A Charlie Brown Christmas: The Making of a Tradition [Hardcover]

Lee Mendelson (Author), Bill Melendez (Author)

Book Description

Since its top-rated debut on CBS in December 1965, A Charlie Brown Christmas has been one of America's most beloved television shows. Year after year, fans of all ages tune in to the Emmy-winning Christmas special that has earned a permanent place in the nation's popular culture.

This collector's treasury contains the entire script of A Charlie Brown Christmas, illustrated with full-color stills from the animated film. Producer Lee Mendelson and animator Bill Melendez pay tribute to the program with personal memories and reflections about the show, including charming anecdotes about their long friendship and working career with Peanuts creator Charles M. Schulz. Offering rare, behind-the-scenes insights, they also share memories of the late, great jazz pianist/composer Vince Guaraldi and provide never-before-published background sketches, storyboards, production sheets, and other materials that bring the making of the show to life.

A Charlie Brown Christmas: The Making of a Tradition also brings the sound of the show home with the piano/vocal musical scores for Guaraldi's "Christmas Time Is Here" and "Linus and Lucy," two songs that have become standards of American popular music.

As the very first Peanuts special, A Charlie Brown Christmas brought Charlie Brown, Linus, Lucy, Snoopy, and the rest of the gang to television. In addition to breaking the mold by using jazz music (which exposed millions of people to jazz for the first time and inspired a generation of jazz pianists), A Charlie Brown Christmas broke new ground by using real children for the voices instead of adult actors. Schulz, Mendelson, and Melendez created these and other innovations that made A Charlie Brown Christmas a unique and timeless work of animation art.

A Charlie Brown Christmas: The Making of a Tradition celebrates this award-winning and history-making show with warmhearted memories, fascinating trivia, and colorful animation art that will delight fans of all ages.

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

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Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

From the Back Cover

The most popular Christmas TV special of all time, “A Charlie Brown Christmas” is viewed every year by millions, young and old. Especially poignant this year both because of the show’s anniversary and the recent death of creator Charles “Sparky” Schulz on the day of his official farewell Sunday strip, the 40th anniversary of this heartwarming, moving, often hilariously funny and sophisticated animated cartoon will be marked by the publication of our four-color gift book, A Charlie Brown Christmas.

Featuring more than 150 never-before-reproduced in book form four-color frames from the animated cartoon, the original script, pieces of Vince Guaraldi’s musical score with handwritten behind-the-scenes production notes, interviews with some of the original “child” actors (who had lent their voices to the first-ever animated cartoon to feature real children), an introduction by the cartoon’s executive producer Lee Mendelson, reminiscences by original Peanuts animator Bill Melendez, and much more. A Charlie Brown Christmas is a fitting salute to the artist who forever changed the face of cartooning, and to the annual Christmas event that the Peanuts gang have celebrated for the last 35 years. It is a must-have for all Peanuts fans, young and old. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 192 pages
• Publisher: William Morrow; 1 edition (October 31, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0060198516
• ISBN-13: 978-0060198510
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 9.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.9 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (20 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #956,477 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Charles M. Schulz was born November 25, 1922 in Minneapolis. His destiny was foreshadowed when an uncle gave him, at the age of two days, the nickname Sparky (after the racehorse Spark Plug in the newspaper strip Barney Google).

In his senior year in high school, his mother noticed an ad in a local newspaper for a correspondence school, Federal Schools (later called Art Instruction Schools). Schulz passed the talent test, completed the course and began trying, unsuccessfully, to sell gag cartoons to magazines. (His first published drawing was of his dog, Spike, and appeared in a 1937 Ripley's Believe It Or Not! installment.) Between 1948 and 1950, he succeeded in selling 17 cartoons to the Saturday Evening Post--as well as, to the local St. Paul Pioneer Press, a weekly comic feature called Li'l Folks. It was run in the women's section and paid $10 a week. After writing and drawing the feature for two years, Schulz asked for a better location in the paper or for daily exposure, as well as a raise. When he was turned down on all three counts, he quit.

He started submitting strips to the newspaper syndicates. In the spring of 1950, he received a letter from the United Feature Syndicate, announcing their interest in his submission, Li'l Folks. Schulz boarded a train in June for New York City; more interested in doing a strip than a panel, he also brought along the first installments of what would become Peanuts--and that was what sold. (The title, which Schulz loathed to his dying day, was imposed by the syndicate). The first Peanuts daily appeared October 2, 1950; the first Sunday, January 6, 1952.

Diagnosed with cancer, Schulz retired from Peanuts at the end of 1999. He died on February 13, 2000, the day before Valentine's Day--and the day before his last strip was published--having completed 17,897 daily and Sunday strips, each and every one fully written, drawn, and lettered entirely by his own hand--an unmatched achievement in comics.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

47 of 49 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Great Christmas Gift for Peanuts Fans, November 4, 2000

By 

Donald Mitchell "Jesus Loves You!" (Thanks for Providing My Reviews over 109,000 Helpful Votes Globally) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: A Charlie Brown Christmas: The Making of a Tradition (Hardcover)

In the television show, A Charlie Brown Christmas, Charlie Brown searches for the true meaning of Christmas and helps infuse it into all the Peanuts gang. Like many people, he's a little down in the dumps over the upcoming holiday season, but with his good heart he soon finds a way to seek out Christmas in his own way by getting a real tree rather than the artificial one that Lucy sent him for.

If you are like me, you have watched and enjoyed A Charlie Brown Christmas many times since it premiered in 1965. Now, you can have this experience every day with this remarkable keepsake album. Everything about the book is first-class and a joy. Do be kind to your family and friends who like Peanuts and give them this book.

The book contains the whole illustrated script of the show, which brings the experience of watching the show back very literally. You also get the lyrics and music to "Christmas Time Is Here" and "Linus and Lucy." I could hear the music in my head for days after reading the book. You can, of course, play and sing these songs for yourself, as well.

There are also a lot of background sketches, story boards, and production sheets to help you understand the development and production process better. I found these to be interesting and valuable additions to the book.

I also enjoyed learning more about the decision to integrate jazz and classical music into the show. The remembrances about Vince Guraldi, who wrote the music, added to my understanding of why this is a great story.

To me, though, the best parts were the memories of Charles "Sparky" Schulz by producer Lee Mendelson and animator (and voice of Snoopy) Bill Melendez. This material integrates the story back into Mr. Schulz's basic religious values. You also get insights into the characters and their relation to Mr. Schulz. My favorite reference was this quote, "Charlie Brown is the way I am and Snoopy is the way I wish I could be."

After you read and reread this book, I suggest you sit back and plan for how you can have the kind of Christmas that Charles Schulz wanted to encourage with this story. That will be the best benefit of all.

May you always find and enjoy the true meaning of Christmas!

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The next-best thing to being there, November 18, 2001

By 

Jason A. Miller (New York, New York USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: A Charlie Brown Christmas: The Making of a Tradition (Hardcover)

Reading "A Charlie Brown Christmas" on a dark Sunday afternoon in November is a bit like owning a DVD crammed with special features. This gorgeously-designed hardcover, with glossy pages and a heavy silver dustjacket, is a terrific companion to the TV special, and an almost essential shelf companion to "Peanuts: A Golden Celebration".

Anything you'd want to know about the "Christmas" TV special is in this book -- lengthy interviews with producer Lee Mendelson (a veteran of Peanuts anniversary books) and animator Bill Melendez. Charles M Schulz passed away before the book was written, but there are plenty of rarely-seen photos of him taken in the 1960s. There's a chapter on Vince Guaraldi, whose jazz soundtrack defines the lives of many "Peanuts" fans; interviews with some of the children who voiced the characters; and, O happy day, sheet music! The second half of the book contains the complete script for "A Charlie Brown Christmas" itself, along with dozens of photos and animated sequences, taken from the original cels.

"Christmas" is not for small children (unless they're reading it with you), and there are a couple of misprints (including, in my first edition, a caption for a photo that's not in the book!). But it's lovely to look at, and when I put it down finally, reluctantly, I was whistling the soundtrack and hearing Linus's nativity speech (and I'm Jewish!). These days you can buy it for about as much as the DVD costs, and it's a wonderful Christmas gift. Unless, of course, the person you're buying it for already owns it.

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great piece of Charlie Brown Christmas memorabilia, November 3, 2000

By 

C. Fabella (St. Louis, MO) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: A Charlie Brown Christmas: The Making of a Tradition (Hardcover)

I purchased this book yesterday, and it's beautifully done. Includes entire script of film with glossy prints of many cells. Includes sheet music and production notes as well as many wonderful photos and reminicenses of how the film came to be. I'm enjoying it!