Editing Charlie Brown (section)

=== 1940s–1950s ===
<!-- FAIR USE of First Peanuts comic.png: see image description page at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:First Peanuts comic.png for rationale -->[[File:First Peanuts comic.png|thumb|upright=2.5|First ''Peanuts'' strip, October 2, 1950 (from left-to-right: Charlie Brown, [[Shermy (Peanuts)|Shermy]], [[Patty (Peanuts)|Patty]])]]
The character's name was first used on May 30, 1948, in an early Schulz comic strip titled ''[[Li'l Folks]]''. The character made his official debut in the first ''Peanuts'' comic strip on October 2, 1950. The strip features Charlie Brown walking by, as two other children named [[Shermy (Peanuts)|Shermy]] and [[Patty (Peanuts)|Patty]] look at him. Shermy refers to him as "Good Ol' Charlie Brown" as he passes by, but then immediately reveals his hatred toward him once he is gone on the last panel. In the very early days of the strip, Charlie Brown was explicitly identified as being four years old;<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.gocomics.com/peanuts/1950/11/03|title=Peanuts by Charles Schulz for November 03, 1950 &#124; GoComics.com|first=Charles|last=Schulz|date=November 3, 1950|website=GoComics}}</ref> he would age very slowly over the next several years, being old enough to attend elementary school by the 1960s.  During the strip's early years, Charlie Brown was much more impish and lighthearted and not the dour defeatist he would soon become. He was something of a smart-aleck and would often play pranks and jokes on the other characters. On December 21, 1950, his signature zig-zag pattern first appeared on his formerly plain [[T-shirt]]. By April 25, 1952, his T-shirt was changed to a [[polo shirt]] with a collar and the zig-zag.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Kidd |first1=Chip |title=Only What's Necessary: Charles M. Schulz and the Art of Peanuts |last2=Spear |first2=Geoff |date=2015 |publisher=Abrams Comic Arts |isbn=978-1-4197-1639-3 |location=New York}}</ref> On the March 6, 1951, strip, Charlie Brown first appears to play baseball, as he was warming up before telling Shermy that they can start the game; however, he was the catcher and not yet the pitcher and manager of his team.<ref>{{Cite web |date=March 6, 1951 |title=Peanuts cartoon 06 March 1951 |url=http://www.gocomics.com/peanuts/1951/03/06 |access-date=September 28, 2014}}</ref>

Charlie Brown's relationships with other ''Peanuts'' characters initially differed significantly from their later states, and their concepts were grown up through this decade until they reached their more-established forms. An example is his relationship with [[Violet Gray]], to whom he was introduced in the February 7, 1951, strip.<ref>{{Cite web |date=February 7, 1951 |title=Peanuts comic strip 07 February 1951 |url=http://www.gocomics.com/peanuts/1951/02/07 |access-date=September 28, 2014}}</ref> The two constantly remained on fairly good terms, a bit different from their later somewhat tepid relationship. In the August 16, 1951, strip, she called Charlie Brown a "blockhead", being the first time Charlie Brown was referred by that insult.<ref>{{Cite web |date=August 16, 1951 |title=Peanuts comic strip 16 August 1951 |url=http://www.gocomics.com/peanuts/1951/08/16 |access-date=October 3, 2014}}</ref> The strip for November 14 of that year featured the first appearance of the famous football gag, with Violet in the role that would later be filled by [[Lucy van Pelt|Lucy]].

On May 30, 1951, Charlie Brown is introduced to [[Schroeder (Peanuts)|Schroeder]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=May 30, 1951 |title=Peanuts cartoon 30 May 1951 |url=http://www.gocomics.com/peanuts/1951/05/30 |access-date=September 28, 2014}}</ref> As Schroeder is still a baby, Charlie Brown cannot converse with him. On June 1 of the same year, Charlie Brown stated that he felt like a father to Schroeder;<ref>{{Cite web |date=June 1, 1951 |title=Peanuts cartoon 1 June 1951 |url=http://www.gocomics.com/peanuts/1951/06/01 |access-date=September 28, 2014}}</ref> in fact, for quite some time, he sometimes acted like a father to him, trying to teach him words and reading stories to him. On September 24 of that year, he taught Schroeder how to play the piano, the instrument which would later become Schroeder's trademark.<ref>{{Cite web |date=September 24, 1951 |title=Peanuts cartoon 30 May 1951 |url=http://www.gocomics.com/peanuts/1951/09/24 |access-date=September 28, 2014}}</ref> On that year's October 10, strip, he told Schroeder the story of [[Beethoven]] and set in motion the piano player's obsession with the composer.<ref>{{Cite web |date=October 10, 1951 |title=Peanuts cartoon 10 October 1951 |url=http://www.gocomics.com/peanuts/1951/10/10 |access-date=September 28, 2014}}</ref> Charlie Brown placed the Beethoven bust on Schroeder's piano on November 26, 1951.<ref>{{Cite web |date=November 26, 1951 |title=Peanuts comic strip 26 November 1951 |url=http://www.gocomics.com/peanuts/1951/11/26 |access-date=September 28, 2014}}</ref> Later, Schroeder and Charlie Brown were portrayed as being about the same age, and Schroeder became Charlie Brown's closest friend after [[Linus Van Pelt]].  Schroeder became the  catcher on Charlie Brown's baseball team for the first time in the April 12, 1952, strip.<ref>{{Cite web |date=April 12, 1952 |title=Peanuts cartoon 12 April 1952 |url=http://www.gocomics.com/peanuts/1952/04/12 |access-date=December 31, 2024}}</ref>

In early 1959, Charlie Brown (and other ''Peanuts'' characters) made his first animated appearances after they were sponsored by the [[Ford Motor Company]] in commercials for its automobiles, as well as for intros to ''[[The Ford Show|The Tennessee Ernie Ford Show]]. ''The ads were animated by [[Bill Melendez]] for Playhouse Pictures, a cartoon studio that had Ford as a client.{{Citation needed|date=August 2021}}