Charlie Brown

Charles "Charlie" Brown is the principal character of the American comic strip Peanuts, syndicated in daily and Sunday newspapers in numerous countries all over the world. Depicted as a "lovable loser", Charlie Brown is one of the great American archetypes and a popular and widely recognized cartoon character. Charlie Brown is characterized as a person who frequently suffers, and as a result, is usually nervous and lacks self-confidence. He shows both pessimistic and optimistic attitudes: on some days, he is apprehensive to even get out of bed because he is unable to face the world, but on others, he hopes to accomplish things and is determined to do his best. Charlie Brown is easily recognized by his round head and trademark zigzag patterned shirt. His catchphrase is "Good Grief!".

The character's creator, Charles M. Schulz, said that Charlie Brown "has to be the one who suffers, because he is a caricature of the average person. Most of us are much more acquainted with losing than we are with winning." Despite this, Charlie Brown does not always suffer, as he has experienced some happy moments and victories through the years, and he has sometimes uncharacteristically shown self-assertiveness despite his frequent nervousness. Schulz also said: "I like to have Charlie Brown eventually be the focal point of almost every story." Charlie Brown is the only Peanuts character to have appeared regularly in the strip throughout its entire 50-year run.

Lee Mendelson, who produced most of the Peanuts television specials, has said of Charlie Brown that "He was, and is, the ultimate survivor in overcoming bulliness—Lucy or otherwise."

Charlie Brown is eight years old for most of the strip's floating timeline. Initially, he suggests he lives in an apartment, with his grandmother occupying the one above his; a few years into the strip, he moves to a house with a backyard. He is always referred to as "Charlie Brown" and never simply "Charlie" by most of the other characters in the strip, including his sister, Sally (who also refers to him as "big brother") and Snoopy, his dog (who sometimes calls him "the round-headed kid"), with the exception of Peppermint Patty and Marcie who address him as "Chuck" and "Charles" respectively.

The character's name was first used on May 30, 1948, in an early Schulz comic strip titled Li'l Folks. The character made his official debut in the first Peanuts comic strip on October 2, 1950. The strip features Charlie Brown walking by, as two other children named Shermy and Patty look at him. Shermy refers to him as "Good Ol' Charlie Brown" as he passes by, but then immediately reveals his hatred toward him once he is gone on the last panel. In the very early days of the strip, Charlie Brown was explicitly identified as being four years old; he would age very slowly over the next several years, being old enough to attend elementary school by the 1960s. During the strip's early years, Charlie Brown was much more impish and lighthearted and not the dour defeatist he would soon become. He was something of a smart-aleck and would often play pranks and jokes on the other characters. On December 21, 1950, his signature zig-zag pattern first appeared on his formerly plain T-shirt. By April 25, 1952, his T-shirt was changed to a polo shirt with a collar and the zig-zag. On the March 6, 1951, strip, Charlie Brown first appears to play baseball, as he was warming up before telling Shermy that they can start the game; however, he was the catcher and not yet the pitcher and manager of his team.

Charlie Brown's relationships with other Peanuts characters initially differed significantly from their later states, and their concepts were grown up through this decade until they reached their more-established forms. An example is his relationship with Violet Gray, to whom he was introduced in the February 7, 1951, strip. The two constantly remained on fairly good terms, a bit different from their later somewhat tepid relationship. In the August 16, 1951, strip, she called Charlie Brown a "blockhead", being the first time Charlie Brown was referred by that insult. The strip for November 14 of that year featured the first appearance of the famous football gag, with Violet in the role that would later be filled by Lucy.

On May 30, 1951, Charlie Brown is introduced to Schroeder. As Schroeder is still a baby, Charlie Brown cannot converse with him. On June 1 of the same year, Charlie Brown stated that he felt like a father to Schroeder; in fact, for quite some time, he sometimes acted like a father to him, trying to teach him words and reading stories to him. On September 24 of that year, he taught Schroeder how to play the piano, the instrument which would later become Schroeder's trademark. On that year's October 10, strip, he told Schroeder the story of Beethoven and set in motion the piano player's obsession with the composer. Charlie Brown placed the Beethoven bust on Schroeder's piano on November 26, 1951. Later, Schroeder and Charlie Brown were portrayed as being about the same age, and Schroeder became Charlie Brown's closest friend after Linus Van Pelt. Schroeder became the catcher on Charlie Brown's baseball team for the first time in the April 12, 1952, strip.

In early 1959, Charlie Brown (and other Peanuts characters) made his first animated appearances after they were sponsored by the Ford Motor Company in commercials for its automobiles, as well as for intros to The Tennessee Ernie Ford Show. The ads were animated by Bill Melendez for Playhouse Pictures, a cartoon studio that had Ford as a client.^{[citation needed]}