See the New 50th Anniversary ‘Charlie Brown Christmas’ Stamps

By Scott Thill | 09/02/2015 3:00 pm | 4 Comments

Peanuts fans can start their holiday season early when the U.S. Postal Service releases commemorative Charlie Brown Christmas stamps, in honor of the 50th anniversary of Charles M. Schulz and Bill Melendez’s 1965 television classic, A Charlie Brown Christmas.

The official dedication ceremony of the 20-stamp booklet, featuring 10 still frames from the timeless special, will take place on Thursday, October 1st, at Santa Rosa, California’s Charles M. Schulz Museum. Charles M. Schulz’s widow Jean and son Craig will join A Charlie Brown Christmas executive producer Lee Mendelson and postmaster general Megan Brennan at the event, beginning at 9am, which is free and open to the public.

The ceremony marks the first day the stamps will be available nationwide, although Charlie Brown Christmas Forever booklet pre-orders are available now for quick delivery after October 1. The U.S.P.S. also noted that the Charlie Brown Christmas anniversary stamp dedication somewhat coincides with the October 2, 1950 debut of Schulz’s Peanuts strip in seven newspapers, including The Washington Post and The Chicago Tribune.

It’s a timely rollout. About a month after the dedication ceremony, Blue Sky’s The Peanuts Movie lands in theaters on November 6.

The booklet’s stamp images trip through some of the more memorable moments of Schulz and Melendez’s Peabody-winning Christmas special, although some favorites are missing, including the scene featuring the whole Peanuts gang dancing instead of practicing their lines for the school play. Also missing is the scene where Lucy delivers her immortal line: “Look, Charlie Brown, we all know that Christmas is a big commercial racket.” Probably by accident.