An Unexpected Drive Across the Golden Gate Bridge

[Wah wah-wah wah-wah-wah]
Sixty years ago, Dave Willat found himself as one of the kids singing on “Christmas Time Is Here” for the now-classic “A Charlie Brown Christmas”. He recently recounted the experience, including just how perfectly absent the parents were from the process.

After the session, the children were sent back across the Golden Gate Bridge with ice cream in their bellies and $5 in their pockets. But there was a problem: They arrived late to their church, and many of their parents had no idea where they’d been.

“[The parents] get there. The church is dark, no kids,” Willat says. “Imagine that happening today!”

Some understandably upset parents refused to sign the necessary releases allowing their children’s voices to appear on the soundtrack. “That entire first session had to be scratched,” Willat said. “And we had two more sessions.”

To be honest, that seems like exactly the sort of thing that must constantly be happening off-panel in the world of Peanuts, a reality where eight-year-olds are attempting to stage an entire Christmas play without a single adult involved.

Link: https://www.wbur.org/npr/nx-s1-5640171/a-charlie-brown-christmas-christmastime-is-here-peanuts-schulz