The Unlikely Story Behind “A Charlie Brown Christmas”

On this episode of Our American Stories, few thought a quiet cartoon about a sad little tree could work on television. But Charles Schulz believed that A Charlie Brown Christmas would speak to people in a way that noise and spectacle never could. The animation was rough, the dialogue understated, and the jazz soundtrack unlike anything audiences had heard before. But when it aired in December of 1965, families across the country sat down to something that felt simple and true. Lee Habeeb shares the story of how the now-famous festive cartoon special was made.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:27):
And we continue with our American stories, this one howe
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 to be is

(00:48):
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 birth by the creative
It was commissioned by a commercial sponsor looking to turn
the nation's most beloved newspaper cartoon strip into an animated

(01:08):
TV special. Here's Lee Mendelssohn, who 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 called him mister Melndez

(01:37):
because we'd worked together on the documentary two years before.
And I said, I think I just sold a 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,

(01:57):
and Monday they call up and said, okay, let's do
it Charlie Browd 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.

(02:47):
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.

Speaker 3 (03:30):
Quote.

Speaker 1 (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 for 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

(04:12):
key creative elements. 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.

(04:36):
It's a scene we'll always remember which 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, be
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 youar 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. You shall
find the abe wrapped in swaddle, them clothes, lying in
a manger. And suddenly there was with the Angel and
multitude of the heavenly host, praising God and saying glory

(05:34):
to God 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 afraid we

(06:02):
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, winning an Emmy

(06:24):
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 of the special.

(06:48):
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 has delighted
as many adults as well as children, and I am

(07:08):
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. Our

(07:31):
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 and 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 I will 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