"Peanuts" creator Charles M. Schulz's comic vision was inspired by a childhood punctuated by a series of misfortunes and failures. One day the future cartoonist went to see a movie at a theater which had promised chocolate bars to the first 100 children who arrived. Naturally, Schulz was the 101st kid in line.

[The "Peanuts" comics were largely autobiographical: Schulz's father, for example, was a barber, just like Charlie Brown's. And Snoopy was inspired by Schulz's childhood family pet, Spike.]