A Charlie Brown Christmas Totally Explained

Everything about A Charlie Brown Christmas totally explained

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, who also supplied the voice for the character of Snoopy. Initially sponsored by Coca-Cola, the special aired on CBS from its debut in 1965 through 1999, and has aired on ABC since 2000. For many years it aired only annually, but is now telecast several times during the Christmas season. The special has been honored with both an Emmy and Peabody award.

Synopsis

On their way to join the rest of the Peanuts gang all skating on a frozen pond, Charlie Brown confides in Linus that even though the holidays are approaching he's still feels depressed despite all the presents and cards and tree decorating. His depression and aggravation only get exacerbated by the goings-on in the neighborhood. Though his mailbox is empty of Christmas cards, he tries sarcastically to thank Violet for the card she "sent" him, though Violet knows she did no such thing. ť Charlie Brown (shouting after Violet as she walks away):
Don't you know sarcasm when you hear it?

Ultimately Charlie Brown visits Lucy in her psychiatric booth. On her advice, he gets involved in directing a school play about the Nativity. She also sympathizes with Charlie Brown about holiday depression, always getting "a lot of stupid toys" instead of what she really wants—real estate.
   On the way to the auditorium, Charlie Brown is drawn to Snoopy, who is frantically and gleefully busy decorating his doghouse. Demanding an explanation, Snoopy hands Charlie Brown a flier about a neighborhood lights and display contest. Charlie Brown walks away in frustration at his own dog's being bitten by the commercial bug. He then gets accosted by Sally, who wants Charlie Brown to dictate a letter to Santa, in which she ultimately asks him (Santa) to "just send money," particularly tens and twenties, causing Charlie Brown to run away in exasperation of even his sister's commercial corruption.
   Charlie Brown arrives at the rehearsals, but try as he might, he can't seem to get control of the situation as the uncooperative kids are more interested in modernizing the play with dancing and lively music. Charlie Brown, on the other hand, is determined to not let the play become commercial by directing the traditional side of the story.
   Thinking the play requires "the proper mood," Charlie Brown decides they need a Christmas tree. So Lucy takes over the crowd and dispatches Charlie Brown to get a "big, shiny aluminum tree...maybe painted pink". With Linus in tow, Charlie Brown sets off on his quest. But when they get to the tree market, Charlie Brown zeroes in on a pitiful small tree which, ironically as well as symbolically, is the only real tree on the lot. Linus is reluctant about Charlie Brown's decision, but Charlie Brown is convinced that decorating it'll be just right for the play.
   They return to the school auditorium with the tree, only to be verbally castigated by everyone, especially Lucy, about his choice of tree. Second guessing himself, Charlie Brown begins to wonder if he really knows what Christmas is about, loudly asking in despair. Linus quietly says he can tell him, and walks to center stage to make his point. Under a spotlight, Linus quotes Scripture, particularly the second chapter of the Gospel of Luke, verses 8 through 14, in which angels from heaven tell a group of initially frightened shepherds of the birth of the baby Jesus, and instructing them as to where they can "find the babe."
   Charlie Brown now realizes he doesn't have to let commercialism ruin his Christmas. With a newly-found sense of inspiration, he quietly picks up the little tree and walks out of the auditorium, intending to take the tree home to decorate and show the others it'll work in the play.
   On the way, he stops at Snoopy's decorated doghouse, which now sports a first prize blue ribbon for winning the display contest. Letting his dog's commercialism roll off his back, Charlie Brown takes an ornament off the doghouse and hangs it on his tree, but the ornament's weight is too much for the small branch and pulls it to the ground much to Charlie Brown's shock. ť Charlie Brown (seeing the ornamented branch droop to the ground):
I've killed it. AUGHH! Everything I touch gets ruined! (he walks away, his head hanging in shame)

Unbeknownst to Charlie Brown, the rest of the gang, having also heard Linus' recitative, began to realize they were a little too rough on Charlie Brown and quietly followed him from the auditorium. Linus goes up to the little tree and gently props the drooping branch back to its upright position, ornament and all: ť Linus: I never thought it was such a bad little tree. (wrapping his blanket around the base of the trunk)
It's not bad at all, really. Maybe it just needs a little love.

The rest of the kids grab the other decorations off of Snoopy's doghouse and add them to the tree. When they're done, even Lucy concedes to Charlie Brown's choice: ť Lucy (in wonderment):
Charlie Brown is a blockhead, but he did get a nice tree.

The kids then start humming the traditional Christmas Carol, "Hark The Herald Angels Sing." When Charlie Brown returns, he demands to know what is takuing place. When he sees what they've done with the tree, he can't believe his eyes, and all the kids shout:
MERRY CHRISTMAS, CHARLIE BROWN! At this point, the kids, now with Charlie Brown, begin singing "Hark.." as the end credits roll... and the snow again begins to fall.

Themes

The story touches on the over-commercialization of Christmas, and serves to remind viewers of 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.

History

Bringing the Peanuts characters to television wasn't 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 (Peter Robbins) and Lucy (Tracy Stratford), 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 to some may seem noticeably choppy and poorly enunciated. One of the more noticeable quirks in the special include a shot in which Schroeder abruptly stops playing the piano, but several of the characters continue dancing for a couple of seconds. Melendez has said he remains 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 didn't want to have Linus reciting the story of the birth of Christ from the Gospel of Luke; the network orthodoxy of the time assumed that viewers wouldn't 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 Schulz 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 wouldn't 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 The Munsters and following the Gilligan's Island episode entitled "Don't Bug the Mosquitos." 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's thought that these so-called quirks, along with several other choices, are what lent the show such an innovative, authentic and sincere feeling. For instance, Linus' recitation was hailed by critics such as Harriet Van Horne of the New York World-Telegram who said, "Linus' reading of the story of the Nativity was, quite simply, the dramatic highlight of the season."
   A full 50% of the televisions in the United States were tuned to the first broadcast. A Charlie Brown Christmas won an Emmy and a Peabody award, and is considered by many to be a timeless holiday classic. Watching it's 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 January 2000, one month before Schulz's death, the broadcast rights were acquired by ABC (as part of a deal between the network and Schulz), which is where the special currently airs (and has aired there since CBS's final airing of the special on December 25, 2000). 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.

Versions

The special hasn't 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 (watch clip here: (External Link)).

Although the FCC eventually imposed rules 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, along with McDonald's. While current FCC product placement rules would prevent restoration and broadcast TV airing, the sole reason this footage hasn't 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's 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.

Miscellany

According to Bill Melendez, some of the child actors couldn't 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

Twelve years after its original broadcast, the special was printed in a Christmastime issue of Family Circle in 1977, including all three verses, at the end, of "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing".

This television special was memorable moments #35 in TVLand's and TV Guide's The 100 Most Memorable TV Moments.

In popular culture

The 2005 Comedy Central special Denis Leary's Merry F#%$in' Christmas includes a parody, the animated short "It's Jihad, Farley Towne". In it, a depressed Farley Towne (Charlie Brown) converts to radical Islam, changes his name to "Farley aq-Muhammad al-Farouq al-Rashid", and attempts to blow up the Christmas-play rehearsal.

The editorial crew of Scrubs redubbed A Charlie Brown Christmas with voices from the cast of Scrubs, resulting in a viral video (External Link

In Buffy the Vampire Slayer, the cartoon is mentioned as a yearly ritual of Willow and Xander. Willow, who is Jewish, would go over to Xander's house to watch it when they were children. He reminds her of this in the episode The Replacement, declaring "I would do the Snoopy Dance!" before demonstrating with some hilarity.

In a Tiny Toons episode where Babs Bunny is going through numerous imitations trying to find the one her mother wants, one of them involves her making herself look as much like Charlie Brown as she can and uttering his famous line, "Can anyone tell me what Christmas is all about?"

In the Christmas day 2007 Pearls Before Swine strip, Pig expresses dismay to cartoonist Stephan Pastis about the ending to the previous week's "Croc/Zebra Christmas Dinner" story arc (croc Larry attacked Zebra's uncle Peter and ate part of his leg), so to make Pig happy, the last panel is a faithful rendering of the scene in which Linus recites the passage from Luke about Christ's birth.

The South Park episode Merry Christmas, Charlie Manson! parodies many elements of the special, in particular the last scene where everyone sings Hark! The Herald Angels Sing.

Charlie Brown's tree has been used for a few references over time:

A FoxTrot comic strip has Roger Fox going for the last tree, only to have to kids shaped like Charlie Brown and Linus make off with it before he can get it.
On Dennis Miller Live, in a rant about The Royal Family, Dennis says there's so much inbreeding among them their family tree has less branches than Charlie Brown's Christmas tree.

In the Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends Christmas Special, Mac runs by a doghouse with a 1st Place ribbon on it.

On the Christmas themed episode of The Boondocks Huey walks into the auditorium of his school, where the cast members are partying. Huey stops them and begins to yell at them. Then a child says, " We were just having fun," but Huey says," Fun! Do I look like Charlie Brown? DO I LOOK LIKE CHARLIE BROWN!!!"

Full cast

Peter Robbins: Charlie Brown Christopher Shea: Linus Van Pelt Tracy Stratford: Lucille "Lucy" Van Pelt Kathy Steinberg: Sally Brown
   Chris Doran: Schroeder and Shermy
   Geoffrey Ornstein: Pigpen
   Karen Mendelson: Patty Sally Dryer: Violet Gray
   Ann Altieri: Frieda Bill Melendez: Snoopy

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 soundtrack contains some music that doesn't appear in the TV special, 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. A Charlie Brown Christmas has also been performed as a charity stage program in live theatrical venues across the country.
A politically incorrect parody called A Charlie Brown Kwanzaa, that mixes the unauthorized use of footage from the classic TV special with a new soundtrack featuring dialogue performed in exaggerated African American voices, has been available on the Internet since 2000. (External Link

) and (External Link

) A popular viral video combining footage from the special with Outkast's 2003 single Hey Ya! was created by Venis Productions' Ryan King and Dan Hess, leading to a "ceast and desist" order from United Media/United Features Syndicate (External Link

), distributor of the Peanuts comic strip. although removed from many mirror websites in 2004, the video can still be found occasionally on web video hosting sites.

Sequels

Three lesser-known true sequels were produced decades after the 1965 original.

It's Christmastime Again, Charlie Brown (1992). This special was 30 minutes in length with commercials and aired on CBS. It was abandoned by CBS shortly thereafter; it was released on DVD as a bonus feature with A Charlie Brown Christmas.

Charlie Brown's Christmas Tales (2002). This special is a slightly shorter 25 minutes with commercials and debuted on ABC. It has been released on DVD along with I Want a Dog for Christmas...

I Want a Dog for Christmas, Charlie Brown (2003) This special is a full hour long with commercials and debuted on ABC. It is available on DVD. While not true sequels, three 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), 1966's It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown (also aired annually on ABC), and Happy New Year, Charlie Brown! from 1985.

Further Information

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