A Boy Named Charlie Brown (1964 documentary)

"Charlie Brown is, I think a little bit like everyone.  We all need reassurance that some people really do like us.  But I guess Charlie Brown is mostly me. That’s why he often has that dumb expression on his face."
-Charles Schulz

This review is a bit of a change from my usual content.  I recently received a DVD of the documentary A Boy Named Charlie Brown (not to be confused with the 1969 theatrical film of the same name) and thought it was worth writing up, since it includes early Peanuts animation and was the first time Charles Schulz, Bill Melendez, Lee Mendelson and Vince Guaraldi collaborated.  

This documentary was produced in 1964 but never aired on television.  It's historically important because without it, all the Charlie Brown specials that followed wouldn't have been produced, or would have been very different.  Melendez and Schulz previously worked together on Ford commercials, but the rest were new collaborators.

A Boy Named Charlie Brown shows us "a day in the life of Charles M. Schulz."  Mendelson and company film Schulz drawing his comic strip, going through fan letters and driving his kids to school.

A high point features footage of Schulz' appearance at Charlie Brown Day, held on May 14, 1964 at Candlestick Park.  Schulz threw out the ceremonial first pitch prior to a game between the San Francisco Giants and New York Mets.

I love these old school Peanuts toys!:

Short animated sequences are shown every few minutes during the film.  It opens with Charlie Brown attempting to play a piano, only to be told his playing is "terrible."

Other animation includes:

Snoopy's attempted theft of Linus' blanket.

Charlie Brown tries to fly a kite.

Lucy pulls the football away when Chuck attempts to kick it!

Schroeder plays piano while Lucy tries to attract his attention.

The animation is a slight step down from the TV specials that followed, but it looks pretty good considering their budget was tiny and the creative team was figuring how to translate the characters into a new medium.  As the screencaps above show, the cartoon segments give us some of Peanuts "greatest hits" up to that point.

At this time, this DVD is only available for purchase at the Charles M. Schulz Museum and the museum's online gift shop.

Since A Boy Named Charlie Brown is different from what I normally feature here, I won't use my usual "Sparky" rating.  However, it's highly recommended for any hardcore fans of Peanuts.

You're In Love, Charlie Brown

Premiered June 12, 1967.

Charlie Brown:Why can't I have lunch with that little red-haired girl?  I get all worked up and my stomach starts to hurt I don't know what's the matter with me.  I don't feel very well
Linus:I know what's the matter with you.  You're in love, Charlie Brown.

Charlie Brown (Peter Robbins) is nervous all the time.  He can't stop thinking about one of his classmates, the little red-haired girl.  Linus (Christoper Shea) understands right away that Chuck is in love.  He encourages his friend to tell the girl he likes her, but Charlie Brown is too shy to express his feelings.  But Chuck is running out of time.  There are only two more days of school before Summer Vacation begins.

This unrequited love dominates every moment of Charlie Brown's daily life.  He composes a love letter to the girl while at school.

When the teacher calls on him to present an oral report about Africa, he takes his notes up front to read.  Unfortunately, he gets his love letter gets mixed up with notes about Africa and he reads the letter aloud in front of the whole class.

During lunchtime, the little red-haired girl walks right by Charlie Brown.  It's a great opportunity to talk to her, but Chuck is so nervous he puts his lunch bag over his head!

The events of the day make Charlie Brown the laughing stock of the school.  Lucy (Sally Dryer) and Violet (Ann Altieri) are particularly cruel to him when he encounters them after school.  They mock him and sing a song about how no one could love Chuck because his head is "too darn round."

Charlie Brown is dejected.  He walks home alone declaring that he's just experienced "the worst day of my life."

Love is also in the air for other kids.  Lucy vies for Schroeder's attention.  When conventional methods fail, she takes drastic action.

Sally (Kathy Steinberg) also swoons over Linus, much to his embarrassment.

Chuck is unsure of what he should do, so he turns to Peppermint Patty (Gail DeFaria) for advice. Charlie Brown tells her he has a crush on a girl in his class, so Peppermint Patty decides to play matchmaker.

 
 The results of her matchmaking are less than spectacular.

The last day of school arrives and Charlie Brown decides that he's going to break down and tell her how he feels.   Knowing that the girl takes the bus to school, Chuck wakes up at the crack of dawn to be the first one at the bus stop.

Will Charlie Brown tell the little red-haired girl that he likes her?  If he does, how will she react?

Review:

You're In Love, Charlie Brown is the 4th Peanuts special and it's very good.  This is the first special to introduce the unseen little red-haired girl that Chuck crushes on.  I enjoyed this special, but I should mention that you may tire of hearing the phrase "that little red-haired girl" after the umpteenth time Charlie Brown says it.

Chuck plays "she loves me, she loves me not; Linus doubts that "a flower has the gift of prophecy."

Just like in other specials, some of the dialog was taken directly from Peanuts comic strips.   One of my favorite lines from Charlie Brown is "there's nothing like unrequited love to take all the flavor out of a peanut butter sandwich."

We get a rare sign of "continuity" between Charlie Brown specials.  Lucy mentions that she was "the Christmas Queen," which is, of course, a reference to A Charlie Brown Christmas.

You're In Love, Charlie Brown is historically important for two reasons:

Peppermint Patty makes her first appearance in animated form.  She's a great character and an important member of the cast.  In my book, the definitive Peanuts "ensemble" doesn't really come together until Peppermint Patty arrives on the scene. 

This is also the first time we hear Chuck's school teacher speak in the "wah-wah-wah" voice.  This would become a staple in Charlie Brown specials for more than a decade.  The teacher's "voice" was created using a muted trombone.

Most of the original Peanuts voice actors appear in this special.  Peter Robbins is good as ever as Charlie Brown.  When Chuck says he's having the worst day of his life, Robbins makes us believe it.  Gail DeFaria makes her first of three appearances as Peppermint Patty and she's great too.  Ann Altieri and Sally Dryer are perfectly vicious as Violet and Lucy.  

Sally prepares to graduate from Kindergarten.  We get a rare glimpse of her room.

The animation in this special is gorgeous from beginning to end.  There a lots of beautiful flowers in the background, giving the impression that Springtime is in full bloom.  We even get a nice brief scene of various animals falling "in love."

And we get some great animation of Charlie Brown's reactions whenever he sees the little red-haired girl.

There's an odd moment near the end of this special I must address.  Charlie Brown runs out to the school bus so he can talk to the little red-haired girl before she gets on.  We see a crowd of students walk past Chuck.  Linus walks past him twice.  

Charlie Brown doesn't see the little red-haired girl, but in this shot, you can see a red-haired girl through the bus' windshield:

Perhaps it's not THE little red-haired girl, but this would've bothered me as a kid.  I'm sure this is just a case of the animators running out of time, money and characters to use.

Peppermint Patty talks to "Lucille."

Music:
Vince Guaraldi's title theme is very bouncy, catchy jazz waltz.  It also serves as the tune for Lucy's and Violet's nasty song about Chuck.  Guaraldi also wrote a new theme for  Peppermint Patty that's introduced here and it's one of my favorite Guaraldi compositions. 

Snoopy's visit to the playground is nicely choreographed with a Guaraldi piece titled "The Red Baron."

Snoopy jumps rope while simultaneously kicking a tetherball!

Availability:
This special has been released multiple times on dvd.  It can be found in the Peanuts 1960s Collection and another dvd called Happiness Is Peanuts:Friends Forever.  It also streams on Amazon.

You're In Love, Charlie Brown is a great special from the classic era of Peanuts animation.  It has universal appeal because we've all likely been in a scenario where we were too shy to express our feelings.  The first appearances of the teacher's voice and Peppermint Patty earn it an extra half-Sparky.

4 Sparkys!

Charlie Brown's All Stars

Premiered June 8, 1966.
Charlie Brown: I really thought we were going to win this one.  For one brief moment victory was within our grasp. 
Linus: And then the game started.

Charlie Brown gets nailed by a comebacker!

Baseball season has arrived, and pitcher/manager Charlie Brown (Peter Robbins) is very confident about his team's chances.  But his teammates are not optimistic.  Last season they lost every game.

Charlie Brown's teammates react to their latest loss.

When the first game arrives, Charlie Brown drops a fly ball late in the game and they lose again.  The rest of the kids are despondent and decide they've had enough.  Lucy (Sally Dryer) leads the chorus of those calling Charlie Brown a blockhead.

All of Chuck's players quit the team and decide to spend the rest of their Summer partaking in activities like skateboarding, jump-rope and swimming.  Charlie Brown is depressed by this development.

But not for long!  Linus (Christopher Shea) talks to Mr. Hennessy, proprietor of Hennessy's Hardware about sponsoring the team.  Mr. Hennessy will pay for new team uniforms and they will play in a real league.

Charlie Brown believes these changes will encourage the other kids to return to his team.  He tells Lucy and the rest about it and they rejoin the team.

Snoopy and Linus turn a double play.

But then "tragedy" strikes.  Charlie Brown learns that the league will NOT allow his team to join because they have girls and a dog on their roster!  He won't kick Snoopy (Bill Melendez), Violet (Karen Mendelson), Frieda (Ann Altieri) and Lucy off his team, so his loyalty costs him the uniforms.

Charlie Brown gets some bad news about the team uniforms.

However, Charlie Brown decides to keep this a secret from his team until AFTER his next game, believing they won't care about uniforms if they win.

Linus goes tries to field a ground ball & gets tied up in his blanket.

Will Charlie Brown's team finally win a game?  And if not, will his teammates finally quit for good!


J.A. Morris says:

Charlie Brown's All-Stars did not air very often on television and is somewhat forgotten today.  I recall seeing watching it 2, maybe 3 times when I was a kid.

Snoopy steals 3rd base!

This special is somewhat historically important, since it's the 2nd Charlie Brown special ever produced. It premiered 6 months after A Charlie Brown Christmas, but it's never been as famous as its predecessor.  This special also features the same (original) voice cast who appeared in the Christmas special.

Pigpen's (Geoffry Ornstein) cloud of dust messes up Frieda's naturally curly hair.

It's a great story that focuses on Charlie Brown being the eternal optimist.  Every game COULD be the game where he's the hero, pitching a great game or getting the big hit.  But he usually winds up being (in his words) Charlie "The Goat" Brown.  His attitude is admirable, even when his team is down by dozens of runs in the 9th inning.

Charlie Brown tells Lucy to grit her teeth "and bear down" if she wants to get a hit...

...but he fails to grit his teeth when he gets his chance to bat.

One thing that stands out is that Lucy is slightly nicer than usual.  Sure, she calls Charlie Brown a blockhead more than once, but she also gives Chuck some encouragement while he's pitching.  Lucy also gets the other girls to help her do something nice for Charlie Brown at the end of the special.

Charlie Brown slides into 2nd base.

Charlie Brown's All Stars gives just about every character at least one humorous line of dialogue. Shermy, a fairly obscure character today, gets one of the best lines of the special, when he suggests Charlie Brown gets "neurotic pleasure" from losing!

Shermy quits the team & says Chuck actually enjoys losing games.

Charlie Brown's All Stars is slightly more "action oriented" than most specials.  The baseball game features plenty of base running, hitting and fielding.  We also see the kids skateboarding and jumping rope.

Charlie Brown jumps rope held by Violet and Patty (Lynn Vanderlip)

I mentioned Shermy, another somewhat forgotten character that appears in the special is 5, who is best remembered for his dancing in A Charlie Brown Christmas.  These lesser-known characters, along with Patty and Violet would gradually fade into the background, replaced by Peppermint Patty, Franklin and Marcie. 

5 relaxes on his skateboard.

Vince Guaraldi composed the music for Charlie Brown All Stars and it's great as usual.  It opens with Charlie Brown chasing down accompanied by a simple but great bass and drum tune.  Guaraldi's most famous composition "Linus And Lucy" here gets a new arrangement with some horns added.

Snoopy surfs in Linus' pool.

Some aspects of the special clearly place it in 1966.  Surfing and skateboarding first gained major popularity in the 60s, they're both featured here.

And there's a scene where Charlie Brown runs through a house in pursuit of a fly ball.  The furniture he passes would fit in nicely in the Mad Men offices.

Check out the orange couch & lamp.

Availability:
There are currently several ways you can watch Charlie Brown's All Stars.  It's available on a dvd set called Peanuts 1960s Collection.  It also can also be streamed on Amazon Instant Video.

Charlie Brown's All Stars is lots of fun and it's a great way to celebrate the return of baseball season.  And since it only aired sporadically on TV, it might be new to folks in my demographic who grew up watching Charlie Brown specials.

J.A. Morris' rating:

4 Sparkys!