Did you know that "A Charlie Brown Christmas" -- the second longest running Christmas special, next to 1964's "Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer" -- aired on December 9, 1965, making this year the 50th anniversary? And, did you also know that this classic, infamous Christmas special almost didn't run at all? That's right! CBS producers took one look at it during production, and just didn't get it -- jazz music in a children's Christmas special, rough sketch drawings, and Linus' recitation of the birth of Jesus from the Gospel of Luke? It all just didn't make sense to them.
But, eventually, they went along with Charles Schulz and his team of animators and ran it anyway with very little hope in it being a success. Well, low and behold, it was a smash hit with over half the country tuning in to watch it in 1965, and continues to pull in strong ratings every year (over 6 million viewers tuned in last year alone). In addition, The Vince Guaraldi Trio's soundtrack has since sold more than 3.4 million copies and was inducted into the Library of Congress in 2012! MERRY CHRISTMAS CHARLIE BROWN!
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