Area Charlie Browns practice patience

Kimberley McGee

Thursday, June 8, 2000 | 9:22 a.m.

For Charles D. Brown it is by now a familiar routine.

When the 20-year-old introduces himself he's often greeted with a smile followed by an incredulous guffaw.

"Everybody knows me, I'm Charlie Brown," he said.

He's not alone. The Las Vegas resident is one of at least a dozen Charlie Browns living in the Las Vegas area who share the name of Charles Schulz's nearly half-century-old cartoon character from the comic strip "Peanuts."

Since its debut on Oct. 2, 1950 "Peanuts" has mirrored the Baby Boomer generation's fears, hopes and waning innocence in 2,600 newspapers translated into 21 languages.

Although Schulz passed away Feb. 12, the eve of the last original "Peanuts" Sunday strip to run, the weekly comic's rerun strips still appear in newspapers.

Perhaps the defining character of "Peanuts," Brown was one of several angst-ridden inhabitants of the comic strip, including his dog Snoopy, sister Sally, nemesis Lucy and contemplative confident, Linus.

Sharing the name of one of the funny pages' most beloved and well-known characters is not all a romp in the proverbial hay. Being the real Charlie Brown is an adventure in confusion, tolerance and good humor for many named after the lovable loser.

Maybe it's the mischievous glint in his eye that prompts newcomers to Brown's circle of friends to ask him for proof that this young, sandy-haired man's name is Charlie Brown.

"People will ask me my name and I tell them and I have to show them my identification," said Brown, who was named after his father, Kevin Charles Brown.

To this day he continually fields one particular question: Does his life mirror that of the cartoon character -- a boy whose dog, a World War I flying ace, aspiring writer and Beagle Scout, has more of a life than he does.

"I'd have to say no, not really," Brown said. "(I've) been made fun of at times but I'm a person (who) gets along with everybody."

For Charles Frederick Brown it's a similar tale.

When the 33-year-old introduces himself, he knows to expect in response: a pause and the inevitable -- and tired -- remark: "Where's Snoopy?"

"It doesn't really bother me so much as it's the fact that when you introduce yourself people aren't very witty," said Brown, a 10-year Las Vegas resident and roulette dealer at the Bellagio hotel-casino. "It's frustrating."

Good grief!

The ribbing began around the time Brown was in first grade, when his classmates made the connection between Brown's name and the 1959 song of the same, "Charlie Brown," by the Coasters.

Although he grew up, the witty retorts never did.

But he did find some advantages to the name he'd been saddled with.

"It does help you in the adult world because people remember your name," Brown said, before adding the downside. "The only problem is everybody remembers yours, but if you are not real good with names you're stuck."

A hapless army recruiter might have had the most foul-mouthed retort when he asked the then high-school-aged Brown his handle.

He didn't believe young Brown and responded by calling him a "lying sack of (excrement)."

"I said, 'No, that's really my name,' and he didn't believe me," Brown said. "At that point I knew military life was not for me."

Despite the teasing, Brown found a calming sense of truth about life in the "Peanuts" comic strip and growing up bought many of the books because he could relate to the characters. (Schulz often spoke of his strip as an extension of his own most personal fears, hopes and dreams.)

"Some of that you can identify with -- the triumphs and the losing aspect," Brown said. "The whole idea that you can see the analysis that goes on with (Brown), the insecurities that everybody has and can identify with."

Brown shares his frustration with other like-named friends he has met over the years -- including an Austin, Texas, Charlie Brown who coincidentally has a sister named Sally.

Brown contends that he is not insulted by the weary retorts his distant relation to the pop culture icon inspires, such as "Say 'Hi' to Lucy" or "Where's your kite?" No, it's in the gusto with which it is said -- as if Brown were hearing it for the first time ever.

"The question I have (is) do any of the other Charlie Brown's have a good comeback?" Brown said.

If over the years Brown needed advice on dealing with sharing a well-known name, he need only turn to his father.

"He's James Brown, so he has the whole 'Godfather of Soul' thing to deal with," Brown said.

"It's not a curse. I just remember you do get kidded a lot but you grow up with a good sense of humor," Brown said. "What are you going to do, throw punches every time somebody makes fun of your name? Really!"

Which would not be very Charlie Brown-like.

"You come to be tolerant of all that," he said.

Amy Lago, vice president of comics for United Feature Syndicate, which distributes "Peanuts," edited Schulz's comic strip during the last five years of his life.

"He has said if you read the strip you would know him," she said. "Every character is a little piece of him."

Schulz was the frightened little boy he drew to life.

"That was really very often the kind of person he felt like," Lago said. "Particularly when he was growing up he felt like a loser, like somebody who didn't have a lot going for them and things always seemed to go wrong."

On the other hand, the Snoopy character personified who Schulz wanted to be: the one who tossed off sarcastic comments and was adored, fun to be with and interesting, she said.

What was probably the most American trait of the now international comic strip is found in Brown: that of the beleaguered blockhead's stubborn hold on hope against mounting odds, Lago said.

"Every year he was out on the baseball field hoping to win a game, all the time hoping to win the little red-haired girl's heart," she said. "He was hoping to fly the kite and kick the football, and every single time he would have that hope to accomplish that goal."

He never did.

In the 1999 book "Peanuts: A Golden Celebration" (Harper Resource) Schulz wrote that he didn't understand why Charlie Brown was considered "a loser. That never occurred to me. A real loser would stop trying."

Green Valley resident Charlie Brown, a craps dealer at the Boulder Station hotel-casino, said he identified with Schulz's much loved tow-headed character with a big heart.

"I sometimes feel like Charlie Brown in the sense that although I'm honest and hard working, life doesn't care too much about that -- the loveable loser-type thing," Brown said.

When he was in college he dated a girl who was "5-foot nothing with red hair," Brown said. "My grandfather liked that. I used to catch everything about that."

Although he didn't marry the little red-headed girl, his grandfather, who he was named after and very close to, got a good chuckle out of the comparison to the comic strip.

In his travels, Brown also has met other Charlie Browns including a few women with the masculine moniker who shared the same tolerance of the name nonsense.

"It's a meeting point, an icebreaker," he said. "We asked each other, 'How many times have you heard this one?' ... (such as) 'Are you a blockhead?' "

One barb in particular Brown remembers is in reference to the cartoon character's lone curly wisp of hair on his melon-shaped head.

"I get, 'Boy, you have more hair than I thought you would have,' " Brown said.

One resident who is proud of his name, but not because of its affinity with the cartoon strip, is Charlie Brown III. The retired Baltimore police officer of 21 years said he bears his familial name with pride, and the name does have its perks.

"I always get comments when you mention the name, but it's easy to spell anyway," he said.

The gruff-voiced retiree takes it all in stride, but has endured some disbelieving citizens he has met in his official capacity.

"When you are on the street, people want your badge number and your name and you say, 'Charlie Brown' and they don't believe you," Brown said.

In court, he has had a few disgruntled citizens who beseech the bench in an accusing tone that the man who arrested them lied about his name so as not to be held responsible for his actions.

"And the judge says 'His name is Charlie Brown,' " he said.

Kimberley McGee is an Accent feature writer. Reach her at mcgee@ lasvegassun.com or 259-4096.

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