Peanuts Turns 60

This giant, wall-sized mural of the famous scene of Lucy holding a football for Charlie Brown to kick, was made from 3,588 "Peanuts" strips by Japanese artist Yoshiteru Otani.

Photo by Daniel Terdiman/CNET

Caption by Daniel Terdiman










The comic strip, Peanuts, created by Charles Schultz was a big part of my youth. Here are the characters I remember most vividly:

Charlie Brown: the main character; a lovable loser
Snoopy: Charlie Brown's ubiquitous dog
Linus van Pelt: Charlie Brown's blanket-toting best friend; Sally's love interest
Lucy van Pelt: Linus' older sister; a bossy girl
Woodstock: Snoopy's best friend; a yellow bird
Sally Brown: Charlie Brown's younger sister
Schroeder: the piano-playing character; Lucy's love interest
Peppermint Patty: Marcie's bossy best friend; a freckle-faced tomboy who likes Charlie Brown
Marcie: the bespectacled character; Peppermint Patty's best friend
Franklin: the first African-American character
Pig-Pen: the dusty character
Frieda: the girl with "naturally curly hair"
 
One morning in Vacation Bible School, the minister (my father) asked a group of kids what they thought of when he said the word, "peanuts". Several shouted, "Charlie Brown!". He then began telling a story about Charles Schultz. I don't remember the story. I do remember thinking, how did my father know about Peanuts and Charlie Brown? I didn't think my father was cool enough to know anything about pop culture. Of course, all he had to do was read the comics page of the newspaper or step inside my bedroom where he would see my Peanuts calendar and the numerous Peanuts comic strips pinned to my bulletin board. Apparently, I wasn't the cool one. I thought of food.
 
The Peanuts comic strip turned 60 on Saturday. I will have to add a visit to the Charles M. Schulz Museum and Research Center in Santa Rosa, California, to my bucket list. Happy Birthday to Charlie Brown and the Peanuts Gang!