- Charles Schulz
In 1965, Cartoonist Charles Schulz agreed to do a TV Christmas show based on his Peanuts comic strip. But he had a few stipulations: Children (not adults) would be the voices of Charlie Brown, Linus, Lucy, and the other characters; there'd be no laugh track; and St. Luke's scriptural passage about Jesus' birth would be included in the script.
Schulz specifically wanted Luke 2:8-14 to be included in the broadcast because that passage is "what Christmas is all about," he stressed.
"A Charle Brown Christmas" debuted that December. In the plot, Charlie Brown tries to find the true meaning of Christmas. Linus recounts the story of the birth of Jesus, reciting Schulz's favorite verses from Luke's infancy narrative.
The program won an Emmy and a Peabody Award, and led to more than 30 additional Peanuts shows.
- Little Blue Book, Diocese of Saginaw