Once the initial deal was made with Peanuts creator Charles M. Schulz and his team to make the show, "Sparky," as his friends and co-workers called him, had just six months to deliver the special, an almost impossible task for an animated show at that time.
And along the way, Schulz and company would have to convince network executives at CBS, the special's original network, that they didn't want to use a laugh track; that they wanted to use actual children to voice the young characters; and that audiences would respond to the special's message about the true meaning of Christmas, even, though executives fretted about it, the use of a Bible quote to get that message across.
Charlie Brown and LinusAll the worry was for nothing, it turned out, as 'A Charlie Brown Christmas' was an immediate hit, drawing a nearly 45 percent viewership share, getting rave reviews from Time and TV Guide magazines and kicking off a four-decades-plus run that would solidify its status as a beloved holiday tradition.
Here, a look at the nuts and bolts of the special (which airs Dec. 7 and Dec. 16, at 8PM ET, on ABC), from A to Z:
A is for Awards, as in an Emmy and a Peabody Award, both of which 'A Charlie Brown Christmas' has won.
B is for the late Bill Melendez, who directed, co-produced and provided the voice for Snoopy in the holiday special. Melendez, who died in 2008 at age 91, also provided the voice of Woodstock, and would record gibberish into a tape recorder and then play it at a super high speed to give Snoopy and Woodstock their non-word voices.
Read More: 'A Charlie Brown Christmas': Celebrating 45 Years of the Classic Holiday Special
