It's Arbor Day, Charlie Brown (1976)

This is one of the Peanuts specials I vividly remember seeing as part of The Charlie Brown and Snoopy Show on Disney Channel back in the early-to-mid 90's and so much of it has stuck in my head since, such as Snoopy's hilarious antics and the third act, where a game is played in Charlie Brown's baseball field after it's been turned into a garden by some of the other kids (I also remember this one because, while watching it, I was being a stupid kid and almost gave my thumb a rug-burn by rubbing it harshly against the floor over and over again). And like a lot of the specials I saw on that show, I didn't realize they weren't originally episodes until I started getting back into them when I was an adult. It's Arbor Day, Charlie Brown was on the second volume of the Peanuts 1970's collection, which I bought at a Barnes & Noble some time in the early 2010's, and when I re-watched it for the first time in such a long time, I found myself really enjoying it once again. In fact, among the holiday-centric Peanuts specials, I feel this one is unfairly overlooked, due no doubt to what an obscure holiday Arbor Day is in and of itself. It may not be as profound or iconic as something like A Charlie Brown Christmas, The Great Pumpkin, or even The Easter Beagle, but I will say that I do personally enjoy it more than other specials like A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving, Happy New Year, Charlie Brown, or all those melancholic and sometimes mean-spirited Valentine's Day ones.

In class, Sally hopes the teacher doesn't call on her, as she didn't get a chance to study her assignment, which was on holidays. Naturally, though, she is called on, and tasked with explaining the meaning of Arbor Day, which she totally botches. As a result, she has to write a full report on the holiday, one which Linus makes the mistake of saying he'll help her with. Though he finds a book that contains useful information, all Sally can think about is how much she adores him and tries to get him to reciprocate. Meanwhile, Charlie Brown and Peppermint Patty go over their baseball schedule for the upcoming season, the latter confident that her team will completely dominate his. Sally, now really taken with the idea of Arbor Day, decides to plant a garden, with the help of Linus, Snoopy, and Woodstock. When she learns of it, Lucy not only joins in but takes the whole thing over, and she and Sally decide to plant the garden in, of all places, Charlie Brown's baseball field. Soon, she has some of the other kids, like Schroeder, Violet, Patty, and Frieda, helping with the planting, and she also repeatedly assures Charlie Brown that they're doing a really good job in maintaining the field. Unaware of what they're actually doing, he decides to work on his team's strategy, and come the first game of the season, he's told they're planning to officially christen the field after him. Though overjoyed at this, Charlie Brown's elation proves to be short-lived when he sees what they've done to the field, and predicts nothing but disaster when Peppermint Patty's team shows up.

As with so many of the Peanuts specials produced from the early 70's into the early 80's, Arbor Day was directed by Phil Roman, his fifth project as solo director and his sixth overall. In this particular case, I think he was blessed with both some really good animation (although some of it is recycled from past specials and the movie, Snoopy Come Home) and a particularly entertaining story by Charles Schulz, one that hits the right balance between being genuinely funny and showing unlucky Charlie Brown is, without going too overboard either way. Immediately afterward, Roman and Bill Melendez would co-direct the third Peanuts feature film, Race for Your Life, Charlie Brown, but, unfortunately, one key figure of the cartoons who'd been involved from the very beginning wouldn't join them, as Arbor Day would end up being his last project.

For much of the story, Charlie Brown (voiced by Dylan Beach) is uninvolved with what's going on, instead worrying about baseball season, which is coming up soon, and the long schedule of games between his team and Peppermint Patty's. After getting a call from her where she tells him that he'd best make sure his field is in good shape for the first game, he's relieved when Lucy assures him that she and the others are working hard to "spruce" the field up. Thus, he spends the time leading up to the first game working on his strategy, and when the day comes, he prepares to meet up with Peppermint Patty's team on the field. All throughout, he looks forward to finally winning a game, or at least playing one where his team doesn't get murdered, but both he and Peppermint Patty suggest he stop fantasizing. His team meets up with him at his doorstep and declare that they've decided to christen the new and "improved" field with his very name. Bowled over by this, Charlie Brown has his head in the clouds as they head to the field, wondering if they should put a sign over it... and then, he lets out his signature, "Augh!" scream and faints when he sees they've turned the place into a garden, with a tree in the middle of his pitcher's mound! He's sure that it's impossible to play ball in such a field, and when Peppermint Patty arrives with her team and sees the state of things, she thinks Charlie Brown has lost his mind. But, much to his and everyone else's shock, the field actually works to the home team's advantage, allowing them the opportunity to actually win. But, just when victory is within their grasp, a rainstorm comes through, forcing them to postpone the game, much to Charlie Brown's anguish. (Even though they had a regular voice actor for Charlie Brown at this time with Duncan Watson, here, for some reason, he's voiced by Dylan Beach, the son of an obscure voice actor named Scott Beach, who was used a lot by George Lucas.)

The person who starts off the special's plot is Sally (voiced by Gail M. Davis), who completely flubs a question by her teacher, describing Arbor Day as, "The day when all the ships come sailing into the 'arbor.'" After getting laughed at by the other kids, Sally is then forced to give a complete report on Arbor Day, although her consternation is relieved when Linus volunteers to help her. Later, at the library, Linus finds a book with info on the holiday, but Sally is only interested in flirting with him. When he reads that Arbor Day is mainly centered around trees, she suggests that the two of them go sit under a tree and socialize, then chases him out of the library, going on about how it could lead to a date. Despite this rocky start, Sally really gets into the spirit of the holiday, spouting off the writings of conservationist and Arbor Day founder, J. Sterling Morton, and getting Linus, Snoopy, and Woodstock to help her plant either an orchard or a flower garden. She's the one who initially decides to plant it in Charlie Brown's baseball field, an idea that Lucy takes complete control of and goes all out with. Once the garden has been finished, Sally is so happy with what they've accomplished that, when the rainstorm floods the field, forcing them to call off the game, she rows by her distraught brother on a raft, saying, "At least it's good for the crops." In the end, she does really well on her report, making up for the embarrassment she suffered earlier.

For whatever reason, Linus (voiced by Liam Martin), offers to help Sally with her report on Arbor Day, then regrets doing it when she pays little attention to what he's reading and attempts to flirt with him, leading to him letting out a disgusted yell and running out of the library, with her on his heels. He also regrets getting involved when Sally and Lucy decide to plant their garden in Charlie Brown's baseball field, knowing this is not something he's going to be happy about. He tries to convince Lucy to tell Charlie Brown what's going on, and even tries to tell him himself, but is ignored both times. Lucy also forces him to plant a tree on the pitcher's mound, despite his trying to warn her that Charlie Brown is really not going to appreciate that. When it comes time for the first game of the season, Linus is really nervous about leading Charlie Brown to the field, despite telling him they've decided to name it after him. Upon their arrival, Linus is the only one who isn't smiling about it, and when Charlie Brown faints at the sight of it, he fans his face, trying to wake him. During the game, before things start going their way, Linus' time at bat proves to be a disaster, as his blanket gets wrapped around him when he swings and he's declared out. But then, near the end of the game, when things are looking up for them, he has to go and open his big mouth, saying that the only thing that could stop them from winning is if they got rained out, which is exactly what happens.

After she comes across Sally, Linus, Snoopy, and Woodstock on their way to plant a garden, Lucy (voiced by Sarah Beach) decides it's a good idea and goes along with them, taking it over completely and going full-out with planting it in Charlie Brown's baseball field. Naturally, she bosses everybody else around while they do the work, and later gets more of the kids to help. All the while, she reassures Charlie Brown that everything is well taken care of and that he should concentrate on his strategies for the upcoming games. When Charlie Brown finally sees the field and is as horrified as he is, saying it's impossible for them to play in a garden, Lucy comments, "Oh, come on, Charlie Brown. We couldn't play before, anyway, so you haven't lost anything." Ironically, she's the one who gets the team its first home-run of the game, as Schroeder promises to meet her at the home plate and give her a big kiss if she does. But, as excited as she is at the prospect, when she sees how hesitant Schroeder is, she decides it's not worth it if that's the only way she can get him to kiss her. (And yes, Sarah Beach is Dylan Beach's sister, briefly replacing Lucy's regular voice actor at the time, Melanie Kohn, just as her brother did with Duncan Watson.)

Rerun (voiced by Vinnie Dow) makes his first appearance in animation here, with the opening scene focusing on him having to endure riding on the backseat of his mother's bicycle, talking about how he's lost weight out of sheer fear from her peddling and where they're going (one of their stops happens to be an Arbor Day Committee meeting), commenting, "Considering I don't do anything, I lead a very active life." Rerun is seen again later on, when he and his mother happen to be pedaling by the field during the ballgame and he catches a long ball that was hit by Marcie, all while singing Take Me Out to the Ball Game.

As usual, Peppermint Patty (voiced by Stuart Brotman) does little for Charlie Brown's self-esteem with her putdowns and overbearing personality. The two of them are seen sitting under a tree, when they see Sally chasing Linus down the sidewalk. She asks Charlie Brown to explain love to her but doesn't care for how his explanation involves "a cute, little girl" rather than a girl who "isn't cute, has freckles and a big nose." After biting his head off over that, she runs through the schedule for the upcoming baseball season, describing each game as her team demolishing his in some fashion. She also later calls him up and tells him to be sure to have his baseball field in great shape when the first game comes around (she adds, "Even if your team won't be,"). When the day does come, she calls him again, talking about how she loves the first game of the season and that feeling of first victory, which Charlie Brown says he's looking forward to experiencing; her response is, "Hey, Chuck, you aren't serious, are you? You don't think you have a chance, do you?" She doesn't let him answer that question, adding that she can't go easy on him, saying, "I'll have to fan ya, Chuck." Like Charlie Brown himself, she's aghast when she sees the state of his baseball field, especially when she sees the tree on the pitcher's mound, and asks him if he's nuts. The garden proves to be a real handicap for her team in particular, though, allowing Charlie Brown's team a chance at winning, until the rainstorm comes through. When that happens, Peppermint Patty immediately suggests they call the game off, and while Charlie Brown is upset and discouraged as a result, the last scene has her cheering him up by saying the garden looked really nice and it's not a bad thing to have named after him.

As for the other members of the Peanuts gang, Frieda (voiced by Michelle Muller), Schroeder (voiced by Greg Felton), Violet, and Patty help out with the garden. Frieda and Snoopy put up a backdrop at first base with a creeping vine, which proves to be Snoopy's nemesis, both before and during the game, while Schroeder later tries to encourage Charlie Brown when he freaks out about the tree on the pitcher's mound and also compliments him on the fine job he's doing during 

their winning streak. Later, of course, Schroeder gives Lucy the incentive she needs to hit a home-run by saying he'll give her a big kiss if she does. He's confident he won't have to go through with it, commenting on how she's never once hit the ball out of the in-field, only for her to succeed. Despite being horrified at the idea, Schroeder is more than willing to go through with his promise, meeting at her home-plate with his hands covering his eyes and his lips puckered, but Lucy decides it's not worth it. Among Peppermint Patty's team are Marcie and Franklin, neither of whom speak or doing anything noteworthy except play their respective roles on the team.

Snoopy and Woodstock (voiced by Bill Melendez) really get up to some hilarious mischief here, especially Snoopy. First, the two of them accompany Linus and Sally to the library, where Snoopy finds some books on dog obedience training that strike him as hilarious. He laughs so loud while flipping through them at a table that he gets shushed and decides to make copies of the pages, continuing to laugh as he does so. He's laughing so hard and not paying attention that he accidentally puts Woodstock in the copier, leading the bird to admonish him and Snoopy to laugh harder. They're both promptly thrown out as a result. Later, they help out with the garden, with Snoopy, at one point, sprinkling seeds on the ground while wearing his Joe Cool shades and having Woodstock rake them in. Getting hungry while looking at the seeds, though, Woodstock decides to help himself when Snoopy walks away, only to get drenched when he walks by, watering them. At one point, Snoopy is nailing a creeping vine to some backing, only to whack his thumb with the hammer and then for the vine itself to attack him when he hits it in frustration. Woodstock also makes the mistake of sitting on the head of a water sprinkler when it's activated, leading to him walking away while periodically spinning around and spitting water out of his mouth. And during the ballgame, that creeping vine continues to hassle Snoopy, causing him to miss hitting a home-run, although he does manage to do better in the game once the tables turn.

From a visual standpoint, Arbor Day seems to cycle through the tail end of winter and the beginning of spring, as the opening with Charlie Brown, Linus, and Rerun comes off as a little chilly, with the gray, overcast sky in the background and Rerun being quite bundled up, with a little toboggan atop his head (of course, he's also dressed like that when he and his mother ride past the baseball field during the game). But, as the cartoon goes on and the first game gets closer and closer, the sky becomes clearer and bluer, and the

environments become much greener and more vibrant. As the story mostly takes place outdoors, said scenes are also a bit more detailed than the indoor ones, although the latter do have a fair amount to them as well (save for the first scene with Sally in the classroom, which is just her and some other desks in front of a blank, tan-gray background), especially the library early on, with the shelves and shelves of books in the background. (Speaking of which, while it's not that big of a deal, I'm kind of struck by the presence of

a high-tech copy machine, as the most modern piece of technology you typically see in these Peanuts cartoons is a television set. Similarly, it doesn't exactly pinpoint the time period the story is taking place in, but it does give you a more general idea of it.) The most notable setting is Charlie Brown's baseball field, which starts out as a typical sandlot but, by the time Sally, Lucy, and the other kids get through with it, it's an enormous garden, one that's beautiful to look at but is hardly a

practical location for a baseball game. Among other things, there's a tree right in the middle of the pitcher's mound, a scarecrow in the middle of center-field, a vine-covered backdrop for home-base, and thick flowers, foliage, and vines on the ground that make it hard to find the bases, as well as any lost balls. And by the end of the special, the place is almost totally flooded by the rainstorm, with the pitcher's mound being one of the few dry spots.

The animation quality is up to the usual high standards, with some standouts being Peppermint Patty becoming enraged when she sees the ridiculous condition of the field, Snoopy freaking out and yelling when he whacks his thumb with the hammer, his battles with the creeping vine, Lucy happily skipping across the bases after she's hit a home-run, Schroeder's horror at the idea of having to kiss her, and the rain clouds building up in the sky. Though, you have to keep in mind that some of this material is recycled from other specials, like

You're A Good Sport, Charlie Brown and There's No Time for Love, Charlie Brown, and the movie, Snoopy Come Home. Also, while the cartoon never gets all that stylized, when Sally gives her initial very misinformed report of what Arbor Day is about, the background turns red and is filled with a bunch of shaking "HAs," accompanied by the sound of the kids laughing, an effect that's been used in other specials when someone, usually Charlie Brown, is embarrassed.

The film's opening scene has Linus repairing one of his mother's bicycle wheels and then putting little Rerun on the backseat and strapping him in, while Charlie Brown watches from in front of the garage. Linus tells him about how his mother has lost three pounds from biking, while Rerun notes that he's lost five pounds himself due to fear of his mother's biking skills, or lack thereof. As Mrs. Van Pelt rides off, Charlie Brown and Linus note how well she handles the bike, the latter saying it's

improved and Rerun adding, "Yesterday, we only hit four parked cars." Charlie Brown then comments that he finds it surprising that Rerun doesn't get bored from riding and Linus says he probably finds different ways to pass the time; cue Rerun singing, "89 bottles of beer on the wall, 89 bottles of beer..." He notes, "Today, it's the Welfare League and a church breakfast. Then, there's the League of Women Voters, followed by a visit to a library. From here on, we go to the hairdresser's,

and then to the supermarket. Then, a rousing meeting of the PTA. And, last but not least, the Arbor Day Committee meeting." Following the opening credits, Sally, after humiliating herself in the classroom, heads to the library with Linus in order to read up on Arbor Day for her report. Snoopy and Woodstock go with them, the former finding some books on dog obedience training that he finds to be very funny. After being shushed for laughing too loud, he makes copies, still laughing and wiping tears from his eyes as he does. After

unknowingly putting Woodstock in the copier, Snoopy looks through his pages, and if you pause and look at them, you'll be shocked by some rather dark humor. One says, "HOW TO MAKE A DOG 'OBEY' IN TWENTY-FOUR LESSONS!", and while most of it is just intelligible scribbles, there are words in all caps that stand out, such as, "YELL A LOT," "PAIN," "HIS DUTY," "YOUR WILL," and, "PUNISH," accompanied by a photo of a dog getting a finger wagged at him. The second one, "HOW TO MAKE A DOG 'HEEL!'

IN SIXTEEN EASY LESSONS," involves words like, "SHOUT," "BE FIRM," "MASTER," and, "SLAVE" (and it's underlined like that in the text)! And the third, "HOW TO MAKE YOUR DOG 'BEHAVE' IN THIRTY-SEVEN LESSONS," has, "THREATEN," "WARN," "PAIN," and, "COAX." Finally, Snoopy sees the xerox of a smooshed Woodstock and opens the flap off the copy. Woodstock chastises him for what he did, while Snoopy laughs, when they're both thrown out of the building.

When she sees Sally chasing after Linus as she sits under a tree with Charlie Brown, Peppermint Patty asks him to explain love to her. Though he says he can't, she urges him to try, and they have this conversation: "Well, say I happen to see this cute little girl walk by and I..." "Why does she have to be cute, Chuck?! Huh?! Can't someone fall in love with a girl who isn't cute, and has freckles and a big nose?! Explain that, Chuck!" "Well, maybe you're right. Let's just say that I happen to see this

girl walk by who has a great, big nose and..." "I DIDN'T SAY A GREAT BIG NOSE, CHUCK!" That outburst sends Charlie Brown flying through the air and onto his back. He then comments, "You not only can't explain love, actually, you can't even talk about it." With that, Peppermint Patty decides to go through the schedule of their baseball games for the season, and after she all but demoralizes him, saying her team is going to, "Slaughter you twice in April, smash you three times in May, ruin you twice in June, murder you three times in July,

annihilate you four times in August, and destroy you altogether in September," (and now that I've wrote that out, I realize that, while Peppermint Patty says they're going to play against each other twelve times if you add it all up, it's fifteen times!), she has him shake her hand for good luck. And, when they do, she gives him her usual, "You touched my hand, Chuck, you sly dog," remark, adding, "I think you know more about love than you let on."

Sally, Linus, Snoopy, and Woodstock run into Lucy while they're carrying a bunch of garden tools, with Sally explaining to her what they're up to. She's now so caught up in the spirit of Arbor Day that, when Lucy doesn't know who J. Sterling Morton was, she shouts, "Mr. Morton was an early voice for conservation," while Linus lets out an embarrassed, "Good grief!" She then shouts, "Every child should plant an orchard! A flower garden! Let us onto the field, and cultivate a few

forest trees!" The group moves on and Lucy, liking the idea, decides to join them. Shortly, they come upon Charlie Brown's baseball field, which both Sally and Lucy believe is the perfect place to plant, despite Linus' objections. Lucy orders Sally and Snoopy to start the planting, while she and Linus go get some more stuff they need. On their way back to the field, they run into Charlie Brown, who was planning to see to it that the field was taken care off after talking with Peppermint Patty on the

phone. Lucy assures him they're maintaining the field very nicely and keeps Linus from telling him exactly what they're doing. Back on the field, after the gag where Snoopy accidentally drenches Woodstock while he eats the seeds he's supposed to be planting, Lucy has Linus help her in planting a tree. She picks a spot, which Linus isn't so sure about, but she tells him to just shut up and dig, which he does. After he's dug for just a little bit, Lucy decides it's good enough, as the camera pulls back to reveal they're planting the tree right on the

pitcher's mound. She sticks it in and pushes the dirt over the hole, saying the tree will give Charlie Brown some shade on really hot days. Lucy also decides they need more plants and more help, suggesting that they get the entire team to pitch in. Again, while doing so, she, Linus, and the others run into Charlie Brown, with Lucy assuring him that they're still doing a good job and that he needn't worry about anything but coming up with baseball strategies.

In the next scene, other kids like Schroeder, Violet, and Patty help with the garden, all while Lucy barks orders. This is when they've erected a backdrop at home base and Frieda has Snoopy nail a creeping vine to it, only for him to mash his thumb with his hammer. Enraged, he smacks the vine with his hammer and laughs, only for it to suddenly grab him. He fights with it but ends up suspended upside down by it, much to Frieda's consternation. Meanwhile, Charlie Brown is

coming up with his strategies, initially planning on walking Peppermint Patty each time she comes up to bat... but then figures she might get mad if he does. Instead, he fills the bases up with his best players, then thinks about himself hitting a home-run, only to groan, "There I go, daydreaming again." Back at the field, Lucy puts down a sprinkler head attached to a hose and goes to turn the water on. That's when Woodstock makes the mistake of sitting on it when the water turns on, spinning him around and leading to him walking

away, occasionally spinning and blowing water out of his mouth. The day of the first game comes and Charlie Brown, after talking with Peppermint Patty on the phone about it, hears his doorbell ring and finds his team outside at his doorstep, waiting for him. That's when they tell him of their plan to name the field after him, which he's really touched and excited by. But then, of course, they get to the field, he lets out a horrified yell when he sees what they've done, and promptly faints.

Linus fans him with a towel, trying to wake him up, and when he does awaken, he jumps to his feet, dumbfounded at what's happened to his field. He declares they can't play baseball there, especially with a tree right in the middle of the pitcher's mound. Schroeder tries to encourage him, saying, "Beethoven never gave up," but Charlie Brown comments, "Beethoven never had a tree on his piano." He's further confounded by the sight of a scarecrow in center-field, with baseball gloves for

hands, a yellow shirt, and a cap where its head should be, and as if that weren't enough, Frieda tells him they used the bats as stakes for the tomato plants. Terrified of what Peppermint Patty will say when she sees this, Charlie Brown then has to face her when she arrives with her team. When she sees the state of the field, she comments, "You startin' a victory garden, Chuck? You've got everything here but sheep and cattle, Charlie Brown!" (At that last comment, Snoopy actually moos.) Charlie Brown tries to explain it was because of Arbor Day, but

Peppermint Patty asks him if he's crazy, especially when she walks onto the pitcher's mound and bonks into the tree. Calling him the dumbest manager who ever lived, she yells, "How can I pitch from this crazy mound with a tree on it?!", throwing her glove on the mound in frustration. But, with no other choice, she decides to just make it work, declaring that her team will still come out on top.

Charlie Brown's team is up to bat first, with Snoopy leading them off. Things get off to bad a start, though, as Snoopy accidentally whacks his foot with his bat and hops around in place, holding it as it throbs red. Despite that, he regains his composure and prepares to bat, when he notices the creeping vine on the ground near him. He just shakes his head and tries to concentrate on Peppermint Patty's pitch. She, however, has her own problems, as the tree on the pitcher's mound keeps getting in the way when she tries to throw.

First, her arm gets snagged around it, and then, when she tries for another throw, her foot is snagged on it, prompting her to let out an angry yell. She then gets downwind of the tree and prepares for the throw, while Snoopy realizes the creeping vine is, indeed, creeping towards him. Ignoring it, he manages to hit the ball when Peppermint Patty pitches and takes off running, only for the vine to grab his feet, causing him to fall and be declared out. Patty next pitches to Linus, who gets wrapped up in his blanket like a

mummy when he swings, leading to another out. Charlie Brown is now desperate for them to hit a home-run, which is when Schroeder promises to meet Lucy at home plate and give her a big kiss if she manages to pull it off. Incentivized, she walks up to the plate, with Charlie Brown suggesting that they'll all give her a kiss if she makes the run. Hearing that, she looks at Snoopy, who grins at her from ear to ear, and she lets out a "blech!" She then, predictably, hits the home-run, but decides it's

not worth it if that's the only way she can get Schroeder to kiss her. Instead, she sits back on the bench and declares, "Another victory for Women's Lib." After that, Charlie Brown is now pitching, having to go up against Peppermint Patty's best batters. First up is Franklin, who hits the ball, only for it to land in one of the scarecrow's mitts. Marcie hits the next pitch, which is caught by Rerun when he and his mother pass by the field. Peppermint Patty herself is up to bat next, and

when Charlie Brown pitches, Patty hits the ball and, as often happens, it whizzes back by him with enough force to knock him out of his clothes. He hopes that one of his catchers can get it, but said catchers, Lucy and Frieda, are too busy admiring a sunflower in the garden to notice the ball hit the ground between them. Not that it matters; because of the thick foliage and vines on the ground, Patty is unable to find the bases and is declared out.

The game goes on for another six innings and Charlie Brown's team continues to do good, with someone catching a ball from the top of the tree and Snoopy managing to catch another while hiding in the scarecrow's shirt. It looks as if they're going to win, when Linus comments that their being rained out would be the only way they could lose now. Charlie Brown assures him there's not a cloud in the sky, when a bunch of storm clouds form overhead and thunder crashes. Before they can continue with the game, it starts raining, but,

regardless, Charlie Brown insists they're not stopping anything, telling Lucy to get back out in center-field when she comes up to ask if he's going to call the game. Unfortunately for him, the others don't share his zeal, as they run for it, leaving him stranded on the pitcher's mound, which is now a little island in the middle of the lake that was once his baseball field. He desperately yells for everyone to come back, insisting the rain will let up, and calls them all quitters. Realizing no one's

around to care, he sighs sadly, as Snoopy swims by and Sally floats by on a raft, noting how the rain is good for the plants (she calls her own brother "Charlie Brown" in this instance, which comes off as weird). All he can do is futilely yell that his team was winning. The special then ends with Sally doing well on her report on Arbor Day, ending it by quoting the last lines of J. Sterling Morton's 1894 Arbor Day address in Washington, while Peppermint Patty cheers Charlie Brown up from his despondence over the game being rained out, holding his hand and telling him, "Happy Arbor Day, Charlie Brown."

It's Arbor Day, Charlie Brown has the sad legacy of being the last project Vince Guaraldi worked on, as he died of a sudden heart attack just hours after he finished recording the score; he was only 47. His music for the special provides exactly what would you come to expect from him: smooth, mellow, gentle jazz pieces, including a waltz-like theme that incorporates elements of Christmas Time Is Here, and another piece that's a variation on Guaraldi's "Joe Cool" leitmotif for when Snoopy is wearing the glasses. It gets a little more energetic during the third act and the baseball game, especially when Snoopy is up to bat and Lucy hits her home-run, but never loses that feeling of tranquility you'd come to expect from Guaraldi's work. All in all, while it's sad he died so young, this score isn't a bad one for Guaraldi to have gone out on.

It may never achieve the iconic status of A Charlie Brown Christmas or It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, but for my money, It's Arbor Day, Charlie Brown is one of the more underrated holiday-centered Peanuts specials. I think it's a lot of fun, with some really entertaining and amusing moments, particularly Snoopy's antics and the baseball game played in the middle of a garden, and is also well-designed and animated, offers one last taste of the lovely jazz music from Vince Guaraldi, and successfully gives some exposure to a very overlooked holiday. Again, it may never be considered a classic, but that doesn't mean it's not enjoyable to watch. So, this Arbor Day, give it a whirl, preferably with your whole family.

Charlie Brown's All Stars! (1966)

If you were to ask somebody to name the very first Peanuts special, odds are they would correctly guess A Charlie Brown Christmas. But, if you were to ask that same person to name the second special, they would probably say It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, when, in actuality, it's this little known one that first aired in between them. I know I'd never heard of it until I bought the Peanuts 1960's DVD Collection, so I went into it with no expectations whatsoever. But, I must say that when I watched it, I thought it was a fairly good one and not worth the relative obscurity it's found itself in (likely a result of it's not having had an annual reairing since 1971 and often getting clumped together with other baseball-themed specials on home media). While it's from that very early era where the character designs and animation were still a bit rough and hadn't been fine-tuned (although there are moments of really spectacular animation here), and there are some very noticeable character errors, it makes up for it with plenty of funny moments and a fairly profound plotpoint that concerns Charlie Brown having to make a moral decision for the good of his friends, which is probably why, like The Great Pumpkin the same year, it was nominated for an Emmy.

Charlie Brown's baseball team has an absolutely humiliating record of losses and game performances, with the previous year being the worst yet. Naturally, as the manager, Charlie Brown himself is blamed for it all. Come the first game of the new season, he's the only one sporting a positive attitude, but that immediately evaporates when they start playing and the opposing team crushes them. Worst of all, he catches but then drops a flyball, resulting in their losing the game, 123-0. Fed up, everyone, including Snoopy, quits, and he even considers resigning as manager. But then, Linus tells him that Mr. Hennessey, the owner of the local hardware store, is offering to sponsor their team and place them in an actual baseball league, complete with official uniforms. Believing that the prospect of uniforms with their names on them will inspire them to rejoin his team, Charlie Brown attempts to tell the others. At first, they're reluctant to listen to him, but when he finally gets to speak, they decide to give him one more chance if he delivers the uniforms. Unfortunately, he later gets a phone call at home from Mr. Hennessey, who tells him the league won't allow the girls or Snoopy to play. Unwilling to kick five of his friends off the team, Charlie Brown turns down the offer. Knowing they'll quit again if they find out, he decides not to tell them until after the next game, hoping that if they win, they'll be too happy to care. Of course, the odds of their actually winning are less than slim to none.

Having scored an unexpected hit the previous year with A Charlie Brown Christmas, Bill Melendez and his producer, Lee Mendelson, the one who first saw the potential of the Peanuts comic strips in animation, had been entrusted by Charles Schulz as the only ones who could produce specials, cartoons, and movies based on the strip, leading to the fairly rapid production of this one, which was aired just six months later (it was originally titled, Good Grief, Charlie Brown). Of course, this was only the start of the many, many Peanuts projects Melendez, his studio, and Mendelson would be involved with, as the franchise would more or less dominate the rest of their working lives.

Charlie Brown (voiced by Peter Robbins) starts off as rather demoralized when Linus reads off some statistics that show just how badly his baseball team did the previous year and feels even worse when just about everyone, including Snoopy, blames him as their manager for their poor performance. Regardless, when the first game of the new season comes around, he's determined to make a difference. When he first arrives on the field, he tells them of his strategy to avoid double-plays, but the team just lobs various complaints at him. Things don't get any better when the game starts, as he throws the first pitch over the backstop (according to Lucy, he nearly hit her mother), gets knocked out of his socks, shoes, cap, and baseball mitt by a ball getting hit back at him, can't get a strike to save his life, and, worst of all, he catches but then drops a flyball, much to the others' consternation. With that, everyone decides they're sick of being on a ball-team that never wins and they all quit on him. Feeling down, Charlie Brown wonders if he should resign as manager (Snoopy then promptly runs up with a pen and paper so he can make it official), when Linus tells him of Mr. Hennessey's offer to sponsor the team and get them into an official baseball league. Feeling this will inspire everyone to rejoin, he attempts to tell them but is unable to make them listen until they're all in a swimming pool together. Sure enough, they do agree to come back for the uniforms but, shortly afterward, Charlie Brown is told by Mr. Hennessey that the league won't accept Snoopy or the girls. This prompts him to turn down his offer for their sake, meaning no uniforms. While Linus tells him the others, especially Lucy, will be furious at him, Charlie Brown decides that if they win the next game, the ecstasy over their victory will make it easier for them to accept it. Much to his delight, it does go quite well, especially when Snoopy manages to steal second, third, and home with very little effort. And when, Charlie Brown himself is up to bat at the bottom of the ninth, he scores a hit and manages to steal second and third... but then, he gets caught up in the idea of being the hero and unsuccessfully attempts to steal home, causing them to lose yet again. Furious, the team tells him they'd leave him flat if it weren't for the uniforms, which is when he breaks it to them that they're not getting them. Sure enough, they then leave Charlie Brown lying on the field, apparently having lost his team forever...

That is, until Linus (voiced by Christopher Shea) intervenes. Throughout the cartoon, Linus, as usual, tries to be a good, reassuring friend to Charlie Brown but ends up unintentionally causing him grief, especially when he reads off the statistics for how badly the team performed the previous season. While everyone else on the team wonders how he's going to screw up this time, Linus just believes they have no hope of succeeding in general, though he does also get frustrated when Charlie Brown does something bone-headed that causes them to lose. Regardless, he tells him of Mr. Hennessey's offer to sponsor the team, but he's not convinced the promise of actual uniforms and a league deal will do much to improve their playing. He does go along with it when Charlie Brown tells the others (despite turning his nose up to him like everyone else and not helping when he initially tries to), but when he's then forced to turn it down upon learning of the league's stipulations, Linus knows how badly this will go over, telling him that Lucy will tear him to pieces and they'll never play for him again. He even goes as far as to suggest he leave town. But Charlie Brown, instead, decides to hope they win the next game and they'll forget about the uniforms as a result... which, of course, is wishful thinking. Weirdly, when the kids become angry with him when they learn they're not going to get them after they lose, Linus looks just as shocked and frustrated at the news as everyone else. It makes sense that he'd be just as mad about him costing them the game by trying to steal home, but for him to get angry about the uniforms, then turn around and admonish the girls and Snoopy for giving him a hard time when he turned the offer down for their sake, comes off as downright schizophrenic. In any case, when the girls decide to make it up to Charlie Brown by making a manager's uniform for him, Linus is forced to surrender his blanket to be used as the material. And just to add a little more to his trauma, he's forced to be the model for it as well!

Naturally, Lucy (voiced by Sally Dryer) is harder on Charlie Brown than anyone else. Right at the beginning, after Linus lists off those statistics, she tells him to do the best thing he could for his team and not show up at the first game of the season. Before said game begins, she tells him they can't keep cheering him on from the infield, as they're being hypocrites when they say he can do it, and then, during the game, she unintentionally catches a ball when she holds her mitt out while talking with Frieda. She gives it back to Charlie Brown, saying, "That's the old pepper, Charlie, old boy!", as if it were a pitch she caught from him. When he goes to catch the flyball, Lucy, like everyone else, is rooting for him, but also suggests they all kick him if he misses. While they don't do that when he catches and then drops it, they do quit on him, with Lucy echoing everyone else's sentiments that it's ridiculous to stay on a team that never wins. Both she and everyone else refuse to listen to him when he first tries to tell them of Mr. Hennessey's offer to sponsor them and give them uniforms, but when he does get the chance, Lucy herself says they'll give him just one more chance. And then, they lose the next game and Charlie Brown breaks it to them that he turned down the offer for the uniforms, prompting them all to walk out on him for good. But, after Linus tells them why he did it, and they get further admonished for their behavior by Schroeder, Lucy and the girls feel genuinely bad and decide to make it up to Charlie Brown. Significantly, Lucy is the one who comes up with the idea of giving Charlie Brown a manager uniform made out of Linus' blanket, complete with the title of "OUR MANAGER" on the front. But, just because it was her idea doesn't mean she refrains from reminding him of how he lost the game and is the goat.

Though she's not on the ball-team, Sally (voiced by Kathy Steinberg) appears briefly here when the kids are trying to enjoy their summer without worrying about baseball. She approaches Linus while he's blowing up an inflatable pool, asking him if she looks cute in her swimsuit and if she looks like a "beach bunny,"; to both, Linus answers a flat, "Nope." Sally, though, is unfazed, saying he's cute because, "He never says what he means." For some reason, she's just as upset at her brother as everyone else, turning her nose up like them when he tries to talk with them as they're riding around on their skateboards (or, in her case, roller-skates, and while she's still in her bikini). She's also seen playing around with the others in the pool and seems happy about the idea of uniforms, even though, again, she's not on the team.

Most of the other members of the Peanuts gang have small roles as part of the team, including Violet (voiced by Karen Mendelson), Frieda (voiced by Ann Altieri), and Patty (voiced by Lynn Vanderlip). Violet is, in some ways, even more cruel to Charlie Brown than Lucy, flat-out calling stupid after they've lost the second game of the season and learned about the uniforms, while Frieda is often more concerned about the audience being able to see her hair and how well she'll look

in the uniform. The two of them also tend to play double-dutch with Patty, who's just as down on Charlie Brown as everyone else. Also, while Schroeder (voiced by Glen Mendelson) calls the girls out on how cruel they were to Charlie Brown over the uniforms, saying they don't act like they're really his friends, he has no room to talk, as he was also upset about losing the uniforms, even if he didn't give Charlie Brown the same amount of crap over it as the girls. Also, at the beginning of the

special, he cops an attitude and tells him that he's not going to continue pitching if he doesn't get time off to practice Beethoven. Pig-Pen (voiced by Geoffrey Ornstein) is also part of the team, often coming off as well-spoken and somewhat sophisticated, despite how dirty and dusty he is. His main concern about the uniforms is whether they'll be bone-dry (I guess so as not to wash away his dirt), and when Frieda chews him out for how filthy he is, he responds, "Yes, but I have clean thoughts." She then asks, "Can't you even keep

your shoelaces tied?", to which he answers, "What do you want me to be? Inconsistent?" And Shermy (voiced by Gail DeFaria) resigns from the team at the beginning of the special, telling Charlie Brown, "It's hard to play on a team that always loses. It's depressing. I'm the kind who needs to win now and then. With you, it's different. I think you get sort of a neurotic pleasure out of losing all of the time." While he's present when Charlie Brown tells them about Mr. Hennessey's deal and is seen before the pivotal game afterward, at no point do you see him actually taking part in it.

Like the girls and just about everyone else on the team, Snoopy (voiced by Bill Melendez) is annoyed with Charlie Brown's less than stellar management skills and quits along with the others when they lose the first game of the season. Moreover, when Charlie Brown wonders if he should resign as manager, Snoopy is quick to arrive with a pen and paper so he can make it official (Charlie Brown argues, "What's the rush? After 999 games, don't I deserve one more chance?"). After that, he joins the kids in enjoying the summer without having to worry about baseball, such as fantasizing himself surfing in Linus' swimming pool and getting so into it that he actually wipes out. He's also as unwilling to listen to what Charlie Brown has to say when he joins the kids in their skateboarding (though, like Linus, he already knows about Mr. Hennessey's offer). When the team returns to play under Charlie Brown, Snoopy proves to be quite an invaluable player (even though he can't pitch the ball), as he and Linus are able to do a nice double-play, and when he's up to bat, he not only gets a hit but manages to steal second, third, and home, earning them a much-needed run (yeah, he can't pitch, but he can apparently bat with the best of them). But then, when they lose again because of Charlie Brown and he tells them they're not getting their coveted uniforms, either, Snoopy is just as aggravated and disgusted as the girls. However, when Linus tells them why Charlie Brown turned down Mr. Hennessey, Snoopy not only feels as down as the girls but is especially hurt when he learns the league wouldn't have let him play, howling in despair. He then joins the others in making a manager uniform for Charlie Brown in order to make it up to him.

Like its infinitely more famous predecessor and successor, Charlie Brown's All Stars! is most definitely from that rough early period where Bill Melendez and his studio were finding their way when it came to animation and design. In regards to the former, it is a bit more refined than it was in A Charlie Brown Christmas, and there are notable instances of really smooth and impressive work, like in the opening where Charlie Brown runs through the neighborhood, attempting to catch a flyball, when Snoopy imagines himself surfing in

Linus' pool, when the kids are first seen skateboarding, and when Snoopy steals the bases for a run. But, for the most part, it is still often pretty choppy and stiff, with some obvious short-cuts taken, like when the kids roll past Charlie Brown on skateboards, sometimes looking like still images that are being dragged across the screen, and how, when he peeks out from behind third base, Snoopy's head literally just appears in a cut rather actually sticking out. Design-wise, the characters are in that prototype sort of state, with the faces not quite as finessed as they would later be, Snoopy's snout not as wide as it would eventually be, and their bodies coming off as a bit misshapen in some shots.

The art direction of the environments and backgrounds is often very simplistic, with the many exterior scenes being little more than a stretch of bright green grass and a blue, cloudless sky, with occasional additions to the background like trees and houses, and with little in the foreground except for maybe a sidewalk or, in the case of some scenes, Linus' swimming pool. You never get an establishing shot of the whole baseball field (the opening just has the pitcher's mound in the center of a big, blank clearing) and there's little

more detail to it than the pitcher's mound, the bases, the bench, some stands, and a fence. The indoor settings also typically look like a big void of one particular color, with only slight variations between the wall and floor, a notable seam near the bottom of the wall, and some occasional furniture to let you know you're actually in a room. In fact, the only place with any noteworthy detail to it is Mr. Hennessey's storefront, and even that's not much to write home about. As is often the case

with this franchise, no adults are ever seen (or heard, for that matter), with Mr. Hennessey kept completely offscreen, and the same also goes for the opposing baseball team. And while there's only one truly stylized part of the special, when Charlie Brown starts to write down his resignation as team manager, with the words and a bunch of nervous scribbles appearing in the air above his head, it would set the stage for frequent uses of that motif whenever someone is writing, the same way that Snoopy's surfing fantasy can be seen as a prelude to the World War I Flying Ace sequence in It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown.

The special opens with Charlie Brown pitching a ball, only for an offscreen batter to hit it hard enough to send it flying over him. He desperately runs everywhere to catch it: over the stands and a fence, between two houses, down the sidewalk, past Violet and Patty turning a jump-rope for Frieda (he himself gets briefly caught up in the jumping), through a house's front door, up the stairs, into a children's playroom, where he leans out the window for a catch, through various other

rooms, back down the stairs, and out the back door, where it finally comes down at him. He holds his mitt out and does catch it, but it then drops off his glove and to the ground. That's when his team, including Violet, Patty, and Frieda, storm up to him with angry expressions on their faces and scream, "You blockhead, Charlie Brown!", sending him flying backwards (at least he was trying instead of playing around, like those three girls). He gets up in front of a section of wooden fence with the title painted on it and walks off through a loose board

on another section that has Charles Schulz's writing credit on it. The special then truly starts with Linus reading off the less than flattering statistics about their team: the previous year, the opposing team scored 30,000 runs to their 6, 4,900 hits to their 11, made only 4 errs to their 375, and so on. Having heard enough, Charlie Brown sends Linus off, while Lucy advises him not to show up for the first game of the season the next day. That night, as he prepares for bed, he laments how his team never lets him forget any of the mistakes he's made. You then see Snoopy standing on his bedpost, glaring at him, and Charlie Brown reiterates, "Never."

The next day, the team hopes Charlie Brown won't show up, but when he promptly does, they yell, "Disaster time! We're doomed!" Grumbling about the crap he gets, Charlie Brown declares that this season's going to be different and shows off his strategy to avoid double-plays against them, which entails Linus fielding the ball and Snoopy coming and crashing into him to try to break up the play. He then asks if there are any questions, which there are, but they have nothing to do with the game

itself. Instead, they range from Frieda not wanting to play right-field because no one in the stands can see her curly hair and Schroeder grumbling about wanting time to off to play Beethoven, to Lucy saying, "And we can't keep up all that ridiculous infield chatter, like, 'Come on, Charlie Brown! Atta boy! You can do it!' Because you can't do it, Charlie Brown. So, you're turning us into a bunch of hypocrites." When Frieda comments they don't like being hypocrites because baseball's supposed

to build character, Charlie Brown decides he's had enough and tells them to take their positions on the field. He asks Pig-Pen if the other team has shown up and he answers, "Unfortunately, yes." The game then begins, with Charlie Brown throwing the season's first pitch, which he lobs over the plate and backstop. Lucy admonishes him both for this and for almost hitting her mother with the ball. The ball is tossed back to him and, before he pitches again, he talks about how great it is to be playing

ball, saying it feels just like it did, "In the good old days." He then pitches and the ball flies past him hard enough to make him spin in the air and lose most of his clothes and gear. Lying on the mound, he moans, "Unfortunately." Going for another pitch, he comments, "Alright, so they have a man on first. If this team's gonna beat us, they're really gonna have to try." He pitches and they hit the ball high over his head, to which he grumbles, "I hate it when they try." He proceeds to throw pitch after pitch after pitch, only for the same thing to happen

each time, and then, it's only when she's not paying attention and talking with Frieda that Lucy unintentionally catches a ball. After she gives it back to Charlie Brown, Schroeder tells him, "The slow ball's working pretty well today, Charlie Brown. Let's fool this next guy. Give him your fast ball." Charlie Brown answers, "I've been giving them my fast ball!", when Snoopy comes up on the mound with his food bowl in his mouth. Not having it, Charlie Brown tells him to get back into position, take away the bowl, and pay attention.

Snoopy is then shown sitting in the field, still holding the bowl in his mouth, and looking very angry, when a ball is batted his way. He runs and manages to catch it in the bowl, then walks back over to Charlie Brown and spits them both at him, knocking him off his feet. Getting back up, Charlie Brown comments, "Some of these infields are kinda touchy."

He throws another pitch, which gets batted into a high flyball trajectory. Everyone yells for him to catch it and he desperately runs after it. They're both excited about him catching it but also nervous over the possibility of him dropping it. Standing between Violet, Linus, and Lucy, Charlie Brown has his hand out, watching the ball as it comes down at him, thinking, "If I catch it, I'll be the hero. If I miss it, I'll be the goat. I can hear it now: Charlie 'The Goat' Brown." And, just like

before, it falls right into his mitt but rolls out, as the others yell in total despair. Later, having lost the game, he grumbles about how badly he bungled that catch, saying, "I really thought we were going to win this one. For one brief moment, victory was within our grasp." Linus adds, "And then, the game started." Commenting on how they lost 123-0, Charlie Brown asks Linus where the others are and he answers, tearfully, "They all went off to cry." Cut to Snoopy lying atop his doghouse, howling mournfully. With that, everyone quits the team, throwing the caps down on the ground at Charlie Brown's feet until they've piled up. He wonders who's going to abandon him next, when Snoopy walks in and adds his own cap to the pile.

After telling Charlie Brown of Mr. Hennessey's sponsorship offer, Linus decides it may be best if he just forget the whole thing and do other things for the summer, just like the rest of the kids. Inflating a swimming pool and filling it up, he shouts, "Surf's up!" Hearing this, Snoopy jumps off his doghouse, runs inside, and comes back out wearing swimming trunks and carrying a surfboard. He jumps into the pool and fantasizes about swimming out into the ocean, catching a

wave, performing various poses on the board, skimming beneath the wave's bending top, and standing on his hands. However, that's when the wave closes in on him and he suffers a wipe-out, getting flung up into the air along with his board. Seeing his bottom half sticking up out of the water, Linus removes Snoopy from the pool, carries him over to and sets him down in front of Sally, water spewing up out of his mouth like a fountain. Linus yells, "Who wants to apply mouth-to-mouth 

resuscitation?!", but Sally just looks at Snoopy and goes, "Blech!" Meanwhile, some of the other kids, like Shermy, Schroeder, and Pig-Pen, are skateboarding, while Violet, Patty, and Frieda are, as before, playing double-dutch. The boys skate towards them and jump rope along with their boards (Pig-Pen's dust-cloud causes Frieda to momentarily choke), when Charlie Brown runs in and tries to get them to listen to him by doing the same. But he gets tangled up in the rope and accidentally does the same to them, making them

all the more annoyed with him than they were before. After Violet tells him how happy they'll be once he's back in school, he tries to tell them of Mr. Hennessey's offer, but Lucy rolls up on her own skateboard and tells him they don't want to hear it, especially if it concerns baseball. She then rolls away, along with everyone else, as they make it clear they have no intention of listening to him. It's only when they're later playing around in the swimming pool that Charlie Brown is finally able to tell them, which makes them agree to come back to his team, albeit reluctantly.

Come the next game, Charlie Brown has learned that the girls and Snoopy wouldn't be allowed to play in the league and thus, has to refuse the uniforms. Hoping that winning the game will make them forget about them, he tries to pep and encourage them when they meet on the field, but the first thing Lucy asks about are the uniforms. Avoiding the subject, Charlie Brown tells them that he had Linus scout the opposing team. Linus gives them his report: "I've watched this team practice,

see? They were terrible! Anybody could beat them! None of their players can hit the ball out of the infield." Charlie Brown, Lucy, and Snoopy, are initially encouraged, when Linus goes on, "And they have this loudmouth girl in center-field who can't catch a thing. They also have some animal on second base who can't even throw. And their pitcher is a kind of round-headed kid who is absolutely no good at all! And..." They then explode at him, telling him that he scouted his own

team like an idiot. Now all the more frustrated and demoralized, the others make it clear they're only playing for the uniforms. Charlie Brown decides to just start the game and heads to the pitcher's mound, realizing how much he now needs for them to win. Before he throws the first pitch, he talks about it being lonely on the mound and how hard it is to bear so much responsibility, but then you suddenly realize, "You're surrounded by loyal teammates,"; at that moment, Lucy yells, "Come on, you blockhead! Try to get one over the plate!"

Charlie Brown pitches, the ball gets knocked past him, and though Linus tries to catch it, he gets tangled up in his own blanket and falls to the ground. Charlie Brown pitches again, planning to keep the ball low for a double-play, and though the ball whizzes by him again, this time through his legs, Snoopy catches it in his mouth and hands it over to Linus, who tosses it as he runs, which Charlie Brown calls the greatest double-play ever. After that, Shermy scores a hit, followed by Patty and then Pig-Pen, although the latter, again, stirs up so much dust that no one can see what's going on. Pitching again, Charlie Brown is amazed when, despite his blanket causing him to fall again, Linus manages to toss the ball over to Pig-Pen on second base. This ensures him that they can't lose.

Linus is next up to bat, and Charlie Brown tells him to go up to the plate and grit his teeth, which he does. He manages to get a hit, but when he runs for second base, his blanket trips him up yet again. Dismayed by this, Charlie Brown tells Lucy to grit her teeth as well, saying she'll scare the pitcher when she does. He tells her to go get a hit and she walks up to the plate with her teeth firmly gritted, but misses the first pitch. She comments, "Get a hit? I can't even see the pitcher," and ends up striking out. She sits down next to Charlie Brown,

complaining that her bat was too light, the opposition's ball is no good, and the sun is too bright. Charlie Brown next turns to Snoopy when he's up to bat, telling him it's the bottom of the ninth and they need at least two runs. He goes up to the plate and warms up for the pitch, only to whack his foot a little too hard with the bat, leaving it red and throbbing. Regardless, he grits his teeth like everyone else and manages to score a hit. Moreover, he manages to steal second, then runs and steals third, diving behind the plate, and makes

a break for home. Everyone yells for him to slide and he successfully does, earning them a much deserved run. Snoopy is carried off by the others and lauded as a hero, while Charlie Brown excitedly asks Frieda who's next up to bat. Turns out, it's him! Frieda gives him the bat and pushes him to the plate, telling him to grit his teeth and get a hit like everyone else. However, his teeth chatter as he horribly shakes from nervousness, and he misses the first pitch. From the bench, Frieda yells

for him to hit it, and then asks Schroeder, who's sitting next to her, if she'd like to see Charlie Brown hit the ball just once. Schroeder answers, "No, I'm not prepared to have the world come to an end." Truly gritting his teeth, Charlie Brown tries to focus but misses the second pitch as well. However, on the third, he manages to score a hit. Excited and gleefully happy, he runs to first base, then goes to steal second, which he succeeds in, and then decides to go for third. He makes that as well, sliding and reaching it easily, and becoming elated at his success.

Though things look good, on the bench, Lucy and Patty worry that Charlie Brown might do something foolish, like attempt to steal home base. Sure enough, he's contemplating it and starts to go for it, but backs out, saying he doesn't have the nerve for it. He then attempts to go for it again, getting himself wound up, but steps back onto the plate. But, his need to be the hero of the day gets the better of him and he goes for it. After dancing around to try to throw off the pitcher, he takes off with the sound of the "Charge" fanfare. The kids

are horrified that he's trying this and yell for him to slide. But, when he does, he doesn't make it, and after the dust settles, he's surrounded by his very unhappy team, as they call him a blockhead and yell in anguish that he caused them to lose again. Telling him that he didn't even make it halfway, Lucy says that, were it not for the uniforms they're still expecting to get, they'd quit right then and there. That's when Charlie Brown breaks it to them that he turned down Mr. Hennessey's offer, much to their frustration. With that, all of them but Linus

leave him flat, as he laments, "If I had stolen home, I'd have been the hero. Instead, I'm the goat." He asks Linus, "Was I out by much," and Linus, walking off, answers, "By thirty feet." After that is when Linus tells the others why Charlie Brown said no to the uniforms, leaving the girls and Snoopy crestfallen over how they treated him. Lucy comes up with the idea of making him a uniform and, much to Linus' horror, she decides to use his blanket as the material. With him as the

model, Lucy, Violet, Patty, and Snoopy (I don't know why Frieda isn't part of this) make the uniform and take it to Charlie Brown, who's still lying on the ground, lamenting his crushing failure. Telling him what they've done, they stand him up and put it on him, and when he sees "OUR MANAGER" written on the front, he's so touched that he sheds a tear. He declares that the next day's game will be very different.

The next day is different, as it's pouring rain. Linus and Lucy watch it from inside their house, the former commenting that he's glad he's inside. Lucy comments, "Well, good grief, only a real blockhead would be out in a rain like this," and, as it turns out, she's right. Charlie Brown is standing on the pitcher's mound, which is basically an isle in the middle of his soaked baseball field, and wonders where everybody is. He complains, "A little rain never hurt anybody," as Snoopy literally surfs right by him. Linus shows up in a yellow raincoat,

asking him what he's doing, and he mentions the game they were supposed to have.  Linus says, "I don't suppose it has occurred to you that no one else may show up?", and Charlie Brown answers, "Not for a second." The two of them stand there on the mound, when Charlie Brown notices how desperately the shaking Linus is looking at him. He asks him why and he whines that they made his uniform out of his blanket. Hating to see him looking so pathetic, he offers him his uniform's shirt-tail and Linus takes it and sucks his thumb, as usual.

For just over half of this 25-minute cartoon, there's no music score, but when there is, it's Vince Guaraldi bringing a calm but more upbeat sound to the Peanuts, as opposed to the soft, mellow, and, at times, melancholic quality of A Charlie Brown Christmas' music. The opening scene of Charlie Brown trying to catch the flyball is scored entirely through a continuous beat of drum cymbals and a very subtle bass in the background, whereas the title theme is a sort of variation on the iconic "Linus and Lucy" piece. One piece of music, called the "Baseball Theme," is played in several different variations, first on a jaunty piano, second in a version where the piano is joined by some brass, and in a version where a smooth guitar accompanies the piano. A more melancholic-sounding combination of piano and brass is first heard after Charlie Brown's team has lost the first game of the season and is replayed various times when things look hopeless for the team, like when Charlie Brown gets the call from Mr. Hennessey about the league not allowing for the girls or Snoopy and during the ending when he and Linus are standing out in the rain. The familiar piece called "Pebble Beach" is heard when the kids are seen skateboarding, but for me, the most memorable theme in the special is "Surfin' Snoopy," a very upbeat piano/brass combo that, as you probably guessed, is first heard during his surfing fantasy but is also played when he successfully steals the bases and when he and the girls are making Charlie Brown's manager uniform. (That piece was actually used in one scene of A Charlie Brown Christmas but it stuck in my mind more here because it was played several times.)

A lot of Peanuts specials deal with baseball and, in my opinion, Charlie Brown's All Stars! is, along with It's Arbor Day, Charlie Brown, one of the best. While it may not have much to make it stand out from the two well-known specials it's sandwiched in-between, is very simple in terms of its design and overall animation, and has notable errors in some of the characterization, it makes up for it with a simple but entertaining story that has Charlie Brown being forced to make a tough decision and facing the consequences, some truly funny moments and sequences, instances of really good animation, and a very nice music score. If you haven't seen it or even heard of it because of its relative obscurity, I would definitely recommend giving it a whirl if you're a fan of Peanuts or of baseball.