How "A Charlie Brown Christmas" Almost Didn't Happen

On this episode of Our American Stories, Dealing with a small budget and with a short deadline, A Charlie Brown Christmas was released to critical acclaim on December 9th, 1965. While audiences loved it, there were many doubters behind the scenes at CBS. Our host, Lee Habeeb, tells the story.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:25):
And we continue with our American stories and more Christmas
season stories. This one hour Charlie Brown Christmas came to
be and almost didn't. Americans fell in love with the show,
and it first aired on television back in nineteen sixty five.
It's been a part of our lives ever since. But
the story of how Charles Schultz's Charlie Brown Christmas came

(00:47):
to be is itself an American classic, so too is
the story of how it almost didn't come to be.
But first things first, the thirty minute Christmas special wasn't
birthed by the creativege. It was commissioned by a commercial
sponsor looking to turn the nation's most beloved newspaper cartoon
strip into an animated TV special. Here's Lee Mendelssohn, who

(01:12):
produced the special, telling the story of how this special
came to be.

Speaker 2 (01:17):
Would your creative group be interested in doing a Christmas
special for Coca Cola? Have you thought about doing when
I said, oh, absolutely, we think about it all the time.
And he said, well, we need an outline down in
Atlanta on Monday. It was Wednesday, so send us what
you have and we'll see what happens. So I called
him mister Schultz on the phone. I call him mister
Melndez because we'd worked together on the documentary two years before.

(01:41):
And I said, I think I just sold to Charlie
Brown Christmas. And they said, what's that? And I said
to Schultz, that's something you're going to write tomorrow. So
Bill flew up from Hollywood and I drove up from
San Francisco, and he did write it on a Thursday.
Those days we sent it by Western Union on a Friday,
and Monday they call up and said, okay, let's do
it Charli brod Christmas.

Speaker 1 (02:01):
The team worked fast. They had only three months to
create a script, record it, make a soundtrack, and create
thirty thousand animation cells from scratch. And this was all
before the days of computer animated design. When the special
was finished, it wasn't a hit with network executives. The
first problem was the laugh track, or the lack thereof.

(02:22):
It was unimaginable to produce TV comedy without it. Back
in the nineteen sixties, Schultz thought more highly of the viewers.
He didn't believe they needed to be cued to laugh
at predetermined moments. Another disagreement involved the voice work CBS
executives wanted to use adult actors who pretended to be kids.
Schultz believed that using children gave the characters more authenticity.

(02:46):
The CBS executives also had a problem with the jazz
soundtrack by Vince Giraldi. The music was too sophisticated for
a children's program. They worried they wanted something younger. The
CBS executives also thought the show was too slow. They
didn't think there was enough action in a show dedicated
to children with limited attention spans. Last, the CBS executives

(03:10):
worried about the scene where Linus recites the story of
the birth of Jesus Christ from the Gospel of Luke.
It was too long, they believed, and too literal. The
CBS executives assumed that Americans, especially American kids, wouldn't want
to sit through a spoken passage from the King James Bible. Quote.

(03:31):
They were freaking out about something so overtly religious in
a Christmas special, explained Bill Melendez. They basically wrote it off.
Schultz didn't just get pushback from CBS executives. Members of
his own team were skeptical too. Welendez himself was hesitant. Quote.
I was leery of the religion that came into it.

(03:51):
I was right away opposed to it, he told reporters. Luckily,
for Schultz, he was the beneficiary of a tight production schedule. Moreover,
the network, the advertising agency, and the show's sponsor, Coca Cola,
had already promoted the show in TV Guide. Schultz had leverage,
and he wasn't about to capitulate on key creative elements.

(04:13):
And they aired the special as Schultz had intended. And
that's why Charles Schultz was Charles Schultz. He intuitively knew
the things Americans cared about, the things that gave their
lives meaning. The longtime Sunday school teacher also knew the
reading from the Gospel of Luke was the centerpiece of
the show and a centerpiece of American life. It's a

(04:36):
scene we'll always remember. If Charlie Brown sinks into despair
while trying to find the true meaning of Christmas, Linus
walks on stage stage center and under a narrow spotlight
quotes that scripture from the Gospel of Luke.

Speaker 3 (04:52):
And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in
the field, keeping watch over their flop by night Loo Angel,
the Lord came upon them. The glory of the Lord
shall round about them. And they were sore afraid, and
the Angel said, unto them, if you're not for behold,
I bring you tiding for great joy, which shall be

(05:12):
to all people. For unto you is born this day
in the city of David, a savior, just Christ, the Lord.
And this shall be a sign onto you. He shall
find the ay wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in the manger.
And suddenly there was with the Angel a multitude of
the heavenly host, praising God. I'm saying glory to God

(05:34):
in the highest and on earth peace would will toward men.

Speaker 1 (05:40):
And after Linus finishes, he walks across the stage and says, quote,
and that's what Christmas is all about Charlie Brown. CBS
executives were certain the show would be a ratings disaster.
Programmers well, they were equally grim, informing the production team quote,
we will, of course air it next week, but I'm

(06:02):
afraid we won't be ordering anymore. On Thursday, December eighth,
nineteen sixty five, the half hour special aired, preempting The
Monsters and following Gilligan's Island. Fifty percent of American television
tuned in. The cartoon was a critical and commercial hit,

(06:23):
winning an Emmy and a Peabody Award. Linus's recitation was
hailed by critic Harriet Van Horn of the World Telegram,
who wrote, quote Linus's reading of the story of the
Nativity was quite simply the dramatic highlight of the television season.
Coca Cola well, it was inundated with letters from fans

(06:46):
of the special. Here's one, gentlemen, I am writing the
first fan letter in my fifty two years of a
rather full life, to compliment you on sponsoring the a
Charlie Brown Christmas television program. I don't know when any
program is delighted as many adults as well as children,

(07:07):
and I am writing to express the hope that you
might be able to sponsor additional Charlie Brown programs Grand Rapids, Michigan.
And here's another to the makers of Coca Cola. We
wish to compliment you on the Peanuts show you sponsored
on TV. Your production stands out as refreshing as your product.

(07:31):
Our thanks to you and mister Schultz for bringing to
the four in his wholesome philosophy, the real spirit of Christmas,
which is so often obliterated by a false one. It
is our hope that peanuts may find a permanent place
in the TV realm. May the makers of Coca Cola
be greatly blessed for their part in this worthwhile endeavor.

(07:54):
Sign the Sisters of Saint Francis in Belvernon, Pennsylvania. But
Charlie Brown's Christmas found that permanent place in the TV realm,
that's for sure, and in America's hearts. It's equaled only
by the nineteen sixty six program How the Grinch Stole
Christmas in its popularity among young and old alike. Thank

(08:19):
god the Grinch like executives at CBS chose to air
the special back in nineteen sixty five. If it had
been left to their instincts, we'd have one less national
treasure to cherish come Christmas time. The story of a
Charlie Brown's Christmas the story of Charles Schultz in a way,
and his intuitive understanding of what works in programming. The

(08:42):
idea of having a jazz soundtrack, one of the most
beloved of all time, was something all of the suits
thought was a bad idea, but not Schultz. The kid actors,
not the adult actors. The laugh track and the absence thereof,
and most importantly that by we'll see all of these
great artistic decisions make Charlie Brown's Christmas what it is.

(09:06):
That story, the story of how Charlie brown Christmas came
to be and almost didn't hear on our American story