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Lovely Linda Mason has crooner Jim Hardy head over heels, but suave stepper Ted Hanover wants her for his new dance partner after femme fatale Lila Dixon gives him the brush. Jim's supper club, Holiday Inn, is the setting for the chase by Hanover and manager Danny Reed. The music's the thing.

The first of nearly 50 Peanuts television movies, A Charlie Brown Christmas is the longest-running cartoon special in history, airing every year since its debut in 1965. Whimsical, melancholy, and ultimately full of wonder, it is a holiday favorite for countless families. But this cartoon classic almost didn't make it on the air. A Movie No One Wanted In 1963 producer Lee Mendelson made a short documentary about Charles Schulz called A Boy Named Charlie Brown. It included a few minutes of animated Peanuts scenes by Bill Melendez, who had animated the kids for a series of Ford Motor...

Since there clearly haven't been enough vanities around here today, I figured I weigh in with one:What are your three favorite Christmas Movies of all  time?Me, I'm going with:3.  A Christmas Carol (staring Patrick Stewart, 1999)2.  A Very Brady Christmas (yes I'm serious)1.  It's A Wonderful Life (one of the finest films of all time)Alright FReepers, time to opine...Owl_Eagle "You know, I'm going to start thankingthe woman who cleans the restroom inthe building I work in.  I'm going to startthinking of her as a human being"-Hillary Clinton (Yes, she really said that Peggy Noonan The Case Against Hillary Clinton, pg...

Some former child actors cringe and protest when reminded by loyal fans of long-ago projects. Not Peter Billingsley, star of “A Christmas Story.” According to journalist Rebecca Murray, “he seems to genuinely light up when the movie is mentioned.” Billingsley is also used to passersby tossing their favorite quotes at him. “They all still love it,” he told Murray. People ask him if he’s tired of talking about it, but he’s not. “I’m really, really proud to be a part of it.” Billingsley still appears in front of the cameras now and then. (He had an uncredited role in last...

Did Christmas conspiracy begin way back in 1941? 64-year-old MGM/Fox Theatres short offered secular holiday greeting Tim Cuprisin E-MAIL | ARCHIVE The seasonal wishes to Americans in uniform come from one of Hollywood's big names: "We want to send this message to all of them, and their loved ones, and all the liberty-loving people of the world. We want to wish them a very happy - and a free - holiday." It's not Susan Sarandon or Warren Beatty or Rob Reiner. It's Lewis Stone. Lewis Stone? Stone was once a big Hollywood name, best known as Judge James K. Hardy,...

WASHINGTON - How do you say "Merry Christmas" in Scottish terrier? Just ask presidential pups Barney and Miss Beazley. First lady Laura Bush showed a home video of White House holiday life — from the first dogs' point of view — to a group of patients, their families and staff at Children's National Medical Center on Wednesday. The video, "A Very Beazley Christmas," tells the story of a very jealous Barney, who hides presents meant for his more popular sister, Miss Beazley. The president's chief of staff, Andrew Card, and Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez, as well as television hosts Nancy...

It's been 40 years since "A Charlie Brown Christmas," which airs at 7 tonight on ABC (Channel 5), first appeared on network television. But back in 1965, working for CBS, Charles Schulz made the special his way, not according to the conventions of the time. And the network was sore afraid....So what did this newcomer to television, Charles (Sparky) Schulz, have in mind? He wanted to junk the laugh track, feature children for the voice work, and use jazz for the soundtrack. And there was one more thing: The script called for Linus to read from the Bible. In a...

When CBS bigwigs saw a rough cut of A Charlie Brown Christmas in November 1965, they hated it. ADVERTISEMENT "They said it was slow," executive producer Lee Mendelson remembers with a laugh. There were concerns that the show was almost defiantly different: There was no laugh track, real children provided the voices, and there was a swinging score by jazz pianist Vince Guaraldi. Mendelson and animator Bill Melendez fretted about the insistence by Peanuts creator Charles Schulz that his first-ever TV spinoff end with a reading of the Christmas story from the Gospel of Luke by a lisping little boy...

Merry Christmas Charlie Brown airs tonight, and I just wanted to share this editorial written by one of my favorite columnists. Tom Purcell writes a weekly column (publised every Friday) for Men's News Daily, Jewish World Review, and Pittsburgh Tribune-Review. You can learn more about Tom Purcell at his web site, Tom Purcell.comENJOY!Good grief. It's been 40 years since the Charlie Brown Christmas Special first aired. It will be broadcast again Tuesday night, and the show holds more power over me now than it did when I was a kid. Now I know why. In the late 1950's and early...

When CBS bigwigs saw a rough cut of A Charlie Brown Christmas in November 1965, they hated it. "They said it was slow," executive producer Lee Mendelson remembers with a laugh. There were concerns that the show was almost defiantly different: There was no laugh track, real children provided the voices, and there was a swinging score by jazz pianist Vince Guaraldi. Mendelson and animator Bill Melendez fretted about the insistence by Peanuts creator Charles Schulz that his first-ever TV spinoff end with a reading of the Christmas story from the Gospel of Luke by a lisping little boy named...

It's been 40 years since the Charlie Brown Christmas Special first aired. It will be broadcast again Tuesday night, and the show holds more power over me now than it did when I was a kid. Now I know why. In the late 1950's and early 1960's, Americans, bolstered by America's stability and prosperity, married young and had large families. In my neighborhood, we had six, the Kreigers five, the Gillens four, the Greenaways four and so on. The design was simple then: a man and woman believed that when they married they became one under God. They believed their...

Christmas Turkeys Here's a review of Christmas movies from last year. I'm sure this year's batch is just as bad. "Write about Christmas movies, " she said. This is what happens when you date someone who loves Christmas, someone who whistles Christmas songs in July, someone who on just about any day of the year knows exactly how many days there are left until Christmas. It's my own fault, of course. I was the one who asked Jody what I should write about. "Anything," I said. "Just name it, and I'll write about it," I said stupidly in a...

"They thought it was too slow," executive producer Lee Mendelson recalls being told by the powers-that-were at CBS in 1965. But the special was an instant hit with critics and audiences. Forty years later, its ruminations on the spirit of Christmas, backed by a lilting jazz score by Vince Guaraldi, remain fresh and affecting.Schulz, the creator of Charlie Brown and the rest of the "Peanuts" comic strip gang, never doubted that the program he'd written was good, Mendelson said. Schulz, who died in 2000, considered it his favorite of the "Peanuts" TV specials."I guess you can have an animated scene...

LOS ANGELES - Good grief, network executives said when they first saw Charles Schulz's "A Charlie Brown Christmas." "They thought it was too slow," executive producer Lee Mendelson recalls being told by the powers-that-were at CBS in 1965. But the special was an instant hit with critics and audiences. Forty years later, its ruminations on the spirit of Christmas, backed by a lilting jazz score by Vince Guaraldi, remain fresh and affecting. Schulz, the creator of Charlie Brown and the rest of the "Peanuts" comic strip gang, never doubted that the program he'd written was good, Mendelson said. Schulz, who...

After watching the original 'Miracle on 34th Street for the fourth time in the past 24 hours I must say, I never tire of that wonderful movie. With the incredibly funny lines at times and a number of very important life messages, seeing that movie never gets old.Each time I see that cane resting beside the fireplace at the end of the movie it seems to remind me that we may want to hold closely to our faith in so many things.Merry Christmas to everyone.

Okay, I'm posting a shameless ripoff of the Christmas movie thread. I'd like to hear about your favourite Christmas movies that are satirical, sick, tasteless, sacriligeous or just plain weird. My picks: Monty Python's Life of Brian The Ref Santa Claus Conquers the Martians

Hey, she wanted to know what your favorite Christmas movies are and since I love movies so much, I'm in. I know there are tons of Christmas movies but I could only think of these as my favorites. 7) The Ref 6) Miracle on 34th Street (original) 5) When Harry Met Sally (not really a Christmas movie but does have some Christmas and New Year's scenes and I like watching it at Christmas time) 4) Christmas Vacation 3) It's a Wonderful Life 2) A Charlie Brown Christmas (not a movie but I love and watch this every year) 1) A...

Mine's A Christmas Story which is on every Christmas day for 24 hours. My next choice would be Christmas Vacation.

How A Charlie Brown Christmas Came to PassThe unlikely beginnings of a holiday classic by Holly Hartman -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The first of nearly 50 Peanuts television movies, A Charlie Brown Christmas is the longest-running cartoon special in history, airing every year since its debut in 1965. Whimsical, melancholy, and ultimately full of wonder, it is a holiday favorite for countless families. But this cartoon classic almost didn't make it on the air. A Movie No One Wanted In 1963 producer Lee Mendelson made a short documentary about Charles Schulz called A Boy Named Charlie Brown. It included a few minutes of...

A sassy classic Ralphie, the lamp, the BB gun and why we love them Every year at this time we get to unwrap a gift package filled with red cabbage, BBs and fishnet stockings. It's the movie "A Christmas Story," arguably America's favorite holiday film. The 90-minute picture celebrates its 21st anniversary this year, happily planted in the middle of our pop traditions. In 2003, more than 38.4 million viewers tuned into the 24-hour "A Christmas Story" TV marathon, said the film's director, Bob Clark, by phone as he sat next to a special lamp in his Los Angeles office....