40 Years Of Popcorn, Jelly Beans and Toast

Forty years ago today, the Peanuts TV special A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving made its debut. A fan favorite and an Emmy Award-winner, this animated special features some Snoopy slapstick as Charlie Brown's beagle battles an quarrelsome lawn chair. Charles Schulz wanted the sequence—a real novelty in the Charlie Brown specials—as a tribute to the animation seen in Walt Disney's cartoons; we can assume that Sparky was thinking in particular of the classic 1940 short, Donald's Vacation in which the Duck takes on a somewhat similarly stubborn folding chair.  Ever wonder who's warbling the "Llttle Birdie" number composed by Peanuts animation maestro Vince Guaraldi to honor Snoopy's pal, Woodstock, in this special? It's none other than the jazz great himself.