# "Charlie Brown" Question **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 8, 2009, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charlie-brown-question/516810 "2009-11-08T16:26:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Quasimodem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2009, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charlie-brown-question/516810/1 "2009-11-08T16:26:27Z")
Which came first, the Peanuts cartoon or the song by The Coasters, and was there ever any “fallout”? First time I _ever_ heard the song was on my American Dad’s Army Base in Karlshuhe, Germany when some fire-fighter soldiers “acted out” Charlie’s “mistakes”. It may have been the first-ever “video”, since this was in 1956! (Well, not _really_, since it wasn’t captured on film, but those soldiers did a GREAT job making us all laugh and making us remember that fire can be our friend as well as our enemy!) Q ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2009, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charlie-brown-question/516810/2 "2009-11-08T16:29:08Z")
**Peanuts** started its run on October 2, 1950; “Charlie Brown” by Leiber and Stoller (and performed by the Coasters) was released in 1956. ---
**Author:** ![Quasimodem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)\ **Post date:** [November 8, 2009, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charlie-brown-question/516810/3 "2009-11-08T16:44:00Z")
[![]( " - YouTube") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=34QROzqsW6o) One of my first-ever American songs! Thanks, **RC**! Q ---
**Author:** ![Cliffy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/59ef9b/32.png) [@Cliffy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cliffy)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2009, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charlie-brown-question/516810/4 "2009-11-09T01:04:32Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > **Peanuts** started its run on October 2, 1950. And in fact, I believe there was a character named “Charlie Brown” in Schulz’s pre-Peanuts weekly, Li’l Folks. –Cliffy ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2009, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charlie-brown-question/516810/5 "2009-11-09T01:27:28Z")
> [@Cliffy](#): > > And in fact, I believe there was a character named “Charlie Brown” in Schulz’s pre-Peanuts weekly, Li’l Folks. > > –Cliffy Schulz used the name “Charlie Brown” four times in _Li’l Folks_, with one gag (“Good ol’ Charlie Brown…how I hate him!”) very similar to the very first _Peanuts_ strip. Charlie Brown was an actual person, an associate of Schulz’s from the Art Instruction School who later went to work at a prison. ---
**Author:** ![Quasimodem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2009, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charlie-brown-question/516810/6 "2009-11-09T01:55:00Z")
" **Why’s** Everbody always _pickin’_ on **Me?**??? " God I LOVE THE COASTERS ! Q! ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2009, 7:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charlie-brown-question/516810/7 "2009-11-09T07:10:35Z")
The Peanuts gang would be about my age. I turned seven in 1950. Gee. I wonder which Peanuts character I am most like… Can you imagine a post-menopausal Lucy with a cane and a large handbag at her disposal? Want to play some football, **RealityChuck?** Come on. Trust me. ---
**Author:** ![Quasimodem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2009, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charlie-brown-question/516810/8 "2009-11-09T14:30:19Z")
**Lucy!** 😉 Don’t you jerk that football out from under **RC’s** feets!😉 Q PS: I think I’m more the Schröder character. ---
**Author:** ![cjepson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9adbd/32.png) [@cjepson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cjepson)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2009, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charlie-brown-question/516810/9 "2009-11-09T17:24:02Z")
I never understood why the character in the Coasters song was called “Charlie Brown” until I saw some of the original Peanuts cartoons. I was used to the neurotic, low-self-esteem Charlie Brown, and didn’t know that his original persona was closer to Dennis the Menace. ---
**Author:** ![Quasimodem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2009, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charlie-brown-question/516810/10 "2009-11-09T17:33:25Z")
> [@cjepson](#): > > …didn’t know that his original persona was closer to Dennis the Menace. Never knew that!🙂 Q ---
**Author:** ![cjepson](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9adbd/32.png) [@cjepson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cjepson)\ **Post date:** [November 9, 2009, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/charlie-brown-question/516810/11 "2009-11-09T18:43:49Z")
> [@Quasimodem](#): > > Never knew that!🙂 > > Q Example: [http://comics.com/peanuts/?DateAfter=1951-01-01&DateBefore=1951-01-31&Order=d.DateStrip+ASC&PerPage=1&x=24&y=10&Search=&Page=9](http://comics.com/peanuts/?DateAfter=1951-01-01&DateBefore=1951-01-31&Order=d.DateStrip+ASC&PerPage=1&x=24&y=10&Search=&Page=9)