Thursday, February 14, 2008

L'il Folks


Charles Schulz' only formal lessons in art came via a mail-order company called Art Instruction, Inc. Schulz' family paid the princely sum of $170 for Charles to get a full course, lasting something like 18 months, and Schulz evidently felt like he got his money's worth. After he returned from fighting in World War II, Schulz got a job at Art Instruction, which was based in Minneapolis, grading the work of budding artists who had successfully drawn the fairy on the back of the matchbook.

It was while he was working at Art Instruction that Schulz met a young woman named Frieda Rich. Frieda was what less-enlightened people would call a midget; I'm not sure what more-enlightened people would call her. Frieda's elbows were roughly desk-high, and she'd often stand with them propped up on someone's desk as she talked to them. With her oversized head and stubby legs, she was roughly the same proportions as, say, Frieda from Peanuts.

And she had naturally curly hair.

1 comment:

Pike said...

Did he ever make that $170 back?