We all grew up watching this Great Christmas Classic as Kids. Every Christmas season, we couldn’t wait till it aired on the Television. It was the type of Broadcast that could make us Cancel all our Plans with Friends, just to see it. The Christmas Classic I am referring to is, “A Charlie Brown Christmas”.
A Charlie Brown Christmas “is a 1965 animated television special. It is the first TV special based on the comic strip Peanuts, by Charles M. Schulz. Produced by Lee Mendelson and directed by Bill Melendez, the program made its debut on CBS on December 9, 1965. In the special, Charlie Brown finds himself depressed despite the onset of the cheerful holiday season. Lucy suggests he direct a neighborhood Christmas play, but his best efforts are ignored and mocked by his peers when he chooses a real, but puny, Christmas tree as a centerpiece. After Linus speaks of the true meaning of Christmas, the neighborhood decorates the tree as a Christmas gift to Charlie Brown.
Now it is time to dive into the History of this Great Classic
After the comic strip’s debut in 1950, Peanuts had become a phenomenon worldwide by the mid-1960s.
Good ol’ Charlie Brown
October 2, 1950: The first Peanuts comic strip, and the first time Charlie Brown is called, “Good ol’ Charlie Brown”. Also the first appearances of Shermy and Patty.
The special was commissioned and sponsored by The Coca-Cola Company and was written over a period of several weeks, and produced on a small budget in six months.
In casting the characters, the producers took an unconventional route, hiring child actors.
- The A Charlie Brown Christmas Cast
- Snoopy. voiced by Bill Melendez.
- Charlie Brown. voiced by Peter Robbins.
- Lucy Van Pelt. voiced by Tracy Stratford.
- Linus Van Pelt. voiced by Christopher Shea.
- Sally Brown. voiced by Cathy Steinberg.
- Schroeder. voiced by Chris Doran.
- Frieda. voiced by Ann Altieri.
- Pig Pen. voiced by Geoffrey Ornstein.
Despite the popularity of the strip and acclaim from advertisers, networks were not interested in the special. Mendelson imagined he would sell his documentary, and blindly agreed to Allen’s proposal: an animated half-hour Peanuts Christmas special. The Coca-Cola Company was looking for a special to sponsor during the holiday season. Mendelson quickly contacted Schulz, and the duo got to work with plans for a Peanuts Christmas special. The duo prepared an outline for the Coca-Cola executives in less than one day, and Mendelson would later recall that the bulk of ideas came from Schulz, whose “ideas flowed nonstop.” the duo received no feedback on their pitch for several days. When Allen got in touch with them, he informed them that Coca-Cola wanted to buy the special, but also wanted it for an early December broadcast, giving the duo just six months to scramble together a team to produce the special. Following this, A Charlie Brown Christmas entered production.
Schulz’s main goal for a Peanuts-based Christmas special was to focus on the true meaning of Christmas. The popularity of the special practically eliminated the popularity of the aluminum Christmas tree, which was a fad from 1958 to 1965, when the special portrayed it negatively. By 1967, just two years after the special first aired, they were no longer being regularly manufactured. The “Charlie Brown Christmas Tree” has been used to comedic effect with people familiar with the special and has become synonymous with poorly executed or minimalist Christmas decorating.
Music
And who could forget the Music this Great Classic had? A Charlie Brown Christmas incorporated some great Jazz ensembles. The Producers of “A Charlie Brown Christmas: Hired American jazz pianist Vince Guaraldi to Compose the Album for their Special. The album was released in December 1965 in the U.S. by Fantasy Records and was Guaraldi’s final studio album for the label. It is the soundtrack to the Christmas television special of the same name.
A Charlie Brown Christmas – Complete Soundtrack
A Charlie Brown Christmas was completed just ten days shy of its national broadcast premiere. The program premiered on CBS on December 9, 1965, at 7:30 pm ET (pre-empting The Munsters), and was viewed by 45% of those watching television that evening, with the number of homes watching the special an estimated 15,490,000, placing it at number two in the ratings, behind Bonanza on NBC. The special received critical acclaim: The Hollywood Reporter deemed the show “delightfully novel and amusing,” while the Weekly Variety dubbed it “fascinating and haunting.”
The original broadcasts included references to the sponsor, Coca-Cola. Because of Dolly Madison’s eventual co-sponsorship of the series, as well as subsequent FCC laws mandating the separation of commercial material from the actual program material, subsequent broadcasts and home media releases removed all references to Coca-Cola products.
A Charlie Brown Christmas has become a Christmas staple in the United States. It also, according to author Charles Solomon, established the half-hour animated special as a television tradition, inspiring the creation of numerous others, including How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (1966) and Frosty the Snowman (1969). (Earlier animated specials such as Mr. Magoo’s Christmas Carol and Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer ran a full hour.) The special influenced dozens of young aspiring artists and animators, many of whom went on to work within both the comics and animation industries, among them Eric Goldberg (Pocahontas), Pete Docter (Monsters, Inc., Up), Andrew Stanton (Finding Nemo, WALL-E),Jef Mallett (Frazz), and Patrick McDonnell (Mutts). The show’s score made an equally pervasive impact on viewers who would later perform jazz, among them David Benoit and George Winston. More directly, the special launched a series of Peanuts films, TV specials (many of them holiday-themed) and other works of entertainment.” (Wikipedia)
To learn more about “A Charlie Brown Christmas” Click the following Link. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Charlie_Brown_Christmas
Where and How to Watch
If you would like to watch this Great Christmas Classic you can do so at the Apple TV service.
You can watch for free for 7 days then a $4.99 fee will be accessed for each additional month that you want the Apple Tv service. To watch or Subscribe please click the link. https://tv.apple.com/us/movie/a-charlie-brown-christmas/umc.cmc.mbxalimrwrtq72wj4h601pyf?action=play
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A Charlie Brown Christmas
When Charlie Brown complains about the overwhelming materialism that he sees amongst everyone during the Christmas season, Lucy suggests that he become director of the school Christmas pageant. Charlie Brown accepts, but is a frustrating struggle. When an attempt to restore the proper spirit with a forlorn little fir Christmas tree fails, he needs Linus’ help to learn the meaning of Christmas.
Actor: Ann Altieri, Chris Doran, Sally Dryer
Director: Bill Melendez
Country: United States
Duration: 25 min
Quality: HD
Release: 1965
To view this Great Christmas classic simply click the link. https://ww5.0123movie.net/movie/a-charlie-brown-christmas-18438.html
How and Where can you Purchase this Film
If you would like to Purchase this great Christmas Classic, you can find it at the following sites and stores.
Thanks for Reading with me today. I learned a lot about this Classic holiday Special. I hope you have enjoyed this Content. If you found it interesting, please feel free to Comment, Share, and Subscribe to my Page.
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