20 facts you might not know about 'A Charlie Brown Christmas'

Schulz’s comic strip had grown in popularity in the decade-and-change that it had been in existence. An attempt to branch out from the funny pages was inevitable. It all began with “A Charlie Brown Christmas.” This 1965 special was the first one for the “Peanuts” gang.

Producer Lee Mendelson had wanted to make a documentary for TV about Schultz and “Peanuts.” Schulz agreed to the idea, and Schulz also recommended animator Bill Melendez for the project, which needed a bit of animation. They couldn’t find a home for the project, but these three all ended up working together on “A Charlie Brown Christmas.”

Mendelson got a call informing him that the Coca-Cola company wanted to sponsor a special for the holiday season. This is where the idea of a “Peanuts” Christmas special began. However, the soft drink juggernauts definitely put the project under a time crunch. They wanted a full outline of what “A Charlie Brown Christmas” would be less than a week after pitching their interest, and once they heard the outline and agreed to sponsor it, they then wanted it ready to air in early December, giving Schulz, Mendelson, and Melendez just six months to complete the project.

Schulz wrote the script for “A Charlie Brown Christmas,” though he collaborated with Melendez, who did storyboards, and Mendelson was involved as well. However, much of what we think of as being at the core of this special came from the man who created the character. He came up with Charlie Brown’s tree, and also the jazz-heavy score. Most notably, Schulz is the one who wanted Linus to straight-up read a Bible verse. His collaborators were concerned it would be controversial, but Schulz was steadfast.

Laugh tracks were staples of television in the ‘60s. If you were a comedy you either had a live studio audience or a laugh track was used, even in animation. Mendelson wanted to use a laugh track for “A Charlie Brown Christmas,” but Schulz didn’t want one. Once again, Schulz won out, and the special has no laugh track.

By doing a television special, the “Peanuts” characters were given voices for the first time. That means they had to figure out what these characters would sound like. They decided that Charlie Brown would sound “blah,” while Lucy would be “bold,” for example. Additionally, they also decided Snoopy would not talk.

Instead of hiring adult actors to voice children, as cartoons often do, “A Charlie Brown Christmas” decided to use actual child actors. This made things more complicated from a casting standpoint. Sometimes the kids also needed to be told their lines, as their reading skills were not necessarily all up to snuff. Peter Robbins, who voiced Charlie Brown, has joked that when he was first given line readings by Melendez he also mimicked his Mexican accent.

Snoopy couldn’t talk, but he does make noise. Those noises were provided by Melendez himself. He recorded himself making gibberish noises and then sped them up so they wouldn’t sound human.

Peppermint Patty calls him “Chuck,” and Lucy calls him “Charlie Brown.” When Lucy is talking to her downtrodden compatriot, she always refers to him by his full name. This is true for every future special, and almost primarily for this one…except once. In “A Charlie Brown Christmas,” Lucy calls him just “Charlie” for the one and only time.

Eventually, Charlie Brown’s teacher would be added to the animated mix, though her voice was never heard, but that would be in later specials. In “A Charlie Brown Christmas,” there are no adult characters.

There are traditional Christmas songs in the special, a couple of which were sung by a church choir from San Rafael, California. However, much of the music was composed by Vince Guaraldi, a jazz musician. One of Guaraldi’s songs he wrote was the famous “Christmas Time is Here.” However, Mendelson is the one that wrote the lyrics, which he said he did in 15 minutes. Nevertheless, the soundtrack is in the Grammy Hall of Fame.

Melendez and Mendelson thought they could get the special done in time for the broadcast, and they did. That being said, they didn’t finish with a ton of time to spare. “A Charlie Brown Christmas” was completed a mere 10 days before it aired.

Once the special was finished, spirits were not high. Melendez believed he had directed a flop, saying that they had “killed” it — he wasn’t using “killed” in the modern vernacular. CBS executives were also negative on the special, and Mendelson has said that had the special been scheduled for even a week later, it wouldn’t have aired.

“A Charlie Brown Christmas” preempted “The Munsters” on December 9, 1965, and it finished second in the ratings that night to “Bonanza.” Of course, back then it meant that roughly 45 percent of all TV viewers were watching the special. It also got positive critical reviews and ended up winning the Emmy for Outstanding Children’s Program.

In the end, “A Charlie Brown Christmas” was a big hit. It aired on CBS annually from that initial debut in 1965 all the way through 2000. At that point, ABC got the rights, and aired it from 2001 through 2019. They also produced a documentary hosted by Whoopi Goldberg to air alongside it in 2001.

Back when the special first aired, there were three channels and almost half of the people watching TV watched it. Things have changed. Apple TV+ now owns the rights to all “Peanuts” media. This includes the TV specials. However, the agreement says that Apple TV+ must make “A Charlie Brown Christmas” free to view for three days around the holiday every year.

The initial broadcast of the special featured several references to Coca-Cola. However, as the years went out and laws changed, all of those references were removed. Over the years, other changes were made to the special. Mostly they were corrections to errors in the animation and sound effects, though one scene of Linus throwing a snowball at a tin can has been removed for some reason as well.

After “A Charlie Brown Christmas” hit, four more “Peanuts” specials were immediately greenlit. The whole “Peanuts” juggernaut began with this one. It also changed the trajectory of Melendez's career. He would go on to direct over 20 “Peanuts” specials, including “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown” and “A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving.”

In 2013, the Schulz family and Mendelson authorized an official stage version of “A Charlie Brown Christmas.” It follows the plot of the television special and includes the Vince Guaraldi music. On top of that, it ends with a singalong of Christmas songs. It’s not a big play like you would see on Broadway, but instead gets licensed out to churches, schools, and what have you.

In the late ‘50s and early ‘60s, aluminum Christmas trees had become a fad. “A Charlie Brown Christmas” is very much against these aluminum trees, and it may have played a role in killing the fad. Many feel like “A Charlie Brown Christmas” is the reason these fake trees were no longer popular, and by 1967 these trees were no longer being manufactured.