
with his work, and the strip, and the $250 per week.
Schulz even tried to sugar-coat the news "You’re off the hook,"
Jim recalls his employer saying (as if this were a GOOD thing), at the
end of that euphoric day when they finished work on the second
all-Peanuts issue of Dell’s Four Color Comics. Jim had just assured
Sparky that his pending move to Berkeley would not affect his ability to
work on "It’s Only a Game," and now the rug had been pulled out from
under him.
The fallout was immediate; it certainly was the final straw for
Helga, who already had been dissatisfied with their home in Sebastopol
-- hence the move to Berkeley -- and also was unhappy about the friction
that existed between her and Joyce, Schulz’s first wife. Helga had
endured Nazi Germany, survived the entire war -- in and out of work
camps -- and had lost her father at Dachau; she was not a woman to keep
opinions to herself.
"I realized I was working on a flawed product, which the creator
and marketer wanted nothing more to do with. Still, I had held out the
hope that maybe Sparky might offer the entire feature to me, although I
realized that there’d be problems with the syndicate," Jim admits, a
touch of wistfulness still clouding the memory after more than 40 years.
"They should have been pretty familiar with my work by then."
It didn’t happen. By the time the final installment of "It’s Only a
Game" appeared, on January 11, 1959 -- the two always had worked six
weeks ahead -- Jim and Schulz had severed all relations, professional
and personal. This also included Jim’s ghosting work on the Dell comic
books. The split was permanent, and the two men never reconciled.
Although "It’s Only a Game" ran for 63 consecutive weeks, it
quickly became a fading memory -- and then an overlooked footnote -- in
Schulz’s career. He rarely mentioned it during later interviews, and
then only obliquely, citing neither date specifics nor his collaboration
with Jim.
"We were the best of friends at first," Jim recalls ruefully. He
happily remembers attending the 1951 National Cartoonists Convention
with Sparky, and also another time when they both went to visit and swap
stories with a fellow artist, Robert M. Brinkerhoff, who lived in
Minneapolis and was known for a newspaper strip called "Little Mary
Mix-Up." Brinkerhoff, in turn -- like many other cartoonists at that
time -- greatly admired J.R. Williams (creator of "Out Our Way"), whom
he once described as "the greatest cowboy ever to walk the streets of
New York." Brinkerhoff related how he had wheedled, begged and finally
finagled an invitation to Williams’ ranch in Montana. Although only
interested in seeing the fabulous studio that he assumed his idol must
have on so massive a spread, Brinkerhoff first had to put up with being
shown all the livestock and the other attractions of a working ranch. As
the visit stretched on, Brinkerhoff finally couldn’t stand it any longer
and demanded to see where Williams did his work.
With a resigned sigh (as Jim recalls Brinkerhoff describing this
incident), Williams walked over to his wife’s sewing machine, took off
the cover, and flipped it over ... and that was it The great J.R.
Williams did all his drawing on the cover of his wife’s sewing machine.
As others have observed, there’s never any reason to embrace
technology or an environment any fancier than that required to get the
job done.
Cartoonists love to talk shop, and Jim’s no different; merely
relating this little tale brings a sparkle into his eyes. And, to this
day, he doesn’t really understand what happened between him and Schulz.
"I feel kind of weird about all this. Sparky obviously wanted me to
succeed in the early days, and even was willing to collaborate with me
on one of my own projects (one of the many variations of "Joe Cipher,"
discussed below). But then when he had a chance to really help me out,
he didn’t make any effort whatsoever ... and left me in rather dire
straits."
Such feelings notwithstanding, all these years later Jim is firm on
one point "Charles M. Schulz was the greatest comic strip artist ever."
And although he certainly couldn’t have known it at the time, Jim
never again would earn his living as a cartoonist.
Before, during and after his working association with Schulz, Jim
played around with many of his own ideas.
If persistence counts for anything, he deserves considerable credit
for his ongoing efforts to sell "Joe Cipher" ("a character kinda based
on me"), a daily strip that underwent quite a few transmutations during
the decade-plus that he tried to place it with a syndicate.
The character first appeared in a sample series of daily strips Jim
produced in late 1949. The strip’s gentle humor is faintly reminiscent
of "Gasoline Alley" and other character-driven work of the era; the
title character is introduced driving an old jalopy that obligingly runs
out of gas at a filling station. The silver-tongued Joe, lacking any
money, eventually impresses the station owner into offering him a job;
Joe celebrates by stepping into a nearby diner for lunch, where he’s
immediately smitten by the young woman behind the counter, and...
...and that’s where the presentation panels concluded.
Perhaps feeling that the strip lacked dramatic impact, a few years
later -- while still at AIS -- Jim tried again, shifting the action to a
tiny island in the middle of the ocean, where the shipwrecked Joe is
joined by an attractive young woman named Ginny, survivor of a second
sea-going calamity. (What are the odds?) Although their relationship is
mildly prickly for the first few days, Ginny eventually wishes aloud
that they could be rescued, so that she can go on a "proper date" with
Joe, and perhaps even kiss him when the evening concludes. Once again,
the story cut off abruptly, as Jim produced just two weeks’ worth of
strips enough to (hopefully) interest a buyer.
Sasseville tried several times to place a comic strip starring Joe Cipher, the pleasant-looking chap
featured in these examples. The two left-most strips are taken from the first run Sasseville designed on his own;
the two right-most strips, starring the same character but
in a different setting, are from Sasseville's third
test run; Charles Schulz contributed story input on these.
(Click on the image to see an enlarged version.)
After getting back from his return hitch in the Navy, Jim
went back to work on Joe Cipher and got a nibble from an
unexpected quarter: Something about this particular setting
touched Schulz, who suggested they collaborate on yet
a third incarnation of "Joe Cipher." (At the time, both men still were
unmarried, and it’s not hard to see a little male fantasy
wish-fulfillment at work.) With narrative input from Schulz and Jim
handling the art chores, the scene shifted again, this time to a
typically romantic South Seas setting, on an island large enough to
support a population of curvaceous young cuties and at least one
villain. Joe and Ginny remained the central focus, but this time the
former saw genuine action, on the receiving end of the villain’s fists.
Schulz and Jim took this newest version of "Joe Cipher" to United
Features Syndicate in spring of 1954; it was turned down flat. The
trip to New York wasn't a complete waste, though, because Sasseville
and Schulz caught a couple of plays: a T.S. Elliot drama called
Confidential Clerk, and another called The King of
Hearts, which starred Jackie Cooper as (what are the odds?)
a cartoonist!
Sasseville also remembers going from suite to suite in New
York's Waldorf hotel during this trip, visiting one cartoonist
after another; meeting Al Capp was a high point. But at least
part of the reason for the trip -- the newest Joe Cipher -- proved
unsellable, and Schulz bowed out at that point.
When Jim finally returned to "Joe Cipher," the 1950s were almost
over. Jim’s association with "Peanuts" and "It’s Only a Game" had
concluded, so the writer/artist returned to his favorite unsold
property. Jim recast his hero in yet another new setting, this time a
business office populated by characters clearly derived from his days at
Art Instruction. Although the sample panels display even cleaner, more
attractive line work -- a sure sign of his growing comfort as an artist
-- Jim had no better luck this time around.
Still refusing to abandon hope, Jim tried one more time In early
1960, after having moved to Berkeley, he once again changed the setting
completely, and turned Joe Cipher into "Sir Joe." This Arthurian-based
concept focused on genuinely whimsical gags involving heavy armor,
maidens in distress, and fire-breathing dragons. Jim’s dragons are
particularly funny, and this newest reboot seems ripe with
possibilities; it’s not at all hard to envision a daily strip evolving
from these samples.
Alas, syndicates once again failed to see any potential, and "Joe
Cipher" was put into Jim’s trunk as no more than another engaging
footnote in the artist’s collection of rejection slips.
Jim didn’t confine his efforts to "Joe Cipher"; the writer/artist
had no shortage of ideas, quite a few of which also wound up as
submission concepts. "Aunty Climax," produced in early 1957 -- just
prior to Jim’s ghost work for Dell comics -- was a single-panel gag
strip that starred a feisty little old lady who was far sharper than
most people assumed. She was based on Louise Cassidy, an AIS colleague
who also was the landlady for the building where Jim briefly lived with
Charles Cuddy. Jim produced a few dozen "Aunty Climax" panels, all of
which are vastly superior -- both in terms of writing and artwork -- to
many of the single-panel cartoons cluttering today’s newspapers.
"Confessions of a French Poodle" was a 1959 concept that didn’t
emerge much further than a few finished panels and lots of pencil
sketches; Jim good-naturedly admits that the idea went nowhere, and so
he abandoned it. That may have been shrewd market analysis, as the
medium never has lacked for dog-oriented material. Even so, French
poodles are funny in their own right, and Jim’s concept sketches are a
hoot.
When not working on Peanuts-related material, Sasseville tried to sell many of his own strip ideas
to a syndicate. From left to right, these examples are "Aunty Climax," "Friends and Foes," "Alpha-Betty" and "Happy Birthday."
(Click on the image to see an enlarged version.)
"Friends and Foes," another single-panel tryout, also emerged from
Jim’s pen in 1959. A little later, shortly after he started putting food
on the table with a "real job" -- and perhaps motivated by the explosion
of children’s television shows, which eventually led to "Sesame Street"
and everything that followed -- Jim tried a kid-oriented educational
strip called "Alpha-Betty," which starred a little girl who finds
herself in an other-worldly land populated by men and women shaped like
letters of the alphabet. The personalities of these individuals were
defined by their appearance; curved female letters, for example, were
far more sultry that straight female letters. The strip has a lovely
"Alice in Wonderland" quality, although the concept may have seemed
limiting.
Jim later played with the medium in "Blackboard," a daily strip
designed to be white-on-black, to imitate chalk on a classroom
blackboard. The stars were Dick, Jane and their TeacheR; although not as
overly educational as "Alpha-Betty," this strip also was aimed at young
audiences.
Jim’s final attempt at syndication was produced in the early 1970s,
after he first went into research hibernation, jotting down enough
celebrity birthdays to fill every day of a calendar year. The resulting
single-panel strips were a precursor to the "On this day in history..."
informational nuggets that have become so ubiquitous The panel for
March 28, for example, illustrated and revealed a few choice facts about
orchestra leader Paul Whiteman. March 29 was devoted to President John
Tyler, while Francisco Goya was featured on March 30.
Sadly, this fared no better with syndicators than any of the
others. "Joe Cipher," "Aunty Climax," "Confessions of a French Poodle,"
"Friends and Foes," "Alpha-Betty," "Blackboard" and "Birthdays" exist only
in Jim’s carefully preserved office files. More’s the pity, because even
the weakest of these strips displays a Puckish wit and clean, attractive
line work too often absent from many of the rushed, imitative strips
that generate little more than reader apathy these days.
Following the dust-up with Schulz and the move to Berkeley, Helga
-- who was delighted by the more rarefied atmosphere of a university
community -- became the family bread-winner. She took a job with a
German importer/exporter and commuted daily across the Bay Bridge.
Eventually succumbing to the need for steady employment, in April
1960 Jim took a job as a graphic designer with Varian, one of the
leading radar companies, located in California’s greater San Francisco
Bay Area. The fit proved comfortable, and he remained with the company
until he retired in 1990.
But the career shift wasn’t immediate; Jim first spent most of 1959
working up his own aforementioned comic strip proposals, and
occasionally sold individual gag cartoons to magazines. But his New
York-based agent took 35% of those one-shots.
"That’s when I started with Varian," Jim recalls, with a chuckle.
"I knew I’d never make it as a gag cartoonist."
Be that as it may, Jim never stopped his cartooning efforts; while
at Varian, he became famous for the birthday cards that he drew for
fellow employees.
Helga, meanwhile, got a job at Stanford, which prompted another
move; the couple then purchased their first home in 1960, in Mountain
View.
Three years later, they moved for what would be the last time. Jim
and his wife paid $28,000 for the house that remains his home to this
day. Just last year the retired artist was offered a cool million bucks
-- in cash -- by a dot-commer who wanted to develop the property. Still
loyal to the memories of his wife, with which the house is filled, Jim
politely declined. Helga died in 1995; he clearly still misses her.
Today, Parkinson’s Disease and the recent stroke have conspired to
deliver the ultimate nightmare Jim no longer can hold a pen well enough
to draw. ("I always marveled at Sparky’s ability to incorporate his
shaking hand into his line work.") But his mind and memory remain
acutely sharp, and his Puckish sense of humor is unbowed. He speaks with
clarity and certainty of his years at Art Instruction School, and with
Schulz, and of his never-successful efforts to market his own original
material.
Jim remains philosophical about his life, and in fact composed
another of his verses to express such feelings
I’m all for equal measures
Losses should be matched by gain;
And since I’ve missed life’s pleasures,
I’ll just double up with pain!
Definitely too harsh, but then we’re always hardest on ourselves.
Jim Sasseville deserves far more than the obscurity into which he has
settled; for a time, he was allied with the man who would become the
world’s most successful cartoonist, and for a time he helped chaperone
the faithfully rendered adventures of Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Linus, Lucy
and the rest ... no small feat.
And I’m particularly transfixed by a remark Jim made during one of
our later phone calls "I don’t know how one should behave, in a
situation like this," he said, referring to our ongoing conversations,
"but it’s like I’ve been resurrected."
Perhaps this article will kick-start our long-overdue obligation to
sing his praises.
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By Derrick Bang
Legal Matters
All PEANUTS characters pictured are copyrighted by United Feature Syndicate, Inc. They are used here with permission. They may not be reproduced by any means in any form.
Because the split was far from amicable, Jim did not follow the
subsequent comic book adventures of Charlie Brown and his friends, in
Nancy and Tip Top. On close examination just a few weeks ago -- in many
cases, seeing this work for the first time -- Jim pointed to specific
poses, characteristics and lettering attributes ("Sparky always rounded
out the bottoms of his W’s") that leave him convinced that Schulz either
penciled and inked the next several issues of both Nancy and Tip Top, or
at least roughed in the panel layout, inked the primary characters --
particularly their heads -- and lettered the word balloons. This seems
likely; carefully examination of individual pages reveals an occasional
Snoopy or Lucy which, not matching the rest, clearly must have been
inked by somebody else.
But Dale Hale, Schulz’s new apprentice and ghost -- and another
associate from Art Instruction Schools -- caught on quickly, and the
artwork in both books retained its Schulz-like characteristics through
roughly late 1960 or early 1961. At this point, other hands clearly took
over -- possibly Tony Pocrnick, another Schulz associate from Art
Instruction -- and the "Peanuts" characters became ever-more distant
from the Schulz ideal until the final issues of Tip Top (#225, May-July
1961) and Nancy. (By then the latter had been retitled Nancy and Sluggo,
and its final five issues were released under the Gold Key imprint; the
book was discontinued with issue #192, October 1963.) The "Peanuts"
artwork in the last issues of both books is, in a word, dreadful.
A third all-"Peanuts" issue of Four Color Comics was produced
(#1015, August-October 1959), after which the characters got their own
book that began with issue #4 (Feb.-April 1960), by way of acknowledging
those first three appearances in Four Color Comics. This lasted through
#13 (May-July 1962), after which the book was discontinued. Each of
these issues features a signed Schulz cover, but other hands --
certainly Hale, at first -- handled all the interior artwork and writing
(which, as with the latter issues of Nancy and Tip Top, grew less
Schulz-like over time).
But what had happened, to sever the friendship between Schulz and
Jim, which stretched back a decade?
Bouncing back a year or so...
Although already quite popular and gaining fans -- and syndicate
clients -- all the time, in 1957 "Peanuts" was not yet the multimedia
sensation it was to become within another decade. Schulz must have had
some free time that needed filling, and therefore was comfortable with
the concept of pitching a second strip concept to United Features
Syndicate. The artist had lots of ideas about games near and dear to his
heart, including golf, tennis, baseball and bridge. No doubt realizing
that twice as much Schulz per week was a good thing, UFS jumped at the
chance, and the sports and recreation-themed "It’s Only a Game" was
born. For awhile, Schulz joined later stars such as Johnny Hart ("B.C."
and "The Wizard of Id"), Mell Lazarus ("Miss Peach" and "Momma") and
Jerry Scott ("Baby Blues" and "Zits"), with two newspaper strips running
simultaneously.
Each installment of "It’s Only a Game, by Charles M. Schulz,"
hearkening back to Schulz’s very early work on "Li’l Folks" in The St.
Paul Pioneer Press, was comprised of three separate single-panel gag
strips. The package was offered to clients in two different formats as
three single-panel strips per week, to run on Mondays, Wednesdays and
Fridays; or as a combined grouping of three that would appear in Sunday
comics sections. The combined Sunday grouping also had a bonus fourth
cartoon a tiny, captionless visual gag -- very much like the
intermarginal gags that Sergio Aragonés would pepper throughout future
issues of Mad Magazine -- that appeared to the right of the title and
Schulz’s byline. The subject matter of the Monday and Wednesday panels
varied from week to week, but the Friday installment always centered
around bridge, the then-popular card game that Schulz loved. (Further
evidence of this affection could be seen in "Peanuts," where the kids
routinely played the game in the early 1950s, and Woodstock and a
foursome of his bird buddies picked it up in the 1970s and beyond.)
Charles Schulz did this January 12, 1958, "It's Only a Game" panel himself. Note his signature within the art of the right-most panel.
During an October 6, 1957, interview with Schulz, the Chicago
Tribune proudly boasted that it would be one of the flagship newspapers
to carry this new feature. The Tribune selected the weekly option, and
ran "It’s Only a Game" in its Sunday magazine. The debut installment
appeared November 3, 1957, and immediately set the tone for what would
follow, with panels devoted to boxing, golf and bridge. The middle panel
is a hoot, with a middle-aged duffer -- one easily can imagine Charlie
Brown in his 40s -- lamenting a putt that has left his ball perched at
the edge of the cup (but not in), and saying, "I think I’m going to
cry."
Subsequent installments covered checkers, bowling, curling (!),
table tennis, croquet, billiards, ice fishing, darts and even camping.
But as 1957 turned into 1958, something must have changed. Perhaps
Schulz had underestimated the amount of time involved with producing a
second weekly newspaper strip; maybe he also was spending more time than
expected overseeing the new "Peanuts" content in the Dell comic books.
Or, more likely, the "Peanuts" empire as a whole was occupying more of
his time; 1958 saw the production of the first "Peanuts" toys -- plastic
dolls of the major characters, produced by Hungerford -- and of course
this was just the tip of an approaching iceberg.
Whatever the reason, Schulz decided to hand over the lion’s share
of the artistic chores to Jim. Schulz’s solo involvement with "It’s Only
a Game" continued through the January 12, 1958, installment; this is the
last one to bear his signature on one of the cartoon panels. (Schulz’s
name continued to run alone in the masthead, however, making Jim a true
ghost.) As of January 19, 1958, Jim -- often working from hastily
penciled sketches and captions supplied by Schulz -- did all the
newspaper strip’s finished art and lettering.
Sasseville did this January 26, 1958, "It's Only a Game" panel himself. Note that Schulz's signature is nowhere to be seen within the art.
Jim vividly remembers this transition date, because just one week later,
with his second time at bat with the solo art chores, he was paid a
singular honor. That week’s Monday panel, a bowling strip, featured
three league players welcoming a fourth, apparently a little tardy, with
the exclamation of, "Three cheers, gang! Our number one man has
arrived!" A loyal reader sent UFS a black-and-white photo of himself
with three friends, staged to look precisely like the four figures in
Jim’s illustration. The "camera angle" was identical, along with
clothing, body position, and everything else in the frame. The
resemblance even extended to the men themselves, who had body shapes and
hairstyles eerily similar to those found in the panel art.
Jim still has the photo.
Sasseville received this photo recreation of his "It's Only a Game" gag from a fan. Note the date stamp at the top of the photo.
The degree to which Jim successfully imitated Schulz’s linework can
be seen by the fact that the transition was seamless; no casual reader
could have discerned that the hand on the inker’s pen had changed.
During the remainder of 1958, the two men continued to work in the same
fashion, Jim often finishing Schulz’s rough concepts, but also
contributing many of his own original ideas. He also inserted the
occasional personal reference; the boat from which a husband and wife
fish, in one of the June 29, 1958, panels, is the Helga, named after
Jim’s wife.
But Jim remembers that he never came up with any of the concepts
for Friday’s bridge panels, for the simple reason that he didn’t know
the game.
Although he labored in anonymity, Jim was well compensated
financially, and he still speaks appreciatively of Sparky’s generosity.
Schulz had negotiated for 50% of the strip’s income, the other half
going to UFS. This 50% amounted to slightly more than $500 per week;
when Jim came on board, Schulz generously gave half of HIS half to his
new partner, and so Jim brought home $250 per week (after expenses) for
his efforts ... quite a lot of money in 1958.
The two men were living in Minneapolis when this collaboration
began; after the first five months, in May 1958, Jim and his wife
followed the Schulz family to Northern California. Lacking a place to
stay in Sebastopol -- not to mention furniture and other amenities --
the Sassevilles first spent a couple of months a bit south, in Corta
Madera. "For two or three weeks, I drew the comic book stuff and ‘It’s
Only a Game’ on a portable drawing board. But I stayed in touch with
Sparky on the phone, and he supplied the ideas for ‘It’s Only a Game.’ "
The Sassevilles then found a home in Sebastopol. Between "It’s Only
a Game" and the work he also was doing for the "Peanuts" strips in the
Dell comic books, Jim was quite gainfully employed by his new partner
and boss.
Unfortunately, it was not to last.
"It’s Only a Game" began with 30 client newspapers; nearly a year
later, it had ... 30 client newspapers.
(A complete client list has been lost to the mists of time, although
it is known that the feature was carried by The Boston Globe, the Detroit
Free Press, The Chicago Tribune, The Minneapolis Tribune, the San Francisco
Chronicle and The Baltimore Sun.)
The strip never took off, despite strong support from fans such as
bridge expert Charles Goren (who wrote a couple of letters), and even
Schulz’s name didn’t seem to make much of a difference.
But we also can assume that the proud and perfectionist-minded
Schulz -- who in later years, as mentioned above, often made a point of
describing how in "Peanuts" he penciled and inked every line, and
lettered every word balloon -- probably was bothered by the fact that he
wasn’t similarly in sole control of "It’s Only a Game." To be sure, he
was INVOLVED, but he wasn’t actually drawing what appeared in those 30
client newspapers.
"He didn’t like his name being used on somebody else’s work," Jim
recalls, "and I don’t blame him for that."
That, coupled with moribund sales and some tension with the head
UFS salesman to whom Schulz initially had pitched the idea, eventually
prompted an astonishing decision In late 1958, just 12 months into a
solid five-year contract, Schulz made it plain to UFS that he wished to
discontinue "It’s Only a Game." Perhaps recognizing that the strip
wasn’t performing as hoped, UFS agreed.
Schulz did not consult Jim before taking this step; indeed, the
news came as a complete shock to Schulz’s ghost, who’d been very happy
with his work, and the strip, and the $250 per week.
Schulz even tried to sugar-coat the news "You’re off the hook,"
Jim recalls his employer saying (as if this were a GOOD thing), at the
end of that euphoric day when they finished work on the second
all-Peanuts issue of Dell’s Four Color Comics. Jim had just assured
Sparky that his pending move to Berkeley would not affect his ability to
work on "It’s Only a Game," and now the rug had been pulled out from
under him.
The fallout was immediate; it certainly was the final straw for
Helga, who already had been dissatisfied with their home in Sebastopol
-- hence the move to Berkeley -- and also was unhappy about the friction
that existed between her and Joyce, Schulz’s first wife. Helga had
endured Nazi Germany, survived the entire war -- in and out of work
camps -- and had lost her father at Dachau; she was not a woman to keep
opinions to herself.
"I realized I was working on a flawed product, which the creator
and marketer wanted nothing more to do with. Still, I had held out the
hope that maybe Sparky might offer the entire feature to me, although I
realized that there’d be problems with the syndicate," Jim admits, a
touch of wistfulness still clouding the memory after more than 40 years.
"They should have been pretty familiar with my work by then."
It didn’t happen. By the time the final installment of "It’s Only a
Game" appeared, on January 11, 1959 -- the two always had worked six
weeks ahead -- Jim and Schulz had severed all relations, professional
and personal. This also included Jim’s ghosting work on the Dell comic
books. The split was permanent, and the two men never reconciled.
Although "It’s Only a Game" ran for 63 consecutive weeks, it
quickly became a fading memory -- and then an overlooked footnote -- in
Schulz’s career. He rarely mentioned it during later interviews, and
then only obliquely, citing neither date specifics nor his collaboration
with Jim.
"We were the best of friends at first," Jim recalls ruefully. He
happily remembers attending the 1951 National Cartoonists Convention
with Sparky, and also another time when they both went to visit and swap
stories with a fellow artist, Robert M. Brinkerhoff, who lived in
Minneapolis and was known for a newspaper strip called "Little Mary
Mix-Up." Brinkerhoff, in turn -- like many other cartoonists at that
time -- greatly admired J.R. Williams (creator of "Out Our Way"), whom
he once described as "the greatest cowboy ever to walk the streets of
New York." Brinkerhoff related how he had wheedled, begged and finally
finagled an invitation to Williams’ ranch in Montana. Although only
interested in seeing the fabulous studio that he assumed his idol must
have on so massive a spread, Brinkerhoff first had to put up with being
shown all the livestock and the other attractions of a working ranch. As
the visit stretched on, Brinkerhoff finally couldn’t stand it any longer
and demanded to see where Williams did his work.
With a resigned sigh (as Jim recalls Brinkerhoff describing this
incident), Williams walked over to his wife’s sewing machine, took off
the cover, and flipped it over ... and that was it The great J.R.
Williams did all his drawing on the cover of his wife’s sewing machine.
As others have observed, there’s never any reason to embrace
technology or an environment any fancier than that required to get the
job done.
Cartoonists love to talk shop, and Jim’s no different; merely
relating this little tale brings a sparkle into his eyes. And, to this
day, he doesn’t really understand what happened between him and Schulz.
"I feel kind of weird about all this. Sparky obviously wanted me to
succeed in the early days, and even was willing to collaborate with me
on one of my own projects (one of the many variations of "Joe Cipher,"
discussed below). But then when he had a chance to really help me out,
he didn’t make any effort whatsoever ... and left me in rather dire
straits."
Such feelings notwithstanding, all these years later Jim is firm on
one point "Charles M. Schulz was the greatest comic strip artist ever."
And although he certainly couldn’t have known it at the time, Jim
never again would earn his living as a cartoonist.
Before, during and after his working association with Schulz, Jim
played around with many of his own ideas.
If persistence counts for anything, he deserves considerable credit
for his ongoing efforts to sell "Joe Cipher" ("a character kinda based
on me"), a daily strip that underwent quite a few transmutations during
the decade-plus that he tried to place it with a syndicate.
The character first appeared in a sample series of daily strips Jim
produced in late 1949. The strip’s gentle humor is faintly reminiscent
of "Gasoline Alley" and other character-driven work of the era; the
title character is introduced driving an old jalopy that obligingly runs
out of gas at a filling station. The silver-tongued Joe, lacking any
money, eventually impresses the station owner into offering him a job;
Joe celebrates by stepping into a nearby diner for lunch, where he’s
immediately smitten by the young woman behind the counter, and...
...and that’s where the presentation panels concluded.
Perhaps feeling that the strip lacked dramatic impact, a few years
later -- while still at AIS -- Jim tried again, shifting the action to a
tiny island in the middle of the ocean, where the shipwrecked Joe is
joined by an attractive young woman named Ginny, survivor of a second
sea-going calamity. (What are the odds?) Although their relationship is
mildly prickly for the first few days, Ginny eventually wishes aloud
that they could be rescued, so that she can go on a "proper date" with
Joe, and perhaps even kiss him when the evening concludes. Once again,
the story cut off abruptly, as Jim produced just two weeks’ worth of
strips enough to (hopefully) interest a buyer.
Sasseville tried several times to place a comic strip starring Joe Cipher, the pleasant-looking chap
featured in these examples. The two left-most strips are taken from the first run Sasseville designed on his own;
the two right-most strips, starring the same character but
in a different setting, are from Sasseville's third
test run; Charles Schulz contributed story input on these.
(Click on the image to see an enlarged version.)
After getting back from his return hitch in the Navy, Jim
went back to work on Joe Cipher and got a nibble from an
unexpected quarter: Something about this particular setting
touched Schulz, who suggested they collaborate on yet
a third incarnation of "Joe Cipher." (At the time, both men still were
unmarried, and it’s not hard to see a little male fantasy
wish-fulfillment at work.) With narrative input from Schulz and Jim
handling the art chores, the scene shifted again, this time to a
typically romantic South Seas setting, on an island large enough to
support a population of curvaceous young cuties and at least one
villain. Joe and Ginny remained the central focus, but this time the
former saw genuine action, on the receiving end of the villain’s fists.
Schulz and Jim took this newest version of "Joe Cipher" to United
Features Syndicate in spring of 1954; it was turned down flat. The
trip to New York wasn't a complete waste, though, because Sasseville
and Schulz caught a couple of plays: a T.S. Elliot drama called
Confidential Clerk, and another called The King of
Hearts, which starred Jackie Cooper as (what are the odds?)
a cartoonist!
Sasseville also remembers going from suite to suite in New
York's Waldorf hotel during this trip, visiting one cartoonist
after another; meeting Al Capp was a high point. But at least
part of the reason for the trip -- the newest Joe Cipher -- proved
unsellable, and Schulz bowed out at that point.
When Jim finally returned to "Joe Cipher," the 1950s were almost
over. Jim’s association with "Peanuts" and "It’s Only a Game" had
concluded, so the writer/artist returned to his favorite unsold
property. Jim recast his hero in yet another new setting, this time a
business office populated by characters clearly derived from his days at
Art Instruction. Although the sample panels display even cleaner, more
attractive line work -- a sure sign of his growing comfort as an artist
-- Jim had no better luck this time around.
Still refusing to abandon hope, Jim tried one more time In early
1960, after having moved to Berkeley, he once again changed the setting
completely, and turned Joe Cipher into "Sir Joe." This Arthurian-based
concept focused on genuinely whimsical gags involving heavy armor,
maidens in distress, and fire-breathing dragons. Jim’s dragons are
particularly funny, and this newest reboot seems ripe with
possibilities; it’s not at all hard to envision a daily strip evolving
from these samples.
Alas, syndicates once again failed to see any potential, and "Joe
Cipher" was put into Jim’s trunk as no more than another engaging
footnote in the artist’s collection of rejection slips.
Jim didn’t confine his efforts to "Joe Cipher"; the writer/artist
had no shortage of ideas, quite a few of which also wound up as
submission concepts. "Aunty Climax," produced in early 1957 -- just
prior to Jim’s ghost work for Dell comics -- was a single-panel gag
strip that starred a feisty little old lady who was far sharper than
most people assumed. She was based on Louise Cassidy, an AIS colleague
who also was the landlady for the building where Jim briefly lived with
Charles Cuddy. Jim produced a few dozen "Aunty Climax" panels, all of
which are vastly superior -- both in terms of writing and artwork -- to
many of the single-panel cartoons cluttering today’s newspapers.
"Confessions of a French Poodle" was a 1959 concept that didn’t
emerge much further than a few finished panels and lots of pencil
sketches; Jim good-naturedly admits that the idea went nowhere, and so
he abandoned it. That may have been shrewd market analysis, as the
medium never has lacked for dog-oriented material. Even so, French
poodles are funny in their own right, and Jim’s concept sketches are a
hoot.
When not working on Peanuts-related material, Sasseville tried to sell many of his own strip ideas
to a syndicate. From left to right, these examples are "Aunty Climax," "Friends and Foes," "Alpha-Betty" and "Happy Birthday."
(Click on the image to see an enlarged version.)
"Friends and Foes," another single-panel tryout, also emerged from
Jim’s pen in 1959. A little later, shortly after he started putting food
on the table with a "real job" -- and perhaps motivated by the explosion
of children’s television shows, which eventually led to "Sesame Street"
and everything that followed -- Jim tried a kid-oriented educational
strip called "Alpha-Betty," which starred a little girl who finds
herself in an other-worldly land populated by men and women shaped like
letters of the alphabet. The personalities of these individuals were
defined by their appearance; curved female letters, for example, were
far more sultry that straight female letters. The strip has a lovely
"Alice in Wonderland" quality, although the concept may have seemed
limiting.
Jim later played with the medium in "Blackboard," a daily strip
designed to be white-on-black, to imitate chalk on a classroom
blackboard. The stars were Dick, Jane and their TeacheR; although not as
overly educational as "Alpha-Betty," this strip also was aimed at young
audiences.
Jim’s final attempt at syndication was produced in the early 1970s,
after he first went into research hibernation, jotting down enough
celebrity birthdays to fill every day of a calendar year. The resulting
single-panel strips were a precursor to the "On this day in history..."
informational nuggets that have become so ubiquitous The panel for
March 28, for example, illustrated and revealed a few choice facts about
orchestra leader Paul Whiteman. March 29 was devoted to President John
Tyler, while Francisco Goya was featured on March 30.
Sadly, this fared no better with syndicators than any of the
others. "Joe Cipher," "Aunty Climax," "Confessions of a French Poodle,"
"Friends and Foes," "Alpha-Betty," "Blackboard" and "Birthdays" exist only
in Jim’s carefully preserved office files. More’s the pity, because even
the weakest of these strips displays a Puckish wit and clean, attractive
line work too often absent from many of the rushed, imitative strips
that generate little more than reader apathy these days.
Following the dust-up with Schulz and the move to Berkeley, Helga
-- who was delighted by the more rarefied atmosphere of a university
community -- became the family bread-winner. She took a job with a
German importer/exporter and commuted daily across the Bay Bridge.
Eventually succumbing to the need for steady employment, in April
1960 Jim took a job as a graphic designer with Varian, one of the
leading radar companies, located in California’s greater San Francisco
Bay Area. The fit proved comfortable, and he remained with the company
until he retired in 1990.
But the career shift wasn’t immediate; Jim first spent most of 1959
working up his own aforementioned comic strip proposals, and
occasionally sold individual gag cartoons to magazines. But his New
York-based agent took 35% of those one-shots.
"That’s when I started with Varian," Jim recalls, with a chuckle.
"I knew I’d never make it as a gag cartoonist."
Be that as it may, Jim never stopped his cartooning efforts; while
at Varian, he became famous for the birthday cards that he drew for
fellow employees.
Helga, meanwhile, got a job at Stanford, which prompted another
move; the couple then purchased their first home in 1960, in Mountain
View.
Three years later, they moved for what would be the last time. Jim
and his wife paid $28,000 for the house that remains his home to this
day. Just last year the retired artist was offered a cool million bucks
-- in cash -- by a dot-commer who wanted to develop the property. Still
loyal to the memories of his wife, with which the house is filled, Jim
politely declined. Helga died in 1995; he clearly still misses her.
Today, Parkinson’s Disease and the recent stroke have conspired to
deliver the ultimate nightmare Jim no longer can hold a pen well enough
to draw. ("I always marveled at Sparky’s ability to incorporate his
shaking hand into his line work.") But his mind and memory remain
acutely sharp, and his Puckish sense of humor is unbowed. He speaks with
clarity and certainty of his years at Art Instruction School, and with
Schulz, and of his never-successful efforts to market his own original
material.
Jim remains philosophical about his life, and in fact composed
another of his verses to express such feelings
I’m all for equal measures
Losses should be matched by gain;
And since I’ve missed life’s pleasures,
I’ll just double up with pain!
Definitely too harsh, but then we’re always hardest on ourselves.
Jim Sasseville deserves far more than the obscurity into which he has
settled; for a time, he was allied with the man who would become the
world’s most successful cartoonist, and for a time he helped chaperone
the faithfully rendered adventures of Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Linus, Lucy
and the rest ... no small feat.
And I’m particularly transfixed by a remark Jim made during one of
our later phone calls "I don’t know how one should behave, in a
situation like this," he said, referring to our ongoing conversations,
"but it’s like I’ve been resurrected."
Perhaps this article will kick-start our long-overdue obligation to
sing his praises.
Breaking News
Just the FAQs, Ma'am
Ace Airlines Tours: Sites to Visit
Beethoven's Rhapsodies: The Music (and Musicians) of Peanuts
Shop Till You Drop
Just for Fun
By Derrick Bang
Legal Matters
All PEANUTS characters pictured are copyrighted by United Feature Syndicate, Inc. They are used here with permission. They may not be reproduced by any means in any form.
A third all-"Peanuts" issue of Four Color Comics was produced
(#1015, August-October 1959), after which the characters got their own
book that began with issue #4 (Feb.-April 1960), by way of acknowledging
those first three appearances in Four Color Comics. This lasted through
#13 (May-July 1962), after which the book was discontinued. Each of
these issues features a signed Schulz cover, but other hands --
certainly Hale, at first -- handled all the interior artwork and writing
(which, as with the latter issues of Nancy and Tip Top, grew less
Schulz-like over time).
But what had happened, to sever the friendship between Schulz and
Jim, which stretched back a decade?
Bouncing back a year or so...
Although already quite popular and gaining fans -- and syndicate
clients -- all the time, in 1957 "Peanuts" was not yet the multimedia
sensation it was to become within another decade. Schulz must have had
some free time that needed filling, and therefore was comfortable with
the concept of pitching a second strip concept to United Features
Syndicate. The artist had lots of ideas about games near and dear to his
heart, including golf, tennis, baseball and bridge. No doubt realizing
that twice as much Schulz per week was a good thing, UFS jumped at the
chance, and the sports and recreation-themed "It’s Only a Game" was
born. For awhile, Schulz joined later stars such as Johnny Hart ("B.C."
and "The Wizard of Id"), Mell Lazarus ("Miss Peach" and "Momma") and
Jerry Scott ("Baby Blues" and "Zits"), with two newspaper strips running
simultaneously.
Each installment of "It’s Only a Game, by Charles M. Schulz,"
hearkening back to Schulz’s very early work on "Li’l Folks" in The St.
Paul Pioneer Press, was comprised of three separate single-panel gag
strips. The package was offered to clients in two different formats as
three single-panel strips per week, to run on Mondays, Wednesdays and
Fridays; or as a combined grouping of three that would appear in Sunday
comics sections. The combined Sunday grouping also had a bonus fourth
cartoon a tiny, captionless visual gag -- very much like the
intermarginal gags that Sergio Aragonés would pepper throughout future
issues of Mad Magazine -- that appeared to the right of the title and
Schulz’s byline. The subject matter of the Monday and Wednesday panels
varied from week to week, but the Friday installment always centered
around bridge, the then-popular card game that Schulz loved. (Further
evidence of this affection could be seen in "Peanuts," where the kids
routinely played the game in the early 1950s, and Woodstock and a
foursome of his bird buddies picked it up in the 1970s and beyond.)
Charles Schulz did this January 12, 1958, "It's Only a Game" panel himself. Note his signature within the art of the right-most panel.
During an October 6, 1957, interview with Schulz, the Chicago
Tribune proudly boasted that it would be one of the flagship newspapers
to carry this new feature. The Tribune selected the weekly option, and
ran "It’s Only a Game" in its Sunday magazine. The debut installment
appeared November 3, 1957, and immediately set the tone for what would
follow, with panels devoted to boxing, golf and bridge. The middle panel
is a hoot, with a middle-aged duffer -- one easily can imagine Charlie
Brown in his 40s -- lamenting a putt that has left his ball perched at
the edge of the cup (but not in), and saying, "I think I’m going to
cry."
Subsequent installments covered checkers, bowling, curling (!),
table tennis, croquet, billiards, ice fishing, darts and even camping.
But as 1957 turned into 1958, something must have changed. Perhaps
Schulz had underestimated the amount of time involved with producing a
second weekly newspaper strip; maybe he also was spending more time than
expected overseeing the new "Peanuts" content in the Dell comic books.
Or, more likely, the "Peanuts" empire as a whole was occupying more of
his time; 1958 saw the production of the first "Peanuts" toys -- plastic
dolls of the major characters, produced by Hungerford -- and of course
this was just the tip of an approaching iceberg.
Whatever the reason, Schulz decided to hand over the lion’s share
of the artistic chores to Jim. Schulz’s solo involvement with "It’s Only
a Game" continued through the January 12, 1958, installment; this is the
last one to bear his signature on one of the cartoon panels. (Schulz’s
name continued to run alone in the masthead, however, making Jim a true
ghost.) As of January 19, 1958, Jim -- often working from hastily
penciled sketches and captions supplied by Schulz -- did all the
newspaper strip’s finished art and lettering.
Sasseville did this January 26, 1958, "It's Only a Game" panel himself. Note that Schulz's signature is nowhere to be seen within the art.
Jim vividly remembers this transition date, because just one week later,
with his second time at bat with the solo art chores, he was paid a
singular honor. That week’s Monday panel, a bowling strip, featured
three league players welcoming a fourth, apparently a little tardy, with
the exclamation of, "Three cheers, gang! Our number one man has
arrived!" A loyal reader sent UFS a black-and-white photo of himself
with three friends, staged to look precisely like the four figures in
Jim’s illustration. The "camera angle" was identical, along with
clothing, body position, and everything else in the frame. The
resemblance even extended to the men themselves, who had body shapes and
hairstyles eerily similar to those found in the panel art.
Jim still has the photo.
Sasseville received this photo recreation of his "It's Only a Game" gag from a fan. Note the date stamp at the top of the photo.
The degree to which Jim successfully imitated Schulz’s linework can
be seen by the fact that the transition was seamless; no casual reader
could have discerned that the hand on the inker’s pen had changed.
During the remainder of 1958, the two men continued to work in the same
fashion, Jim often finishing Schulz’s rough concepts, but also
contributing many of his own original ideas. He also inserted the
occasional personal reference; the boat from which a husband and wife
fish, in one of the June 29, 1958, panels, is the Helga, named after
Jim’s wife.
But Jim remembers that he never came up with any of the concepts
for Friday’s bridge panels, for the simple reason that he didn’t know
the game.
Although he labored in anonymity, Jim was well compensated
financially, and he still speaks appreciatively of Sparky’s generosity.
Schulz had negotiated for 50% of the strip’s income, the other half
going to UFS. This 50% amounted to slightly more than $500 per week;
when Jim came on board, Schulz generously gave half of HIS half to his
new partner, and so Jim brought home $250 per week (after expenses) for
his efforts ... quite a lot of money in 1958.
The two men were living in Minneapolis when this collaboration
began; after the first five months, in May 1958, Jim and his wife
followed the Schulz family to Northern California. Lacking a place to
stay in Sebastopol -- not to mention furniture and other amenities --
the Sassevilles first spent a couple of months a bit south, in Corta
Madera. "For two or three weeks, I drew the comic book stuff and ‘It’s
Only a Game’ on a portable drawing board. But I stayed in touch with
Sparky on the phone, and he supplied the ideas for ‘It’s Only a Game.’ "
The Sassevilles then found a home in Sebastopol. Between "It’s Only
a Game" and the work he also was doing for the "Peanuts" strips in the
Dell comic books, Jim was quite gainfully employed by his new partner
and boss.
Unfortunately, it was not to last.
"It’s Only a Game" began with 30 client newspapers; nearly a year
later, it had ... 30 client newspapers.
(A complete client list has been lost to the mists of time, although
it is known that the feature was carried by The Boston Globe, the Detroit
Free Press, The Chicago Tribune, The Minneapolis Tribune, the San Francisco
Chronicle and The Baltimore Sun.)
The strip never took off, despite strong support from fans such as
bridge expert Charles Goren (who wrote a couple of letters), and even
Schulz’s name didn’t seem to make much of a difference.
But we also can assume that the proud and perfectionist-minded
Schulz -- who in later years, as mentioned above, often made a point of
describing how in "Peanuts" he penciled and inked every line, and
lettered every word balloon -- probably was bothered by the fact that he
wasn’t similarly in sole control of "It’s Only a Game." To be sure, he
was INVOLVED, but he wasn’t actually drawing what appeared in those 30
client newspapers.
"He didn’t like his name being used on somebody else’s work," Jim
recalls, "and I don’t blame him for that."
That, coupled with moribund sales and some tension with the head
UFS salesman to whom Schulz initially had pitched the idea, eventually
prompted an astonishing decision In late 1958, just 12 months into a
solid five-year contract, Schulz made it plain to UFS that he wished to
discontinue "It’s Only a Game." Perhaps recognizing that the strip
wasn’t performing as hoped, UFS agreed.
Schulz did not consult Jim before taking this step; indeed, the
news came as a complete shock to Schulz’s ghost, who’d been very happy
with his work, and the strip, and the $250 per week.
Schulz even tried to sugar-coat the news "You’re off the hook,"
Jim recalls his employer saying (as if this were a GOOD thing), at the
end of that euphoric day when they finished work on the second
all-Peanuts issue of Dell’s Four Color Comics. Jim had just assured
Sparky that his pending move to Berkeley would not affect his ability to
work on "It’s Only a Game," and now the rug had been pulled out from
under him.
The fallout was immediate; it certainly was the final straw for
Helga, who already had been dissatisfied with their home in Sebastopol
-- hence the move to Berkeley -- and also was unhappy about the friction
that existed between her and Joyce, Schulz’s first wife. Helga had
endured Nazi Germany, survived the entire war -- in and out of work
camps -- and had lost her father at Dachau; she was not a woman to keep
opinions to herself.
"I realized I was working on a flawed product, which the creator
and marketer wanted nothing more to do with. Still, I had held out the
hope that maybe Sparky might offer the entire feature to me, although I
realized that there’d be problems with the syndicate," Jim admits, a
touch of wistfulness still clouding the memory after more than 40 years.
"They should have been pretty familiar with my work by then."
It didn’t happen. By the time the final installment of "It’s Only a
Game" appeared, on January 11, 1959 -- the two always had worked six
weeks ahead -- Jim and Schulz had severed all relations, professional
and personal. This also included Jim’s ghosting work on the Dell comic
books. The split was permanent, and the two men never reconciled.
Although "It’s Only a Game" ran for 63 consecutive weeks, it
quickly became a fading memory -- and then an overlooked footnote -- in
Schulz’s career. He rarely mentioned it during later interviews, and
then only obliquely, citing neither date specifics nor his collaboration
with Jim.
"We were the best of friends at first," Jim recalls ruefully. He
happily remembers attending the 1951 National Cartoonists Convention
with Sparky, and also another time when they both went to visit and swap
stories with a fellow artist, Robert M. Brinkerhoff, who lived in
Minneapolis and was known for a newspaper strip called "Little Mary
Mix-Up." Brinkerhoff, in turn -- like many other cartoonists at that
time -- greatly admired J.R. Williams (creator of "Out Our Way"), whom
he once described as "the greatest cowboy ever to walk the streets of
New York." Brinkerhoff related how he had wheedled, begged and finally
finagled an invitation to Williams’ ranch in Montana. Although only
interested in seeing the fabulous studio that he assumed his idol must
have on so massive a spread, Brinkerhoff first had to put up with being
shown all the livestock and the other attractions of a working ranch. As
the visit stretched on, Brinkerhoff finally couldn’t stand it any longer
and demanded to see where Williams did his work.
With a resigned sigh (as Jim recalls Brinkerhoff describing this
incident), Williams walked over to his wife’s sewing machine, took off
the cover, and flipped it over ... and that was it The great J.R.
Williams did all his drawing on the cover of his wife’s sewing machine.
As others have observed, there’s never any reason to embrace
technology or an environment any fancier than that required to get the
job done.
Cartoonists love to talk shop, and Jim’s no different; merely
relating this little tale brings a sparkle into his eyes. And, to this
day, he doesn’t really understand what happened between him and Schulz.
"I feel kind of weird about all this. Sparky obviously wanted me to
succeed in the early days, and even was willing to collaborate with me
on one of my own projects (one of the many variations of "Joe Cipher,"
discussed below). But then when he had a chance to really help me out,
he didn’t make any effort whatsoever ... and left me in rather dire
straits."
Such feelings notwithstanding, all these years later Jim is firm on
one point "Charles M. Schulz was the greatest comic strip artist ever."
And although he certainly couldn’t have known it at the time, Jim
never again would earn his living as a cartoonist.
Before, during and after his working association with Schulz, Jim
played around with many of his own ideas.
If persistence counts for anything, he deserves considerable credit
for his ongoing efforts to sell "Joe Cipher" ("a character kinda based
on me"), a daily strip that underwent quite a few transmutations during
the decade-plus that he tried to place it with a syndicate.
The character first appeared in a sample series of daily strips Jim
produced in late 1949. The strip’s gentle humor is faintly reminiscent
of "Gasoline Alley" and other character-driven work of the era; the
title character is introduced driving an old jalopy that obligingly runs
out of gas at a filling station. The silver-tongued Joe, lacking any
money, eventually impresses the station owner into offering him a job;
Joe celebrates by stepping into a nearby diner for lunch, where he’s
immediately smitten by the young woman behind the counter, and...
...and that’s where the presentation panels concluded.
Perhaps feeling that the strip lacked dramatic impact, a few years
later -- while still at AIS -- Jim tried again, shifting the action to a
tiny island in the middle of the ocean, where the shipwrecked Joe is
joined by an attractive young woman named Ginny, survivor of a second
sea-going calamity. (What are the odds?) Although their relationship is
mildly prickly for the first few days, Ginny eventually wishes aloud
that they could be rescued, so that she can go on a "proper date" with
Joe, and perhaps even kiss him when the evening concludes. Once again,
the story cut off abruptly, as Jim produced just two weeks’ worth of
strips enough to (hopefully) interest a buyer.
Sasseville tried several times to place a comic strip starring Joe Cipher, the pleasant-looking chap
featured in these examples. The two left-most strips are taken from the first run Sasseville designed on his own;
the two right-most strips, starring the same character but
in a different setting, are from Sasseville's third
test run; Charles Schulz contributed story input on these.
(Click on the image to see an enlarged version.)
After getting back from his return hitch in the Navy, Jim
went back to work on Joe Cipher and got a nibble from an
unexpected quarter: Something about this particular setting
touched Schulz, who suggested they collaborate on yet
a third incarnation of "Joe Cipher." (At the time, both men still were
unmarried, and it’s not hard to see a little male fantasy
wish-fulfillment at work.) With narrative input from Schulz and Jim
handling the art chores, the scene shifted again, this time to a
typically romantic South Seas setting, on an island large enough to
support a population of curvaceous young cuties and at least one
villain. Joe and Ginny remained the central focus, but this time the
former saw genuine action, on the receiving end of the villain’s fists.
Schulz and Jim took this newest version of "Joe Cipher" to United
Features Syndicate in spring of 1954; it was turned down flat. The
trip to New York wasn't a complete waste, though, because Sasseville
and Schulz caught a couple of plays: a T.S. Elliot drama called
Confidential Clerk, and another called The King of
Hearts, which starred Jackie Cooper as (what are the odds?)
a cartoonist!
Sasseville also remembers going from suite to suite in New
York's Waldorf hotel during this trip, visiting one cartoonist
after another; meeting Al Capp was a high point. But at least
part of the reason for the trip -- the newest Joe Cipher -- proved
unsellable, and Schulz bowed out at that point.
When Jim finally returned to "Joe Cipher," the 1950s were almost
over. Jim’s association with "Peanuts" and "It’s Only a Game" had
concluded, so the writer/artist returned to his favorite unsold
property. Jim recast his hero in yet another new setting, this time a
business office populated by characters clearly derived from his days at
Art Instruction. Although the sample panels display even cleaner, more
attractive line work -- a sure sign of his growing comfort as an artist
-- Jim had no better luck this time around.
Still refusing to abandon hope, Jim tried one more time In early
1960, after having moved to Berkeley, he once again changed the setting
completely, and turned Joe Cipher into "Sir Joe." This Arthurian-based
concept focused on genuinely whimsical gags involving heavy armor,
maidens in distress, and fire-breathing dragons. Jim’s dragons are
particularly funny, and this newest reboot seems ripe with
possibilities; it’s not at all hard to envision a daily strip evolving
from these samples.
Alas, syndicates once again failed to see any potential, and "Joe
Cipher" was put into Jim’s trunk as no more than another engaging
footnote in the artist’s collection of rejection slips.
Jim didn’t confine his efforts to "Joe Cipher"; the writer/artist
had no shortage of ideas, quite a few of which also wound up as
submission concepts. "Aunty Climax," produced in early 1957 -- just
prior to Jim’s ghost work for Dell comics -- was a single-panel gag
strip that starred a feisty little old lady who was far sharper than
most people assumed. She was based on Louise Cassidy, an AIS colleague
who also was the landlady for the building where Jim briefly lived with
Charles Cuddy. Jim produced a few dozen "Aunty Climax" panels, all of
which are vastly superior -- both in terms of writing and artwork -- to
many of the single-panel cartoons cluttering today’s newspapers.
"Confessions of a French Poodle" was a 1959 concept that didn’t
emerge much further than a few finished panels and lots of pencil
sketches; Jim good-naturedly admits that the idea went nowhere, and so
he abandoned it. That may have been shrewd market analysis, as the
medium never has lacked for dog-oriented material. Even so, French
poodles are funny in their own right, and Jim’s concept sketches are a
hoot.
When not working on Peanuts-related material, Sasseville tried to sell many of his own strip ideas
to a syndicate. From left to right, these examples are "Aunty Climax," "Friends and Foes," "Alpha-Betty" and "Happy Birthday."
(Click on the image to see an enlarged version.)
"Friends and Foes," another single-panel tryout, also emerged from
Jim’s pen in 1959. A little later, shortly after he started putting food
on the table with a "real job" -- and perhaps motivated by the explosion
of children’s television shows, which eventually led to "Sesame Street"
and everything that followed -- Jim tried a kid-oriented educational
strip called "Alpha-Betty," which starred a little girl who finds
herself in an other-worldly land populated by men and women shaped like
letters of the alphabet. The personalities of these individuals were
defined by their appearance; curved female letters, for example, were
far more sultry that straight female letters. The strip has a lovely
"Alice in Wonderland" quality, although the concept may have seemed
limiting.
Jim later played with the medium in "Blackboard," a daily strip
designed to be white-on-black, to imitate chalk on a classroom
blackboard. The stars were Dick, Jane and their TeacheR; although not as
overly educational as "Alpha-Betty," this strip also was aimed at young
audiences.
Jim’s final attempt at syndication was produced in the early 1970s,
after he first went into research hibernation, jotting down enough
celebrity birthdays to fill every day of a calendar year. The resulting
single-panel strips were a precursor to the "On this day in history..."
informational nuggets that have become so ubiquitous The panel for
March 28, for example, illustrated and revealed a few choice facts about
orchestra leader Paul Whiteman. March 29 was devoted to President John
Tyler, while Francisco Goya was featured on March 30.
Sadly, this fared no better with syndicators than any of the
others. "Joe Cipher," "Aunty Climax," "Confessions of a French Poodle,"
"Friends and Foes," "Alpha-Betty," "Blackboard" and "Birthdays" exist only
in Jim’s carefully preserved office files. More’s the pity, because even
the weakest of these strips displays a Puckish wit and clean, attractive
line work too often absent from many of the rushed, imitative strips
that generate little more than reader apathy these days.
Following the dust-up with Schulz and the move to Berkeley, Helga
-- who was delighted by the more rarefied atmosphere of a university
community -- became the family bread-winner. She took a job with a
German importer/exporter and commuted daily across the Bay Bridge.
Eventually succumbing to the need for steady employment, in April
1960 Jim took a job as a graphic designer with Varian, one of the
leading radar companies, located in California’s greater San Francisco
Bay Area. The fit proved comfortable, and he remained with the company
until he retired in 1990.
But the career shift wasn’t immediate; Jim first spent most of 1959
working up his own aforementioned comic strip proposals, and
occasionally sold individual gag cartoons to magazines. But his New
York-based agent took 35% of those one-shots.
"That’s when I started with Varian," Jim recalls, with a chuckle.
"I knew I’d never make it as a gag cartoonist."
Be that as it may, Jim never stopped his cartooning efforts; while
at Varian, he became famous for the birthday cards that he drew for
fellow employees.
Helga, meanwhile, got a job at Stanford, which prompted another
move; the couple then purchased their first home in 1960, in Mountain
View.
Three years later, they moved for what would be the last time. Jim
and his wife paid $28,000 for the house that remains his home to this
day. Just last year the retired artist was offered a cool million bucks
-- in cash -- by a dot-commer who wanted to develop the property. Still
loyal to the memories of his wife, with which the house is filled, Jim
politely declined. Helga died in 1995; he clearly still misses her.
Today, Parkinson’s Disease and the recent stroke have conspired to
deliver the ultimate nightmare Jim no longer can hold a pen well enough
to draw. ("I always marveled at Sparky’s ability to incorporate his
shaking hand into his line work.") But his mind and memory remain
acutely sharp, and his Puckish sense of humor is unbowed. He speaks with
clarity and certainty of his years at Art Instruction School, and with
Schulz, and of his never-successful efforts to market his own original
material.
Jim remains philosophical about his life, and in fact composed
another of his verses to express such feelings
I’m all for equal measures
Losses should be matched by gain;
And since I’ve missed life’s pleasures,
I’ll just double up with pain!
Definitely too harsh, but then we’re always hardest on ourselves.
Jim Sasseville deserves far more than the obscurity into which he has
settled; for a time, he was allied with the man who would become the
world’s most successful cartoonist, and for a time he helped chaperone
the faithfully rendered adventures of Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Linus, Lucy
and the rest ... no small feat.
And I’m particularly transfixed by a remark Jim made during one of
our later phone calls "I don’t know how one should behave, in a
situation like this," he said, referring to our ongoing conversations,
"but it’s like I’ve been resurrected."
Perhaps this article will kick-start our long-overdue obligation to
sing his praises.
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All PEANUTS characters pictured are copyrighted by United Feature Syndicate, Inc. They are used here with permission. They may not be reproduced by any means in any form.
Bouncing back a year or so...
Although already quite popular and gaining fans -- and syndicate
clients -- all the time, in 1957 "Peanuts" was not yet the multimedia
sensation it was to become within another decade. Schulz must have had
some free time that needed filling, and therefore was comfortable with
the concept of pitching a second strip concept to United Features
Syndicate. The artist had lots of ideas about games near and dear to his
heart, including golf, tennis, baseball and bridge. No doubt realizing
that twice as much Schulz per week was a good thing, UFS jumped at the
chance, and the sports and recreation-themed "It’s Only a Game" was
born. For awhile, Schulz joined later stars such as Johnny Hart ("B.C."
and "The Wizard of Id"), Mell Lazarus ("Miss Peach" and "Momma") and
Jerry Scott ("Baby Blues" and "Zits"), with two newspaper strips running
simultaneously.
Each installment of "It’s Only a Game, by Charles M. Schulz,"
hearkening back to Schulz’s very early work on "Li’l Folks" in The St.
Paul Pioneer Press, was comprised of three separate single-panel gag
strips. The package was offered to clients in two different formats as
three single-panel strips per week, to run on Mondays, Wednesdays and
Fridays; or as a combined grouping of three that would appear in Sunday
comics sections. The combined Sunday grouping also had a bonus fourth
cartoon a tiny, captionless visual gag -- very much like the
intermarginal gags that Sergio Aragonés would pepper throughout future
issues of Mad Magazine -- that appeared to the right of the title and
Schulz’s byline. The subject matter of the Monday and Wednesday panels
varied from week to week, but the Friday installment always centered
around bridge, the then-popular card game that Schulz loved. (Further
evidence of this affection could be seen in "Peanuts," where the kids
routinely played the game in the early 1950s, and Woodstock and a
foursome of his bird buddies picked it up in the 1970s and beyond.)
Charles Schulz did this January 12, 1958, "It's Only a Game" panel himself. Note his signature within the art of the right-most panel.
During an October 6, 1957, interview with Schulz, the Chicago
Tribune proudly boasted that it would be one of the flagship newspapers
to carry this new feature. The Tribune selected the weekly option, and
ran "It’s Only a Game" in its Sunday magazine. The debut installment
appeared November 3, 1957, and immediately set the tone for what would
follow, with panels devoted to boxing, golf and bridge. The middle panel
is a hoot, with a middle-aged duffer -- one easily can imagine Charlie
Brown in his 40s -- lamenting a putt that has left his ball perched at
the edge of the cup (but not in), and saying, "I think I’m going to
cry."
Subsequent installments covered checkers, bowling, curling (!),
table tennis, croquet, billiards, ice fishing, darts and even camping.
But as 1957 turned into 1958, something must have changed. Perhaps
Schulz had underestimated the amount of time involved with producing a
second weekly newspaper strip; maybe he also was spending more time than
expected overseeing the new "Peanuts" content in the Dell comic books.
Or, more likely, the "Peanuts" empire as a whole was occupying more of
his time; 1958 saw the production of the first "Peanuts" toys -- plastic
dolls of the major characters, produced by Hungerford -- and of course
this was just the tip of an approaching iceberg.
Whatever the reason, Schulz decided to hand over the lion’s share
of the artistic chores to Jim. Schulz’s solo involvement with "It’s Only
a Game" continued through the January 12, 1958, installment; this is the
last one to bear his signature on one of the cartoon panels. (Schulz’s
name continued to run alone in the masthead, however, making Jim a true
ghost.) As of January 19, 1958, Jim -- often working from hastily
penciled sketches and captions supplied by Schulz -- did all the
newspaper strip’s finished art and lettering.
Sasseville did this January 26, 1958, "It's Only a Game" panel himself. Note that Schulz's signature is nowhere to be seen within the art.
Jim vividly remembers this transition date, because just one week later,
with his second time at bat with the solo art chores, he was paid a
singular honor. That week’s Monday panel, a bowling strip, featured
three league players welcoming a fourth, apparently a little tardy, with
the exclamation of, "Three cheers, gang! Our number one man has
arrived!" A loyal reader sent UFS a black-and-white photo of himself
with three friends, staged to look precisely like the four figures in
Jim’s illustration. The "camera angle" was identical, along with
clothing, body position, and everything else in the frame. The
resemblance even extended to the men themselves, who had body shapes and
hairstyles eerily similar to those found in the panel art.
Jim still has the photo.
Sasseville received this photo recreation of his "It's Only a Game" gag from a fan. Note the date stamp at the top of the photo.
The degree to which Jim successfully imitated Schulz’s linework can
be seen by the fact that the transition was seamless; no casual reader
could have discerned that the hand on the inker’s pen had changed.
During the remainder of 1958, the two men continued to work in the same
fashion, Jim often finishing Schulz’s rough concepts, but also
contributing many of his own original ideas. He also inserted the
occasional personal reference; the boat from which a husband and wife
fish, in one of the June 29, 1958, panels, is the Helga, named after
Jim’s wife.
But Jim remembers that he never came up with any of the concepts
for Friday’s bridge panels, for the simple reason that he didn’t know
the game.
Although he labored in anonymity, Jim was well compensated
financially, and he still speaks appreciatively of Sparky’s generosity.
Schulz had negotiated for 50% of the strip’s income, the other half
going to UFS. This 50% amounted to slightly more than $500 per week;
when Jim came on board, Schulz generously gave half of HIS half to his
new partner, and so Jim brought home $250 per week (after expenses) for
his efforts ... quite a lot of money in 1958.
The two men were living in Minneapolis when this collaboration
began; after the first five months, in May 1958, Jim and his wife
followed the Schulz family to Northern California. Lacking a place to
stay in Sebastopol -- not to mention furniture and other amenities --
the Sassevilles first spent a couple of months a bit south, in Corta
Madera. "For two or three weeks, I drew the comic book stuff and ‘It’s
Only a Game’ on a portable drawing board. But I stayed in touch with
Sparky on the phone, and he supplied the ideas for ‘It’s Only a Game.’ "
The Sassevilles then found a home in Sebastopol. Between "It’s Only
a Game" and the work he also was doing for the "Peanuts" strips in the
Dell comic books, Jim was quite gainfully employed by his new partner
and boss.
Unfortunately, it was not to last.
"It’s Only a Game" began with 30 client newspapers; nearly a year
later, it had ... 30 client newspapers.
(A complete client list has been lost to the mists of time, although
it is known that the feature was carried by The Boston Globe, the Detroit
Free Press, The Chicago Tribune, The Minneapolis Tribune, the San Francisco
Chronicle and The Baltimore Sun.)
The strip never took off, despite strong support from fans such as
bridge expert Charles Goren (who wrote a couple of letters), and even
Schulz’s name didn’t seem to make much of a difference.
But we also can assume that the proud and perfectionist-minded
Schulz -- who in later years, as mentioned above, often made a point of
describing how in "Peanuts" he penciled and inked every line, and
lettered every word balloon -- probably was bothered by the fact that he
wasn’t similarly in sole control of "It’s Only a Game." To be sure, he
was INVOLVED, but he wasn’t actually drawing what appeared in those 30
client newspapers.
"He didn’t like his name being used on somebody else’s work," Jim
recalls, "and I don’t blame him for that."
That, coupled with moribund sales and some tension with the head
UFS salesman to whom Schulz initially had pitched the idea, eventually
prompted an astonishing decision In late 1958, just 12 months into a
solid five-year contract, Schulz made it plain to UFS that he wished to
discontinue "It’s Only a Game." Perhaps recognizing that the strip
wasn’t performing as hoped, UFS agreed.
Schulz did not consult Jim before taking this step; indeed, the
news came as a complete shock to Schulz’s ghost, who’d been very happy
with his work, and the strip, and the $250 per week.
Schulz even tried to sugar-coat the news "You’re off the hook,"
Jim recalls his employer saying (as if this were a GOOD thing), at the
end of that euphoric day when they finished work on the second
all-Peanuts issue of Dell’s Four Color Comics. Jim had just assured
Sparky that his pending move to Berkeley would not affect his ability to
work on "It’s Only a Game," and now the rug had been pulled out from
under him.
The fallout was immediate; it certainly was the final straw for
Helga, who already had been dissatisfied with their home in Sebastopol
-- hence the move to Berkeley -- and also was unhappy about the friction
that existed between her and Joyce, Schulz’s first wife. Helga had
endured Nazi Germany, survived the entire war -- in and out of work
camps -- and had lost her father at Dachau; she was not a woman to keep
opinions to herself.
"I realized I was working on a flawed product, which the creator
and marketer wanted nothing more to do with. Still, I had held out the
hope that maybe Sparky might offer the entire feature to me, although I
realized that there’d be problems with the syndicate," Jim admits, a
touch of wistfulness still clouding the memory after more than 40 years.
"They should have been pretty familiar with my work by then."
It didn’t happen. By the time the final installment of "It’s Only a
Game" appeared, on January 11, 1959 -- the two always had worked six
weeks ahead -- Jim and Schulz had severed all relations, professional
and personal. This also included Jim’s ghosting work on the Dell comic
books. The split was permanent, and the two men never reconciled.
Although "It’s Only a Game" ran for 63 consecutive weeks, it
quickly became a fading memory -- and then an overlooked footnote -- in
Schulz’s career. He rarely mentioned it during later interviews, and
then only obliquely, citing neither date specifics nor his collaboration
with Jim.
"We were the best of friends at first," Jim recalls ruefully. He
happily remembers attending the 1951 National Cartoonists Convention
with Sparky, and also another time when they both went to visit and swap
stories with a fellow artist, Robert M. Brinkerhoff, who lived in
Minneapolis and was known for a newspaper strip called "Little Mary
Mix-Up." Brinkerhoff, in turn -- like many other cartoonists at that
time -- greatly admired J.R. Williams (creator of "Out Our Way"), whom
he once described as "the greatest cowboy ever to walk the streets of
New York." Brinkerhoff related how he had wheedled, begged and finally
finagled an invitation to Williams’ ranch in Montana. Although only
interested in seeing the fabulous studio that he assumed his idol must
have on so massive a spread, Brinkerhoff first had to put up with being
shown all the livestock and the other attractions of a working ranch. As
the visit stretched on, Brinkerhoff finally couldn’t stand it any longer
and demanded to see where Williams did his work.
With a resigned sigh (as Jim recalls Brinkerhoff describing this
incident), Williams walked over to his wife’s sewing machine, took off
the cover, and flipped it over ... and that was it The great J.R.
Williams did all his drawing on the cover of his wife’s sewing machine.
As others have observed, there’s never any reason to embrace
technology or an environment any fancier than that required to get the
job done.
Cartoonists love to talk shop, and Jim’s no different; merely
relating this little tale brings a sparkle into his eyes. And, to this
day, he doesn’t really understand what happened between him and Schulz.
"I feel kind of weird about all this. Sparky obviously wanted me to
succeed in the early days, and even was willing to collaborate with me
on one of my own projects (one of the many variations of "Joe Cipher,"
discussed below). But then when he had a chance to really help me out,
he didn’t make any effort whatsoever ... and left me in rather dire
straits."
Such feelings notwithstanding, all these years later Jim is firm on
one point "Charles M. Schulz was the greatest comic strip artist ever."
And although he certainly couldn’t have known it at the time, Jim
never again would earn his living as a cartoonist.
Before, during and after his working association with Schulz, Jim
played around with many of his own ideas.
If persistence counts for anything, he deserves considerable credit
for his ongoing efforts to sell "Joe Cipher" ("a character kinda based
on me"), a daily strip that underwent quite a few transmutations during
the decade-plus that he tried to place it with a syndicate.
The character first appeared in a sample series of daily strips Jim
produced in late 1949. The strip’s gentle humor is faintly reminiscent
of "Gasoline Alley" and other character-driven work of the era; the
title character is introduced driving an old jalopy that obligingly runs
out of gas at a filling station. The silver-tongued Joe, lacking any
money, eventually impresses the station owner into offering him a job;
Joe celebrates by stepping into a nearby diner for lunch, where he’s
immediately smitten by the young woman behind the counter, and...
...and that’s where the presentation panels concluded.
Perhaps feeling that the strip lacked dramatic impact, a few years
later -- while still at AIS -- Jim tried again, shifting the action to a
tiny island in the middle of the ocean, where the shipwrecked Joe is
joined by an attractive young woman named Ginny, survivor of a second
sea-going calamity. (What are the odds?) Although their relationship is
mildly prickly for the first few days, Ginny eventually wishes aloud
that they could be rescued, so that she can go on a "proper date" with
Joe, and perhaps even kiss him when the evening concludes. Once again,
the story cut off abruptly, as Jim produced just two weeks’ worth of
strips enough to (hopefully) interest a buyer.
Sasseville tried several times to place a comic strip starring Joe Cipher, the pleasant-looking chap
featured in these examples. The two left-most strips are taken from the first run Sasseville designed on his own;
the two right-most strips, starring the same character but
in a different setting, are from Sasseville's third
test run; Charles Schulz contributed story input on these.
(Click on the image to see an enlarged version.)
After getting back from his return hitch in the Navy, Jim
went back to work on Joe Cipher and got a nibble from an
unexpected quarter: Something about this particular setting
touched Schulz, who suggested they collaborate on yet
a third incarnation of "Joe Cipher." (At the time, both men still were
unmarried, and it’s not hard to see a little male fantasy
wish-fulfillment at work.) With narrative input from Schulz and Jim
handling the art chores, the scene shifted again, this time to a
typically romantic South Seas setting, on an island large enough to
support a population of curvaceous young cuties and at least one
villain. Joe and Ginny remained the central focus, but this time the
former saw genuine action, on the receiving end of the villain’s fists.
Schulz and Jim took this newest version of "Joe Cipher" to United
Features Syndicate in spring of 1954; it was turned down flat. The
trip to New York wasn't a complete waste, though, because Sasseville
and Schulz caught a couple of plays: a T.S. Elliot drama called
Confidential Clerk, and another called The King of
Hearts, which starred Jackie Cooper as (what are the odds?)
a cartoonist!
Sasseville also remembers going from suite to suite in New
York's Waldorf hotel during this trip, visiting one cartoonist
after another; meeting Al Capp was a high point. But at least
part of the reason for the trip -- the newest Joe Cipher -- proved
unsellable, and Schulz bowed out at that point.
When Jim finally returned to "Joe Cipher," the 1950s were almost
over. Jim’s association with "Peanuts" and "It’s Only a Game" had
concluded, so the writer/artist returned to his favorite unsold
property. Jim recast his hero in yet another new setting, this time a
business office populated by characters clearly derived from his days at
Art Instruction. Although the sample panels display even cleaner, more
attractive line work -- a sure sign of his growing comfort as an artist
-- Jim had no better luck this time around.
Still refusing to abandon hope, Jim tried one more time In early
1960, after having moved to Berkeley, he once again changed the setting
completely, and turned Joe Cipher into "Sir Joe." This Arthurian-based
concept focused on genuinely whimsical gags involving heavy armor,
maidens in distress, and fire-breathing dragons. Jim’s dragons are
particularly funny, and this newest reboot seems ripe with
possibilities; it’s not at all hard to envision a daily strip evolving
from these samples.
Alas, syndicates once again failed to see any potential, and "Joe
Cipher" was put into Jim’s trunk as no more than another engaging
footnote in the artist’s collection of rejection slips.
Jim didn’t confine his efforts to "Joe Cipher"; the writer/artist
had no shortage of ideas, quite a few of which also wound up as
submission concepts. "Aunty Climax," produced in early 1957 -- just
prior to Jim’s ghost work for Dell comics -- was a single-panel gag
strip that starred a feisty little old lady who was far sharper than
most people assumed. She was based on Louise Cassidy, an AIS colleague
who also was the landlady for the building where Jim briefly lived with
Charles Cuddy. Jim produced a few dozen "Aunty Climax" panels, all of
which are vastly superior -- both in terms of writing and artwork -- to
many of the single-panel cartoons cluttering today’s newspapers.
"Confessions of a French Poodle" was a 1959 concept that didn’t
emerge much further than a few finished panels and lots of pencil
sketches; Jim good-naturedly admits that the idea went nowhere, and so
he abandoned it. That may have been shrewd market analysis, as the
medium never has lacked for dog-oriented material. Even so, French
poodles are funny in their own right, and Jim’s concept sketches are a
hoot.
When not working on Peanuts-related material, Sasseville tried to sell many of his own strip ideas
to a syndicate. From left to right, these examples are "Aunty Climax," "Friends and Foes," "Alpha-Betty" and "Happy Birthday."
(Click on the image to see an enlarged version.)
"Friends and Foes," another single-panel tryout, also emerged from
Jim’s pen in 1959. A little later, shortly after he started putting food
on the table with a "real job" -- and perhaps motivated by the explosion
of children’s television shows, which eventually led to "Sesame Street"
and everything that followed -- Jim tried a kid-oriented educational
strip called "Alpha-Betty," which starred a little girl who finds
herself in an other-worldly land populated by men and women shaped like
letters of the alphabet. The personalities of these individuals were
defined by their appearance; curved female letters, for example, were
far more sultry that straight female letters. The strip has a lovely
"Alice in Wonderland" quality, although the concept may have seemed
limiting.
Jim later played with the medium in "Blackboard," a daily strip
designed to be white-on-black, to imitate chalk on a classroom
blackboard. The stars were Dick, Jane and their TeacheR; although not as
overly educational as "Alpha-Betty," this strip also was aimed at young
audiences.
Jim’s final attempt at syndication was produced in the early 1970s,
after he first went into research hibernation, jotting down enough
celebrity birthdays to fill every day of a calendar year. The resulting
single-panel strips were a precursor to the "On this day in history..."
informational nuggets that have become so ubiquitous The panel for
March 28, for example, illustrated and revealed a few choice facts about
orchestra leader Paul Whiteman. March 29 was devoted to President John
Tyler, while Francisco Goya was featured on March 30.
Sadly, this fared no better with syndicators than any of the
others. "Joe Cipher," "Aunty Climax," "Confessions of a French Poodle,"
"Friends and Foes," "Alpha-Betty," "Blackboard" and "Birthdays" exist only
in Jim’s carefully preserved office files. More’s the pity, because even
the weakest of these strips displays a Puckish wit and clean, attractive
line work too often absent from many of the rushed, imitative strips
that generate little more than reader apathy these days.
Following the dust-up with Schulz and the move to Berkeley, Helga
-- who was delighted by the more rarefied atmosphere of a university
community -- became the family bread-winner. She took a job with a
German importer/exporter and commuted daily across the Bay Bridge.
Eventually succumbing to the need for steady employment, in April
1960 Jim took a job as a graphic designer with Varian, one of the
leading radar companies, located in California’s greater San Francisco
Bay Area. The fit proved comfortable, and he remained with the company
until he retired in 1990.
But the career shift wasn’t immediate; Jim first spent most of 1959
working up his own aforementioned comic strip proposals, and
occasionally sold individual gag cartoons to magazines. But his New
York-based agent took 35% of those one-shots.
"That’s when I started with Varian," Jim recalls, with a chuckle.
"I knew I’d never make it as a gag cartoonist."
Be that as it may, Jim never stopped his cartooning efforts; while
at Varian, he became famous for the birthday cards that he drew for
fellow employees.
Helga, meanwhile, got a job at Stanford, which prompted another
move; the couple then purchased their first home in 1960, in Mountain
View.
Three years later, they moved for what would be the last time. Jim
and his wife paid $28,000 for the house that remains his home to this
day. Just last year the retired artist was offered a cool million bucks
-- in cash -- by a dot-commer who wanted to develop the property. Still
loyal to the memories of his wife, with which the house is filled, Jim
politely declined. Helga died in 1995; he clearly still misses her.
Today, Parkinson’s Disease and the recent stroke have conspired to
deliver the ultimate nightmare Jim no longer can hold a pen well enough
to draw. ("I always marveled at Sparky’s ability to incorporate his
shaking hand into his line work.") But his mind and memory remain
acutely sharp, and his Puckish sense of humor is unbowed. He speaks with
clarity and certainty of his years at Art Instruction School, and with
Schulz, and of his never-successful efforts to market his own original
material.
Jim remains philosophical about his life, and in fact composed
another of his verses to express such feelings
I’m all for equal measures
Losses should be matched by gain;
And since I’ve missed life’s pleasures,
I’ll just double up with pain!
Definitely too harsh, but then we’re always hardest on ourselves.
Jim Sasseville deserves far more than the obscurity into which he has
settled; for a time, he was allied with the man who would become the
world’s most successful cartoonist, and for a time he helped chaperone
the faithfully rendered adventures of Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Linus, Lucy
and the rest ... no small feat.
And I’m particularly transfixed by a remark Jim made during one of
our later phone calls "I don’t know how one should behave, in a
situation like this," he said, referring to our ongoing conversations,
"but it’s like I’ve been resurrected."
Perhaps this article will kick-start our long-overdue obligation to
sing his praises.
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All PEANUTS characters pictured are copyrighted by United Feature Syndicate, Inc. They are used here with permission. They may not be reproduced by any means in any form.
Each installment of "It’s Only a Game, by Charles M. Schulz,"
hearkening back to Schulz’s very early work on "Li’l Folks" in The St.
Paul Pioneer Press, was comprised of three separate single-panel gag
strips. The package was offered to clients in two different formats as
three single-panel strips per week, to run on Mondays, Wednesdays and
Fridays; or as a combined grouping of three that would appear in Sunday
comics sections. The combined Sunday grouping also had a bonus fourth
cartoon a tiny, captionless visual gag -- very much like the
intermarginal gags that Sergio Aragonés would pepper throughout future
issues of Mad Magazine -- that appeared to the right of the title and
Schulz’s byline. The subject matter of the Monday and Wednesday panels
varied from week to week, but the Friday installment always centered
around bridge, the then-popular card game that Schulz loved. (Further
evidence of this affection could be seen in "Peanuts," where the kids
routinely played the game in the early 1950s, and Woodstock and a
foursome of his bird buddies picked it up in the 1970s and beyond.)
Charles Schulz did this January 12, 1958, "It's Only a Game" panel himself. Note his signature within the art of the right-most panel.
During an October 6, 1957, interview with Schulz, the Chicago
Tribune proudly boasted that it would be one of the flagship newspapers
to carry this new feature. The Tribune selected the weekly option, and
ran "It’s Only a Game" in its Sunday magazine. The debut installment
appeared November 3, 1957, and immediately set the tone for what would
follow, with panels devoted to boxing, golf and bridge. The middle panel
is a hoot, with a middle-aged duffer -- one easily can imagine Charlie
Brown in his 40s -- lamenting a putt that has left his ball perched at
the edge of the cup (but not in), and saying, "I think I’m going to
cry."
Subsequent installments covered checkers, bowling, curling (!),
table tennis, croquet, billiards, ice fishing, darts and even camping.
But as 1957 turned into 1958, something must have changed. Perhaps
Schulz had underestimated the amount of time involved with producing a
second weekly newspaper strip; maybe he also was spending more time than
expected overseeing the new "Peanuts" content in the Dell comic books.
Or, more likely, the "Peanuts" empire as a whole was occupying more of
his time; 1958 saw the production of the first "Peanuts" toys -- plastic
dolls of the major characters, produced by Hungerford -- and of course
this was just the tip of an approaching iceberg.
Whatever the reason, Schulz decided to hand over the lion’s share
of the artistic chores to Jim. Schulz’s solo involvement with "It’s Only
a Game" continued through the January 12, 1958, installment; this is the
last one to bear his signature on one of the cartoon panels. (Schulz’s
name continued to run alone in the masthead, however, making Jim a true
ghost.) As of January 19, 1958, Jim -- often working from hastily
penciled sketches and captions supplied by Schulz -- did all the
newspaper strip’s finished art and lettering.
Sasseville did this January 26, 1958, "It's Only a Game" panel himself. Note that Schulz's signature is nowhere to be seen within the art.
Jim vividly remembers this transition date, because just one week later,
with his second time at bat with the solo art chores, he was paid a
singular honor. That week’s Monday panel, a bowling strip, featured
three league players welcoming a fourth, apparently a little tardy, with
the exclamation of, "Three cheers, gang! Our number one man has
arrived!" A loyal reader sent UFS a black-and-white photo of himself
with three friends, staged to look precisely like the four figures in
Jim’s illustration. The "camera angle" was identical, along with
clothing, body position, and everything else in the frame. The
resemblance even extended to the men themselves, who had body shapes and
hairstyles eerily similar to those found in the panel art.
Jim still has the photo.
Sasseville received this photo recreation of his "It's Only a Game" gag from a fan. Note the date stamp at the top of the photo.
The degree to which Jim successfully imitated Schulz’s linework can
be seen by the fact that the transition was seamless; no casual reader
could have discerned that the hand on the inker’s pen had changed.
During the remainder of 1958, the two men continued to work in the same
fashion, Jim often finishing Schulz’s rough concepts, but also
contributing many of his own original ideas. He also inserted the
occasional personal reference; the boat from which a husband and wife
fish, in one of the June 29, 1958, panels, is the Helga, named after
Jim’s wife.
But Jim remembers that he never came up with any of the concepts
for Friday’s bridge panels, for the simple reason that he didn’t know
the game.
Although he labored in anonymity, Jim was well compensated
financially, and he still speaks appreciatively of Sparky’s generosity.
Schulz had negotiated for 50% of the strip’s income, the other half
going to UFS. This 50% amounted to slightly more than $500 per week;
when Jim came on board, Schulz generously gave half of HIS half to his
new partner, and so Jim brought home $250 per week (after expenses) for
his efforts ... quite a lot of money in 1958.
The two men were living in Minneapolis when this collaboration
began; after the first five months, in May 1958, Jim and his wife
followed the Schulz family to Northern California. Lacking a place to
stay in Sebastopol -- not to mention furniture and other amenities --
the Sassevilles first spent a couple of months a bit south, in Corta
Madera. "For two or three weeks, I drew the comic book stuff and ‘It’s
Only a Game’ on a portable drawing board. But I stayed in touch with
Sparky on the phone, and he supplied the ideas for ‘It’s Only a Game.’ "
The Sassevilles then found a home in Sebastopol. Between "It’s Only
a Game" and the work he also was doing for the "Peanuts" strips in the
Dell comic books, Jim was quite gainfully employed by his new partner
and boss.
Unfortunately, it was not to last.
"It’s Only a Game" began with 30 client newspapers; nearly a year
later, it had ... 30 client newspapers.
(A complete client list has been lost to the mists of time, although
it is known that the feature was carried by The Boston Globe, the Detroit
Free Press, The Chicago Tribune, The Minneapolis Tribune, the San Francisco
Chronicle and The Baltimore Sun.)
The strip never took off, despite strong support from fans such as
bridge expert Charles Goren (who wrote a couple of letters), and even
Schulz’s name didn’t seem to make much of a difference.
But we also can assume that the proud and perfectionist-minded
Schulz -- who in later years, as mentioned above, often made a point of
describing how in "Peanuts" he penciled and inked every line, and
lettered every word balloon -- probably was bothered by the fact that he
wasn’t similarly in sole control of "It’s Only a Game." To be sure, he
was INVOLVED, but he wasn’t actually drawing what appeared in those 30
client newspapers.
"He didn’t like his name being used on somebody else’s work," Jim
recalls, "and I don’t blame him for that."
That, coupled with moribund sales and some tension with the head
UFS salesman to whom Schulz initially had pitched the idea, eventually
prompted an astonishing decision In late 1958, just 12 months into a
solid five-year contract, Schulz made it plain to UFS that he wished to
discontinue "It’s Only a Game." Perhaps recognizing that the strip
wasn’t performing as hoped, UFS agreed.
Schulz did not consult Jim before taking this step; indeed, the
news came as a complete shock to Schulz’s ghost, who’d been very happy
with his work, and the strip, and the $250 per week.
Schulz even tried to sugar-coat the news "You’re off the hook,"
Jim recalls his employer saying (as if this were a GOOD thing), at the
end of that euphoric day when they finished work on the second
all-Peanuts issue of Dell’s Four Color Comics. Jim had just assured
Sparky that his pending move to Berkeley would not affect his ability to
work on "It’s Only a Game," and now the rug had been pulled out from
under him.
The fallout was immediate; it certainly was the final straw for
Helga, who already had been dissatisfied with their home in Sebastopol
-- hence the move to Berkeley -- and also was unhappy about the friction
that existed between her and Joyce, Schulz’s first wife. Helga had
endured Nazi Germany, survived the entire war -- in and out of work
camps -- and had lost her father at Dachau; she was not a woman to keep
opinions to herself.
"I realized I was working on a flawed product, which the creator
and marketer wanted nothing more to do with. Still, I had held out the
hope that maybe Sparky might offer the entire feature to me, although I
realized that there’d be problems with the syndicate," Jim admits, a
touch of wistfulness still clouding the memory after more than 40 years.
"They should have been pretty familiar with my work by then."
It didn’t happen. By the time the final installment of "It’s Only a
Game" appeared, on January 11, 1959 -- the two always had worked six
weeks ahead -- Jim and Schulz had severed all relations, professional
and personal. This also included Jim’s ghosting work on the Dell comic
books. The split was permanent, and the two men never reconciled.
Although "It’s Only a Game" ran for 63 consecutive weeks, it
quickly became a fading memory -- and then an overlooked footnote -- in
Schulz’s career. He rarely mentioned it during later interviews, and
then only obliquely, citing neither date specifics nor his collaboration
with Jim.
"We were the best of friends at first," Jim recalls ruefully. He
happily remembers attending the 1951 National Cartoonists Convention
with Sparky, and also another time when they both went to visit and swap
stories with a fellow artist, Robert M. Brinkerhoff, who lived in
Minneapolis and was known for a newspaper strip called "Little Mary
Mix-Up." Brinkerhoff, in turn -- like many other cartoonists at that
time -- greatly admired J.R. Williams (creator of "Out Our Way"), whom
he once described as "the greatest cowboy ever to walk the streets of
New York." Brinkerhoff related how he had wheedled, begged and finally
finagled an invitation to Williams’ ranch in Montana. Although only
interested in seeing the fabulous studio that he assumed his idol must
have on so massive a spread, Brinkerhoff first had to put up with being
shown all the livestock and the other attractions of a working ranch. As
the visit stretched on, Brinkerhoff finally couldn’t stand it any longer
and demanded to see where Williams did his work.
With a resigned sigh (as Jim recalls Brinkerhoff describing this
incident), Williams walked over to his wife’s sewing machine, took off
the cover, and flipped it over ... and that was it The great J.R.
Williams did all his drawing on the cover of his wife’s sewing machine.
As others have observed, there’s never any reason to embrace
technology or an environment any fancier than that required to get the
job done.
Cartoonists love to talk shop, and Jim’s no different; merely
relating this little tale brings a sparkle into his eyes. And, to this
day, he doesn’t really understand what happened between him and Schulz.
"I feel kind of weird about all this. Sparky obviously wanted me to
succeed in the early days, and even was willing to collaborate with me
on one of my own projects (one of the many variations of "Joe Cipher,"
discussed below). But then when he had a chance to really help me out,
he didn’t make any effort whatsoever ... and left me in rather dire
straits."
Such feelings notwithstanding, all these years later Jim is firm on
one point "Charles M. Schulz was the greatest comic strip artist ever."
And although he certainly couldn’t have known it at the time, Jim
never again would earn his living as a cartoonist.
Before, during and after his working association with Schulz, Jim
played around with many of his own ideas.
If persistence counts for anything, he deserves considerable credit
for his ongoing efforts to sell "Joe Cipher" ("a character kinda based
on me"), a daily strip that underwent quite a few transmutations during
the decade-plus that he tried to place it with a syndicate.
The character first appeared in a sample series of daily strips Jim
produced in late 1949. The strip’s gentle humor is faintly reminiscent
of "Gasoline Alley" and other character-driven work of the era; the
title character is introduced driving an old jalopy that obligingly runs
out of gas at a filling station. The silver-tongued Joe, lacking any
money, eventually impresses the station owner into offering him a job;
Joe celebrates by stepping into a nearby diner for lunch, where he’s
immediately smitten by the young woman behind the counter, and...
...and that’s where the presentation panels concluded.
Perhaps feeling that the strip lacked dramatic impact, a few years
later -- while still at AIS -- Jim tried again, shifting the action to a
tiny island in the middle of the ocean, where the shipwrecked Joe is
joined by an attractive young woman named Ginny, survivor of a second
sea-going calamity. (What are the odds?) Although their relationship is
mildly prickly for the first few days, Ginny eventually wishes aloud
that they could be rescued, so that she can go on a "proper date" with
Joe, and perhaps even kiss him when the evening concludes. Once again,
the story cut off abruptly, as Jim produced just two weeks’ worth of
strips enough to (hopefully) interest a buyer.
Sasseville tried several times to place a comic strip starring Joe Cipher, the pleasant-looking chap
featured in these examples. The two left-most strips are taken from the first run Sasseville designed on his own;
the two right-most strips, starring the same character but
in a different setting, are from Sasseville's third
test run; Charles Schulz contributed story input on these.
(Click on the image to see an enlarged version.)
After getting back from his return hitch in the Navy, Jim
went back to work on Joe Cipher and got a nibble from an
unexpected quarter: Something about this particular setting
touched Schulz, who suggested they collaborate on yet
a third incarnation of "Joe Cipher." (At the time, both men still were
unmarried, and it’s not hard to see a little male fantasy
wish-fulfillment at work.) With narrative input from Schulz and Jim
handling the art chores, the scene shifted again, this time to a
typically romantic South Seas setting, on an island large enough to
support a population of curvaceous young cuties and at least one
villain. Joe and Ginny remained the central focus, but this time the
former saw genuine action, on the receiving end of the villain’s fists.
Schulz and Jim took this newest version of "Joe Cipher" to United
Features Syndicate in spring of 1954; it was turned down flat. The
trip to New York wasn't a complete waste, though, because Sasseville
and Schulz caught a couple of plays: a T.S. Elliot drama called
Confidential Clerk, and another called The King of
Hearts, which starred Jackie Cooper as (what are the odds?)
a cartoonist!
Sasseville also remembers going from suite to suite in New
York's Waldorf hotel during this trip, visiting one cartoonist
after another; meeting Al Capp was a high point. But at least
part of the reason for the trip -- the newest Joe Cipher -- proved
unsellable, and Schulz bowed out at that point.
When Jim finally returned to "Joe Cipher," the 1950s were almost
over. Jim’s association with "Peanuts" and "It’s Only a Game" had
concluded, so the writer/artist returned to his favorite unsold
property. Jim recast his hero in yet another new setting, this time a
business office populated by characters clearly derived from his days at
Art Instruction. Although the sample panels display even cleaner, more
attractive line work -- a sure sign of his growing comfort as an artist
-- Jim had no better luck this time around.
Still refusing to abandon hope, Jim tried one more time In early
1960, after having moved to Berkeley, he once again changed the setting
completely, and turned Joe Cipher into "Sir Joe." This Arthurian-based
concept focused on genuinely whimsical gags involving heavy armor,
maidens in distress, and fire-breathing dragons. Jim’s dragons are
particularly funny, and this newest reboot seems ripe with
possibilities; it’s not at all hard to envision a daily strip evolving
from these samples.
Alas, syndicates once again failed to see any potential, and "Joe
Cipher" was put into Jim’s trunk as no more than another engaging
footnote in the artist’s collection of rejection slips.
Jim didn’t confine his efforts to "Joe Cipher"; the writer/artist
had no shortage of ideas, quite a few of which also wound up as
submission concepts. "Aunty Climax," produced in early 1957 -- just
prior to Jim’s ghost work for Dell comics -- was a single-panel gag
strip that starred a feisty little old lady who was far sharper than
most people assumed. She was based on Louise Cassidy, an AIS colleague
who also was the landlady for the building where Jim briefly lived with
Charles Cuddy. Jim produced a few dozen "Aunty Climax" panels, all of
which are vastly superior -- both in terms of writing and artwork -- to
many of the single-panel cartoons cluttering today’s newspapers.
"Confessions of a French Poodle" was a 1959 concept that didn’t
emerge much further than a few finished panels and lots of pencil
sketches; Jim good-naturedly admits that the idea went nowhere, and so
he abandoned it. That may have been shrewd market analysis, as the
medium never has lacked for dog-oriented material. Even so, French
poodles are funny in their own right, and Jim’s concept sketches are a
hoot.
When not working on Peanuts-related material, Sasseville tried to sell many of his own strip ideas
to a syndicate. From left to right, these examples are "Aunty Climax," "Friends and Foes," "Alpha-Betty" and "Happy Birthday."
(Click on the image to see an enlarged version.)
"Friends and Foes," another single-panel tryout, also emerged from
Jim’s pen in 1959. A little later, shortly after he started putting food
on the table with a "real job" -- and perhaps motivated by the explosion
of children’s television shows, which eventually led to "Sesame Street"
and everything that followed -- Jim tried a kid-oriented educational
strip called "Alpha-Betty," which starred a little girl who finds
herself in an other-worldly land populated by men and women shaped like
letters of the alphabet. The personalities of these individuals were
defined by their appearance; curved female letters, for example, were
far more sultry that straight female letters. The strip has a lovely
"Alice in Wonderland" quality, although the concept may have seemed
limiting.
Jim later played with the medium in "Blackboard," a daily strip
designed to be white-on-black, to imitate chalk on a classroom
blackboard. The stars were Dick, Jane and their TeacheR; although not as
overly educational as "Alpha-Betty," this strip also was aimed at young
audiences.
Jim’s final attempt at syndication was produced in the early 1970s,
after he first went into research hibernation, jotting down enough
celebrity birthdays to fill every day of a calendar year. The resulting
single-panel strips were a precursor to the "On this day in history..."
informational nuggets that have become so ubiquitous The panel for
March 28, for example, illustrated and revealed a few choice facts about
orchestra leader Paul Whiteman. March 29 was devoted to President John
Tyler, while Francisco Goya was featured on March 30.
Sadly, this fared no better with syndicators than any of the
others. "Joe Cipher," "Aunty Climax," "Confessions of a French Poodle,"
"Friends and Foes," "Alpha-Betty," "Blackboard" and "Birthdays" exist only
in Jim’s carefully preserved office files. More’s the pity, because even
the weakest of these strips displays a Puckish wit and clean, attractive
line work too often absent from many of the rushed, imitative strips
that generate little more than reader apathy these days.
Following the dust-up with Schulz and the move to Berkeley, Helga
-- who was delighted by the more rarefied atmosphere of a university
community -- became the family bread-winner. She took a job with a
German importer/exporter and commuted daily across the Bay Bridge.
Eventually succumbing to the need for steady employment, in April
1960 Jim took a job as a graphic designer with Varian, one of the
leading radar companies, located in California’s greater San Francisco
Bay Area. The fit proved comfortable, and he remained with the company
until he retired in 1990.
But the career shift wasn’t immediate; Jim first spent most of 1959
working up his own aforementioned comic strip proposals, and
occasionally sold individual gag cartoons to magazines. But his New
York-based agent took 35% of those one-shots.
"That’s when I started with Varian," Jim recalls, with a chuckle.
"I knew I’d never make it as a gag cartoonist."
Be that as it may, Jim never stopped his cartooning efforts; while
at Varian, he became famous for the birthday cards that he drew for
fellow employees.
Helga, meanwhile, got a job at Stanford, which prompted another
move; the couple then purchased their first home in 1960, in Mountain
View.
Three years later, they moved for what would be the last time. Jim
and his wife paid $28,000 for the house that remains his home to this
day. Just last year the retired artist was offered a cool million bucks
-- in cash -- by a dot-commer who wanted to develop the property. Still
loyal to the memories of his wife, with which the house is filled, Jim
politely declined. Helga died in 1995; he clearly still misses her.
Today, Parkinson’s Disease and the recent stroke have conspired to
deliver the ultimate nightmare Jim no longer can hold a pen well enough
to draw. ("I always marveled at Sparky’s ability to incorporate his
shaking hand into his line work.") But his mind and memory remain
acutely sharp, and his Puckish sense of humor is unbowed. He speaks with
clarity and certainty of his years at Art Instruction School, and with
Schulz, and of his never-successful efforts to market his own original
material.
Jim remains philosophical about his life, and in fact composed
another of his verses to express such feelings
I’m all for equal measures
Losses should be matched by gain;
And since I’ve missed life’s pleasures,
I’ll just double up with pain!
Definitely too harsh, but then we’re always hardest on ourselves.
Jim Sasseville deserves far more than the obscurity into which he has
settled; for a time, he was allied with the man who would become the
world’s most successful cartoonist, and for a time he helped chaperone
the faithfully rendered adventures of Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Linus, Lucy
and the rest ... no small feat.
And I’m particularly transfixed by a remark Jim made during one of
our later phone calls "I don’t know how one should behave, in a
situation like this," he said, referring to our ongoing conversations,
"but it’s like I’ve been resurrected."
Perhaps this article will kick-start our long-overdue obligation to
sing his praises.
Breaking News
Just the FAQs, Ma'am
Ace Airlines Tours: Sites to Visit
Beethoven's Rhapsodies: The Music (and Musicians) of Peanuts
Shop Till You Drop
Just for Fun
By Derrick Bang
Legal Matters
All PEANUTS characters pictured are copyrighted by United Feature Syndicate, Inc. They are used here with permission. They may not be reproduced by any means in any form.
|
|
During an October 6, 1957, interview with Schulz, the Chicago
Tribune proudly boasted that it would be one of the flagship newspapers
to carry this new feature. The Tribune selected the weekly option, and
ran "It’s Only a Game" in its Sunday magazine. The debut installment
appeared November 3, 1957, and immediately set the tone for what would
follow, with panels devoted to boxing, golf and bridge. The middle panel
is a hoot, with a middle-aged duffer -- one easily can imagine Charlie
Brown in his 40s -- lamenting a putt that has left his ball perched at
the edge of the cup (but not in), and saying, "I think I’m going to
cry."
Subsequent installments covered checkers, bowling, curling (!),
table tennis, croquet, billiards, ice fishing, darts and even camping.
But as 1957 turned into 1958, something must have changed. Perhaps
Schulz had underestimated the amount of time involved with producing a
second weekly newspaper strip; maybe he also was spending more time than
expected overseeing the new "Peanuts" content in the Dell comic books.
Or, more likely, the "Peanuts" empire as a whole was occupying more of
his time; 1958 saw the production of the first "Peanuts" toys -- plastic
dolls of the major characters, produced by Hungerford -- and of course
this was just the tip of an approaching iceberg.
Whatever the reason, Schulz decided to hand over the lion’s share
of the artistic chores to Jim. Schulz’s solo involvement with "It’s Only
a Game" continued through the January 12, 1958, installment; this is the
last one to bear his signature on one of the cartoon panels. (Schulz’s
name continued to run alone in the masthead, however, making Jim a true
ghost.) As of January 19, 1958, Jim -- often working from hastily
penciled sketches and captions supplied by Schulz -- did all the
newspaper strip’s finished art and lettering.
Sasseville did this January 26, 1958, "It's Only a Game" panel himself. Note that Schulz's signature is nowhere to be seen within the art.
Jim vividly remembers this transition date, because just one week later,
with his second time at bat with the solo art chores, he was paid a
singular honor. That week’s Monday panel, a bowling strip, featured
three league players welcoming a fourth, apparently a little tardy, with
the exclamation of, "Three cheers, gang! Our number one man has
arrived!" A loyal reader sent UFS a black-and-white photo of himself
with three friends, staged to look precisely like the four figures in
Jim’s illustration. The "camera angle" was identical, along with
clothing, body position, and everything else in the frame. The
resemblance even extended to the men themselves, who had body shapes and
hairstyles eerily similar to those found in the panel art.
Jim still has the photo.
Sasseville received this photo recreation of his "It's Only a Game" gag from a fan. Note the date stamp at the top of the photo.
The degree to which Jim successfully imitated Schulz’s linework can
be seen by the fact that the transition was seamless; no casual reader
could have discerned that the hand on the inker’s pen had changed.
During the remainder of 1958, the two men continued to work in the same
fashion, Jim often finishing Schulz’s rough concepts, but also
contributing many of his own original ideas. He also inserted the
occasional personal reference; the boat from which a husband and wife
fish, in one of the June 29, 1958, panels, is the Helga, named after
Jim’s wife.
But Jim remembers that he never came up with any of the concepts
for Friday’s bridge panels, for the simple reason that he didn’t know
the game.
Although he labored in anonymity, Jim was well compensated
financially, and he still speaks appreciatively of Sparky’s generosity.
Schulz had negotiated for 50% of the strip’s income, the other half
going to UFS. This 50% amounted to slightly more than $500 per week;
when Jim came on board, Schulz generously gave half of HIS half to his
new partner, and so Jim brought home $250 per week (after expenses) for
his efforts ... quite a lot of money in 1958.
The two men were living in Minneapolis when this collaboration
began; after the first five months, in May 1958, Jim and his wife
followed the Schulz family to Northern California. Lacking a place to
stay in Sebastopol -- not to mention furniture and other amenities --
the Sassevilles first spent a couple of months a bit south, in Corta
Madera. "For two or three weeks, I drew the comic book stuff and ‘It’s
Only a Game’ on a portable drawing board. But I stayed in touch with
Sparky on the phone, and he supplied the ideas for ‘It’s Only a Game.’ "
The Sassevilles then found a home in Sebastopol. Between "It’s Only
a Game" and the work he also was doing for the "Peanuts" strips in the
Dell comic books, Jim was quite gainfully employed by his new partner
and boss.
Unfortunately, it was not to last.
"It’s Only a Game" began with 30 client newspapers; nearly a year
later, it had ... 30 client newspapers.
(A complete client list has been lost to the mists of time, although
it is known that the feature was carried by The Boston Globe, the Detroit
Free Press, The Chicago Tribune, The Minneapolis Tribune, the San Francisco
Chronicle and The Baltimore Sun.)
The strip never took off, despite strong support from fans such as
bridge expert Charles Goren (who wrote a couple of letters), and even
Schulz’s name didn’t seem to make much of a difference.
But we also can assume that the proud and perfectionist-minded
Schulz -- who in later years, as mentioned above, often made a point of
describing how in "Peanuts" he penciled and inked every line, and
lettered every word balloon -- probably was bothered by the fact that he
wasn’t similarly in sole control of "It’s Only a Game." To be sure, he
was INVOLVED, but he wasn’t actually drawing what appeared in those 30
client newspapers.
"He didn’t like his name being used on somebody else’s work," Jim
recalls, "and I don’t blame him for that."
That, coupled with moribund sales and some tension with the head
UFS salesman to whom Schulz initially had pitched the idea, eventually
prompted an astonishing decision In late 1958, just 12 months into a
solid five-year contract, Schulz made it plain to UFS that he wished to
discontinue "It’s Only a Game." Perhaps recognizing that the strip
wasn’t performing as hoped, UFS agreed.
Schulz did not consult Jim before taking this step; indeed, the
news came as a complete shock to Schulz’s ghost, who’d been very happy
with his work, and the strip, and the $250 per week.
Schulz even tried to sugar-coat the news "You’re off the hook,"
Jim recalls his employer saying (as if this were a GOOD thing), at the
end of that euphoric day when they finished work on the second
all-Peanuts issue of Dell’s Four Color Comics. Jim had just assured
Sparky that his pending move to Berkeley would not affect his ability to
work on "It’s Only a Game," and now the rug had been pulled out from
under him.
The fallout was immediate; it certainly was the final straw for
Helga, who already had been dissatisfied with their home in Sebastopol
-- hence the move to Berkeley -- and also was unhappy about the friction
that existed between her and Joyce, Schulz’s first wife. Helga had
endured Nazi Germany, survived the entire war -- in and out of work
camps -- and had lost her father at Dachau; she was not a woman to keep
opinions to herself.
"I realized I was working on a flawed product, which the creator
and marketer wanted nothing more to do with. Still, I had held out the
hope that maybe Sparky might offer the entire feature to me, although I
realized that there’d be problems with the syndicate," Jim admits, a
touch of wistfulness still clouding the memory after more than 40 years.
"They should have been pretty familiar with my work by then."
It didn’t happen. By the time the final installment of "It’s Only a
Game" appeared, on January 11, 1959 -- the two always had worked six
weeks ahead -- Jim and Schulz had severed all relations, professional
and personal. This also included Jim’s ghosting work on the Dell comic
books. The split was permanent, and the two men never reconciled.
Although "It’s Only a Game" ran for 63 consecutive weeks, it
quickly became a fading memory -- and then an overlooked footnote -- in
Schulz’s career. He rarely mentioned it during later interviews, and
then only obliquely, citing neither date specifics nor his collaboration
with Jim.
"We were the best of friends at first," Jim recalls ruefully. He
happily remembers attending the 1951 National Cartoonists Convention
with Sparky, and also another time when they both went to visit and swap
stories with a fellow artist, Robert M. Brinkerhoff, who lived in
Minneapolis and was known for a newspaper strip called "Little Mary
Mix-Up." Brinkerhoff, in turn -- like many other cartoonists at that
time -- greatly admired J.R. Williams (creator of "Out Our Way"), whom
he once described as "the greatest cowboy ever to walk the streets of
New York." Brinkerhoff related how he had wheedled, begged and finally
finagled an invitation to Williams’ ranch in Montana. Although only
interested in seeing the fabulous studio that he assumed his idol must
have on so massive a spread, Brinkerhoff first had to put up with being
shown all the livestock and the other attractions of a working ranch. As
the visit stretched on, Brinkerhoff finally couldn’t stand it any longer
and demanded to see where Williams did his work.
With a resigned sigh (as Jim recalls Brinkerhoff describing this
incident), Williams walked over to his wife’s sewing machine, took off
the cover, and flipped it over ... and that was it The great J.R.
Williams did all his drawing on the cover of his wife’s sewing machine.
As others have observed, there’s never any reason to embrace
technology or an environment any fancier than that required to get the
job done.
Cartoonists love to talk shop, and Jim’s no different; merely
relating this little tale brings a sparkle into his eyes. And, to this
day, he doesn’t really understand what happened between him and Schulz.
"I feel kind of weird about all this. Sparky obviously wanted me to
succeed in the early days, and even was willing to collaborate with me
on one of my own projects (one of the many variations of "Joe Cipher,"
discussed below). But then when he had a chance to really help me out,
he didn’t make any effort whatsoever ... and left me in rather dire
straits."
Such feelings notwithstanding, all these years later Jim is firm on
one point "Charles M. Schulz was the greatest comic strip artist ever."
And although he certainly couldn’t have known it at the time, Jim
never again would earn his living as a cartoonist.
Before, during and after his working association with Schulz, Jim
played around with many of his own ideas.
If persistence counts for anything, he deserves considerable credit
for his ongoing efforts to sell "Joe Cipher" ("a character kinda based
on me"), a daily strip that underwent quite a few transmutations during
the decade-plus that he tried to place it with a syndicate.
The character first appeared in a sample series of daily strips Jim
produced in late 1949. The strip’s gentle humor is faintly reminiscent
of "Gasoline Alley" and other character-driven work of the era; the
title character is introduced driving an old jalopy that obligingly runs
out of gas at a filling station. The silver-tongued Joe, lacking any
money, eventually impresses the station owner into offering him a job;
Joe celebrates by stepping into a nearby diner for lunch, where he’s
immediately smitten by the young woman behind the counter, and...
...and that’s where the presentation panels concluded.
Perhaps feeling that the strip lacked dramatic impact, a few years
later -- while still at AIS -- Jim tried again, shifting the action to a
tiny island in the middle of the ocean, where the shipwrecked Joe is
joined by an attractive young woman named Ginny, survivor of a second
sea-going calamity. (What are the odds?) Although their relationship is
mildly prickly for the first few days, Ginny eventually wishes aloud
that they could be rescued, so that she can go on a "proper date" with
Joe, and perhaps even kiss him when the evening concludes. Once again,
the story cut off abruptly, as Jim produced just two weeks’ worth of
strips enough to (hopefully) interest a buyer.
Sasseville tried several times to place a comic strip starring Joe Cipher, the pleasant-looking chap
featured in these examples. The two left-most strips are taken from the first run Sasseville designed on his own;
the two right-most strips, starring the same character but
in a different setting, are from Sasseville's third
test run; Charles Schulz contributed story input on these.
(Click on the image to see an enlarged version.)
After getting back from his return hitch in the Navy, Jim
went back to work on Joe Cipher and got a nibble from an
unexpected quarter: Something about this particular setting
touched Schulz, who suggested they collaborate on yet
a third incarnation of "Joe Cipher." (At the time, both men still were
unmarried, and it’s not hard to see a little male fantasy
wish-fulfillment at work.) With narrative input from Schulz and Jim
handling the art chores, the scene shifted again, this time to a
typically romantic South Seas setting, on an island large enough to
support a population of curvaceous young cuties and at least one
villain. Joe and Ginny remained the central focus, but this time the
former saw genuine action, on the receiving end of the villain’s fists.
Schulz and Jim took this newest version of "Joe Cipher" to United
Features Syndicate in spring of 1954; it was turned down flat. The
trip to New York wasn't a complete waste, though, because Sasseville
and Schulz caught a couple of plays: a T.S. Elliot drama called
Confidential Clerk, and another called The King of
Hearts, which starred Jackie Cooper as (what are the odds?)
a cartoonist!
Sasseville also remembers going from suite to suite in New
York's Waldorf hotel during this trip, visiting one cartoonist
after another; meeting Al Capp was a high point. But at least
part of the reason for the trip -- the newest Joe Cipher -- proved
unsellable, and Schulz bowed out at that point.
When Jim finally returned to "Joe Cipher," the 1950s were almost
over. Jim’s association with "Peanuts" and "It’s Only a Game" had
concluded, so the writer/artist returned to his favorite unsold
property. Jim recast his hero in yet another new setting, this time a
business office populated by characters clearly derived from his days at
Art Instruction. Although the sample panels display even cleaner, more
attractive line work -- a sure sign of his growing comfort as an artist
-- Jim had no better luck this time around.
Still refusing to abandon hope, Jim tried one more time In early
1960, after having moved to Berkeley, he once again changed the setting
completely, and turned Joe Cipher into "Sir Joe." This Arthurian-based
concept focused on genuinely whimsical gags involving heavy armor,
maidens in distress, and fire-breathing dragons. Jim’s dragons are
particularly funny, and this newest reboot seems ripe with
possibilities; it’s not at all hard to envision a daily strip evolving
from these samples.
Alas, syndicates once again failed to see any potential, and "Joe
Cipher" was put into Jim’s trunk as no more than another engaging
footnote in the artist’s collection of rejection slips.
Jim didn’t confine his efforts to "Joe Cipher"; the writer/artist
had no shortage of ideas, quite a few of which also wound up as
submission concepts. "Aunty Climax," produced in early 1957 -- just
prior to Jim’s ghost work for Dell comics -- was a single-panel gag
strip that starred a feisty little old lady who was far sharper than
most people assumed. She was based on Louise Cassidy, an AIS colleague
who also was the landlady for the building where Jim briefly lived with
Charles Cuddy. Jim produced a few dozen "Aunty Climax" panels, all of
which are vastly superior -- both in terms of writing and artwork -- to
many of the single-panel cartoons cluttering today’s newspapers.
"Confessions of a French Poodle" was a 1959 concept that didn’t
emerge much further than a few finished panels and lots of pencil
sketches; Jim good-naturedly admits that the idea went nowhere, and so
he abandoned it. That may have been shrewd market analysis, as the
medium never has lacked for dog-oriented material. Even so, French
poodles are funny in their own right, and Jim’s concept sketches are a
hoot.
When not working on Peanuts-related material, Sasseville tried to sell many of his own strip ideas
to a syndicate. From left to right, these examples are "Aunty Climax," "Friends and Foes," "Alpha-Betty" and "Happy Birthday."
(Click on the image to see an enlarged version.)
"Friends and Foes," another single-panel tryout, also emerged from
Jim’s pen in 1959. A little later, shortly after he started putting food
on the table with a "real job" -- and perhaps motivated by the explosion
of children’s television shows, which eventually led to "Sesame Street"
and everything that followed -- Jim tried a kid-oriented educational
strip called "Alpha-Betty," which starred a little girl who finds
herself in an other-worldly land populated by men and women shaped like
letters of the alphabet. The personalities of these individuals were
defined by their appearance; curved female letters, for example, were
far more sultry that straight female letters. The strip has a lovely
"Alice in Wonderland" quality, although the concept may have seemed
limiting.
Jim later played with the medium in "Blackboard," a daily strip
designed to be white-on-black, to imitate chalk on a classroom
blackboard. The stars were Dick, Jane and their TeacheR; although not as
overly educational as "Alpha-Betty," this strip also was aimed at young
audiences.
Jim’s final attempt at syndication was produced in the early 1970s,
after he first went into research hibernation, jotting down enough
celebrity birthdays to fill every day of a calendar year. The resulting
single-panel strips were a precursor to the "On this day in history..."
informational nuggets that have become so ubiquitous The panel for
March 28, for example, illustrated and revealed a few choice facts about
orchestra leader Paul Whiteman. March 29 was devoted to President John
Tyler, while Francisco Goya was featured on March 30.
Sadly, this fared no better with syndicators than any of the
others. "Joe Cipher," "Aunty Climax," "Confessions of a French Poodle,"
"Friends and Foes," "Alpha-Betty," "Blackboard" and "Birthdays" exist only
in Jim’s carefully preserved office files. More’s the pity, because even
the weakest of these strips displays a Puckish wit and clean, attractive
line work too often absent from many of the rushed, imitative strips
that generate little more than reader apathy these days.
Following the dust-up with Schulz and the move to Berkeley, Helga
-- who was delighted by the more rarefied atmosphere of a university
community -- became the family bread-winner. She took a job with a
German importer/exporter and commuted daily across the Bay Bridge.
Eventually succumbing to the need for steady employment, in April
1960 Jim took a job as a graphic designer with Varian, one of the
leading radar companies, located in California’s greater San Francisco
Bay Area. The fit proved comfortable, and he remained with the company
until he retired in 1990.
But the career shift wasn’t immediate; Jim first spent most of 1959
working up his own aforementioned comic strip proposals, and
occasionally sold individual gag cartoons to magazines. But his New
York-based agent took 35% of those one-shots.
"That’s when I started with Varian," Jim recalls, with a chuckle.
"I knew I’d never make it as a gag cartoonist."
Be that as it may, Jim never stopped his cartooning efforts; while
at Varian, he became famous for the birthday cards that he drew for
fellow employees.
Helga, meanwhile, got a job at Stanford, which prompted another
move; the couple then purchased their first home in 1960, in Mountain
View.
Three years later, they moved for what would be the last time. Jim
and his wife paid $28,000 for the house that remains his home to this
day. Just last year the retired artist was offered a cool million bucks
-- in cash -- by a dot-commer who wanted to develop the property. Still
loyal to the memories of his wife, with which the house is filled, Jim
politely declined. Helga died in 1995; he clearly still misses her.
Today, Parkinson’s Disease and the recent stroke have conspired to
deliver the ultimate nightmare Jim no longer can hold a pen well enough
to draw. ("I always marveled at Sparky’s ability to incorporate his
shaking hand into his line work.") But his mind and memory remain
acutely sharp, and his Puckish sense of humor is unbowed. He speaks with
clarity and certainty of his years at Art Instruction School, and with
Schulz, and of his never-successful efforts to market his own original
material.
Jim remains philosophical about his life, and in fact composed
another of his verses to express such feelings
I’m all for equal measures
Losses should be matched by gain;
And since I’ve missed life’s pleasures,
I’ll just double up with pain!
Definitely too harsh, but then we’re always hardest on ourselves.
Jim Sasseville deserves far more than the obscurity into which he has
settled; for a time, he was allied with the man who would become the
world’s most successful cartoonist, and for a time he helped chaperone
the faithfully rendered adventures of Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Linus, Lucy
and the rest ... no small feat.
And I’m particularly transfixed by a remark Jim made during one of
our later phone calls "I don’t know how one should behave, in a
situation like this," he said, referring to our ongoing conversations,
"but it’s like I’ve been resurrected."
Perhaps this article will kick-start our long-overdue obligation to
sing his praises.
Breaking News
Just the FAQs, Ma'am
Ace Airlines Tours: Sites to Visit
Beethoven's Rhapsodies: The Music (and Musicians) of Peanuts
Shop Till You Drop
Just for Fun
By Derrick Bang
Legal Matters
All PEANUTS characters pictured are copyrighted by United Feature Syndicate, Inc. They are used here with permission. They may not be reproduced by any means in any form.
But as 1957 turned into 1958, something must have changed. Perhaps
Schulz had underestimated the amount of time involved with producing a
second weekly newspaper strip; maybe he also was spending more time than
expected overseeing the new "Peanuts" content in the Dell comic books.
Or, more likely, the "Peanuts" empire as a whole was occupying more of
his time; 1958 saw the production of the first "Peanuts" toys -- plastic
dolls of the major characters, produced by Hungerford -- and of course
this was just the tip of an approaching iceberg.
Whatever the reason, Schulz decided to hand over the lion’s share
of the artistic chores to Jim. Schulz’s solo involvement with "It’s Only
a Game" continued through the January 12, 1958, installment; this is the
last one to bear his signature on one of the cartoon panels. (Schulz’s
name continued to run alone in the masthead, however, making Jim a true
ghost.) As of January 19, 1958, Jim -- often working from hastily
penciled sketches and captions supplied by Schulz -- did all the
newspaper strip’s finished art and lettering.
Sasseville did this January 26, 1958, "It's Only a Game" panel himself. Note that Schulz's signature is nowhere to be seen within the art.
Jim vividly remembers this transition date, because just one week later,
with his second time at bat with the solo art chores, he was paid a
singular honor. That week’s Monday panel, a bowling strip, featured
three league players welcoming a fourth, apparently a little tardy, with
the exclamation of, "Three cheers, gang! Our number one man has
arrived!" A loyal reader sent UFS a black-and-white photo of himself
with three friends, staged to look precisely like the four figures in
Jim’s illustration. The "camera angle" was identical, along with
clothing, body position, and everything else in the frame. The
resemblance even extended to the men themselves, who had body shapes and
hairstyles eerily similar to those found in the panel art.
Jim still has the photo.
Sasseville received this photo recreation of his "It's Only a Game" gag from a fan. Note the date stamp at the top of the photo.
The degree to which Jim successfully imitated Schulz’s linework can
be seen by the fact that the transition was seamless; no casual reader
could have discerned that the hand on the inker’s pen had changed.
During the remainder of 1958, the two men continued to work in the same
fashion, Jim often finishing Schulz’s rough concepts, but also
contributing many of his own original ideas. He also inserted the
occasional personal reference; the boat from which a husband and wife
fish, in one of the June 29, 1958, panels, is the Helga, named after
Jim’s wife.
But Jim remembers that he never came up with any of the concepts
for Friday’s bridge panels, for the simple reason that he didn’t know
the game.
Although he labored in anonymity, Jim was well compensated
financially, and he still speaks appreciatively of Sparky’s generosity.
Schulz had negotiated for 50% of the strip’s income, the other half
going to UFS. This 50% amounted to slightly more than $500 per week;
when Jim came on board, Schulz generously gave half of HIS half to his
new partner, and so Jim brought home $250 per week (after expenses) for
his efforts ... quite a lot of money in 1958.
The two men were living in Minneapolis when this collaboration
began; after the first five months, in May 1958, Jim and his wife
followed the Schulz family to Northern California. Lacking a place to
stay in Sebastopol -- not to mention furniture and other amenities --
the Sassevilles first spent a couple of months a bit south, in Corta
Madera. "For two or three weeks, I drew the comic book stuff and ‘It’s
Only a Game’ on a portable drawing board. But I stayed in touch with
Sparky on the phone, and he supplied the ideas for ‘It’s Only a Game.’ "
The Sassevilles then found a home in Sebastopol. Between "It’s Only
a Game" and the work he also was doing for the "Peanuts" strips in the
Dell comic books, Jim was quite gainfully employed by his new partner
and boss.
Unfortunately, it was not to last.
"It’s Only a Game" began with 30 client newspapers; nearly a year
later, it had ... 30 client newspapers.
(A complete client list has been lost to the mists of time, although
it is known that the feature was carried by The Boston Globe, the Detroit
Free Press, The Chicago Tribune, The Minneapolis Tribune, the San Francisco
Chronicle and The Baltimore Sun.)
The strip never took off, despite strong support from fans such as
bridge expert Charles Goren (who wrote a couple of letters), and even
Schulz’s name didn’t seem to make much of a difference.
But we also can assume that the proud and perfectionist-minded
Schulz -- who in later years, as mentioned above, often made a point of
describing how in "Peanuts" he penciled and inked every line, and
lettered every word balloon -- probably was bothered by the fact that he
wasn’t similarly in sole control of "It’s Only a Game." To be sure, he
was INVOLVED, but he wasn’t actually drawing what appeared in those 30
client newspapers.
"He didn’t like his name being used on somebody else’s work," Jim
recalls, "and I don’t blame him for that."
That, coupled with moribund sales and some tension with the head
UFS salesman to whom Schulz initially had pitched the idea, eventually
prompted an astonishing decision In late 1958, just 12 months into a
solid five-year contract, Schulz made it plain to UFS that he wished to
discontinue "It’s Only a Game." Perhaps recognizing that the strip
wasn’t performing as hoped, UFS agreed.
Schulz did not consult Jim before taking this step; indeed, the
news came as a complete shock to Schulz’s ghost, who’d been very happy
with his work, and the strip, and the $250 per week.
Schulz even tried to sugar-coat the news "You’re off the hook,"
Jim recalls his employer saying (as if this were a GOOD thing), at the
end of that euphoric day when they finished work on the second
all-Peanuts issue of Dell’s Four Color Comics. Jim had just assured
Sparky that his pending move to Berkeley would not affect his ability to
work on "It’s Only a Game," and now the rug had been pulled out from
under him.
The fallout was immediate; it certainly was the final straw for
Helga, who already had been dissatisfied with their home in Sebastopol
-- hence the move to Berkeley -- and also was unhappy about the friction
that existed between her and Joyce, Schulz’s first wife. Helga had
endured Nazi Germany, survived the entire war -- in and out of work
camps -- and had lost her father at Dachau; she was not a woman to keep
opinions to herself.
"I realized I was working on a flawed product, which the creator
and marketer wanted nothing more to do with. Still, I had held out the
hope that maybe Sparky might offer the entire feature to me, although I
realized that there’d be problems with the syndicate," Jim admits, a
touch of wistfulness still clouding the memory after more than 40 years.
"They should have been pretty familiar with my work by then."
It didn’t happen. By the time the final installment of "It’s Only a
Game" appeared, on January 11, 1959 -- the two always had worked six
weeks ahead -- Jim and Schulz had severed all relations, professional
and personal. This also included Jim’s ghosting work on the Dell comic
books. The split was permanent, and the two men never reconciled.
Although "It’s Only a Game" ran for 63 consecutive weeks, it
quickly became a fading memory -- and then an overlooked footnote -- in
Schulz’s career. He rarely mentioned it during later interviews, and
then only obliquely, citing neither date specifics nor his collaboration
with Jim.
"We were the best of friends at first," Jim recalls ruefully. He
happily remembers attending the 1951 National Cartoonists Convention
with Sparky, and also another time when they both went to visit and swap
stories with a fellow artist, Robert M. Brinkerhoff, who lived in
Minneapolis and was known for a newspaper strip called "Little Mary
Mix-Up." Brinkerhoff, in turn -- like many other cartoonists at that
time -- greatly admired J.R. Williams (creator of "Out Our Way"), whom
he once described as "the greatest cowboy ever to walk the streets of
New York." Brinkerhoff related how he had wheedled, begged and finally
finagled an invitation to Williams’ ranch in Montana. Although only
interested in seeing the fabulous studio that he assumed his idol must
have on so massive a spread, Brinkerhoff first had to put up with being
shown all the livestock and the other attractions of a working ranch. As
the visit stretched on, Brinkerhoff finally couldn’t stand it any longer
and demanded to see where Williams did his work.
With a resigned sigh (as Jim recalls Brinkerhoff describing this
incident), Williams walked over to his wife’s sewing machine, took off
the cover, and flipped it over ... and that was it The great J.R.
Williams did all his drawing on the cover of his wife’s sewing machine.
As others have observed, there’s never any reason to embrace
technology or an environment any fancier than that required to get the
job done.
Cartoonists love to talk shop, and Jim’s no different; merely
relating this little tale brings a sparkle into his eyes. And, to this
day, he doesn’t really understand what happened between him and Schulz.
"I feel kind of weird about all this. Sparky obviously wanted me to
succeed in the early days, and even was willing to collaborate with me
on one of my own projects (one of the many variations of "Joe Cipher,"
discussed below). But then when he had a chance to really help me out,
he didn’t make any effort whatsoever ... and left me in rather dire
straits."
Such feelings notwithstanding, all these years later Jim is firm on
one point "Charles M. Schulz was the greatest comic strip artist ever."
And although he certainly couldn’t have known it at the time, Jim
never again would earn his living as a cartoonist.
Before, during and after his working association with Schulz, Jim
played around with many of his own ideas.
If persistence counts for anything, he deserves considerable credit
for his ongoing efforts to sell "Joe Cipher" ("a character kinda based
on me"), a daily strip that underwent quite a few transmutations during
the decade-plus that he tried to place it with a syndicate.
The character first appeared in a sample series of daily strips Jim
produced in late 1949. The strip’s gentle humor is faintly reminiscent
of "Gasoline Alley" and other character-driven work of the era; the
title character is introduced driving an old jalopy that obligingly runs
out of gas at a filling station. The silver-tongued Joe, lacking any
money, eventually impresses the station owner into offering him a job;
Joe celebrates by stepping into a nearby diner for lunch, where he’s
immediately smitten by the young woman behind the counter, and...
...and that’s where the presentation panels concluded.
Perhaps feeling that the strip lacked dramatic impact, a few years
later -- while still at AIS -- Jim tried again, shifting the action to a
tiny island in the middle of the ocean, where the shipwrecked Joe is
joined by an attractive young woman named Ginny, survivor of a second
sea-going calamity. (What are the odds?) Although their relationship is
mildly prickly for the first few days, Ginny eventually wishes aloud
that they could be rescued, so that she can go on a "proper date" with
Joe, and perhaps even kiss him when the evening concludes. Once again,
the story cut off abruptly, as Jim produced just two weeks’ worth of
strips enough to (hopefully) interest a buyer.
Sasseville tried several times to place a comic strip starring Joe Cipher, the pleasant-looking chap
featured in these examples. The two left-most strips are taken from the first run Sasseville designed on his own;
the two right-most strips, starring the same character but
in a different setting, are from Sasseville's third
test run; Charles Schulz contributed story input on these.
(Click on the image to see an enlarged version.)
After getting back from his return hitch in the Navy, Jim
went back to work on Joe Cipher and got a nibble from an
unexpected quarter: Something about this particular setting
touched Schulz, who suggested they collaborate on yet
a third incarnation of "Joe Cipher." (At the time, both men still were
unmarried, and it’s not hard to see a little male fantasy
wish-fulfillment at work.) With narrative input from Schulz and Jim
handling the art chores, the scene shifted again, this time to a
typically romantic South Seas setting, on an island large enough to
support a population of curvaceous young cuties and at least one
villain. Joe and Ginny remained the central focus, but this time the
former saw genuine action, on the receiving end of the villain’s fists.
Schulz and Jim took this newest version of "Joe Cipher" to United
Features Syndicate in spring of 1954; it was turned down flat. The
trip to New York wasn't a complete waste, though, because Sasseville
and Schulz caught a couple of plays: a T.S. Elliot drama called
Confidential Clerk, and another called The King of
Hearts, which starred Jackie Cooper as (what are the odds?)
a cartoonist!
Sasseville also remembers going from suite to suite in New
York's Waldorf hotel during this trip, visiting one cartoonist
after another; meeting Al Capp was a high point. But at least
part of the reason for the trip -- the newest Joe Cipher -- proved
unsellable, and Schulz bowed out at that point.
When Jim finally returned to "Joe Cipher," the 1950s were almost
over. Jim’s association with "Peanuts" and "It’s Only a Game" had
concluded, so the writer/artist returned to his favorite unsold
property. Jim recast his hero in yet another new setting, this time a
business office populated by characters clearly derived from his days at
Art Instruction. Although the sample panels display even cleaner, more
attractive line work -- a sure sign of his growing comfort as an artist
-- Jim had no better luck this time around.
Still refusing to abandon hope, Jim tried one more time In early
1960, after having moved to Berkeley, he once again changed the setting
completely, and turned Joe Cipher into "Sir Joe." This Arthurian-based
concept focused on genuinely whimsical gags involving heavy armor,
maidens in distress, and fire-breathing dragons. Jim’s dragons are
particularly funny, and this newest reboot seems ripe with
possibilities; it’s not at all hard to envision a daily strip evolving
from these samples.
Alas, syndicates once again failed to see any potential, and "Joe
Cipher" was put into Jim’s trunk as no more than another engaging
footnote in the artist’s collection of rejection slips.
Jim didn’t confine his efforts to "Joe Cipher"; the writer/artist
had no shortage of ideas, quite a few of which also wound up as
submission concepts. "Aunty Climax," produced in early 1957 -- just
prior to Jim’s ghost work for Dell comics -- was a single-panel gag
strip that starred a feisty little old lady who was far sharper than
most people assumed. She was based on Louise Cassidy, an AIS colleague
who also was the landlady for the building where Jim briefly lived with
Charles Cuddy. Jim produced a few dozen "Aunty Climax" panels, all of
which are vastly superior -- both in terms of writing and artwork -- to
many of the single-panel cartoons cluttering today’s newspapers.
"Confessions of a French Poodle" was a 1959 concept that didn’t
emerge much further than a few finished panels and lots of pencil
sketches; Jim good-naturedly admits that the idea went nowhere, and so
he abandoned it. That may have been shrewd market analysis, as the
medium never has lacked for dog-oriented material. Even so, French
poodles are funny in their own right, and Jim’s concept sketches are a
hoot.
When not working on Peanuts-related material, Sasseville tried to sell many of his own strip ideas
to a syndicate. From left to right, these examples are "Aunty Climax," "Friends and Foes," "Alpha-Betty" and "Happy Birthday."
(Click on the image to see an enlarged version.)
"Friends and Foes," another single-panel tryout, also emerged from
Jim’s pen in 1959. A little later, shortly after he started putting food
on the table with a "real job" -- and perhaps motivated by the explosion
of children’s television shows, which eventually led to "Sesame Street"
and everything that followed -- Jim tried a kid-oriented educational
strip called "Alpha-Betty," which starred a little girl who finds
herself in an other-worldly land populated by men and women shaped like
letters of the alphabet. The personalities of these individuals were
defined by their appearance; curved female letters, for example, were
far more sultry that straight female letters. The strip has a lovely
"Alice in Wonderland" quality, although the concept may have seemed
limiting.
Jim later played with the medium in "Blackboard," a daily strip
designed to be white-on-black, to imitate chalk on a classroom
blackboard. The stars were Dick, Jane and their TeacheR; although not as
overly educational as "Alpha-Betty," this strip also was aimed at young
audiences.
Jim’s final attempt at syndication was produced in the early 1970s,
after he first went into research hibernation, jotting down enough
celebrity birthdays to fill every day of a calendar year. The resulting
single-panel strips were a precursor to the "On this day in history..."
informational nuggets that have become so ubiquitous The panel for
March 28, for example, illustrated and revealed a few choice facts about
orchestra leader Paul Whiteman. March 29 was devoted to President John
Tyler, while Francisco Goya was featured on March 30.
Sadly, this fared no better with syndicators than any of the
others. "Joe Cipher," "Aunty Climax," "Confessions of a French Poodle,"
"Friends and Foes," "Alpha-Betty," "Blackboard" and "Birthdays" exist only
in Jim’s carefully preserved office files. More’s the pity, because even
the weakest of these strips displays a Puckish wit and clean, attractive
line work too often absent from many of the rushed, imitative strips
that generate little more than reader apathy these days.
Following the dust-up with Schulz and the move to Berkeley, Helga
-- who was delighted by the more rarefied atmosphere of a university
community -- became the family bread-winner. She took a job with a
German importer/exporter and commuted daily across the Bay Bridge.
Eventually succumbing to the need for steady employment, in April
1960 Jim took a job as a graphic designer with Varian, one of the
leading radar companies, located in California’s greater San Francisco
Bay Area. The fit proved comfortable, and he remained with the company
until he retired in 1990.
But the career shift wasn’t immediate; Jim first spent most of 1959
working up his own aforementioned comic strip proposals, and
occasionally sold individual gag cartoons to magazines. But his New
York-based agent took 35% of those one-shots.
"That’s when I started with Varian," Jim recalls, with a chuckle.
"I knew I’d never make it as a gag cartoonist."
Be that as it may, Jim never stopped his cartooning efforts; while
at Varian, he became famous for the birthday cards that he drew for
fellow employees.
Helga, meanwhile, got a job at Stanford, which prompted another
move; the couple then purchased their first home in 1960, in Mountain
View.
Three years later, they moved for what would be the last time. Jim
and his wife paid $28,000 for the house that remains his home to this
day. Just last year the retired artist was offered a cool million bucks
-- in cash -- by a dot-commer who wanted to develop the property. Still
loyal to the memories of his wife, with which the house is filled, Jim
politely declined. Helga died in 1995; he clearly still misses her.
Today, Parkinson’s Disease and the recent stroke have conspired to
deliver the ultimate nightmare Jim no longer can hold a pen well enough
to draw. ("I always marveled at Sparky’s ability to incorporate his
shaking hand into his line work.") But his mind and memory remain
acutely sharp, and his Puckish sense of humor is unbowed. He speaks with
clarity and certainty of his years at Art Instruction School, and with
Schulz, and of his never-successful efforts to market his own original
material.
Jim remains philosophical about his life, and in fact composed
another of his verses to express such feelings
I’m all for equal measures
Losses should be matched by gain;
And since I’ve missed life’s pleasures,
I’ll just double up with pain!
Definitely too harsh, but then we’re always hardest on ourselves.
Jim Sasseville deserves far more than the obscurity into which he has
settled; for a time, he was allied with the man who would become the
world’s most successful cartoonist, and for a time he helped chaperone
the faithfully rendered adventures of Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Linus, Lucy
and the rest ... no small feat.
And I’m particularly transfixed by a remark Jim made during one of
our later phone calls "I don’t know how one should behave, in a
situation like this," he said, referring to our ongoing conversations,
"but it’s like I’ve been resurrected."
Perhaps this article will kick-start our long-overdue obligation to
sing his praises.
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All PEANUTS characters pictured are copyrighted by United Feature Syndicate, Inc. They are used here with permission. They may not be reproduced by any means in any form.
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Sasseville did this January 26, 1958, "It's Only a Game" panel himself. Note that Schulz's signature is nowhere to be seen within the art.
Jim vividly remembers this transition date, because just one week later,
with his second time at bat with the solo art chores, he was paid a
singular honor. That week’s Monday panel, a bowling strip, featured
three league players welcoming a fourth, apparently a little tardy, with
the exclamation of, "Three cheers, gang! Our number one man has
arrived!" A loyal reader sent UFS a black-and-white photo of himself
with three friends, staged to look precisely like the four figures in
Jim’s illustration. The "camera angle" was identical, along with
clothing, body position, and everything else in the frame. The
resemblance even extended to the men themselves, who had body shapes and
hairstyles eerily similar to those found in the panel art.
Jim still has the photo.
Sasseville received this photo recreation of his "It's Only a Game" gag from a fan. Note the date stamp at the top of the photo.
The degree to which Jim successfully imitated Schulz’s linework can
be seen by the fact that the transition was seamless; no casual reader
could have discerned that the hand on the inker’s pen had changed.
During the remainder of 1958, the two men continued to work in the same
fashion, Jim often finishing Schulz’s rough concepts, but also
contributing many of his own original ideas. He also inserted the
occasional personal reference; the boat from which a husband and wife
fish, in one of the June 29, 1958, panels, is the Helga, named after
Jim’s wife.
But Jim remembers that he never came up with any of the concepts
for Friday’s bridge panels, for the simple reason that he didn’t know
the game.
Although he labored in anonymity, Jim was well compensated
financially, and he still speaks appreciatively of Sparky’s generosity.
Schulz had negotiated for 50% of the strip’s income, the other half
going to UFS. This 50% amounted to slightly more than $500 per week;
when Jim came on board, Schulz generously gave half of HIS half to his
new partner, and so Jim brought home $250 per week (after expenses) for
his efforts ... quite a lot of money in 1958.
The two men were living in Minneapolis when this collaboration
began; after the first five months, in May 1958, Jim and his wife
followed the Schulz family to Northern California. Lacking a place to
stay in Sebastopol -- not to mention furniture and other amenities --
the Sassevilles first spent a couple of months a bit south, in Corta
Madera. "For two or three weeks, I drew the comic book stuff and ‘It’s
Only a Game’ on a portable drawing board. But I stayed in touch with
Sparky on the phone, and he supplied the ideas for ‘It’s Only a Game.’ "
The Sassevilles then found a home in Sebastopol. Between "It’s Only
a Game" and the work he also was doing for the "Peanuts" strips in the
Dell comic books, Jim was quite gainfully employed by his new partner
and boss.
Unfortunately, it was not to last.
"It’s Only a Game" began with 30 client newspapers; nearly a year
later, it had ... 30 client newspapers.
(A complete client list has been lost to the mists of time, although
it is known that the feature was carried by The Boston Globe, the Detroit
Free Press, The Chicago Tribune, The Minneapolis Tribune, the San Francisco
Chronicle and The Baltimore Sun.)
The strip never took off, despite strong support from fans such as
bridge expert Charles Goren (who wrote a couple of letters), and even
Schulz’s name didn’t seem to make much of a difference.
But we also can assume that the proud and perfectionist-minded
Schulz -- who in later years, as mentioned above, often made a point of
describing how in "Peanuts" he penciled and inked every line, and
lettered every word balloon -- probably was bothered by the fact that he
wasn’t similarly in sole control of "It’s Only a Game." To be sure, he
was INVOLVED, but he wasn’t actually drawing what appeared in those 30
client newspapers.
"He didn’t like his name being used on somebody else’s work," Jim
recalls, "and I don’t blame him for that."
That, coupled with moribund sales and some tension with the head
UFS salesman to whom Schulz initially had pitched the idea, eventually
prompted an astonishing decision In late 1958, just 12 months into a
solid five-year contract, Schulz made it plain to UFS that he wished to
discontinue "It’s Only a Game." Perhaps recognizing that the strip
wasn’t performing as hoped, UFS agreed.
Schulz did not consult Jim before taking this step; indeed, the
news came as a complete shock to Schulz’s ghost, who’d been very happy
with his work, and the strip, and the $250 per week.
Schulz even tried to sugar-coat the news "You’re off the hook,"
Jim recalls his employer saying (as if this were a GOOD thing), at the
end of that euphoric day when they finished work on the second
all-Peanuts issue of Dell’s Four Color Comics. Jim had just assured
Sparky that his pending move to Berkeley would not affect his ability to
work on "It’s Only a Game," and now the rug had been pulled out from
under him.
The fallout was immediate; it certainly was the final straw for
Helga, who already had been dissatisfied with their home in Sebastopol
-- hence the move to Berkeley -- and also was unhappy about the friction
that existed between her and Joyce, Schulz’s first wife. Helga had
endured Nazi Germany, survived the entire war -- in and out of work
camps -- and had lost her father at Dachau; she was not a woman to keep
opinions to herself.
"I realized I was working on a flawed product, which the creator
and marketer wanted nothing more to do with. Still, I had held out the
hope that maybe Sparky might offer the entire feature to me, although I
realized that there’d be problems with the syndicate," Jim admits, a
touch of wistfulness still clouding the memory after more than 40 years.
"They should have been pretty familiar with my work by then."
It didn’t happen. By the time the final installment of "It’s Only a
Game" appeared, on January 11, 1959 -- the two always had worked six
weeks ahead -- Jim and Schulz had severed all relations, professional
and personal. This also included Jim’s ghosting work on the Dell comic
books. The split was permanent, and the two men never reconciled.
Although "It’s Only a Game" ran for 63 consecutive weeks, it
quickly became a fading memory -- and then an overlooked footnote -- in
Schulz’s career. He rarely mentioned it during later interviews, and
then only obliquely, citing neither date specifics nor his collaboration
with Jim.
"We were the best of friends at first," Jim recalls ruefully. He
happily remembers attending the 1951 National Cartoonists Convention
with Sparky, and also another time when they both went to visit and swap
stories with a fellow artist, Robert M. Brinkerhoff, who lived in
Minneapolis and was known for a newspaper strip called "Little Mary
Mix-Up." Brinkerhoff, in turn -- like many other cartoonists at that
time -- greatly admired J.R. Williams (creator of "Out Our Way"), whom
he once described as "the greatest cowboy ever to walk the streets of
New York." Brinkerhoff related how he had wheedled, begged and finally
finagled an invitation to Williams’ ranch in Montana. Although only
interested in seeing the fabulous studio that he assumed his idol must
have on so massive a spread, Brinkerhoff first had to put up with being
shown all the livestock and the other attractions of a working ranch. As
the visit stretched on, Brinkerhoff finally couldn’t stand it any longer
and demanded to see where Williams did his work.
With a resigned sigh (as Jim recalls Brinkerhoff describing this
incident), Williams walked over to his wife’s sewing machine, took off
the cover, and flipped it over ... and that was it The great J.R.
Williams did all his drawing on the cover of his wife’s sewing machine.
As others have observed, there’s never any reason to embrace
technology or an environment any fancier than that required to get the
job done.
Cartoonists love to talk shop, and Jim’s no different; merely
relating this little tale brings a sparkle into his eyes. And, to this
day, he doesn’t really understand what happened between him and Schulz.
"I feel kind of weird about all this. Sparky obviously wanted me to
succeed in the early days, and even was willing to collaborate with me
on one of my own projects (one of the many variations of "Joe Cipher,"
discussed below). But then when he had a chance to really help me out,
he didn’t make any effort whatsoever ... and left me in rather dire
straits."
Such feelings notwithstanding, all these years later Jim is firm on
one point "Charles M. Schulz was the greatest comic strip artist ever."
And although he certainly couldn’t have known it at the time, Jim
never again would earn his living as a cartoonist.
Before, during and after his working association with Schulz, Jim
played around with many of his own ideas.
If persistence counts for anything, he deserves considerable credit
for his ongoing efforts to sell "Joe Cipher" ("a character kinda based
on me"), a daily strip that underwent quite a few transmutations during
the decade-plus that he tried to place it with a syndicate.
The character first appeared in a sample series of daily strips Jim
produced in late 1949. The strip’s gentle humor is faintly reminiscent
of "Gasoline Alley" and other character-driven work of the era; the
title character is introduced driving an old jalopy that obligingly runs
out of gas at a filling station. The silver-tongued Joe, lacking any
money, eventually impresses the station owner into offering him a job;
Joe celebrates by stepping into a nearby diner for lunch, where he’s
immediately smitten by the young woman behind the counter, and...
...and that’s where the presentation panels concluded.
Perhaps feeling that the strip lacked dramatic impact, a few years
later -- while still at AIS -- Jim tried again, shifting the action to a
tiny island in the middle of the ocean, where the shipwrecked Joe is
joined by an attractive young woman named Ginny, survivor of a second
sea-going calamity. (What are the odds?) Although their relationship is
mildly prickly for the first few days, Ginny eventually wishes aloud
that they could be rescued, so that she can go on a "proper date" with
Joe, and perhaps even kiss him when the evening concludes. Once again,
the story cut off abruptly, as Jim produced just two weeks’ worth of
strips enough to (hopefully) interest a buyer.
Sasseville tried several times to place a comic strip starring Joe Cipher, the pleasant-looking chap
featured in these examples. The two left-most strips are taken from the first run Sasseville designed on his own;
the two right-most strips, starring the same character but
in a different setting, are from Sasseville's third
test run; Charles Schulz contributed story input on these.
(Click on the image to see an enlarged version.)
After getting back from his return hitch in the Navy, Jim
went back to work on Joe Cipher and got a nibble from an
unexpected quarter: Something about this particular setting
touched Schulz, who suggested they collaborate on yet
a third incarnation of "Joe Cipher." (At the time, both men still were
unmarried, and it’s not hard to see a little male fantasy
wish-fulfillment at work.) With narrative input from Schulz and Jim
handling the art chores, the scene shifted again, this time to a
typically romantic South Seas setting, on an island large enough to
support a population of curvaceous young cuties and at least one
villain. Joe and Ginny remained the central focus, but this time the
former saw genuine action, on the receiving end of the villain’s fists.
Schulz and Jim took this newest version of "Joe Cipher" to United
Features Syndicate in spring of 1954; it was turned down flat. The
trip to New York wasn't a complete waste, though, because Sasseville
and Schulz caught a couple of plays: a T.S. Elliot drama called
Confidential Clerk, and another called The King of
Hearts, which starred Jackie Cooper as (what are the odds?)
a cartoonist!
Sasseville also remembers going from suite to suite in New
York's Waldorf hotel during this trip, visiting one cartoonist
after another; meeting Al Capp was a high point. But at least
part of the reason for the trip -- the newest Joe Cipher -- proved
unsellable, and Schulz bowed out at that point.
When Jim finally returned to "Joe Cipher," the 1950s were almost
over. Jim’s association with "Peanuts" and "It’s Only a Game" had
concluded, so the writer/artist returned to his favorite unsold
property. Jim recast his hero in yet another new setting, this time a
business office populated by characters clearly derived from his days at
Art Instruction. Although the sample panels display even cleaner, more
attractive line work -- a sure sign of his growing comfort as an artist
-- Jim had no better luck this time around.
Still refusing to abandon hope, Jim tried one more time In early
1960, after having moved to Berkeley, he once again changed the setting
completely, and turned Joe Cipher into "Sir Joe." This Arthurian-based
concept focused on genuinely whimsical gags involving heavy armor,
maidens in distress, and fire-breathing dragons. Jim’s dragons are
particularly funny, and this newest reboot seems ripe with
possibilities; it’s not at all hard to envision a daily strip evolving
from these samples.
Alas, syndicates once again failed to see any potential, and "Joe
Cipher" was put into Jim’s trunk as no more than another engaging
footnote in the artist’s collection of rejection slips.
Jim didn’t confine his efforts to "Joe Cipher"; the writer/artist
had no shortage of ideas, quite a few of which also wound up as
submission concepts. "Aunty Climax," produced in early 1957 -- just
prior to Jim’s ghost work for Dell comics -- was a single-panel gag
strip that starred a feisty little old lady who was far sharper than
most people assumed. She was based on Louise Cassidy, an AIS colleague
who also was the landlady for the building where Jim briefly lived with
Charles Cuddy. Jim produced a few dozen "Aunty Climax" panels, all of
which are vastly superior -- both in terms of writing and artwork -- to
many of the single-panel cartoons cluttering today’s newspapers.
"Confessions of a French Poodle" was a 1959 concept that didn’t
emerge much further than a few finished panels and lots of pencil
sketches; Jim good-naturedly admits that the idea went nowhere, and so
he abandoned it. That may have been shrewd market analysis, as the
medium never has lacked for dog-oriented material. Even so, French
poodles are funny in their own right, and Jim’s concept sketches are a
hoot.
When not working on Peanuts-related material, Sasseville tried to sell many of his own strip ideas
to a syndicate. From left to right, these examples are "Aunty Climax," "Friends and Foes," "Alpha-Betty" and "Happy Birthday."
(Click on the image to see an enlarged version.)
"Friends and Foes," another single-panel tryout, also emerged from
Jim’s pen in 1959. A little later, shortly after he started putting food
on the table with a "real job" -- and perhaps motivated by the explosion
of children’s television shows, which eventually led to "Sesame Street"
and everything that followed -- Jim tried a kid-oriented educational
strip called "Alpha-Betty," which starred a little girl who finds
herself in an other-worldly land populated by men and women shaped like
letters of the alphabet. The personalities of these individuals were
defined by their appearance; curved female letters, for example, were
far more sultry that straight female letters. The strip has a lovely
"Alice in Wonderland" quality, although the concept may have seemed
limiting.
Jim later played with the medium in "Blackboard," a daily strip
designed to be white-on-black, to imitate chalk on a classroom
blackboard. The stars were Dick, Jane and their TeacheR; although not as
overly educational as "Alpha-Betty," this strip also was aimed at young
audiences.
Jim’s final attempt at syndication was produced in the early 1970s,
after he first went into research hibernation, jotting down enough
celebrity birthdays to fill every day of a calendar year. The resulting
single-panel strips were a precursor to the "On this day in history..."
informational nuggets that have become so ubiquitous The panel for
March 28, for example, illustrated and revealed a few choice facts about
orchestra leader Paul Whiteman. March 29 was devoted to President John
Tyler, while Francisco Goya was featured on March 30.
Sadly, this fared no better with syndicators than any of the
others. "Joe Cipher," "Aunty Climax," "Confessions of a French Poodle,"
"Friends and Foes," "Alpha-Betty," "Blackboard" and "Birthdays" exist only
in Jim’s carefully preserved office files. More’s the pity, because even
the weakest of these strips displays a Puckish wit and clean, attractive
line work too often absent from many of the rushed, imitative strips
that generate little more than reader apathy these days.
Following the dust-up with Schulz and the move to Berkeley, Helga
-- who was delighted by the more rarefied atmosphere of a university
community -- became the family bread-winner. She took a job with a
German importer/exporter and commuted daily across the Bay Bridge.
Eventually succumbing to the need for steady employment, in April
1960 Jim took a job as a graphic designer with Varian, one of the
leading radar companies, located in California’s greater San Francisco
Bay Area. The fit proved comfortable, and he remained with the company
until he retired in 1990.
But the career shift wasn’t immediate; Jim first spent most of 1959
working up his own aforementioned comic strip proposals, and
occasionally sold individual gag cartoons to magazines. But his New
York-based agent took 35% of those one-shots.
"That’s when I started with Varian," Jim recalls, with a chuckle.
"I knew I’d never make it as a gag cartoonist."
Be that as it may, Jim never stopped his cartooning efforts; while
at Varian, he became famous for the birthday cards that he drew for
fellow employees.
Helga, meanwhile, got a job at Stanford, which prompted another
move; the couple then purchased their first home in 1960, in Mountain
View.
Three years later, they moved for what would be the last time. Jim
and his wife paid $28,000 for the house that remains his home to this
day. Just last year the retired artist was offered a cool million bucks
-- in cash -- by a dot-commer who wanted to develop the property. Still
loyal to the memories of his wife, with which the house is filled, Jim
politely declined. Helga died in 1995; he clearly still misses her.
Today, Parkinson’s Disease and the recent stroke have conspired to
deliver the ultimate nightmare Jim no longer can hold a pen well enough
to draw. ("I always marveled at Sparky’s ability to incorporate his
shaking hand into his line work.") But his mind and memory remain
acutely sharp, and his Puckish sense of humor is unbowed. He speaks with
clarity and certainty of his years at Art Instruction School, and with
Schulz, and of his never-successful efforts to market his own original
material.
Jim remains philosophical about his life, and in fact composed
another of his verses to express such feelings
I’m all for equal measures
Losses should be matched by gain;
And since I’ve missed life’s pleasures,
I’ll just double up with pain!
Definitely too harsh, but then we’re always hardest on ourselves.
Jim Sasseville deserves far more than the obscurity into which he has
settled; for a time, he was allied with the man who would become the
world’s most successful cartoonist, and for a time he helped chaperone
the faithfully rendered adventures of Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Linus, Lucy
and the rest ... no small feat.
And I’m particularly transfixed by a remark Jim made during one of
our later phone calls "I don’t know how one should behave, in a
situation like this," he said, referring to our ongoing conversations,
"but it’s like I’ve been resurrected."
Perhaps this article will kick-start our long-overdue obligation to
sing his praises.
Breaking News
Just the FAQs, Ma'am
Ace Airlines Tours: Sites to Visit
Beethoven's Rhapsodies: The Music (and Musicians) of Peanuts
Shop Till You Drop
Just for Fun
By Derrick Bang
Legal Matters
All PEANUTS characters pictured are copyrighted by United Feature Syndicate, Inc. They are used here with permission. They may not be reproduced by any means in any form.
Jim still has the photo.
Sasseville received this photo recreation of his "It's Only a Game" gag from a fan. Note the date stamp at the top of the photo.
The degree to which Jim successfully imitated Schulz’s linework can
be seen by the fact that the transition was seamless; no casual reader
could have discerned that the hand on the inker’s pen had changed.
During the remainder of 1958, the two men continued to work in the same
fashion, Jim often finishing Schulz’s rough concepts, but also
contributing many of his own original ideas. He also inserted the
occasional personal reference; the boat from which a husband and wife
fish, in one of the June 29, 1958, panels, is the Helga, named after
Jim’s wife.
But Jim remembers that he never came up with any of the concepts
for Friday’s bridge panels, for the simple reason that he didn’t know
the game.
Although he labored in anonymity, Jim was well compensated
financially, and he still speaks appreciatively of Sparky’s generosity.
Schulz had negotiated for 50% of the strip’s income, the other half
going to UFS. This 50% amounted to slightly more than $500 per week;
when Jim came on board, Schulz generously gave half of HIS half to his
new partner, and so Jim brought home $250 per week (after expenses) for
his efforts ... quite a lot of money in 1958.
The two men were living in Minneapolis when this collaboration
began; after the first five months, in May 1958, Jim and his wife
followed the Schulz family to Northern California. Lacking a place to
stay in Sebastopol -- not to mention furniture and other amenities --
the Sassevilles first spent a couple of months a bit south, in Corta
Madera. "For two or three weeks, I drew the comic book stuff and ‘It’s
Only a Game’ on a portable drawing board. But I stayed in touch with
Sparky on the phone, and he supplied the ideas for ‘It’s Only a Game.’ "
The Sassevilles then found a home in Sebastopol. Between "It’s Only
a Game" and the work he also was doing for the "Peanuts" strips in the
Dell comic books, Jim was quite gainfully employed by his new partner
and boss.
Unfortunately, it was not to last.
"It’s Only a Game" began with 30 client newspapers; nearly a year
later, it had ... 30 client newspapers.
(A complete client list has been lost to the mists of time, although
it is known that the feature was carried by The Boston Globe, the Detroit
Free Press, The Chicago Tribune, The Minneapolis Tribune, the San Francisco
Chronicle and The Baltimore Sun.)
The strip never took off, despite strong support from fans such as
bridge expert Charles Goren (who wrote a couple of letters), and even
Schulz’s name didn’t seem to make much of a difference.
But we also can assume that the proud and perfectionist-minded
Schulz -- who in later years, as mentioned above, often made a point of
describing how in "Peanuts" he penciled and inked every line, and
lettered every word balloon -- probably was bothered by the fact that he
wasn’t similarly in sole control of "It’s Only a Game." To be sure, he
was INVOLVED, but he wasn’t actually drawing what appeared in those 30
client newspapers.
"He didn’t like his name being used on somebody else’s work," Jim
recalls, "and I don’t blame him for that."
That, coupled with moribund sales and some tension with the head
UFS salesman to whom Schulz initially had pitched the idea, eventually
prompted an astonishing decision In late 1958, just 12 months into a
solid five-year contract, Schulz made it plain to UFS that he wished to
discontinue "It’s Only a Game." Perhaps recognizing that the strip
wasn’t performing as hoped, UFS agreed.
Schulz did not consult Jim before taking this step; indeed, the
news came as a complete shock to Schulz’s ghost, who’d been very happy
with his work, and the strip, and the $250 per week.
Schulz even tried to sugar-coat the news "You’re off the hook,"
Jim recalls his employer saying (as if this were a GOOD thing), at the
end of that euphoric day when they finished work on the second
all-Peanuts issue of Dell’s Four Color Comics. Jim had just assured
Sparky that his pending move to Berkeley would not affect his ability to
work on "It’s Only a Game," and now the rug had been pulled out from
under him.
The fallout was immediate; it certainly was the final straw for
Helga, who already had been dissatisfied with their home in Sebastopol
-- hence the move to Berkeley -- and also was unhappy about the friction
that existed between her and Joyce, Schulz’s first wife. Helga had
endured Nazi Germany, survived the entire war -- in and out of work
camps -- and had lost her father at Dachau; she was not a woman to keep
opinions to herself.
"I realized I was working on a flawed product, which the creator
and marketer wanted nothing more to do with. Still, I had held out the
hope that maybe Sparky might offer the entire feature to me, although I
realized that there’d be problems with the syndicate," Jim admits, a
touch of wistfulness still clouding the memory after more than 40 years.
"They should have been pretty familiar with my work by then."
It didn’t happen. By the time the final installment of "It’s Only a
Game" appeared, on January 11, 1959 -- the two always had worked six
weeks ahead -- Jim and Schulz had severed all relations, professional
and personal. This also included Jim’s ghosting work on the Dell comic
books. The split was permanent, and the two men never reconciled.
Although "It’s Only a Game" ran for 63 consecutive weeks, it
quickly became a fading memory -- and then an overlooked footnote -- in
Schulz’s career. He rarely mentioned it during later interviews, and
then only obliquely, citing neither date specifics nor his collaboration
with Jim.
"We were the best of friends at first," Jim recalls ruefully. He
happily remembers attending the 1951 National Cartoonists Convention
with Sparky, and also another time when they both went to visit and swap
stories with a fellow artist, Robert M. Brinkerhoff, who lived in
Minneapolis and was known for a newspaper strip called "Little Mary
Mix-Up." Brinkerhoff, in turn -- like many other cartoonists at that
time -- greatly admired J.R. Williams (creator of "Out Our Way"), whom
he once described as "the greatest cowboy ever to walk the streets of
New York." Brinkerhoff related how he had wheedled, begged and finally
finagled an invitation to Williams’ ranch in Montana. Although only
interested in seeing the fabulous studio that he assumed his idol must
have on so massive a spread, Brinkerhoff first had to put up with being
shown all the livestock and the other attractions of a working ranch. As
the visit stretched on, Brinkerhoff finally couldn’t stand it any longer
and demanded to see where Williams did his work.
With a resigned sigh (as Jim recalls Brinkerhoff describing this
incident), Williams walked over to his wife’s sewing machine, took off
the cover, and flipped it over ... and that was it The great J.R.
Williams did all his drawing on the cover of his wife’s sewing machine.
As others have observed, there’s never any reason to embrace
technology or an environment any fancier than that required to get the
job done.
Cartoonists love to talk shop, and Jim’s no different; merely
relating this little tale brings a sparkle into his eyes. And, to this
day, he doesn’t really understand what happened between him and Schulz.
"I feel kind of weird about all this. Sparky obviously wanted me to
succeed in the early days, and even was willing to collaborate with me
on one of my own projects (one of the many variations of "Joe Cipher,"
discussed below). But then when he had a chance to really help me out,
he didn’t make any effort whatsoever ... and left me in rather dire
straits."
Such feelings notwithstanding, all these years later Jim is firm on
one point "Charles M. Schulz was the greatest comic strip artist ever."
And although he certainly couldn’t have known it at the time, Jim
never again would earn his living as a cartoonist.
Before, during and after his working association with Schulz, Jim
played around with many of his own ideas.
If persistence counts for anything, he deserves considerable credit
for his ongoing efforts to sell "Joe Cipher" ("a character kinda based
on me"), a daily strip that underwent quite a few transmutations during
the decade-plus that he tried to place it with a syndicate.
The character first appeared in a sample series of daily strips Jim
produced in late 1949. The strip’s gentle humor is faintly reminiscent
of "Gasoline Alley" and other character-driven work of the era; the
title character is introduced driving an old jalopy that obligingly runs
out of gas at a filling station. The silver-tongued Joe, lacking any
money, eventually impresses the station owner into offering him a job;
Joe celebrates by stepping into a nearby diner for lunch, where he’s
immediately smitten by the young woman behind the counter, and...
...and that’s where the presentation panels concluded.
Perhaps feeling that the strip lacked dramatic impact, a few years
later -- while still at AIS -- Jim tried again, shifting the action to a
tiny island in the middle of the ocean, where the shipwrecked Joe is
joined by an attractive young woman named Ginny, survivor of a second
sea-going calamity. (What are the odds?) Although their relationship is
mildly prickly for the first few days, Ginny eventually wishes aloud
that they could be rescued, so that she can go on a "proper date" with
Joe, and perhaps even kiss him when the evening concludes. Once again,
the story cut off abruptly, as Jim produced just two weeks’ worth of
strips enough to (hopefully) interest a buyer.
Sasseville tried several times to place a comic strip starring Joe Cipher, the pleasant-looking chap
featured in these examples. The two left-most strips are taken from the first run Sasseville designed on his own;
the two right-most strips, starring the same character but
in a different setting, are from Sasseville's third
test run; Charles Schulz contributed story input on these.
(Click on the image to see an enlarged version.)
After getting back from his return hitch in the Navy, Jim
went back to work on Joe Cipher and got a nibble from an
unexpected quarter: Something about this particular setting
touched Schulz, who suggested they collaborate on yet
a third incarnation of "Joe Cipher." (At the time, both men still were
unmarried, and it’s not hard to see a little male fantasy
wish-fulfillment at work.) With narrative input from Schulz and Jim
handling the art chores, the scene shifted again, this time to a
typically romantic South Seas setting, on an island large enough to
support a population of curvaceous young cuties and at least one
villain. Joe and Ginny remained the central focus, but this time the
former saw genuine action, on the receiving end of the villain’s fists.
Schulz and Jim took this newest version of "Joe Cipher" to United
Features Syndicate in spring of 1954; it was turned down flat. The
trip to New York wasn't a complete waste, though, because Sasseville
and Schulz caught a couple of plays: a T.S. Elliot drama called
Confidential Clerk, and another called The King of
Hearts, which starred Jackie Cooper as (what are the odds?)
a cartoonist!
Sasseville also remembers going from suite to suite in New
York's Waldorf hotel during this trip, visiting one cartoonist
after another; meeting Al Capp was a high point. But at least
part of the reason for the trip -- the newest Joe Cipher -- proved
unsellable, and Schulz bowed out at that point.
When Jim finally returned to "Joe Cipher," the 1950s were almost
over. Jim’s association with "Peanuts" and "It’s Only a Game" had
concluded, so the writer/artist returned to his favorite unsold
property. Jim recast his hero in yet another new setting, this time a
business office populated by characters clearly derived from his days at
Art Instruction. Although the sample panels display even cleaner, more
attractive line work -- a sure sign of his growing comfort as an artist
-- Jim had no better luck this time around.
Still refusing to abandon hope, Jim tried one more time In early
1960, after having moved to Berkeley, he once again changed the setting
completely, and turned Joe Cipher into "Sir Joe." This Arthurian-based
concept focused on genuinely whimsical gags involving heavy armor,
maidens in distress, and fire-breathing dragons. Jim’s dragons are
particularly funny, and this newest reboot seems ripe with
possibilities; it’s not at all hard to envision a daily strip evolving
from these samples.
Alas, syndicates once again failed to see any potential, and "Joe
Cipher" was put into Jim’s trunk as no more than another engaging
footnote in the artist’s collection of rejection slips.
Jim didn’t confine his efforts to "Joe Cipher"; the writer/artist
had no shortage of ideas, quite a few of which also wound up as
submission concepts. "Aunty Climax," produced in early 1957 -- just
prior to Jim’s ghost work for Dell comics -- was a single-panel gag
strip that starred a feisty little old lady who was far sharper than
most people assumed. She was based on Louise Cassidy, an AIS colleague
who also was the landlady for the building where Jim briefly lived with
Charles Cuddy. Jim produced a few dozen "Aunty Climax" panels, all of
which are vastly superior -- both in terms of writing and artwork -- to
many of the single-panel cartoons cluttering today’s newspapers.
"Confessions of a French Poodle" was a 1959 concept that didn’t
emerge much further than a few finished panels and lots of pencil
sketches; Jim good-naturedly admits that the idea went nowhere, and so
he abandoned it. That may have been shrewd market analysis, as the
medium never has lacked for dog-oriented material. Even so, French
poodles are funny in their own right, and Jim’s concept sketches are a
hoot.
When not working on Peanuts-related material, Sasseville tried to sell many of his own strip ideas
to a syndicate. From left to right, these examples are "Aunty Climax," "Friends and Foes," "Alpha-Betty" and "Happy Birthday."
(Click on the image to see an enlarged version.)
"Friends and Foes," another single-panel tryout, also emerged from
Jim’s pen in 1959. A little later, shortly after he started putting food
on the table with a "real job" -- and perhaps motivated by the explosion
of children’s television shows, which eventually led to "Sesame Street"
and everything that followed -- Jim tried a kid-oriented educational
strip called "Alpha-Betty," which starred a little girl who finds
herself in an other-worldly land populated by men and women shaped like
letters of the alphabet. The personalities of these individuals were
defined by their appearance; curved female letters, for example, were
far more sultry that straight female letters. The strip has a lovely
"Alice in Wonderland" quality, although the concept may have seemed
limiting.
Jim later played with the medium in "Blackboard," a daily strip
designed to be white-on-black, to imitate chalk on a classroom
blackboard. The stars were Dick, Jane and their TeacheR; although not as
overly educational as "Alpha-Betty," this strip also was aimed at young
audiences.
Jim’s final attempt at syndication was produced in the early 1970s,
after he first went into research hibernation, jotting down enough
celebrity birthdays to fill every day of a calendar year. The resulting
single-panel strips were a precursor to the "On this day in history..."
informational nuggets that have become so ubiquitous The panel for
March 28, for example, illustrated and revealed a few choice facts about
orchestra leader Paul Whiteman. March 29 was devoted to President John
Tyler, while Francisco Goya was featured on March 30.
Sadly, this fared no better with syndicators than any of the
others. "Joe Cipher," "Aunty Climax," "Confessions of a French Poodle,"
"Friends and Foes," "Alpha-Betty," "Blackboard" and "Birthdays" exist only
in Jim’s carefully preserved office files. More’s the pity, because even
the weakest of these strips displays a Puckish wit and clean, attractive
line work too often absent from many of the rushed, imitative strips
that generate little more than reader apathy these days.
Following the dust-up with Schulz and the move to Berkeley, Helga
-- who was delighted by the more rarefied atmosphere of a university
community -- became the family bread-winner. She took a job with a
German importer/exporter and commuted daily across the Bay Bridge.
Eventually succumbing to the need for steady employment, in April
1960 Jim took a job as a graphic designer with Varian, one of the
leading radar companies, located in California’s greater San Francisco
Bay Area. The fit proved comfortable, and he remained with the company
until he retired in 1990.
But the career shift wasn’t immediate; Jim first spent most of 1959
working up his own aforementioned comic strip proposals, and
occasionally sold individual gag cartoons to magazines. But his New
York-based agent took 35% of those one-shots.
"That’s when I started with Varian," Jim recalls, with a chuckle.
"I knew I’d never make it as a gag cartoonist."
Be that as it may, Jim never stopped his cartooning efforts; while
at Varian, he became famous for the birthday cards that he drew for
fellow employees.
Helga, meanwhile, got a job at Stanford, which prompted another
move; the couple then purchased their first home in 1960, in Mountain
View.
Three years later, they moved for what would be the last time. Jim
and his wife paid $28,000 for the house that remains his home to this
day. Just last year the retired artist was offered a cool million bucks
-- in cash -- by a dot-commer who wanted to develop the property. Still
loyal to the memories of his wife, with which the house is filled, Jim
politely declined. Helga died in 1995; he clearly still misses her.
Today, Parkinson’s Disease and the recent stroke have conspired to
deliver the ultimate nightmare Jim no longer can hold a pen well enough
to draw. ("I always marveled at Sparky’s ability to incorporate his
shaking hand into his line work.") But his mind and memory remain
acutely sharp, and his Puckish sense of humor is unbowed. He speaks with
clarity and certainty of his years at Art Instruction School, and with
Schulz, and of his never-successful efforts to market his own original
material.
Jim remains philosophical about his life, and in fact composed
another of his verses to express such feelings
I’m all for equal measures
Losses should be matched by gain;
And since I’ve missed life’s pleasures,
I’ll just double up with pain!
Definitely too harsh, but then we’re always hardest on ourselves.
Jim Sasseville deserves far more than the obscurity into which he has
settled; for a time, he was allied with the man who would become the
world’s most successful cartoonist, and for a time he helped chaperone
the faithfully rendered adventures of Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Linus, Lucy
and the rest ... no small feat.
And I’m particularly transfixed by a remark Jim made during one of
our later phone calls "I don’t know how one should behave, in a
situation like this," he said, referring to our ongoing conversations,
"but it’s like I’ve been resurrected."
Perhaps this article will kick-start our long-overdue obligation to
sing his praises.
Breaking News
Just the FAQs, Ma'am
Ace Airlines Tours: Sites to Visit
Beethoven's Rhapsodies: The Music (and Musicians) of Peanuts
Shop Till You Drop
Just for Fun
By Derrick Bang
Legal Matters
All PEANUTS characters pictured are copyrighted by United Feature Syndicate, Inc. They are used here with permission. They may not be reproduced by any means in any form.
|
|
The degree to which Jim successfully imitated Schulz’s linework can
be seen by the fact that the transition was seamless; no casual reader
could have discerned that the hand on the inker’s pen had changed.
During the remainder of 1958, the two men continued to work in the same
fashion, Jim often finishing Schulz’s rough concepts, but also
contributing many of his own original ideas. He also inserted the
occasional personal reference; the boat from which a husband and wife
fish, in one of the June 29, 1958, panels, is the Helga, named after
Jim’s wife.
But Jim remembers that he never came up with any of the concepts
for Friday’s bridge panels, for the simple reason that he didn’t know
the game.
Although he labored in anonymity, Jim was well compensated
financially, and he still speaks appreciatively of Sparky’s generosity.
Schulz had negotiated for 50% of the strip’s income, the other half
going to UFS. This 50% amounted to slightly more than $500 per week;
when Jim came on board, Schulz generously gave half of HIS half to his
new partner, and so Jim brought home $250 per week (after expenses) for
his efforts ... quite a lot of money in 1958.
The two men were living in Minneapolis when this collaboration
began; after the first five months, in May 1958, Jim and his wife
followed the Schulz family to Northern California. Lacking a place to
stay in Sebastopol -- not to mention furniture and other amenities --
the Sassevilles first spent a couple of months a bit south, in Corta
Madera. "For two or three weeks, I drew the comic book stuff and ‘It’s
Only a Game’ on a portable drawing board. But I stayed in touch with
Sparky on the phone, and he supplied the ideas for ‘It’s Only a Game.’ "
The Sassevilles then found a home in Sebastopol. Between "It’s Only
a Game" and the work he also was doing for the "Peanuts" strips in the
Dell comic books, Jim was quite gainfully employed by his new partner
and boss.
Unfortunately, it was not to last.
"It’s Only a Game" began with 30 client newspapers; nearly a year
later, it had ... 30 client newspapers.
(A complete client list has been lost to the mists of time, although
it is known that the feature was carried by The Boston Globe, the Detroit
Free Press, The Chicago Tribune, The Minneapolis Tribune, the San Francisco
Chronicle and The Baltimore Sun.)
The strip never took off, despite strong support from fans such as
bridge expert Charles Goren (who wrote a couple of letters), and even
Schulz’s name didn’t seem to make much of a difference.
But we also can assume that the proud and perfectionist-minded
Schulz -- who in later years, as mentioned above, often made a point of
describing how in "Peanuts" he penciled and inked every line, and
lettered every word balloon -- probably was bothered by the fact that he
wasn’t similarly in sole control of "It’s Only a Game." To be sure, he
was INVOLVED, but he wasn’t actually drawing what appeared in those 30
client newspapers.
"He didn’t like his name being used on somebody else’s work," Jim
recalls, "and I don’t blame him for that."
That, coupled with moribund sales and some tension with the head
UFS salesman to whom Schulz initially had pitched the idea, eventually
prompted an astonishing decision In late 1958, just 12 months into a
solid five-year contract, Schulz made it plain to UFS that he wished to
discontinue "It’s Only a Game." Perhaps recognizing that the strip
wasn’t performing as hoped, UFS agreed.
Schulz did not consult Jim before taking this step; indeed, the
news came as a complete shock to Schulz’s ghost, who’d been very happy
with his work, and the strip, and the $250 per week.
Schulz even tried to sugar-coat the news "You’re off the hook,"
Jim recalls his employer saying (as if this were a GOOD thing), at the
end of that euphoric day when they finished work on the second
all-Peanuts issue of Dell’s Four Color Comics. Jim had just assured
Sparky that his pending move to Berkeley would not affect his ability to
work on "It’s Only a Game," and now the rug had been pulled out from
under him.
The fallout was immediate; it certainly was the final straw for
Helga, who already had been dissatisfied with their home in Sebastopol
-- hence the move to Berkeley -- and also was unhappy about the friction
that existed between her and Joyce, Schulz’s first wife. Helga had
endured Nazi Germany, survived the entire war -- in and out of work
camps -- and had lost her father at Dachau; she was not a woman to keep
opinions to herself.
"I realized I was working on a flawed product, which the creator
and marketer wanted nothing more to do with. Still, I had held out the
hope that maybe Sparky might offer the entire feature to me, although I
realized that there’d be problems with the syndicate," Jim admits, a
touch of wistfulness still clouding the memory after more than 40 years.
"They should have been pretty familiar with my work by then."
It didn’t happen. By the time the final installment of "It’s Only a
Game" appeared, on January 11, 1959 -- the two always had worked six
weeks ahead -- Jim and Schulz had severed all relations, professional
and personal. This also included Jim’s ghosting work on the Dell comic
books. The split was permanent, and the two men never reconciled.
Although "It’s Only a Game" ran for 63 consecutive weeks, it
quickly became a fading memory -- and then an overlooked footnote -- in
Schulz’s career. He rarely mentioned it during later interviews, and
then only obliquely, citing neither date specifics nor his collaboration
with Jim.
"We were the best of friends at first," Jim recalls ruefully. He
happily remembers attending the 1951 National Cartoonists Convention
with Sparky, and also another time when they both went to visit and swap
stories with a fellow artist, Robert M. Brinkerhoff, who lived in
Minneapolis and was known for a newspaper strip called "Little Mary
Mix-Up." Brinkerhoff, in turn -- like many other cartoonists at that
time -- greatly admired J.R. Williams (creator of "Out Our Way"), whom
he once described as "the greatest cowboy ever to walk the streets of
New York." Brinkerhoff related how he had wheedled, begged and finally
finagled an invitation to Williams’ ranch in Montana. Although only
interested in seeing the fabulous studio that he assumed his idol must
have on so massive a spread, Brinkerhoff first had to put up with being
shown all the livestock and the other attractions of a working ranch. As
the visit stretched on, Brinkerhoff finally couldn’t stand it any longer
and demanded to see where Williams did his work.
With a resigned sigh (as Jim recalls Brinkerhoff describing this
incident), Williams walked over to his wife’s sewing machine, took off
the cover, and flipped it over ... and that was it The great J.R.
Williams did all his drawing on the cover of his wife’s sewing machine.
As others have observed, there’s never any reason to embrace
technology or an environment any fancier than that required to get the
job done.
Cartoonists love to talk shop, and Jim’s no different; merely
relating this little tale brings a sparkle into his eyes. And, to this
day, he doesn’t really understand what happened between him and Schulz.
"I feel kind of weird about all this. Sparky obviously wanted me to
succeed in the early days, and even was willing to collaborate with me
on one of my own projects (one of the many variations of "Joe Cipher,"
discussed below). But then when he had a chance to really help me out,
he didn’t make any effort whatsoever ... and left me in rather dire
straits."
Such feelings notwithstanding, all these years later Jim is firm on
one point "Charles M. Schulz was the greatest comic strip artist ever."
And although he certainly couldn’t have known it at the time, Jim
never again would earn his living as a cartoonist.
Before, during and after his working association with Schulz, Jim
played around with many of his own ideas.
If persistence counts for anything, he deserves considerable credit
for his ongoing efforts to sell "Joe Cipher" ("a character kinda based
on me"), a daily strip that underwent quite a few transmutations during
the decade-plus that he tried to place it with a syndicate.
The character first appeared in a sample series of daily strips Jim
produced in late 1949. The strip’s gentle humor is faintly reminiscent
of "Gasoline Alley" and other character-driven work of the era; the
title character is introduced driving an old jalopy that obligingly runs
out of gas at a filling station. The silver-tongued Joe, lacking any
money, eventually impresses the station owner into offering him a job;
Joe celebrates by stepping into a nearby diner for lunch, where he’s
immediately smitten by the young woman behind the counter, and...
...and that’s where the presentation panels concluded.
Perhaps feeling that the strip lacked dramatic impact, a few years
later -- while still at AIS -- Jim tried again, shifting the action to a
tiny island in the middle of the ocean, where the shipwrecked Joe is
joined by an attractive young woman named Ginny, survivor of a second
sea-going calamity. (What are the odds?) Although their relationship is
mildly prickly for the first few days, Ginny eventually wishes aloud
that they could be rescued, so that she can go on a "proper date" with
Joe, and perhaps even kiss him when the evening concludes. Once again,
the story cut off abruptly, as Jim produced just two weeks’ worth of
strips enough to (hopefully) interest a buyer.
Sasseville tried several times to place a comic strip starring Joe Cipher, the pleasant-looking chap
featured in these examples. The two left-most strips are taken from the first run Sasseville designed on his own;
the two right-most strips, starring the same character but
in a different setting, are from Sasseville's third
test run; Charles Schulz contributed story input on these.
(Click on the image to see an enlarged version.)
After getting back from his return hitch in the Navy, Jim
went back to work on Joe Cipher and got a nibble from an
unexpected quarter: Something about this particular setting
touched Schulz, who suggested they collaborate on yet
a third incarnation of "Joe Cipher." (At the time, both men still were
unmarried, and it’s not hard to see a little male fantasy
wish-fulfillment at work.) With narrative input from Schulz and Jim
handling the art chores, the scene shifted again, this time to a
typically romantic South Seas setting, on an island large enough to
support a population of curvaceous young cuties and at least one
villain. Joe and Ginny remained the central focus, but this time the
former saw genuine action, on the receiving end of the villain’s fists.
Schulz and Jim took this newest version of "Joe Cipher" to United
Features Syndicate in spring of 1954; it was turned down flat. The
trip to New York wasn't a complete waste, though, because Sasseville
and Schulz caught a couple of plays: a T.S. Elliot drama called
Confidential Clerk, and another called The King of
Hearts, which starred Jackie Cooper as (what are the odds?)
a cartoonist!
Sasseville also remembers going from suite to suite in New
York's Waldorf hotel during this trip, visiting one cartoonist
after another; meeting Al Capp was a high point. But at least
part of the reason for the trip -- the newest Joe Cipher -- proved
unsellable, and Schulz bowed out at that point.
When Jim finally returned to "Joe Cipher," the 1950s were almost
over. Jim’s association with "Peanuts" and "It’s Only a Game" had
concluded, so the writer/artist returned to his favorite unsold
property. Jim recast his hero in yet another new setting, this time a
business office populated by characters clearly derived from his days at
Art Instruction. Although the sample panels display even cleaner, more
attractive line work -- a sure sign of his growing comfort as an artist
-- Jim had no better luck this time around.
Still refusing to abandon hope, Jim tried one more time In early
1960, after having moved to Berkeley, he once again changed the setting
completely, and turned Joe Cipher into "Sir Joe." This Arthurian-based
concept focused on genuinely whimsical gags involving heavy armor,
maidens in distress, and fire-breathing dragons. Jim’s dragons are
particularly funny, and this newest reboot seems ripe with
possibilities; it’s not at all hard to envision a daily strip evolving
from these samples.
Alas, syndicates once again failed to see any potential, and "Joe
Cipher" was put into Jim’s trunk as no more than another engaging
footnote in the artist’s collection of rejection slips.
Jim didn’t confine his efforts to "Joe Cipher"; the writer/artist
had no shortage of ideas, quite a few of which also wound up as
submission concepts. "Aunty Climax," produced in early 1957 -- just
prior to Jim’s ghost work for Dell comics -- was a single-panel gag
strip that starred a feisty little old lady who was far sharper than
most people assumed. She was based on Louise Cassidy, an AIS colleague
who also was the landlady for the building where Jim briefly lived with
Charles Cuddy. Jim produced a few dozen "Aunty Climax" panels, all of
which are vastly superior -- both in terms of writing and artwork -- to
many of the single-panel cartoons cluttering today’s newspapers.
"Confessions of a French Poodle" was a 1959 concept that didn’t
emerge much further than a few finished panels and lots of pencil
sketches; Jim good-naturedly admits that the idea went nowhere, and so
he abandoned it. That may have been shrewd market analysis, as the
medium never has lacked for dog-oriented material. Even so, French
poodles are funny in their own right, and Jim’s concept sketches are a
hoot.
When not working on Peanuts-related material, Sasseville tried to sell many of his own strip ideas
to a syndicate. From left to right, these examples are "Aunty Climax," "Friends and Foes," "Alpha-Betty" and "Happy Birthday."
(Click on the image to see an enlarged version.)
"Friends and Foes," another single-panel tryout, also emerged from
Jim’s pen in 1959. A little later, shortly after he started putting food
on the table with a "real job" -- and perhaps motivated by the explosion
of children’s television shows, which eventually led to "Sesame Street"
and everything that followed -- Jim tried a kid-oriented educational
strip called "Alpha-Betty," which starred a little girl who finds
herself in an other-worldly land populated by men and women shaped like
letters of the alphabet. The personalities of these individuals were
defined by their appearance; curved female letters, for example, were
far more sultry that straight female letters. The strip has a lovely
"Alice in Wonderland" quality, although the concept may have seemed
limiting.
Jim later played with the medium in "Blackboard," a daily strip
designed to be white-on-black, to imitate chalk on a classroom
blackboard. The stars were Dick, Jane and their TeacheR; although not as
overly educational as "Alpha-Betty," this strip also was aimed at young
audiences.
Jim’s final attempt at syndication was produced in the early 1970s,
after he first went into research hibernation, jotting down enough
celebrity birthdays to fill every day of a calendar year. The resulting
single-panel strips were a precursor to the "On this day in history..."
informational nuggets that have become so ubiquitous The panel for
March 28, for example, illustrated and revealed a few choice facts about
orchestra leader Paul Whiteman. March 29 was devoted to President John
Tyler, while Francisco Goya was featured on March 30.
Sadly, this fared no better with syndicators than any of the
others. "Joe Cipher," "Aunty Climax," "Confessions of a French Poodle,"
"Friends and Foes," "Alpha-Betty," "Blackboard" and "Birthdays" exist only
in Jim’s carefully preserved office files. More’s the pity, because even
the weakest of these strips displays a Puckish wit and clean, attractive
line work too often absent from many of the rushed, imitative strips
that generate little more than reader apathy these days.
Following the dust-up with Schulz and the move to Berkeley, Helga
-- who was delighted by the more rarefied atmosphere of a university
community -- became the family bread-winner. She took a job with a
German importer/exporter and commuted daily across the Bay Bridge.
Eventually succumbing to the need for steady employment, in April
1960 Jim took a job as a graphic designer with Varian, one of the
leading radar companies, located in California’s greater San Francisco
Bay Area. The fit proved comfortable, and he remained with the company
until he retired in 1990.
But the career shift wasn’t immediate; Jim first spent most of 1959
working up his own aforementioned comic strip proposals, and
occasionally sold individual gag cartoons to magazines. But his New
York-based agent took 35% of those one-shots.
"That’s when I started with Varian," Jim recalls, with a chuckle.
"I knew I’d never make it as a gag cartoonist."
Be that as it may, Jim never stopped his cartooning efforts; while
at Varian, he became famous for the birthday cards that he drew for
fellow employees.
Helga, meanwhile, got a job at Stanford, which prompted another
move; the couple then purchased their first home in 1960, in Mountain
View.
Three years later, they moved for what would be the last time. Jim
and his wife paid $28,000 for the house that remains his home to this
day. Just last year the retired artist was offered a cool million bucks
-- in cash -- by a dot-commer who wanted to develop the property. Still
loyal to the memories of his wife, with which the house is filled, Jim
politely declined. Helga died in 1995; he clearly still misses her.
Today, Parkinson’s Disease and the recent stroke have conspired to
deliver the ultimate nightmare Jim no longer can hold a pen well enough
to draw. ("I always marveled at Sparky’s ability to incorporate his
shaking hand into his line work.") But his mind and memory remain
acutely sharp, and his Puckish sense of humor is unbowed. He speaks with
clarity and certainty of his years at Art Instruction School, and with
Schulz, and of his never-successful efforts to market his own original
material.
Jim remains philosophical about his life, and in fact composed
another of his verses to express such feelings
I’m all for equal measures
Losses should be matched by gain;
And since I’ve missed life’s pleasures,
I’ll just double up with pain!
Definitely too harsh, but then we’re always hardest on ourselves.
Jim Sasseville deserves far more than the obscurity into which he has
settled; for a time, he was allied with the man who would become the
world’s most successful cartoonist, and for a time he helped chaperone
the faithfully rendered adventures of Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Linus, Lucy
and the rest ... no small feat.
And I’m particularly transfixed by a remark Jim made during one of
our later phone calls "I don’t know how one should behave, in a
situation like this," he said, referring to our ongoing conversations,
"but it’s like I’ve been resurrected."
Perhaps this article will kick-start our long-overdue obligation to
sing his praises.
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All PEANUTS characters pictured are copyrighted by United Feature Syndicate, Inc. They are used here with permission. They may not be reproduced by any means in any form.
Although he labored in anonymity, Jim was well compensated
financially, and he still speaks appreciatively of Sparky’s generosity.
Schulz had negotiated for 50% of the strip’s income, the other half
going to UFS. This 50% amounted to slightly more than $500 per week;
when Jim came on board, Schulz generously gave half of HIS half to his
new partner, and so Jim brought home $250 per week (after expenses) for
his efforts ... quite a lot of money in 1958.
The two men were living in Minneapolis when this collaboration
began; after the first five months, in May 1958, Jim and his wife
followed the Schulz family to Northern California. Lacking a place to
stay in Sebastopol -- not to mention furniture and other amenities --
the Sassevilles first spent a couple of months a bit south, in Corta
Madera. "For two or three weeks, I drew the comic book stuff and ‘It’s
Only a Game’ on a portable drawing board. But I stayed in touch with
Sparky on the phone, and he supplied the ideas for ‘It’s Only a Game.’ "
The Sassevilles then found a home in Sebastopol. Between "It’s Only
a Game" and the work he also was doing for the "Peanuts" strips in the
Dell comic books, Jim was quite gainfully employed by his new partner
and boss.
Unfortunately, it was not to last.
"It’s Only a Game" began with 30 client newspapers; nearly a year
later, it had ... 30 client newspapers.
(A complete client list has been lost to the mists of time, although
it is known that the feature was carried by The Boston Globe, the Detroit
Free Press, The Chicago Tribune, The Minneapolis Tribune, the San Francisco
Chronicle and The Baltimore Sun.)
The strip never took off, despite strong support from fans such as
bridge expert Charles Goren (who wrote a couple of letters), and even
Schulz’s name didn’t seem to make much of a difference.
But we also can assume that the proud and perfectionist-minded
Schulz -- who in later years, as mentioned above, often made a point of
describing how in "Peanuts" he penciled and inked every line, and
lettered every word balloon -- probably was bothered by the fact that he
wasn’t similarly in sole control of "It’s Only a Game." To be sure, he
was INVOLVED, but he wasn’t actually drawing what appeared in those 30
client newspapers.
"He didn’t like his name being used on somebody else’s work," Jim
recalls, "and I don’t blame him for that."
That, coupled with moribund sales and some tension with the head
UFS salesman to whom Schulz initially had pitched the idea, eventually
prompted an astonishing decision In late 1958, just 12 months into a
solid five-year contract, Schulz made it plain to UFS that he wished to
discontinue "It’s Only a Game." Perhaps recognizing that the strip
wasn’t performing as hoped, UFS agreed.
Schulz did not consult Jim before taking this step; indeed, the
news came as a complete shock to Schulz’s ghost, who’d been very happy
with his work, and the strip, and the $250 per week.
Schulz even tried to sugar-coat the news "You’re off the hook,"
Jim recalls his employer saying (as if this were a GOOD thing), at the
end of that euphoric day when they finished work on the second
all-Peanuts issue of Dell’s Four Color Comics. Jim had just assured
Sparky that his pending move to Berkeley would not affect his ability to
work on "It’s Only a Game," and now the rug had been pulled out from
under him.
The fallout was immediate; it certainly was the final straw for
Helga, who already had been dissatisfied with their home in Sebastopol
-- hence the move to Berkeley -- and also was unhappy about the friction
that existed between her and Joyce, Schulz’s first wife. Helga had
endured Nazi Germany, survived the entire war -- in and out of work
camps -- and had lost her father at Dachau; she was not a woman to keep
opinions to herself.
"I realized I was working on a flawed product, which the creator
and marketer wanted nothing more to do with. Still, I had held out the
hope that maybe Sparky might offer the entire feature to me, although I
realized that there’d be problems with the syndicate," Jim admits, a
touch of wistfulness still clouding the memory after more than 40 years.
"They should have been pretty familiar with my work by then."
It didn’t happen. By the time the final installment of "It’s Only a
Game" appeared, on January 11, 1959 -- the two always had worked six
weeks ahead -- Jim and Schulz had severed all relations, professional
and personal. This also included Jim’s ghosting work on the Dell comic
books. The split was permanent, and the two men never reconciled.
Although "It’s Only a Game" ran for 63 consecutive weeks, it
quickly became a fading memory -- and then an overlooked footnote -- in
Schulz’s career. He rarely mentioned it during later interviews, and
then only obliquely, citing neither date specifics nor his collaboration
with Jim.
"We were the best of friends at first," Jim recalls ruefully. He
happily remembers attending the 1951 National Cartoonists Convention
with Sparky, and also another time when they both went to visit and swap
stories with a fellow artist, Robert M. Brinkerhoff, who lived in
Minneapolis and was known for a newspaper strip called "Little Mary
Mix-Up." Brinkerhoff, in turn -- like many other cartoonists at that
time -- greatly admired J.R. Williams (creator of "Out Our Way"), whom
he once described as "the greatest cowboy ever to walk the streets of
New York." Brinkerhoff related how he had wheedled, begged and finally
finagled an invitation to Williams’ ranch in Montana. Although only
interested in seeing the fabulous studio that he assumed his idol must
have on so massive a spread, Brinkerhoff first had to put up with being
shown all the livestock and the other attractions of a working ranch. As
the visit stretched on, Brinkerhoff finally couldn’t stand it any longer
and demanded to see where Williams did his work.
With a resigned sigh (as Jim recalls Brinkerhoff describing this
incident), Williams walked over to his wife’s sewing machine, took off
the cover, and flipped it over ... and that was it The great J.R.
Williams did all his drawing on the cover of his wife’s sewing machine.
As others have observed, there’s never any reason to embrace
technology or an environment any fancier than that required to get the
job done.
Cartoonists love to talk shop, and Jim’s no different; merely
relating this little tale brings a sparkle into his eyes. And, to this
day, he doesn’t really understand what happened between him and Schulz.
"I feel kind of weird about all this. Sparky obviously wanted me to
succeed in the early days, and even was willing to collaborate with me
on one of my own projects (one of the many variations of "Joe Cipher,"
discussed below). But then when he had a chance to really help me out,
he didn’t make any effort whatsoever ... and left me in rather dire
straits."
Such feelings notwithstanding, all these years later Jim is firm on
one point "Charles M. Schulz was the greatest comic strip artist ever."
And although he certainly couldn’t have known it at the time, Jim
never again would earn his living as a cartoonist.
Before, during and after his working association with Schulz, Jim
played around with many of his own ideas.
If persistence counts for anything, he deserves considerable credit
for his ongoing efforts to sell "Joe Cipher" ("a character kinda based
on me"), a daily strip that underwent quite a few transmutations during
the decade-plus that he tried to place it with a syndicate.
The character first appeared in a sample series of daily strips Jim
produced in late 1949. The strip’s gentle humor is faintly reminiscent
of "Gasoline Alley" and other character-driven work of the era; the
title character is introduced driving an old jalopy that obligingly runs
out of gas at a filling station. The silver-tongued Joe, lacking any
money, eventually impresses the station owner into offering him a job;
Joe celebrates by stepping into a nearby diner for lunch, where he’s
immediately smitten by the young woman behind the counter, and...
...and that’s where the presentation panels concluded.
Perhaps feeling that the strip lacked dramatic impact, a few years
later -- while still at AIS -- Jim tried again, shifting the action to a
tiny island in the middle of the ocean, where the shipwrecked Joe is
joined by an attractive young woman named Ginny, survivor of a second
sea-going calamity. (What are the odds?) Although their relationship is
mildly prickly for the first few days, Ginny eventually wishes aloud
that they could be rescued, so that she can go on a "proper date" with
Joe, and perhaps even kiss him when the evening concludes. Once again,
the story cut off abruptly, as Jim produced just two weeks’ worth of
strips enough to (hopefully) interest a buyer.
Sasseville tried several times to place a comic strip starring Joe Cipher, the pleasant-looking chap
featured in these examples. The two left-most strips are taken from the first run Sasseville designed on his own;
the two right-most strips, starring the same character but
in a different setting, are from Sasseville's third
test run; Charles Schulz contributed story input on these.
(Click on the image to see an enlarged version.)
After getting back from his return hitch in the Navy, Jim
went back to work on Joe Cipher and got a nibble from an
unexpected quarter: Something about this particular setting
touched Schulz, who suggested they collaborate on yet
a third incarnation of "Joe Cipher." (At the time, both men still were
unmarried, and it’s not hard to see a little male fantasy
wish-fulfillment at work.) With narrative input from Schulz and Jim
handling the art chores, the scene shifted again, this time to a
typically romantic South Seas setting, on an island large enough to
support a population of curvaceous young cuties and at least one
villain. Joe and Ginny remained the central focus, but this time the
former saw genuine action, on the receiving end of the villain’s fists.
Schulz and Jim took this newest version of "Joe Cipher" to United
Features Syndicate in spring of 1954; it was turned down flat. The
trip to New York wasn't a complete waste, though, because Sasseville
and Schulz caught a couple of plays: a T.S. Elliot drama called
Confidential Clerk, and another called The King of
Hearts, which starred Jackie Cooper as (what are the odds?)
a cartoonist!
Sasseville also remembers going from suite to suite in New
York's Waldorf hotel during this trip, visiting one cartoonist
after another; meeting Al Capp was a high point. But at least
part of the reason for the trip -- the newest Joe Cipher -- proved
unsellable, and Schulz bowed out at that point.
When Jim finally returned to "Joe Cipher," the 1950s were almost
over. Jim’s association with "Peanuts" and "It’s Only a Game" had
concluded, so the writer/artist returned to his favorite unsold
property. Jim recast his hero in yet another new setting, this time a
business office populated by characters clearly derived from his days at
Art Instruction. Although the sample panels display even cleaner, more
attractive line work -- a sure sign of his growing comfort as an artist
-- Jim had no better luck this time around.
Still refusing to abandon hope, Jim tried one more time In early
1960, after having moved to Berkeley, he once again changed the setting
completely, and turned Joe Cipher into "Sir Joe." This Arthurian-based
concept focused on genuinely whimsical gags involving heavy armor,
maidens in distress, and fire-breathing dragons. Jim’s dragons are
particularly funny, and this newest reboot seems ripe with
possibilities; it’s not at all hard to envision a daily strip evolving
from these samples.
Alas, syndicates once again failed to see any potential, and "Joe
Cipher" was put into Jim’s trunk as no more than another engaging
footnote in the artist’s collection of rejection slips.
Jim didn’t confine his efforts to "Joe Cipher"; the writer/artist
had no shortage of ideas, quite a few of which also wound up as
submission concepts. "Aunty Climax," produced in early 1957 -- just
prior to Jim’s ghost work for Dell comics -- was a single-panel gag
strip that starred a feisty little old lady who was far sharper than
most people assumed. She was based on Louise Cassidy, an AIS colleague
who also was the landlady for the building where Jim briefly lived with
Charles Cuddy. Jim produced a few dozen "Aunty Climax" panels, all of
which are vastly superior -- both in terms of writing and artwork -- to
many of the single-panel cartoons cluttering today’s newspapers.
"Confessions of a French Poodle" was a 1959 concept that didn’t
emerge much further than a few finished panels and lots of pencil
sketches; Jim good-naturedly admits that the idea went nowhere, and so
he abandoned it. That may have been shrewd market analysis, as the
medium never has lacked for dog-oriented material. Even so, French
poodles are funny in their own right, and Jim’s concept sketches are a
hoot.
When not working on Peanuts-related material, Sasseville tried to sell many of his own strip ideas
to a syndicate. From left to right, these examples are "Aunty Climax," "Friends and Foes," "Alpha-Betty" and "Happy Birthday."
(Click on the image to see an enlarged version.)
"Friends and Foes," another single-panel tryout, also emerged from
Jim’s pen in 1959. A little later, shortly after he started putting food
on the table with a "real job" -- and perhaps motivated by the explosion
of children’s television shows, which eventually led to "Sesame Street"
and everything that followed -- Jim tried a kid-oriented educational
strip called "Alpha-Betty," which starred a little girl who finds
herself in an other-worldly land populated by men and women shaped like
letters of the alphabet. The personalities of these individuals were
defined by their appearance; curved female letters, for example, were
far more sultry that straight female letters. The strip has a lovely
"Alice in Wonderland" quality, although the concept may have seemed
limiting.
Jim later played with the medium in "Blackboard," a daily strip
designed to be white-on-black, to imitate chalk on a classroom
blackboard. The stars were Dick, Jane and their TeacheR; although not as
overly educational as "Alpha-Betty," this strip also was aimed at young
audiences.
Jim’s final attempt at syndication was produced in the early 1970s,
after he first went into research hibernation, jotting down enough
celebrity birthdays to fill every day of a calendar year. The resulting
single-panel strips were a precursor to the "On this day in history..."
informational nuggets that have become so ubiquitous The panel for
March 28, for example, illustrated and revealed a few choice facts about
orchestra leader Paul Whiteman. March 29 was devoted to President John
Tyler, while Francisco Goya was featured on March 30.
Sadly, this fared no better with syndicators than any of the
others. "Joe Cipher," "Aunty Climax," "Confessions of a French Poodle,"
"Friends and Foes," "Alpha-Betty," "Blackboard" and "Birthdays" exist only
in Jim’s carefully preserved office files. More’s the pity, because even
the weakest of these strips displays a Puckish wit and clean, attractive
line work too often absent from many of the rushed, imitative strips
that generate little more than reader apathy these days.
Following the dust-up with Schulz and the move to Berkeley, Helga
-- who was delighted by the more rarefied atmosphere of a university
community -- became the family bread-winner. She took a job with a
German importer/exporter and commuted daily across the Bay Bridge.
Eventually succumbing to the need for steady employment, in April
1960 Jim took a job as a graphic designer with Varian, one of the
leading radar companies, located in California’s greater San Francisco
Bay Area. The fit proved comfortable, and he remained with the company
until he retired in 1990.
But the career shift wasn’t immediate; Jim first spent most of 1959
working up his own aforementioned comic strip proposals, and
occasionally sold individual gag cartoons to magazines. But his New
York-based agent took 35% of those one-shots.
"That’s when I started with Varian," Jim recalls, with a chuckle.
"I knew I’d never make it as a gag cartoonist."
Be that as it may, Jim never stopped his cartooning efforts; while
at Varian, he became famous for the birthday cards that he drew for
fellow employees.
Helga, meanwhile, got a job at Stanford, which prompted another
move; the couple then purchased their first home in 1960, in Mountain
View.
Three years later, they moved for what would be the last time. Jim
and his wife paid $28,000 for the house that remains his home to this
day. Just last year the retired artist was offered a cool million bucks
-- in cash -- by a dot-commer who wanted to develop the property. Still
loyal to the memories of his wife, with which the house is filled, Jim
politely declined. Helga died in 1995; he clearly still misses her.
Today, Parkinson’s Disease and the recent stroke have conspired to
deliver the ultimate nightmare Jim no longer can hold a pen well enough
to draw. ("I always marveled at Sparky’s ability to incorporate his
shaking hand into his line work.") But his mind and memory remain
acutely sharp, and his Puckish sense of humor is unbowed. He speaks with
clarity and certainty of his years at Art Instruction School, and with
Schulz, and of his never-successful efforts to market his own original
material.
Jim remains philosophical about his life, and in fact composed
another of his verses to express such feelings
I’m all for equal measures
Losses should be matched by gain;
And since I’ve missed life’s pleasures,
I’ll just double up with pain!
Definitely too harsh, but then we’re always hardest on ourselves.
Jim Sasseville deserves far more than the obscurity into which he has
settled; for a time, he was allied with the man who would become the
world’s most successful cartoonist, and for a time he helped chaperone
the faithfully rendered adventures of Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Linus, Lucy
and the rest ... no small feat.
And I’m particularly transfixed by a remark Jim made during one of
our later phone calls "I don’t know how one should behave, in a
situation like this," he said, referring to our ongoing conversations,
"but it’s like I’ve been resurrected."
Perhaps this article will kick-start our long-overdue obligation to
sing his praises.
Breaking News
Just the FAQs, Ma'am
Ace Airlines Tours: Sites to Visit
Beethoven's Rhapsodies: The Music (and Musicians) of Peanuts
Shop Till You Drop
Just for Fun
By Derrick Bang
Legal Matters
All PEANUTS characters pictured are copyrighted by United Feature Syndicate, Inc. They are used here with permission. They may not be reproduced by any means in any form.
The Sassevilles then found a home in Sebastopol. Between "It’s Only
a Game" and the work he also was doing for the "Peanuts" strips in the
Dell comic books, Jim was quite gainfully employed by his new partner
and boss.
Unfortunately, it was not to last.
"It’s Only a Game" began with 30 client newspapers; nearly a year
later, it had ... 30 client newspapers.
(A complete client list has been lost to the mists of time, although
it is known that the feature was carried by The Boston Globe, the Detroit
Free Press, The Chicago Tribune, The Minneapolis Tribune, the San Francisco
Chronicle and The Baltimore Sun.)
The strip never took off, despite strong support from fans such as
bridge expert Charles Goren (who wrote a couple of letters), and even
Schulz’s name didn’t seem to make much of a difference.
But we also can assume that the proud and perfectionist-minded
Schulz -- who in later years, as mentioned above, often made a point of
describing how in "Peanuts" he penciled and inked every line, and
lettered every word balloon -- probably was bothered by the fact that he
wasn’t similarly in sole control of "It’s Only a Game." To be sure, he
was INVOLVED, but he wasn’t actually drawing what appeared in those 30
client newspapers.
"He didn’t like his name being used on somebody else’s work," Jim
recalls, "and I don’t blame him for that."
That, coupled with moribund sales and some tension with the head
UFS salesman to whom Schulz initially had pitched the idea, eventually
prompted an astonishing decision In late 1958, just 12 months into a
solid five-year contract, Schulz made it plain to UFS that he wished to
discontinue "It’s Only a Game." Perhaps recognizing that the strip
wasn’t performing as hoped, UFS agreed.
Schulz did not consult Jim before taking this step; indeed, the
news came as a complete shock to Schulz’s ghost, who’d been very happy
with his work, and the strip, and the $250 per week.
Schulz even tried to sugar-coat the news "You’re off the hook,"
Jim recalls his employer saying (as if this were a GOOD thing), at the
end of that euphoric day when they finished work on the second
all-Peanuts issue of Dell’s Four Color Comics. Jim had just assured
Sparky that his pending move to Berkeley would not affect his ability to
work on "It’s Only a Game," and now the rug had been pulled out from
under him.
The fallout was immediate; it certainly was the final straw for
Helga, who already had been dissatisfied with their home in Sebastopol
-- hence the move to Berkeley -- and also was unhappy about the friction
that existed between her and Joyce, Schulz’s first wife. Helga had
endured Nazi Germany, survived the entire war -- in and out of work
camps -- and had lost her father at Dachau; she was not a woman to keep
opinions to herself.
"I realized I was working on a flawed product, which the creator
and marketer wanted nothing more to do with. Still, I had held out the
hope that maybe Sparky might offer the entire feature to me, although I
realized that there’d be problems with the syndicate," Jim admits, a
touch of wistfulness still clouding the memory after more than 40 years.
"They should have been pretty familiar with my work by then."
It didn’t happen. By the time the final installment of "It’s Only a
Game" appeared, on January 11, 1959 -- the two always had worked six
weeks ahead -- Jim and Schulz had severed all relations, professional
and personal. This also included Jim’s ghosting work on the Dell comic
books. The split was permanent, and the two men never reconciled.
Although "It’s Only a Game" ran for 63 consecutive weeks, it
quickly became a fading memory -- and then an overlooked footnote -- in
Schulz’s career. He rarely mentioned it during later interviews, and
then only obliquely, citing neither date specifics nor his collaboration
with Jim.
"We were the best of friends at first," Jim recalls ruefully. He
happily remembers attending the 1951 National Cartoonists Convention
with Sparky, and also another time when they both went to visit and swap
stories with a fellow artist, Robert M. Brinkerhoff, who lived in
Minneapolis and was known for a newspaper strip called "Little Mary
Mix-Up." Brinkerhoff, in turn -- like many other cartoonists at that
time -- greatly admired J.R. Williams (creator of "Out Our Way"), whom
he once described as "the greatest cowboy ever to walk the streets of
New York." Brinkerhoff related how he had wheedled, begged and finally
finagled an invitation to Williams’ ranch in Montana. Although only
interested in seeing the fabulous studio that he assumed his idol must
have on so massive a spread, Brinkerhoff first had to put up with being
shown all the livestock and the other attractions of a working ranch. As
the visit stretched on, Brinkerhoff finally couldn’t stand it any longer
and demanded to see where Williams did his work.
With a resigned sigh (as Jim recalls Brinkerhoff describing this
incident), Williams walked over to his wife’s sewing machine, took off
the cover, and flipped it over ... and that was it The great J.R.
Williams did all his drawing on the cover of his wife’s sewing machine.
As others have observed, there’s never any reason to embrace
technology or an environment any fancier than that required to get the
job done.
Cartoonists love to talk shop, and Jim’s no different; merely
relating this little tale brings a sparkle into his eyes. And, to this
day, he doesn’t really understand what happened between him and Schulz.
"I feel kind of weird about all this. Sparky obviously wanted me to
succeed in the early days, and even was willing to collaborate with me
on one of my own projects (one of the many variations of "Joe Cipher,"
discussed below). But then when he had a chance to really help me out,
he didn’t make any effort whatsoever ... and left me in rather dire
straits."
Such feelings notwithstanding, all these years later Jim is firm on
one point "Charles M. Schulz was the greatest comic strip artist ever."
And although he certainly couldn’t have known it at the time, Jim
never again would earn his living as a cartoonist.
Before, during and after his working association with Schulz, Jim
played around with many of his own ideas.
If persistence counts for anything, he deserves considerable credit
for his ongoing efforts to sell "Joe Cipher" ("a character kinda based
on me"), a daily strip that underwent quite a few transmutations during
the decade-plus that he tried to place it with a syndicate.
The character first appeared in a sample series of daily strips Jim
produced in late 1949. The strip’s gentle humor is faintly reminiscent
of "Gasoline Alley" and other character-driven work of the era; the
title character is introduced driving an old jalopy that obligingly runs
out of gas at a filling station. The silver-tongued Joe, lacking any
money, eventually impresses the station owner into offering him a job;
Joe celebrates by stepping into a nearby diner for lunch, where he’s
immediately smitten by the young woman behind the counter, and...
...and that’s where the presentation panels concluded.
Perhaps feeling that the strip lacked dramatic impact, a few years
later -- while still at AIS -- Jim tried again, shifting the action to a
tiny island in the middle of the ocean, where the shipwrecked Joe is
joined by an attractive young woman named Ginny, survivor of a second
sea-going calamity. (What are the odds?) Although their relationship is
mildly prickly for the first few days, Ginny eventually wishes aloud
that they could be rescued, so that she can go on a "proper date" with
Joe, and perhaps even kiss him when the evening concludes. Once again,
the story cut off abruptly, as Jim produced just two weeks’ worth of
strips enough to (hopefully) interest a buyer.
Sasseville tried several times to place a comic strip starring Joe Cipher, the pleasant-looking chap
featured in these examples. The two left-most strips are taken from the first run Sasseville designed on his own;
the two right-most strips, starring the same character but
in a different setting, are from Sasseville's third
test run; Charles Schulz contributed story input on these.
(Click on the image to see an enlarged version.)
After getting back from his return hitch in the Navy, Jim
went back to work on Joe Cipher and got a nibble from an
unexpected quarter: Something about this particular setting
touched Schulz, who suggested they collaborate on yet
a third incarnation of "Joe Cipher." (At the time, both men still were
unmarried, and it’s not hard to see a little male fantasy
wish-fulfillment at work.) With narrative input from Schulz and Jim
handling the art chores, the scene shifted again, this time to a
typically romantic South Seas setting, on an island large enough to
support a population of curvaceous young cuties and at least one
villain. Joe and Ginny remained the central focus, but this time the
former saw genuine action, on the receiving end of the villain’s fists.
Schulz and Jim took this newest version of "Joe Cipher" to United
Features Syndicate in spring of 1954; it was turned down flat. The
trip to New York wasn't a complete waste, though, because Sasseville
and Schulz caught a couple of plays: a T.S. Elliot drama called
Confidential Clerk, and another called The King of
Hearts, which starred Jackie Cooper as (what are the odds?)
a cartoonist!
Sasseville also remembers going from suite to suite in New
York's Waldorf hotel during this trip, visiting one cartoonist
after another; meeting Al Capp was a high point. But at least
part of the reason for the trip -- the newest Joe Cipher -- proved
unsellable, and Schulz bowed out at that point.
When Jim finally returned to "Joe Cipher," the 1950s were almost
over. Jim’s association with "Peanuts" and "It’s Only a Game" had
concluded, so the writer/artist returned to his favorite unsold
property. Jim recast his hero in yet another new setting, this time a
business office populated by characters clearly derived from his days at
Art Instruction. Although the sample panels display even cleaner, more
attractive line work -- a sure sign of his growing comfort as an artist
-- Jim had no better luck this time around.
Still refusing to abandon hope, Jim tried one more time In early
1960, after having moved to Berkeley, he once again changed the setting
completely, and turned Joe Cipher into "Sir Joe." This Arthurian-based
concept focused on genuinely whimsical gags involving heavy armor,
maidens in distress, and fire-breathing dragons. Jim’s dragons are
particularly funny, and this newest reboot seems ripe with
possibilities; it’s not at all hard to envision a daily strip evolving
from these samples.
Alas, syndicates once again failed to see any potential, and "Joe
Cipher" was put into Jim’s trunk as no more than another engaging
footnote in the artist’s collection of rejection slips.
Jim didn’t confine his efforts to "Joe Cipher"; the writer/artist
had no shortage of ideas, quite a few of which also wound up as
submission concepts. "Aunty Climax," produced in early 1957 -- just
prior to Jim’s ghost work for Dell comics -- was a single-panel gag
strip that starred a feisty little old lady who was far sharper than
most people assumed. She was based on Louise Cassidy, an AIS colleague
who also was the landlady for the building where Jim briefly lived with
Charles Cuddy. Jim produced a few dozen "Aunty Climax" panels, all of
which are vastly superior -- both in terms of writing and artwork -- to
many of the single-panel cartoons cluttering today’s newspapers.
"Confessions of a French Poodle" was a 1959 concept that didn’t
emerge much further than a few finished panels and lots of pencil
sketches; Jim good-naturedly admits that the idea went nowhere, and so
he abandoned it. That may have been shrewd market analysis, as the
medium never has lacked for dog-oriented material. Even so, French
poodles are funny in their own right, and Jim’s concept sketches are a
hoot.
When not working on Peanuts-related material, Sasseville tried to sell many of his own strip ideas
to a syndicate. From left to right, these examples are "Aunty Climax," "Friends and Foes," "Alpha-Betty" and "Happy Birthday."
(Click on the image to see an enlarged version.)
"Friends and Foes," another single-panel tryout, also emerged from
Jim’s pen in 1959. A little later, shortly after he started putting food
on the table with a "real job" -- and perhaps motivated by the explosion
of children’s television shows, which eventually led to "Sesame Street"
and everything that followed -- Jim tried a kid-oriented educational
strip called "Alpha-Betty," which starred a little girl who finds
herself in an other-worldly land populated by men and women shaped like
letters of the alphabet. The personalities of these individuals were
defined by their appearance; curved female letters, for example, were
far more sultry that straight female letters. The strip has a lovely
"Alice in Wonderland" quality, although the concept may have seemed
limiting.
Jim later played with the medium in "Blackboard," a daily strip
designed to be white-on-black, to imitate chalk on a classroom
blackboard. The stars were Dick, Jane and their TeacheR; although not as
overly educational as "Alpha-Betty," this strip also was aimed at young
audiences.
Jim’s final attempt at syndication was produced in the early 1970s,
after he first went into research hibernation, jotting down enough
celebrity birthdays to fill every day of a calendar year. The resulting
single-panel strips were a precursor to the "On this day in history..."
informational nuggets that have become so ubiquitous The panel for
March 28, for example, illustrated and revealed a few choice facts about
orchestra leader Paul Whiteman. March 29 was devoted to President John
Tyler, while Francisco Goya was featured on March 30.
Sadly, this fared no better with syndicators than any of the
others. "Joe Cipher," "Aunty Climax," "Confessions of a French Poodle,"
"Friends and Foes," "Alpha-Betty," "Blackboard" and "Birthdays" exist only
in Jim’s carefully preserved office files. More’s the pity, because even
the weakest of these strips displays a Puckish wit and clean, attractive
line work too often absent from many of the rushed, imitative strips
that generate little more than reader apathy these days.
Following the dust-up with Schulz and the move to Berkeley, Helga
-- who was delighted by the more rarefied atmosphere of a university
community -- became the family bread-winner. She took a job with a
German importer/exporter and commuted daily across the Bay Bridge.
Eventually succumbing to the need for steady employment, in April
1960 Jim took a job as a graphic designer with Varian, one of the
leading radar companies, located in California’s greater San Francisco
Bay Area. The fit proved comfortable, and he remained with the company
until he retired in 1990.
But the career shift wasn’t immediate; Jim first spent most of 1959
working up his own aforementioned comic strip proposals, and
occasionally sold individual gag cartoons to magazines. But his New
York-based agent took 35% of those one-shots.
"That’s when I started with Varian," Jim recalls, with a chuckle.
"I knew I’d never make it as a gag cartoonist."
Be that as it may, Jim never stopped his cartooning efforts; while
at Varian, he became famous for the birthday cards that he drew for
fellow employees.
Helga, meanwhile, got a job at Stanford, which prompted another
move; the couple then purchased their first home in 1960, in Mountain
View.
Three years later, they moved for what would be the last time. Jim
and his wife paid $28,000 for the house that remains his home to this
day. Just last year the retired artist was offered a cool million bucks
-- in cash -- by a dot-commer who wanted to develop the property. Still
loyal to the memories of his wife, with which the house is filled, Jim
politely declined. Helga died in 1995; he clearly still misses her.
Today, Parkinson’s Disease and the recent stroke have conspired to
deliver the ultimate nightmare Jim no longer can hold a pen well enough
to draw. ("I always marveled at Sparky’s ability to incorporate his
shaking hand into his line work.") But his mind and memory remain
acutely sharp, and his Puckish sense of humor is unbowed. He speaks with
clarity and certainty of his years at Art Instruction School, and with
Schulz, and of his never-successful efforts to market his own original
material.
Jim remains philosophical about his life, and in fact composed
another of his verses to express such feelings
I’m all for equal measures
Losses should be matched by gain;
And since I’ve missed life’s pleasures,
I’ll just double up with pain!
Definitely too harsh, but then we’re always hardest on ourselves.
Jim Sasseville deserves far more than the obscurity into which he has
settled; for a time, he was allied with the man who would become the
world’s most successful cartoonist, and for a time he helped chaperone
the faithfully rendered adventures of Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Linus, Lucy
and the rest ... no small feat.
And I’m particularly transfixed by a remark Jim made during one of
our later phone calls "I don’t know how one should behave, in a
situation like this," he said, referring to our ongoing conversations,
"but it’s like I’ve been resurrected."
Perhaps this article will kick-start our long-overdue obligation to
sing his praises.
Breaking News
Just the FAQs, Ma'am
Ace Airlines Tours: Sites to Visit
Beethoven's Rhapsodies: The Music (and Musicians) of Peanuts
Shop Till You Drop
Just for Fun
By Derrick Bang
Legal Matters
All PEANUTS characters pictured are copyrighted by United Feature Syndicate, Inc. They are used here with permission. They may not be reproduced by any means in any form.
"It’s Only a Game" began with 30 client newspapers; nearly a year
later, it had ... 30 client newspapers.
(A complete client list has been lost to the mists of time, although
it is known that the feature was carried by The Boston Globe, the Detroit
Free Press, The Chicago Tribune, The Minneapolis Tribune, the San Francisco
Chronicle and The Baltimore Sun.)
The strip never took off, despite strong support from fans such as
bridge expert Charles Goren (who wrote a couple of letters), and even
Schulz’s name didn’t seem to make much of a difference.
But we also can assume that the proud and perfectionist-minded
Schulz -- who in later years, as mentioned above, often made a point of
describing how in "Peanuts" he penciled and inked every line, and
lettered every word balloon -- probably was bothered by the fact that he
wasn’t similarly in sole control of "It’s Only a Game." To be sure, he
was INVOLVED, but he wasn’t actually drawing what appeared in those 30
client newspapers.
"He didn’t like his name being used on somebody else’s work," Jim
recalls, "and I don’t blame him for that."
That, coupled with moribund sales and some tension with the head
UFS salesman to whom Schulz initially had pitched the idea, eventually
prompted an astonishing decision In late 1958, just 12 months into a
solid five-year contract, Schulz made it plain to UFS that he wished to
discontinue "It’s Only a Game." Perhaps recognizing that the strip
wasn’t performing as hoped, UFS agreed.
Schulz did not consult Jim before taking this step; indeed, the
news came as a complete shock to Schulz’s ghost, who’d been very happy
with his work, and the strip, and the $250 per week.
Schulz even tried to sugar-coat the news "You’re off the hook,"
Jim recalls his employer saying (as if this were a GOOD thing), at the
end of that euphoric day when they finished work on the second
all-Peanuts issue of Dell’s Four Color Comics. Jim had just assured
Sparky that his pending move to Berkeley would not affect his ability to
work on "It’s Only a Game," and now the rug had been pulled out from
under him.
The fallout was immediate; it certainly was the final straw for
Helga, who already had been dissatisfied with their home in Sebastopol
-- hence the move to Berkeley -- and also was unhappy about the friction
that existed between her and Joyce, Schulz’s first wife. Helga had
endured Nazi Germany, survived the entire war -- in and out of work
camps -- and had lost her father at Dachau; she was not a woman to keep
opinions to herself.
"I realized I was working on a flawed product, which the creator
and marketer wanted nothing more to do with. Still, I had held out the
hope that maybe Sparky might offer the entire feature to me, although I
realized that there’d be problems with the syndicate," Jim admits, a
touch of wistfulness still clouding the memory after more than 40 years.
"They should have been pretty familiar with my work by then."
It didn’t happen. By the time the final installment of "It’s Only a
Game" appeared, on January 11, 1959 -- the two always had worked six
weeks ahead -- Jim and Schulz had severed all relations, professional
and personal. This also included Jim’s ghosting work on the Dell comic
books. The split was permanent, and the two men never reconciled.
Although "It’s Only a Game" ran for 63 consecutive weeks, it
quickly became a fading memory -- and then an overlooked footnote -- in
Schulz’s career. He rarely mentioned it during later interviews, and
then only obliquely, citing neither date specifics nor his collaboration
with Jim.
"We were the best of friends at first," Jim recalls ruefully. He
happily remembers attending the 1951 National Cartoonists Convention
with Sparky, and also another time when they both went to visit and swap
stories with a fellow artist, Robert M. Brinkerhoff, who lived in
Minneapolis and was known for a newspaper strip called "Little Mary
Mix-Up." Brinkerhoff, in turn -- like many other cartoonists at that
time -- greatly admired J.R. Williams (creator of "Out Our Way"), whom
he once described as "the greatest cowboy ever to walk the streets of
New York." Brinkerhoff related how he had wheedled, begged and finally
finagled an invitation to Williams’ ranch in Montana. Although only
interested in seeing the fabulous studio that he assumed his idol must
have on so massive a spread, Brinkerhoff first had to put up with being
shown all the livestock and the other attractions of a working ranch. As
the visit stretched on, Brinkerhoff finally couldn’t stand it any longer
and demanded to see where Williams did his work.
With a resigned sigh (as Jim recalls Brinkerhoff describing this
incident), Williams walked over to his wife’s sewing machine, took off
the cover, and flipped it over ... and that was it The great J.R.
Williams did all his drawing on the cover of his wife’s sewing machine.
As others have observed, there’s never any reason to embrace
technology or an environment any fancier than that required to get the
job done.
Cartoonists love to talk shop, and Jim’s no different; merely
relating this little tale brings a sparkle into his eyes. And, to this
day, he doesn’t really understand what happened between him and Schulz.
"I feel kind of weird about all this. Sparky obviously wanted me to
succeed in the early days, and even was willing to collaborate with me
on one of my own projects (one of the many variations of "Joe Cipher,"
discussed below). But then when he had a chance to really help me out,
he didn’t make any effort whatsoever ... and left me in rather dire
straits."
Such feelings notwithstanding, all these years later Jim is firm on
one point "Charles M. Schulz was the greatest comic strip artist ever."
And although he certainly couldn’t have known it at the time, Jim
never again would earn his living as a cartoonist.
Before, during and after his working association with Schulz, Jim
played around with many of his own ideas.
If persistence counts for anything, he deserves considerable credit
for his ongoing efforts to sell "Joe Cipher" ("a character kinda based
on me"), a daily strip that underwent quite a few transmutations during
the decade-plus that he tried to place it with a syndicate.
The character first appeared in a sample series of daily strips Jim
produced in late 1949. The strip’s gentle humor is faintly reminiscent
of "Gasoline Alley" and other character-driven work of the era; the
title character is introduced driving an old jalopy that obligingly runs
out of gas at a filling station. The silver-tongued Joe, lacking any
money, eventually impresses the station owner into offering him a job;
Joe celebrates by stepping into a nearby diner for lunch, where he’s
immediately smitten by the young woman behind the counter, and...
...and that’s where the presentation panels concluded.
Perhaps feeling that the strip lacked dramatic impact, a few years
later -- while still at AIS -- Jim tried again, shifting the action to a
tiny island in the middle of the ocean, where the shipwrecked Joe is
joined by an attractive young woman named Ginny, survivor of a second
sea-going calamity. (What are the odds?) Although their relationship is
mildly prickly for the first few days, Ginny eventually wishes aloud
that they could be rescued, so that she can go on a "proper date" with
Joe, and perhaps even kiss him when the evening concludes. Once again,
the story cut off abruptly, as Jim produced just two weeks’ worth of
strips enough to (hopefully) interest a buyer.
Sasseville tried several times to place a comic strip starring Joe Cipher, the pleasant-looking chap
featured in these examples. The two left-most strips are taken from the first run Sasseville designed on his own;
the two right-most strips, starring the same character but
in a different setting, are from Sasseville's third
test run; Charles Schulz contributed story input on these.
(Click on the image to see an enlarged version.)
After getting back from his return hitch in the Navy, Jim
went back to work on Joe Cipher and got a nibble from an
unexpected quarter: Something about this particular setting
touched Schulz, who suggested they collaborate on yet
a third incarnation of "Joe Cipher." (At the time, both men still were
unmarried, and it’s not hard to see a little male fantasy
wish-fulfillment at work.) With narrative input from Schulz and Jim
handling the art chores, the scene shifted again, this time to a
typically romantic South Seas setting, on an island large enough to
support a population of curvaceous young cuties and at least one
villain. Joe and Ginny remained the central focus, but this time the
former saw genuine action, on the receiving end of the villain’s fists.
Schulz and Jim took this newest version of "Joe Cipher" to United
Features Syndicate in spring of 1954; it was turned down flat. The
trip to New York wasn't a complete waste, though, because Sasseville
and Schulz caught a couple of plays: a T.S. Elliot drama called
Confidential Clerk, and another called The King of
Hearts, which starred Jackie Cooper as (what are the odds?)
a cartoonist!
Sasseville also remembers going from suite to suite in New
York's Waldorf hotel during this trip, visiting one cartoonist
after another; meeting Al Capp was a high point. But at least
part of the reason for the trip -- the newest Joe Cipher -- proved
unsellable, and Schulz bowed out at that point.
When Jim finally returned to "Joe Cipher," the 1950s were almost
over. Jim’s association with "Peanuts" and "It’s Only a Game" had
concluded, so the writer/artist returned to his favorite unsold
property. Jim recast his hero in yet another new setting, this time a
business office populated by characters clearly derived from his days at
Art Instruction. Although the sample panels display even cleaner, more
attractive line work -- a sure sign of his growing comfort as an artist
-- Jim had no better luck this time around.
Still refusing to abandon hope, Jim tried one more time In early
1960, after having moved to Berkeley, he once again changed the setting
completely, and turned Joe Cipher into "Sir Joe." This Arthurian-based
concept focused on genuinely whimsical gags involving heavy armor,
maidens in distress, and fire-breathing dragons. Jim’s dragons are
particularly funny, and this newest reboot seems ripe with
possibilities; it’s not at all hard to envision a daily strip evolving
from these samples.
Alas, syndicates once again failed to see any potential, and "Joe
Cipher" was put into Jim’s trunk as no more than another engaging
footnote in the artist’s collection of rejection slips.
Jim didn’t confine his efforts to "Joe Cipher"; the writer/artist
had no shortage of ideas, quite a few of which also wound up as
submission concepts. "Aunty Climax," produced in early 1957 -- just
prior to Jim’s ghost work for Dell comics -- was a single-panel gag
strip that starred a feisty little old lady who was far sharper than
most people assumed. She was based on Louise Cassidy, an AIS colleague
who also was the landlady for the building where Jim briefly lived with
Charles Cuddy. Jim produced a few dozen "Aunty Climax" panels, all of
which are vastly superior -- both in terms of writing and artwork -- to
many of the single-panel cartoons cluttering today’s newspapers.
"Confessions of a French Poodle" was a 1959 concept that didn’t
emerge much further than a few finished panels and lots of pencil
sketches; Jim good-naturedly admits that the idea went nowhere, and so
he abandoned it. That may have been shrewd market analysis, as the
medium never has lacked for dog-oriented material. Even so, French
poodles are funny in their own right, and Jim’s concept sketches are a
hoot.
When not working on Peanuts-related material, Sasseville tried to sell many of his own strip ideas
to a syndicate. From left to right, these examples are "Aunty Climax," "Friends and Foes," "Alpha-Betty" and "Happy Birthday."
(Click on the image to see an enlarged version.)
"Friends and Foes," another single-panel tryout, also emerged from
Jim’s pen in 1959. A little later, shortly after he started putting food
on the table with a "real job" -- and perhaps motivated by the explosion
of children’s television shows, which eventually led to "Sesame Street"
and everything that followed -- Jim tried a kid-oriented educational
strip called "Alpha-Betty," which starred a little girl who finds
herself in an other-worldly land populated by men and women shaped like
letters of the alphabet. The personalities of these individuals were
defined by their appearance; curved female letters, for example, were
far more sultry that straight female letters. The strip has a lovely
"Alice in Wonderland" quality, although the concept may have seemed
limiting.
Jim later played with the medium in "Blackboard," a daily strip
designed to be white-on-black, to imitate chalk on a classroom
blackboard. The stars were Dick, Jane and their TeacheR; although not as
overly educational as "Alpha-Betty," this strip also was aimed at young
audiences.
Jim’s final attempt at syndication was produced in the early 1970s,
after he first went into research hibernation, jotting down enough
celebrity birthdays to fill every day of a calendar year. The resulting
single-panel strips were a precursor to the "On this day in history..."
informational nuggets that have become so ubiquitous The panel for
March 28, for example, illustrated and revealed a few choice facts about
orchestra leader Paul Whiteman. March 29 was devoted to President John
Tyler, while Francisco Goya was featured on March 30.
Sadly, this fared no better with syndicators than any of the
others. "Joe Cipher," "Aunty Climax," "Confessions of a French Poodle,"
"Friends and Foes," "Alpha-Betty," "Blackboard" and "Birthdays" exist only
in Jim’s carefully preserved office files. More’s the pity, because even
the weakest of these strips displays a Puckish wit and clean, attractive
line work too often absent from many of the rushed, imitative strips
that generate little more than reader apathy these days.
Following the dust-up with Schulz and the move to Berkeley, Helga
-- who was delighted by the more rarefied atmosphere of a university
community -- became the family bread-winner. She took a job with a
German importer/exporter and commuted daily across the Bay Bridge.
Eventually succumbing to the need for steady employment, in April
1960 Jim took a job as a graphic designer with Varian, one of the
leading radar companies, located in California’s greater San Francisco
Bay Area. The fit proved comfortable, and he remained with the company
until he retired in 1990.
But the career shift wasn’t immediate; Jim first spent most of 1959
working up his own aforementioned comic strip proposals, and
occasionally sold individual gag cartoons to magazines. But his New
York-based agent took 35% of those one-shots.
"That’s when I started with Varian," Jim recalls, with a chuckle.
"I knew I’d never make it as a gag cartoonist."
Be that as it may, Jim never stopped his cartooning efforts; while
at Varian, he became famous for the birthday cards that he drew for
fellow employees.
Helga, meanwhile, got a job at Stanford, which prompted another
move; the couple then purchased their first home in 1960, in Mountain
View.
Three years later, they moved for what would be the last time. Jim
and his wife paid $28,000 for the house that remains his home to this
day. Just last year the retired artist was offered a cool million bucks
-- in cash -- by a dot-commer who wanted to develop the property. Still
loyal to the memories of his wife, with which the house is filled, Jim
politely declined. Helga died in 1995; he clearly still misses her.
Today, Parkinson’s Disease and the recent stroke have conspired to
deliver the ultimate nightmare Jim no longer can hold a pen well enough
to draw. ("I always marveled at Sparky’s ability to incorporate his
shaking hand into his line work.") But his mind and memory remain
acutely sharp, and his Puckish sense of humor is unbowed. He speaks with
clarity and certainty of his years at Art Instruction School, and with
Schulz, and of his never-successful efforts to market his own original
material.
Jim remains philosophical about his life, and in fact composed
another of his verses to express such feelings
I’m all for equal measures
Losses should be matched by gain;
And since I’ve missed life’s pleasures,
I’ll just double up with pain!
Definitely too harsh, but then we’re always hardest on ourselves.
Jim Sasseville deserves far more than the obscurity into which he has
settled; for a time, he was allied with the man who would become the
world’s most successful cartoonist, and for a time he helped chaperone
the faithfully rendered adventures of Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Linus, Lucy
and the rest ... no small feat.
And I’m particularly transfixed by a remark Jim made during one of
our later phone calls "I don’t know how one should behave, in a
situation like this," he said, referring to our ongoing conversations,
"but it’s like I’ve been resurrected."
Perhaps this article will kick-start our long-overdue obligation to
sing his praises.
Breaking News
Just the FAQs, Ma'am
Ace Airlines Tours: Sites to Visit
Beethoven's Rhapsodies: The Music (and Musicians) of Peanuts
Shop Till You Drop
Just for Fun
By Derrick Bang
Legal Matters
All PEANUTS characters pictured are copyrighted by United Feature Syndicate, Inc. They are used here with permission. They may not be reproduced by any means in any form.
The strip never took off, despite strong support from fans such as
bridge expert Charles Goren (who wrote a couple of letters), and even
Schulz’s name didn’t seem to make much of a difference.
But we also can assume that the proud and perfectionist-minded
Schulz -- who in later years, as mentioned above, often made a point of
describing how in "Peanuts" he penciled and inked every line, and
lettered every word balloon -- probably was bothered by the fact that he
wasn’t similarly in sole control of "It’s Only a Game." To be sure, he
was INVOLVED, but he wasn’t actually drawing what appeared in those 30
client newspapers.
"He didn’t like his name being used on somebody else’s work," Jim
recalls, "and I don’t blame him for that."
That, coupled with moribund sales and some tension with the head
UFS salesman to whom Schulz initially had pitched the idea, eventually
prompted an astonishing decision In late 1958, just 12 months into a
solid five-year contract, Schulz made it plain to UFS that he wished to
discontinue "It’s Only a Game." Perhaps recognizing that the strip
wasn’t performing as hoped, UFS agreed.
Schulz did not consult Jim before taking this step; indeed, the
news came as a complete shock to Schulz’s ghost, who’d been very happy
with his work, and the strip, and the $250 per week.
Schulz even tried to sugar-coat the news "You’re off the hook,"
Jim recalls his employer saying (as if this were a GOOD thing), at the
end of that euphoric day when they finished work on the second
all-Peanuts issue of Dell’s Four Color Comics. Jim had just assured
Sparky that his pending move to Berkeley would not affect his ability to
work on "It’s Only a Game," and now the rug had been pulled out from
under him.
The fallout was immediate; it certainly was the final straw for
Helga, who already had been dissatisfied with their home in Sebastopol
-- hence the move to Berkeley -- and also was unhappy about the friction
that existed between her and Joyce, Schulz’s first wife. Helga had
endured Nazi Germany, survived the entire war -- in and out of work
camps -- and had lost her father at Dachau; she was not a woman to keep
opinions to herself.
"I realized I was working on a flawed product, which the creator
and marketer wanted nothing more to do with. Still, I had held out the
hope that maybe Sparky might offer the entire feature to me, although I
realized that there’d be problems with the syndicate," Jim admits, a
touch of wistfulness still clouding the memory after more than 40 years.
"They should have been pretty familiar with my work by then."
It didn’t happen. By the time the final installment of "It’s Only a
Game" appeared, on January 11, 1959 -- the two always had worked six
weeks ahead -- Jim and Schulz had severed all relations, professional
and personal. This also included Jim’s ghosting work on the Dell comic
books. The split was permanent, and the two men never reconciled.
Although "It’s Only a Game" ran for 63 consecutive weeks, it
quickly became a fading memory -- and then an overlooked footnote -- in
Schulz’s career. He rarely mentioned it during later interviews, and
then only obliquely, citing neither date specifics nor his collaboration
with Jim.
"We were the best of friends at first," Jim recalls ruefully. He
happily remembers attending the 1951 National Cartoonists Convention
with Sparky, and also another time when they both went to visit and swap
stories with a fellow artist, Robert M. Brinkerhoff, who lived in
Minneapolis and was known for a newspaper strip called "Little Mary
Mix-Up." Brinkerhoff, in turn -- like many other cartoonists at that
time -- greatly admired J.R. Williams (creator of "Out Our Way"), whom
he once described as "the greatest cowboy ever to walk the streets of
New York." Brinkerhoff related how he had wheedled, begged and finally
finagled an invitation to Williams’ ranch in Montana. Although only
interested in seeing the fabulous studio that he assumed his idol must
have on so massive a spread, Brinkerhoff first had to put up with being
shown all the livestock and the other attractions of a working ranch. As
the visit stretched on, Brinkerhoff finally couldn’t stand it any longer
and demanded to see where Williams did his work.
With a resigned sigh (as Jim recalls Brinkerhoff describing this
incident), Williams walked over to his wife’s sewing machine, took off
the cover, and flipped it over ... and that was it The great J.R.
Williams did all his drawing on the cover of his wife’s sewing machine.
As others have observed, there’s never any reason to embrace
technology or an environment any fancier than that required to get the
job done.
Cartoonists love to talk shop, and Jim’s no different; merely
relating this little tale brings a sparkle into his eyes. And, to this
day, he doesn’t really understand what happened between him and Schulz.
"I feel kind of weird about all this. Sparky obviously wanted me to
succeed in the early days, and even was willing to collaborate with me
on one of my own projects (one of the many variations of "Joe Cipher,"
discussed below). But then when he had a chance to really help me out,
he didn’t make any effort whatsoever ... and left me in rather dire
straits."
Such feelings notwithstanding, all these years later Jim is firm on
one point "Charles M. Schulz was the greatest comic strip artist ever."
And although he certainly couldn’t have known it at the time, Jim
never again would earn his living as a cartoonist.
Before, during and after his working association with Schulz, Jim
played around with many of his own ideas.
If persistence counts for anything, he deserves considerable credit
for his ongoing efforts to sell "Joe Cipher" ("a character kinda based
on me"), a daily strip that underwent quite a few transmutations during
the decade-plus that he tried to place it with a syndicate.
The character first appeared in a sample series of daily strips Jim
produced in late 1949. The strip’s gentle humor is faintly reminiscent
of "Gasoline Alley" and other character-driven work of the era; the
title character is introduced driving an old jalopy that obligingly runs
out of gas at a filling station. The silver-tongued Joe, lacking any
money, eventually impresses the station owner into offering him a job;
Joe celebrates by stepping into a nearby diner for lunch, where he’s
immediately smitten by the young woman behind the counter, and...
...and that’s where the presentation panels concluded.
Perhaps feeling that the strip lacked dramatic impact, a few years
later -- while still at AIS -- Jim tried again, shifting the action to a
tiny island in the middle of the ocean, where the shipwrecked Joe is
joined by an attractive young woman named Ginny, survivor of a second
sea-going calamity. (What are the odds?) Although their relationship is
mildly prickly for the first few days, Ginny eventually wishes aloud
that they could be rescued, so that she can go on a "proper date" with
Joe, and perhaps even kiss him when the evening concludes. Once again,
the story cut off abruptly, as Jim produced just two weeks’ worth of
strips enough to (hopefully) interest a buyer.
Sasseville tried several times to place a comic strip starring Joe Cipher, the pleasant-looking chap
featured in these examples. The two left-most strips are taken from the first run Sasseville designed on his own;
the two right-most strips, starring the same character but
in a different setting, are from Sasseville's third
test run; Charles Schulz contributed story input on these.
(Click on the image to see an enlarged version.)
After getting back from his return hitch in the Navy, Jim
went back to work on Joe Cipher and got a nibble from an
unexpected quarter: Something about this particular setting
touched Schulz, who suggested they collaborate on yet
a third incarnation of "Joe Cipher." (At the time, both men still were
unmarried, and it’s not hard to see a little male fantasy
wish-fulfillment at work.) With narrative input from Schulz and Jim
handling the art chores, the scene shifted again, this time to a
typically romantic South Seas setting, on an island large enough to
support a population of curvaceous young cuties and at least one
villain. Joe and Ginny remained the central focus, but this time the
former saw genuine action, on the receiving end of the villain’s fists.
Schulz and Jim took this newest version of "Joe Cipher" to United
Features Syndicate in spring of 1954; it was turned down flat. The
trip to New York wasn't a complete waste, though, because Sasseville
and Schulz caught a couple of plays: a T.S. Elliot drama called
Confidential Clerk, and another called The King of
Hearts, which starred Jackie Cooper as (what are the odds?)
a cartoonist!
Sasseville also remembers going from suite to suite in New
York's Waldorf hotel during this trip, visiting one cartoonist
after another; meeting Al Capp was a high point. But at least
part of the reason for the trip -- the newest Joe Cipher -- proved
unsellable, and Schulz bowed out at that point.
When Jim finally returned to "Joe Cipher," the 1950s were almost
over. Jim’s association with "Peanuts" and "It’s Only a Game" had
concluded, so the writer/artist returned to his favorite unsold
property. Jim recast his hero in yet another new setting, this time a
business office populated by characters clearly derived from his days at
Art Instruction. Although the sample panels display even cleaner, more
attractive line work -- a sure sign of his growing comfort as an artist
-- Jim had no better luck this time around.
Still refusing to abandon hope, Jim tried one more time In early
1960, after having moved to Berkeley, he once again changed the setting
completely, and turned Joe Cipher into "Sir Joe." This Arthurian-based
concept focused on genuinely whimsical gags involving heavy armor,
maidens in distress, and fire-breathing dragons. Jim’s dragons are
particularly funny, and this newest reboot seems ripe with
possibilities; it’s not at all hard to envision a daily strip evolving
from these samples.
Alas, syndicates once again failed to see any potential, and "Joe
Cipher" was put into Jim’s trunk as no more than another engaging
footnote in the artist’s collection of rejection slips.
Jim didn’t confine his efforts to "Joe Cipher"; the writer/artist
had no shortage of ideas, quite a few of which also wound up as
submission concepts. "Aunty Climax," produced in early 1957 -- just
prior to Jim’s ghost work for Dell comics -- was a single-panel gag
strip that starred a feisty little old lady who was far sharper than
most people assumed. She was based on Louise Cassidy, an AIS colleague
who also was the landlady for the building where Jim briefly lived with
Charles Cuddy. Jim produced a few dozen "Aunty Climax" panels, all of
which are vastly superior -- both in terms of writing and artwork -- to
many of the single-panel cartoons cluttering today’s newspapers.
"Confessions of a French Poodle" was a 1959 concept that didn’t
emerge much further than a few finished panels and lots of pencil
sketches; Jim good-naturedly admits that the idea went nowhere, and so
he abandoned it. That may have been shrewd market analysis, as the
medium never has lacked for dog-oriented material. Even so, French
poodles are funny in their own right, and Jim’s concept sketches are a
hoot.
When not working on Peanuts-related material, Sasseville tried to sell many of his own strip ideas
to a syndicate. From left to right, these examples are "Aunty Climax," "Friends and Foes," "Alpha-Betty" and "Happy Birthday."
(Click on the image to see an enlarged version.)
"Friends and Foes," another single-panel tryout, also emerged from
Jim’s pen in 1959. A little later, shortly after he started putting food
on the table with a "real job" -- and perhaps motivated by the explosion
of children’s television shows, which eventually led to "Sesame Street"
and everything that followed -- Jim tried a kid-oriented educational
strip called "Alpha-Betty," which starred a little girl who finds
herself in an other-worldly land populated by men and women shaped like
letters of the alphabet. The personalities of these individuals were
defined by their appearance; curved female letters, for example, were
far more sultry that straight female letters. The strip has a lovely
"Alice in Wonderland" quality, although the concept may have seemed
limiting.
Jim later played with the medium in "Blackboard," a daily strip
designed to be white-on-black, to imitate chalk on a classroom
blackboard. The stars were Dick, Jane and their TeacheR; although not as
overly educational as "Alpha-Betty," this strip also was aimed at young
audiences.
Jim’s final attempt at syndication was produced in the early 1970s,
after he first went into research hibernation, jotting down enough
celebrity birthdays to fill every day of a calendar year. The resulting
single-panel strips were a precursor to the "On this day in history..."
informational nuggets that have become so ubiquitous The panel for
March 28, for example, illustrated and revealed a few choice facts about
orchestra leader Paul Whiteman. March 29 was devoted to President John
Tyler, while Francisco Goya was featured on March 30.
Sadly, this fared no better with syndicators than any of the
others. "Joe Cipher," "Aunty Climax," "Confessions of a French Poodle,"
"Friends and Foes," "Alpha-Betty," "Blackboard" and "Birthdays" exist only
in Jim’s carefully preserved office files. More’s the pity, because even
the weakest of these strips displays a Puckish wit and clean, attractive
line work too often absent from many of the rushed, imitative strips
that generate little more than reader apathy these days.
Following the dust-up with Schulz and the move to Berkeley, Helga
-- who was delighted by the more rarefied atmosphere of a university
community -- became the family bread-winner. She took a job with a
German importer/exporter and commuted daily across the Bay Bridge.
Eventually succumbing to the need for steady employment, in April
1960 Jim took a job as a graphic designer with Varian, one of the
leading radar companies, located in California’s greater San Francisco
Bay Area. The fit proved comfortable, and he remained with the company
until he retired in 1990.
But the career shift wasn’t immediate; Jim first spent most of 1959
working up his own aforementioned comic strip proposals, and
occasionally sold individual gag cartoons to magazines. But his New
York-based agent took 35% of those one-shots.
"That’s when I started with Varian," Jim recalls, with a chuckle.
"I knew I’d never make it as a gag cartoonist."
Be that as it may, Jim never stopped his cartooning efforts; while
at Varian, he became famous for the birthday cards that he drew for
fellow employees.
Helga, meanwhile, got a job at Stanford, which prompted another
move; the couple then purchased their first home in 1960, in Mountain
View.
Three years later, they moved for what would be the last time. Jim
and his wife paid $28,000 for the house that remains his home to this
day. Just last year the retired artist was offered a cool million bucks
-- in cash -- by a dot-commer who wanted to develop the property. Still
loyal to the memories of his wife, with which the house is filled, Jim
politely declined. Helga died in 1995; he clearly still misses her.
Today, Parkinson’s Disease and the recent stroke have conspired to
deliver the ultimate nightmare Jim no longer can hold a pen well enough
to draw. ("I always marveled at Sparky’s ability to incorporate his
shaking hand into his line work.") But his mind and memory remain
acutely sharp, and his Puckish sense of humor is unbowed. He speaks with
clarity and certainty of his years at Art Instruction School, and with
Schulz, and of his never-successful efforts to market his own original
material.
Jim remains philosophical about his life, and in fact composed
another of his verses to express such feelings
I’m all for equal measures
Losses should be matched by gain;
And since I’ve missed life’s pleasures,
I’ll just double up with pain!
Definitely too harsh, but then we’re always hardest on ourselves.
Jim Sasseville deserves far more than the obscurity into which he has
settled; for a time, he was allied with the man who would become the
world’s most successful cartoonist, and for a time he helped chaperone
the faithfully rendered adventures of Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Linus, Lucy
and the rest ... no small feat.
And I’m particularly transfixed by a remark Jim made during one of
our later phone calls "I don’t know how one should behave, in a
situation like this," he said, referring to our ongoing conversations,
"but it’s like I’ve been resurrected."
Perhaps this article will kick-start our long-overdue obligation to
sing his praises.
Breaking News
Just the FAQs, Ma'am
Ace Airlines Tours: Sites to Visit
Beethoven's Rhapsodies: The Music (and Musicians) of Peanuts
Shop Till You Drop
Just for Fun
By Derrick Bang
Legal Matters
All PEANUTS characters pictured are copyrighted by United Feature Syndicate, Inc. They are used here with permission. They may not be reproduced by any means in any form.
"He didn’t like his name being used on somebody else’s work," Jim
recalls, "and I don’t blame him for that."
That, coupled with moribund sales and some tension with the head
UFS salesman to whom Schulz initially had pitched the idea, eventually
prompted an astonishing decision In late 1958, just 12 months into a
solid five-year contract, Schulz made it plain to UFS that he wished to
discontinue "It’s Only a Game." Perhaps recognizing that the strip
wasn’t performing as hoped, UFS agreed.
Schulz did not consult Jim before taking this step; indeed, the
news came as a complete shock to Schulz’s ghost, who’d been very happy
with his work, and the strip, and the $250 per week.
Schulz even tried to sugar-coat the news "You’re off the hook,"
Jim recalls his employer saying (as if this were a GOOD thing), at the
end of that euphoric day when they finished work on the second
all-Peanuts issue of Dell’s Four Color Comics. Jim had just assured
Sparky that his pending move to Berkeley would not affect his ability to
work on "It’s Only a Game," and now the rug had been pulled out from
under him.
The fallout was immediate; it certainly was the final straw for
Helga, who already had been dissatisfied with their home in Sebastopol
-- hence the move to Berkeley -- and also was unhappy about the friction
that existed between her and Joyce, Schulz’s first wife. Helga had
endured Nazi Germany, survived the entire war -- in and out of work
camps -- and had lost her father at Dachau; she was not a woman to keep
opinions to herself.
"I realized I was working on a flawed product, which the creator
and marketer wanted nothing more to do with. Still, I had held out the
hope that maybe Sparky might offer the entire feature to me, although I
realized that there’d be problems with the syndicate," Jim admits, a
touch of wistfulness still clouding the memory after more than 40 years.
"They should have been pretty familiar with my work by then."
It didn’t happen. By the time the final installment of "It’s Only a
Game" appeared, on January 11, 1959 -- the two always had worked six
weeks ahead -- Jim and Schulz had severed all relations, professional
and personal. This also included Jim’s ghosting work on the Dell comic
books. The split was permanent, and the two men never reconciled.
Although "It’s Only a Game" ran for 63 consecutive weeks, it
quickly became a fading memory -- and then an overlooked footnote -- in
Schulz’s career. He rarely mentioned it during later interviews, and
then only obliquely, citing neither date specifics nor his collaboration
with Jim.
"We were the best of friends at first," Jim recalls ruefully. He
happily remembers attending the 1951 National Cartoonists Convention
with Sparky, and also another time when they both went to visit and swap
stories with a fellow artist, Robert M. Brinkerhoff, who lived in
Minneapolis and was known for a newspaper strip called "Little Mary
Mix-Up." Brinkerhoff, in turn -- like many other cartoonists at that
time -- greatly admired J.R. Williams (creator of "Out Our Way"), whom
he once described as "the greatest cowboy ever to walk the streets of
New York." Brinkerhoff related how he had wheedled, begged and finally
finagled an invitation to Williams’ ranch in Montana. Although only
interested in seeing the fabulous studio that he assumed his idol must
have on so massive a spread, Brinkerhoff first had to put up with being
shown all the livestock and the other attractions of a working ranch. As
the visit stretched on, Brinkerhoff finally couldn’t stand it any longer
and demanded to see where Williams did his work.
With a resigned sigh (as Jim recalls Brinkerhoff describing this
incident), Williams walked over to his wife’s sewing machine, took off
the cover, and flipped it over ... and that was it The great J.R.
Williams did all his drawing on the cover of his wife’s sewing machine.
As others have observed, there’s never any reason to embrace
technology or an environment any fancier than that required to get the
job done.
Cartoonists love to talk shop, and Jim’s no different; merely
relating this little tale brings a sparkle into his eyes. And, to this
day, he doesn’t really understand what happened between him and Schulz.
"I feel kind of weird about all this. Sparky obviously wanted me to
succeed in the early days, and even was willing to collaborate with me
on one of my own projects (one of the many variations of "Joe Cipher,"
discussed below). But then when he had a chance to really help me out,
he didn’t make any effort whatsoever ... and left me in rather dire
straits."
Such feelings notwithstanding, all these years later Jim is firm on
one point "Charles M. Schulz was the greatest comic strip artist ever."
And although he certainly couldn’t have known it at the time, Jim
never again would earn his living as a cartoonist.
Before, during and after his working association with Schulz, Jim
played around with many of his own ideas.
If persistence counts for anything, he deserves considerable credit
for his ongoing efforts to sell "Joe Cipher" ("a character kinda based
on me"), a daily strip that underwent quite a few transmutations during
the decade-plus that he tried to place it with a syndicate.
The character first appeared in a sample series of daily strips Jim
produced in late 1949. The strip’s gentle humor is faintly reminiscent
of "Gasoline Alley" and other character-driven work of the era; the
title character is introduced driving an old jalopy that obligingly runs
out of gas at a filling station. The silver-tongued Joe, lacking any
money, eventually impresses the station owner into offering him a job;
Joe celebrates by stepping into a nearby diner for lunch, where he’s
immediately smitten by the young woman behind the counter, and...
...and that’s where the presentation panels concluded.
Perhaps feeling that the strip lacked dramatic impact, a few years
later -- while still at AIS -- Jim tried again, shifting the action to a
tiny island in the middle of the ocean, where the shipwrecked Joe is
joined by an attractive young woman named Ginny, survivor of a second
sea-going calamity. (What are the odds?) Although their relationship is
mildly prickly for the first few days, Ginny eventually wishes aloud
that they could be rescued, so that she can go on a "proper date" with
Joe, and perhaps even kiss him when the evening concludes. Once again,
the story cut off abruptly, as Jim produced just two weeks’ worth of
strips enough to (hopefully) interest a buyer.
Sasseville tried several times to place a comic strip starring Joe Cipher, the pleasant-looking chap
featured in these examples. The two left-most strips are taken from the first run Sasseville designed on his own;
the two right-most strips, starring the same character but
in a different setting, are from Sasseville's third
test run; Charles Schulz contributed story input on these.
(Click on the image to see an enlarged version.)
After getting back from his return hitch in the Navy, Jim
went back to work on Joe Cipher and got a nibble from an
unexpected quarter: Something about this particular setting
touched Schulz, who suggested they collaborate on yet
a third incarnation of "Joe Cipher." (At the time, both men still were
unmarried, and it’s not hard to see a little male fantasy
wish-fulfillment at work.) With narrative input from Schulz and Jim
handling the art chores, the scene shifted again, this time to a
typically romantic South Seas setting, on an island large enough to
support a population of curvaceous young cuties and at least one
villain. Joe and Ginny remained the central focus, but this time the
former saw genuine action, on the receiving end of the villain’s fists.
Schulz and Jim took this newest version of "Joe Cipher" to United
Features Syndicate in spring of 1954; it was turned down flat. The
trip to New York wasn't a complete waste, though, because Sasseville
and Schulz caught a couple of plays: a T.S. Elliot drama called
Confidential Clerk, and another called The King of
Hearts, which starred Jackie Cooper as (what are the odds?)
a cartoonist!
Sasseville also remembers going from suite to suite in New
York's Waldorf hotel during this trip, visiting one cartoonist
after another; meeting Al Capp was a high point. But at least
part of the reason for the trip -- the newest Joe Cipher -- proved
unsellable, and Schulz bowed out at that point.
When Jim finally returned to "Joe Cipher," the 1950s were almost
over. Jim’s association with "Peanuts" and "It’s Only a Game" had
concluded, so the writer/artist returned to his favorite unsold
property. Jim recast his hero in yet another new setting, this time a
business office populated by characters clearly derived from his days at
Art Instruction. Although the sample panels display even cleaner, more
attractive line work -- a sure sign of his growing comfort as an artist
-- Jim had no better luck this time around.
Still refusing to abandon hope, Jim tried one more time In early
1960, after having moved to Berkeley, he once again changed the setting
completely, and turned Joe Cipher into "Sir Joe." This Arthurian-based
concept focused on genuinely whimsical gags involving heavy armor,
maidens in distress, and fire-breathing dragons. Jim’s dragons are
particularly funny, and this newest reboot seems ripe with
possibilities; it’s not at all hard to envision a daily strip evolving
from these samples.
Alas, syndicates once again failed to see any potential, and "Joe
Cipher" was put into Jim’s trunk as no more than another engaging
footnote in the artist’s collection of rejection slips.
Jim didn’t confine his efforts to "Joe Cipher"; the writer/artist
had no shortage of ideas, quite a few of which also wound up as
submission concepts. "Aunty Climax," produced in early 1957 -- just
prior to Jim’s ghost work for Dell comics -- was a single-panel gag
strip that starred a feisty little old lady who was far sharper than
most people assumed. She was based on Louise Cassidy, an AIS colleague
who also was the landlady for the building where Jim briefly lived with
Charles Cuddy. Jim produced a few dozen "Aunty Climax" panels, all of
which are vastly superior -- both in terms of writing and artwork -- to
many of the single-panel cartoons cluttering today’s newspapers.
"Confessions of a French Poodle" was a 1959 concept that didn’t
emerge much further than a few finished panels and lots of pencil
sketches; Jim good-naturedly admits that the idea went nowhere, and so
he abandoned it. That may have been shrewd market analysis, as the
medium never has lacked for dog-oriented material. Even so, French
poodles are funny in their own right, and Jim’s concept sketches are a
hoot.
When not working on Peanuts-related material, Sasseville tried to sell many of his own strip ideas
to a syndicate. From left to right, these examples are "Aunty Climax," "Friends and Foes," "Alpha-Betty" and "Happy Birthday."
(Click on the image to see an enlarged version.)
"Friends and Foes," another single-panel tryout, also emerged from
Jim’s pen in 1959. A little later, shortly after he started putting food
on the table with a "real job" -- and perhaps motivated by the explosion
of children’s television shows, which eventually led to "Sesame Street"
and everything that followed -- Jim tried a kid-oriented educational
strip called "Alpha-Betty," which starred a little girl who finds
herself in an other-worldly land populated by men and women shaped like
letters of the alphabet. The personalities of these individuals were
defined by their appearance; curved female letters, for example, were
far more sultry that straight female letters. The strip has a lovely
"Alice in Wonderland" quality, although the concept may have seemed
limiting.
Jim later played with the medium in "Blackboard," a daily strip
designed to be white-on-black, to imitate chalk on a classroom
blackboard. The stars were Dick, Jane and their TeacheR; although not as
overly educational as "Alpha-Betty," this strip also was aimed at young
audiences.
Jim’s final attempt at syndication was produced in the early 1970s,
after he first went into research hibernation, jotting down enough
celebrity birthdays to fill every day of a calendar year. The resulting
single-panel strips were a precursor to the "On this day in history..."
informational nuggets that have become so ubiquitous The panel for
March 28, for example, illustrated and revealed a few choice facts about
orchestra leader Paul Whiteman. March 29 was devoted to President John
Tyler, while Francisco Goya was featured on March 30.
Sadly, this fared no better with syndicators than any of the
others. "Joe Cipher," "Aunty Climax," "Confessions of a French Poodle,"
"Friends and Foes," "Alpha-Betty," "Blackboard" and "Birthdays" exist only
in Jim’s carefully preserved office files. More’s the pity, because even
the weakest of these strips displays a Puckish wit and clean, attractive
line work too often absent from many of the rushed, imitative strips
that generate little more than reader apathy these days.
Following the dust-up with Schulz and the move to Berkeley, Helga
-- who was delighted by the more rarefied atmosphere of a university
community -- became the family bread-winner. She took a job with a
German importer/exporter and commuted daily across the Bay Bridge.
Eventually succumbing to the need for steady employment, in April
1960 Jim took a job as a graphic designer with Varian, one of the
leading radar companies, located in California’s greater San Francisco
Bay Area. The fit proved comfortable, and he remained with the company
until he retired in 1990.
But the career shift wasn’t immediate; Jim first spent most of 1959
working up his own aforementioned comic strip proposals, and
occasionally sold individual gag cartoons to magazines. But his New
York-based agent took 35% of those one-shots.
"That’s when I started with Varian," Jim recalls, with a chuckle.
"I knew I’d never make it as a gag cartoonist."
Be that as it may, Jim never stopped his cartooning efforts; while
at Varian, he became famous for the birthday cards that he drew for
fellow employees.
Helga, meanwhile, got a job at Stanford, which prompted another
move; the couple then purchased their first home in 1960, in Mountain
View.
Three years later, they moved for what would be the last time. Jim
and his wife paid $28,000 for the house that remains his home to this
day. Just last year the retired artist was offered a cool million bucks
-- in cash -- by a dot-commer who wanted to develop the property. Still
loyal to the memories of his wife, with which the house is filled, Jim
politely declined. Helga died in 1995; he clearly still misses her.
Today, Parkinson’s Disease and the recent stroke have conspired to
deliver the ultimate nightmare Jim no longer can hold a pen well enough
to draw. ("I always marveled at Sparky’s ability to incorporate his
shaking hand into his line work.") But his mind and memory remain
acutely sharp, and his Puckish sense of humor is unbowed. He speaks with
clarity and certainty of his years at Art Instruction School, and with
Schulz, and of his never-successful efforts to market his own original
material.
Jim remains philosophical about his life, and in fact composed
another of his verses to express such feelings
I’m all for equal measures
Losses should be matched by gain;
And since I’ve missed life’s pleasures,
I’ll just double up with pain!
Definitely too harsh, but then we’re always hardest on ourselves.
Jim Sasseville deserves far more than the obscurity into which he has
settled; for a time, he was allied with the man who would become the
world’s most successful cartoonist, and for a time he helped chaperone
the faithfully rendered adventures of Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Linus, Lucy
and the rest ... no small feat.
And I’m particularly transfixed by a remark Jim made during one of
our later phone calls "I don’t know how one should behave, in a
situation like this," he said, referring to our ongoing conversations,
"but it’s like I’ve been resurrected."
Perhaps this article will kick-start our long-overdue obligation to
sing his praises.
Breaking News
Just the FAQs, Ma'am
Ace Airlines Tours: Sites to Visit
Beethoven's Rhapsodies: The Music (and Musicians) of Peanuts
Shop Till You Drop
Just for Fun
By Derrick Bang
Legal Matters
All PEANUTS characters pictured are copyrighted by United Feature Syndicate, Inc. They are used here with permission. They may not be reproduced by any means in any form.
Schulz did not consult Jim before taking this step; indeed, the
news came as a complete shock to Schulz’s ghost, who’d been very happy
with his work, and the strip, and the $250 per week.
Schulz even tried to sugar-coat the news "You’re off the hook,"
Jim recalls his employer saying (as if this were a GOOD thing), at the
end of that euphoric day when they finished work on the second
all-Peanuts issue of Dell’s Four Color Comics. Jim had just assured
Sparky that his pending move to Berkeley would not affect his ability to
work on "It’s Only a Game," and now the rug had been pulled out from
under him.
The fallout was immediate; it certainly was the final straw for
Helga, who already had been dissatisfied with their home in Sebastopol
-- hence the move to Berkeley -- and also was unhappy about the friction
that existed between her and Joyce, Schulz’s first wife. Helga had
endured Nazi Germany, survived the entire war -- in and out of work
camps -- and had lost her father at Dachau; she was not a woman to keep
opinions to herself.
"I realized I was working on a flawed product, which the creator
and marketer wanted nothing more to do with. Still, I had held out the
hope that maybe Sparky might offer the entire feature to me, although I
realized that there’d be problems with the syndicate," Jim admits, a
touch of wistfulness still clouding the memory after more than 40 years.
"They should have been pretty familiar with my work by then."
It didn’t happen. By the time the final installment of "It’s Only a
Game" appeared, on January 11, 1959 -- the two always had worked six
weeks ahead -- Jim and Schulz had severed all relations, professional
and personal. This also included Jim’s ghosting work on the Dell comic
books. The split was permanent, and the two men never reconciled.
Although "It’s Only a Game" ran for 63 consecutive weeks, it
quickly became a fading memory -- and then an overlooked footnote -- in
Schulz’s career. He rarely mentioned it during later interviews, and
then only obliquely, citing neither date specifics nor his collaboration
with Jim.
"We were the best of friends at first," Jim recalls ruefully. He
happily remembers attending the 1951 National Cartoonists Convention
with Sparky, and also another time when they both went to visit and swap
stories with a fellow artist, Robert M. Brinkerhoff, who lived in
Minneapolis and was known for a newspaper strip called "Little Mary
Mix-Up." Brinkerhoff, in turn -- like many other cartoonists at that
time -- greatly admired J.R. Williams (creator of "Out Our Way"), whom
he once described as "the greatest cowboy ever to walk the streets of
New York." Brinkerhoff related how he had wheedled, begged and finally
finagled an invitation to Williams’ ranch in Montana. Although only
interested in seeing the fabulous studio that he assumed his idol must
have on so massive a spread, Brinkerhoff first had to put up with being
shown all the livestock and the other attractions of a working ranch. As
the visit stretched on, Brinkerhoff finally couldn’t stand it any longer
and demanded to see where Williams did his work.
With a resigned sigh (as Jim recalls Brinkerhoff describing this
incident), Williams walked over to his wife’s sewing machine, took off
the cover, and flipped it over ... and that was it The great J.R.
Williams did all his drawing on the cover of his wife’s sewing machine.
As others have observed, there’s never any reason to embrace
technology or an environment any fancier than that required to get the
job done.
Cartoonists love to talk shop, and Jim’s no different; merely
relating this little tale brings a sparkle into his eyes. And, to this
day, he doesn’t really understand what happened between him and Schulz.
"I feel kind of weird about all this. Sparky obviously wanted me to
succeed in the early days, and even was willing to collaborate with me
on one of my own projects (one of the many variations of "Joe Cipher,"
discussed below). But then when he had a chance to really help me out,
he didn’t make any effort whatsoever ... and left me in rather dire
straits."
Such feelings notwithstanding, all these years later Jim is firm on
one point "Charles M. Schulz was the greatest comic strip artist ever."
And although he certainly couldn’t have known it at the time, Jim
never again would earn his living as a cartoonist.
Before, during and after his working association with Schulz, Jim
played around with many of his own ideas.
If persistence counts for anything, he deserves considerable credit
for his ongoing efforts to sell "Joe Cipher" ("a character kinda based
on me"), a daily strip that underwent quite a few transmutations during
the decade-plus that he tried to place it with a syndicate.
The character first appeared in a sample series of daily strips Jim
produced in late 1949. The strip’s gentle humor is faintly reminiscent
of "Gasoline Alley" and other character-driven work of the era; the
title character is introduced driving an old jalopy that obligingly runs
out of gas at a filling station. The silver-tongued Joe, lacking any
money, eventually impresses the station owner into offering him a job;
Joe celebrates by stepping into a nearby diner for lunch, where he’s
immediately smitten by the young woman behind the counter, and...
...and that’s where the presentation panels concluded.
Perhaps feeling that the strip lacked dramatic impact, a few years
later -- while still at AIS -- Jim tried again, shifting the action to a
tiny island in the middle of the ocean, where the shipwrecked Joe is
joined by an attractive young woman named Ginny, survivor of a second
sea-going calamity. (What are the odds?) Although their relationship is
mildly prickly for the first few days, Ginny eventually wishes aloud
that they could be rescued, so that she can go on a "proper date" with
Joe, and perhaps even kiss him when the evening concludes. Once again,
the story cut off abruptly, as Jim produced just two weeks’ worth of
strips enough to (hopefully) interest a buyer.
Sasseville tried several times to place a comic strip starring Joe Cipher, the pleasant-looking chap
featured in these examples. The two left-most strips are taken from the first run Sasseville designed on his own;
the two right-most strips, starring the same character but
in a different setting, are from Sasseville's third
test run; Charles Schulz contributed story input on these.
(Click on the image to see an enlarged version.)
After getting back from his return hitch in the Navy, Jim
went back to work on Joe Cipher and got a nibble from an
unexpected quarter: Something about this particular setting
touched Schulz, who suggested they collaborate on yet
a third incarnation of "Joe Cipher." (At the time, both men still were
unmarried, and it’s not hard to see a little male fantasy
wish-fulfillment at work.) With narrative input from Schulz and Jim
handling the art chores, the scene shifted again, this time to a
typically romantic South Seas setting, on an island large enough to
support a population of curvaceous young cuties and at least one
villain. Joe and Ginny remained the central focus, but this time the
former saw genuine action, on the receiving end of the villain’s fists.
Schulz and Jim took this newest version of "Joe Cipher" to United
Features Syndicate in spring of 1954; it was turned down flat. The
trip to New York wasn't a complete waste, though, because Sasseville
and Schulz caught a couple of plays: a T.S. Elliot drama called
Confidential Clerk, and another called The King of
Hearts, which starred Jackie Cooper as (what are the odds?)
a cartoonist!
Sasseville also remembers going from suite to suite in New
York's Waldorf hotel during this trip, visiting one cartoonist
after another; meeting Al Capp was a high point. But at least
part of the reason for the trip -- the newest Joe Cipher -- proved
unsellable, and Schulz bowed out at that point.
When Jim finally returned to "Joe Cipher," the 1950s were almost
over. Jim’s association with "Peanuts" and "It’s Only a Game" had
concluded, so the writer/artist returned to his favorite unsold
property. Jim recast his hero in yet another new setting, this time a
business office populated by characters clearly derived from his days at
Art Instruction. Although the sample panels display even cleaner, more
attractive line work -- a sure sign of his growing comfort as an artist
-- Jim had no better luck this time around.
Still refusing to abandon hope, Jim tried one more time In early
1960, after having moved to Berkeley, he once again changed the setting
completely, and turned Joe Cipher into "Sir Joe." This Arthurian-based
concept focused on genuinely whimsical gags involving heavy armor,
maidens in distress, and fire-breathing dragons. Jim’s dragons are
particularly funny, and this newest reboot seems ripe with
possibilities; it’s not at all hard to envision a daily strip evolving
from these samples.
Alas, syndicates once again failed to see any potential, and "Joe
Cipher" was put into Jim’s trunk as no more than another engaging
footnote in the artist’s collection of rejection slips.
Jim didn’t confine his efforts to "Joe Cipher"; the writer/artist
had no shortage of ideas, quite a few of which also wound up as
submission concepts. "Aunty Climax," produced in early 1957 -- just
prior to Jim’s ghost work for Dell comics -- was a single-panel gag
strip that starred a feisty little old lady who was far sharper than
most people assumed. She was based on Louise Cassidy, an AIS colleague
who also was the landlady for the building where Jim briefly lived with
Charles Cuddy. Jim produced a few dozen "Aunty Climax" panels, all of
which are vastly superior -- both in terms of writing and artwork -- to
many of the single-panel cartoons cluttering today’s newspapers.
"Confessions of a French Poodle" was a 1959 concept that didn’t
emerge much further than a few finished panels and lots of pencil
sketches; Jim good-naturedly admits that the idea went nowhere, and so
he abandoned it. That may have been shrewd market analysis, as the
medium never has lacked for dog-oriented material. Even so, French
poodles are funny in their own right, and Jim’s concept sketches are a
hoot.
When not working on Peanuts-related material, Sasseville tried to sell many of his own strip ideas
to a syndicate. From left to right, these examples are "Aunty Climax," "Friends and Foes," "Alpha-Betty" and "Happy Birthday."
(Click on the image to see an enlarged version.)
"Friends and Foes," another single-panel tryout, also emerged from
Jim’s pen in 1959. A little later, shortly after he started putting food
on the table with a "real job" -- and perhaps motivated by the explosion
of children’s television shows, which eventually led to "Sesame Street"
and everything that followed -- Jim tried a kid-oriented educational
strip called "Alpha-Betty," which starred a little girl who finds
herself in an other-worldly land populated by men and women shaped like
letters of the alphabet. The personalities of these individuals were
defined by their appearance; curved female letters, for example, were
far more sultry that straight female letters. The strip has a lovely
"Alice in Wonderland" quality, although the concept may have seemed
limiting.
Jim later played with the medium in "Blackboard," a daily strip
designed to be white-on-black, to imitate chalk on a classroom
blackboard. The stars were Dick, Jane and their TeacheR; although not as
overly educational as "Alpha-Betty," this strip also was aimed at young
audiences.
Jim’s final attempt at syndication was produced in the early 1970s,
after he first went into research hibernation, jotting down enough
celebrity birthdays to fill every day of a calendar year. The resulting
single-panel strips were a precursor to the "On this day in history..."
informational nuggets that have become so ubiquitous The panel for
March 28, for example, illustrated and revealed a few choice facts about
orchestra leader Paul Whiteman. March 29 was devoted to President John
Tyler, while Francisco Goya was featured on March 30.
Sadly, this fared no better with syndicators than any of the
others. "Joe Cipher," "Aunty Climax," "Confessions of a French Poodle,"
"Friends and Foes," "Alpha-Betty," "Blackboard" and "Birthdays" exist only
in Jim’s carefully preserved office files. More’s the pity, because even
the weakest of these strips displays a Puckish wit and clean, attractive
line work too often absent from many of the rushed, imitative strips
that generate little more than reader apathy these days.
Following the dust-up with Schulz and the move to Berkeley, Helga
-- who was delighted by the more rarefied atmosphere of a university
community -- became the family bread-winner. She took a job with a
German importer/exporter and commuted daily across the Bay Bridge.
Eventually succumbing to the need for steady employment, in April
1960 Jim took a job as a graphic designer with Varian, one of the
leading radar companies, located in California’s greater San Francisco
Bay Area. The fit proved comfortable, and he remained with the company
until he retired in 1990.
But the career shift wasn’t immediate; Jim first spent most of 1959
working up his own aforementioned comic strip proposals, and
occasionally sold individual gag cartoons to magazines. But his New
York-based agent took 35% of those one-shots.
"That’s when I started with Varian," Jim recalls, with a chuckle.
"I knew I’d never make it as a gag cartoonist."
Be that as it may, Jim never stopped his cartooning efforts; while
at Varian, he became famous for the birthday cards that he drew for
fellow employees.
Helga, meanwhile, got a job at Stanford, which prompted another
move; the couple then purchased their first home in 1960, in Mountain
View.
Three years later, they moved for what would be the last time. Jim
and his wife paid $28,000 for the house that remains his home to this
day. Just last year the retired artist was offered a cool million bucks
-- in cash -- by a dot-commer who wanted to develop the property. Still
loyal to the memories of his wife, with which the house is filled, Jim
politely declined. Helga died in 1995; he clearly still misses her.
Today, Parkinson’s Disease and the recent stroke have conspired to
deliver the ultimate nightmare Jim no longer can hold a pen well enough
to draw. ("I always marveled at Sparky’s ability to incorporate his
shaking hand into his line work.") But his mind and memory remain
acutely sharp, and his Puckish sense of humor is unbowed. He speaks with
clarity and certainty of his years at Art Instruction School, and with
Schulz, and of his never-successful efforts to market his own original
material.
Jim remains philosophical about his life, and in fact composed
another of his verses to express such feelings
I’m all for equal measures
Losses should be matched by gain;
And since I’ve missed life’s pleasures,
I’ll just double up with pain!
Definitely too harsh, but then we’re always hardest on ourselves.
Jim Sasseville deserves far more than the obscurity into which he has
settled; for a time, he was allied with the man who would become the
world’s most successful cartoonist, and for a time he helped chaperone
the faithfully rendered adventures of Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Linus, Lucy
and the rest ... no small feat.
And I’m particularly transfixed by a remark Jim made during one of
our later phone calls "I don’t know how one should behave, in a
situation like this," he said, referring to our ongoing conversations,
"but it’s like I’ve been resurrected."
Perhaps this article will kick-start our long-overdue obligation to
sing his praises.
Breaking News
Just the FAQs, Ma'am
Ace Airlines Tours: Sites to Visit
Beethoven's Rhapsodies: The Music (and Musicians) of Peanuts
Shop Till You Drop
Just for Fun
By Derrick Bang
Legal Matters
All PEANUTS characters pictured are copyrighted by United Feature Syndicate, Inc. They are used here with permission. They may not be reproduced by any means in any form.
The fallout was immediate; it certainly was the final straw for
Helga, who already had been dissatisfied with their home in Sebastopol
-- hence the move to Berkeley -- and also was unhappy about the friction
that existed between her and Joyce, Schulz’s first wife. Helga had
endured Nazi Germany, survived the entire war -- in and out of work
camps -- and had lost her father at Dachau; she was not a woman to keep
opinions to herself.
"I realized I was working on a flawed product, which the creator
and marketer wanted nothing more to do with. Still, I had held out the
hope that maybe Sparky might offer the entire feature to me, although I
realized that there’d be problems with the syndicate," Jim admits, a
touch of wistfulness still clouding the memory after more than 40 years.
"They should have been pretty familiar with my work by then."
It didn’t happen. By the time the final installment of "It’s Only a
Game" appeared, on January 11, 1959 -- the two always had worked six
weeks ahead -- Jim and Schulz had severed all relations, professional
and personal. This also included Jim’s ghosting work on the Dell comic
books. The split was permanent, and the two men never reconciled.
Although "It’s Only a Game" ran for 63 consecutive weeks, it
quickly became a fading memory -- and then an overlooked footnote -- in
Schulz’s career. He rarely mentioned it during later interviews, and
then only obliquely, citing neither date specifics nor his collaboration
with Jim.
"We were the best of friends at first," Jim recalls ruefully. He
happily remembers attending the 1951 National Cartoonists Convention
with Sparky, and also another time when they both went to visit and swap
stories with a fellow artist, Robert M. Brinkerhoff, who lived in
Minneapolis and was known for a newspaper strip called "Little Mary
Mix-Up." Brinkerhoff, in turn -- like many other cartoonists at that
time -- greatly admired J.R. Williams (creator of "Out Our Way"), whom
he once described as "the greatest cowboy ever to walk the streets of
New York." Brinkerhoff related how he had wheedled, begged and finally
finagled an invitation to Williams’ ranch in Montana. Although only
interested in seeing the fabulous studio that he assumed his idol must
have on so massive a spread, Brinkerhoff first had to put up with being
shown all the livestock and the other attractions of a working ranch. As
the visit stretched on, Brinkerhoff finally couldn’t stand it any longer
and demanded to see where Williams did his work.
With a resigned sigh (as Jim recalls Brinkerhoff describing this
incident), Williams walked over to his wife’s sewing machine, took off
the cover, and flipped it over ... and that was it The great J.R.
Williams did all his drawing on the cover of his wife’s sewing machine.
As others have observed, there’s never any reason to embrace
technology or an environment any fancier than that required to get the
job done.
Cartoonists love to talk shop, and Jim’s no different; merely
relating this little tale brings a sparkle into his eyes. And, to this
day, he doesn’t really understand what happened between him and Schulz.
"I feel kind of weird about all this. Sparky obviously wanted me to
succeed in the early days, and even was willing to collaborate with me
on one of my own projects (one of the many variations of "Joe Cipher,"
discussed below). But then when he had a chance to really help me out,
he didn’t make any effort whatsoever ... and left me in rather dire
straits."
Such feelings notwithstanding, all these years later Jim is firm on
one point "Charles M. Schulz was the greatest comic strip artist ever."
And although he certainly couldn’t have known it at the time, Jim
never again would earn his living as a cartoonist.
Before, during and after his working association with Schulz, Jim
played around with many of his own ideas.
If persistence counts for anything, he deserves considerable credit
for his ongoing efforts to sell "Joe Cipher" ("a character kinda based
on me"), a daily strip that underwent quite a few transmutations during
the decade-plus that he tried to place it with a syndicate.
The character first appeared in a sample series of daily strips Jim
produced in late 1949. The strip’s gentle humor is faintly reminiscent
of "Gasoline Alley" and other character-driven work of the era; the
title character is introduced driving an old jalopy that obligingly runs
out of gas at a filling station. The silver-tongued Joe, lacking any
money, eventually impresses the station owner into offering him a job;
Joe celebrates by stepping into a nearby diner for lunch, where he’s
immediately smitten by the young woman behind the counter, and...
...and that’s where the presentation panels concluded.
Perhaps feeling that the strip lacked dramatic impact, a few years
later -- while still at AIS -- Jim tried again, shifting the action to a
tiny island in the middle of the ocean, where the shipwrecked Joe is
joined by an attractive young woman named Ginny, survivor of a second
sea-going calamity. (What are the odds?) Although their relationship is
mildly prickly for the first few days, Ginny eventually wishes aloud
that they could be rescued, so that she can go on a "proper date" with
Joe, and perhaps even kiss him when the evening concludes. Once again,
the story cut off abruptly, as Jim produced just two weeks’ worth of
strips enough to (hopefully) interest a buyer.
Sasseville tried several times to place a comic strip starring Joe Cipher, the pleasant-looking chap
featured in these examples. The two left-most strips are taken from the first run Sasseville designed on his own;
the two right-most strips, starring the same character but
in a different setting, are from Sasseville's third
test run; Charles Schulz contributed story input on these.
(Click on the image to see an enlarged version.)
After getting back from his return hitch in the Navy, Jim
went back to work on Joe Cipher and got a nibble from an
unexpected quarter: Something about this particular setting
touched Schulz, who suggested they collaborate on yet
a third incarnation of "Joe Cipher." (At the time, both men still were
unmarried, and it’s not hard to see a little male fantasy
wish-fulfillment at work.) With narrative input from Schulz and Jim
handling the art chores, the scene shifted again, this time to a
typically romantic South Seas setting, on an island large enough to
support a population of curvaceous young cuties and at least one
villain. Joe and Ginny remained the central focus, but this time the
former saw genuine action, on the receiving end of the villain’s fists.
Schulz and Jim took this newest version of "Joe Cipher" to United
Features Syndicate in spring of 1954; it was turned down flat. The
trip to New York wasn't a complete waste, though, because Sasseville
and Schulz caught a couple of plays: a T.S. Elliot drama called
Confidential Clerk, and another called The King of
Hearts, which starred Jackie Cooper as (what are the odds?)
a cartoonist!
Sasseville also remembers going from suite to suite in New
York's Waldorf hotel during this trip, visiting one cartoonist
after another; meeting Al Capp was a high point. But at least
part of the reason for the trip -- the newest Joe Cipher -- proved
unsellable, and Schulz bowed out at that point.
When Jim finally returned to "Joe Cipher," the 1950s were almost
over. Jim’s association with "Peanuts" and "It’s Only a Game" had
concluded, so the writer/artist returned to his favorite unsold
property. Jim recast his hero in yet another new setting, this time a
business office populated by characters clearly derived from his days at
Art Instruction. Although the sample panels display even cleaner, more
attractive line work -- a sure sign of his growing comfort as an artist
-- Jim had no better luck this time around.
Still refusing to abandon hope, Jim tried one more time In early
1960, after having moved to Berkeley, he once again changed the setting
completely, and turned Joe Cipher into "Sir Joe." This Arthurian-based
concept focused on genuinely whimsical gags involving heavy armor,
maidens in distress, and fire-breathing dragons. Jim’s dragons are
particularly funny, and this newest reboot seems ripe with
possibilities; it’s not at all hard to envision a daily strip evolving
from these samples.
Alas, syndicates once again failed to see any potential, and "Joe
Cipher" was put into Jim’s trunk as no more than another engaging
footnote in the artist’s collection of rejection slips.
Jim didn’t confine his efforts to "Joe Cipher"; the writer/artist
had no shortage of ideas, quite a few of which also wound up as
submission concepts. "Aunty Climax," produced in early 1957 -- just
prior to Jim’s ghost work for Dell comics -- was a single-panel gag
strip that starred a feisty little old lady who was far sharper than
most people assumed. She was based on Louise Cassidy, an AIS colleague
who also was the landlady for the building where Jim briefly lived with
Charles Cuddy. Jim produced a few dozen "Aunty Climax" panels, all of
which are vastly superior -- both in terms of writing and artwork -- to
many of the single-panel cartoons cluttering today’s newspapers.
"Confessions of a French Poodle" was a 1959 concept that didn’t
emerge much further than a few finished panels and lots of pencil
sketches; Jim good-naturedly admits that the idea went nowhere, and so
he abandoned it. That may have been shrewd market analysis, as the
medium never has lacked for dog-oriented material. Even so, French
poodles are funny in their own right, and Jim’s concept sketches are a
hoot.
When not working on Peanuts-related material, Sasseville tried to sell many of his own strip ideas
to a syndicate. From left to right, these examples are "Aunty Climax," "Friends and Foes," "Alpha-Betty" and "Happy Birthday."
(Click on the image to see an enlarged version.)
"Friends and Foes," another single-panel tryout, also emerged from
Jim’s pen in 1959. A little later, shortly after he started putting food
on the table with a "real job" -- and perhaps motivated by the explosion
of children’s television shows, which eventually led to "Sesame Street"
and everything that followed -- Jim tried a kid-oriented educational
strip called "Alpha-Betty," which starred a little girl who finds
herself in an other-worldly land populated by men and women shaped like
letters of the alphabet. The personalities of these individuals were
defined by their appearance; curved female letters, for example, were
far more sultry that straight female letters. The strip has a lovely
"Alice in Wonderland" quality, although the concept may have seemed
limiting.
Jim later played with the medium in "Blackboard," a daily strip
designed to be white-on-black, to imitate chalk on a classroom
blackboard. The stars were Dick, Jane and their TeacheR; although not as
overly educational as "Alpha-Betty," this strip also was aimed at young
audiences.
Jim’s final attempt at syndication was produced in the early 1970s,
after he first went into research hibernation, jotting down enough
celebrity birthdays to fill every day of a calendar year. The resulting
single-panel strips were a precursor to the "On this day in history..."
informational nuggets that have become so ubiquitous The panel for
March 28, for example, illustrated and revealed a few choice facts about
orchestra leader Paul Whiteman. March 29 was devoted to President John
Tyler, while Francisco Goya was featured on March 30.
Sadly, this fared no better with syndicators than any of the
others. "Joe Cipher," "Aunty Climax," "Confessions of a French Poodle,"
"Friends and Foes," "Alpha-Betty," "Blackboard" and "Birthdays" exist only
in Jim’s carefully preserved office files. More’s the pity, because even
the weakest of these strips displays a Puckish wit and clean, attractive
line work too often absent from many of the rushed, imitative strips
that generate little more than reader apathy these days.
Following the dust-up with Schulz and the move to Berkeley, Helga
-- who was delighted by the more rarefied atmosphere of a university
community -- became the family bread-winner. She took a job with a
German importer/exporter and commuted daily across the Bay Bridge.
Eventually succumbing to the need for steady employment, in April
1960 Jim took a job as a graphic designer with Varian, one of the
leading radar companies, located in California’s greater San Francisco
Bay Area. The fit proved comfortable, and he remained with the company
until he retired in 1990.
But the career shift wasn’t immediate; Jim first spent most of 1959
working up his own aforementioned comic strip proposals, and
occasionally sold individual gag cartoons to magazines. But his New
York-based agent took 35% of those one-shots.
"That’s when I started with Varian," Jim recalls, with a chuckle.
"I knew I’d never make it as a gag cartoonist."
Be that as it may, Jim never stopped his cartooning efforts; while
at Varian, he became famous for the birthday cards that he drew for
fellow employees.
Helga, meanwhile, got a job at Stanford, which prompted another
move; the couple then purchased their first home in 1960, in Mountain
View.
Three years later, they moved for what would be the last time. Jim
and his wife paid $28,000 for the house that remains his home to this
day. Just last year the retired artist was offered a cool million bucks
-- in cash -- by a dot-commer who wanted to develop the property. Still
loyal to the memories of his wife, with which the house is filled, Jim
politely declined. Helga died in 1995; he clearly still misses her.
Today, Parkinson’s Disease and the recent stroke have conspired to
deliver the ultimate nightmare Jim no longer can hold a pen well enough
to draw. ("I always marveled at Sparky’s ability to incorporate his
shaking hand into his line work.") But his mind and memory remain
acutely sharp, and his Puckish sense of humor is unbowed. He speaks with
clarity and certainty of his years at Art Instruction School, and with
Schulz, and of his never-successful efforts to market his own original
material.
Jim remains philosophical about his life, and in fact composed
another of his verses to express such feelings
I’m all for equal measures
Losses should be matched by gain;
And since I’ve missed life’s pleasures,
I’ll just double up with pain!
Definitely too harsh, but then we’re always hardest on ourselves.
Jim Sasseville deserves far more than the obscurity into which he has
settled; for a time, he was allied with the man who would become the
world’s most successful cartoonist, and for a time he helped chaperone
the faithfully rendered adventures of Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Linus, Lucy
and the rest ... no small feat.
And I’m particularly transfixed by a remark Jim made during one of
our later phone calls "I don’t know how one should behave, in a
situation like this," he said, referring to our ongoing conversations,
"but it’s like I’ve been resurrected."
Perhaps this article will kick-start our long-overdue obligation to
sing his praises.
Breaking News
Just the FAQs, Ma'am
Ace Airlines Tours: Sites to Visit
Beethoven's Rhapsodies: The Music (and Musicians) of Peanuts
Shop Till You Drop
Just for Fun
By Derrick Bang
Legal Matters
All PEANUTS characters pictured are copyrighted by United Feature Syndicate, Inc. They are used here with permission. They may not be reproduced by any means in any form.
It didn’t happen. By the time the final installment of "It’s Only a
Game" appeared, on January 11, 1959 -- the two always had worked six
weeks ahead -- Jim and Schulz had severed all relations, professional
and personal. This also included Jim’s ghosting work on the Dell comic
books. The split was permanent, and the two men never reconciled.
Although "It’s Only a Game" ran for 63 consecutive weeks, it
quickly became a fading memory -- and then an overlooked footnote -- in
Schulz’s career. He rarely mentioned it during later interviews, and
then only obliquely, citing neither date specifics nor his collaboration
with Jim.
"We were the best of friends at first," Jim recalls ruefully. He
happily remembers attending the 1951 National Cartoonists Convention
with Sparky, and also another time when they both went to visit and swap
stories with a fellow artist, Robert M. Brinkerhoff, who lived in
Minneapolis and was known for a newspaper strip called "Little Mary
Mix-Up." Brinkerhoff, in turn -- like many other cartoonists at that
time -- greatly admired J.R. Williams (creator of "Out Our Way"), whom
he once described as "the greatest cowboy ever to walk the streets of
New York." Brinkerhoff related how he had wheedled, begged and finally
finagled an invitation to Williams’ ranch in Montana. Although only
interested in seeing the fabulous studio that he assumed his idol must
have on so massive a spread, Brinkerhoff first had to put up with being
shown all the livestock and the other attractions of a working ranch. As
the visit stretched on, Brinkerhoff finally couldn’t stand it any longer
and demanded to see where Williams did his work.
With a resigned sigh (as Jim recalls Brinkerhoff describing this
incident), Williams walked over to his wife’s sewing machine, took off
the cover, and flipped it over ... and that was it The great J.R.
Williams did all his drawing on the cover of his wife’s sewing machine.
As others have observed, there’s never any reason to embrace
technology or an environment any fancier than that required to get the
job done.
Cartoonists love to talk shop, and Jim’s no different; merely
relating this little tale brings a sparkle into his eyes. And, to this
day, he doesn’t really understand what happened between him and Schulz.
"I feel kind of weird about all this. Sparky obviously wanted me to
succeed in the early days, and even was willing to collaborate with me
on one of my own projects (one of the many variations of "Joe Cipher,"
discussed below). But then when he had a chance to really help me out,
he didn’t make any effort whatsoever ... and left me in rather dire
straits."
Such feelings notwithstanding, all these years later Jim is firm on
one point "Charles M. Schulz was the greatest comic strip artist ever."
And although he certainly couldn’t have known it at the time, Jim
never again would earn his living as a cartoonist.
Before, during and after his working association with Schulz, Jim
played around with many of his own ideas.
If persistence counts for anything, he deserves considerable credit
for his ongoing efforts to sell "Joe Cipher" ("a character kinda based
on me"), a daily strip that underwent quite a few transmutations during
the decade-plus that he tried to place it with a syndicate.
The character first appeared in a sample series of daily strips Jim
produced in late 1949. The strip’s gentle humor is faintly reminiscent
of "Gasoline Alley" and other character-driven work of the era; the
title character is introduced driving an old jalopy that obligingly runs
out of gas at a filling station. The silver-tongued Joe, lacking any
money, eventually impresses the station owner into offering him a job;
Joe celebrates by stepping into a nearby diner for lunch, where he’s
immediately smitten by the young woman behind the counter, and...
...and that’s where the presentation panels concluded.
Perhaps feeling that the strip lacked dramatic impact, a few years
later -- while still at AIS -- Jim tried again, shifting the action to a
tiny island in the middle of the ocean, where the shipwrecked Joe is
joined by an attractive young woman named Ginny, survivor of a second
sea-going calamity. (What are the odds?) Although their relationship is
mildly prickly for the first few days, Ginny eventually wishes aloud
that they could be rescued, so that she can go on a "proper date" with
Joe, and perhaps even kiss him when the evening concludes. Once again,
the story cut off abruptly, as Jim produced just two weeks’ worth of
strips enough to (hopefully) interest a buyer.
Sasseville tried several times to place a comic strip starring Joe Cipher, the pleasant-looking chap
featured in these examples. The two left-most strips are taken from the first run Sasseville designed on his own;
the two right-most strips, starring the same character but
in a different setting, are from Sasseville's third
test run; Charles Schulz contributed story input on these.
(Click on the image to see an enlarged version.)
After getting back from his return hitch in the Navy, Jim
went back to work on Joe Cipher and got a nibble from an
unexpected quarter: Something about this particular setting
touched Schulz, who suggested they collaborate on yet
a third incarnation of "Joe Cipher." (At the time, both men still were
unmarried, and it’s not hard to see a little male fantasy
wish-fulfillment at work.) With narrative input from Schulz and Jim
handling the art chores, the scene shifted again, this time to a
typically romantic South Seas setting, on an island large enough to
support a population of curvaceous young cuties and at least one
villain. Joe and Ginny remained the central focus, but this time the
former saw genuine action, on the receiving end of the villain’s fists.
Schulz and Jim took this newest version of "Joe Cipher" to United
Features Syndicate in spring of 1954; it was turned down flat. The
trip to New York wasn't a complete waste, though, because Sasseville
and Schulz caught a couple of plays: a T.S. Elliot drama called
Confidential Clerk, and another called The King of
Hearts, which starred Jackie Cooper as (what are the odds?)
a cartoonist!
Sasseville also remembers going from suite to suite in New
York's Waldorf hotel during this trip, visiting one cartoonist
after another; meeting Al Capp was a high point. But at least
part of the reason for the trip -- the newest Joe Cipher -- proved
unsellable, and Schulz bowed out at that point.
When Jim finally returned to "Joe Cipher," the 1950s were almost
over. Jim’s association with "Peanuts" and "It’s Only a Game" had
concluded, so the writer/artist returned to his favorite unsold
property. Jim recast his hero in yet another new setting, this time a
business office populated by characters clearly derived from his days at
Art Instruction. Although the sample panels display even cleaner, more
attractive line work -- a sure sign of his growing comfort as an artist
-- Jim had no better luck this time around.
Still refusing to abandon hope, Jim tried one more time In early
1960, after having moved to Berkeley, he once again changed the setting
completely, and turned Joe Cipher into "Sir Joe." This Arthurian-based
concept focused on genuinely whimsical gags involving heavy armor,
maidens in distress, and fire-breathing dragons. Jim’s dragons are
particularly funny, and this newest reboot seems ripe with
possibilities; it’s not at all hard to envision a daily strip evolving
from these samples.
Alas, syndicates once again failed to see any potential, and "Joe
Cipher" was put into Jim’s trunk as no more than another engaging
footnote in the artist’s collection of rejection slips.
Jim didn’t confine his efforts to "Joe Cipher"; the writer/artist
had no shortage of ideas, quite a few of which also wound up as
submission concepts. "Aunty Climax," produced in early 1957 -- just
prior to Jim’s ghost work for Dell comics -- was a single-panel gag
strip that starred a feisty little old lady who was far sharper than
most people assumed. She was based on Louise Cassidy, an AIS colleague
who also was the landlady for the building where Jim briefly lived with
Charles Cuddy. Jim produced a few dozen "Aunty Climax" panels, all of
which are vastly superior -- both in terms of writing and artwork -- to
many of the single-panel cartoons cluttering today’s newspapers.
"Confessions of a French Poodle" was a 1959 concept that didn’t
emerge much further than a few finished panels and lots of pencil
sketches; Jim good-naturedly admits that the idea went nowhere, and so
he abandoned it. That may have been shrewd market analysis, as the
medium never has lacked for dog-oriented material. Even so, French
poodles are funny in their own right, and Jim’s concept sketches are a
hoot.
When not working on Peanuts-related material, Sasseville tried to sell many of his own strip ideas
to a syndicate. From left to right, these examples are "Aunty Climax," "Friends and Foes," "Alpha-Betty" and "Happy Birthday."
(Click on the image to see an enlarged version.)
"Friends and Foes," another single-panel tryout, also emerged from
Jim’s pen in 1959. A little later, shortly after he started putting food
on the table with a "real job" -- and perhaps motivated by the explosion
of children’s television shows, which eventually led to "Sesame Street"
and everything that followed -- Jim tried a kid-oriented educational
strip called "Alpha-Betty," which starred a little girl who finds
herself in an other-worldly land populated by men and women shaped like
letters of the alphabet. The personalities of these individuals were
defined by their appearance; curved female letters, for example, were
far more sultry that straight female letters. The strip has a lovely
"Alice in Wonderland" quality, although the concept may have seemed
limiting.
Jim later played with the medium in "Blackboard," a daily strip
designed to be white-on-black, to imitate chalk on a classroom
blackboard. The stars were Dick, Jane and their TeacheR; although not as
overly educational as "Alpha-Betty," this strip also was aimed at young
audiences.
Jim’s final attempt at syndication was produced in the early 1970s,
after he first went into research hibernation, jotting down enough
celebrity birthdays to fill every day of a calendar year. The resulting
single-panel strips were a precursor to the "On this day in history..."
informational nuggets that have become so ubiquitous The panel for
March 28, for example, illustrated and revealed a few choice facts about
orchestra leader Paul Whiteman. March 29 was devoted to President John
Tyler, while Francisco Goya was featured on March 30.
Sadly, this fared no better with syndicators than any of the
others. "Joe Cipher," "Aunty Climax," "Confessions of a French Poodle,"
"Friends and Foes," "Alpha-Betty," "Blackboard" and "Birthdays" exist only
in Jim’s carefully preserved office files. More’s the pity, because even
the weakest of these strips displays a Puckish wit and clean, attractive
line work too often absent from many of the rushed, imitative strips
that generate little more than reader apathy these days.
Following the dust-up with Schulz and the move to Berkeley, Helga
-- who was delighted by the more rarefied atmosphere of a university
community -- became the family bread-winner. She took a job with a
German importer/exporter and commuted daily across the Bay Bridge.
Eventually succumbing to the need for steady employment, in April
1960 Jim took a job as a graphic designer with Varian, one of the
leading radar companies, located in California’s greater San Francisco
Bay Area. The fit proved comfortable, and he remained with the company
until he retired in 1990.
But the career shift wasn’t immediate; Jim first spent most of 1959
working up his own aforementioned comic strip proposals, and
occasionally sold individual gag cartoons to magazines. But his New
York-based agent took 35% of those one-shots.
"That’s when I started with Varian," Jim recalls, with a chuckle.
"I knew I’d never make it as a gag cartoonist."
Be that as it may, Jim never stopped his cartooning efforts; while
at Varian, he became famous for the birthday cards that he drew for
fellow employees.
Helga, meanwhile, got a job at Stanford, which prompted another
move; the couple then purchased their first home in 1960, in Mountain
View.
Three years later, they moved for what would be the last time. Jim
and his wife paid $28,000 for the house that remains his home to this
day. Just last year the retired artist was offered a cool million bucks
-- in cash -- by a dot-commer who wanted to develop the property. Still
loyal to the memories of his wife, with which the house is filled, Jim
politely declined. Helga died in 1995; he clearly still misses her.
Today, Parkinson’s Disease and the recent stroke have conspired to
deliver the ultimate nightmare Jim no longer can hold a pen well enough
to draw. ("I always marveled at Sparky’s ability to incorporate his
shaking hand into his line work.") But his mind and memory remain
acutely sharp, and his Puckish sense of humor is unbowed. He speaks with
clarity and certainty of his years at Art Instruction School, and with
Schulz, and of his never-successful efforts to market his own original
material.
Jim remains philosophical about his life, and in fact composed
another of his verses to express such feelings
I’m all for equal measures
Losses should be matched by gain;
And since I’ve missed life’s pleasures,
I’ll just double up with pain!
Definitely too harsh, but then we’re always hardest on ourselves.
Jim Sasseville deserves far more than the obscurity into which he has
settled; for a time, he was allied with the man who would become the
world’s most successful cartoonist, and for a time he helped chaperone
the faithfully rendered adventures of Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Linus, Lucy
and the rest ... no small feat.
And I’m particularly transfixed by a remark Jim made during one of
our later phone calls "I don’t know how one should behave, in a
situation like this," he said, referring to our ongoing conversations,
"but it’s like I’ve been resurrected."
Perhaps this article will kick-start our long-overdue obligation to
sing his praises.
Breaking News
Just the FAQs, Ma'am
Ace Airlines Tours: Sites to Visit
Beethoven's Rhapsodies: The Music (and Musicians) of Peanuts
Shop Till You Drop
Just for Fun
By Derrick Bang
Legal Matters
All PEANUTS characters pictured are copyrighted by United Feature Syndicate, Inc. They are used here with permission. They may not be reproduced by any means in any form.
"We were the best of friends at first," Jim recalls ruefully. He
happily remembers attending the 1951 National Cartoonists Convention
with Sparky, and also another time when they both went to visit and swap
stories with a fellow artist, Robert M. Brinkerhoff, who lived in
Minneapolis and was known for a newspaper strip called "Little Mary
Mix-Up." Brinkerhoff, in turn -- like many other cartoonists at that
time -- greatly admired J.R. Williams (creator of "Out Our Way"), whom
he once described as "the greatest cowboy ever to walk the streets of
New York." Brinkerhoff related how he had wheedled, begged and finally
finagled an invitation to Williams’ ranch in Montana. Although only
interested in seeing the fabulous studio that he assumed his idol must
have on so massive a spread, Brinkerhoff first had to put up with being
shown all the livestock and the other attractions of a working ranch. As
the visit stretched on, Brinkerhoff finally couldn’t stand it any longer
and demanded to see where Williams did his work.
With a resigned sigh (as Jim recalls Brinkerhoff describing this
incident), Williams walked over to his wife’s sewing machine, took off
the cover, and flipped it over ... and that was it The great J.R.
Williams did all his drawing on the cover of his wife’s sewing machine.
As others have observed, there’s never any reason to embrace
technology or an environment any fancier than that required to get the
job done.
Cartoonists love to talk shop, and Jim’s no different; merely
relating this little tale brings a sparkle into his eyes. And, to this
day, he doesn’t really understand what happened between him and Schulz.
"I feel kind of weird about all this. Sparky obviously wanted me to
succeed in the early days, and even was willing to collaborate with me
on one of my own projects (one of the many variations of "Joe Cipher,"
discussed below). But then when he had a chance to really help me out,
he didn’t make any effort whatsoever ... and left me in rather dire
straits."
Such feelings notwithstanding, all these years later Jim is firm on
one point "Charles M. Schulz was the greatest comic strip artist ever."
And although he certainly couldn’t have known it at the time, Jim
never again would earn his living as a cartoonist.
Before, during and after his working association with Schulz, Jim
played around with many of his own ideas.
If persistence counts for anything, he deserves considerable credit
for his ongoing efforts to sell "Joe Cipher" ("a character kinda based
on me"), a daily strip that underwent quite a few transmutations during
the decade-plus that he tried to place it with a syndicate.
The character first appeared in a sample series of daily strips Jim
produced in late 1949. The strip’s gentle humor is faintly reminiscent
of "Gasoline Alley" and other character-driven work of the era; the
title character is introduced driving an old jalopy that obligingly runs
out of gas at a filling station. The silver-tongued Joe, lacking any
money, eventually impresses the station owner into offering him a job;
Joe celebrates by stepping into a nearby diner for lunch, where he’s
immediately smitten by the young woman behind the counter, and...
...and that’s where the presentation panels concluded.
Perhaps feeling that the strip lacked dramatic impact, a few years
later -- while still at AIS -- Jim tried again, shifting the action to a
tiny island in the middle of the ocean, where the shipwrecked Joe is
joined by an attractive young woman named Ginny, survivor of a second
sea-going calamity. (What are the odds?) Although their relationship is
mildly prickly for the first few days, Ginny eventually wishes aloud
that they could be rescued, so that she can go on a "proper date" with
Joe, and perhaps even kiss him when the evening concludes. Once again,
the story cut off abruptly, as Jim produced just two weeks’ worth of
strips enough to (hopefully) interest a buyer.
Sasseville tried several times to place a comic strip starring Joe Cipher, the pleasant-looking chap
featured in these examples. The two left-most strips are taken from the first run Sasseville designed on his own;
the two right-most strips, starring the same character but
in a different setting, are from Sasseville's third
test run; Charles Schulz contributed story input on these.
(Click on the image to see an enlarged version.)
After getting back from his return hitch in the Navy, Jim
went back to work on Joe Cipher and got a nibble from an
unexpected quarter: Something about this particular setting
touched Schulz, who suggested they collaborate on yet
a third incarnation of "Joe Cipher." (At the time, both men still were
unmarried, and it’s not hard to see a little male fantasy
wish-fulfillment at work.) With narrative input from Schulz and Jim
handling the art chores, the scene shifted again, this time to a
typically romantic South Seas setting, on an island large enough to
support a population of curvaceous young cuties and at least one
villain. Joe and Ginny remained the central focus, but this time the
former saw genuine action, on the receiving end of the villain’s fists.
Schulz and Jim took this newest version of "Joe Cipher" to United
Features Syndicate in spring of 1954; it was turned down flat. The
trip to New York wasn't a complete waste, though, because Sasseville
and Schulz caught a couple of plays: a T.S. Elliot drama called
Confidential Clerk, and another called The King of
Hearts, which starred Jackie Cooper as (what are the odds?)
a cartoonist!
Sasseville also remembers going from suite to suite in New
York's Waldorf hotel during this trip, visiting one cartoonist
after another; meeting Al Capp was a high point. But at least
part of the reason for the trip -- the newest Joe Cipher -- proved
unsellable, and Schulz bowed out at that point.
When Jim finally returned to "Joe Cipher," the 1950s were almost
over. Jim’s association with "Peanuts" and "It’s Only a Game" had
concluded, so the writer/artist returned to his favorite unsold
property. Jim recast his hero in yet another new setting, this time a
business office populated by characters clearly derived from his days at
Art Instruction. Although the sample panels display even cleaner, more
attractive line work -- a sure sign of his growing comfort as an artist
-- Jim had no better luck this time around.
Still refusing to abandon hope, Jim tried one more time In early
1960, after having moved to Berkeley, he once again changed the setting
completely, and turned Joe Cipher into "Sir Joe." This Arthurian-based
concept focused on genuinely whimsical gags involving heavy armor,
maidens in distress, and fire-breathing dragons. Jim’s dragons are
particularly funny, and this newest reboot seems ripe with
possibilities; it’s not at all hard to envision a daily strip evolving
from these samples.
Alas, syndicates once again failed to see any potential, and "Joe
Cipher" was put into Jim’s trunk as no more than another engaging
footnote in the artist’s collection of rejection slips.
Jim didn’t confine his efforts to "Joe Cipher"; the writer/artist
had no shortage of ideas, quite a few of which also wound up as
submission concepts. "Aunty Climax," produced in early 1957 -- just
prior to Jim’s ghost work for Dell comics -- was a single-panel gag
strip that starred a feisty little old lady who was far sharper than
most people assumed. She was based on Louise Cassidy, an AIS colleague
who also was the landlady for the building where Jim briefly lived with
Charles Cuddy. Jim produced a few dozen "Aunty Climax" panels, all of
which are vastly superior -- both in terms of writing and artwork -- to
many of the single-panel cartoons cluttering today’s newspapers.
"Confessions of a French Poodle" was a 1959 concept that didn’t
emerge much further than a few finished panels and lots of pencil
sketches; Jim good-naturedly admits that the idea went nowhere, and so
he abandoned it. That may have been shrewd market analysis, as the
medium never has lacked for dog-oriented material. Even so, French
poodles are funny in their own right, and Jim’s concept sketches are a
hoot.
When not working on Peanuts-related material, Sasseville tried to sell many of his own strip ideas
to a syndicate. From left to right, these examples are "Aunty Climax," "Friends and Foes," "Alpha-Betty" and "Happy Birthday."
(Click on the image to see an enlarged version.)
"Friends and Foes," another single-panel tryout, also emerged from
Jim’s pen in 1959. A little later, shortly after he started putting food
on the table with a "real job" -- and perhaps motivated by the explosion
of children’s television shows, which eventually led to "Sesame Street"
and everything that followed -- Jim tried a kid-oriented educational
strip called "Alpha-Betty," which starred a little girl who finds
herself in an other-worldly land populated by men and women shaped like
letters of the alphabet. The personalities of these individuals were
defined by their appearance; curved female letters, for example, were
far more sultry that straight female letters. The strip has a lovely
"Alice in Wonderland" quality, although the concept may have seemed
limiting.
Jim later played with the medium in "Blackboard," a daily strip
designed to be white-on-black, to imitate chalk on a classroom
blackboard. The stars were Dick, Jane and their TeacheR; although not as
overly educational as "Alpha-Betty," this strip also was aimed at young
audiences.
Jim’s final attempt at syndication was produced in the early 1970s,
after he first went into research hibernation, jotting down enough
celebrity birthdays to fill every day of a calendar year. The resulting
single-panel strips were a precursor to the "On this day in history..."
informational nuggets that have become so ubiquitous The panel for
March 28, for example, illustrated and revealed a few choice facts about
orchestra leader Paul Whiteman. March 29 was devoted to President John
Tyler, while Francisco Goya was featured on March 30.
Sadly, this fared no better with syndicators than any of the
others. "Joe Cipher," "Aunty Climax," "Confessions of a French Poodle,"
"Friends and Foes," "Alpha-Betty," "Blackboard" and "Birthdays" exist only
in Jim’s carefully preserved office files. More’s the pity, because even
the weakest of these strips displays a Puckish wit and clean, attractive
line work too often absent from many of the rushed, imitative strips
that generate little more than reader apathy these days.
Following the dust-up with Schulz and the move to Berkeley, Helga
-- who was delighted by the more rarefied atmosphere of a university
community -- became the family bread-winner. She took a job with a
German importer/exporter and commuted daily across the Bay Bridge.
Eventually succumbing to the need for steady employment, in April
1960 Jim took a job as a graphic designer with Varian, one of the
leading radar companies, located in California’s greater San Francisco
Bay Area. The fit proved comfortable, and he remained with the company
until he retired in 1990.
But the career shift wasn’t immediate; Jim first spent most of 1959
working up his own aforementioned comic strip proposals, and
occasionally sold individual gag cartoons to magazines. But his New
York-based agent took 35% of those one-shots.
"That’s when I started with Varian," Jim recalls, with a chuckle.
"I knew I’d never make it as a gag cartoonist."
Be that as it may, Jim never stopped his cartooning efforts; while
at Varian, he became famous for the birthday cards that he drew for
fellow employees.
Helga, meanwhile, got a job at Stanford, which prompted another
move; the couple then purchased their first home in 1960, in Mountain
View.
Three years later, they moved for what would be the last time. Jim
and his wife paid $28,000 for the house that remains his home to this
day. Just last year the retired artist was offered a cool million bucks
-- in cash -- by a dot-commer who wanted to develop the property. Still
loyal to the memories of his wife, with which the house is filled, Jim
politely declined. Helga died in 1995; he clearly still misses her.
Today, Parkinson’s Disease and the recent stroke have conspired to
deliver the ultimate nightmare Jim no longer can hold a pen well enough
to draw. ("I always marveled at Sparky’s ability to incorporate his
shaking hand into his line work.") But his mind and memory remain
acutely sharp, and his Puckish sense of humor is unbowed. He speaks with
clarity and certainty of his years at Art Instruction School, and with
Schulz, and of his never-successful efforts to market his own original
material.
Jim remains philosophical about his life, and in fact composed
another of his verses to express such feelings
I’m all for equal measures
Losses should be matched by gain;
And since I’ve missed life’s pleasures,
I’ll just double up with pain!
Definitely too harsh, but then we’re always hardest on ourselves.
Jim Sasseville deserves far more than the obscurity into which he has
settled; for a time, he was allied with the man who would become the
world’s most successful cartoonist, and for a time he helped chaperone
the faithfully rendered adventures of Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Linus, Lucy
and the rest ... no small feat.
And I’m particularly transfixed by a remark Jim made during one of
our later phone calls "I don’t know how one should behave, in a
situation like this," he said, referring to our ongoing conversations,
"but it’s like I’ve been resurrected."
Perhaps this article will kick-start our long-overdue obligation to
sing his praises.
Breaking News
Just the FAQs, Ma'am
Ace Airlines Tours: Sites to Visit
Beethoven's Rhapsodies: The Music (and Musicians) of Peanuts
Shop Till You Drop
Just for Fun
By Derrick Bang
Legal Matters
All PEANUTS characters pictured are copyrighted by United Feature Syndicate, Inc. They are used here with permission. They may not be reproduced by any means in any form.
As others have observed, there’s never any reason to embrace
technology or an environment any fancier than that required to get the
job done.
Cartoonists love to talk shop, and Jim’s no different; merely
relating this little tale brings a sparkle into his eyes. And, to this
day, he doesn’t really understand what happened between him and Schulz.
"I feel kind of weird about all this. Sparky obviously wanted me to
succeed in the early days, and even was willing to collaborate with me
on one of my own projects (one of the many variations of "Joe Cipher,"
discussed below). But then when he had a chance to really help me out,
he didn’t make any effort whatsoever ... and left me in rather dire
straits."
Such feelings notwithstanding, all these years later Jim is firm on
one point "Charles M. Schulz was the greatest comic strip artist ever."
And although he certainly couldn’t have known it at the time, Jim
never again would earn his living as a cartoonist.
Before, during and after his working association with Schulz, Jim
played around with many of his own ideas.
If persistence counts for anything, he deserves considerable credit
for his ongoing efforts to sell "Joe Cipher" ("a character kinda based
on me"), a daily strip that underwent quite a few transmutations during
the decade-plus that he tried to place it with a syndicate.
The character first appeared in a sample series of daily strips Jim
produced in late 1949. The strip’s gentle humor is faintly reminiscent
of "Gasoline Alley" and other character-driven work of the era; the
title character is introduced driving an old jalopy that obligingly runs
out of gas at a filling station. The silver-tongued Joe, lacking any
money, eventually impresses the station owner into offering him a job;
Joe celebrates by stepping into a nearby diner for lunch, where he’s
immediately smitten by the young woman behind the counter, and...
...and that’s where the presentation panels concluded.
Perhaps feeling that the strip lacked dramatic impact, a few years
later -- while still at AIS -- Jim tried again, shifting the action to a
tiny island in the middle of the ocean, where the shipwrecked Joe is
joined by an attractive young woman named Ginny, survivor of a second
sea-going calamity. (What are the odds?) Although their relationship is
mildly prickly for the first few days, Ginny eventually wishes aloud
that they could be rescued, so that she can go on a "proper date" with
Joe, and perhaps even kiss him when the evening concludes. Once again,
the story cut off abruptly, as Jim produced just two weeks’ worth of
strips enough to (hopefully) interest a buyer.
Sasseville tried several times to place a comic strip starring Joe Cipher, the pleasant-looking chap
featured in these examples. The two left-most strips are taken from the first run Sasseville designed on his own;
the two right-most strips, starring the same character but
in a different setting, are from Sasseville's third
test run; Charles Schulz contributed story input on these.
(Click on the image to see an enlarged version.)
After getting back from his return hitch in the Navy, Jim
went back to work on Joe Cipher and got a nibble from an
unexpected quarter: Something about this particular setting
touched Schulz, who suggested they collaborate on yet
a third incarnation of "Joe Cipher." (At the time, both men still were
unmarried, and it’s not hard to see a little male fantasy
wish-fulfillment at work.) With narrative input from Schulz and Jim
handling the art chores, the scene shifted again, this time to a
typically romantic South Seas setting, on an island large enough to
support a population of curvaceous young cuties and at least one
villain. Joe and Ginny remained the central focus, but this time the
former saw genuine action, on the receiving end of the villain’s fists.
Schulz and Jim took this newest version of "Joe Cipher" to United
Features Syndicate in spring of 1954; it was turned down flat. The
trip to New York wasn't a complete waste, though, because Sasseville
and Schulz caught a couple of plays: a T.S. Elliot drama called
Confidential Clerk, and another called The King of
Hearts, which starred Jackie Cooper as (what are the odds?)
a cartoonist!
Sasseville also remembers going from suite to suite in New
York's Waldorf hotel during this trip, visiting one cartoonist
after another; meeting Al Capp was a high point. But at least
part of the reason for the trip -- the newest Joe Cipher -- proved
unsellable, and Schulz bowed out at that point.
When Jim finally returned to "Joe Cipher," the 1950s were almost
over. Jim’s association with "Peanuts" and "It’s Only a Game" had
concluded, so the writer/artist returned to his favorite unsold
property. Jim recast his hero in yet another new setting, this time a
business office populated by characters clearly derived from his days at
Art Instruction. Although the sample panels display even cleaner, more
attractive line work -- a sure sign of his growing comfort as an artist
-- Jim had no better luck this time around.
Still refusing to abandon hope, Jim tried one more time In early
1960, after having moved to Berkeley, he once again changed the setting
completely, and turned Joe Cipher into "Sir Joe." This Arthurian-based
concept focused on genuinely whimsical gags involving heavy armor,
maidens in distress, and fire-breathing dragons. Jim’s dragons are
particularly funny, and this newest reboot seems ripe with
possibilities; it’s not at all hard to envision a daily strip evolving
from these samples.
Alas, syndicates once again failed to see any potential, and "Joe
Cipher" was put into Jim’s trunk as no more than another engaging
footnote in the artist’s collection of rejection slips.
Jim didn’t confine his efforts to "Joe Cipher"; the writer/artist
had no shortage of ideas, quite a few of which also wound up as
submission concepts. "Aunty Climax," produced in early 1957 -- just
prior to Jim’s ghost work for Dell comics -- was a single-panel gag
strip that starred a feisty little old lady who was far sharper than
most people assumed. She was based on Louise Cassidy, an AIS colleague
who also was the landlady for the building where Jim briefly lived with
Charles Cuddy. Jim produced a few dozen "Aunty Climax" panels, all of
which are vastly superior -- both in terms of writing and artwork -- to
many of the single-panel cartoons cluttering today’s newspapers.
"Confessions of a French Poodle" was a 1959 concept that didn’t
emerge much further than a few finished panels and lots of pencil
sketches; Jim good-naturedly admits that the idea went nowhere, and so
he abandoned it. That may have been shrewd market analysis, as the
medium never has lacked for dog-oriented material. Even so, French
poodles are funny in their own right, and Jim’s concept sketches are a
hoot.
When not working on Peanuts-related material, Sasseville tried to sell many of his own strip ideas
to a syndicate. From left to right, these examples are "Aunty Climax," "Friends and Foes," "Alpha-Betty" and "Happy Birthday."
(Click on the image to see an enlarged version.)
"Friends and Foes," another single-panel tryout, also emerged from
Jim’s pen in 1959. A little later, shortly after he started putting food
on the table with a "real job" -- and perhaps motivated by the explosion
of children’s television shows, which eventually led to "Sesame Street"
and everything that followed -- Jim tried a kid-oriented educational
strip called "Alpha-Betty," which starred a little girl who finds
herself in an other-worldly land populated by men and women shaped like
letters of the alphabet. The personalities of these individuals were
defined by their appearance; curved female letters, for example, were
far more sultry that straight female letters. The strip has a lovely
"Alice in Wonderland" quality, although the concept may have seemed
limiting.
Jim later played with the medium in "Blackboard," a daily strip
designed to be white-on-black, to imitate chalk on a classroom
blackboard. The stars were Dick, Jane and their TeacheR; although not as
overly educational as "Alpha-Betty," this strip also was aimed at young
audiences.
Jim’s final attempt at syndication was produced in the early 1970s,
after he first went into research hibernation, jotting down enough
celebrity birthdays to fill every day of a calendar year. The resulting
single-panel strips were a precursor to the "On this day in history..."
informational nuggets that have become so ubiquitous The panel for
March 28, for example, illustrated and revealed a few choice facts about
orchestra leader Paul Whiteman. March 29 was devoted to President John
Tyler, while Francisco Goya was featured on March 30.
Sadly, this fared no better with syndicators than any of the
others. "Joe Cipher," "Aunty Climax," "Confessions of a French Poodle,"
"Friends and Foes," "Alpha-Betty," "Blackboard" and "Birthdays" exist only
in Jim’s carefully preserved office files. More’s the pity, because even
the weakest of these strips displays a Puckish wit and clean, attractive
line work too often absent from many of the rushed, imitative strips
that generate little more than reader apathy these days.
Following the dust-up with Schulz and the move to Berkeley, Helga
-- who was delighted by the more rarefied atmosphere of a university
community -- became the family bread-winner. She took a job with a
German importer/exporter and commuted daily across the Bay Bridge.
Eventually succumbing to the need for steady employment, in April
1960 Jim took a job as a graphic designer with Varian, one of the
leading radar companies, located in California’s greater San Francisco
Bay Area. The fit proved comfortable, and he remained with the company
until he retired in 1990.
But the career shift wasn’t immediate; Jim first spent most of 1959
working up his own aforementioned comic strip proposals, and
occasionally sold individual gag cartoons to magazines. But his New
York-based agent took 35% of those one-shots.
"That’s when I started with Varian," Jim recalls, with a chuckle.
"I knew I’d never make it as a gag cartoonist."
Be that as it may, Jim never stopped his cartooning efforts; while
at Varian, he became famous for the birthday cards that he drew for
fellow employees.
Helga, meanwhile, got a job at Stanford, which prompted another
move; the couple then purchased their first home in 1960, in Mountain
View.
Three years later, they moved for what would be the last time. Jim
and his wife paid $28,000 for the house that remains his home to this
day. Just last year the retired artist was offered a cool million bucks
-- in cash -- by a dot-commer who wanted to develop the property. Still
loyal to the memories of his wife, with which the house is filled, Jim
politely declined. Helga died in 1995; he clearly still misses her.
Today, Parkinson’s Disease and the recent stroke have conspired to
deliver the ultimate nightmare Jim no longer can hold a pen well enough
to draw. ("I always marveled at Sparky’s ability to incorporate his
shaking hand into his line work.") But his mind and memory remain
acutely sharp, and his Puckish sense of humor is unbowed. He speaks with
clarity and certainty of his years at Art Instruction School, and with
Schulz, and of his never-successful efforts to market his own original
material.
Jim remains philosophical about his life, and in fact composed
another of his verses to express such feelings
I’m all for equal measures
Losses should be matched by gain;
And since I’ve missed life’s pleasures,
I’ll just double up with pain!
Definitely too harsh, but then we’re always hardest on ourselves.
Jim Sasseville deserves far more than the obscurity into which he has
settled; for a time, he was allied with the man who would become the
world’s most successful cartoonist, and for a time he helped chaperone
the faithfully rendered adventures of Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Linus, Lucy
and the rest ... no small feat.
And I’m particularly transfixed by a remark Jim made during one of
our later phone calls "I don’t know how one should behave, in a
situation like this," he said, referring to our ongoing conversations,
"but it’s like I’ve been resurrected."
Perhaps this article will kick-start our long-overdue obligation to
sing his praises.
Breaking News
Just the FAQs, Ma'am
Ace Airlines Tours: Sites to Visit
Beethoven's Rhapsodies: The Music (and Musicians) of Peanuts
Shop Till You Drop
Just for Fun
By Derrick Bang
Legal Matters
All PEANUTS characters pictured are copyrighted by United Feature Syndicate, Inc. They are used here with permission. They may not be reproduced by any means in any form.
"I feel kind of weird about all this. Sparky obviously wanted me to
succeed in the early days, and even was willing to collaborate with me
on one of my own projects (one of the many variations of "Joe Cipher,"
discussed below). But then when he had a chance to really help me out,
he didn’t make any effort whatsoever ... and left me in rather dire
straits."
Such feelings notwithstanding, all these years later Jim is firm on
one point "Charles M. Schulz was the greatest comic strip artist ever."
And although he certainly couldn’t have known it at the time, Jim
never again would earn his living as a cartoonist.
Before, during and after his working association with Schulz, Jim
played around with many of his own ideas.
If persistence counts for anything, he deserves considerable credit
for his ongoing efforts to sell "Joe Cipher" ("a character kinda based
on me"), a daily strip that underwent quite a few transmutations during
the decade-plus that he tried to place it with a syndicate.
The character first appeared in a sample series of daily strips Jim
produced in late 1949. The strip’s gentle humor is faintly reminiscent
of "Gasoline Alley" and other character-driven work of the era; the
title character is introduced driving an old jalopy that obligingly runs
out of gas at a filling station. The silver-tongued Joe, lacking any
money, eventually impresses the station owner into offering him a job;
Joe celebrates by stepping into a nearby diner for lunch, where he’s
immediately smitten by the young woman behind the counter, and...
...and that’s where the presentation panels concluded.
Perhaps feeling that the strip lacked dramatic impact, a few years
later -- while still at AIS -- Jim tried again, shifting the action to a
tiny island in the middle of the ocean, where the shipwrecked Joe is
joined by an attractive young woman named Ginny, survivor of a second
sea-going calamity. (What are the odds?) Although their relationship is
mildly prickly for the first few days, Ginny eventually wishes aloud
that they could be rescued, so that she can go on a "proper date" with
Joe, and perhaps even kiss him when the evening concludes. Once again,
the story cut off abruptly, as Jim produced just two weeks’ worth of
strips enough to (hopefully) interest a buyer.
Sasseville tried several times to place a comic strip starring Joe Cipher, the pleasant-looking chap
featured in these examples. The two left-most strips are taken from the first run Sasseville designed on his own;
the two right-most strips, starring the same character but
in a different setting, are from Sasseville's third
test run; Charles Schulz contributed story input on these.
(Click on the image to see an enlarged version.)
After getting back from his return hitch in the Navy, Jim
went back to work on Joe Cipher and got a nibble from an
unexpected quarter: Something about this particular setting
touched Schulz, who suggested they collaborate on yet
a third incarnation of "Joe Cipher." (At the time, both men still were
unmarried, and it’s not hard to see a little male fantasy
wish-fulfillment at work.) With narrative input from Schulz and Jim
handling the art chores, the scene shifted again, this time to a
typically romantic South Seas setting, on an island large enough to
support a population of curvaceous young cuties and at least one
villain. Joe and Ginny remained the central focus, but this time the
former saw genuine action, on the receiving end of the villain’s fists.
Schulz and Jim took this newest version of "Joe Cipher" to United
Features Syndicate in spring of 1954; it was turned down flat. The
trip to New York wasn't a complete waste, though, because Sasseville
and Schulz caught a couple of plays: a T.S. Elliot drama called
Confidential Clerk, and another called The King of
Hearts, which starred Jackie Cooper as (what are the odds?)
a cartoonist!
Sasseville also remembers going from suite to suite in New
York's Waldorf hotel during this trip, visiting one cartoonist
after another; meeting Al Capp was a high point. But at least
part of the reason for the trip -- the newest Joe Cipher -- proved
unsellable, and Schulz bowed out at that point.
When Jim finally returned to "Joe Cipher," the 1950s were almost
over. Jim’s association with "Peanuts" and "It’s Only a Game" had
concluded, so the writer/artist returned to his favorite unsold
property. Jim recast his hero in yet another new setting, this time a
business office populated by characters clearly derived from his days at
Art Instruction. Although the sample panels display even cleaner, more
attractive line work -- a sure sign of his growing comfort as an artist
-- Jim had no better luck this time around.
Still refusing to abandon hope, Jim tried one more time In early
1960, after having moved to Berkeley, he once again changed the setting
completely, and turned Joe Cipher into "Sir Joe." This Arthurian-based
concept focused on genuinely whimsical gags involving heavy armor,
maidens in distress, and fire-breathing dragons. Jim’s dragons are
particularly funny, and this newest reboot seems ripe with
possibilities; it’s not at all hard to envision a daily strip evolving
from these samples.
Alas, syndicates once again failed to see any potential, and "Joe
Cipher" was put into Jim’s trunk as no more than another engaging
footnote in the artist’s collection of rejection slips.
Jim didn’t confine his efforts to "Joe Cipher"; the writer/artist
had no shortage of ideas, quite a few of which also wound up as
submission concepts. "Aunty Climax," produced in early 1957 -- just
prior to Jim’s ghost work for Dell comics -- was a single-panel gag
strip that starred a feisty little old lady who was far sharper than
most people assumed. She was based on Louise Cassidy, an AIS colleague
who also was the landlady for the building where Jim briefly lived with
Charles Cuddy. Jim produced a few dozen "Aunty Climax" panels, all of
which are vastly superior -- both in terms of writing and artwork -- to
many of the single-panel cartoons cluttering today’s newspapers.
"Confessions of a French Poodle" was a 1959 concept that didn’t
emerge much further than a few finished panels and lots of pencil
sketches; Jim good-naturedly admits that the idea went nowhere, and so
he abandoned it. That may have been shrewd market analysis, as the
medium never has lacked for dog-oriented material. Even so, French
poodles are funny in their own right, and Jim’s concept sketches are a
hoot.
When not working on Peanuts-related material, Sasseville tried to sell many of his own strip ideas
to a syndicate. From left to right, these examples are "Aunty Climax," "Friends and Foes," "Alpha-Betty" and "Happy Birthday."
(Click on the image to see an enlarged version.)
"Friends and Foes," another single-panel tryout, also emerged from
Jim’s pen in 1959. A little later, shortly after he started putting food
on the table with a "real job" -- and perhaps motivated by the explosion
of children’s television shows, which eventually led to "Sesame Street"
and everything that followed -- Jim tried a kid-oriented educational
strip called "Alpha-Betty," which starred a little girl who finds
herself in an other-worldly land populated by men and women shaped like
letters of the alphabet. The personalities of these individuals were
defined by their appearance; curved female letters, for example, were
far more sultry that straight female letters. The strip has a lovely
"Alice in Wonderland" quality, although the concept may have seemed
limiting.
Jim later played with the medium in "Blackboard," a daily strip
designed to be white-on-black, to imitate chalk on a classroom
blackboard. The stars were Dick, Jane and their TeacheR; although not as
overly educational as "Alpha-Betty," this strip also was aimed at young
audiences.
Jim’s final attempt at syndication was produced in the early 1970s,
after he first went into research hibernation, jotting down enough
celebrity birthdays to fill every day of a calendar year. The resulting
single-panel strips were a precursor to the "On this day in history..."
informational nuggets that have become so ubiquitous The panel for
March 28, for example, illustrated and revealed a few choice facts about
orchestra leader Paul Whiteman. March 29 was devoted to President John
Tyler, while Francisco Goya was featured on March 30.
Sadly, this fared no better with syndicators than any of the
others. "Joe Cipher," "Aunty Climax," "Confessions of a French Poodle,"
"Friends and Foes," "Alpha-Betty," "Blackboard" and "Birthdays" exist only
in Jim’s carefully preserved office files. More’s the pity, because even
the weakest of these strips displays a Puckish wit and clean, attractive
line work too often absent from many of the rushed, imitative strips
that generate little more than reader apathy these days.
Following the dust-up with Schulz and the move to Berkeley, Helga
-- who was delighted by the more rarefied atmosphere of a university
community -- became the family bread-winner. She took a job with a
German importer/exporter and commuted daily across the Bay Bridge.
Eventually succumbing to the need for steady employment, in April
1960 Jim took a job as a graphic designer with Varian, one of the
leading radar companies, located in California’s greater San Francisco
Bay Area. The fit proved comfortable, and he remained with the company
until he retired in 1990.
But the career shift wasn’t immediate; Jim first spent most of 1959
working up his own aforementioned comic strip proposals, and
occasionally sold individual gag cartoons to magazines. But his New
York-based agent took 35% of those one-shots.
"That’s when I started with Varian," Jim recalls, with a chuckle.
"I knew I’d never make it as a gag cartoonist."
Be that as it may, Jim never stopped his cartooning efforts; while
at Varian, he became famous for the birthday cards that he drew for
fellow employees.
Helga, meanwhile, got a job at Stanford, which prompted another
move; the couple then purchased their first home in 1960, in Mountain
View.
Three years later, they moved for what would be the last time. Jim
and his wife paid $28,000 for the house that remains his home to this
day. Just last year the retired artist was offered a cool million bucks
-- in cash -- by a dot-commer who wanted to develop the property. Still
loyal to the memories of his wife, with which the house is filled, Jim
politely declined. Helga died in 1995; he clearly still misses her.
Today, Parkinson’s Disease and the recent stroke have conspired to
deliver the ultimate nightmare Jim no longer can hold a pen well enough
to draw. ("I always marveled at Sparky’s ability to incorporate his
shaking hand into his line work.") But his mind and memory remain
acutely sharp, and his Puckish sense of humor is unbowed. He speaks with
clarity and certainty of his years at Art Instruction School, and with
Schulz, and of his never-successful efforts to market his own original
material.
Jim remains philosophical about his life, and in fact composed
another of his verses to express such feelings
I’m all for equal measures
Losses should be matched by gain;
And since I’ve missed life’s pleasures,
I’ll just double up with pain!
Definitely too harsh, but then we’re always hardest on ourselves.
Jim Sasseville deserves far more than the obscurity into which he has
settled; for a time, he was allied with the man who would become the
world’s most successful cartoonist, and for a time he helped chaperone
the faithfully rendered adventures of Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Linus, Lucy
and the rest ... no small feat.
And I’m particularly transfixed by a remark Jim made during one of
our later phone calls "I don’t know how one should behave, in a
situation like this," he said, referring to our ongoing conversations,
"but it’s like I’ve been resurrected."
Perhaps this article will kick-start our long-overdue obligation to
sing his praises.
Breaking News
Just the FAQs, Ma'am
Ace Airlines Tours: Sites to Visit
Beethoven's Rhapsodies: The Music (and Musicians) of Peanuts
Shop Till You Drop
Just for Fun
By Derrick Bang
Legal Matters
All PEANUTS characters pictured are copyrighted by United Feature Syndicate, Inc. They are used here with permission. They may not be reproduced by any means in any form.
And although he certainly couldn’t have known it at the time, Jim
never again would earn his living as a cartoonist.
Before, during and after his working association with Schulz, Jim
played around with many of his own ideas.
If persistence counts for anything, he deserves considerable credit
for his ongoing efforts to sell "Joe Cipher" ("a character kinda based
on me"), a daily strip that underwent quite a few transmutations during
the decade-plus that he tried to place it with a syndicate.
The character first appeared in a sample series of daily strips Jim
produced in late 1949. The strip’s gentle humor is faintly reminiscent
of "Gasoline Alley" and other character-driven work of the era; the
title character is introduced driving an old jalopy that obligingly runs
out of gas at a filling station. The silver-tongued Joe, lacking any
money, eventually impresses the station owner into offering him a job;
Joe celebrates by stepping into a nearby diner for lunch, where he’s
immediately smitten by the young woman behind the counter, and...
...and that’s where the presentation panels concluded.
Perhaps feeling that the strip lacked dramatic impact, a few years
later -- while still at AIS -- Jim tried again, shifting the action to a
tiny island in the middle of the ocean, where the shipwrecked Joe is
joined by an attractive young woman named Ginny, survivor of a second
sea-going calamity. (What are the odds?) Although their relationship is
mildly prickly for the first few days, Ginny eventually wishes aloud
that they could be rescued, so that she can go on a "proper date" with
Joe, and perhaps even kiss him when the evening concludes. Once again,
the story cut off abruptly, as Jim produced just two weeks’ worth of
strips enough to (hopefully) interest a buyer.
Sasseville tried several times to place a comic strip starring Joe Cipher, the pleasant-looking chap
featured in these examples. The two left-most strips are taken from the first run Sasseville designed on his own;
the two right-most strips, starring the same character but
in a different setting, are from Sasseville's third
test run; Charles Schulz contributed story input on these.
(Click on the image to see an enlarged version.)
After getting back from his return hitch in the Navy, Jim
went back to work on Joe Cipher and got a nibble from an
unexpected quarter: Something about this particular setting
touched Schulz, who suggested they collaborate on yet
a third incarnation of "Joe Cipher." (At the time, both men still were
unmarried, and it’s not hard to see a little male fantasy
wish-fulfillment at work.) With narrative input from Schulz and Jim
handling the art chores, the scene shifted again, this time to a
typically romantic South Seas setting, on an island large enough to
support a population of curvaceous young cuties and at least one
villain. Joe and Ginny remained the central focus, but this time the
former saw genuine action, on the receiving end of the villain’s fists.
Schulz and Jim took this newest version of "Joe Cipher" to United
Features Syndicate in spring of 1954; it was turned down flat. The
trip to New York wasn't a complete waste, though, because Sasseville
and Schulz caught a couple of plays: a T.S. Elliot drama called
Confidential Clerk, and another called The King of
Hearts, which starred Jackie Cooper as (what are the odds?)
a cartoonist!
Sasseville also remembers going from suite to suite in New
York's Waldorf hotel during this trip, visiting one cartoonist
after another; meeting Al Capp was a high point. But at least
part of the reason for the trip -- the newest Joe Cipher -- proved
unsellable, and Schulz bowed out at that point.
When Jim finally returned to "Joe Cipher," the 1950s were almost
over. Jim’s association with "Peanuts" and "It’s Only a Game" had
concluded, so the writer/artist returned to his favorite unsold
property. Jim recast his hero in yet another new setting, this time a
business office populated by characters clearly derived from his days at
Art Instruction. Although the sample panels display even cleaner, more
attractive line work -- a sure sign of his growing comfort as an artist
-- Jim had no better luck this time around.
Still refusing to abandon hope, Jim tried one more time In early
1960, after having moved to Berkeley, he once again changed the setting
completely, and turned Joe Cipher into "Sir Joe." This Arthurian-based
concept focused on genuinely whimsical gags involving heavy armor,
maidens in distress, and fire-breathing dragons. Jim’s dragons are
particularly funny, and this newest reboot seems ripe with
possibilities; it’s not at all hard to envision a daily strip evolving
from these samples.
Alas, syndicates once again failed to see any potential, and "Joe
Cipher" was put into Jim’s trunk as no more than another engaging
footnote in the artist’s collection of rejection slips.
Jim didn’t confine his efforts to "Joe Cipher"; the writer/artist
had no shortage of ideas, quite a few of which also wound up as
submission concepts. "Aunty Climax," produced in early 1957 -- just
prior to Jim’s ghost work for Dell comics -- was a single-panel gag
strip that starred a feisty little old lady who was far sharper than
most people assumed. She was based on Louise Cassidy, an AIS colleague
who also was the landlady for the building where Jim briefly lived with
Charles Cuddy. Jim produced a few dozen "Aunty Climax" panels, all of
which are vastly superior -- both in terms of writing and artwork -- to
many of the single-panel cartoons cluttering today’s newspapers.
"Confessions of a French Poodle" was a 1959 concept that didn’t
emerge much further than a few finished panels and lots of pencil
sketches; Jim good-naturedly admits that the idea went nowhere, and so
he abandoned it. That may have been shrewd market analysis, as the
medium never has lacked for dog-oriented material. Even so, French
poodles are funny in their own right, and Jim’s concept sketches are a
hoot.
When not working on Peanuts-related material, Sasseville tried to sell many of his own strip ideas
to a syndicate. From left to right, these examples are "Aunty Climax," "Friends and Foes," "Alpha-Betty" and "Happy Birthday."
(Click on the image to see an enlarged version.)
"Friends and Foes," another single-panel tryout, also emerged from
Jim’s pen in 1959. A little later, shortly after he started putting food
on the table with a "real job" -- and perhaps motivated by the explosion
of children’s television shows, which eventually led to "Sesame Street"
and everything that followed -- Jim tried a kid-oriented educational
strip called "Alpha-Betty," which starred a little girl who finds
herself in an other-worldly land populated by men and women shaped like
letters of the alphabet. The personalities of these individuals were
defined by their appearance; curved female letters, for example, were
far more sultry that straight female letters. The strip has a lovely
"Alice in Wonderland" quality, although the concept may have seemed
limiting.
Jim later played with the medium in "Blackboard," a daily strip
designed to be white-on-black, to imitate chalk on a classroom
blackboard. The stars were Dick, Jane and their TeacheR; although not as
overly educational as "Alpha-Betty," this strip also was aimed at young
audiences.
Jim’s final attempt at syndication was produced in the early 1970s,
after he first went into research hibernation, jotting down enough
celebrity birthdays to fill every day of a calendar year. The resulting
single-panel strips were a precursor to the "On this day in history..."
informational nuggets that have become so ubiquitous The panel for
March 28, for example, illustrated and revealed a few choice facts about
orchestra leader Paul Whiteman. March 29 was devoted to President John
Tyler, while Francisco Goya was featured on March 30.
Sadly, this fared no better with syndicators than any of the
others. "Joe Cipher," "Aunty Climax," "Confessions of a French Poodle,"
"Friends and Foes," "Alpha-Betty," "Blackboard" and "Birthdays" exist only
in Jim’s carefully preserved office files. More’s the pity, because even
the weakest of these strips displays a Puckish wit and clean, attractive
line work too often absent from many of the rushed, imitative strips
that generate little more than reader apathy these days.
Following the dust-up with Schulz and the move to Berkeley, Helga
-- who was delighted by the more rarefied atmosphere of a university
community -- became the family bread-winner. She took a job with a
German importer/exporter and commuted daily across the Bay Bridge.
Eventually succumbing to the need for steady employment, in April
1960 Jim took a job as a graphic designer with Varian, one of the
leading radar companies, located in California’s greater San Francisco
Bay Area. The fit proved comfortable, and he remained with the company
until he retired in 1990.
But the career shift wasn’t immediate; Jim first spent most of 1959
working up his own aforementioned comic strip proposals, and
occasionally sold individual gag cartoons to magazines. But his New
York-based agent took 35% of those one-shots.
"That’s when I started with Varian," Jim recalls, with a chuckle.
"I knew I’d never make it as a gag cartoonist."
Be that as it may, Jim never stopped his cartooning efforts; while
at Varian, he became famous for the birthday cards that he drew for
fellow employees.
Helga, meanwhile, got a job at Stanford, which prompted another
move; the couple then purchased their first home in 1960, in Mountain
View.
Three years later, they moved for what would be the last time. Jim
and his wife paid $28,000 for the house that remains his home to this
day. Just last year the retired artist was offered a cool million bucks
-- in cash -- by a dot-commer who wanted to develop the property. Still
loyal to the memories of his wife, with which the house is filled, Jim
politely declined. Helga died in 1995; he clearly still misses her.
Today, Parkinson’s Disease and the recent stroke have conspired to
deliver the ultimate nightmare Jim no longer can hold a pen well enough
to draw. ("I always marveled at Sparky’s ability to incorporate his
shaking hand into his line work.") But his mind and memory remain
acutely sharp, and his Puckish sense of humor is unbowed. He speaks with
clarity and certainty of his years at Art Instruction School, and with
Schulz, and of his never-successful efforts to market his own original
material.
Jim remains philosophical about his life, and in fact composed
another of his verses to express such feelings
I’m all for equal measures
Losses should be matched by gain;
And since I’ve missed life’s pleasures,
I’ll just double up with pain!
Definitely too harsh, but then we’re always hardest on ourselves.
Jim Sasseville deserves far more than the obscurity into which he has
settled; for a time, he was allied with the man who would become the
world’s most successful cartoonist, and for a time he helped chaperone
the faithfully rendered adventures of Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Linus, Lucy
and the rest ... no small feat.
And I’m particularly transfixed by a remark Jim made during one of
our later phone calls "I don’t know how one should behave, in a
situation like this," he said, referring to our ongoing conversations,
"but it’s like I’ve been resurrected."
Perhaps this article will kick-start our long-overdue obligation to
sing his praises.
Breaking News
Just the FAQs, Ma'am
Ace Airlines Tours: Sites to Visit
Beethoven's Rhapsodies: The Music (and Musicians) of Peanuts
Shop Till You Drop
Just for Fun
By Derrick Bang
Legal Matters
All PEANUTS characters pictured are copyrighted by United Feature Syndicate, Inc. They are used here with permission. They may not be reproduced by any means in any form.
If persistence counts for anything, he deserves considerable credit
for his ongoing efforts to sell "Joe Cipher" ("a character kinda based
on me"), a daily strip that underwent quite a few transmutations during
the decade-plus that he tried to place it with a syndicate.
The character first appeared in a sample series of daily strips Jim
produced in late 1949. The strip’s gentle humor is faintly reminiscent
of "Gasoline Alley" and other character-driven work of the era; the
title character is introduced driving an old jalopy that obligingly runs
out of gas at a filling station. The silver-tongued Joe, lacking any
money, eventually impresses the station owner into offering him a job;
Joe celebrates by stepping into a nearby diner for lunch, where he’s
immediately smitten by the young woman behind the counter, and...
...and that’s where the presentation panels concluded.
Perhaps feeling that the strip lacked dramatic impact, a few years
later -- while still at AIS -- Jim tried again, shifting the action to a
tiny island in the middle of the ocean, where the shipwrecked Joe is
joined by an attractive young woman named Ginny, survivor of a second
sea-going calamity. (What are the odds?) Although their relationship is
mildly prickly for the first few days, Ginny eventually wishes aloud
that they could be rescued, so that she can go on a "proper date" with
Joe, and perhaps even kiss him when the evening concludes. Once again,
the story cut off abruptly, as Jim produced just two weeks’ worth of
strips enough to (hopefully) interest a buyer.
Sasseville tried several times to place a comic strip starring Joe Cipher, the pleasant-looking chap
featured in these examples. The two left-most strips are taken from the first run Sasseville designed on his own;
the two right-most strips, starring the same character but
in a different setting, are from Sasseville's third
test run; Charles Schulz contributed story input on these.
(Click on the image to see an enlarged version.)
After getting back from his return hitch in the Navy, Jim
went back to work on Joe Cipher and got a nibble from an
unexpected quarter: Something about this particular setting
touched Schulz, who suggested they collaborate on yet
a third incarnation of "Joe Cipher." (At the time, both men still were
unmarried, and it’s not hard to see a little male fantasy
wish-fulfillment at work.) With narrative input from Schulz and Jim
handling the art chores, the scene shifted again, this time to a
typically romantic South Seas setting, on an island large enough to
support a population of curvaceous young cuties and at least one
villain. Joe and Ginny remained the central focus, but this time the
former saw genuine action, on the receiving end of the villain’s fists.
Schulz and Jim took this newest version of "Joe Cipher" to United
Features Syndicate in spring of 1954; it was turned down flat. The
trip to New York wasn't a complete waste, though, because Sasseville
and Schulz caught a couple of plays: a T.S. Elliot drama called
Confidential Clerk, and another called The King of
Hearts, which starred Jackie Cooper as (what are the odds?)
a cartoonist!
Sasseville also remembers going from suite to suite in New
York's Waldorf hotel during this trip, visiting one cartoonist
after another; meeting Al Capp was a high point. But at least
part of the reason for the trip -- the newest Joe Cipher -- proved
unsellable, and Schulz bowed out at that point.
When Jim finally returned to "Joe Cipher," the 1950s were almost
over. Jim’s association with "Peanuts" and "It’s Only a Game" had
concluded, so the writer/artist returned to his favorite unsold
property. Jim recast his hero in yet another new setting, this time a
business office populated by characters clearly derived from his days at
Art Instruction. Although the sample panels display even cleaner, more
attractive line work -- a sure sign of his growing comfort as an artist
-- Jim had no better luck this time around.
Still refusing to abandon hope, Jim tried one more time In early
1960, after having moved to Berkeley, he once again changed the setting
completely, and turned Joe Cipher into "Sir Joe." This Arthurian-based
concept focused on genuinely whimsical gags involving heavy armor,
maidens in distress, and fire-breathing dragons. Jim’s dragons are
particularly funny, and this newest reboot seems ripe with
possibilities; it’s not at all hard to envision a daily strip evolving
from these samples.
Alas, syndicates once again failed to see any potential, and "Joe
Cipher" was put into Jim’s trunk as no more than another engaging
footnote in the artist’s collection of rejection slips.
Jim didn’t confine his efforts to "Joe Cipher"; the writer/artist
had no shortage of ideas, quite a few of which also wound up as
submission concepts. "Aunty Climax," produced in early 1957 -- just
prior to Jim’s ghost work for Dell comics -- was a single-panel gag
strip that starred a feisty little old lady who was far sharper than
most people assumed. She was based on Louise Cassidy, an AIS colleague
who also was the landlady for the building where Jim briefly lived with
Charles Cuddy. Jim produced a few dozen "Aunty Climax" panels, all of
which are vastly superior -- both in terms of writing and artwork -- to
many of the single-panel cartoons cluttering today’s newspapers.
"Confessions of a French Poodle" was a 1959 concept that didn’t
emerge much further than a few finished panels and lots of pencil
sketches; Jim good-naturedly admits that the idea went nowhere, and so
he abandoned it. That may have been shrewd market analysis, as the
medium never has lacked for dog-oriented material. Even so, French
poodles are funny in their own right, and Jim’s concept sketches are a
hoot.
When not working on Peanuts-related material, Sasseville tried to sell many of his own strip ideas
to a syndicate. From left to right, these examples are "Aunty Climax," "Friends and Foes," "Alpha-Betty" and "Happy Birthday."
(Click on the image to see an enlarged version.)
"Friends and Foes," another single-panel tryout, also emerged from
Jim’s pen in 1959. A little later, shortly after he started putting food
on the table with a "real job" -- and perhaps motivated by the explosion
of children’s television shows, which eventually led to "Sesame Street"
and everything that followed -- Jim tried a kid-oriented educational
strip called "Alpha-Betty," which starred a little girl who finds
herself in an other-worldly land populated by men and women shaped like
letters of the alphabet. The personalities of these individuals were
defined by their appearance; curved female letters, for example, were
far more sultry that straight female letters. The strip has a lovely
"Alice in Wonderland" quality, although the concept may have seemed
limiting.
Jim later played with the medium in "Blackboard," a daily strip
designed to be white-on-black, to imitate chalk on a classroom
blackboard. The stars were Dick, Jane and their TeacheR; although not as
overly educational as "Alpha-Betty," this strip also was aimed at young
audiences.
Jim’s final attempt at syndication was produced in the early 1970s,
after he first went into research hibernation, jotting down enough
celebrity birthdays to fill every day of a calendar year. The resulting
single-panel strips were a precursor to the "On this day in history..."
informational nuggets that have become so ubiquitous The panel for
March 28, for example, illustrated and revealed a few choice facts about
orchestra leader Paul Whiteman. March 29 was devoted to President John
Tyler, while Francisco Goya was featured on March 30.
Sadly, this fared no better with syndicators than any of the
others. "Joe Cipher," "Aunty Climax," "Confessions of a French Poodle,"
"Friends and Foes," "Alpha-Betty," "Blackboard" and "Birthdays" exist only
in Jim’s carefully preserved office files. More’s the pity, because even
the weakest of these strips displays a Puckish wit and clean, attractive
line work too often absent from many of the rushed, imitative strips
that generate little more than reader apathy these days.
Following the dust-up with Schulz and the move to Berkeley, Helga
-- who was delighted by the more rarefied atmosphere of a university
community -- became the family bread-winner. She took a job with a
German importer/exporter and commuted daily across the Bay Bridge.
Eventually succumbing to the need for steady employment, in April
1960 Jim took a job as a graphic designer with Varian, one of the
leading radar companies, located in California’s greater San Francisco
Bay Area. The fit proved comfortable, and he remained with the company
until he retired in 1990.
But the career shift wasn’t immediate; Jim first spent most of 1959
working up his own aforementioned comic strip proposals, and
occasionally sold individual gag cartoons to magazines. But his New
York-based agent took 35% of those one-shots.
"That’s when I started with Varian," Jim recalls, with a chuckle.
"I knew I’d never make it as a gag cartoonist."
Be that as it may, Jim never stopped his cartooning efforts; while
at Varian, he became famous for the birthday cards that he drew for
fellow employees.
Helga, meanwhile, got a job at Stanford, which prompted another
move; the couple then purchased their first home in 1960, in Mountain
View.
Three years later, they moved for what would be the last time. Jim
and his wife paid $28,000 for the house that remains his home to this
day. Just last year the retired artist was offered a cool million bucks
-- in cash -- by a dot-commer who wanted to develop the property. Still
loyal to the memories of his wife, with which the house is filled, Jim
politely declined. Helga died in 1995; he clearly still misses her.
Today, Parkinson’s Disease and the recent stroke have conspired to
deliver the ultimate nightmare Jim no longer can hold a pen well enough
to draw. ("I always marveled at Sparky’s ability to incorporate his
shaking hand into his line work.") But his mind and memory remain
acutely sharp, and his Puckish sense of humor is unbowed. He speaks with
clarity and certainty of his years at Art Instruction School, and with
Schulz, and of his never-successful efforts to market his own original
material.
Jim remains philosophical about his life, and in fact composed
another of his verses to express such feelings
I’m all for equal measures
Losses should be matched by gain;
And since I’ve missed life’s pleasures,
I’ll just double up with pain!
Definitely too harsh, but then we’re always hardest on ourselves.
Jim Sasseville deserves far more than the obscurity into which he has
settled; for a time, he was allied with the man who would become the
world’s most successful cartoonist, and for a time he helped chaperone
the faithfully rendered adventures of Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Linus, Lucy
and the rest ... no small feat.
And I’m particularly transfixed by a remark Jim made during one of
our later phone calls "I don’t know how one should behave, in a
situation like this," he said, referring to our ongoing conversations,
"but it’s like I’ve been resurrected."
Perhaps this article will kick-start our long-overdue obligation to
sing his praises.
Breaking News
Just the FAQs, Ma'am
Ace Airlines Tours: Sites to Visit
Beethoven's Rhapsodies: The Music (and Musicians) of Peanuts
Shop Till You Drop
Just for Fun
By Derrick Bang
Legal Matters
All PEANUTS characters pictured are copyrighted by United Feature Syndicate, Inc. They are used here with permission. They may not be reproduced by any means in any form.
...and that’s where the presentation panels concluded.
Perhaps feeling that the strip lacked dramatic impact, a few years
later -- while still at AIS -- Jim tried again, shifting the action to a
tiny island in the middle of the ocean, where the shipwrecked Joe is
joined by an attractive young woman named Ginny, survivor of a second
sea-going calamity. (What are the odds?) Although their relationship is
mildly prickly for the first few days, Ginny eventually wishes aloud
that they could be rescued, so that she can go on a "proper date" with
Joe, and perhaps even kiss him when the evening concludes. Once again,
the story cut off abruptly, as Jim produced just two weeks’ worth of
strips enough to (hopefully) interest a buyer.
Sasseville tried several times to place a comic strip starring Joe Cipher, the pleasant-looking chap
featured in these examples. The two left-most strips are taken from the first run Sasseville designed on his own;
the two right-most strips, starring the same character but
in a different setting, are from Sasseville's third
test run; Charles Schulz contributed story input on these.
(Click on the image to see an enlarged version.)
After getting back from his return hitch in the Navy, Jim
went back to work on Joe Cipher and got a nibble from an
unexpected quarter: Something about this particular setting
touched Schulz, who suggested they collaborate on yet
a third incarnation of "Joe Cipher." (At the time, both men still were
unmarried, and it’s not hard to see a little male fantasy
wish-fulfillment at work.) With narrative input from Schulz and Jim
handling the art chores, the scene shifted again, this time to a
typically romantic South Seas setting, on an island large enough to
support a population of curvaceous young cuties and at least one
villain. Joe and Ginny remained the central focus, but this time the
former saw genuine action, on the receiving end of the villain’s fists.
Schulz and Jim took this newest version of "Joe Cipher" to United
Features Syndicate in spring of 1954; it was turned down flat. The
trip to New York wasn't a complete waste, though, because Sasseville
and Schulz caught a couple of plays: a T.S. Elliot drama called
Confidential Clerk, and another called The King of
Hearts, which starred Jackie Cooper as (what are the odds?)
a cartoonist!
Sasseville also remembers going from suite to suite in New
York's Waldorf hotel during this trip, visiting one cartoonist
after another; meeting Al Capp was a high point. But at least
part of the reason for the trip -- the newest Joe Cipher -- proved
unsellable, and Schulz bowed out at that point.
When Jim finally returned to "Joe Cipher," the 1950s were almost
over. Jim’s association with "Peanuts" and "It’s Only a Game" had
concluded, so the writer/artist returned to his favorite unsold
property. Jim recast his hero in yet another new setting, this time a
business office populated by characters clearly derived from his days at
Art Instruction. Although the sample panels display even cleaner, more
attractive line work -- a sure sign of his growing comfort as an artist
-- Jim had no better luck this time around.
Still refusing to abandon hope, Jim tried one more time In early
1960, after having moved to Berkeley, he once again changed the setting
completely, and turned Joe Cipher into "Sir Joe." This Arthurian-based
concept focused on genuinely whimsical gags involving heavy armor,
maidens in distress, and fire-breathing dragons. Jim’s dragons are
particularly funny, and this newest reboot seems ripe with
possibilities; it’s not at all hard to envision a daily strip evolving
from these samples.
Alas, syndicates once again failed to see any potential, and "Joe
Cipher" was put into Jim’s trunk as no more than another engaging
footnote in the artist’s collection of rejection slips.
Jim didn’t confine his efforts to "Joe Cipher"; the writer/artist
had no shortage of ideas, quite a few of which also wound up as
submission concepts. "Aunty Climax," produced in early 1957 -- just
prior to Jim’s ghost work for Dell comics -- was a single-panel gag
strip that starred a feisty little old lady who was far sharper than
most people assumed. She was based on Louise Cassidy, an AIS colleague
who also was the landlady for the building where Jim briefly lived with
Charles Cuddy. Jim produced a few dozen "Aunty Climax" panels, all of
which are vastly superior -- both in terms of writing and artwork -- to
many of the single-panel cartoons cluttering today’s newspapers.
"Confessions of a French Poodle" was a 1959 concept that didn’t
emerge much further than a few finished panels and lots of pencil
sketches; Jim good-naturedly admits that the idea went nowhere, and so
he abandoned it. That may have been shrewd market analysis, as the
medium never has lacked for dog-oriented material. Even so, French
poodles are funny in their own right, and Jim’s concept sketches are a
hoot.
When not working on Peanuts-related material, Sasseville tried to sell many of his own strip ideas
to a syndicate. From left to right, these examples are "Aunty Climax," "Friends and Foes," "Alpha-Betty" and "Happy Birthday."
(Click on the image to see an enlarged version.)
"Friends and Foes," another single-panel tryout, also emerged from
Jim’s pen in 1959. A little later, shortly after he started putting food
on the table with a "real job" -- and perhaps motivated by the explosion
of children’s television shows, which eventually led to "Sesame Street"
and everything that followed -- Jim tried a kid-oriented educational
strip called "Alpha-Betty," which starred a little girl who finds
herself in an other-worldly land populated by men and women shaped like
letters of the alphabet. The personalities of these individuals were
defined by their appearance; curved female letters, for example, were
far more sultry that straight female letters. The strip has a lovely
"Alice in Wonderland" quality, although the concept may have seemed
limiting.
Jim later played with the medium in "Blackboard," a daily strip
designed to be white-on-black, to imitate chalk on a classroom
blackboard. The stars were Dick, Jane and their TeacheR; although not as
overly educational as "Alpha-Betty," this strip also was aimed at young
audiences.
Jim’s final attempt at syndication was produced in the early 1970s,
after he first went into research hibernation, jotting down enough
celebrity birthdays to fill every day of a calendar year. The resulting
single-panel strips were a precursor to the "On this day in history..."
informational nuggets that have become so ubiquitous The panel for
March 28, for example, illustrated and revealed a few choice facts about
orchestra leader Paul Whiteman. March 29 was devoted to President John
Tyler, while Francisco Goya was featured on March 30.
Sadly, this fared no better with syndicators than any of the
others. "Joe Cipher," "Aunty Climax," "Confessions of a French Poodle,"
"Friends and Foes," "Alpha-Betty," "Blackboard" and "Birthdays" exist only
in Jim’s carefully preserved office files. More’s the pity, because even
the weakest of these strips displays a Puckish wit and clean, attractive
line work too often absent from many of the rushed, imitative strips
that generate little more than reader apathy these days.
Following the dust-up with Schulz and the move to Berkeley, Helga
-- who was delighted by the more rarefied atmosphere of a university
community -- became the family bread-winner. She took a job with a
German importer/exporter and commuted daily across the Bay Bridge.
Eventually succumbing to the need for steady employment, in April
1960 Jim took a job as a graphic designer with Varian, one of the
leading radar companies, located in California’s greater San Francisco
Bay Area. The fit proved comfortable, and he remained with the company
until he retired in 1990.
But the career shift wasn’t immediate; Jim first spent most of 1959
working up his own aforementioned comic strip proposals, and
occasionally sold individual gag cartoons to magazines. But his New
York-based agent took 35% of those one-shots.
"That’s when I started with Varian," Jim recalls, with a chuckle.
"I knew I’d never make it as a gag cartoonist."
Be that as it may, Jim never stopped his cartooning efforts; while
at Varian, he became famous for the birthday cards that he drew for
fellow employees.
Helga, meanwhile, got a job at Stanford, which prompted another
move; the couple then purchased their first home in 1960, in Mountain
View.
Three years later, they moved for what would be the last time. Jim
and his wife paid $28,000 for the house that remains his home to this
day. Just last year the retired artist was offered a cool million bucks
-- in cash -- by a dot-commer who wanted to develop the property. Still
loyal to the memories of his wife, with which the house is filled, Jim
politely declined. Helga died in 1995; he clearly still misses her.
Today, Parkinson’s Disease and the recent stroke have conspired to
deliver the ultimate nightmare Jim no longer can hold a pen well enough
to draw. ("I always marveled at Sparky’s ability to incorporate his
shaking hand into his line work.") But his mind and memory remain
acutely sharp, and his Puckish sense of humor is unbowed. He speaks with
clarity and certainty of his years at Art Instruction School, and with
Schulz, and of his never-successful efforts to market his own original
material.
Jim remains philosophical about his life, and in fact composed
another of his verses to express such feelings
I’m all for equal measures
Losses should be matched by gain;
And since I’ve missed life’s pleasures,
I’ll just double up with pain!
Definitely too harsh, but then we’re always hardest on ourselves.
Jim Sasseville deserves far more than the obscurity into which he has
settled; for a time, he was allied with the man who would become the
world’s most successful cartoonist, and for a time he helped chaperone
the faithfully rendered adventures of Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Linus, Lucy
and the rest ... no small feat.
And I’m particularly transfixed by a remark Jim made during one of
our later phone calls "I don’t know how one should behave, in a
situation like this," he said, referring to our ongoing conversations,
"but it’s like I’ve been resurrected."
Perhaps this article will kick-start our long-overdue obligation to
sing his praises.
Breaking News
Just the FAQs, Ma'am
Ace Airlines Tours: Sites to Visit
Beethoven's Rhapsodies: The Music (and Musicians) of Peanuts
Shop Till You Drop
Just for Fun
By Derrick Bang
Legal Matters
All PEANUTS characters pictured are copyrighted by United Feature Syndicate, Inc. They are used here with permission. They may not be reproduced by any means in any form.
| 
| 
| 
|
Sasseville tried several times to place a comic strip starring Joe Cipher, the pleasant-looking chap
featured in these examples. The two left-most strips are taken from the first run Sasseville designed on his own;
the two right-most strips, starring the same character but
in a different setting, are from Sasseville's third
test run; Charles Schulz contributed story input on these.
(Click on the image to see an enlarged version.)
After getting back from his return hitch in the Navy, Jim
went back to work on Joe Cipher and got a nibble from an
unexpected quarter: Something about this particular setting
touched Schulz, who suggested they collaborate on yet
a third incarnation of "Joe Cipher." (At the time, both men still were
unmarried, and it’s not hard to see a little male fantasy
wish-fulfillment at work.) With narrative input from Schulz and Jim
handling the art chores, the scene shifted again, this time to a
typically romantic South Seas setting, on an island large enough to
support a population of curvaceous young cuties and at least one
villain. Joe and Ginny remained the central focus, but this time the
former saw genuine action, on the receiving end of the villain’s fists.
Schulz and Jim took this newest version of "Joe Cipher" to United
Features Syndicate in spring of 1954; it was turned down flat. The
trip to New York wasn't a complete waste, though, because Sasseville
and Schulz caught a couple of plays: a T.S. Elliot drama called
Confidential Clerk, and another called The King of
Hearts, which starred Jackie Cooper as (what are the odds?)
a cartoonist!
Sasseville also remembers going from suite to suite in New
York's Waldorf hotel during this trip, visiting one cartoonist
after another; meeting Al Capp was a high point. But at least
part of the reason for the trip -- the newest Joe Cipher -- proved
unsellable, and Schulz bowed out at that point.
When Jim finally returned to "Joe Cipher," the 1950s were almost
over. Jim’s association with "Peanuts" and "It’s Only a Game" had
concluded, so the writer/artist returned to his favorite unsold
property. Jim recast his hero in yet another new setting, this time a
business office populated by characters clearly derived from his days at
Art Instruction. Although the sample panels display even cleaner, more
attractive line work -- a sure sign of his growing comfort as an artist
-- Jim had no better luck this time around.
Still refusing to abandon hope, Jim tried one more time In early
1960, after having moved to Berkeley, he once again changed the setting
completely, and turned Joe Cipher into "Sir Joe." This Arthurian-based
concept focused on genuinely whimsical gags involving heavy armor,
maidens in distress, and fire-breathing dragons. Jim’s dragons are
particularly funny, and this newest reboot seems ripe with
possibilities; it’s not at all hard to envision a daily strip evolving
from these samples.
Alas, syndicates once again failed to see any potential, and "Joe
Cipher" was put into Jim’s trunk as no more than another engaging
footnote in the artist’s collection of rejection slips.
Jim didn’t confine his efforts to "Joe Cipher"; the writer/artist
had no shortage of ideas, quite a few of which also wound up as
submission concepts. "Aunty Climax," produced in early 1957 -- just
prior to Jim’s ghost work for Dell comics -- was a single-panel gag
strip that starred a feisty little old lady who was far sharper than
most people assumed. She was based on Louise Cassidy, an AIS colleague
who also was the landlady for the building where Jim briefly lived with
Charles Cuddy. Jim produced a few dozen "Aunty Climax" panels, all of
which are vastly superior -- both in terms of writing and artwork -- to
many of the single-panel cartoons cluttering today’s newspapers.
"Confessions of a French Poodle" was a 1959 concept that didn’t
emerge much further than a few finished panels and lots of pencil
sketches; Jim good-naturedly admits that the idea went nowhere, and so
he abandoned it. That may have been shrewd market analysis, as the
medium never has lacked for dog-oriented material. Even so, French
poodles are funny in their own right, and Jim’s concept sketches are a
hoot.
When not working on Peanuts-related material, Sasseville tried to sell many of his own strip ideas
to a syndicate. From left to right, these examples are "Aunty Climax," "Friends and Foes," "Alpha-Betty" and "Happy Birthday."
(Click on the image to see an enlarged version.)
"Friends and Foes," another single-panel tryout, also emerged from
Jim’s pen in 1959. A little later, shortly after he started putting food
on the table with a "real job" -- and perhaps motivated by the explosion
of children’s television shows, which eventually led to "Sesame Street"
and everything that followed -- Jim tried a kid-oriented educational
strip called "Alpha-Betty," which starred a little girl who finds
herself in an other-worldly land populated by men and women shaped like
letters of the alphabet. The personalities of these individuals were
defined by their appearance; curved female letters, for example, were
far more sultry that straight female letters. The strip has a lovely
"Alice in Wonderland" quality, although the concept may have seemed
limiting.
Jim later played with the medium in "Blackboard," a daily strip
designed to be white-on-black, to imitate chalk on a classroom
blackboard. The stars were Dick, Jane and their TeacheR; although not as
overly educational as "Alpha-Betty," this strip also was aimed at young
audiences.
Jim’s final attempt at syndication was produced in the early 1970s,
after he first went into research hibernation, jotting down enough
celebrity birthdays to fill every day of a calendar year. The resulting
single-panel strips were a precursor to the "On this day in history..."
informational nuggets that have become so ubiquitous The panel for
March 28, for example, illustrated and revealed a few choice facts about
orchestra leader Paul Whiteman. March 29 was devoted to President John
Tyler, while Francisco Goya was featured on March 30.
Sadly, this fared no better with syndicators than any of the
others. "Joe Cipher," "Aunty Climax," "Confessions of a French Poodle,"
"Friends and Foes," "Alpha-Betty," "Blackboard" and "Birthdays" exist only
in Jim’s carefully preserved office files. More’s the pity, because even
the weakest of these strips displays a Puckish wit and clean, attractive
line work too often absent from many of the rushed, imitative strips
that generate little more than reader apathy these days.
Following the dust-up with Schulz and the move to Berkeley, Helga
-- who was delighted by the more rarefied atmosphere of a university
community -- became the family bread-winner. She took a job with a
German importer/exporter and commuted daily across the Bay Bridge.
Eventually succumbing to the need for steady employment, in April
1960 Jim took a job as a graphic designer with Varian, one of the
leading radar companies, located in California’s greater San Francisco
Bay Area. The fit proved comfortable, and he remained with the company
until he retired in 1990.
But the career shift wasn’t immediate; Jim first spent most of 1959
working up his own aforementioned comic strip proposals, and
occasionally sold individual gag cartoons to magazines. But his New
York-based agent took 35% of those one-shots.
"That’s when I started with Varian," Jim recalls, with a chuckle.
"I knew I’d never make it as a gag cartoonist."
Be that as it may, Jim never stopped his cartooning efforts; while
at Varian, he became famous for the birthday cards that he drew for
fellow employees.
Helga, meanwhile, got a job at Stanford, which prompted another
move; the couple then purchased their first home in 1960, in Mountain
View.
Three years later, they moved for what would be the last time. Jim
and his wife paid $28,000 for the house that remains his home to this
day. Just last year the retired artist was offered a cool million bucks
-- in cash -- by a dot-commer who wanted to develop the property. Still
loyal to the memories of his wife, with which the house is filled, Jim
politely declined. Helga died in 1995; he clearly still misses her.
Today, Parkinson’s Disease and the recent stroke have conspired to
deliver the ultimate nightmare Jim no longer can hold a pen well enough
to draw. ("I always marveled at Sparky’s ability to incorporate his
shaking hand into his line work.") But his mind and memory remain
acutely sharp, and his Puckish sense of humor is unbowed. He speaks with
clarity and certainty of his years at Art Instruction School, and with
Schulz, and of his never-successful efforts to market his own original
material.
Jim remains philosophical about his life, and in fact composed
another of his verses to express such feelings
I’m all for equal measures
Losses should be matched by gain;
And since I’ve missed life’s pleasures,
I’ll just double up with pain!
Definitely too harsh, but then we’re always hardest on ourselves.
Jim Sasseville deserves far more than the obscurity into which he has
settled; for a time, he was allied with the man who would become the
world’s most successful cartoonist, and for a time he helped chaperone
the faithfully rendered adventures of Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Linus, Lucy
and the rest ... no small feat.
And I’m particularly transfixed by a remark Jim made during one of
our later phone calls "I don’t know how one should behave, in a
situation like this," he said, referring to our ongoing conversations,
"but it’s like I’ve been resurrected."
Perhaps this article will kick-start our long-overdue obligation to
sing his praises.
Breaking News
Just the FAQs, Ma'am
Ace Airlines Tours: Sites to Visit
Beethoven's Rhapsodies: The Music (and Musicians) of Peanuts
Shop Till You Drop
Just for Fun
By Derrick Bang
Legal Matters
All PEANUTS characters pictured are copyrighted by United Feature Syndicate, Inc. They are used here with permission. They may not be reproduced by any means in any form.
Schulz and Jim took this newest version of "Joe Cipher" to United
Features Syndicate in spring of 1954; it was turned down flat. The
trip to New York wasn't a complete waste, though, because Sasseville
and Schulz caught a couple of plays: a T.S. Elliot drama called
Confidential Clerk, and another called The King of
Hearts, which starred Jackie Cooper as (what are the odds?)
a cartoonist!
Sasseville also remembers going from suite to suite in New
York's Waldorf hotel during this trip, visiting one cartoonist
after another; meeting Al Capp was a high point. But at least
part of the reason for the trip -- the newest Joe Cipher -- proved
unsellable, and Schulz bowed out at that point.
When Jim finally returned to "Joe Cipher," the 1950s were almost
over. Jim’s association with "Peanuts" and "It’s Only a Game" had
concluded, so the writer/artist returned to his favorite unsold
property. Jim recast his hero in yet another new setting, this time a
business office populated by characters clearly derived from his days at
Art Instruction. Although the sample panels display even cleaner, more
attractive line work -- a sure sign of his growing comfort as an artist
-- Jim had no better luck this time around.
Still refusing to abandon hope, Jim tried one more time In early
1960, after having moved to Berkeley, he once again changed the setting
completely, and turned Joe Cipher into "Sir Joe." This Arthurian-based
concept focused on genuinely whimsical gags involving heavy armor,
maidens in distress, and fire-breathing dragons. Jim’s dragons are
particularly funny, and this newest reboot seems ripe with
possibilities; it’s not at all hard to envision a daily strip evolving
from these samples.
Alas, syndicates once again failed to see any potential, and "Joe
Cipher" was put into Jim’s trunk as no more than another engaging
footnote in the artist’s collection of rejection slips.
Jim didn’t confine his efforts to "Joe Cipher"; the writer/artist
had no shortage of ideas, quite a few of which also wound up as
submission concepts. "Aunty Climax," produced in early 1957 -- just
prior to Jim’s ghost work for Dell comics -- was a single-panel gag
strip that starred a feisty little old lady who was far sharper than
most people assumed. She was based on Louise Cassidy, an AIS colleague
who also was the landlady for the building where Jim briefly lived with
Charles Cuddy. Jim produced a few dozen "Aunty Climax" panels, all of
which are vastly superior -- both in terms of writing and artwork -- to
many of the single-panel cartoons cluttering today’s newspapers.
"Confessions of a French Poodle" was a 1959 concept that didn’t
emerge much further than a few finished panels and lots of pencil
sketches; Jim good-naturedly admits that the idea went nowhere, and so
he abandoned it. That may have been shrewd market analysis, as the
medium never has lacked for dog-oriented material. Even so, French
poodles are funny in their own right, and Jim’s concept sketches are a
hoot.
When not working on Peanuts-related material, Sasseville tried to sell many of his own strip ideas
to a syndicate. From left to right, these examples are "Aunty Climax," "Friends and Foes," "Alpha-Betty" and "Happy Birthday."
(Click on the image to see an enlarged version.)
"Friends and Foes," another single-panel tryout, also emerged from
Jim’s pen in 1959. A little later, shortly after he started putting food
on the table with a "real job" -- and perhaps motivated by the explosion
of children’s television shows, which eventually led to "Sesame Street"
and everything that followed -- Jim tried a kid-oriented educational
strip called "Alpha-Betty," which starred a little girl who finds
herself in an other-worldly land populated by men and women shaped like
letters of the alphabet. The personalities of these individuals were
defined by their appearance; curved female letters, for example, were
far more sultry that straight female letters. The strip has a lovely
"Alice in Wonderland" quality, although the concept may have seemed
limiting.
Jim later played with the medium in "Blackboard," a daily strip
designed to be white-on-black, to imitate chalk on a classroom
blackboard. The stars were Dick, Jane and their TeacheR; although not as
overly educational as "Alpha-Betty," this strip also was aimed at young
audiences.
Jim’s final attempt at syndication was produced in the early 1970s,
after he first went into research hibernation, jotting down enough
celebrity birthdays to fill every day of a calendar year. The resulting
single-panel strips were a precursor to the "On this day in history..."
informational nuggets that have become so ubiquitous The panel for
March 28, for example, illustrated and revealed a few choice facts about
orchestra leader Paul Whiteman. March 29 was devoted to President John
Tyler, while Francisco Goya was featured on March 30.
Sadly, this fared no better with syndicators than any of the
others. "Joe Cipher," "Aunty Climax," "Confessions of a French Poodle,"
"Friends and Foes," "Alpha-Betty," "Blackboard" and "Birthdays" exist only
in Jim’s carefully preserved office files. More’s the pity, because even
the weakest of these strips displays a Puckish wit and clean, attractive
line work too often absent from many of the rushed, imitative strips
that generate little more than reader apathy these days.
Following the dust-up with Schulz and the move to Berkeley, Helga
-- who was delighted by the more rarefied atmosphere of a university
community -- became the family bread-winner. She took a job with a
German importer/exporter and commuted daily across the Bay Bridge.
Eventually succumbing to the need for steady employment, in April
1960 Jim took a job as a graphic designer with Varian, one of the
leading radar companies, located in California’s greater San Francisco
Bay Area. The fit proved comfortable, and he remained with the company
until he retired in 1990.
But the career shift wasn’t immediate; Jim first spent most of 1959
working up his own aforementioned comic strip proposals, and
occasionally sold individual gag cartoons to magazines. But his New
York-based agent took 35% of those one-shots.
"That’s when I started with Varian," Jim recalls, with a chuckle.
"I knew I’d never make it as a gag cartoonist."
Be that as it may, Jim never stopped his cartooning efforts; while
at Varian, he became famous for the birthday cards that he drew for
fellow employees.
Helga, meanwhile, got a job at Stanford, which prompted another
move; the couple then purchased their first home in 1960, in Mountain
View.
Three years later, they moved for what would be the last time. Jim
and his wife paid $28,000 for the house that remains his home to this
day. Just last year the retired artist was offered a cool million bucks
-- in cash -- by a dot-commer who wanted to develop the property. Still
loyal to the memories of his wife, with which the house is filled, Jim
politely declined. Helga died in 1995; he clearly still misses her.
Today, Parkinson’s Disease and the recent stroke have conspired to
deliver the ultimate nightmare Jim no longer can hold a pen well enough
to draw. ("I always marveled at Sparky’s ability to incorporate his
shaking hand into his line work.") But his mind and memory remain
acutely sharp, and his Puckish sense of humor is unbowed. He speaks with
clarity and certainty of his years at Art Instruction School, and with
Schulz, and of his never-successful efforts to market his own original
material.
Jim remains philosophical about his life, and in fact composed
another of his verses to express such feelings
I’m all for equal measures
Losses should be matched by gain;
And since I’ve missed life’s pleasures,
I’ll just double up with pain!
Definitely too harsh, but then we’re always hardest on ourselves.
Jim Sasseville deserves far more than the obscurity into which he has
settled; for a time, he was allied with the man who would become the
world’s most successful cartoonist, and for a time he helped chaperone
the faithfully rendered adventures of Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Linus, Lucy
and the rest ... no small feat.
And I’m particularly transfixed by a remark Jim made during one of
our later phone calls "I don’t know how one should behave, in a
situation like this," he said, referring to our ongoing conversations,
"but it’s like I’ve been resurrected."
Perhaps this article will kick-start our long-overdue obligation to
sing his praises.
Breaking News
Just the FAQs, Ma'am
Ace Airlines Tours: Sites to Visit
Beethoven's Rhapsodies: The Music (and Musicians) of Peanuts
Shop Till You Drop
Just for Fun
By Derrick Bang
Legal Matters
All PEANUTS characters pictured are copyrighted by United Feature Syndicate, Inc. They are used here with permission. They may not be reproduced by any means in any form.
When Jim finally returned to "Joe Cipher," the 1950s were almost
over. Jim’s association with "Peanuts" and "It’s Only a Game" had
concluded, so the writer/artist returned to his favorite unsold
property. Jim recast his hero in yet another new setting, this time a
business office populated by characters clearly derived from his days at
Art Instruction. Although the sample panels display even cleaner, more
attractive line work -- a sure sign of his growing comfort as an artist
-- Jim had no better luck this time around.
Still refusing to abandon hope, Jim tried one more time In early
1960, after having moved to Berkeley, he once again changed the setting
completely, and turned Joe Cipher into "Sir Joe." This Arthurian-based
concept focused on genuinely whimsical gags involving heavy armor,
maidens in distress, and fire-breathing dragons. Jim’s dragons are
particularly funny, and this newest reboot seems ripe with
possibilities; it’s not at all hard to envision a daily strip evolving
from these samples.
Alas, syndicates once again failed to see any potential, and "Joe
Cipher" was put into Jim’s trunk as no more than another engaging
footnote in the artist’s collection of rejection slips.
Jim didn’t confine his efforts to "Joe Cipher"; the writer/artist
had no shortage of ideas, quite a few of which also wound up as
submission concepts. "Aunty Climax," produced in early 1957 -- just
prior to Jim’s ghost work for Dell comics -- was a single-panel gag
strip that starred a feisty little old lady who was far sharper than
most people assumed. She was based on Louise Cassidy, an AIS colleague
who also was the landlady for the building where Jim briefly lived with
Charles Cuddy. Jim produced a few dozen "Aunty Climax" panels, all of
which are vastly superior -- both in terms of writing and artwork -- to
many of the single-panel cartoons cluttering today’s newspapers.
"Confessions of a French Poodle" was a 1959 concept that didn’t
emerge much further than a few finished panels and lots of pencil
sketches; Jim good-naturedly admits that the idea went nowhere, and so
he abandoned it. That may have been shrewd market analysis, as the
medium never has lacked for dog-oriented material. Even so, French
poodles are funny in their own right, and Jim’s concept sketches are a
hoot.
When not working on Peanuts-related material, Sasseville tried to sell many of his own strip ideas
to a syndicate. From left to right, these examples are "Aunty Climax," "Friends and Foes," "Alpha-Betty" and "Happy Birthday."
(Click on the image to see an enlarged version.)
"Friends and Foes," another single-panel tryout, also emerged from
Jim’s pen in 1959. A little later, shortly after he started putting food
on the table with a "real job" -- and perhaps motivated by the explosion
of children’s television shows, which eventually led to "Sesame Street"
and everything that followed -- Jim tried a kid-oriented educational
strip called "Alpha-Betty," which starred a little girl who finds
herself in an other-worldly land populated by men and women shaped like
letters of the alphabet. The personalities of these individuals were
defined by their appearance; curved female letters, for example, were
far more sultry that straight female letters. The strip has a lovely
"Alice in Wonderland" quality, although the concept may have seemed
limiting.
Jim later played with the medium in "Blackboard," a daily strip
designed to be white-on-black, to imitate chalk on a classroom
blackboard. The stars were Dick, Jane and their TeacheR; although not as
overly educational as "Alpha-Betty," this strip also was aimed at young
audiences.
Jim’s final attempt at syndication was produced in the early 1970s,
after he first went into research hibernation, jotting down enough
celebrity birthdays to fill every day of a calendar year. The resulting
single-panel strips were a precursor to the "On this day in history..."
informational nuggets that have become so ubiquitous The panel for
March 28, for example, illustrated and revealed a few choice facts about
orchestra leader Paul Whiteman. March 29 was devoted to President John
Tyler, while Francisco Goya was featured on March 30.
Sadly, this fared no better with syndicators than any of the
others. "Joe Cipher," "Aunty Climax," "Confessions of a French Poodle,"
"Friends and Foes," "Alpha-Betty," "Blackboard" and "Birthdays" exist only
in Jim’s carefully preserved office files. More’s the pity, because even
the weakest of these strips displays a Puckish wit and clean, attractive
line work too often absent from many of the rushed, imitative strips
that generate little more than reader apathy these days.
Following the dust-up with Schulz and the move to Berkeley, Helga
-- who was delighted by the more rarefied atmosphere of a university
community -- became the family bread-winner. She took a job with a
German importer/exporter and commuted daily across the Bay Bridge.
Eventually succumbing to the need for steady employment, in April
1960 Jim took a job as a graphic designer with Varian, one of the
leading radar companies, located in California’s greater San Francisco
Bay Area. The fit proved comfortable, and he remained with the company
until he retired in 1990.
But the career shift wasn’t immediate; Jim first spent most of 1959
working up his own aforementioned comic strip proposals, and
occasionally sold individual gag cartoons to magazines. But his New
York-based agent took 35% of those one-shots.
"That’s when I started with Varian," Jim recalls, with a chuckle.
"I knew I’d never make it as a gag cartoonist."
Be that as it may, Jim never stopped his cartooning efforts; while
at Varian, he became famous for the birthday cards that he drew for
fellow employees.
Helga, meanwhile, got a job at Stanford, which prompted another
move; the couple then purchased their first home in 1960, in Mountain
View.
Three years later, they moved for what would be the last time. Jim
and his wife paid $28,000 for the house that remains his home to this
day. Just last year the retired artist was offered a cool million bucks
-- in cash -- by a dot-commer who wanted to develop the property. Still
loyal to the memories of his wife, with which the house is filled, Jim
politely declined. Helga died in 1995; he clearly still misses her.
Today, Parkinson’s Disease and the recent stroke have conspired to
deliver the ultimate nightmare Jim no longer can hold a pen well enough
to draw. ("I always marveled at Sparky’s ability to incorporate his
shaking hand into his line work.") But his mind and memory remain
acutely sharp, and his Puckish sense of humor is unbowed. He speaks with
clarity and certainty of his years at Art Instruction School, and with
Schulz, and of his never-successful efforts to market his own original
material.
Jim remains philosophical about his life, and in fact composed
another of his verses to express such feelings
I’m all for equal measures
Losses should be matched by gain;
And since I’ve missed life’s pleasures,
I’ll just double up with pain!
Definitely too harsh, but then we’re always hardest on ourselves.
Jim Sasseville deserves far more than the obscurity into which he has
settled; for a time, he was allied with the man who would become the
world’s most successful cartoonist, and for a time he helped chaperone
the faithfully rendered adventures of Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Linus, Lucy
and the rest ... no small feat.
And I’m particularly transfixed by a remark Jim made during one of
our later phone calls "I don’t know how one should behave, in a
situation like this," he said, referring to our ongoing conversations,
"but it’s like I’ve been resurrected."
Perhaps this article will kick-start our long-overdue obligation to
sing his praises.
Breaking News
Just the FAQs, Ma'am
Ace Airlines Tours: Sites to Visit
Beethoven's Rhapsodies: The Music (and Musicians) of Peanuts
Shop Till You Drop
Just for Fun
By Derrick Bang
Legal Matters
All PEANUTS characters pictured are copyrighted by United Feature Syndicate, Inc. They are used here with permission. They may not be reproduced by any means in any form.
Alas, syndicates once again failed to see any potential, and "Joe
Cipher" was put into Jim’s trunk as no more than another engaging
footnote in the artist’s collection of rejection slips.
Jim didn’t confine his efforts to "Joe Cipher"; the writer/artist
had no shortage of ideas, quite a few of which also wound up as
submission concepts. "Aunty Climax," produced in early 1957 -- just
prior to Jim’s ghost work for Dell comics -- was a single-panel gag
strip that starred a feisty little old lady who was far sharper than
most people assumed. She was based on Louise Cassidy, an AIS colleague
who also was the landlady for the building where Jim briefly lived with
Charles Cuddy. Jim produced a few dozen "Aunty Climax" panels, all of
which are vastly superior -- both in terms of writing and artwork -- to
many of the single-panel cartoons cluttering today’s newspapers.
"Confessions of a French Poodle" was a 1959 concept that didn’t
emerge much further than a few finished panels and lots of pencil
sketches; Jim good-naturedly admits that the idea went nowhere, and so
he abandoned it. That may have been shrewd market analysis, as the
medium never has lacked for dog-oriented material. Even so, French
poodles are funny in their own right, and Jim’s concept sketches are a
hoot.
When not working on Peanuts-related material, Sasseville tried to sell many of his own strip ideas
to a syndicate. From left to right, these examples are "Aunty Climax," "Friends and Foes," "Alpha-Betty" and "Happy Birthday."
(Click on the image to see an enlarged version.)
"Friends and Foes," another single-panel tryout, also emerged from
Jim’s pen in 1959. A little later, shortly after he started putting food
on the table with a "real job" -- and perhaps motivated by the explosion
of children’s television shows, which eventually led to "Sesame Street"
and everything that followed -- Jim tried a kid-oriented educational
strip called "Alpha-Betty," which starred a little girl who finds
herself in an other-worldly land populated by men and women shaped like
letters of the alphabet. The personalities of these individuals were
defined by their appearance; curved female letters, for example, were
far more sultry that straight female letters. The strip has a lovely
"Alice in Wonderland" quality, although the concept may have seemed
limiting.
Jim later played with the medium in "Blackboard," a daily strip
designed to be white-on-black, to imitate chalk on a classroom
blackboard. The stars were Dick, Jane and their TeacheR; although not as
overly educational as "Alpha-Betty," this strip also was aimed at young
audiences.
Jim’s final attempt at syndication was produced in the early 1970s,
after he first went into research hibernation, jotting down enough
celebrity birthdays to fill every day of a calendar year. The resulting
single-panel strips were a precursor to the "On this day in history..."
informational nuggets that have become so ubiquitous The panel for
March 28, for example, illustrated and revealed a few choice facts about
orchestra leader Paul Whiteman. March 29 was devoted to President John
Tyler, while Francisco Goya was featured on March 30.
Sadly, this fared no better with syndicators than any of the
others. "Joe Cipher," "Aunty Climax," "Confessions of a French Poodle,"
"Friends and Foes," "Alpha-Betty," "Blackboard" and "Birthdays" exist only
in Jim’s carefully preserved office files. More’s the pity, because even
the weakest of these strips displays a Puckish wit and clean, attractive
line work too often absent from many of the rushed, imitative strips
that generate little more than reader apathy these days.
Following the dust-up with Schulz and the move to Berkeley, Helga
-- who was delighted by the more rarefied atmosphere of a university
community -- became the family bread-winner. She took a job with a
German importer/exporter and commuted daily across the Bay Bridge.
Eventually succumbing to the need for steady employment, in April
1960 Jim took a job as a graphic designer with Varian, one of the
leading radar companies, located in California’s greater San Francisco
Bay Area. The fit proved comfortable, and he remained with the company
until he retired in 1990.
But the career shift wasn’t immediate; Jim first spent most of 1959
working up his own aforementioned comic strip proposals, and
occasionally sold individual gag cartoons to magazines. But his New
York-based agent took 35% of those one-shots.
"That’s when I started with Varian," Jim recalls, with a chuckle.
"I knew I’d never make it as a gag cartoonist."
Be that as it may, Jim never stopped his cartooning efforts; while
at Varian, he became famous for the birthday cards that he drew for
fellow employees.
Helga, meanwhile, got a job at Stanford, which prompted another
move; the couple then purchased their first home in 1960, in Mountain
View.
Three years later, they moved for what would be the last time. Jim
and his wife paid $28,000 for the house that remains his home to this
day. Just last year the retired artist was offered a cool million bucks
-- in cash -- by a dot-commer who wanted to develop the property. Still
loyal to the memories of his wife, with which the house is filled, Jim
politely declined. Helga died in 1995; he clearly still misses her.
Today, Parkinson’s Disease and the recent stroke have conspired to
deliver the ultimate nightmare Jim no longer can hold a pen well enough
to draw. ("I always marveled at Sparky’s ability to incorporate his
shaking hand into his line work.") But his mind and memory remain
acutely sharp, and his Puckish sense of humor is unbowed. He speaks with
clarity and certainty of his years at Art Instruction School, and with
Schulz, and of his never-successful efforts to market his own original
material.
Jim remains philosophical about his life, and in fact composed
another of his verses to express such feelings
I’m all for equal measures
Losses should be matched by gain;
And since I’ve missed life’s pleasures,
I’ll just double up with pain!
Definitely too harsh, but then we’re always hardest on ourselves.
Jim Sasseville deserves far more than the obscurity into which he has
settled; for a time, he was allied with the man who would become the
world’s most successful cartoonist, and for a time he helped chaperone
the faithfully rendered adventures of Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Linus, Lucy
and the rest ... no small feat.
And I’m particularly transfixed by a remark Jim made during one of
our later phone calls "I don’t know how one should behave, in a
situation like this," he said, referring to our ongoing conversations,
"but it’s like I’ve been resurrected."
Perhaps this article will kick-start our long-overdue obligation to
sing his praises.
Breaking News
Just the FAQs, Ma'am
Ace Airlines Tours: Sites to Visit
Beethoven's Rhapsodies: The Music (and Musicians) of Peanuts
Shop Till You Drop
Just for Fun
By Derrick Bang
Legal Matters
All PEANUTS characters pictured are copyrighted by United Feature Syndicate, Inc. They are used here with permission. They may not be reproduced by any means in any form.
"Confessions of a French Poodle" was a 1959 concept that didn’t
emerge much further than a few finished panels and lots of pencil
sketches; Jim good-naturedly admits that the idea went nowhere, and so
he abandoned it. That may have been shrewd market analysis, as the
medium never has lacked for dog-oriented material. Even so, French
poodles are funny in their own right, and Jim’s concept sketches are a
hoot.
When not working on Peanuts-related material, Sasseville tried to sell many of his own strip ideas
to a syndicate. From left to right, these examples are "Aunty Climax," "Friends and Foes," "Alpha-Betty" and "Happy Birthday."
(Click on the image to see an enlarged version.)
"Friends and Foes," another single-panel tryout, also emerged from
Jim’s pen in 1959. A little later, shortly after he started putting food
on the table with a "real job" -- and perhaps motivated by the explosion
of children’s television shows, which eventually led to "Sesame Street"
and everything that followed -- Jim tried a kid-oriented educational
strip called "Alpha-Betty," which starred a little girl who finds
herself in an other-worldly land populated by men and women shaped like
letters of the alphabet. The personalities of these individuals were
defined by their appearance; curved female letters, for example, were
far more sultry that straight female letters. The strip has a lovely
"Alice in Wonderland" quality, although the concept may have seemed
limiting.
Jim later played with the medium in "Blackboard," a daily strip
designed to be white-on-black, to imitate chalk on a classroom
blackboard. The stars were Dick, Jane and their TeacheR; although not as
overly educational as "Alpha-Betty," this strip also was aimed at young
audiences.
Jim’s final attempt at syndication was produced in the early 1970s,
after he first went into research hibernation, jotting down enough
celebrity birthdays to fill every day of a calendar year. The resulting
single-panel strips were a precursor to the "On this day in history..."
informational nuggets that have become so ubiquitous The panel for
March 28, for example, illustrated and revealed a few choice facts about
orchestra leader Paul Whiteman. March 29 was devoted to President John
Tyler, while Francisco Goya was featured on March 30.
Sadly, this fared no better with syndicators than any of the
others. "Joe Cipher," "Aunty Climax," "Confessions of a French Poodle,"
"Friends and Foes," "Alpha-Betty," "Blackboard" and "Birthdays" exist only
in Jim’s carefully preserved office files. More’s the pity, because even
the weakest of these strips displays a Puckish wit and clean, attractive
line work too often absent from many of the rushed, imitative strips
that generate little more than reader apathy these days.
Following the dust-up with Schulz and the move to Berkeley, Helga
-- who was delighted by the more rarefied atmosphere of a university
community -- became the family bread-winner. She took a job with a
German importer/exporter and commuted daily across the Bay Bridge.
Eventually succumbing to the need for steady employment, in April
1960 Jim took a job as a graphic designer with Varian, one of the
leading radar companies, located in California’s greater San Francisco
Bay Area. The fit proved comfortable, and he remained with the company
until he retired in 1990.
But the career shift wasn’t immediate; Jim first spent most of 1959
working up his own aforementioned comic strip proposals, and
occasionally sold individual gag cartoons to magazines. But his New
York-based agent took 35% of those one-shots.
"That’s when I started with Varian," Jim recalls, with a chuckle.
"I knew I’d never make it as a gag cartoonist."
Be that as it may, Jim never stopped his cartooning efforts; while
at Varian, he became famous for the birthday cards that he drew for
fellow employees.
Helga, meanwhile, got a job at Stanford, which prompted another
move; the couple then purchased their first home in 1960, in Mountain
View.
Three years later, they moved for what would be the last time. Jim
and his wife paid $28,000 for the house that remains his home to this
day. Just last year the retired artist was offered a cool million bucks
-- in cash -- by a dot-commer who wanted to develop the property. Still
loyal to the memories of his wife, with which the house is filled, Jim
politely declined. Helga died in 1995; he clearly still misses her.
Today, Parkinson’s Disease and the recent stroke have conspired to
deliver the ultimate nightmare Jim no longer can hold a pen well enough
to draw. ("I always marveled at Sparky’s ability to incorporate his
shaking hand into his line work.") But his mind and memory remain
acutely sharp, and his Puckish sense of humor is unbowed. He speaks with
clarity and certainty of his years at Art Instruction School, and with
Schulz, and of his never-successful efforts to market his own original
material.
Jim remains philosophical about his life, and in fact composed
another of his verses to express such feelings
I’m all for equal measures
Losses should be matched by gain;
And since I’ve missed life’s pleasures,
I’ll just double up with pain!
Definitely too harsh, but then we’re always hardest on ourselves.
Jim Sasseville deserves far more than the obscurity into which he has
settled; for a time, he was allied with the man who would become the
world’s most successful cartoonist, and for a time he helped chaperone
the faithfully rendered adventures of Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Linus, Lucy
and the rest ... no small feat.
And I’m particularly transfixed by a remark Jim made during one of
our later phone calls "I don’t know how one should behave, in a
situation like this," he said, referring to our ongoing conversations,
"but it’s like I’ve been resurrected."
Perhaps this article will kick-start our long-overdue obligation to
sing his praises.
Breaking News
Just the FAQs, Ma'am
Ace Airlines Tours: Sites to Visit
Beethoven's Rhapsodies: The Music (and Musicians) of Peanuts
Shop Till You Drop
Just for Fun
By Derrick Bang
Legal Matters
All PEANUTS characters pictured are copyrighted by United Feature Syndicate, Inc. They are used here with permission. They may not be reproduced by any means in any form.
| 
| 
| 
|
(Click on the image to see an enlarged version.)
"Friends and Foes," another single-panel tryout, also emerged from
Jim’s pen in 1959. A little later, shortly after he started putting food
on the table with a "real job" -- and perhaps motivated by the explosion
of children’s television shows, which eventually led to "Sesame Street"
and everything that followed -- Jim tried a kid-oriented educational
strip called "Alpha-Betty," which starred a little girl who finds
herself in an other-worldly land populated by men and women shaped like
letters of the alphabet. The personalities of these individuals were
defined by their appearance; curved female letters, for example, were
far more sultry that straight female letters. The strip has a lovely
"Alice in Wonderland" quality, although the concept may have seemed
limiting.
Jim later played with the medium in "Blackboard," a daily strip
designed to be white-on-black, to imitate chalk on a classroom
blackboard. The stars were Dick, Jane and their TeacheR; although not as
overly educational as "Alpha-Betty," this strip also was aimed at young
audiences.
Jim’s final attempt at syndication was produced in the early 1970s,
after he first went into research hibernation, jotting down enough
celebrity birthdays to fill every day of a calendar year. The resulting
single-panel strips were a precursor to the "On this day in history..."
informational nuggets that have become so ubiquitous The panel for
March 28, for example, illustrated and revealed a few choice facts about
orchestra leader Paul Whiteman. March 29 was devoted to President John
Tyler, while Francisco Goya was featured on March 30.
Sadly, this fared no better with syndicators than any of the
others. "Joe Cipher," "Aunty Climax," "Confessions of a French Poodle,"
"Friends and Foes," "Alpha-Betty," "Blackboard" and "Birthdays" exist only
in Jim’s carefully preserved office files. More’s the pity, because even
the weakest of these strips displays a Puckish wit and clean, attractive
line work too often absent from many of the rushed, imitative strips
that generate little more than reader apathy these days.
Following the dust-up with Schulz and the move to Berkeley, Helga
-- who was delighted by the more rarefied atmosphere of a university
community -- became the family bread-winner. She took a job with a
German importer/exporter and commuted daily across the Bay Bridge.
Eventually succumbing to the need for steady employment, in April
1960 Jim took a job as a graphic designer with Varian, one of the
leading radar companies, located in California’s greater San Francisco
Bay Area. The fit proved comfortable, and he remained with the company
until he retired in 1990.
But the career shift wasn’t immediate; Jim first spent most of 1959
working up his own aforementioned comic strip proposals, and
occasionally sold individual gag cartoons to magazines. But his New
York-based agent took 35% of those one-shots.
"That’s when I started with Varian," Jim recalls, with a chuckle.
"I knew I’d never make it as a gag cartoonist."
Be that as it may, Jim never stopped his cartooning efforts; while
at Varian, he became famous for the birthday cards that he drew for
fellow employees.
Helga, meanwhile, got a job at Stanford, which prompted another
move; the couple then purchased their first home in 1960, in Mountain
View.
Three years later, they moved for what would be the last time. Jim
and his wife paid $28,000 for the house that remains his home to this
day. Just last year the retired artist was offered a cool million bucks
-- in cash -- by a dot-commer who wanted to develop the property. Still
loyal to the memories of his wife, with which the house is filled, Jim
politely declined. Helga died in 1995; he clearly still misses her.
Today, Parkinson’s Disease and the recent stroke have conspired to
deliver the ultimate nightmare Jim no longer can hold a pen well enough
to draw. ("I always marveled at Sparky’s ability to incorporate his
shaking hand into his line work.") But his mind and memory remain
acutely sharp, and his Puckish sense of humor is unbowed. He speaks with
clarity and certainty of his years at Art Instruction School, and with
Schulz, and of his never-successful efforts to market his own original
material.
Jim remains philosophical about his life, and in fact composed
another of his verses to express such feelings
I’m all for equal measures
Losses should be matched by gain;
And since I’ve missed life’s pleasures,
I’ll just double up with pain!
Definitely too harsh, but then we’re always hardest on ourselves.
Jim Sasseville deserves far more than the obscurity into which he has
settled; for a time, he was allied with the man who would become the
world’s most successful cartoonist, and for a time he helped chaperone
the faithfully rendered adventures of Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Linus, Lucy
and the rest ... no small feat.
And I’m particularly transfixed by a remark Jim made during one of
our later phone calls "I don’t know how one should behave, in a
situation like this," he said, referring to our ongoing conversations,
"but it’s like I’ve been resurrected."
Perhaps this article will kick-start our long-overdue obligation to
sing his praises.
Breaking News
Just the FAQs, Ma'am
Ace Airlines Tours: Sites to Visit
Beethoven's Rhapsodies: The Music (and Musicians) of Peanuts
Shop Till You Drop
Just for Fun
By Derrick Bang
Legal Matters
All PEANUTS characters pictured are copyrighted by United Feature Syndicate, Inc. They are used here with permission. They may not be reproduced by any means in any form.
Jim’s final attempt at syndication was produced in the early 1970s,
after he first went into research hibernation, jotting down enough
celebrity birthdays to fill every day of a calendar year. The resulting
single-panel strips were a precursor to the "On this day in history..."
informational nuggets that have become so ubiquitous The panel for
March 28, for example, illustrated and revealed a few choice facts about
orchestra leader Paul Whiteman. March 29 was devoted to President John
Tyler, while Francisco Goya was featured on March 30.
Sadly, this fared no better with syndicators than any of the
others. "Joe Cipher," "Aunty Climax," "Confessions of a French Poodle,"
"Friends and Foes," "Alpha-Betty," "Blackboard" and "Birthdays" exist only
in Jim’s carefully preserved office files. More’s the pity, because even
the weakest of these strips displays a Puckish wit and clean, attractive
line work too often absent from many of the rushed, imitative strips
that generate little more than reader apathy these days.
Following the dust-up with Schulz and the move to Berkeley, Helga
-- who was delighted by the more rarefied atmosphere of a university
community -- became the family bread-winner. She took a job with a
German importer/exporter and commuted daily across the Bay Bridge.
Eventually succumbing to the need for steady employment, in April
1960 Jim took a job as a graphic designer with Varian, one of the
leading radar companies, located in California’s greater San Francisco
Bay Area. The fit proved comfortable, and he remained with the company
until he retired in 1990.
But the career shift wasn’t immediate; Jim first spent most of 1959
working up his own aforementioned comic strip proposals, and
occasionally sold individual gag cartoons to magazines. But his New
York-based agent took 35% of those one-shots.
"That’s when I started with Varian," Jim recalls, with a chuckle.
"I knew I’d never make it as a gag cartoonist."
Be that as it may, Jim never stopped his cartooning efforts; while
at Varian, he became famous for the birthday cards that he drew for
fellow employees.
Helga, meanwhile, got a job at Stanford, which prompted another
move; the couple then purchased their first home in 1960, in Mountain
View.
Three years later, they moved for what would be the last time. Jim
and his wife paid $28,000 for the house that remains his home to this
day. Just last year the retired artist was offered a cool million bucks
-- in cash -- by a dot-commer who wanted to develop the property. Still
loyal to the memories of his wife, with which the house is filled, Jim
politely declined. Helga died in 1995; he clearly still misses her.
Today, Parkinson’s Disease and the recent stroke have conspired to
deliver the ultimate nightmare Jim no longer can hold a pen well enough
to draw. ("I always marveled at Sparky’s ability to incorporate his
shaking hand into his line work.") But his mind and memory remain
acutely sharp, and his Puckish sense of humor is unbowed. He speaks with
clarity and certainty of his years at Art Instruction School, and with
Schulz, and of his never-successful efforts to market his own original
material.
Jim remains philosophical about his life, and in fact composed
another of his verses to express such feelings
I’m all for equal measures
Losses should be matched by gain;
And since I’ve missed life’s pleasures,
I’ll just double up with pain!
Definitely too harsh, but then we’re always hardest on ourselves.
Jim Sasseville deserves far more than the obscurity into which he has
settled; for a time, he was allied with the man who would become the
world’s most successful cartoonist, and for a time he helped chaperone
the faithfully rendered adventures of Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Linus, Lucy
and the rest ... no small feat.
And I’m particularly transfixed by a remark Jim made during one of
our later phone calls "I don’t know how one should behave, in a
situation like this," he said, referring to our ongoing conversations,
"but it’s like I’ve been resurrected."
Perhaps this article will kick-start our long-overdue obligation to
sing his praises.
Breaking News
Just the FAQs, Ma'am
Ace Airlines Tours: Sites to Visit
Beethoven's Rhapsodies: The Music (and Musicians) of Peanuts
Shop Till You Drop
Just for Fun
By Derrick Bang
Legal Matters
All PEANUTS characters pictured are copyrighted by United Feature Syndicate, Inc. They are used here with permission. They may not be reproduced by any means in any form.
Following the dust-up with Schulz and the move to Berkeley, Helga
-- who was delighted by the more rarefied atmosphere of a university
community -- became the family bread-winner. She took a job with a
German importer/exporter and commuted daily across the Bay Bridge.
Eventually succumbing to the need for steady employment, in April
1960 Jim took a job as a graphic designer with Varian, one of the
leading radar companies, located in California’s greater San Francisco
Bay Area. The fit proved comfortable, and he remained with the company
until he retired in 1990.
But the career shift wasn’t immediate; Jim first spent most of 1959
working up his own aforementioned comic strip proposals, and
occasionally sold individual gag cartoons to magazines. But his New
York-based agent took 35% of those one-shots.
"That’s when I started with Varian," Jim recalls, with a chuckle.
"I knew I’d never make it as a gag cartoonist."
Be that as it may, Jim never stopped his cartooning efforts; while
at Varian, he became famous for the birthday cards that he drew for
fellow employees.
Helga, meanwhile, got a job at Stanford, which prompted another
move; the couple then purchased their first home in 1960, in Mountain
View.
Three years later, they moved for what would be the last time. Jim
and his wife paid $28,000 for the house that remains his home to this
day. Just last year the retired artist was offered a cool million bucks
-- in cash -- by a dot-commer who wanted to develop the property. Still
loyal to the memories of his wife, with which the house is filled, Jim
politely declined. Helga died in 1995; he clearly still misses her.
Today, Parkinson’s Disease and the recent stroke have conspired to
deliver the ultimate nightmare Jim no longer can hold a pen well enough
to draw. ("I always marveled at Sparky’s ability to incorporate his
shaking hand into his line work.") But his mind and memory remain
acutely sharp, and his Puckish sense of humor is unbowed. He speaks with
clarity and certainty of his years at Art Instruction School, and with
Schulz, and of his never-successful efforts to market his own original
material.
Jim remains philosophical about his life, and in fact composed
another of his verses to express such feelings
I’m all for equal measures
Losses should be matched by gain;
And since I’ve missed life’s pleasures,
I’ll just double up with pain!
Definitely too harsh, but then we’re always hardest on ourselves.
Jim Sasseville deserves far more than the obscurity into which he has
settled; for a time, he was allied with the man who would become the
world’s most successful cartoonist, and for a time he helped chaperone
the faithfully rendered adventures of Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Linus, Lucy
and the rest ... no small feat.
And I’m particularly transfixed by a remark Jim made during one of
our later phone calls "I don’t know how one should behave, in a
situation like this," he said, referring to our ongoing conversations,
"but it’s like I’ve been resurrected."
Perhaps this article will kick-start our long-overdue obligation to
sing his praises.
Breaking News
Just the FAQs, Ma'am
Ace Airlines Tours: Sites to Visit
Beethoven's Rhapsodies: The Music (and Musicians) of Peanuts
Shop Till You Drop
Just for Fun
By Derrick Bang
Legal Matters
All PEANUTS characters pictured are copyrighted by United Feature Syndicate, Inc. They are used here with permission. They may not be reproduced by any means in any form.
But the career shift wasn’t immediate; Jim first spent most of 1959
working up his own aforementioned comic strip proposals, and
occasionally sold individual gag cartoons to magazines. But his New
York-based agent took 35% of those one-shots.
"That’s when I started with Varian," Jim recalls, with a chuckle.
"I knew I’d never make it as a gag cartoonist."
Be that as it may, Jim never stopped his cartooning efforts; while
at Varian, he became famous for the birthday cards that he drew for
fellow employees.
Helga, meanwhile, got a job at Stanford, which prompted another
move; the couple then purchased their first home in 1960, in Mountain
View.
Three years later, they moved for what would be the last time. Jim
and his wife paid $28,000 for the house that remains his home to this
day. Just last year the retired artist was offered a cool million bucks
-- in cash -- by a dot-commer who wanted to develop the property. Still
loyal to the memories of his wife, with which the house is filled, Jim
politely declined. Helga died in 1995; he clearly still misses her.
Today, Parkinson’s Disease and the recent stroke have conspired to
deliver the ultimate nightmare Jim no longer can hold a pen well enough
to draw. ("I always marveled at Sparky’s ability to incorporate his
shaking hand into his line work.") But his mind and memory remain
acutely sharp, and his Puckish sense of humor is unbowed. He speaks with
clarity and certainty of his years at Art Instruction School, and with
Schulz, and of his never-successful efforts to market his own original
material.
Jim remains philosophical about his life, and in fact composed
another of his verses to express such feelings
I’m all for equal measures
Losses should be matched by gain;
And since I’ve missed life’s pleasures,
I’ll just double up with pain!
Definitely too harsh, but then we’re always hardest on ourselves.
Jim Sasseville deserves far more than the obscurity into which he has
settled; for a time, he was allied with the man who would become the
world’s most successful cartoonist, and for a time he helped chaperone
the faithfully rendered adventures of Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Linus, Lucy
and the rest ... no small feat.
And I’m particularly transfixed by a remark Jim made during one of
our later phone calls "I don’t know how one should behave, in a
situation like this," he said, referring to our ongoing conversations,
"but it’s like I’ve been resurrected."
Perhaps this article will kick-start our long-overdue obligation to
sing his praises.
Breaking News
Just the FAQs, Ma'am
Ace Airlines Tours: Sites to Visit
Beethoven's Rhapsodies: The Music (and Musicians) of Peanuts
Shop Till You Drop
Just for Fun
By Derrick Bang
Legal Matters
All PEANUTS characters pictured are copyrighted by United Feature Syndicate, Inc. They are used here with permission. They may not be reproduced by any means in any form.
Be that as it may, Jim never stopped his cartooning efforts; while
at Varian, he became famous for the birthday cards that he drew for
fellow employees.
Helga, meanwhile, got a job at Stanford, which prompted another
move; the couple then purchased their first home in 1960, in Mountain
View.
Three years later, they moved for what would be the last time. Jim
and his wife paid $28,000 for the house that remains his home to this
day. Just last year the retired artist was offered a cool million bucks
-- in cash -- by a dot-commer who wanted to develop the property. Still
loyal to the memories of his wife, with which the house is filled, Jim
politely declined. Helga died in 1995; he clearly still misses her.
Today, Parkinson’s Disease and the recent stroke have conspired to
deliver the ultimate nightmare Jim no longer can hold a pen well enough
to draw. ("I always marveled at Sparky’s ability to incorporate his
shaking hand into his line work.") But his mind and memory remain
acutely sharp, and his Puckish sense of humor is unbowed. He speaks with
clarity and certainty of his years at Art Instruction School, and with
Schulz, and of his never-successful efforts to market his own original
material.
Jim remains philosophical about his life, and in fact composed
another of his verses to express such feelings
I’m all for equal measures
Losses should be matched by gain;
And since I’ve missed life’s pleasures,
I’ll just double up with pain!
Definitely too harsh, but then we’re always hardest on ourselves.
Jim Sasseville deserves far more than the obscurity into which he has
settled; for a time, he was allied with the man who would become the
world’s most successful cartoonist, and for a time he helped chaperone
the faithfully rendered adventures of Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Linus, Lucy
and the rest ... no small feat.
And I’m particularly transfixed by a remark Jim made during one of
our later phone calls "I don’t know how one should behave, in a
situation like this," he said, referring to our ongoing conversations,
"but it’s like I’ve been resurrected."
Perhaps this article will kick-start our long-overdue obligation to
sing his praises.
Breaking News
Just the FAQs, Ma'am
Ace Airlines Tours: Sites to Visit
Beethoven's Rhapsodies: The Music (and Musicians) of Peanuts
Shop Till You Drop
Just for Fun
By Derrick Bang
Legal Matters
All PEANUTS characters pictured are copyrighted by United Feature Syndicate, Inc. They are used here with permission. They may not be reproduced by any means in any form.
Three years later, they moved for what would be the last time. Jim
and his wife paid $28,000 for the house that remains his home to this
day. Just last year the retired artist was offered a cool million bucks
-- in cash -- by a dot-commer who wanted to develop the property. Still
loyal to the memories of his wife, with which the house is filled, Jim
politely declined. Helga died in 1995; he clearly still misses her.
Today, Parkinson’s Disease and the recent stroke have conspired to
deliver the ultimate nightmare Jim no longer can hold a pen well enough
to draw. ("I always marveled at Sparky’s ability to incorporate his
shaking hand into his line work.") But his mind and memory remain
acutely sharp, and his Puckish sense of humor is unbowed. He speaks with
clarity and certainty of his years at Art Instruction School, and with
Schulz, and of his never-successful efforts to market his own original
material.
Jim remains philosophical about his life, and in fact composed
another of his verses to express such feelings
I’m all for equal measures
Losses should be matched by gain;
And since I’ve missed life’s pleasures,
I’ll just double up with pain!
Definitely too harsh, but then we’re always hardest on ourselves.
Jim Sasseville deserves far more than the obscurity into which he has
settled; for a time, he was allied with the man who would become the
world’s most successful cartoonist, and for a time he helped chaperone
the faithfully rendered adventures of Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Linus, Lucy
and the rest ... no small feat.
And I’m particularly transfixed by a remark Jim made during one of
our later phone calls "I don’t know how one should behave, in a
situation like this," he said, referring to our ongoing conversations,
"but it’s like I’ve been resurrected."
Perhaps this article will kick-start our long-overdue obligation to
sing his praises.
Breaking News
Just the FAQs, Ma'am
Ace Airlines Tours: Sites to Visit
Beethoven's Rhapsodies: The Music (and Musicians) of Peanuts
Shop Till You Drop
Just for Fun
By Derrick Bang
Legal Matters
All PEANUTS characters pictured are copyrighted by United Feature Syndicate, Inc. They are used here with permission. They may not be reproduced by any means in any form.
Jim remains philosophical about his life, and in fact composed
another of his verses to express such feelings
I’m all for equal measures
Losses should be matched by gain;
And since I’ve missed life’s pleasures,
I’ll just double up with pain!
Definitely too harsh, but then we’re always hardest on ourselves.
Jim Sasseville deserves far more than the obscurity into which he has
settled; for a time, he was allied with the man who would become the
world’s most successful cartoonist, and for a time he helped chaperone
the faithfully rendered adventures of Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Linus, Lucy
and the rest ... no small feat.
And I’m particularly transfixed by a remark Jim made during one of
our later phone calls "I don’t know how one should behave, in a
situation like this," he said, referring to our ongoing conversations,
"but it’s like I’ve been resurrected."
Perhaps this article will kick-start our long-overdue obligation to
sing his praises.
Breaking News
Just the FAQs, Ma'am
Ace Airlines Tours: Sites to Visit
Beethoven's Rhapsodies: The Music (and Musicians) of Peanuts
Shop Till You Drop
Just for Fun
By Derrick Bang
Legal Matters
All PEANUTS characters pictured are copyrighted by United Feature Syndicate, Inc. They are used here with permission. They may not be reproduced by any means in any form.
Losses should be matched by gain;
And since I’ve missed life’s pleasures,
I’ll just double up with pain!