Lee Mendelson

In his over two-hour Archive interview, Lee Mendelson (1933-2019) speaks about his early work in television as a writer-producer at San Francisco's KPIX, including a Peabody Award-winning documentary on the history of California. He discusses other documentaries he produced for television, including A Man Named Mays (about baseball player Willie Mays) and Charlie Brown and Charles Schulz. This latter show led to Mendelson's long association with Charles M. Schulz as the producer of the "Peanuts" specials, including such classics as A Charlie Brown Christmas, It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown, and A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving. Mendelson reminisces about the casting, music, and creation of the specials by Schulz, animator Bill Melendez, and himself. He also describes his later documentary work, including the Emmy-winning NBC special John Steinbeck's America and Americans. He discusses other programming he was responsible for, such as the acclaimed children's series Hot Dog. Additionally, Mendelson talks about the television adaptations of the comic strip characters "Garfield" and "Cathy," which he produced. B-roll consists of photos related to the "Charlie Brown Specials," Hot Dog and his documentary work. Karen Herman conducted the interview on June 11, 2003.