Happy 75th Birthday, Charlie Brown!

This year marks the 75th anniversary of one of the greatest comic strips.

Next month will be the 75th birthday of the debut of Charles Schulz's classic strip Peanuts. Like Ian Fleming and Gene Roddenberry (who, with Schulz, were members of what Tom Brokaw famously called The Greatest Generation), Schulz followed his service during World War II by creating something that would become a major part of pop culture.

While Peanuts was successful in the 50's, it was in the 60's that it would truly take off. The character of Snoopy in particular would achieve superstar status, with many strips often featuring him. That was also the decade that Peanuts would start appearing on the small screen, beginning with 1965's A Charlie Brown Christmas. This would, naturally, lead to other TV specials as well as feature films, which started 4 years later with A Boy Named Charlie Brown. Since Schulz's passing in 2000, there have been further Peanuts specials, including the recent Welcome Home, Franklin.