‘Tis the Season!
This holiday tradition debuts on CBS and televisions across America sixty years ago…
A Charlie Brown Christmas first aired on December 9, 1965.
After Peanuts’ debut in 1950, the comic strip had become a worldwide phenomenon by the mid-1960s. The Holiday special was commissioned and sponsored by The Coca-Cola Company, and was written over a period of several weeks, and produced on a small budget in six months. In casting the characters, the producers took an unconventional route, hiring child actors. The program's soundtrack was similarly unorthodox, featuring a Jazz score by pianist Vince Guaraldi. The lack of a laugh track (a staple in American television animation in this period), in addition to the tone, pacing, music, and animation, led both the producers and the network to predict the project would be a disaster. However, contrary to their collective apprehension, A Charlie Brown Christmas received high ratings and acclaim from critics. It received an Emmy and a Peabody Award, and became an annual presentation in the United States, airing on broadcast television during the Christmas season for 56 years before becoming exclusively available on Apple TV+. Its soundtrack achieved commercial success, selling five million copies in the U.S. A Charlie Brown Christmas was voted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2007 and added to the Library of Congress’ National Recording Registry list of "culturally, historically, or aesthetically important" American sound recordings in 2012.
Source: Wikipedia.org
A Charlie Brown Christmas and its Jazz-infused soundtrack still take me to a good place and bring back fun childhood memories. Perhaps, 2026 will be the year that I finally learn how to play the main riff of Vince Guaraldi’s “Linus and Lucy” on the piano; an early resolution… Guaraldi’s “Christmas Time Is Here” instantly reminds me of the Christmas programs from my childhood. Christmas programs at Catholic schools were major events, with gymnasiums or Churches filled with a few hundred people. Unfortunately, my vocals were sometimes reminiscent of a small foghorn. Both the vocal and instrumental versions of this Christmas classic remain part of my Holiday playlists. A Charlie Brown Christmas and its memorable songs are also beloved by my children and always seem to help us recapture the magic of Christmas, at least for a little while.
Opening my gifts on Christmas of ‘77.
Courtesy of Anthony Woodard