Good Grief

In 1947, Charles Schulz launched a cartoon
That first appeared within the Minneapolis Tribune
For just two days, then moved to the St. Paul Pioneer Press—
The women’s section, not the comics; why, I couldn’t guess.
That bothered Schulz, along with when he couldn’t get a raise.
He quit in 1950, but his work would still get praise.
No longer just one panel and a nameless random cast,
The strip retooled would let him be a household name at last.
United Feature Syndicate agreed to take it on,
But not without a name change, for while Little Folks was gone,
Tack Knight still held the trademark and found Li’l Folks too close,
And Al Capp’s Li’l Abner might have added to their woes.
We don’t know who chose Peanuts, but the reasoning was clear:
It traced to Howdy Doody’s popularity that year.
The children were called “peanuts” for the peanut gallery
In which they sat, so readers could connect them easily
To other kids on paper. This would leave Schulz quite annoyed,
Explaining why his TV specials always would avoid
The word within their titles; they instead said “Charlie Brown”
Or “Snoopy,” but the comic’s ugly title stuck around.