1950 - 2000  Charles M. Schulz was drawing round-headed kids in
The New Yorker long before they coalesced into a cartoon called
Li'l Folks, which eventually spread beyond its native St. Paul,
Minnesota and hit national syndication on October 2, 1950,
taking on a new name: Peanuts.  Calling Peanuts the world's
greatest comic strip is an understatement, as it has matured
into something greater: a piece of Americana. Strips of Lucy
pulling her football away from Charlie Brown's foot now hang in
the Smithsonian Institution alongside Gilbert Stuart's portrait
of George Washington. Charlie Brown and Snoopy have gone into
outer space as components of the Apollo 10 spacecraft. There's
even a rapper named after the pooch. Did Schulz ever think that
his little drawings would someday become a key part of America's
national consciousness, and spread to an audience throughout the
world?  He drew the first four-panel strip with just three
characters: Charlie Brown, Shermy, and Patty. He soon added a
beagle pup named Snoopy