so much for that idea…

It’s no secret that I’m a fan of Charles Schulz and Peanuts. I was born at the pinnacle of the commercialization of his creations. If it had Snoopy or Charlie Brown on it, then there’s a good chance that I owned it at one point or another in my life. The same can be said of the television specials and movies. If Charlie Brown or Snoopy were in it, then, yeah, I probably saw it. The one that still tops my list after all these years is, of course, Charlie Brown Christmas.

Several years ago, I thought it would be a cool idea to stage a live performance of CBC to benefit local charities. I mean, You’re a Good Man, Charlie Brown! has been a favorite of theatre-goers for decades, why not Charlie Brown Christmas? I had never heard of such a thing before and thought it would be a novel draw for families at holiday time, Not to mention a great way to raise money for local charities. But, having no experience with performing arts, outside of a year building sets in high-school drama, it remained a pipe-dream.

Fast forward to 2006, casual conversation with some friends dredges my idea up from the depths of my stagnant memory. One of the friends present received her BFA in Theatre and works as a Performing Arts Coordinator. She thinks the idea has merit and, together, we agree to explore the idea further. Many Googles later, we find the musical arrangements for piano, here, which offers that the script is for hire and the oh-so-precious info to do so is located within. She orders it, and we wait. It arrived this week, and inside it says for info on hiring the script go to….wait for it….snoopy.com. So we go and find out that, according to the FAQ page:

Q. My theatre group would like to do “A Charlie Brown Christmas” this year. How can I go about obtaining the rights?

A. We understand the interest in the community for “A Charlie Brown Christmas” however at this time it is an animated special only and not authorized for play usage.

So why did we have to pay for the piano arrangements to find a web address that would ultimately tell us that the script is not for hire, even though the people selling the piano arrangements say you can???

Ohhh, that’s right, we live in Amerika, where it’s common accepted/expected business practice to profit from screwing someone else!! Oh well, Shame on Me!