A Charlie Brown Christmas is a 1965 animated television special
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 this 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. After Linus tells Charlie Brown about the true meaning of Christmas, Charlie Brown cheers up, and the Peanuts gang unites to celebrate the Christmas season.
After the comic strip’s debut in 1950, Peanuts had become a phenomenon worldwide by the mid-1960s. 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 program’s soundtrack was similarly unorthodox, featuring a jazz score by pianist Vince Guaraldi. Its lack of a laugh track (a staple in US television animation in this period), in addition to its tone, pacing, music, and animation, led both the producers and the network to predict the project would be a disaster. However, contrary to their collective apprehension, A Charlie Brown Christmas received high ratings and acclaim from critics. It has been honored with an Emmy and a Peabody Award, and has become an annual presentation in the United States, airing on broadcast television during the Christmas season. Its success paved the way for a series of Peanuts television specials and films. Its jazz soundtrack achieved commercial success, selling four million copies in the US. Live theatrical versions of A Charlie Brown Christmas have been staged.
Plot
On their way to join their friends ice skating on a frozen pond, Charlie Brown confides in Linus that despite the Christmas season he is still depressed. After Linus’ reproach, and a put-down from Violet, he visits Lucy’s psychiatric booth and tells her his problem. She suggests that he direct the group’s annual Christmas play to get him involved.
Charlie Brown becomes even more discouraged by his observations of Christmas’ commercialization as he heads for the rehearsal: Lucy lamenting she never gets real estate for Christmas; Snoopy decorating his doghouse for a neighborhood lights and display contest; and Sally, dictating a letter to Santa Claus asking for a long list of gifts or cash. At rehearsal, Charlie Brown finds a modern play with dancing, lively music, an uncooperative cast and a “Christmas Queen” (Lucy). Sensing the play needs a more “proper mood,” Charlie Brown recommends a Christmas tree; Lucy suggests a big, pink aluminum tree and sends him and Linus to get one.
At the tree lot, Charlie Brown picks the only real tree there, a small sapling. Linus questions this choice, but Charlie Brown believes that once decorated, it will be perfect. When they return, Lucy and the others scorn him and the tree and walk away laughing. In despair, Charlie Brown loudly asks if anyone knows what Christmas is all about; Linus says he does and, walking to center stage, asks for a spotlight and recites the annunciation to the shepherds. Linus returns and says, “That’s what Christmas is all about, Charlie Brown.”
Realizing that he doesn’t have to let commercialism ruin his own Christmas, Charlie Brown takes the tree home to decorate it and show the others that it will work in the play. He stops at Snoopy’s winning doghouse and hangs a large red Christmas ball on his tree. The ornament causes the tiny tree to bend to the ground; Charlie Brown thinks he has killed the tree and, dejected, walks away.
The others realize that they were too hard on Charlie Brown and quietly follow him. Linus gently uprights the drooping tree and wraps his blanket around its base to give it some needed love. After the others give the tree a makeover using more decorations from the doghouse, even Lucy concedes to Charlie Brown’s choice. The kids then start humming “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing”. Hearing them, Charlie Brown returns to see that the sapling is now a magnificent Christmas tree. All the kids shout, “Merry Christmas, Charlie Brown!”, and then sing “Hark” with Charlie Brown joining in as snow begins to fall.
Voice cast
Peter Robbins: Charlie Brown[2]
Chris Shea: Linus van Pelt[3]
Tracy Stratford: Lucille “Lucy” van Pelt[4]
Cathy Steinberg: Sally Brown[4]
Chris Doran: Schroeder and Shermy
Karen Mendelson: Patty
Geoffrey Orstein: Pig-Pen
Sally Dryer: Violet
Anne Altieri: Frieda
Bill Melendez: Snoopy
Children’s singing vocals: Members of the children’s choir of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, San Rafael, California, led by Robert “Barry” Mineah. Among the choir were Mineah’s daughter, Kristin Mineah, David Willats, David Hertzel, Laura King and others.
These singers and the choir director, Robert Mineah, were publicly recognized for their contribution to this work at a 40-year anniversary at the Schultz Museum in Santa Rosa. Owing to a talent release they were made to sign by the producer of the work, Lee Mendelson,[5] the choir members and director were never awarded any royalties or acknowledgment in the making of the album or the subsequent hit film.
Several months before the making of A Charlie Brown Christmas, this choir was featured on the Vince Guaraldi recording At Grace Cathedral.
Production
Development
By the early 1960s, Charles M. Schulz’s comic strip Peanuts had gained enormous popularity.[6] Television producer Lee Mendelson acknowledged the strip’s cultural impression and had an idea for a documentary on its success, phoning Schulz to propose the idea. Schulz, an avid baseball fan, recognized Mendelson from his documentary on ballplayer Willie Mays, A Man Named Mays, and invited him to his home in Sebastopol, California, to discuss the project.[7] Their meeting was cordial, with the plan to produce a half-hour documentary set. Mendelson wanted to feature roughly “one or two” minutes of animation, and Schulz suggested animator Bill Melendez, with whom he collaborated some years before on a spot for the Ford Motor Company.[8] Mendelson later stated that he was drawn to doing an animated Charlie Brown after working on A Man Named Mays, noting that Mays was arguably the best baseball player of all time, while Charlie Brown, in a running gag in the strips, was one of the worst, making him a natural follow-up subject to his previous work.[9]
Despite the popularity of the strip and acclaim from advertisers, networks were not interested in the special.[10] By April 1965, Time featured the Peanuts gang on its magazine cover, perhaps prompting a call from John Allen of the New York-based McCann Erickson Agency.[6] Mendelson imagined he would sell his documentary, and blindly agreed to Allen’s proposal: an animated half-hour Peanuts Christmas special.[10] The Coca-Cola Company was looking for a special to sponsor during the holiday season. “The bad news is that today is Wednesday and they’ll need an outline in Atlanta by Monday,” Allen remarked to Mendelson.[11] He quickly contacted Schulz, and the duo got to work with plans for a Peanuts Christmas special.[6] 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.”[12] According to Mendelson, their pitch to Coca-Cola consisted of “winter scenes, a school play, a scene to be read from the Bible, and a sound track combining jazz and traditional music.”[13] The outline did not change over the course of its production.[14]
As Allen was in Europe, the duo received no feedback on their pitch for several days.[12] 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. Mendelson assured him — without complete confidence in his statements — that this would be no problem. Following this, A Charlie Brown Christmas entered production.[12]
Writing
Charles M. Schulz in 1956. His goal for the special was to focus on the true meaning of Christmas.
Schulz’s main goal for a Peanuts-based Christmas special was to focus on the true meaning of Christmas.[12] He desired to juxtapose this theme with interspersed shots of snow and ice-skating, perhaps inspired by his own childhood growing up in St. Paul, Minnesota.[12] He also created the idea for the school play, and mixing jazz with traditional Christmas carols.[12] Schulz was adamant about Linus’ reading of the Bible, despite Mendelson and Melendez’s concerns that religion was a controversial topic, especially on television.[14] Melendez recalled Schulz turned to him and remarked, “If we don’t do it, who will?”.[6] Schulz’s estimation proved accurate, and in the 1960s, fewer than 9 percent of television Christmas episodes contained a substantive reference to religion, according to university researcher Stephen Lind.[15] It could also be worth noting that Linus’s recitation of Scripture was incorporated in such a way that it forms the climax of the film, thus making it impossible to successfully edit out.
Schulz’s faith in the Bible stemmed from his Midwest background and religious and historical studies;[14] as such, aspects of religion would be a topic of study throughout his life.[16] According to a 2015 “spiritual biography”, Schulz’s religion was personal and complex, and would be integrated in a number of his programs.[17]
The program’s script has been described as “barebones”, and was completed in only a few weeks.[18] In the days following the special’s sell to Coca-Cola, Mendelson and animator Bill Melendez met with Schulz in his home to expand upon the ideas promised in the pitch. Mendelson noted that on the previous Christmas Day he and his spouse had read Hans Christian Andersen’s “The Fir-Tree” to their children.[13] Schulz countered with the idea that there be a tree with the spirit of lead character Charlie Brown.[19] Mendelson suggested they employ a laugh track, a staple of television animation, but Schulz rejected this idea immediately.[19] He felt strongly that the audience should not be instructed when to laugh.[18] They spoke at length about creating an official theme that was neither jazz nor traditional to open the program. Schulz wanted a part of the special to feature the character of Schroeder performing Beethoven, and Mendelson combined this with the inclusion of Guaraldi’s “Linus & Lucy” number.[19] Schulz penned the script for A Charlie Brown Christmas, with Melendez plotting out the animation via a storyboard. His storyboard contained six panels for each shot, spanning a combined eighty or-so pages.[19]
Casting
In casting the silent comic strip characters of Peanuts, the trio pulled from their personalities.[2] Lead character Charlie Brown’s voice was decided to be downbeat and nondescript (“blah,” as Mendelson noted), while Lucy be bold and forthright.[2] Linus’ voice, it was decided, would combine both sophistication with childlike innocence.[2] Mendelson recognized that the character of Snoopy was the strip’s most popular character who seemed to seize “the best jokes,” but realized they could not cast a voice for the cartoon dog. “In the process, we gained a veritable ‘canine Harpo Marx,’” Mendelson later wrote.[2] Melendez suggested he provide gibberish for Snoopy’s mutterings, and simply speed up the tape to prevent viewers from knowing.[2] There are no adult characters in the strip or in this special. Later specials would introduce an offscreen teacher; her lines are eschewed for the sound of a trombone as the team behind the specials found it humorous.[20]
With this in mind, the trio set out to cast the characters, which proved to be a daunting process. Casting for Charlie Brown proved most difficult, as it required both good acting skills but also the ability to appear nonchalant.[19] The producers picked eight-year-old Peter Robbins, already known for his roles spanning television, film, and advertisements.[2] His godmother, famous Hollywood agent Hazel McMillen, discovered Christopher Shea, who would become Linus in the special.[2] His slight lisp, according to Mendelson, gave him a “youthful sweetness,” while his emotional script reading “gave him power and authority as well.”[3] Tracy Stratford played the role of Lucy, with the creators being impressed by her attitude and professionalism.[4] Kathy Steinberg was the youngest of the performers, just six years old at the time of recording. Too young to read, the producers had to give her one line at a time to recite.[4] Robbins remembered Melendez did this for him as well, joking that he also mistakenly copied his Latino accent.[6] Mendelson desired to have non-actors (not “Hollywood kids”) perform on the special, and he sent tape recorders home with his employees for their children to audition.[18]
Much of the background cast came from Mendelson’s home neighborhood in northern California.[4] According to Robbins, the children viewed the script’s sophisticated dialogue as “edgy,” finding several words and phrases, among them “eastern syndicate”, difficult to pronounce.[2] He recalled the recording sessions as chaotic, with excited children running rampant. Nevertheless, the recording of A Charlie Brown Christmas was completed in one day.[2] Jefferson Airplane was recording next door and came over to get the children’s autographs.[6] Following the special’s broadcast, the children became wildly popular in their respective elementary schools; Robbins recalled groups approaching him asking him to recite lines of dialogue.[4]
Animation
Animation for A Charlie Brown Christmas was created by Bill Melendez Productions. Mendelson had no idea whether or not completing a half-hour’s worth of animation would be possible given the production’s six-month schedule, but Melendez confirmed its feasibility.[13] In actuality, animation was only completed in the final four months of production.[21] CBS initially wanted an hour’s worth of animation, but Melendez talked them down to a half-hour special, believing an hour of television animation was too much.[1] Having never worked on a half-hour special before, Melendez phoned Bill Hanna of Hanna-Barbera for advice, but Hanna declined to give any. CBS gave a budget of $76,000 to produce the show and it went $20,000 over budget.[1] The first step in creating the animation was to make a pencil drawing, afterwards inking and painting the drawing onto a cel.[6] The cel was then placed onto a painted background. There are 13,000 drawings in the special, with 12 frames per second to create the illusion of movement.[6]
Melendez had previously worked for Warner Bros. and Disney, and working on Peanuts-related material gave him a chance to animate a truly flat cartoon design.[22] The movement of Schulz’s characters, particularly the Peanuts gang, was very limited. The character of Snoopy, however, proved the exception to the rule. “He can do anything — move and dance — and he’s very easy to animate,” said Melendez.[22]
Music
Main article: A Charlie Brown Christmas (soundtrack)
The soundtrack to A Charlie Brown Christmas is an unorthodox mix of traditional Christmas music and jazz. The jazz portions were created by the Vince Guaraldi Trio. Producer Lee Mendelson, a fan of jazz, heard Guaraldi’s crossover hit “Cast Your Fate to the Wind” on the radio not long after completion of his documentary Charlie Brown & Charles Schulz, and contacted the musician to produce music for the special.[8] Guaraldi composed the music for the project, creating an entire piece, “Linus and Lucy,” to serve as the theme.[10] When Coca-Cola commissioned A Charlie Brown Christmas in spring 1965, Guaraldi returned to write the music.[6] The first instrumentals for the special were recorded by Guaraldi at Glendale, California’s Whitney Studio with bassist Monty Budwig and drummer Colin Bailey.[23] Recycling “Linus and Lucy” from the earlier special, Guaraldi completed two new originals for the special, “Skating”, and “Christmas Time Is Here”.[23] In the weeks preceding the premiere, Mendelson encountered trouble finding a lyricist for Guaraldi’s instrumental intro, and penned “Christmas Time is Here” in “about 15 minutes” on the backside of an envelope.[14]
The special opens and closes with a choir of children, culled from St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in San Rafael, California, performing “Christmas Time Is Here” and “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing”.[4] One of the singers, Candace Hackett Shively, went on to become an elementary school teacher, and sent a letter of gratitude to Schulz after he announced his retirement in 2000.[4] In the letter, she recalls recording the choir at Fantasy Studios and going out for ice cream afterwards, while also noting that she tells the story to her grade-schoolers each holiday season.[20] The recording sessions were conducted in late autumn 1965 and were cut in three separate sessions over two weeks. They often ran late into the night, resulting in angry parents, some who forbade their children from returning; consequently, numerous new children were present at each session.[24] The children were directed by Barry Mineah, who demanded perfection from the choir. Mendelson and Guaraldi disagreed, desiring the “kids to sound like kids”; they used a slightly off-key version of “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing” in the final cut.[24] Children were paid five dollars for their participation. In addition, the children recorded dialogue for the special’s final scene, in which the crowd of kids shout “Merry Christmas, Charlie Brown!”[24]
The soundtrack for the special was recorded during these sessions, with decisions regarding timing and phrasing determined quickly. Guaraldi brought in bassist Fred Marshall and drummer Jerry Granelli to record the music, and spent time later re-recording earlier tracks, including covers of “The Christmas Song” and “Greensleeves.” The eventual LP release credited Guaraldi solely, neglecting to mention the other musicians; Guaraldi was notorious for never keeping records of his session players.[25] Nearly three decades later, in an effort to correct the matter, Fantasy surmised that the recordings with Budwig and Bailey were employed in the special, while Marshall and Granelli recorded the album.[25] Despite this, other individuals have come forward claiming to have recorded the special’s music: bassists Eugene Firth and Al Obidinski, and drummers Paul Distel and Benny Barth. Firth and Distil are noted as performers on a studio-session report Guaraldi filed for the American Federation of Musicians.[25]
A Charlie Brown Christmas was voted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2007,[26] and added to the Library of Congress’s National Recording Registry list of “culturally, historically, or aesthetically important” American sound recordings in 2012.[27]
“I have always felt that one of the key elements that made that show was the music,” said Mendelson in 2010. “It gave it a contemporary sound that appealed to all ages. Although Vince had never scored anything else and although I was basically a documentary film maker at the time, we started to work together on the cues because we both loved jazz and we both played the piano. So he would bring in the material for each scene and we would go over it scene by scene. Most of the time, the music worked perfectly. But there were times we would either not use something or use it somewhere else. We went through this same process on all sixteen shows. Although there was always some left over music, most of the time what he wrote and performed is what went on the air.”[28]
Reception
A Charlie Brown Christmas was completed just ten days shy of its national broadcast premiere.[6] All involved believed the special would be a disaster. Melendez first saw the completed animation at a showing in a theater in the days before its premiere, turning to his crew of animators and remarking, “My golly, we’ve killed it.”[6] Melendez was embarrassed, but one of the animators, Ed Levitt, was more positive regarding the special, telling him it was “the best special [he’ll] ever make […] This show is going to run for a hundred years.”[6][1] Mendelson was similar in his assumptions of the show’s quality, and when he showed the film to network executives in New York, their opinions were also negative. Their complaints included the show’s slow pace, the music not fitting, and the animation too simple. “I really believed, if it hadn’t been scheduled for the following week, there’s no way they were gonna broadcast that show,” Mendelson later said.[6] Executives had invited television critic Richard Burgheim of Time to view the special, and debated as to whether showing it to him would be a good idea.[14] His review, printed the following week, was positive, praising the special as unpretentious and writing that “A Charlie Brown Christmas is one children’s special this season that bears repeating.”[29]
The program premiered on CBS on December 9, 1965, at 7:30 pm ET (pre-empting The Munsters),[30] and was viewed by 45% of those watching television that evening,[18] 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.[6] The special received critical acclaim: The Hollywood Reporter deemed the show “delightfully novel and amusing,” while the Weekly Variety dubbed it “fascinating and haunting.”[31] Bob Williams of the New York Post praised the “very neat transition from comic page to screen,” while Lawrence Laurent of The Washington Post declared that “natural-born loser Charlie Brown finally turned up a real winner last night.”[32] Harriet Van Horne of the New York World-Telegram hailed the scene in which Linus recites scripture, commenting, “Linus’ reading of the story of the Nativity was, quite simply, the dramatic highlight of the season.”[32] Harry Harris of The Philadelphia Inquirer called the program “a yule classic […] generated quiet warmth and amusement,” and Terrence O’Flaherty of the San Francisco Chronicle wrote, “Charlie Brown was a gem of a television show.”[31] Ben Gross of the New York Daily News praised the special’s “charm and good taste,” while Rick DuBrow of United Press International predicted, “the Peanuts characters last night staked out a claim to a major television future.”[32]
The show’s positive reviews were highlighted with an ad in trade magazines;[33] one thanked Coca-Cola, CBS, United Features Syndicate, and the show’s viewers.[31] Fantasy released the special’s soundtrack the first week of December 1965, coinciding with the special’s airdate.[34] United Feature Syndicate pushed hard to promote the special, while Word Publishing issued a hardcover adaption of the special.[34] CBS promptly ordered four additional Peanuts specials.[14] A Charlie Brown Christmas was awarded the Emmy Award for Outstanding Children’s Program in 1966. “Charlie Brown is not used to winning, so we thank you,” Schulz joked.[6]
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