{"id":38320,"date":"2024-12-13T13:45:00","date_gmt":"2024-12-13T13:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/?p=38320"},"modified":"2024-12-14T15:58:52","modified_gmt":"2024-12-14T15:58:52","slug":"why-a-charlie-brown-christmas-almost-didnt-air-%e2%88%92-and-why-it-endures","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/why-a-charlie-brown-christmas-almost-didnt-air-%e2%88%92-and-why-it-endures\/","title":{"rendered":"Why \u2018A Charlie Brown Christmas\u2019 almost didn\u2019t air \u2212 and why it endures"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Stephen Lind<\/a>, University of Southern California<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s hard to imagine a holiday season without \u201cA Charlie Brown Christmas.\u201d The 1965 broadcast has become a staple \u2013 etched into traditions across generations like decorating the tree or sipping hot cocoa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But this beloved TV special almost didn\u2019t make it to air. CBS executives thought the 25-minute program was too slow<\/a>, too serious and too different from the upbeat spectacles they imagined audiences wanted. A cartoon about a depressed kid seeking psychiatric advice? No laugh track? Humble, lo-fi animation? And was that a Bible verse? It seemed destined to fail \u2013 if not scrapped outright.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And yet, against all the odds, it became a classic. The program turned \u201cPeanuts\u201d from a popular comic strip into a multimedia empire \u2013 not because it was flashy or followed the rules, but because it was sincere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a business professor<\/a> who has studied the \u201cPeanuts\u201d franchise<\/a>, I see \u201cA Charlie Brown Christmas\u201d as a fascinating historical moment. It\u2019s the true story of an unassuming comic strip character who crossed over into television and managed to voice hefty, thought-provoking ideas \u2013 without getting booted off the air.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Call from the blue<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The \u201cPeanuts\u201d special came together out of a last-minute scramble. Somewhat out of the blue, producer Lee Mendelson got a call from advertising agency McCann-Erickson: Coca-Cola wanted to sponsor an animated Christmas special.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mendelson had previously failed to convince the agency to sponsor a \u201cPeanuts\u201d documentary<\/a>. This time, though, he assured McCann-Erickson that the characters would be a perfect fit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mendelson called up \u201cPeanuts\u201d comic strip creator Charles \u201cSparky\u201d Schulz and told him he had just sold \u201cA Charlie Brown Christmas\u201d \u2013 and they would have mere months to write, animate and bring the special to air.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A
Schulz drawing in the 1950s. Roger Higgins\/World Telegram & Sun via Library of Congress<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Schulz, Mendelson and animator Bill Melendez worked fast to piece together a storyline. The cartoonist wanted to tell a story that cut through the glitz of holiday commercialism and brought the focus back to something deeper<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While Snoopy tries to win a Christmas lights contest, and Lucy names herself \u201cChristmas queen\u201d in the neighborhood play, a forlorn Charlie Brown searches for \u201cthe real meaning of Christmas.\u201d He makes his way to the local lot of aluminum trees<\/a>, a fad at the time. But he\u2019s drawn to the one real tree \u2013 a humble, scraggly little thing \u2013 inspired by Hans Christian Andersen\u2019s fairy tale \u201cThe Fir Tree<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jazz \u2013 and the Bible<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Those plot points would likely delight the network, but other choices Schulz made were proving controversial.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The show would use real children\u2019s voices<\/a> instead of adult actors\u2019, giving the characters an authentic, simple charm. And Schulz refused to add a laugh track<\/a>, a standard in animated TV at the time. He wanted the sincerity of the story to stand on its own, without artificial prompts for laughter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, Mendelson brought in jazz musician Vince Guaraldi<\/a> to compose a sophisticated soundtrack. The music was unlike anything typically heard in animated programming, blending provocative depth with the innocence of childhood. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most alarming to the executives was Schulz\u2019s insistence on including the heart of the Nativity story<\/a> in arguably the special\u2019s most pivotal scene.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Charlie Brown joyfully returns to his friends with the spindly little tree, the rest of the \u201cPeanuts\u201d gang ridicule his choice. \u201cI guess I really don\u2019t know what Christmas is all about,\u201d the utterly defeated Charlie Brown sighs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gently but confidently, Linus assures him, \u201cI can tell you what Christmas is all about.\u201d Calling for \u201cLights, please,\u201d he quietly walks to the center of the stage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the stillness, Linus recites the Gospel of Luke, Chapter 2, with its story of an angel appearing to trembling shepherds:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.<\/p>

For unto you is born this day in the city of David a savior, which is Christ the Lord.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

\u201cGlory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men,\u201d he concludes, picking up his security blanket and walking into the wings. The rest of the gang soon concludes Charlie Brown\u2019s scrawny tree isn\u2019t so bad, after all \u2013 it just \u201cneeds a little love.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When Schulz discussed this idea with Mendelson and Melendez, they were hesitant. For much of U.S. history, Protestant Christianity was the default in American culture, but in the years since World War II, society had grown somewhat more mindful<\/a> of making room for Catholic and Jewish Americans. Unsure how to handle the shifting norms, many mainstream entertainment companies in the 1960s tended to avoid religious topics<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe Bible thing scares us,\u201d CBS executives said<\/a> when they saw the proofs of the special. But there was simply no time to redo the entire dramatic arc<\/a> of the special, and pulling it was not an option, given that advertisements had already run.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fun and philosophy<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Fortunately for the \u201cPeanuts\u201d franchise, when the special aired on Dec. 9, 1965, it was an instant success. Nearly half of American households tuned in<\/a>, and the program won both an Emmy<\/a> and a Peabody Award<\/a>. Schulz had tapped into something audiences were craving: an honest, heartfelt message that cut through the commercialism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A
Students at the Cure D’Ars School in Denver put on their own production of the \u2018Peanuts\u2019 Christmas special in 1966. Denver Post via Getty Images<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Millions of viewers<\/a> have continued to tune in to the show\u2019s annual rebroadcast for over 50 years on CBS and then ABC \u2013 and now Apple TV+<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I was researching my spiritual biography of Schulz, \u201cA Charlie Brown Religion<\/a>,\u201d one of my favorite finds was a 1965 letter from a Florida viewer, Betty Knorr. She praised the show for stressing \u201cthe true meaning of the Christmas season\u201d at a time when \u201cthe mention of God in general (is) being hush hushed.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The magic of Schulz\u2019s work, though, is that it resonates across demographics and ideologies. Some fans find comfort in the show\u2019s gentle message of faith, while others embrace it in a purely secular way<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Simple but poignant, Schulz\u2019s art and gentle humor can do two things. They can act as safe entry points for some pretty hefty thoughts \u2013 be they psychiatric, cultural or theological. Or \u201cPeanuts\u201d cartoons can simply be heartwarming, festive entertainment, if that\u2019s what you want.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today, both the \u201cPeanuts\u201d empire<\/a> and the Christmas industry are thriving. Back in the 1960s, commercial realities almost derailed Schulz\u2019s special, yet those same forces ultimately ensured its broadcast. The result is a lasting touchstone of innocence, hope and belief.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Stephen Lind<\/a>, Associate Professor of Clinical Business Communication, University of Southern California<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This article is republished from The Conversation<\/a> under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Stephen Lind, University of Southern California It\u2019s hard to imagine a holiday season without \u201cA Charlie Brown Christmas.\u201d The 1965 broadcast has become a staple \u2013 etched into traditions across generations like decorating the tree or sipping hot cocoa. But this beloved TV special almost didn\u2019t make it to air. CBS executives thought the 25-minute […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":56,"featured_media":38321,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[8025,7,817,10,39,2450],"tags":[3128,15835,387,15837,2192,885,891,886,860,15838,15836,6610],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38320"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/56"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=38320"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38320\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38322,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/38320\/revisions\/38322"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/38321"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38320"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38320"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lifeandnews.com\/articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=38320"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}