Remember When…

Tonight, I sat in my living room and watched A Charlie Brown Christmas all by myself! The kids were all doing their own thing and are ”Way too old” for such a thing. But A Charlie Brown Christmas, for me is a tradition! This was Charles Schultz’s first animated film. The folks at CBS hated the idea of an animated Christmas special with a message that was so serious. And, they didn’t like that there was no “canned laughter” during the show, which was something very popular at the time.

Bill Melendez and Lee Mendelson were convinced that the show would be a total flop. And 43 years later, it is the second longest running Christmas special on US network TV.

Because the actors were all children, they learned their lines just by sounding out the words. They really didn’t know what they were saying most of the time, and that is why they spoke a little differently than other voice over characters. (who were usually adults) This became a “Peanuts style” that is very well known how.

Charlie Brown and Linus are tossed by Snoopy right after the opening credits. In the first running of this show, Linus lands into a Coca-Cola sign (who was the sponsor of the first run) and at the end when they are singing, a message comes on the final screen that says “Merry Christmas from your local bottler of Coca-Cola” right after the United Feature Syndicate credit at the end.

When producer/director, Bill Melendez worried about the Biblical references in the show, he tried to talk Charles M. Schulz out of using any Biblical references (especially Linus’ speech). Schulz convinced him by saying, “If we don’t do it, who will?”

This is WHY I like A Charlie Brown Christmas so much! There are very few Christmas specials that talk about the REASON we have Christmas! I don’t understand why it is so difficult to talk about. Christmas is a religious holiday celebrated by Christians. This is the designated day to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, who we, as Christians, believe was born to fogive us of our sins, so we can have a place in Heaven when we die, if we ask for His forgiveness and live a Christian life.

This isn’t a Christian based blog, but since we are talking about Christmas shows and I am a Christian…. well… it is what it is!

So…. lets have some really fun trivia!

1. What was Linus’ speech on the stage? Can you give the actual words or give the scripture reference?

2. I said before that this is the second longest Christmas special to ever run. What was the first?

3. When Linus is giving his speech, is he holding his blanket?

4. How many Peanuts characters can you name?

Thanks for playing! Be sure to come back tomorrow for more trivia and be sure to answer as many questions as possible as I will link your blog on Saturday when I give the answers!

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