charlie brown christmas

A Charlie Brown Christmas
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A Charlie Brown Christmas

Directed by Bill Melendez
Produced by Bill Melendez
Lee Mendelson
Written by Charles M. Schulz

Starring Peter Robbins
Christopher Shea
Bill Melendez
Music by Vince Guaraldi
Distributed by United Feature Syndicate for CBS
Release date(s) December 9, 1965
Running time 25 min.
Language English
IMDb profile
For the album, see A Charlie Brown Christmas (album).
A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965) is the first of many prime-time animated TV specials based upon the popular comic strip Peanuts, by Charles M. Schulz. It was produced and directed by former Warner Bros. and UPA animator Bill Melendez. It is also the first special in which Melendez voices Snoopy. The special aired on CBS from its debut in 1965 through 1999, and has aired on ABC since 2000. At one time it was shown only annually, but like several other beloved holiday specials such as How the Grinch Stole Christmas, it is now shown several times between Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Contents
1 Synopsis
1.1 Themes
2 History
3 Versions
4 Trivia
5 Full cast
6 Quotes
7 Influence
8 Sequels
9 Further reading
10 External links



[edit] Synopsis
A Charlie Brown Christmas features Charlie Brown's search for meaning in the Christmas holiday. He starts the special seeking to understand why he always ends up depressed around the holidays. On the advice of Lucy, he gets involved in directing a school play about the Nativity. When he loses control of the production because of the cast members' refusal to listen to him, he is given the lesser responsibility of finding a Christmas tree for the play.

Instead of buying a "big, shiny, aluminum" artificial tree as he was instructed to do by Lucy, he chooses a pitiful little tree, which happens (somewhat symbolically) to be the only real tree on the lot. This makes him the target of laughter and derision by all except Linus. Charlie Brown cries out in abject desperation, wondering if anyone understands what Christmas is all about. Linus answers him by reciting the story of the birth of Jesus, from the Gospel of Luke.

Meanwhile, Snoopy has decorated his famous doghouse with colorful flashing lights and other baubles, and won first prize in a decorating contest. Charlie Brown takes the decorations and puts a single ornament on his tree, which promptly collapses under the weight. ("I killed it! Augghh! Everything I touch gets ruined!") He flees in despair.

Having heard Linus's explanation of what Christmas is all about, the other kids realize they have been too hard on Charlie Brown, and fix his tree up into a brilliant Christmas display using the rest of Snoopy's decorations. Charlie Brown returns to find the whole gang gathered around his tree. In a rare moment of happiness, he joins the crew in singing the Christmas carol "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing", as the closing credits roll.


[edit] Themes
The story touches on the over-commercialization of Christmas, and the true meaning of Christmas, the birth of Jesus Christ, continuing a theme explored by satirists such as Stan Freberg and Tom Lehrer during the 1950s.


[edit] History
Bringing the Peanuts characters to television was not an easy task. The strip's creators, with funding from sponsor Coca-Cola, presented the CBS network with an idea for a Christmas television special starring Schulz's characters.

The production was done on a shoestring budget, resulting in a somewhat choppy animation style and, from a technical standpoint, poorly mixed sound. With the exception of the actors who voiced Charlie Brown and Lucy, Peter Robbins and Tracy Stratford, respectively, none of the children had any experience doing voice work. This was especially challenging for Kathy Steinberg, who voiced Sally: she was too young to read and needed to be cued line by line during the soundtrack recording. The technical issues are in evidence on the show's audio track, which to some may seem noticeably choppy and poorly enunciated. Melendez has said he remains somewhat embarrassed to see the show repeated every year with all its problems, but Schulz vetoed his idea of "fixing" the program years later.

Network executives were not at all keen on several aspects of the show, forcing Schulz and Melendez to wage some serious battles to preserve their vision. The executives did not want to have Linus reciting the story of the birth of Christ from the Gospel of Luke (Lk 2:8-14); the network orthodoxy of the time assumed that viewers would not want to sit through passages of the King James Version of the Bible. A story reported on the Whoopi Goldberg-hosted version of the making of the program (see below) that Charles Schulz was adamant about keeping this scene in, remarking that "If we don't tell the true meaning of Christmas, who will?"

Another complaint was the absence of a laugh track, a common element of children's cartoons at the time. Schulz maintained that the audience should be able to enjoy the show at their own pace, without being cued when to laugh. (CBS did create a version of the show with the laugh track added, just in case Schulz changed his mind. This version remains unavailable.) A third complaint was the use of children to do the voice acting, instead of employing adult actors. Finally, the executives thought that the jazz soundtrack by Vince Guaraldi would not work well for a children's program. When executives saw the final product, they were horrified and believed the special would be a complete flop.

The show first aired on Thursday, December 9, 1965, preempting The Munsters and following the Gilligan's Island episode entitled Don't Bug the Mosquitos. To the surprise of the executives, it was both a critical and commercial hit. None of the special's technical problems detracted from the show's appeal; to the contrary, it is thought that these so-called quirks, along with several other choices, are what lent the show such an innovative, authentic and sincere feeling. For instance, Linus' recitiation was hailed by critics such as Harriet Van Horne of the New York World-Telegram who said, "Linus' reading of the story of the Nativity was, quite simply, the dramatic highlight of the season."

A full 50% of the televisions in the United States were tuned to the first broadcast 1. A Charlie Brown Christmas won an Emmy and a Peabody award, and is considered by many to be a timeless holiday classic. Watching it is an annual tradition for countless viewers. The success of A Charlie Brown Christmas gave rise to a series of animated Peanuts TV specials, several full-length animated feature films, and a Saturday morning cartoon over the years.

In 2000, the broadcast rights were acquired by ABC, which is where the special currently airs. On September 12, 2000, the special was released to DVD. The show enjoyed its 40th anniversary with its broadcast of Tuesday, December 6, 2005. This broadcast had the highest ratings in its time slot.

On December 6, 2001, a half-hour documentary on the special entitled The Making of "A Charlie Brown Christmas" (hosted by Whoopi Goldberg) aired on ABC. This documentary was released (along with the special Charlie Brown's Christmas Tales) as a bonus feature with the special I Want a Dog for Christmas, Charlie Brown on October 26, 2004.


[edit] Versions
The special has not been seen in its original, uncut form since the first three telecasts in 1965, 1966 and 1967. Much of this is due to the opening and closing credits containing references to Coca-Cola, the show's original sponsor. Specific, acknowledged cuts are:

The main titles have Linus crashing into a Coca-Cola sign after Snoopy has spun both him and Charlie Brown around with Linus' blanket. In the versions currently available, the viewer never sees where Linus' trajectory lands him.
In the "fence" scene, where several of the Peanuts gang are attempting to knock cans off a fence with snowballs, Linus is seen knocking down a can with his blanket. In the original airing, this is a Coke can, but was later replaced with a nondescript can.
The final end credit originally had text and graphics wishing the viewer a "Merry Christmas from the people in your town who bottle Coca-Cola." This is why the "Hark!" chorus sung at the end trails off oddly before the song would normally end, as an announcer originally did a voice over this point in the credits to repeat and reemphasize the local bottler's well wishes to the TV audience.[1]
Although the FCC eventually imposed sanctions preventing sponsor references in the context of a story (especially children's programming), this had no effect upon the decision to impose these edits. The Coca-Cola product placement elements were removed when the company ceased being the sole sponsor, replaced in 1968 by Dolly Madison snack products, who continued to sponsor the Peanuts specials through the 1980s, along with McDonald's. While current FCC product placement rules would prevent restoration and broadcast TV airing, the sole reason this footage has not been restored for the DVD or VHS releases has been related to royalties that would have to be paid to The Coca-Cola Company for use of their trademarks. However, this may change next year since full rights to the special will revert to Warner Bros..

Finally, there is some disagreement among those who have studied the various releases of the special about whether or not another edit was made after the initial airing. A quick ― and arguably sloppy ― cut occurs during the "Auditorium" scene, when the gang begins dancing to "Linus and Lucy" right after Charlie Brown gives his "am I right? I said, am I RIGHT??" speech. The moment of the cut occurs as the camera is zooming in on Schroeder, and quickly jumps to Linus dancing with Sally. The camera proceeds to pan around to the rest of the gang as they go through their own unique dance styles. The sloppiness of this cut is exacerbated by the fact that the music makes an audible jump as well, actually skipping a beat forward and sounding rather awkward. No information as to the nature of this cut has been determined, and none of the production staff (including director Bill Melendez) can recall if or why such an edit was done.


[edit] Trivia
Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines.
The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones.

According to Bill Melendez, some of the child actors could not read, so were given their lines to recite one at a time. Long lines sometimes had to be spliced together in the studio after the recording session was over. This led to the now-familiar Peanuts delivery style ("A Charlie Brown Christmas: The Making of a Tradition", Bill Melendez).
The cast of Scrubs redubbed A Charlie Brown Christmas, resulting in a viral video [2].
In Buffy The Vampire Slayer, the cartoon is mentioned as a yearly ritual of Willow and Xander. Willow, who is Jewish, would go over to Xander's house to watch it when they were children. He reminds her of this in the episode The Replacement, declaring "I would do the Snoopy Dance!" before demonstrating with some hilarity.
Twelve years after its original broadcast, the special was printed in a Christmastime issue of Family Circle in 1977, including all three verses, at the end, of "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing".
This television special was memorable moments #35 in TVLand's and TV Guide's The 100 Most Memorable TV Moments

[edit] Full cast
on ABC: The Charlie Brown trifecta is almost complete. First we spent all night waiting for the great pumpkin, then we dined on popcorn and toast for Thanksgiving and now we are schooled in the true meaning of the season during a Charlie Brown Christmas, or as Linus so aptly puts it, "That's what Christmas is all about Charlie Brown." Word!

9pm on ABC: Dancing With the Stars takes one final spin around the dance floor tonight in a two-hour spectacular, as if you didn't already know!

10pm on FX: John Schneider begins a recurring role as porn king Ram Peters on Nip/Tuck.

10pm on BRAVO: I think it's funny that the mom I like the most this season on Real Housewives of Orange County is Tamra. This week she treats herself to a little Botox pick-me-up for her 40th birthday. Plus a house party brings out the boozy gossip in the Coto ladies and Jeana considers leaving her loser husband (something she needed to do in season one!).