Original photo by Cinematic/ Alamy Stock Photo
It’s pumpkin spice season, and that means it’s time for Linus, Lucy, Snoopy, That Round-Headed Kid, and the whole gang to appear in It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown. One of the most beloved of the animated “Peanuts” specials, it’s based on Charles M. Schulz’s long-running comic strip. The newspaper comic debuted in 1950, and the nearly 18,000 strips published before Schulz’s death in 2000 make “Peanuts” perhaps the longest-running story ever told by one person. Whether you’re waiting in the pumpkin patch with Linus or trick-or-treating (not for rocks!) with everyone else, here are five fun facts about some of America’s favorite cartoon specials.
First, There Were Fords
In 1956, country and gospel singer Tennessee Ernie Ford became the host of the prime-time musical variety program The Ford Show, which was sponsored by the Ford Motor Company (no relation). In 1959, Ford licensed the “Peanuts” comic strip characters to do TV commercials and intros for the show, hiring film director and animator José Cuauhtémoc “Bill” Melendez to bring the figures to life. Melendez, who started his career at Walt Disney Studios, was the only artist whom Schulz would authorize to animate the characters. The multitalented Melendez also provided the “voices” for Snoopy and Woodstock.
And Then Came Christmas
The animated commercials (and The Ford Show) were a huge hit. On December 9, 1965, the 30-minute A Charlie Brown Christmas made its debut on CBS. Some predicted that the show’s use of child actors, lack of a laugh track, and jazz soundtrack would render it a flop. Instead, A Charlie Brown Christmas won an Emmy and a Peabody and became an annual tradition, airing on broadcast television for 56 years before moving to the Apple TV+ streaming service in 2020. Jazz composer and pianist Vince Guaraldi’s score became a bestselling album, with more than 5 million copies sold. It’s the second-oldest recurring holiday animation, coming after Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, which made its first appearance in 1964.
A “Peanuts” Special Probably Killed (Aluminum) Christmas Trees
A Charlie Brown Christmas was a critique of the materialism and commercialism of the Christmas season, and was especially harsh on the mid-’60s mania for shiny aluminum trees. The Mirro Aluminum Company (then known as the Aluminum Specialty Company) of Manitowoc, Wisconsin, began producing Evergleam aluminum trees in 1959, and at its peak in 1964, made around 150,000 of them a year. In the special, Lucy orders Charlie Brown to “get the biggest aluminum tree you can find … maybe paint it pink!” Charlie Brown instead chooses a half-dead, barely needled little fir. Sales of the shiny fake trees plummeted soon after.
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Halloween and Thanksgiving Came After Christmas
The first “Peanuts” special was such a hit that it soon spawned an entire industry of “Peanuts” specials. Many were themed around holidays, including Arbor Day. It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, which aired in 1966, has our poor hero receiving rocks instead of candy while trick-or-treating. The plot of A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving, meanwhile, which aired in 1973, had Peppermint Patty inviting the gang to Charlie’s house for dinner — when he was supposed to eat with his grandmother. Linus, Snoopy, and Woodstock pull together a feast of toast, popcorn, pretzels, and jelly beans … but there’s a happy traditional turkey for everyone at the end.
There Are a Ton of “Peanuts” Specials, and They’re Still Popular
In addition to the holiday-themed programs (which included shows for New Year’s, Valentine’s Day, and Easter), the “Peanuts” specials empire includes a full-length feature, A Boy Named Charlie Brown. Greenlit in 1969 after the success of other specials, A Boy Named Charlie Brown has its namesake competing in the National Spelling Bee, only to blow his chances by misspelling the word “beagle.” There are also documentaries and television series, including new releases like Welcome Home Franklin, which aired for the first time in 2024.
Cynthia Barnes has written for the Boston Globe, National Geographic, the Toronto Star and the Discoverer. After loving life in Bangkok, she happily calls Colorado home.
