A Charlie Brown Christmas – a staple part of many people’s Christmas viewing – turns 60 this year. But do you know the story behind the iconic animation?
For many people in the US – and around the world – A Charlie Brown Christmas is a must-watch on TV every December.
The animation first aired in 1965 and has been repeated every year since and is now loved by generations for its gentle humour and wholesome messaging about what is really important at Christmas.
Peanuts was already a global phenomenon by the time A Charlie Brown Christmas was broadcast, but this helped to cement Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Linus, Lucy and the rest as cultural icons.
But there is a whole story behind the animation that many people are not aware of – here is the story.
It was sponsored by Coca-Cola
Prior to A Charlie Brown Christmas, Peanuts had not been animated for television – although it had achieved worldwide fame in its comic strip form by then. It was The Coca-Cola Company that commissioned A Charlie Brown Christmas and sponsored it as well – the company was already heavily involved in Christmas advertising.
The special was written in a matter of weeks by Peanuts creator Charles M Schulz and producer Lee Mendelson. It was produced on a small budget in just six months – fast for an animation back then – with it only being completed days before it went to air.
The production was unorthodox for the time
The producers of A Charlie Brown Christmas didn’t confirm to some of the animation industry norms for the special. For instance, they used child actors to voice the characters, rather than, as usual, adults (this is still common in animation)/
In addition, producers did not decide to include a ‘laugh track’ – pre-recorded laughter was often added to cartoons at this time. However, when this was suggested to Schulz, he walked out of the room. Schulz felt that audiences shouldn’t be instructed when to laugh when watching an animation.
The music was by a famous jazz artist
Another way in which A Charlie Brown Christmas differed from many other animations of the time was the musical score, which blended traditional Christmas music and jazz.
The producers opted to commission jazz artist Vince Guaraldi. Producer Lee Mendelson was a jazz fan and had worked with Guaraldi previously.
For A Charlie Brown Christmas, Guaraldi composed several instrumental pieces, including ‘Linus & Lucy’, ‘Skating’ and ‘Christmas Time is Here’ – although Mendelson composed lyrics for the latter after struggling to find a lyricist. He wrote the lyrics in 15 minutes on the back of an envelope.
The network thought it would be a disaster
But with the low budget and hurried production, there were fears among the producers – and the network – that it would be a disaster. Indeed, animator Bill Melendez said “My golly, we’ve killed it.”
Mendelson was also sceptical about it, not helped when he showed it to network executives, who didn’t like it – citing the slow pacing of the show, the music and the simple animation.
But it was scheduled to run the next week, and the sponsorship was in place, so it ran.
It drew a huge audience on first watch
The producers and executives needn’t have worried. When A Charlie Brown Christmas aired on CBS on December 9, 1965, at 7.30pm, it was watched by an estimated 15.49 million viewers – making it the second highest viewed show behind Bonanza.
It was also a huge critical success, with critics from influential newspapers and magazines fulsome in their praise of the show.
It influenced a generation of animators
Since then, A Charlie Brown Christmas has become a classic of the genre. It also helped to inspire a generation of animators, with several well-known names citing it as an influence, such as Pete Docter (who was behind Monsters Inc, Up and others) and Andrew Stanton (Finding Nemo and other Pixar hits).
It also led to a series of other Peanuts-based holiday specials – such as the equally beloved A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving.
