The U.S. Postal Service has issued postage stamps for the holiday season to honor the 50th anniversary of “A Charlie Brown Christmas,” which aired for the first time on December 9, 1965, CNN reports.
A book of 20 stamps costs $9.80 and features 10 scenes from the Peanuts holiday television special. They go on sale nationwide starting October 2, the same day that “Peanuts” debuted in seven U.S. newspapers in 1950.
By the time creator Charles Schulz passed away in 2000, the comic strip appeared in over 2,600 newspapers around the world and his “Peanuts” book had been published in upwards of 21 languages.
Television executives didn’t have much confidence in “A Charlie Brown Christmas” prior to its debut due to the melancholy tone, inclusion of Bible verses, unconventional jazz score, and exclusion of a laugh track. Luckily for Schulz, they were wrong. The special became an immediate hit and remains so today. It airs each year around Christmas-time on ABC.