How the Beloved ‘Peanuts’ Found Its Way to Define the Modern Comic Strip

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

Chris Carra

July/August 2025

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“Well! Here comes ol’ Charlie Brown!” says one of the children as Charlie saunters past. “Good ol’ Charlie Brown. … How I hate him!” Blissfully ignorant of his peers’ disdain, Charlie continues smiling—after all, he’s making his debut as the lead character in the very first “Peanuts” strip on October 2, 1950. Before, Charlie played little more than a bit part in “Li’l Folks,” a four-panel strip by local cartoonist Charles M. Schulz. Running in Minnesota’s St. Paul Pioneer Press from 1947 to 1950, the strip earned Schulz $10 a pop and showcased youngsters who were wise in whimsical ways beyond their years.  

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. 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. Today, Charlie Brown is one of the most recognizable characters on the planet. As Bill Watterson, the creator of “Calvin and Hobbes,” once observed, “Peanuts pretty much defines the modern comic strip. … In countless ways, Schulz blazed the wide trail that most every cartoonist since has tried to follow.”

In his syndicated debut, Charlie Brown appeared to the nation in his classic form: an ineffectual child with an oval head and a plain shirt; the distinctive zigzag was added two months later. He was a lovable, relatable loser, inspired by Schulz’s own insecurities—melancholic and underwhelmed, but willing to make the best of it. “Most of us are much more acquainted with losing than we are with winning,” Schulz wrote in his 1975 book, Peanuts Jubilee: My Life and Art With Charlie Brown and Others. “Winning is great, but it isn’t funny.”

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.  

While Charlie Brown played things safe, 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.” 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.”

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. Given the tiny budget—$76,000, or $766,000 today—and an overt religious message, including Linus’ minute-long monologue from the Gospel of Luke, the network half-expected the production to flop. Littered with animation errors, such as the inexplicable change in the number of branches on Charlie Brown’s little Christmas tree, this handmade classic became an instant hit, winning a Peabody and an Emmy the following year. It still streams on Apple TV+.

Although adults existed in the “Peanuts” universe, they were never seen, leaving the fun, games and surprisingly profound conversations to children, dogs and a small yellow bird known as Woodstock. Baseball mounds, kite-eating trees and pumpkin patches were the settings for discourse about unrequited love, civil rights, loneliness and morality. 

After 50 years, appearing in more than 2,600 newspapers across 75 countries, and 17,897 installments—all hand-drawn by Schulz—the final “Peanuts” strip appeared in papers on February 13, 2000, two months after Schulz announced his retirement due to ill health. Atop his doghouse, Snoopy sat at his typewriter to compose a heartfelt farewell to readers; Schulz had died the previous day. The final “Peanuts” panel announced there would be no new installments of the strip—reruns, of course, began promptly—but “Peanuts” continues to reach new audiences, not least through its popular animated adventures, which continue on streaming services. In anticipation of the strip’s 75th anniversary, farmers in the United States and Canada partnered with Peanuts Worldwide to create a series of themed corn mazes last fall. More than 75 mazes, ranging in size from 1 1/2 to 20 acres, allowed people to get lost among their favorite characters. Charles’ daughter Jill only wishes her dad could join in the fun and “see his creations ‘writ large.’”

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Playing for “Peanuts”

A rediscovered stash of recordings by Vince Guaraldi offers fans a whole new chance to boogie with Snoopy 

By Saby Reyes-Kulkarni

In 1965, 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. 

This happy, whimsical pairing cast a spell on millions of viewers. Few instrumental tunes for TV are as instantly recognizable as the plucky “Linus and Lucy,” known as the “Peanuts” theme, or the contemplative “Skating,” both Guaraldi compositions. The tracks appear on the A Charlie Brown Christmas soundtrack, which remains the second-highest-selling jazz album of all time. Yet most of the music Guaraldi composed for “Peanuts” was never formally released—until now. 

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.” 

Guaraldi had carved an impressive path as a jazz musician in his own right before “Peanuts,” but his 13-year body of work with Charlie Brown and friends highlights a remarkable stylistic range. On the newly released tracks, we hear Guaraldi venturing into classical (Be My Valentine, Charlie Brown), blues (You’re Not Elected, Charlie Brown), and rock stylings that verge on psychedelia or even proto-heavy metal (It’s the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown!)—all while reprising familiar “Peanuts” motifs. 

“The guy took risks,” Sean marvels. He covered new ground until the day he died, in 1976. “Earlier that same day,” explains Sean, “he’d been recording It’s Arbor Day, Charlie Brown.”

Chris Carra | Read More

Chris Carra is a freelance journalist from Swansea, Wales.