Once a Year
Once a Year
The Cost of Dreaming
December 9, 2021
The Dollar Tree
How much did Charlie Brown’s Christmas tree cost?
We know it was not only the sole real tree on the lot, but it must have also been the cheapest one as well. No matter the cost, we can’t imagine Charlie Brown had much money, if he had any dough at all.
And Linus? You know he was broke.
Our friends at Wikipedia say at one point Charles M. Schulz was making more than $30 million per year from all the Peanuts books, toys, movies, etc., and the Peanuts empire brought in billions in all.
But how much money did Charlie Brown and Linus have on that night? Did the owners of the tree lot take sympathy on these two cute little kids and give them the tree for free? In Charlie Brown’s world the owner probably made him pay double. Then Linus talked him down.
On the Internet you can quickly find a replica Charlie Brown tree for $36.14. But unlike Charlie Brown’s original tree it doesn’t appear you can dress this one up instantly and make it all fancy.
And maybe that’s better.
It has been pointed out that the end of A Charlie Brown Christmas is somewhat of a fail because the whole point was that the ugly tree just needed “a little love,” not a bunch of fancy lights and ornaments.
But how do we dare say that anything about that TV classic failed in any way?
The only problem with A Charlie Brown Christmas used to be that it was only on once a year.
A certain old guy considers how instantly available just about every bit of pop culture is now and thinks mostly about A Charlie Brown Christmas. It used to be on just once a year and we have a memory of one year, 1976? 1977? 1978? 1979? rushing home from, what? Basketball practice? Floor hockey? Something else? And realizing that we had just missed it and we are haunted by the lingering ghost of the dot on the TV disappearing into nothing meaning we had to wait another entire year to see Charlie Brown skating, the kids dancing, and wondering…
How cold was it in that lot? How far did Charlie Brown and Linus have to walk? How much did they pay for that tree? –TK
Thursday, December 9, 2021