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United Feature Syndicate / AP

When Alex Davis was 2 years old, he pointed to a drawing his father had done and exclaimed, "Snoopy!" The problem: his father was Jim Davis, the creator of Garfield, and the picture was of the cat he made famous. Charles Schulz's black-and-white dog is so beloved, though, that a lasagna-loving cat can't even compete. Saturday, Oct. 2, marks 60 years since Schulz's first Peanuts strip hit newspapers. Since then, Snoopy, Charlie Brown and the gang have become the most recognizable cartoon characters in America — and have left an indelible mark on American culture.

Yet leave it to the man behind Charlie Brown to experience disappointment before success. In 1947 Schulz started a cartoon feature called L'il Folks for the St. Paul Pioneer Press. It was a flop, never achieving a permanent spot in the paper. In 1950 he compiled his strips and sold the series to the United Features Syndicate, which changed its name to Peanuts. Schulz originally resisted the name change. "I wanted to keep Li'I Folks," he told TIME in 1965. "I wanted a strip with dignity and significance. Peanuts made it sound too insignificant." (See the top 10 children's books of 2009.)

The first strip was printed on Oct. 2, 1950, and appeared in seven newspapers. In the strip, Charlie Brown walks by two friends, one of whom remarks, "Well! Here comes 'ol Charlie Brown! Good 'ol Charlie Brown ... yes, sir! Good 'ol Charlie Brown ... how I hate him!" By the end of the decade, Peanuts had been picked up by hundreds of newspapers and had won Schulz a Reuben award, the highest honor given by the National Cartoonists Society.

Schulz's Peanuts exploded during the 1960s, leaving its fingerprints on everything it touched. Charlie Brown and the gang even graced the cover of TIME in 1965. The influence didn't go just one way, though — Peanuts evolved with the turbulent decade. After Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in 1968, fans pressed Schulz to include a black character; Franklin first appeared on July 31 of that year. Peppermint Patty, a multidimensional, sports-loving girl living in a single-parent household, made her debut in 1966. And Woodstock, Snoopy's yellow, feathered companion, finally got his name in 1970. When asked why he named the bird after the music festival, Schulz simply replied, "Why not?" (See the 100 best TV shows of all time.)

Peanuts triumphed off the printed page as well. In 1965 A Charlie Brown Christmas first aired, beginning a string of televised specials. Two later specials, You're a Good Sport, Charlie Brown and A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving, both took home Emmy awards. In 1967 Snoopy and friends hit the stage in an off-Broadway production, You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown, which ran for four years. It remains one of the most performed American musicals in history. Charlie Brown and Snoopy even went to the moon in 1969, after the Apollo X crew named their command and lunar modules after them. In later decades, Schulz's work graced the Louvre and Carnegie Hall.

By the 1980s and 1990s, Schulz had acquired a massive personal fortune. As he gave millions away to charity, he was frequently listed by Forbes magazine as one of the highest-paid entertainers in America, alongside Michael Jordan and Michael Jackson. He became the highest-paid and most widely read cartoonist of all time. By 1984, Peanuts had made the Guinness World Records after being syndicated to its 2,000th newspaper. Peanuts, which was read by 355 million people, raked in cash through newspaper licensing, book compilations, merchandising and endorsements.

Schulz's health began to deteriorate in the 1990s. His hands developed a tremor, leaving his classic lines wobblier than usual. He suffered a stroke in November 1999 that impaired his vision, memory and motivation to draw. On Dec. 14, 1999, he announced his retirement. On Jan. 3, 2000, the last Peanuts daily strip was published. Schulz died of complications from colon cancer on Feb. 12, one day before his final Sunday strip hit the presses. He was 78. Schulz was posthumously given the Congressional Gold Medal, the body's highest honor given to a civilian. To this day, kids around the world know and love Snoopy.

Read "Passages: The Life and Times of Charles Schulz."

See the Cartoons of the Week.

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Breaking News, Analysis, Politics, Blogs, News Photos, Video, Tech Reviews - TIME.com

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When Alex Davis was 2 years old, he pointed to a drawing his father had done and exclaimed, "Snoopy!" The problem: his father was Jim Davis, the creator of Garfield, and the picture was of the cat he made famous. Charles Schulz's black-and-white dog is so beloved, though, that a lasagna-loving cat can't even compete.

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- By the end of the 1950s, Peanuts had been picked up by hundreds of newspapers and had won Schulz a Reuben award, the highest honor given by the National Cartoonist Society.
- By 1980s and 1990s, Schulz became the highest-paid and most widely read cartoonist of all time.

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This article is about the history of the Peanuts comic strips by Charles Schulz.

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I would use this article to talk about when Peanuts was published/when it became popular.

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Oct. 2, 1950: The comic strip "Peanuts" is first published

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This article is about why everyone came to love Peanuts and why it is still around today.

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I would use this article to talk about the type of comedy used in the comic strips that made them so popular.

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- Schulz drew on real-world friends and relations to populate the strip with certain characters (The Little Red-Haired Girl)
- Schulz, who struggled with depression and anxiety, poked fun at his own challenges by exaggerating them in his main character.

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1. The Peanuts characters first appeared in creator Charles Schulz's comic that was called Li'l Folks. They were published in Schulz's hometown Minnesotan paper, the St. Paul Pioneer Press from 1947 to 1950. Schulz wanted to keep the name Lil'Folks but a United Feature Syndicate editor changed it to "Peanuts."

2. Schulz was published at the age of 15 in Ripley's Believe it or Not. The illustration was of his family dog, Spike. Spike inspired a character Schulz later developed named Snoopy.

3. There was a Snoopy exhibit at New York City's F.I.T. in 1984 called "Snoopy: Puttin' on the dog" where more than 140 costumes made costumes for Snoopy and his sister Belle. Designers like L.L. Bean,Betsy Johnson, Oscar de la Renta, and Givenchy all contributed. Oscar de la Renta dressed Snoopy in black velvet with a white collar and Belle into black ruffles.

4. Snoopy's original name was going to be Sniffy but that was already used in another comic. According to Schulz remembered his mother once saying that if the family were to get another dog, it should be named Snoopy.

5. Schulz's alma mater, Central High School in St. Paul, Minnesota, has a " Scholar Snoopy" statue in his honor.

6. The Peanuts comic strip ran from October 2, 1950 and ended January 3, 2000 with a note from Charles Schulz announcing his retirement.

7. A Charlie Brown Christmas was a television special which debuted on CBS on December 5, 1965. It won Schulz an Emmy in 1966 and a Peabody Award.

8. Woodstock, Snoopy's best friend (who happens to be a little yellow bird), was first seen in the strip in 1967 but wasn't referred to by name until 1970 (he was named after the summer music festival).

9. Snoopy comes from a big family (with seven siblings in total). He has a brother named Spike who lives in Needles, California, and was apparently named for Schulz's own childhood dog. Snoopy also had six other siblings, and a total of five of his siblings showed up in the comic strip. His brothers names are Andy, Olaf, and Marbles (in addition to Spike), and he has a sister called Belle.
10. Peppermint Patty's real name is Patricia Reichardt.
11. Linus was named after a childhood friend, and Frieda, the infamous girl with the red hair, was based off of a former romantic interest of Schulz's who turned down his marriage proposal. (via ABC.com)

12. In the 1980s, musician Fergie (aka Stacey Ferguson) was the voice of Sally Brown for television specials and The Charlie Brown and Snoopy Show. She wasn't even 10 years old at the time. via Huffington Post.

13. Vince Guaraldi (the creator of the Charlie Brown theme music) was approached by Lee Mendelson when he was searching for music to accompany a Peanuts television documentary. Mendelson heard a single version of " Cast Your Fate to the Wind" by Vince Guaraldi's trio on the radio and contacted got in touch with Guaraldi. He proposed that Guaraldi score the upcoming Peanuts Christmas special and Guaraldi enthusiastically took the job, performing a version of what became " Linus and Lucy" over the phone two weeks later.

Portrait of Vince Guaraldi 1964

14. Peanuts character Lucy van Pelt often speaks out for women's rights and has high aspirations to one day be president and queen.

15. Director Wes Anderson includes a Charlie Brown reference in every single one of his films.

16. Snoopy's bio on the Peanuts website reads, " The wildly imaginative, supremely confident, world-famous beagle is a canine master of disguise. As Joe Cool, he's aloof, unflappable, above the fray, the hip dog we'd all like to be. As the World War I Flying Ace, he engages in aerial combat with the notorious Red Baron. While pondering life from the top of his doghouse, he writes the great American novel, travels to the moon, and plots revenge on the cat next door.

17. Schulz once said, "Peanuts are the grandest people in the world. All children are peanuts. They're delightful, funny, irresistible, and wonderfully unpredictable. I really hate to see them grow out of the peanut stage."

18. The Peanuts Movie comes out November 5.

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18 Things You Didn't Know About Charles Schulz's Peanuts

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1. The Peanuts characters first appeared in creator Charles Schulz's comic that was called Li'l Folks . They were published in Schulz's hometown Minnesotan paper, the St. Paul Pioneer Press from 1947 to 1950. Schulz wanted to keep the name Lil'Folks but a United Feature Syndicate editor changed it to "Peanuts."

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This article is about fun facts about Charles Schulz's Peanuts.

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I would use this article for any facts I don't already have, and maybe some fun/interesting stuff too.

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- Snoopy is based off of Schulz's childhood dog, Spike
- Woodstock appeared in 1967, but didn't have a name until 1970, when he was named after the music festival