You're in Love, Charlie Brown

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You're in Love, Charlie Brown
GenreAnimated television special
Created byCharles M. Schulz
Directed byBill Melendez
Voices ofPeter Robbins
Sally Dryer
Chris Shea
Cathy Steinberg
Gai DeFaria
Anne Altieri
Theme music composerVince Guaraldi
Opening theme"You're in Love, Charlie Brown"
Ending theme"You're in Love, Charlie Brown"
ComposersVince Guaraldi
John Scott Trotter
Original languageEnglish
Production
Executive producerLee Mendelson
EditorRobert T. Gillis
Camera setupNick Vasu
Running time25:20
Production companiesLee Mendelson Film Productions
Bill Melendez Productions
Original release
NetworkCBS
ReleaseJune 12, 1967 (1967-06-12)

You're in Love, Charlie Brown is the fourth prime-time animated television special based upon the comic strip Peanuts, by Charles M. Schulz. It originally aired on CBS on June 12, 1967.[1] This was the second non-holiday-oriented Peanuts special, following Charlie Brown's All Stars!.[2]

Both You're in Love, Charlie Brown and He's Your Dog, Charlie Brown were nominated for an Emmy award for Outstanding Achievement in Children's Programming in 1968.[3]

Plot[edit]

With summer approaching, Charlie Brown is upset that he cannot enjoy himself like all the others, but when he sees the Little Red-Haired Girl on a passing bus, Linus figures out that Charlie Brown is in love.

Charlie Brown pines for the Little Red-Haired Girl, and during the next-to-last day of school, tries to get her attention. He is called up to read a report to the class but accidentally reads aloud a love note he wrote for her and is laughed at. He then goes to the pencil sharpener and unintentionally sharpens his ball point pen. Lunch hour is no better as he cannot summon the courage to go talk to her, and then panics when the Little Red-Haired Girl approaches him.

After school, Charlie Brown goes to Lucy's psychiatric booth for advice, but she is too busy longing for Schroeder. He later meets and talks it over with Peppermint Patty, but before he can explain, she tells him that she will arrange a meeting with her. She then informs Lucy that someone wants to meet her at the ball park that night. Lucy agrees, thinking the "someone" is Schroeder, and the arranged meeting ends in disaster.

The next day, Charlie Brown plans to get up early to meet the Little Red-Haired Girl at the bus stop, but he falls asleep on the bench and misses the bus. After blowing up at his teacher, Charlie Brown ends up in the principal's office. Later, he fails to impress the girl by solving a complex math problem.

When school lets out at noon, Charlie Brown dashes to the bus to catch her before she leaves, but he cannot find her in the clamoring crowd of students. As it pulls away, Charlie Brown is distraught until he finds a note in his hand that reads, "I Like You, Charlie Brown. signed Little Red Haired Girl".

Charlie Brown's anguish quickly turns into delight as he dances toward home, planning his days with her in the coming September. He then exclaims, "Good grief! How will I LIVE until September!?" as the scene ends.

Cast[edit]

3 and 4, Frieda, Patty, Pig-Pen, Schroeder, and Shermy appear, but are silent.

Credits[edit]

Soundtrack[edit]

The soundtrack for You're in Love, Charlie Brown was composed by Vince Guaraldi (except where noted) and conducted and arranged by John Scott Trotter.[4] The score was recorded by the Vince Guaraldi Sextet on May 17, 1967, at United Western Recorders, featuring Frank Rosolino (trombone), John Gray (guitar), Ronald Lang (woodwinds), Monty Budwig (double bass) and John Rae (drums).[5]

  1. "It's Spring"
  2. "Charlie Brown Theme" (version 1) (Vince Guaraldi, Lee Mendelson)
  3. "You're in Love, Charlie Brown" (version 1, piano)
  4. "You're in Love, Charlie Brown" (version 2, vocal) (Guaraldi, Mendelson)
  5. "School Days" (version 1, piano) (Will D. Cobb, Gus Edwards)
  6. "Red Baron"
  7. "Trio Ad-Lib"
  8. "Peppermint Patty" (vamp, version 1)
  9. "Love Will Come"
  10. "You're in Love, Charlie Brown" (version 3, minor key)
  11. "You're in Love, Charlie Brown" (version 4, theme parody vocal)
  12. "You're in Love, Charlie Brown" (version 5, piano + flute)
  13. "Pomp and Circumstance March: No. 1 in D" (Sir Edward Elgar)
  14. "Peppermint Patty" (vamp, version 2)
  15. "Schroeder Practices"
  16. "Schroeder Plays"
  17. "Peppermint Patty" (vamp, version 3)
  18. "Peppermint Patty" (piano + brass)
  19. "Peppermint Patty" (vamp, version 4)
  20. "You're in Love, Charlie Brown" (version 6, harpsichord)
  21. "Charlie Brown and His All-Stars" (piano + brass)
  22. "Charlie Brown Theme" (version 2) (Vince Guaraldi, Lee Mendelson)
  23. "School Days" (version 2, horns) (Will D. Cobb, Gus Edwards)
  24. "You're in Love, Charlie Brown" (version 7, piano + saxophone, end credits)
  25. "Fanfare Finish"[4]

No official soundtrack for You're in Love, Charlie Brown was commercially released. However, "Peppermint Patty" (piano + horns) was made available as a bonus track on the 2005 CD release of Vince Guaraldi with the San Francisco Boys Chorus (1967).[4][6] In addition, variations of "Red Baron", "Peppermint Patty", and the eponymous theme song were released on the 1968 album Oh Good Grief!.[4][7]

Master recordings discovered[edit]

Shortly after producer Lee Mendelson died in December 2019, his children began searching through archives for any original music score recordings from the Peanuts television specials. It was during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown that original monaural analog session recordings for the majority of the specials, including You're in Love, Charlie Brown, were discovered.

"The only silver lining for me from this horrible pandemic was it let me stop and look at things we hadn't looked at before," said Jason Mendelson. "We couldn't do very much, so one of the things we did do is I wanted to make some really good albums out of the Charlie Brown music." The Mendelsons searched the vaults with Melendez Films via FaceTime and found a quarter-inch reel labeled "You're in Love, Charlie Brown" containing 90 minutes of music performed by the Vince Guaraldi Sextet.

All music will be remastered and released at a future date.[8]

Notability[edit]

You're In Love, Charlie Brown is notable for at least two important firsts:

  • It marked the on-screen debut of Peppermint Patty, who first appeared in the comic strip the previous year.
  • It was the first special that used "tromboning" (a muted trombone) in place of adult voices, an idea suggested by Vince Guaraldi.[9]

Additionally similar to the fight sequences of the 1966 Batman series, it was the only known Peanuts special in which the more intense sound effects are actually spelled out in onomatopoeic words: wiggly "R"s when Charlie Brown's alarm clock goes off, and very hard, straight words "Click Clack" and "Clack" when he opens some school doors silently getting to school late (however, in The Charlie Brown and Snoopy Show episode "Linus and Lucy" the word "Pow" can be seen when Snoopy punches somebody in Sally's class).

This special was rebroadcast yearly on CBS from June 1968 to June 1972. It was first released on home video in 1981[10] on RCA's SelectaVision CED format as part of the A Charlie Brown Festival compilation. The special was released on VHS by Kartes Video Communications in 1987. It was also paired with Snoopy's Getting Married, Charlie Brown on a 2-pack in 1989. Paramount Home Media Distribution would release the special along with It's Your First Kiss, Charlie Brown on the Snoopy Double Feature: Volume 4 VHS on January 11, 1995.

Along with the special It's Your First Kiss, Charlie Brown, this was released to DVD as a bonus feature on the Be My Valentine, Charlie Brown-Remastered Deluxe Edition DVD on January 15, 2008. On July 7, 2009, it was re-released on DVD, in remastered form as part of the DVD box set, "Peanuts 1960s Collection." It was released on the Happiness is Peanuts: Friends Forever DVD on December 27, 2011.

References[edit]

  1. ^ Terrace, Vincent (2013). Television Specials: 5,336 Entertainment Programs, 1936-2012 (2nd ed.). McFarland & Co. p. 92. ISBN 9780786474448.
  2. ^ Woolery, George W. (1989). Animated TV Specials: The Complete Directory to the First Twenty-Five Years, 1962-1987. Scarecrow Press. pp. 471–472. ISBN 0-8108-2198-2. Retrieved 27 March 2020.
  3. ^ Lee Mendelson Film Productions Retrieved December 28, 2017.
  4. ^ a b c d Bang, Derrick. "Vince Guaraldi's Peanuts Song Library: You're in Love, Charlie Brown". fivecentsplease.org. Derrick Bang, Scott McGuire. Retrieved 9 March 2020.
  5. ^ Bang, Derrick. "Vince Guaraldi Timeline". fivecentsplease.org. Derrick Bang, Scott McGuire. Retrieved 25 June 2020.
  6. ^ Vince Guaraldi with the San Francisco Boys Chorus at AllMusic. Retrieved 15 May 2020.
  7. ^ Ginell, Richard S. "Oh, Good Grief!". AllMusic. Rovi Corporation. Retrieved 15 January 2020.
  8. ^ Adams, Erik (October 31, 2022). "The Score of 'It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown' Was Lost — Now It's Found, and Better Than Ever". IndieWire. Retrieved March 26, 2023.
  9. ^ Solomon, Charles (2012). The Art and Making of Peanuts Animation. Chronicle Books. ISBN 978-1-4521-2620-3.
  10. ^ "CED Timeline of Historical Events for 1981".

External links[edit]

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