Editing Charlie Brown (section)

=== 1960s ===
In the 1960s, the ''Peanuts ''comic strip entered what most readers consider to be its [[Golden Age]], reaching its peak in popularity, becoming well known in numerous countries, with the strip reaching 355 million readers.<ref>{{Cite web |last= |first= |date=2022-11-24 |title=60 interesting facts about Charles Schulz |url=https://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/specialsections/all-about-schulz/ |access-date=2024-04-24 |website=Santa Rosa Press Democrat |language=en-US}}</ref>

In 1965, the [[Coca-Cola Company]] approached Lee Mendelson about sponsoring a ''Peanuts'' Christmas [[television special]]. The next day Mendelson called Schulz and proposed a Christmas special featuring Charlie Brown and the ''Peanuts ''characters, in which he would collaborate with both Schulz and Melendez. Titled ''[[A Charlie Brown Christmas]]'', the special was first broadcast by the [[CBS]] network on December 9, 1965. The special's primary goal is showing "the true meaning of Christmas". Before ''A Charlie Brown Christmas'' was broadcast, several of those involved in the special's creation were worried that it might be poorly received, with its unorthodox soundtrack and overt religious message; however, it turned out to be a huge success, with the number of homes watching the special an estimated 15,490,000, placing it at number two in the ratings, behind ''[[Bonanza]]'' on [[NBC]].<ref name="makingof">{{Cite AV media |title=The Making of ''A Charlie Brown Christmas'' |date=2004 |last=[[Whoopi Goldberg]], [[Lee Mendelson]] |publisher=Paramount Home Entertainment |medium=DVD |display-authors=etal}}</ref> The special's music score made an equally pervasive impact on viewers who would later perform jazz, among them [[David Benoit (musician)|David Benoit]]{{sfn|Solomon|2013|p = 49}} and [[George Winston]].{{sfn|Bang|2012|p = 190}} ''A Charlie Brown Christmas''  was honored with both an [[Emmy Award|Emmy]] and [[Peabody Award]].

The success of ''A Charlie Brown Christmas ''was followed by the creation of a second CBS television special, ''[[Charlie Brown's All-Stars]]'', which was originally broadcast on June 8, 1966. In October of that year,a third ''Peanuts'' special was broadcast on CBS: the Halloween-themed ''[[It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown]]''.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Cooper|first=Gael Fashingbauer|title=It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown back on public TV after a year away|url=https://www.cnet.com/how-to/its-the-great-pumpkin-charlie-brown-back-on-public-tv-after-a-year-away/|access-date=November 8, 2021|website=CNET|language=en}}</ref>

The stage adaptation of a concept album titled ''[[You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown]]'', based on Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Lucy, Linus, Schroeder, and Patty, went into rehearsal in New York City on February 10, 1967. Prior to its opening, the musical had no actual libretto; it was several vignettes with dialogue adapted from ''Peanuts'' strips and a musical number for each one.<ref name="CB2" /> Since Patty was such a weakly defined character in Schulz's strip, she became a [[composite character]] in the musical, with much of her material originating with Violet and Frieda in the strip.{{citation needed|date=January 2022}} On March 7, 1967, the musical premiered [[off-Broadway]] at [[Theatre 80]] in the [[East Village, Manhattan|East Village]], featuring [[Gary Burghoff]] as Charlie Brown.<ref name=CB2>{{Cite web |title=FAQ Part II: Composers & Writers and their works - ''You're A Good Man Charlie Brown'' |url=https://www.juglans.demon.co.uk/Tim/Theatre/theatre_part2.txt|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120121075312/http://www.juglans.demon.co.uk/Tim/Theatre/theatre_part2.txt |archive-date=January 21, 2012 |access-date=November 14, 2011 |publisher=juglans.demons.co.uk}}</ref>

On December 4, 1969, ''[[A Boy Named Charlie Brown]]'',  the first feature-length animated film based on ''Peanuts'' was released. The film was a box office success, earning 6 million dollars at  the box office, against its 1&nbsp;million dollar budget. The film was generally well received by critics.
[[File:Apollo 10 command module.jpg|thumb|The Command Module of Apollo 10 which was named after Charlie Brown]]
Charlie Brown and Snoopy reached new heights on May 18, 1969, when they became the names of the [[Apollo Command/Service Module#Command Module (CM)|command module]] and [[lunar module]], respectively, for the [[Apollo 10]] mission.<ref>{{Citation |title=Newsroom for February 14, 2000 |url=http://edition.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0002/14/nr.00.html |work=CNN |access-date=October 12, 2007 |archive-date=August 6, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200806082853/http://edition.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0002/14/nr.00.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> While not included in the [[:File:Apollo-10-LOGO.png|official mission logo]], Charlie Brown and Snoopy became semi-official mascots for the mission.<ref name="NASA1">{{Cite web |title=Snoopy on Apollo 10 |url=http://science.ksc.nasa.gov/mirrors/images/images/pao/AS10/10075088.jpg |access-date=October 17, 2007 |archive-date=October 25, 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071025181648/http://science.ksc.nasa.gov/mirrors/images/images/pao/AS10/10075088.jpg |url-status=dead }}</ref><ref name="NASA2">{{Cite web |title=Charlie Brown and Snoopy at Apollo 10 Mission Control |url=http://science.ksc.nasa.gov/mirrors/images/images/pao/AS10/10075138.jpg |access-date=October 17, 2007 |archive-date=June 19, 2001 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010619231200/http://science.ksc.nasa.gov/mirrors/images/images/pao/AS10/10075138.jpg |url-status=dead }}</ref> Charles Schulz drew an original picture of Charlie Brown in a spacesuit; this drawing was hidden aboard the craft to be found by the astronauts once they were in orbit. Its current location is on a display at the [[Kennedy Space Center]].