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!

A Boy Named Charlie Brown

Premiered November 4, 1969.

"Nothing ever seems to go right for me.  I can't fly a kite, and I lose every ballgame I play.  I just can't seem to do anything right."
-Charlie Brown

Life isn't easy for Charlie Brown (Peter Robbins).  He fails at kite flying.

His baseball team loses their first game of the season and Chuck is hit by a line drive!

 
Later, Linus (Glenn Gilger) tries to give Chuck a pep talk, telling his friend not to think of himself as a loser.  But during their conversation, Linus beats Charlie Brown in a game of tic-tac-toe. 

It seems that Chuck just can't win!  So he goes to Lucy (Pamelyn Ferdin) to seek some psychiatric help.

Lucy "helps" Chuck by pointing out all his faults.  She puts on a slide show that features pictures of how flawed he is.  When Charlie Brown tries to kick a football Lucy is holding, she pulls it away...and then shows Chuck a slow-motion instant replay of his failed attempt.  

Charlie Brown has hit rock-bottom when Linus suggests he enter the class spelling bee.  Lucy, Patty (Sally Dryer) and Violet (Ann Altieri) taunt Chuck and call him "failure face", believing he has no chance to win.

Linus & Snoopy help Chuck prepare for the spelling bee.

Charlie Brown surprises everyone when he wins the spelling bee.  His classmates carry him home on their shoulders.  This gains him entry in the school-wide spelling bee that will be held the next day.   Chuck is confident, but he's still having trouble memorizing the "I before E" rule.  He studies the dictionary with some help from Linus and Snoopy (Bill Melendez).

It pays off when Chuck wins the school spelling bee!  He believes his victory has given him a moment to relax and savor the good feelings.

But his success has earned him a trip to the National Spelling Bee in New York City.  Lucy see this as an opportunity for financial gain and decides to become Charlie Brown's agent.

When Charlie Brown departs for New York, Linus gives him his security blanket.  This turns out to be a mistake, because Linus is on the verge of a nervous breakdown without it.  He heads for New York to retrieve the blanket and Snoopy joins him.

But when Linus gets there, he discovers that Charlie Brown doesn't know where he put the blanket.  Snoopy and Linus go on a journey through New York City in search of the blanket and wind up empty handed.  At the same time, Chuck has been staying up all night preparing for the spelling bee (which takes place on the next day) and is sleep deprived, nearly to the point of delirium.

Will Charlie Brown win the National Spelling Bee?  Will Linus find his blanket?
 
Review:
Charlie Brown's first big screen appearance is still his best.  A Boy Named Charlie Brown shows Charles Schulz, Bill Mendelez and Lee Mendelson at the top of their game.

The movie opens with Chuck, Linus and Lucy looking at clouds.  Linus observes the clouds and sees all kinds of amazing things including one that "looks a little like the profile of Thomas Eakins, the famous painter and sculptor" and another gives Linus "the impression of the Stoning of St. Stephen.  Heavy stuff for a "kids" cartoon.  Charlie Brown only sees ducks and horses.  

From there we get a sort of "greatest hits" of bits from the Peanuts strip and specials.  Charlie Brown plays baseball and gets hit by a comebacker.  Lucy pulls away the football from Chuck, Snoopy dreams he's a WWI flying ace.  

During the baseball game, Snoopy shows off his unique way of recording a put-out.

The selling bee story was almost completely original to the film.  Despite the fact that Charlie Brown feels like a loser at the end, he's actually a winner, at least on some level.  Chuck wins two local spelling bees just to make it too the national, no amount of taunting from other kids can take that away from him.

Linus comes across as a bit of jerk at times here, saying some awful things about his best friend Charlie Brown during the blanket search.  But it's  it's Linus who encourages Charlie Brown to enter the spelling bee.  Linus is also there to console Chuck at the end.

Something you don't see every day:Snoopy walking like a normal dog.

The voice cast does a great job with their roles.  This was the final performance of  Peter Robbins as Charlie Brown and he nails it.  Robbins aged out of his role after this, but I'm glad the original Chuck got to play him in the movie.  It would not have been as good without Robbins.

One thing that jumped out at me was how much this movie was influenced by the pop culture of the 1960s, something that you don't see in other Charlie Brown animation.  There's even signs that the filmmakers were paying attention to psychedelia and Pop Art.  Schroeder's Beethoven solo segment is particularly gorgeous and includes watercolors and collages.  It has a similar look to the Beatles' Yellow Submarine movie that was released the previous year.

When I watched this movie as a kid, I'll admit that I didn't really understand what was going on in the Beethoven sequence.  But it never failed to capture my attention.  It still looks amazing today and I'm surprised something like this ever made it into a film aimed at children.

Something else that was prominent in late-60s cinema was the use of split screens.  A Boy Named Charlie Brown features several scenes where this is nicely utilized.

And I love the way Linus' anxiety is depicted when he is without his blanket.

The creative team also makes nice use of New York locations, such as the New York Public Library and Rockefeller Center ice rink.

The music featured in A Boy Named Charlie Brown is also excellent.

Vince Guaraldi provides some new music and we also get to hear some of his older tunes performed in unique ways.  Linus and Snoopy's late night blanket hunt is punctuated by a great minor key rendition of "Linus And Lucy."  Snoopy's skating/hockey fantasy sequence features a reprise of Guaraldi's "Skating" which originally appeared in A Charlie Brown Christmas.

This time it's done with a string section added on.  In the middle of "Skating", Snoopy imagines he's playing hockey and the soundtrack switches to an electric jazz tune written by John Scott Trotter.

This movie also features several new songs.  Singer-songwriter-poet Rod McKuen wrote and sang the main title song.  It does a nice job of capturing Chuck's never ending optimisim in the face of failure, even if some of the lyrics don't accurately describe the character. 

McKuen also penned the mean-spirited but still amusing "Failure Face."  Lucy, Violet and Patty are Chuck's biggest detractors and this song is the verbal equivalent of a punch to the face.  McKuen said he wrote it because "kids are mean" and this song certainly shows that.  It's still a very fun and catchy song.  McKuen's final song, "Champion Charlie Brown" can be called the opposite side of the "Failure Face" coin.  Some of the kids who celebrate his victory are the same kids who called him a failure before the spelling bee.  

The fourth song "I Before E" was written by the aforementioned John Scott Trotter, who also served as the arranger for the soundtrack.  It's sort of a chant, featuring seemingly endless variations on I-E words.  While Chuck and Linus are "talking" the lyrics, Snoopy accompanies them on jaw harp, which is a nice touch.

There's little to criticize in this film.  But after recently watching for the first time in a while, I noticed that Snoopy's Red Baron dream is actually animation that was originally featured in It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown.

Maybe the budget was running low and they were pressured by studio to add Red Baron at the last minute?  It doesn't ruin the movie, but it's a bit disappointing and distracting.

Availability:
A Boy Named Charlie Brown can be found on dvd, it was reissued this past February.

I'm very excited about the new Peanuts movie that will be released later this year and I hope it's good.  But I doubt it will top A Boy Named Charlie Brown, which I enjoy as much as I did when I first watched it 40 years ago.  This is up there with the best Charlie Brown animation of all time, just a notch below the Christmas and Halloween specials.

J.A. Morris' rating:

4 Sparkys!