A Charlie Brown Christmas is a 1965 animated television special. It is the first TV special based charlie brown christmas trees the comic strip Peanuts, by Charles M.
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. 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. At the tree lot, Charlie Brown picks the only real tree there, a small sapling.
Linus questions his choice, but Charlie Brown believes that once decorated, it will be perfect. When they return, however, Lucy and the others scorn him and the tree and walk away laughing. Realizing that he does not 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 doghouse, which had won the lights and display contest, and hangs a large red Christmas ball on his tree.
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 support. 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! Choral vocals: Members of the children’s choir of St. The choir was recognized for their contribution to this work at a 40-year anniversary at the Schulz Museum in Santa Rosa. The choir was also featured on the Vince Guaraldi recording At Grace Cathedral.
By the early 1960s, Charles M. Schulz’s comic strip Peanuts had gained enormous popularity. 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. Despite the popularity of the strip and acclaim from advertisers, networks were not interested in the special. As Allen was in Europe, the duo received no feedback on their pitch for several days. 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. 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. According to a 2015 “spiritual biography”, Schulz’s religion was personal and complex, and would be integrated in a number of his programs. The program’s script has been described as “barebones”, and was completed in only a few weeks. 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.
In casting the silent comic strip characters of Peanuts, the trio pulled from their personalities. 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. Much of the background cast came from Mendelson’s home neighborhood in northern California. 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. 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.