A Charlie Brown Christmas
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| A Charlie Brown Christmas | |
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| Directed by | Bill Melendez |
| Produced by | Bill Melendez Lee Mendelson |
| Written by | Charles M. Schulz |
| Starring | Bill Melendez Peter Robbins Christopher Shea |
| Music by | Vince Guaraldi |
| Distributed by | CBS |
| Release date(s) | 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.
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[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 1st Prize in a decorating contest. Charlie Brown takes the decorations and puts a single ornament on his tree, which promptly collapses under the weight. He flees in despair.
Having heard Linus's explanation of what Christmas is all about, the other kids realize they've 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 at times is noticeably choppy and poorly enunciated. Melendez has said he's 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 Schultz 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 Gilligan's Island. 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 quirks, along with several other choices, are what lent the show such an innovative, authentic and sincere feeling. A full 50% of the televisions in the United States were tuned to the 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.
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. 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.
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
- 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)
[edit] Full Cast
Peter Robbins: Charles "Charlie" Brown
Christopher Shea: Linus Van Pelt
Tracy Stratford: Lucille "Lucy" Van Pelt
Kathy Steinberg: Sally Brown
Bill Melendez: Snoopy
Sally Dryer: Violet Gray
Ann Altieri: Frieda
[edit] Influence
The musical soundtrack to A Charlie Brown Christmas, by jazz composer Vince Guaraldi, has become as well-known as the story itself. In particular, the instrumental "Linus and Lucy" has come to be regarded as the signature musical theme of the Peanuts specials. Additionally "Christmas Time is Here" has become a popular holiday tune. A soundtrack album for the special was released by Fantasy Records and remains a perennial best-seller. (While the CD release of the soundtrack album contains much music that does not appear in the TV special - it runs, after all, some 20 minutes longer than the special itself - it also fails to include two musical themes which appear in the special.)
A Charlie Brown Christmas is often credited with spearheading the popular stigmatization of artificial Christmas trees.
[edit] Sequels
Three lesser-known true sequels were produced decades after the 1965 original. All three are 30 minutes in length (with commercials) and aired on CBS Television (as of now, ABC):
- It's Christmastime Again, Charlie Brown (1992; released to DVD as a bonus feature with A Charlie Brown Christmas)
- Charlie Brown's Christmas Tales (2002; released to DVD as a bonus feature with I Want a Dog for Christmas, Charlie Brown)
- I Want a Dog for Christmas, Charlie Brown (2003)
All three avoid the social commentary of the original, placing the emphasis on light-hearted humor. The latter two were made after the death of Charles Schulz and were based on his Peanuts comic strips.
While not true sequels, two other Charlie Brown holiday season specials were produced and are generally regarded as higher quality than the '90s/'00s shows: 1973's A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving (still aired annually on ABC), It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown (also aired annually on ABC), and Happy New Year, Charlie Brown! from 1985.
[edit] Further reading
- Lee Mendelson (2005-09-27). A Charlie Brown Christmas: The Making of a Tradition. Harper Paperbacks. ISBN 0-06-076659-X.
- Bill Nichols. "The Christmas classic that almost wasn't", USA Today, 2005-12-05.
- Brian Heater. "The Lonely Tree: The Story of A Charlie Brown Christmas", PopMatters, 2006-12-14.
[edit] External links
- A Charlie Brown Christmas at the Internet Movie Database
- A Charlie Brown Christmas at Keyframe - the Animation Resource
