The much beloved Charlie Brown Christmas special has warmed the hearts of so many. We have a set of Charlie Brown characters that play instruments with solo and ensemble Christmas carols in the jazz style of the special. It is one of our favorite "new" Christmas mementos.
Some things you probably did not know about this 46 year old special were pointed out to me here so I pass a few tidbits on to you....
1 - Most of the voices came from kids in the director's neighborhood...
2 - Some of those children were so young they did not read - so they had to be coached almost line for line...
3 - Charles Schulz refused to allow CBS to insert a laugh track...
4 - Schulz did not like jazz music and initially thought the music was "awful" (from his autobiography)...
5 - The most important speech in the entire special -- Linus' "True Meaning of Christmas" was almost cut...
6 - Many of the network execs disliked the special so much that they expected it to air once and disappear...
7 - The producers feared this would be a flop and ruin Charlie Brown forever...
8 - Snoopy got most of the action scenes because he was the easiest to animate...
9 - Some early runs included product placements from Coca-Cola, its chief sponsor...
10 - It is the second longest running Christmas special of all time (second to Rudolph)...
Just a few fun facts to cheer you in this holy season of holiday specials on TV... HT to Danny Gallagher...
3 comments:
I will NEVER be too old for A Charlie Brown Christmas!
Thanks for this background info, Pastor Peters.
The children who sang "Christmas Time is Here" and "Hark the Herald Angels Sing" were from a choir at a local Episcopal church. One of them said they, "...volunteered for an unnamed task "to help the choir."" Neat.
Bonnie
My son and I just watched it together for the first time. Good stuff. :-)
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