Back then, it meant “courting”

Charlie Brown, you have been making love to my sister for quite a while, an’ if you let me go now, I will consent.

FromĀ Fun in a Post Office: A farce in one act, by E. Henri Bauman, 1888

Not That Charlie Brown
The Mystery of the 1955 Charlie Brown

AAUGH Blog reader Caren (of CollectPeanuts.com ) knows I like chronicling non-Peanuts uses of the name “Charlie Brown”, so when she saw an eBay listing for a 1955 Charlie Brown record, she knew that she should sic me on it. Clearly, this is not Schulz’s Charlie Brown. The immediate thought …

Not That Charlie Brown
Those Other Charles Schulzes

Okay, so I search newspaper archives for unimportant things out of curiosity. And checking for pre-Sparky people named “Charles Schulz”, I found a fair amount, but the one which struck me was this obituary from 1900: It’s just the fact that this Charles Schulz had a son, Charles Schulz, who …

Not That Charlie Brown
Charlie Browns of the Cs

Digging through newspaper archives, I decided to delve into earlier Charlie Browns. These are just the ones that start with C from the 19th century: Crook (1822): Cricketeer (1860): Cairo-bound steamer (1862): Confederate prisoner (1862): Congressional candidate (1863): Concerning choice of spouse (1863): Coat borrower (1866): Captain (1867):   40 …