It's Arbor Day, Charlie Brown
| It's Arbor Day, Charlie Brown | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Animated TV Special |
| Created by | Charles M. Schulz |
| Directed by | Phil Roman |
| Voices of |
Dylan Beach Gail M. Davis Sarah Beach Stuart Brotman Greg Felton Liam Martin Michelle Muller Vinnie Dow Bill Melendez |
| Theme music composer | Vince Guaraldi |
| Country of origin | USA |
| Original language(s) | English |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | Lee Mendelson |
| Producer(s) | Bill Melendez |
| Editor(s) |
Chuck McCann Roger Donley |
| Running time | 30 mins. |
| Release | |
| Original network | CBS |
| First shown in | March 16, 1976 |
| Chronology | |
| Preceded by | You're a Good Sport, Charlie Brown |
| Followed by | It's Your First Kiss, Charlie Brown |
It's Arbor Day, Charlie Brown is the 15th prime-time animated TV special based upon the popular comic strip Peanuts, by Charles M. Schulz. It was originally aired on the CBS network on March 16, 1976. It was released as a bonus feature with the DVD release of It's the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown on March 4, 2003, by Paramount. It was re-released on DVD under the "remastered" form on February 15, 2008, by Warner Home Video. It also appeared in remastered form in the DVD boxset "Peanuts 1970's Collection Vol. 2". It is the first special to feature the new character Linus and Lucy's little brother, Rerun Van Pelt, who had first appeared in March 1973 for the Peanuts comic strip.
Plot
To celebrate Arbor Day, everybody works together to plant a garden. Unfortunately, the garden is located in Charlie Brown's baseball field, and he has a game with Peppermint Patty's team approaching. Charlie Brown works to make the best of the situation by attaching baseball gloves to the trees as well as caps (to make them look like scarecrows), which results in Peppermint Patty's team being unable to score due to the large number of fly outs from the balls being hit into the gloves. Schroeder says he will kiss Lucy if she hits a home run, which he figures she will not. However, Charlie Brown is happy to see Lucy indeed hit a home run and score the only run in the game. The game is cut short by rain, and although Charlie Brown expresses agony that "We were winning!", he accepts it as a de facto victory and one of the few times his baseball team has won a game.
Death of Vince Guaraldi
It's Arbor Day, Charlie Brown was the last Peanuts special to feature original music composed by Vince Guaraldi, who was best known for the Peanuts' signature tune, "Linus and Lucy." 47-year-old Guaraldi died suddenly several hours after completing the soundtrack for this special. The end credits include a dedication, "For Vince."
With the untimely death of Guaraldi, later Peanuts animated specials lack the same jazzy musical score as previous entries. As such, It's Arbor Day, Charlie Brown is seen by some fans as marking the swan song of the "golden era" for Charlie Brown's television run.[1]
Voice actors and their characters
- Dylan Beach: Charlie Brown
- Gail M. Davis: Sally Brown
- Liam Martin: Linus Van Pelt
- Sarah Beach: Lucy Van Pelt
- Stuart Brotman: Peppermint Patty
- Greg Felton: Schroeder
- Michelle Muller: Frieda
- Vinnie Dow: Rerun Van Pelt/Pig-Pen
- Bill Melendez: Snoopy and Woodstock
Marcie, Franklin, Violet and Patty have silent roles.