Continuing a yearly Christmas tradition here on SteveandAmySly.com as well as the TannerWorld Junction discussion forums…

A Charlie Brown Christmas debuted on December 9, 1965, as the very first Peanuts television special. It's no surprise that it continues to air today!

"Linus, I wish I had some Charlie Brown audio!"

This special came to be thanks to none other than Coca-Cola, which approached the creators of a Charles Schultz documentary called A Boy Named Charlie Brown about doing a Peanuts Christmas special. While this documentary never aired on TV, it featured work from folks we now associate closely with Charlie Brown television specials… produced by Lee Mendelson, animation by Bill Melendez, and music by Vince Guaraldi. So ironically it was commercialism which brought the special to air!

"A Charlie Brown Christmas" LP from the 1960s

Another more kid-friendly cover for "A Charlie Brown Christmas" LP

Continuing a limited-time Peanuts audio tradition here at SteveandAmySly.com (see It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, You're Not Elected, Charlie Brown, A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving, Good Grief, Charlie Brown), I'm happy to share an audio-only adaptation of the show that was created on record (yes, LPs!) in the mid- to late-1960s. It came complete with a 12-page read-along book with photos!

This shortened-for-LP version contains all the same voice talent and effects, but things move along more quickly. It's pretty much the audio from the TV special edited at a very fast pace and without much in the way of musical interludes. I also noted that there seemed to be some extra sound effects thrown in (for example, listen to the part where Lucy is talking about "nickels, nickels, nickels"… lots of extra rattling there!) The original record has long been out-of-print and surprisingly has never been released on CD. (This album is different from the music-only album by the same name featuring Vince Guaraldi's famous jazz tunes.)

As a special Christmas treat, you can download this audio story here from SteveandAmySly.com in MP3 format… but just during Christmas season only! Once December 26 comes around, it's gone! Enjoy

Download
A Charlie Brown Christmas (Part 1)
(MP3, 10:02, 13.7MB)