After it's original airing in 1965, A Charlie Brown Christmas went through multiple changes the following year in 1966 to improve things that the original crew were not happy with, due to the limited time they were given to make the special and due to the fact that the special was considered a failure at first by most behind it until it became a massive success and would be aired again the following year.
These 1966 changes have been the definitive version for the crew behind the special and all subsequent airings and home media releases, which left the original version that aired in 1965 almost completely lost and unreleased to the public until recently.
1965 Differences[]
- The song "Christmas Time Is Here" starts earlier than in the 1966 to present version to allow the full song to be heard instead of fading out once Charlie Brown hits the tree. The dialogue was re-laid and the start of the music was pushed back farther in the later version
- There are no sound effects when Snoopy throws Linus and Charlie Brown around.
- During the main title shot, the sound effects are differently pitched, both the wobble of the tree and the plop of the snow, after Charlie Brown crashes.
- Snoopy throws Linus into a Coca Cola sign and the song fades out with "Christmastime..." repeated several times. The original sign was a standard Danger sign before being changed to the Coca Cola version. The early sign can be seen in the original CBS promo and for 1 frame in the Coca Cola version.
- Disproving rumors, the can that the characters throw snowballs at is NOT a Coca Cola can.
- During the establishing shot of Lucy’s psychiatrist scene, the snow covering her booth is missing. Lucy doesn’t make a zipping noise once she rushes over to meet Charlie Brown. Lucy does not make a whirling noise when she reacts to Charlie Brown‘s “THAT’S IT!”. The background music also stops during this moment instead of continuing to play like in the present version.
- When Snoopy decorates his doghouse, "Christmastime Is Here" continues to play instead of the more upbeat "Surfin' Snoopy". There are no zipping noises as Snoopy moves around decorating his doghouse. Charlie Brown is silent for 4 seconds while reading the flyer Snoopy hands him after mentioning “Find the true meaning of Christmas, win money, money, money!” then his voice from the Disneyland/Vista read-alongs is spliced in the soundtrack to exclaim “Lights and display contest?! Oh no!” then quickly reverts back to Peter Robbins' voice for Sally’s list scene.
- When Charlie Brown is greeted as director, Snoopy's howling is shorter and sounds more realistic and wolf like.
- There's no music playing in the background during Charlie Brown’s director speech scene until the 'Linus and Lucy" dance.
- The shot of Schroeder listening for Charlie Brown to tell him to “set the mood” is a static shot of all the characters standing on stage where their dancing positions are. This causes an animation error once they start dancing again where Pig Pen only strums the bass two times instead of with the music. The present version has a close up of Schroeder sitting alone on a pink background.
- When Charlie Brown talks positively about Pigpen to Frieda, they are farther away in the original version. Pigpen's face is also completely clean as he faces the camera. In the fixed version, we get a close up on Charlie Brown, Frieda, and Pigpen. Pigpen's face is also dirtier as he faces the camera.
- When Lucy gives "five good reasons" to Linus we don't see a close-up of her hand making a fist.
- There's no swooping noise when Lucy attempts to slug Snoopy, she glares at him a second longer, and he doesn’t make a 'Blah" sound after licking Lucy. Lucy’s ”aah!” is retimed to overlap Charlie Brown’s “All right, script girl continue with the scripts”.
- Snoopy's dish is white in the original "Lunch Break" scene and the sound effects of him kicking it around are realistic clanking sounds instead of the later cartoon type noises. One frame is also rearranged in his sequence
- There’s no music during Lucy’s script girl scenes.
- When Lucy reacts to Charlie Brown and exclaims “I know when I’ve been insulted!”, the full background can be seen and the characters are farther away from the screen. Lucy also pauses before she runs away.
- The long shot of the characters dancing on stage is played for an additional time. In the 1966-present version, they're in their costumes in separate shots on a pink background. The start of the music has also been corrected in the present version.
- Lucy's fingers don't make a snapping sound when she likes the music.
- Charlie Brown’s nose is missing for eight frames when Lucy recommends getting a Christmas tree.
- When Charlie Brown tries to find a tree, Linus doesn't bang on the aluminum tree. Charlie Brown‘s reaction to the tiny tree is also very brief. We don’t see Linus when he says “Gee do they still make wooden Christmas trees?”. The commercial fade out is also longer and lets the music continue.
- The scene with Schroeder and Lucy goes as normal, but Schroeder doesn’t make a drum roll sound while spinning.
- There is no music in the background when Charlie Brown and Linus return with the tree.
- Linus' speech is intact and he doesn’t pick up his blanket in the full shot of the auditorium. This was reanimated in the later version resulting in a continuity error. Schroder’s piano is also missing in shots of the stage but has been added back in the present version.
- Once Charlie Brown is eager to decorate the tree and heads home, there is no fade out to commercial (the shot also lasts several seconds longer due to this). It immediately cuts to Charlie Brown's shock of Snoopy winning first prize. Also, Charlie Brown's reaction to the award is slightly longer.
- When the kids decorate the tree, the animation of them decorating it only plays once and Charlie Brown‘s reaction to it is brief. Charlie Brown‘s foot can also be seen for a frame before he enters the scene, which was removed on the present version.
- While the kids hum the “loo, loo, loo,” portion of the song and take a breath there’s no background error present where in the later version the characters in the back (555-95472, Violet, Sherman, Patty) overlap the rest of the characters in front of them (Sally, Lucy, Frieda, Linus, "Pig-Pen", Snoopy, Schroeder) for one frame.
- Charlie Brown blushes while singing and Snoopy sings like a human instead of making a howling motion. The mouths of all the characters were redrawn in the 1966 version to appear more natural.
- The song "Hark The Herald Angels Sing" does not fade out but concludes with an onscreen message saying "Merry Christmas from the people who bottle Coca Cola".
- There is no "The End" copyright screen. It was apparently added in 1966 after the studio realized that the special would be airing more than once.
- There's a spot afterwards where Charles Schulz thanks Coca-Cola for sponsoring A Charlie Brown Christmas. This was mentioned in the Making Of book and is not included with the print currently available however.
1968 Broadcast[]
A clip of the ending from a 1968 broadcast has been available on YouTube for some time now. It contains the frames of the children singing “Glory to...” then cuts to a still frame of The End screen as the rest of the vocals are heard and an announcer says “Brought to you by the people in your town who bottle Coca Cola!”. The full broadcast of this version has yet to be found and it is unknown if it contains the Coca Cola sign at the beginning. The vocals in this version are also mixed higher and have a slight reverb.
Availability[]
Besides the Paley Center for Media, the only way to access a print of the original version of the special is by acquiring a print from a private collector. Besides the two Coca Cola sponsor plugs, the entirety of the original version has never been made publicly available on the internet. It is doubtful this version will ever get a home media release.
UPDATE: An original print (NOTE: Not a workprint) of the 1965 aired version of the special was shared as an MKV to the Lost Media Wiki in January 2020 is available on the Internet Archive. A comparison video with the two prints is available on YouTube and Vimeo.
Gallery[]
Sources[]
- http://www.intanibase.com/forum/posts/m22386-A-Charlie-Brown-Christmas-original-1965-broadcast-anlaysis
- Book: "A Charlie Brown Christmas: The Making of a Tradition"
Videos[]
A Charlie Brown Christmas - Original print vs. revised version (FINAL CUT)-2
Charlie Brown Christmas 1968 ending
A Charlie Brown Christmas original title tag (1965)
A Charlie Brown Christmas original ending (1965)