A Charlie Brown Christmas (Trivia)

A number of people consider watching the TV special "A Charlie Brown Christmas" amongst one of their fondest childhood memories. In fact, with a few other animation specials, it has become necessary viewing to get in the holiday spirit. This was the first of the TV specials that featured Charlie Brown and the rest of his gang. To date more than forty of them have aired on TV.

The Story

The story is about Charlie Brown and his search for the return of Christmas to its true meaning.

Behind the Show

A Charlie Brown Christmas was a great success, yet at first CBS was worried about several aspects of the show including the fact that it was the first time anyone had used children for the voices of characters. To make matters worse, only three had done voice work before. They were also not happy with the jazz score from Vince Guaraldi and the complained that the script was too religious because Linus recites a section of Luke from the King James Bible.

The special won a Peabody award and an Emmy for Outstanding Children's Program, (Bill Cosby won an Emmy that year for I Spy). It was also a commercial success more than fifteen million people watched the show that night.

The Players

One of the show's producers was Bill Melendez who also did the voice of Snoopy.
• He went on to direct and produce a number of Charlie Brown shows.
• Born in Hermosillo Mexico, Bill Melendez started his career at Walt Disney and moved to Warner Brothers Studio.
• He started his own production company "Bill Melendez Production Company".
• The show was his second project after "A boy named Charlie Brown" and the budget was tight.

The other producer was Lee Mendelson
• His first collaboration with Charles Schulz was a documentary called Charlie Brown and Charles Schulz which wasn't seen until after "A Charlie Brown Christmas" had aired.
• He then went on to produce all of the Charlie Brown specials that aired on TV and other projects after that.
• Mendelson has done several other documentaries including one for the Sierra Club's Centennial "From Yellowstone to Tomorrow" starring Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward.

The Voices

Peter Robins the voice of Charlie Brown
• Continued being the voice for Charlie Brown in four more specials.
• Guest starred in a number of TV shows such as Rawhide, and the Munsters.

Christopher Shea was the voice of Linus Van Pelt.
• He continued to be Linus for three more specials
• Became a guest star on other shows such as Green Acres and Ponderosa.
• His brother Eric Shea also acted in a number of shows in the sixties and seventies too.

Sally Dryer played Violet
• This was her debut on any kind of screen.
• Later she moved on to be the voice of Lucy Van Pelt and Patty.
• All in all, she participated in six of the specials and movies based on Charlie Brown.

For more information on the characters you could check out

http://imdb.com/title/tt0059026/

The Music

Despite the grumblings of the TV executives, Vince Guaraldi's score for the show became a great success. Many artists have recorded versions of "Christmas time is here" including Diana Krall, Brian Mcnight, Anita Baker, The Boston Pops Orchestra, and Rosemary Clooney.

• Vince Guaraldi was asked to join the project by Lee Mendelson who heard his recording of "Cast Your Fate to the Wind" driving in his car one day.
• His first recorded music was on "Vibratharpe" a record by the Carl Tjader Trio.
• He went on to form his own trio called the Vince Guarlardi Trio.
• Vince Gualardi died in_March 16 1976. The last Charlie Brown Special he composed music for was "Its arbor day Charlie Brown"

The Creator

Charles Schultz, what can one say about the creator of this show? Born in St. Paul Minnesota, Charles Schultz started his first strip at the Minneapolis Star Tribune. It was called Lil Folks. The strip moved to the St Paul's Pioneer Press after a dispute and then he left Minnesota altogether moved with his family to New York for better prospects.

• Lil folks contained the beginnings of Charlie Brown and Snoopy.
• Charles Schultz wanted his strip to continue as Lil Folks but because there was a possibility of legal issues cropping up down the road and so they decided against it
• The name Peanuts was chosen from ten suggestions by UFS production Manager Bill Anderson
• Charles Schultz didn't like the name. He thought it would be confusing for the readers. He was worried they would think Charlie Brown was Peanuts and some did for awhile.

Other Trivia

• Mr. Schulz made over 1500 strips. He worked alone usually and has been published in more than twenty languages and over two thousand newspapers

• Charlie Brown was a real person. He took classes with Charles Schulz in Minneapolis and ended up helping Juvenile Delinquents in Hennepin County, Minnesota.

• Charles Schulz sometimes incorporated birthday wishes to his daughter Amy in his strip. His other children were mentioned from time to time as well.

• Died in March of 2000 of colon cancer, only two months after he retired.

For more information you could check out the following sites

http://www.unitedmedia.com/comics/peanuts/

http://www.peanutscollectorclub.com/