Merry Christmas, Charlie Brown

[greatbear]

It's on early, but I still dont mind. A Charlie Brown Christmas is my favorite holiday teevee special. Ever since I was a kid, I enjoyed the spare, unassuming, simple little cartoon. Over the years I realized how much the rough edges, the Vince Guaraldi jazz score and the voices make for a timeless classic that I look forward to every year. All I need is this, and A Christmas Story, and I'm set.

EDIT: I shoulda thought of this before. Sharing is caring:

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Comments

[shortstackbear.livejournal.com]

YAY!

[fjdbear.livejournal.com]

I REALLY love A Christmas Story. I would watch the marathon! It's lasagna for the soul! (whatever the hell that means).

[b-a-n-d-i-t.livejournal.com]

I agree, those are my two essentials: A Charlie Brown Christmas and A Christmas Story. There are a few others I enjoy, but those are my 2 favorites. It doesn't seem like Christmas without them.

christmas carol rocks!

[beartech420.livejournal.com]

my favorite is the christmas carol. I has been done so many times my favorite is the 1951-52 version in black in white. Harry worked with one of cratet's little girls. and we are pretty sure that the undertaker is the young mr. graves on "are you being served"
"you are all doing a very good job!"

I also like Scroouged staring bill murray. it is modern, funny and keeps really well to charles dickens spirit. Plus the s/m scene between murray and the ghost of christmas present is too funny.
"you know i like it rough"

Re: christmas carol rocks!

[greatbearmd.livejournal.com]

The Alistair Sym version of A Christmas Carol is my favorite as well.

Re: christmas carol rocks!

[beartech420.livejournal.com]

The Alistair Sym version of A Christmas Carol is my favorite as well.

hey thank you for the name! all the actors seem like great character actors the scene with scrooges's cleaning lady after his conversion is a hoot!
great acting! horrrible special effect!
love the hour glass going thru a white snow storm tunnel to portray the change of time.
bahh humbug!
pete

[ciddyguy.livejournal.com]

I loooove A Charlie Brown Christmas. It's one of my favorates, along with the original How the Gringe Stole Christmas, as read by Boris Karloff. :-)

In fact, I've already viewed them on DVD but I agree, nothing like catching it on TeeVee as a Special during the holidays.

[greatbearmd.livejournal.com]

"Grinch" is one of my faves, but I missed out on it over the past years since it was stolen my Ted Turner and made cable-only.

[ciddyguy.livejournal.com]

That sucks about Ted and the Grinch.

I have that on DVD, Charlie Brown Christmas still on tape, and another fav that only aired once. A Wish for Wings that Work starring Opus and Bill, also on tape and so far, it's not been released onto DVD that I know of.

[greatbearmd.livejournal.com]

I missed the only airing of "A Wish For Wings That Work", and of course, my search of YouTube only brings up a short clip at the end. A friend of mine taped it, but was never able to find his copy for me to see.

[ciddyguy.livejournal.com]

I believe if you search Amazon, it's still available on VHS. At least as of last year it was.

[aadroma.livejournal.com]

Did you see that there was a more recently made Charlie Brown Christmas Special? It was almost universally panned ... ^^;;;

[greatbearmd.livejournal.com]

One does NOT mess with a classic.

[greatbearmd.livejournal.com]

Dont get me wrong, I have plenty of faves, It's a Wonderful Life being one of them. But nothing reminds me of my childhood in the season as A Charlie Brown Christmas, and nothing relates to my childhood as A CHristmas Story. lol

[greatbearmd.livejournal.com]

Wikipedia has a nice little write-up about this special. The iffy sound on the show, the herky-jerky editing and awkward voice work somehow only adds to the charm, remarkably enough IMO.

And I know exactly what you mean by "still liking this one", since as the years added up, my cynical side began to show sheer disdain for the tripe being played and replayed every year. For some reason, I can curl up for a half hour and enjoy this little anchor point to that time in my childhood when the holiday was really special.

[huffdaddyatl.livejournal.com]

My thoughts EXACTLY last night. Curled up on the couch with a cup of Hot Tea (even though it was a balmy 60 outside and the doors were open) and let myself really "get" the message. My only cynical thought was when I saw the 1965 copyright I thought "they thought Christmas was commercial back THEN? Ooooh, they have NO idea!"

it is relevent for kids and adults.

[beartech420.livejournal.com]

charlie brown does it so well because everything in 65 still goes on today. plus great music! and linus completes the story by saying what christmas real is at the end of the story.

[le-lapin.livejournal.com]

[teddyb.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the memory. "A Charlie Brown Christmas" has always been a favourite of mine, too. I was already a big fan of "Peanuts" and Charles Schulz when the special first ran, and over the years, I've only come to love it more. Especially now, knowing the story behind the special, about how Schulz and Lee Mendelson stood their ground against the network "suits" and refused to alter their vision of what it should be.

I wish there were more of that kind of integrity around in these troubled times. At least "A Charlie Brown Christmas" is still around, both entertaining and proving the power of a simple message, told from the heart.