Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Virtual Advent Tour: We Wish You a Charlie Brown Christmas

Celebrate the joy of the holidays with the classic animated special, "A Charlie Brown Christmas," tonight at 7:00 p.m. Central Time on CBS.  Charlie Brown and his search for the meaning of Christmas are pop-culture icons.  But do you know the story behind the story? 

In April of 1965, an ad exec contacted tv producer Lee Mendelson.  Coca-Cola wanted to sponsor a Christmas special. Did they have anything in the works?  Mendelson's emphatic answer was "Absolutely".  His next phone call was to Charles Schulz, creator of the Peanuts comic strip, to inform him that he had four days to write a Peanuts Christmas special.  After Coke approved the idea, Schultz, Mendelson and animator Bill Melendez scrambled to produce the special in only six months. 

When the final product was delivered, CBS Programming Exec. Fred Silverman was less than thrilled.  A jazz soundtrack, voices done by non-professional children rather than actors, and scripture voiced by a cartoon combined to make an atypical children's special.  However, since the tv schedule had already been published, CBS had no choice but to air it anyway and hope for the best.

What ensued took everyone by surprise.  A Charlie Brown Christmas was the second most watched show that week, with an unblievable 49% market share.  (If you're wondering, Bonanza was the #1 show.)  The show went on to win both an Emmy for Outstanding Children's Programing and a Peabody Award for Distinguished Achievement in Television.  Charlie Brown and the gang have helped America celebrate Christmas every year since.

Watching a Charlie Brown Christmas is one of my favorite parts of the season.  I have it on DVD and in book form - both regular and pop-up versions.  I often identify with Charlie as he struggles with the commercialization and ponders the true meaning of Christmas.  Not that I'm against the more commercial aspects of the celebration. If you've visited here before, you probably know that I'm a Christmas nut.  I love the music, the decorations, the lights, the tv specials and Santa Claus.  But the Peanuts characters remind me to stop amidst all the rush and glitter to consider "what Christmas is all about."   The answer can be found in Luke 2:8-14.  Listen to Linus recite those amazing words and have a truly Merry Christmas.



Bonus trivia:  In the opening scene of the program, we see the characters skating and playing Crack the Whip.  Charlie Brown and Linus are at the end of the line and are sent sliding across the ice.  Charlie Brown slides into a tree and snow falls on his head, but we never see where Linus lands.  Do you know why?

In the original version, Linus slides into a Coca-Cola sign - an extra bit of advertising for the sponsors.  Since Coke is no longer the exclusive sponsor, that scene was cut.  And now you know....the rest of the story.

14 comments:

  1. This reminds me of when I was young and worked in a Christian bookshop - in my lunch hour I used to read all the cartoons in The Gospel According to Peanuts - I'm afraid I didn't read the rest of the book but the message still came over clearly!

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  2. I am not sure if I have ever seen the whole episode of Charlie Brown Christmas.

    Fun post! Thanks so much for participating in the tour.

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  3. Very nice, Paul Harvey.
    I love the voice of Linus as he recites those lines. It's such a great show. That was a great post, and I'm glad we shared the Advent Tour today.
    Merry Christmas!

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  4. I didn't know Charlie Brown Christmas. The colors are wonderful. Thanks for sharing.

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  5. Thanks for this reminder of how wonderful Peanuts is! It wasa always one of my favourites.
    I haven't seen this one. Your post has made me want to sit down and watch as many episodes as possible, this one included! It's made me feel all christmassy this morning.

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  6. I love Charlie Brown Christmas. Two years ago, we had a Christmas tree decorating thing at work, and it reminded me of Charlie Brown's Christmas tree, so I watched it again. This never fails to bring tears to my eyes. :)

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  7. love that show--and that was an interesting bit of trivia at the end. Merry Christmas

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  8. I've always been partial to Charlie Brown X-Mas Trees. However, I do wish I could just wave my hands around the little thing with a gang of my friends and have it magically beautified! I also wish that my cat enjoyed decorating as much as Snoopy - he only seems to like to REMOVE the ornaments.

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  9. Wow. I didn't know any of the background for the Christmas special - thanks so much for sharing that with us!!

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  10. I love the Charlie Brown Christmas special and I'm glad you wrote about it. I didn't knpw the background story either and now I want to see the show again.

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  11. awwww, now i've got to rewatch this classic. neat-o tidbit regarding linus' crash scene.

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  12. Excellent post! And I'm enjoying reading through your blog. I'll be back for more!

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  13. A Charlie Brown Christmas is one of the things that makes Christmas, Christmas for me. We have the soundtrack CD and it gets a lot of play during the season. And my sister sang Christmas Time is Here at one of our musical Christmas Eve's.

    Merry Christmas, Dave and Tami!

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  14. I keep wanting a scrawny and sad Charlie Brown Christmas tree, but my daughter will have none of it. She'll appreciate it more when she gets older.

    Merry Christmas!

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