Nostalgia Alert: First Peanuts Comic Strip Was Published 65 Years Ago Today!

Good grief!

Charles M. Schulz published his first Peanuts comic strip 65 years ago Friday. If you feel old, imagine how old Charlie Brown feels! Although he never seemed to age in all of his printed years, we're sure the fictional character is feeling elderly today in honor of his fake birthday.

The comic strip author had been pushing the idea of Charlie Brown, his mischievous dog Snoopy and his friends for three years before it finally got published in nine newspapers in 1950. Shortly after more than 2,000 publications picked it up. Unlucky in life, love and everything else, Charlie Brown's real luck lay in his enduring success, appearing in papers for more than 50 years until his creator died in 2000.

And to think, Peanuts almost wasn't Peanuts. Schulz famously hated the title and originally named his strip Li'l Folks. But when Li'l Abner and Little Folks were published, Schulz's title sparked fear of copyright infringement, so an editor chose Peanuts and that was that!

The last new strip appeared the day after Schulz died that February, but the comic continues to appear in newspapers nationwide. The legacy Schulz left behind extends far beyond the newspaper world, as cartoons and TV movies have also become a mainstay of the Peanuts franchise. This Thanksgiving season Charlie Brown and co. will be hitting the big screen in a 3-D feature animated film.

Paul Feig, a producer on The Peanuts Movie, opened up to USA Today last year about the childhood classic coming to life and couldn't help but become nostalgic for the memories that came back. "You love being back in that world," Feig said. "And you immediately want to grab every kid you know and go, 'Oh, my God, you've got to watch this!'"

Director Steve Martino also opened up about the pressure of transforming Schulz's 65-year-old comic strip and TV stars into digital 3-D film characters.

"A little tilt of that eye shape can give you worry," Martino said of designing the gang. "A little stretch and raise of that little dot can give you surprise."

The Peanuts Movie hits theaters Nov. 6.