Why Snoopy didn't talk, more fun facts about 'Charlie Brown Christmas'

For generations of holiday TV viewers, happiness is watching "A Charlie Brown Christmas." 

Apple TV is the only place to see the animated holiday chestnut, which this year marks its 60th anniversary (nonsubscribers can watch it for free Dec. 13 and 14). And if you want to see Snoopy, Linus and the rest of the Peanuts gang in person, head to Patchogue Theatre for the Performing Arts on Dec. 5 for "A Charlie Brown Christmas Live on Stage."

The Emmy-winning special, which had a working title of "Charlie Brown's Christmas," premiered Dec. 9, 1965, on CBS and was seen by nearly half the households in the United States. Not too shabby (unlike Charlie Brown's Christmas tree) for a show that nervous CBS execs almost didn't air after being unimpressed at the preview. Here are some other behind-the-scenes tidbits about the show.

Kids should be kids

The show's creator was extremely vocal about who should provide the speaking voices of his Peanuts characters. "Up until then, it was standard practice to have adult actors voice children’s characters," said Benjamin L. Clark, curator of the Charles M. Schulz Museum in Santa Rosa, California, which has an exhibit tied to the 60th anniversary. "He wanted actual children to do it."

Though a few professional child actors were used, most of the parts were played by children whom producer Lee Mendelson knew from his neighborhood. "Some were so young, they couldn’t really read the lines, so they said the lines with Lee or Bill or someone sitting with them saying 'OK, now say this' or 'repeat after me,' ” Clark told Newsday in a phone interview.

Dogs can't talk

When Mendelson and co-producer and animator Bill Melendez said to Schulz that casting the voice of Snoopy was a big deal, Schulz's response was "Snoopy doesn't talk. You read his thoughts but he doesn’t actually speak," Clark said.

After Melendez recorded Snoopy's growls and laughs, Schulz said "we don’t have to find somebody." Archival audio of Melendez as everyone's favorite beagle is still used in new Peanuts specials.

All that Vince Guaraldi jazz

At a time when toons featured tunes like "Meet the Flintstones," a jazzy soundtrack was not the norm for a kids' special. After hearing Vince Guaraldi's hit "Cast Your Fate to the Wind" on the radio, Mendelson reached out to him.

Schulz, however, was insistent that the program also include traditional holiday songs. "Vince was extremely adept at incorporating holiday music into the jazz and having it flow in and out," Clark said.

One of the highlights was the finale, "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing," performed by a children's choir. "Vince had composed a jazz Mass for St. Paul’s Cathedral in San Francisco," Clark said. "He had worked with the same choir before. So he used a handful of volunteers."

CBS almost pulled the plug

When bigwigs at CBS saw a preview days before it aired, the reaction was something akin to "Bah, humbug."

"They thought it was slow. They weren't impressed with the amateur voicing. They were really unsure of the jazz soundtrack. It was so different from other animated projects on TV, which were a little more slapstick and goofy. It was just so different, and TV executives are very allergic to different," Clark said.

Linus' retelling of the birth of Jesus from the Book of Luke didn't help matters. "They didn’t want Linus quoting Scripture. They thought that would be too controversial," said Stephanie Revelli, Schulz's granddaughter, from her home in Utah. "But the show was due to play, so it was done. And there wasn't a bad reaction from the public at all."

In fact, after the reviews and ratings came in, CBS, which had already committed to two more specials, asked Mendelson and Melendez to come up with another blockbuster. They delivered, with "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown" the following October.

Clark said that slow pace CBS disliked about "A Charlie Brown Christmas" is a key reason why the show is still cherished. "Even if you run through your holidays at breakneck speed, if you take 30 minutes to watch 'A Charlie Brown,' it's nice to slow down even for just that little breather," he said. "It’s still beautifully done and still so charming."