For your viewing pleasure...
Last night I had to watch it, for the... well... probably 33rd time in my life (assuming I watched it when I was 8 months old). A Charlie Brown Christmas as old as it is has never really become outdated. So just FYI, here's some facts about the cartoon (credit from FactMonster.com):
A Charlie Brown Christmas is the longest-running cartoon special in history, airing every year since its debut in 1965. But this cartoon classic almost didn't make it on the air.
In 1963 producer Lee Mendelson made a short documentary about Charles Schulz called A Boy Named Charlie Brown. It included a few minutes of animated Peanuts scenes by Bill Melendez, who had animated the kids for a series of Ford Motor commercials, and music by jazz pianist Vince Guaraldi. Sadly, no television network wanted to air it.
But in 1965, after the Peanuts made the cover of TIME magazine, an advertising agent for the Coca-Cola company who had seen the Schulz documentary called Mendelson. The agent asked if Mendelson had thought about creating a Peanuts Christmas special. Mendelson fibbed that he had; the following day, he and Schulz came up with the story.
Even Schulz admitted that he was probably the only person who could have gotten A Charlie Brown Christmas made. Television executives hated it from the start. It was criticized as being too religious—Linus quotes straight from the King James Bible (Luke 2:8-14). It was criticized for featuring contemporary jazz, an offbeat choice for a cartoon. It was criticized for not having a laugh track. It was criticized for using the voices of real children (except for Snoopy, who was voiced by animator Melendez). But it was an instant hit with viewers and reviewers alike. On Thursday, December 9, 1965, A Charlie Brown Christmas was seen in more than 15 million homes, capturing nearly half of the possible audience. That week it was number two in the ratings, after Bonanza.
Unless you've watched A Charlie Brown Christmas from the get-go, you haven't seen the whole show. Coca-Cola, its first sponsor, had left its mark—or rather its logo, which appeared several times. For instance, in the skating scene, Snoopy throws Linus from the rink into a Coca-Cola sign (did you ever wonder where Linus lands?). Later sponsors objected, and the frames were edited out.
Mistakes
In the scene where Charlie Brown consults Lucy for psychiatric help, her sign (as read from the front) says, "The Doctor Is Real In". However, when seen from the side angle, the sign simply says, "The Doctor Is In".
During the final scene, the Peanuts gang gathers around the little tree and begins to sing "Hark the Herald Angels Sing" (singing "Ooo Ooo Ooo"). As everyone takes a breath, Pig-Pen's head disappears briefly and Patty's orange dress (she's behind him) "pops up" to where his head used to be. Older VHS tapes based on the CBS version have the mistake; newer tapes and the remastered DVD based on the ABC remastered version do not.
The blanket wrapped around the foot of the tree keeps changing in appearance.
Also during the final scene, Shermy - the boy in the yellow on the right side of the screen - disappears after the gang greets Charlie Brown. In Shermy's place is 5 - the boy in a blue coat - who is still on the right side of the screen. So Shermy disappears and out comes a clone of 5. During Linus's speech from Luke 2:8-14 there are several continuity errors. First, he drops his security blanket when he says, "Fear not: for behold..." He continues the rest of his speech with the blanket on the stage next to him. However, in the long shot when he says, "And on earth peace, good will toward men," it is back in his left hand. Immediately after he finishes making his speech, he makes a point of picking his blanket up off the stage. Then, when Linus is making his speech Charlie Brown is behind him and to his left, and he has is not wearing his red coat. When Linus is briefly shown from his right Charlie Brown is in the background wearing his coat. When the shot cuts back to a front view the coat is off again. (Did ya'll follow all that??)
During the scene where Schroeder and Lucy talk while Schroeder plays the piano, Snoopy suddenly appears, seemingly out of nowhere.
By the way, I guess the folks at Urban Outfitters didn't listen to the kids' message about the commercialism of Christmas... last year they had a replica for sale of the pathetic tree from the show. I didn't catch the price, but it was probably about the same as those glitzy aluminum trees. Go figure.
Cute, huh?
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