When the first Peanuts comic strip debuted on October 2, 1950, readers, editors, and even creator Charles M. Schulz himself had no idea they were a witness to history being made. It took a while for the charming world inhabited by Charlie Brown, his dog Snoopy, and the entire Peanuts family to became a comics page staple, but soon enough, it was. By the time Schulz retired, he had produced 17,897 Peanuts strips: 15,391 daily strips, and 2,506 Sunday strips, running in 2,600 newspapers in 75 countries.
While the beloved comic strip was read by millions, there are some things even devoted fans may not know about Peanuts. Here are a few of them…
Melissa Locker, for Southern Living, dispenses some Peanuts peculiarities.
For example: #3 Snoopy wasn’t always Snoopy
When Schulz first created Charlie Brown’s dog, he wanted to name the pup Sniffy, but there was a dog named Sniffy in another comic so he had to think of something else. According to ABC.com. Schulz remembered his mother once saying that if the family were to get another dog, it should be named Snoopy and a star was born.
From five years ago, here is History.com’s version:
9 Things You Might Not Know About “Peanuts”
#4: Snoopy was one of Schulz’s earliest Peanuts characters, appearing for the first time on October 4, 1950, two days after the comic strip’s debut. Schulz loosely based Snoopy on a black-and-white dog named Spike he had as a teenager. The cartoonist originally planned to call his cartoon dog Sniffy, but shortly before the comic strip launched Schulz was passing a newsstand and noticed a comic magazine featuring a dog with the same name. Now in need of a new name, Schulz remembered his mother’s suggestion that the family should name their next dog “Snoopy.”
Fun Fact No. 15: PEANUTS is the greatest comic strip of all time