a charlie brown christmas by charles m schulz

I have watched A Charlie Brown Christmas every year for over half a century.

It’s still there and is now known as the Redwood Empire Ice Arena, or more commonly as “ Snoopy’s Home Ice.” We’d go there to skate and marveled that there were stained glass renditions of all the Peanuts characters in an Alpine setting. In 1969, he opened an ice skating rink in nearby Santa Rosa. Live stage productions were made of it there’s even an app for it.Ĭharles Schulz lived in Sebastopol, California, not far from where I grew up. It was voted into the Grammy Hall of Fame, and the Library of Congress added it to the National Recording Registry. Nevertheless, it won both a Peabody Award and an Emmy for Outstanding Children’s Program. There was no laugh track the animation was simple and flat, even by 1965 standards. Young children supplied the kids’ voices in the show, most of whom weren’t actors, something unheard of at the time. It got a 45 Nielson rating, meaning that nearly half of Americans watching TV that night saw this show. Note: If you observe carefully during that scene, the only time you see Linus without his security blanket is when he recites the line “Fear not!”

Schulz’s faith was deep and personal, and he asked the producer: Many were anxious about it and thought it would not be successful, but Charles Schulz was most insistent that the true meaning of Christmas should be captured in the biblical story of the birth of Jesus. This was unusual among Christmas specials, directly and overtly relating the religious nature of the holiday the producer was concerned that would make it controversial, and the network had its qualms. There is a significant scene near the end of the special when, as Charlie Brown asks what Christmas is all about- amidst the over-commercialism, school plays, and Santa wish lists - his friend Linus recites the Nativity story from the Gospel of Luke, read from the familiar King James Bible. Along with producer Lee Mendelson, it took Shultz a day to outline the story for the sponsor Coca-Cola, weeks to write it, and six months to film.īiblical Reference in A Charlie Brown Christmas San Francisco Bay Area musician Vince Guaraldi, known at the time for his instrumental hit “Cast Your Fate To The Wind,” provided what was then an unusually melancholy jazz soundtrack along with traditional and classical music for the special. It is a staple of holiday viewing today, and Christmas is not complete without gathering the family and friends around the TV to watch it. Though this was not Schulz’s first TV special - that would be 1963’s “A Boy Named Charlie Brown” - nor the last, it would become the most enduring. The comic was hugely popular when the TV special debuted. Schulz, creator of the “Peanuts” comic strip. On December 9, 1965, A Charlie Brown Christmas premiered on CBS TV as a 30-minute animated Christmas special written by Charles M.

A charlie brown christmas by charles m schulz