Peanuts by Charles Schulz for September 24, 1951

Schroeder out-talents C.B.

WOW! the first time Schroeder plays the piano!

Ah, Schroeder begins his piano playing career.

He’s a child prodigy.

Where would he be if Charlie Brown had never shown him the piano?

It Begins

And so it begins…

it now begins

As Beethoven would say, “Es beginnt”

this is a rerun

Paving the way for decades of piano-playing antics..

Wow – starting with Rachmaninov’s g minor prelude is awesome (though disappointing it isn’t Beethoven)…

And his legacy begans

And so it begins…

You don’t know what you’ve just started CB.

And so, a prodigy is born…

And so it begins

the beginning of schroeder the musician.

And a legend was born.

OH! He’s the blondie that Lucy was in love with, right???

Here we go! The piano prodigy begins

Ironically, the very first piece Schroeder played on the toy piano was by Rachmaninoff, not Beethoven. Also, real toy pianos only have one octave, and the black keys are usually painted on. How Schroeder was able to play entire Beethoven sonatas on it I’ll never know.

I find it interesting that even in "Peanuts"’ first year, Charlie Brown increasingly became the butt of the jokes, beginning his evolution from the cocky wisecracking prankster of the earliest strips to the boy for whom everything constantly goes wrong.

Cool to see how Schroeders defining trait started off as a random gag

Charlie Brown from the side in these early ones reminds me of PacMan.