Today from Delancyplace.com, an excerpt from Schulz and Peanuts by David Michaelis: In December 1965 came A Charlie Brown Christmas, the most successful special in television history. In a simple story from Peanuts’ creator Charles Schulz where Charlie Brown looks for genuine meaning in Christmas while Snoopy and Lucy revel in its glitter, the show defied convention by using real kids’ voices, no laugh track, sophisticated original music and uncluttered graphics:
“In a screening room at network headquarters in New York, two CBS vice presidents watched the show in silence. ‘Neither of them laughed once,’ Mendelson recalled. When the lights came on, the executives shook their heads and shrugged. ‘Well,’ said one, ‘you gave it a good try.’ ‘It seems a little flat,’ said the other. ‘Too slow,’ said the first, ‘and the script is too innocent.’ ‘The Bible thing scares us,’ said the other. The animation was crude–couldn’t it be jazzed up a bit? The voice talent was unprofessional–they should have used adults. The music didn’t fit–who ever heard of a jazz score on an animated special? And where were the laughs?”
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so much for corporate expertise!
Liam was watching and I was happy to enjoy next to him. I remembered the sequence, but was still a little surprised how Linus breaks down the Nativity for the crew – wouldn’t happen these days.