A Charlie Brown Christmas
Studio: Bill Melendez Productions Release Date : December 9, 1965 Series: Peanuts
  1. General Info
Cumulative rating:
(6 ratings submitted)

Associated Studio(s)

United Feature Syndicate

Synopsis

Charlie Brown is depressed because Christmas has gotten too commercial. He's given the chance to get into the spirit by directing the Christmas play, but it's up to Linus to show him the true spirit of Christmas.

Characters

Charlie Brown
(Voice: Peter Robbins)
Linus Van Pelt
(Voice: Christopher "Chris" Shea)
Lucy Van Pelt
(Voice: Tracy Stratford)
Sally Brown
(Voice: Kathy Steinberg)
Snoopy
(Voice: Jose Cuauhtemoc "Bill" Melendez)
Pig-Pen
(Voice: Geoffrey Ornstein)
Freida
(Voice: Ann Altieri)
Shermy
(Voice: Chris Doran)
Schroeder
(Voice: Chris Doran)
Violet
(Voice: Sally Dryer)
Patty
(Voice: Karen Mendelson)

Music Sources

Anschütz, Ernest : "O Tannenbaum (O Christmas Tree) "
van Beethoven, Ludwig : "Für Elise "
Wesley, Charles : "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing "
Guaraldi, Vince & Lee Mendelson : "Christmas Time is Here "
Guaraldi, Vince : "Linus and Lucy "
Guaraldi, Vince : "Skating "
Pierpoint, James Lord : "One Horse Open Sleigh (Jingle Bells) "

Awards

Won the 1965 Emmy Award: Outstanding Children's Program

Broadcasters

CBS

Cut Scenes

  • In its original 1965 airing, the special was funded and sponsored by Coca-Cola. Subsequent airings would remove all mentions of Coca-Cola.

Milestones

  • The first Peanuts special.

Trivia

  • Lee Mendelson states in an interview that on one of their first meetings, Mendelson told Charles Schulz that they would have to add a laugh track to the special. Schulz said, "I quit!", and walked out of the room. It was decided from that point that no laugh track would be put into the cartoon.
  • The heads at CBS at this time were so disgusted at the special that they almost refused to air the cartoon saying it was too slow and way too religious. When it aired, it gained a 45% viewer shared across the country and maintained lavish reviews. The CBS head called Mendelson to buy five more specials, but used the justification that his aunt didn't like it to continue his negative opinion towards the cartoon.

VHS

United States

A Charlie Brown Christmas

Laserdisc (CAV)

United States

A Charlie Brown Christmas

DVD

United States

A Charlie Brown Christmas (Remastered Deluxe Edition)
Peanuts Deluxe Holiday Edition
A Charlie Brown Christmas
A Charlie Brown Christmas - 50th Anniversary Deluxe Edition
Peanuts 1960's Collection
Peanuts Deluxe Collection
Peanuts Classic Complete Holiday Collection

United Kingdom

Peanuts 1960's Collection

BluRay Disc

United States

Peanuts Deluxe Holiday Edition
A Charlie Brown Christmas

4K Ultra HD

United States

Peanuts Holiday Collection
A Charlie Brown Christmas

Technical Specifications

Running Time: 25:25
Animation Type: Standard (Hand-drawn-Cel) Animation
Aspect Ratio: 4 : 3 (Television)
Color Type: Color
Sound Type: Mono
Print Type: 35mm
Negative Type: 35mm
Cinematographic Format: Spherical
Original Language: English
Original Country: United States

Reviews and Comments

No comments posted. Be the first!
(You must be a logged-in user to submit comments!)

From TibbyH :

It should run forever.
See all comments by TibbyH

From eutychus :

I am old enough to remember when this was first broadcast, Coca Cola commercials and all. Since then, there has not been a year gone by when it hasn't been a part of my Christmas celebration. The producers took a major gamble making this, not only with having Linus taking two minutes to tell the Christmas story straight out of the Bible, but in wondering if the beloved Peanuts characters could successfully make the transition from the comic pages to the TV screen. One of the ways they stayed true to the characters was to have actual children voice the characters instead of using adults trying to mimic the kids voices. (In some cases, the dialogue had to be recorded a few short phrases at a time and then edited together!)

Happily, it worked, and it opened the door to a whole series of prime-time Peanuts specials. But for my money, none of them worked as well as the first. It has become a perennial and almost universal Christmas classic, which still holds up as well as it did when I first saw it when I was ten years old.


See all comments by eutychus

Credits

Note: "Unverified" credits may not be correct and should be taken with a grain of salt.

Director

Jose Cuauhtemoc "Bill" Melendez

Producer

Jose Cuauhtemoc "Bill" Melendez

Film Editor

Robert T. "Bob" Gillis

Executive Producer

Lee Mendelson

Graphics

William "Bill" Littlejohn

Graphic Blandishment

Robert W. "Bob" Carlson Jr.
Herman R. Cohen
Bernard Gruver
Ruth Kissane
Edward "Ed" Levitt
Manuel "Manny" Perez
Beverly Robbins
Frank Smith
Dean Spille
Reuben Timmins
Russ von Nedia
John Walker
Eleanor Warren
Joaquin Rodolfo "Rudy" Zamora
Alan Zaslove

Original Music

Vince Guaraldi

Writer

Charles M. Schulz

Screenshots

Submitted by eutychus

Screenshots from the 1965 Bill Melendez Productions cartoon A Charlie Brown ChristmasScreenshots from the 1965 Bill Melendez Productions cartoon A Charlie Brown ChristmasScreenshots from the 1965 Bill Melendez Productions cartoon A Charlie Brown ChristmasScreenshots from the 1965 Bill Melendez Productions cartoon A Charlie Brown ChristmasScreenshots from the 1965 Bill Melendez Productions cartoon A Charlie Brown ChristmasScreenshots from the 1965 Bill Melendez Productions cartoon A Charlie Brown ChristmasScreenshots from the 1965 Bill Melendez Productions cartoon A Charlie Brown ChristmasScreenshots from the 1965 Bill Melendez Productions cartoon A Charlie Brown ChristmasScreenshots from the 1965 Bill Melendez Productions cartoon A Charlie Brown ChristmasScreenshots from the 1965 Bill Melendez Productions cartoon A Charlie Brown ChristmasScreenshots from the 1965 Bill Melendez Productions cartoon A Charlie Brown ChristmasScreenshots from the 1965 Bill Melendez Productions cartoon A Charlie Brown ChristmasScreenshots from the 1965 Bill Melendez Productions cartoon A Charlie Brown ChristmasScreenshots from the 1965 Bill Melendez Productions cartoon A Charlie Brown ChristmasScreenshots from the 1965 Bill Melendez Productions cartoon A Charlie Brown ChristmasScreenshots from the 1965 Bill Melendez Productions cartoon A Charlie Brown ChristmasScreenshots from the 1965 Bill Melendez Productions cartoon A Charlie Brown ChristmasScreenshots from the 1965 Bill Melendez Productions cartoon A Charlie Brown ChristmasScreenshots from the 1965 Bill Melendez Productions cartoon A Charlie Brown ChristmasScreenshots from the 1965 Bill Melendez Productions cartoon A Charlie Brown ChristmasScreenshots from the 1965 Bill Melendez Productions cartoon A Charlie Brown ChristmasScreenshots from the 1965 Bill Melendez Productions cartoon A Charlie Brown ChristmasScreenshots from the 1965 Bill Melendez Productions cartoon A Charlie Brown ChristmasScreenshots from the 1965 Bill Melendez Productions cartoon A Charlie Brown ChristmasScreenshots from the 1965 Bill Melendez Productions cartoon A Charlie Brown ChristmasScreenshots from the 1965 Bill Melendez Productions cartoon A Charlie Brown ChristmasScreenshots from the 1965 Bill Melendez Productions cartoon A Charlie Brown Christmas

Click on thumbnail for full size image


Click on thumbnail for full size image


History

7/29/2013

  • New title added by eutychus
  • Synopsis added by eutychus
  • Credits added by eutychus
  • Milestones added by eutychus
  • Tech specs added by eutychus
  • Screenshots added by eutychus

10/25/2014

  • Series added by Toonatic

2/10/2015

  • Home video info added by eutychus

3/20/2015

  • Home video info added by eutychus

3/21/2015

  • Home video info added by eutychus

3/22/2015

  • Home video info added by eutychus

2/12/2016

  • Home video info added by Toonatic

11/8/2016

  • Print format added by Toonatic
  • Negative format added by Toonatic

10/14/2017

  • Home video info added by eutychus

12/18/2017

  • Awards added by TibbyH
  • Trivia added by TibbyH
  • Music sources added by TibbyH

12/19/2017

  • Comments added
    • TibbyH
  • Trivia added by TibbyH

12/24/2017

  • Comments added
    • eutychus

6/9/2018

    12/3/2018

    • Cut scenes added by TibbyH
    • Cinematographic format added by TibbyH
    • Music sources added by TibbyH

    12/15/2018

    • Music sources added by TibbyH

    12/24/2018

    • Video Link added by TibbyH

    10/13/2019

      7/24/2020

        Sources

        Robert W. "Bob" Carlson Jr.: Graphic Blandishment
        • Verified by onscreen credits (not always reliable)

        Herman R. Cohen: Graphic Blandishment
        • Verified by onscreen credits (not always reliable)

        Bernard Gruver: Graphic Blandishment
        • Verified by onscreen credits (not always reliable)

        Ruth Kissane: Graphic Blandishment
        • Verified by onscreen credits (not always reliable)

        Edward "Ed" Levitt: Graphic Blandishment
        • Verified by onscreen credits (not always reliable)

        William "Bill" Littlejohn: Graphics
        • Verified by onscreen credits (not always reliable)

        Manuel "Manny" Perez: Graphic Blandishment
        • Verified by onscreen credits (not always reliable)

        Beverly Robbins: Graphic Blandishment
        • Verified by onscreen credits (not always reliable)

        Frank Smith: Graphic Blandishment
        • Verified by onscreen credits (not always reliable)

        Dean Spille: Graphic Blandishment
        • Verified by onscreen credits (not always reliable)

        Reuben Timmins: Graphic Blandishment
        • Verified by onscreen credits (not always reliable)

        Russ von Nedia: Graphic Blandishment
        • Verified by onscreen credits (not always reliable)

        John Walker: Graphic Blandishment
        • Verified by onscreen credits (not always reliable)

        Eleanor Warren: Graphic Blandishment
        • Verified by onscreen credits (not always reliable)

        Joaquin Rodolfo "Rudy" Zamora: Graphic Blandishment
        • Verified by onscreen credits (not always reliable)

        Alan Zaslove: Graphic Blandishment
        • Verified by onscreen credits (not always reliable)

        Jose Cuauhtemoc "Bill" Melendez: Producer
        • Verified by onscreen credits (not always reliable)

        Lee Mendelson: Executive Producer
        • Verified by onscreen credits (not always reliable)

        Vince Guaraldi: Original Music
        • Verified by onscreen credits (not always reliable)

        Robert T. "Bob" Gillis: Film Editor
        • Verified by onscreen credits (not always reliable)

        Charles M. Schulz: Writer
        • Verified by onscreen credits (not always reliable)

        Jose Cuauhtemoc "Bill" Melendez: Director
        • Verified by onscreen credits (not always reliable)

        The Internet Animation Database

        Chronological Navigation
        Previous Cartoon : Next Cartoon : Charlie Brown's All-Stars
        Alphabetical Navigation
        Previous Cartoon : A Charlie Brown Celebration Next Cartoon : Charlie Brown is Lost!
        Series Navigation
        Previous Cartoon : Next Cartoon : Charlie Brown's All-Stars
        Home | Studios | Artists | Titles | Series | Characters
        Terms of Use | Privacy Policy
        All cartoon graphics copyright of the respective studios
        "Buddy" ratings graphic edited from the poster "Swing, You Sinners" by Nico Colaleo and used here with his permission.
        All other graphics and content copyright 2011 The Internet Animation Database
        A project of Marshmallow Fox Web Design