Charlie, Vince, Snoopy and Me: The Unlikely Choices of Christmas
“We will, of course, air it next week, but I’m afraid we won’t be showing it again.” CBS executives, about the premiere of “A Charlie Brown Christmas”
“Isn’t there anyone who knows what Christmas is all about?” Charlie Brown
Just before “A Charlie Brown Christmas” premiered on CBS in December of 1965, virtually everyone associated with its production agreed that they had a disaster on their hands. Television executives, in particular, were certain that this Christmas cartoon was doomed to failure for a variety of reasons. First, no cartoon had ever featured a jazz soundtrack (and we all know that jazz musicians and those who appreciate such musical aberrations are weird!) What could jazz composer Vince Guaraldi, a most unlikely choice, possibly come up with that children could appreciate? Second, the show was entirely too religious. No audience would ever tolerate Linus’ recitation of the Christmas story from the second chapter of Luke in formal King James English. Third, the children who voiced the parts were not professional actors and the production values reflected the shoe-string budget – it was flawed and imperfect – and Snoopy kept missing his cues! Fourth, Shultz insisted there be no “laugh track” instead allowing the audience to respond at its own pace and in its own way, not unlike what God must have envisioned by giving the audience a free will choice to respond to the original!
The show itself contained a whole host of most unlikely choices. The ever incompetent Charlie Brown was named Director of the Christmas pageant. The children’s choir of St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in San Rafael, California, not a single one of whom had studied at Juilliard, recorded the soundtrack. Rather than select a “big, shiny aluminum tree” ordered by Lucy, reflective of contemporary Christmas values, and capable of creating the “proper mood for a pageant,” Charlie Brown picked the most pathetic excuse for a tree in the entire lot. Snoopy won first prize in the neighborhood holiday light display contest, dazzling everyone with a dog house that virtually shouted “Howlelujah!” And in the end, the little lonely tree reflects the beauty of love and the essence of Christmas, and the whole gang tells the formerly forlorn star of the special: “Merry Christmas Charlie Brown!”
Charles Schultz and Luke have a lot in common. The original Christmas story is filled with unlikely choices: a teenage mom, a common carpenter, random shepherds, unpredictable animals, and a newborn babe. It is a disaster waiting to happen, a story set in a stable, with the star of the show appearing in a feeding trough, sometimes called a manger. Even more unlikely are those still called to play parts in the ongoing pageant, the unfolding drama of salvation history. You see, you and I are assigned the roles of sharing good news, bringing glad tidings, praising God, promoting peace and extending good will to all people. Talk about unlikely choices.
We are in good company. Merry Christmas Charlie Brown! And Merry Christmas Vince, Snoopy, and every one of us, the most unlikely characters ever to play a part!
“If we don’t tell the true meaning of Christmas, who will?” Charles Schultz
