Peanuts Cartoon Day
October 2
When the first Peanuts comic strip debuted on October 2, 1950, readers, editors, and even creator Charles M. Schulz himself had no idea they were a witness to history being made. It took a while for the charming world inhabited by Charlie Brown, his dog Snoopy, and the entire Peanuts family to become a comics page staple. By the time Schulz retired, he had produced 17,897 Peanuts strips: 15,391 daily strips, and 2,506 Sunday strips, running in 2,600 newspapers in 75 countries. When Schulz first started working as a comic artist in 1947, he introduced many of the characters we now know and love in a strip called “Li’l Folks”. However, when he sold the comic in 1950 to the United Feature Syndicate they changed the name to Peanuts, which Schulz reportedly never liked. Network executives expected the Christmas special, which was originally commissioned and sponsored by Coca-Cola, to be shown once on TV and then disappear forever, according to History.com. Their prediction was extremely wrong. When the program premiered on December 9, 1965, it drew a large audience and went on to win an Emmy Award and a Peabody Award, and became one of the longest-running and most-loved holiday specials of all time.
Feast of the Guardian Angels Day
October 2
October 2 is observed in the Catholic Church as the feast of the Holy Guardian Angels. In 1670, Pope Clement X established this day in the universal calendar as a day to honor the angels who protect us each day. The concept of “guardian angels” is thoroughly Jewish. Moses records human interaction with guarding angels in the Torah, and Daniel frequently mentions the powerful role of angels as guardians. Christ our Lord explicitly teaches the existence of guardian angels in Matthew 18:10: “See that you do not look down on one of these little ones. For I tell you that their angels in heaven always see the face of my Father in heaven.”
Today’s Birthdays of Note….
Mahatma Gandhi – India Political Activist – born in Kathiawar Peninsula, India
Groucho Marx – Comedian & Actor – born in New York City, New York
