WE’RE ALL CHARLIE BROWN, SORTA

CHRIS CARRA IS SPOT-ON WHEN HE DESCRIBES “How  the Beloved ‘Peanuts’ Found Its Way to Define the Modern Comic Strip,” Smithsonian, July August 2025: Carra writes, “With poignant wisdom and gentle wit, Charles M. Schulz reinvented the form and introduced the nation to Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Linus, Lucy and so many more indelible characters.”

This and following images from Smithsonian, July August 2025.

Here are tidbits gleaned from the Smithsonian article, its sidebar, and my own personal Peanuts musings.

The first Peanuts panel, 1950.

A “Howdy Dowdy” Honorific. Carra recounts, “In 1950, Schulz took a somewhat spiffed-up ‘Li’l Folks’ to United Feature Syndicate for nationwide distribution. The group agreed to publish the strip, with one stipulation: The name had to change. ‘Li’l Folks’ was deemed too similar to multiple existing newspaper strips, so the syndicate rebranded it ‘Peanuts,’ a reference to the peanut gallery on the ‘Howdy Doody Show,’ where boisterous little children sat.”

Carra continues, “Though Schulz never liked the name and would harbor no small resentment of it for decades, the cartoonist nurtured ‘Peanuts’ into one of the most successful comic strips in history.”

Charles Monroe “Sparky” Schulz, 1922–2000, American cartoonist in his studio, c. 1954. Image from the Charles M. Schulz Museum by Michael Myers via Smithsonian.

An Idiosyncratic Ensemble. Carra cites Schulz: “Most of us are much more acquainted with losing than we are with winning…. Winning is great, but it isn’t funny.” Carra says, Charlie Brown is “a lovable, relatable loser, inspired by Schultz’s own insecurities—melancholic and underwhelmed, but willing to make the best of it.”

Sound familiar?

Carra describes, “Charlie Brown lived in Hennepin County, Minnesota, with his parents; his younger sister, Sally; and his humanlike beagle, Snoopy, introduced in the third strip. As the strip grew, so too did its idiosyncratic ensemble. Opinionated Lucy arrived in 1952 to represent Schulz’s ‘smart aleck’ side, while her security blanket-obsessed brother Linus—the cartoonist’s ‘curious and thoughtful side,’ as he put it—arrived later that year.”

Snoopy’s Exuberance. “While Charlie Brown played things safe,” Carra observes, “Snoopy lived an exuberant life in his imagination, casting himself as a frustrated novelist, gleeful dancer, merciless attorney and even a prolific flying ace in a World War I Sopwith Camel. Schulz told his wife, Jeannie, ‘Snoopy is the way I would like to be—fearless, the life of the party and brushing off Lucy’s bad temper with a glancing kiss.’ ”

Image from R&T, April 1967. Illustration by Jonathan Thompson. 

Carra relates, “Snoopy soon became a sort of poster pup for ‘Peanuts,’ around the planet and beyond: In 1969, NASA christened the Apollo 10 lunar module ‘Snoopy,’ while the black-and-white caps worn by the astronauts were known as ‘Snoopy Caps.’ The command module, of course, was called ‘Charlie Brown.’ ”

Charlie Brown, TV, and Vince Guaraldi. Carra describes, “To the mellow sound of West Coast jazz, Charlie Brown began his televised life in 1965 with ‘A Charlie Brown Christmas,’ which was commissioned and sponsored by the Coca-Cola Company and broadcast by CBS. Schulz himself wrote the story.”

Saby Reyes-Kulkarni gives details in “Playing for ‘Peanuts,’ ” a sidebar to Carra’s article. “In 1965,” Reyes-Kulkarni recounts, “when television producer Lee Mendelson enlisted the Vince Guaraldi Trio to write the score for the first ‘Peanuts’ TV special, ‘A Charlie Brown Christmas,’ Mendelson knew he was dancing out on a limb. Despite the immense popularity of jazz at the time, it was not an intuitive choice for a children’s program. Yet Mendelson and strip creator Charles M. Schulz agreed that Guaraldi’s graceful, poignant piano style would provide a charming complement to the kids’ adventures.” 

Schroeder nimbly performs Beethoven while Lucy looks on. Image by Allstar Picture Library Limited / Alamy; © 1969 peanuts worldwide LLC, Dist by uclick via Smithsonian.

The album, A Charlie Brown Christmas, has remained the second-highest-selling jazz album of all time. (The first? See Best Of Jazz.) “Yet,” Reyes-Kulkarni notes, “most of the music Guaraldi composed for ‘Peanuts’ was never formally released—until now.”

He describes, “In 2021, Mendelson’s sons Sean and Jason stumbled on a trove of master tapes containing the music from all 15 TV specials that Guaraldi scored. Beginning in 2022, with It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, Sean and Jason have stewarded the release of seven full-length albums—including, most recently, You’re A Good Sport, Charlie Brown—with several more on the way. And the brothers remain keenly on the hunt for more missing sessions. ‘As long as listeners are still as interested as we are,’ Jason says, ‘we’ll keep putting them out.’ ” 

And, as long as we relate to Charlie Brown, so too will we admire “Guaraldi’s graceful, poignant piano style.” Thanks, Chris Carra, Saby Reyes-Kulkarni, and Smithsonian for reminding us of these kinships. ds 

© Dennis Simanaitis, SimanaitisSays.com, 2025