A Few Facts You Didn’t Know
Here’s five facts about ‘A Charlie Brown Christmas’ that you probably didn’t know.
Voices
1. Most of the voices were from kids in the director’s neighborhood. Some were so young they couldn’t read a script.
Laugh Tracks
2. Charles would not allow laugh tracks, and though Schulz actually hated jazz music, Vince Guaraldi’s ensemble of holiday infused jazz for the special, became just as famous, and as much of a yuletide favorite, as the cartoon itself.
Meaning
3, The ‘True Meaning of Christmas’ speech by Linus was almost axed, and network execs and sponsors hated the special. They wanted to bury it, while the producers thought it would flop, and that they’d “ruined Charlie Brown forever”.
Snoopy
4. Snoopy got all the action scenes because he was the easiest to animate. Early runs of the special included product placements for Coca-Cola.
Second Longest Running Christmas Special
5. And… A Charlie Brown Christmas is the second longest-running Christmas special of all time.
