20 Cool Facts About The Peanuts Characters

In honor of “The Peanuts Movie”,  I thought it would a great time to learn more about the whole Peanuts™ Gang. Love these 20 Cool Facts About The Peanuts Characters.  

These facts come largely from the official Peanuts.com and the Charles M. Schulz museum site unless otherwise noted.)

Let’s Start With the Creator  
1. Charles Schulz, who started it all, was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

2. Schulz was a WWII veteran.

3.  The Peanuts premiered on October 2, 1950, in nine newspapers (Wikipedia).

4. The last original Charlie Brown comic strip was published in the newspaper on February 13, 2000.

5. On average, Charles Shulz drew about seven comic strips a week for a total of 17,897 Peanuts strips.

6. Charles Shulz has passed on, but his legacy lives on through The Charles M. Schulz Museum located in Santa Rosa, California.

About the Characters

7. The initial cast of Peanuts was small, featuring only Charlie Brown, a girl named Patty, Shermy, and shortly after, Snoopy (Wikipedia).

8. Woodstock was first seen in the strip in 1967 but was named in 1970 after the summer music festival.

9. Charlie Brown’s dad is a barber, as was Charles Schulz’s dad.

10. Snoopy’s brother Spike is from Needles, California (Wikipedia).

11. The Peanuts spread far and wide with its television specials such as “It’s the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown” and “A Charlie Brown Christmas”.

12. Many of the voices in “A Charlie Brown Christmas” special were kids that lived in the neighborhood with Charles Schulz (Parade Magazine).

13.The Coca-Cola Company commissioned the making of “A Charlie Brown Christmas”. In the special, Linus reads a passage from the Bible which was considered unusual for this type of show at the time (The Coca-Cola Company Website).

Where Else The Peanuts Appear
14. The Peanuts have a strong Apollo 10 connection. Charlie Brown was the nickname of the command module and Snoopy the lunar module in this second space mission to orbit the moon. Within Apollo 10 was placed an original picture of Charlie Brown in a spacesuit. This drawing is now on display at the Kennedy Space Center in Central Florida (Wikipedia).

15. MetLife currently operates three airships known as “Snoopy One,” “Snoopy Two,” and “Snoopy J.”  Together, “Snoopy One” and “Snoopy Two” combine to travel approximately 120,000 miles a year throughout the United States (MetLife Website).

16. A Snoopy balloon has made frequent appearances in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade since the late 1960s. Charlie Brown has joined the fun from time to time, as well.

17. A Peanuts WWI Flying Ace U.S. commemorative postage stamp was released on 17 May 2001. The value was 34 cents, First Class (Wikipedia).  In honor of the 50th Anniversary of  “A Charlie Brown Christmas”, the U.S. Postal Service released in October 2015, a series of 49 cents stamps with 10 scenes from the iconic special (CNN).

18. Hop on over to Knott’s Berry Farm in Buena Park, California (near Anaheim) for Camp Snoopy. This section of the amusement park includes rides such as the Camp Bus, Charlie Brown’s Kite Flyer, Flying Ace, Linus Launcher, and Pig Pen’s Mud Buggies.

19. In 1960, the now popular line of Charlie Brown greeting cards was introduced by Hallmark Cards. Today, the company also offers The Peanuts eCards and much sought after Christmas ornaments (Hallmark and Wikipedia).

20. Only one artist is authorized to paint Peanuts characters, Tom Everhart. Many of his painting sell for thousands of dollars (Tom Everhart Website).

Hope that you have enjoyed this quick trip into the fascinating word of the Peanuts. Do you have friends or family members who love these every so wonderful characters, then take a look at:

15 Snoopy and Peanuts Characters Gifts Under $20