Today’s DOTD - Drink Of The Day - is a Peanut Colada, in either alcoholic or non-alcoholic versions, inspired by the cartoon strip Peanuts, and the premier of the legendary Peanuts holiday TV classic, A Charlie Brown Christmas which premiered on this day, December 9, 1965.
Peanuts was & is a comic strip created and drawn by legendary cartoonist Charles M. Schulz, known to his friends and fellow cartoonists as “Sparky.” It first debuted in seven American newspapers on October 2, 1950, and by the mid-1960s was one of the most popular syndicated newspaper cartoons worldwide. At the time of Schulz’s death on February 12, 2000, Peanuts ran in over 2,600 newspapers worldwide, with a readership of roughly 355 million people across 75 countries, and had been translated into 21 languages. It was actively written by Mr. Schulz until his death, and is still published in many newspapers as a rerun.
Virtually everyone knows Peanuts in one way or another, most likely becoming attached at some time in childhood. The entire focus of the strip is a group of young children. Adults exist but are never seen and very rarely heard.
The main character, of course, is Charlie Brown, a meek, nervous boy. Somehow he’s never able to fly a kite, win a baseball game, or kick the football held by his friend Lucy, who always pulls it away at the last moment. Other prominent characters include Snoopy, Charlie’s dog who is perhaps the most iconic character from the strip, Snoopy’s bird friend Woodstock, Charlie’s younger sister Sally, Lucy & her younger brother Linus, Peppermint Patty, Marcie, Schroeder, Franklin, and Pig-Pen.
A Charlie Brown Christmas was the first TV special based on Peanuts and one of the first to make the leap from the comics pages of newspapers to the television sets of millions. The cartoon was developed as part of a pitch to Coca Cola, after legendary television producer Lee Mendelson & Schulz had discussed creating a documentary about the Peanuts comic strip.
The animation was handled by Bill Melendez Productions, at the direction of Schulz, who’d previously worked on an ad for the Ford Motor Company. the story & most of the ides for the program came directly from Schulz, though all parties involved insisted on a jazz soundtrack, written and performed by the legendary Vince Guaraldi Trio. By the time the animated TV special was green lit, they only had six months to produce it, and only finished the project ten days before airtime. The program premiered on CBS on December 9, 1965, at 7:30 pm ET (pre-empting The Munsters), and was viewed by 45% of those watching television that evening, with an estimated 15,490,000 homes being tuned in to the broadcast.
In the story, Charlie Brown finds himself down and out despite the arrival of the cheery holiday season, in part due to the over commercialization of the season. His friend Lucy suggests that he direct a neighborhood Christmas play, as a way to improve his mood. When Charlie tries to rehearse with his uncooperative cast, Charlie decides he needs something to put them in the proper mood. With his friend Linus, Lucy’s brother, Charlie goes to the local tree lot, and finds what he thinks is a perfect for the play’s centerpiece: a real, but small and somewhat sparse, Christmas tree. Upon their return, Charlie is mocked for his decision by his peers, and yells in frustration if anyone knows what Christmas is all about.
That’s when his friend Linus delivers what may be one of the most well-known speeches across all Christmas movies or TV shows, from the King James Version of the Christian Bible, that describes of the annunciation of the birth of Christ to the shepherds.
Touched by the simple message of his friends’ words, Charlie Brown picked up his little tree and began walking home. Unbeknownst to him, the other kids, curious about his intentions and remorseful for their teasing, quietly followed him. After reflecting on Linus’ words & the teasing of his peers, Charlie Brown decides to decorate the tree himself to prove that it will work.
He stops at Snoopy’s doghouse, which has won the lights and display contest, much to Charlie Brown’s chagrin, and takes a large red ornament from the doghouse and hangs it on his tree. The ornament’s weight causes the tiny tree to bend to the ground. Believing that he killed the tree, a dejected Charlie Brown walks off.
The other kids & Snoopy, having seen how hard Charlie tried, gather around and redecorate the spindly tree, an action which makes the tree become beautiful. Then, all the kids start humming “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing.” As Charlie hears the music he comes back to confront the kids, and sees what they did with care (and the decorations from Snoopy’s doghouse) to his tree, just as the kids all yell “Merry Christmas, Charlie Brown!”
Then, all the kids together, including Charlie Brown, begin singing as the snow begins to fall.
Unlike the old days, when A Charlie Brown Christmas would air on broadcast television, you can only watch it on Apple TV now. You can watch it for free, without an Apple TV subscription this year on Saturday, Dec. 13 and Sunday, Dec. 14. Of course, if you still have a DVD player, you may also be able to check it out for free from your local library.
As a salute to this classic, we bring you today’s Drink Of The Day, Peanut Colada, in both alcoholic & non-alcoholic versions.
Ingredients
Here’s what you’re going to need for this drink*:
*Allergy alert: Lots of peanuts
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