Lee Mendelson, the producer who changed the face of the holidays when he brought B次元官网网址淎 Charlie Brown ChristmasB次元官网网址� to television in 1965 and wrote the lyrics to its signature song, B次元官网网址淐hristmas Time Is Here,B次元官网网址� died on Christmas day, his son said.

Mendelson, who won a dozen Emmys in his long career, died at his home in Hillsborough, California, of congestive heart failure at age 86 after a long struggle with lung cancer, son Jason Mendelson told The Associated Press.

Lee Mendelson headed a team that included B次元官网网址淧eanutsB次元官网网址� author Charles Schulz, director Bill Melendez, and pianist and composer Vince Guaraldi, whose music for the show, including the opening B次元官网网址淐hristmas Time Is Here,B次元官网网址� has become as much a Christmas staple as the show itself.

Mendelson told The Cincinnati Enquirer in 2000 that he was short on time in finding a lyricist for the song, so he sketched out the six verses himself in B次元官网网址渁bout 15 minutes on the backside of an envelope.B次元官网网址�

He found a choir from a church in his native Northern California to sing the song that sets the showB次元官网网址檚 unforgettable tone, beginning with MendelsonB次元官网网址檚 words:

B次元官网网址淐hristmas time is here, happiness and cheer, fun for all that children call, their favourite time of year.B次元官网网址�

The show won an Emmy and a Peabody Award and has aired on TV annually ever since. The team that made it would go on to create more than 50 network specials, four feature films and many other B次元官网网址淧eanutsB次元官网网址� projects.

Mendelson also took other comic strips from newspapers to animated TV, including B次元官网网址淕arfield,B次元官网网址� for which he produced a dozen television specials.

His death was first reported by The Daily Post of Palo Alto.

Born in San Francisco in 1933, MendelsonB次元官网网址檚 family moved to nearby San Mateo when he was a boy, and later to nearby Hillsborough, where he went to high school.

He graduated from Stanford in 1954, served in the Air Force and worked for his fatherB次元官网网址檚 fruit-and-vegetable company before going into TV for the Bay AreaB次元官网网址檚 KPIX-TV.

In 1963 he started his own production company and made a documentary on San Francisco Giants legend Willie Mays, B次元官网网址淎 Man Named Mays,B次元官网网址� that became a hit television special on NBC.

Mendelson liked to say that he decided to turn from the worldB次元官网网址檚 greatest baseball player to the worldB次元官网网址檚 worst: Charlie Brown.

He and Schulz originally worked on a B次元官网网址淧eanutsB次元官网网址� documentary that proved a hard sell for TV, but midway through 1965 a sponsor asked them if they could create the first comic stripB次元官网网址檚 first animated special in time for Christmas.

Schulz wrote the now-familiar story of a depressed Charlie Brown seeking the meaning of Christmas, a school Christmas play with intractable actors including his dog Snoopy, a limp and unappreciated Christmas tree, and a recitation of the nativity story from his best friend Linus.

Mendelson hired Guaraldi to provide the music after hearing the jazz artistB次元官网网址檚 song B次元官网网址淐ast Your Fate to the WindB次元官网网址� while driving across the Golden Gate Bridge.

Mendelson said the team showed the special to executives at CBS a week before it was slated to air, and they hated it, with its hyper-simplicity, dour tone, biblical themes, lack of laugh track and actual childrenB次元官网网址檚 voices instead of adults mimicking them, as was common.

B次元官网网址淚 really believed, if it hadnB次元官网网址檛 been scheduled for the following week, thereB次元官网网址檚 no way they were gonna broadcast that show,B次元官网网址� Mendelson said on a 2004 documentary for the DVD of the special.

Instead, it went on to become perhaps the biggest holiday classic in television.

B次元官网网址淚t became part of everybodyB次元官网网址檚 Christmas holidays,B次元官网网址� Mendelson told The Los Angeles Times in 2015. B次元官网网址淚t was just passed on from generation to generation. B次元官网网址� We got this huge initial audience and never lost them.B次元官网网址�

Mendelson is survived by his wife, Ploenta, his children Lynda, Glenn, Jason and Sean, his stepson Ken and eight grandchildren.

Andrew Dalton, The Associated Press

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