Play It Again, Charlie Brown (1971)

I realized recently that it's nearly been three whole years since my last Peanuts review, so I figured it was about time for them to make a resurgence. Having done all of the major holiday-themed ones, as well as a number of the others either because I figured they were gold, for one reason or another, or just for the heck of it, I think I'm now going to, more or less, go in chronological order with those I haven't done yet. Thus, by process of elimination, our next one is this item, which happens to be the first Peanuts special of the 70's. Definitely one of the most least discussed, as I myself had never heard of it until I picked up that Peanuts 1970's Collection Vol 1. DVD set... and there's a fairly good reason for that. While it is significant in several other ways, in that the entire voice cast from the previous specials were replaced, having grown out of their roles (save for Bill Melendez as Snoopy, of course), and this is also the first one to focus on other characters besides Charlie Brown and Snoopy (despite what that cover may have you think, they have very minor supporting roles here), there's not much to this one. There's no semblance of an actual plot until very late within it, as it mostly focuses on Lucy annoying Schroeder while he's playing his piano, as she always does, with the other Peanuts characters getting randomly caught up in it. And then, when the actual conflict comes up, it's so late in the game and things have to be wrapped up so quickly, that it makes you wonder why they felt it was necessary to put this to animation in the first place.

While playing his beloved Beethoven on his piano, Schroeder is distracted, first by sudden and unwelcome images of Lucy in his head, and then when Snoopy walks in and not so subtly suggests his playing is boring. Next, Lucy herself comes in to flirt with and try to get him to pay attention to her, with the expected dismal results. She's so desperate that she takes advice from Sally, Charlie Brown, and even Snoopy, and, again, each attempt blows up in her face. But then, Peppermint Patty suggests that she ask Schroeder to make his first public performance and play at an upcoming PTA benefit that she's organizing entertainment for. Convinced that this will finally make him see her in a good light, Lucy does so and Schroeder, with his usual reserve, accepts and starts practicing. Lucy is over the moon about how he actually said "thank you" to her, but when she meets Peppermint Patty again, she only then breaks it to Lucy that the benefit is going to consist of rock and roll, and Beethoven simply won't do. Lucy is now crestfallen, knowing that Schroeder will never accept such conditions, and Charlie Brown, Snoopy, and Pig-Pen try to help by putting together a combo to act as back-up for Schroeder. When he learns of this, Schroeder, as expected, refuses to do it, but Charlie Brown manages to coerce him into it. However, while rehearsing, Schroeder feels that he's sold out, a feeling that's likely to doom both the benefit and everyone who's counting on him.

Though the last Peanuts special, which he, of course, directed, was 1969's It Was a Short Summer, Charlie Brown, Bill Melendez was far from idle during the year-and-a-half or so between it and Play It Again. The same year as Short Summer, the first feature film based on the Peanuts, A Boy Named Charlie Brown, was released and was quite successful, both critically and commercially. Also, before Play It Again, Melendez, occasionally stretching himself beyond the Peanuts, directed a short called The Rainbow Bear, although it was apparently just five minutes long and I couldn't find any other information on it. And following Play It Again, he would direct the TV movie, Babar Comes to America, having already done the 1968 film, The Story of Babar, the Little Elephant, before moving on to the second Peanuts movie, Snoopy Come Home.

Lucy (voiced by Pamelyn Ferdin) is truly the main character here, even more than Schroeder. As I've said, much of the special is made up of the usual shtick of her going over to Schroeder's house and annoying him while he's trying to play his piano. When she first walks in, she manages to make him blush by saying he has pretty eyes, but then, she sends him on a rant when she asks, "Do piano players make a lot of money?", insisting that it's all about the art for him. Her response to that? She leans across the piano and says, "You fascinate me," much to his consternation. After that, both her and Frieda annoy him together when they show up, lean on his piano, and talk about Beethoven as if it's a drink you order at a bar. That's when Lucy starts taking advice from various people about how to get his attention. First, when Sally tells her, "I've found out that the only way to attract older men is to flatter them. They really like to be flattered. They really seem to need it," she goes back to Schroeder, tells him he's cute, and that she's going to hug him and kiss him... and he doesn't respond at all, instead continuing to play, as she notes, "That's real concentration." She then asks if he knows what love is and he quotes the exact definition of it in the dictionary before, again, going right back to playing. She goes on to say, "I guess I'm the kind of person who is kind of hard to get to know, My personality doesn't lie right on the surface. The real me is deep. But I'm well worth all the time it takes to understand me. In other words, to know me is to love me." That sends Schroeder running off, leaving her alone to sigh in disappointment. 

Lucy next "talks to" Charlie Brown but, in reality, she doesn't give him a chance to say anything, instead working through it herself and deciding to act more "reserved" about her feelings. Her idea of being reserved is to walk in on Schroeder with a feather duster, tell him, "If we were married, Schroeder, I'd come in every morning with my feather-duster and I'd dust the top of your piano, then I'd dust the keys, and then, just before I'd leave the room, I'd lean over with my feather-duster, and with a coy look on my face, I'd sort of go..." then tickle his nose with it and go, "Kitchy, kitchy, kitchy." Schroeder gives her a very

angry glare over that, and though she gets rid of the feather duster, as well as gets him to admit that he doesn't like her, that doesn't stop her from talking about the two of them getting married. Even when he says he can't conceive of that ever being the case, she tries to subtly suggest that he lean over and kiss her. She does get a kiss, but from Snoopy, who walked in while she wasn't looking and which, as always, disgusts her. Yet, in the next scene, Lucy has an interesting role reversal in that she sits on the stool outside of her own psychiatric booth (she grumbles to herself, "If the girls in Women's Lib ever found out

how I'd throw myself at that man, they'd take away my life membership,"), while Snoopy is the one who gives her advice. Said advice is to just go in and kiss him, which she does... and that sends Schroeder running off yelling about being poisoned, the same way she does when Snoopy kisses her. After that, she and Sally run into Peppermint Patty, who gives Lucy the seemingly perfect way to endear herself to Schroeder by telling him he's to play at the PTA benefit. When she does tell him, all he says is, "Well, that's very nice, Lucy. Thank you. I'd better start practicing right away," and goes back to playing like normal, but the fact that he said "thank you" is

enough to put Lucy in such a good mood that she runs out of the house, yelling happily, and hugs both Snoopy and Charlie Brown really tight. But, when she tells Peppermint Patty about it, she learns that Schroeder will have to play something other than Beethoven, namely rock. Instantly, Lucy's hopes are dashed, as she knows Schroeder will never accept this. There does seem to be some hope when she hears how nice Charlie Brown, Pig-Pen, and Snoopy sound when playing in their combo, and Schroeder does begrudgingly agree to it. But, in the end, he backs out, citing artistic integrity, and devastates everybody, especially Lucy.

As I've said, Schroeder (voiced by Danny Hjelm) is mostly a reactionary character here, dealing with Lucy and others bugging him while he's playing his piano. Up until he learns of the PTA benefit, he's not playing for any reason other than for himself. It's something he takes very seriously, as when Lucy asks him how much money piano players make, he exclaims, "Money?! Who cares about money?! This is art! This is great music I'm playing! And playing great music is an art! Do you hear me?! An art!" He then pounds his fist on his piano for emphasis and chants, "Art, art, art, art, art!" He also tries to ignore her and others who come in, like Snoopy and Frieda, concentrating on his playing, and for the most part, he's successful, although he does sometimes lose his patience, especially with Lucy. Speaking of whom, when she asks if he doesn't like her, he bluntly says, "No. I never have liked you. And I doubt very much if I ever will like you." That doesn't stop her from talking about their being married some day, to which he says, "I can't comprehend what you're saying... No. I can't comprehend that. I can't conceive of that ever happening." Still undeterred, Lucy not so subtly suggests he lean over and kiss her, which makes him give up and walk off. And when she herself leans in and kisses him on the nose, he reacts the way she does when Snoopy kisses her, yelling, "Aaugh! I've been kissed by a girl! Aaugh! I've been poisoned! Get some iodine, get some hot water!", and running off in a panic. But, when she tells him how she's arranged for him to play at the PTA benefit, Schroeder, for probably the first time ever, is grateful to Lucy and begins practicing (like he needs to).

But, as Lucy and the others fretted, when Schroeder learns that Beethoven won't be allowed at the benefit and that he'll have to play rock, he reacts with utter disdain, exclaiming, "Rock?! Me?! Play rock?! If that's the way they feel, just tell them to forget it." Charlie Brown, Pig-Pen, and Snoopy are horrified at this, and Charlie Brown tells Schroeder that he can't let down his friends, while Lucy reminds him that it's his public debut. With that, he reluctantly agrees to go through with it, and brings his piano to the spot, as the others are tuning up. His mood doesn't improve when Lucy complains about his piano having

nowhere to plug in the amplifier, and when he plays the actual music, even though he does it well, save for when he pounds the keys in frustration, he grumbles, "I've sold out. Like everybody else, I've sold out." He has a full on personal crisis over this notion, as he's then seen back in his home, lamenting to a bust of Beethoven himself about it, as well as how the others are depending on them. In the end, he decides that artistic integrity is more important, and breaks it to everybody at the benefit that he's not going to go through it, leading them all to forlornly yell, "Aaugh!" Personally, I don't see why Charlie Brown, Pig-Pen, and Snoopy couldn't just perform by

themselves, as they were doing perfectly fine without Schroeder, but, in any case, at the end of the special, he's back to playing Beethoven. However, Lucy shows up again to annoy him one last time, and this time, she goes for a fairly low blow: "Beethoven never would've made it in Nashville." That outright offends Schroeder, who stops playing and demands she clarify what she meant. She says, "Did he have the Nashville sound? Huh?! Did he?! Did he?!" Insulted, he gets up and walks away, while Lucy adds, "He probably wouldn't have made it in New Orleans, either!"

Unlike his sister, Linus (voiced by Stephen Shea) only appears in a couple of scenes, the first of which is at the beginning, when he joins Snoopy in his happy dancing after listening to Schroeder play Beethoven. Lucy tries to act like a killjoy about this, telling Linus, "If you keep on hanging around with that stupid dog, Linus, you'll end up just as worthless as he is! You'll be nothing! Do you hear me? You'll be nothing!", but he just tells her, "Five hundred years from now, who'll know the difference?!" His other scene is when he comes across Sally (voiced by Hilary Momberger), who's in a lousy mood because

she couldn't jump rope successfully, and indulges her when she grumbles that she's mad at the whole world, pointing out every single thing she claims she's mad at. Unfortunately for him, she then says that she loves him, much to his embarrassment. Speaking of Sally, she has a slightly bigger role, as when Lucy shows up and complains about Schroeder, Sally suggests that she flatter him, saying it's the best way to attract older men. The whole time she's saying this, Sally is motioning towards Linus, who finally decides he can take no more and walks offscreen and out of the special. Later, Sally is walking with Lucy when they run into Peppermint Patty (voiced by Christopher DeFaria), whom she suggests Lucy talk to, saying, "She always seems to come up with answers to problems." (Sally apparently hasn't been around Peppermint Patty that much.) In any case, when Patty learns what's going on, she comes up with the idea of having Lucy tell Schroeder that he should play his piano at the PTA benefit. It seems like a good idea, and it goes well when Lucy tells him, but it's only then that Patty bothers to tell Lucy that they're expecting rock music rather than Beethoven. Lucy tries to tell her that this won't sit well with Schroeder, but she blows her off, saying he'll understand. Of course, he doesn't, and right before the benefit, Patty frets about their not having any entertainment. Lucy then comes up with an unorthodox solution: PTA programs in a spray can (I'll explain later).

Charlie Brown's (voiced by Chris Inglis) first appearance in this 24-minute special doesn't come until just after the 8-minute mark, when he's walking with Lucy as she tells him of her problems with Schroeder and what she wants out of him. She asks Charlie Brown to give her some advice but he barely gets a word out, as she herself decides what she needs to do to get Schroeder's attention, yet still acts like it's Charlie Brown's idea. Later, when Lucy, ecstatic that Schroeder actually thanked her for getting him the gig at the PTA benefit, happily hugs Charlie Brown, he says to himself, "Somehow, I never quite know what's going on." He gets the big picture when, shortly afterward, she tells him of the dilemma she now has with Schroeder and the benefit, and he comes up with the idea of getting together the combo that he, Pig-Pen, and Snoopy make up to convince Schroeder to play something other than Beethoven. His most significant moment is when he coerces Schroeder into playing the benefit for everyone else's sake, but, of course, that doesn't last too long.

Snoopy actually has a bit more to do here than Charlie Brown. Before Lucy shows up for the first time, he walks in on Schroeder, sits atop his piano, and suggests that the music is boring by yawning and snoring, before lying down on the piano like he does on his doghouse. However, after the title screen, Snoopy seems to get more into it. After kissing at Schroeder's nose, he literally floats up into the air and out the door, with Schroeder noting, "You never know how Beethoven is going to affect someone." Snoopy proceeds to get Linus to dance along with him on the sidewalk, much to Lucy's derision, although neither of them pay much attention to her. Snoopy even smooches at her as he leaves with Linus, a prelude to when, after Lucy runs Schroeder off following the moment with the feather duster, Snoopy walks in and kisses her on the ear. As usual, Lucy is initially happy about this, only to run off in disgust when she realizes it was Snoopy. Snoopy is genuinely irked by this, and in the next scene, when he and Lucy end up switching places at the latter's psychiatrist booth, he frowns again when she complains about him kissing her, saying that she hates dog germs. However, he still gives her some of his own advice concerning Schroeder, which is to just walk in and kiss him (I have a feeling he deliberately gave her a suggestion that he knew wouldn't work as payback). He also charges her a nickle for it, just like she does. Finally, in the combo, while Charlie Brown plays the guitar and Pig-Pen the drums, Snoopy strums on a big, upright bass, which he really enjoys. Notably, when Schroeder initially says he's not going to play rock at the benefit, Snoopy is not only as distraught as Charlie Brown and Pig-Pen but seems legitimately angry at Schroeder, glaring at him as Charlie Brown tries to talk him into it. And he's just as bummed as everybody else when Schroeder backs out of the benefit at the last minute.

Frieda (voiced by Lynda Mendelson) appears in one scene when she walks in and, like Lucy, leans against the back of Schroeder's piano. She comments, "Schroeder, I think it's disgraceful the way Lucy bothers you, and she's always asking everyone, 'Why does he always have to play that stupid piano?' I think that's terrible," only to then turn around and ask, " Incidentally, why do you always have to play this stupid piano?" Schroeder doesn't respond to her, when Lucy shows up and they have this exchange as she sits down beside Frieda: "What're you doing here?" "Who wants to know? Maybe I just like music." "Do

you like Beethoven?" "What?" "If you're gonna hang around here, you gotta like Beethoven." "Alright, but I'll just have a small glass." That pushes Schroeder past his limit and he pulls his piano out from under them, causing them to fall back hard on the floor. Lucy tells Frieda, "You blew it, kid." And while Pig-Pen appears here as the combo's drummer, kicking up a lot of dust when he's rocking out on them, he doesn't make a sound, save for when he yells at Schroeder refusing to do the PTA benefit, and even then, it's just a copy of Chris Inglis yelling as Charlie Brown.

As I've said in my reviews of past Peanuts specials, you can really see the evolution and improvement in the animation style as they went on. In fact, the previous special, It Was a Short Summer, Charlie Brown, made just four years after the sometimes rather rickety A Charlie Brown Christmas, had what Charles Schulz himself felt was the best animation out of any of them. Play It Again's animation isn't quite up to that level, as there are some instances of choppiness, like in some of the close-ups of Schroeder playing at the beginning, and some lingering hints of that prototypical character animation and expressions from the first few specials,

but it still has some truly fluid moments. Chief among them are when Snoopy and Linus are dancing together at the beginning, Sally is jumping rope, Schroeder runs off after Lucy kisses him on the nose, Lucy gets all excited when he actually thanks her, and when Charlie Brown, Pig-Pen, and Snoopy are playing in their combo and Lucy dances to the music. The close-ups of the boys playing, with Charlie Brown rocking out on his guitar, Snoopy climbing up and down the bass as he plays, at one point flashing a quick smile at the audience, and Pig-Pen banging those drums, are some really good stuff, as it is when you see Snoopy fooling around with his bass before

the benefit. Stylistically, while the special sticks to the expected simplicity of the backgrounds and environments, with the scenes of Lucy and Schroeder in the latter's house often looking like they're sitting in a completely red or orange void (it's sometimes so red that the piano is a bit hard to make out, as is Schroeder's blush when Lucy tells him he's cute early on), there are some scenes that have more detail to them. The one that comes to mind is when Lucy talks with Charlie Brown at that familiar stone wall, with a very lovely orange, late afternoon sky in the background, and with an appropriate color scheme to boot. Also, while it's not terribly detailed, it's still interesting when Schroeder's home actually looks like a house, especially with that shelf housing a bust of Beethoven next to his chair.

The special also gets a bit stylistic with some of its imagery and humor, like during the opening, when we first see Schroeder playing. The musical notes appear above the piano as he plays, just as both the opening and ending credits do, but then, as he continues, Lucy's face suddenly appears in the middle of them. It takes a bit but Schroeder does finally notice this and comments, "Don't tell me I've grown accustomed to that face." Later, when Lucy asks him if he knows what love is, Schroeder not only gives a dictionary perfect definition of it, but said entry appears as text above them as he says it. However, there's also a gag that, for some, is a bit too fantastical for this series.

During her and Schroeder's first scene together, Lucy suddenly pulls out a spray-can and when, she sprays, it emits the sound of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony. She tells him, "Beethoven now comes in spray cans!" Schroeder isn't amused by this and gestures for her to get out. This comes back around at the end, when he backs out of performing at the PTA benefit and Peppermint Patty frets that they don't have any entertainment. Lucy brings out more of those spray-cans, which emit the sounds of an actual PTA meeting (you actually hear an adult voice, rather than the traditional "wa, wa, wa" sound, which could be the

first time that ever happened in this franchise). She says, "PTA programs also come in spray-cans," then adds, "Now, here's the entertainment," and music comes out of one can when she sprays. Again, I've seen some complain that they feel these gags hurt the grounded, relatable nature of the series but it doesn't bother me, because you'd then have to complain about Snoopy and Woodstock being as anthropomorphized as they are.

The humor is not my personal issue here; it's that, as I said in the intro, Play It Again, Charlie Brown has very little in the way of a story. You can say that about a number of Peanuts specials, as they're sometimes little more than a series of vignettes strung together, but you really feel it here. The first half or so focuses on Lucy's attempts to get Schroeder to pay attention to her, which add up to little more than a bunch of random scenes, with other characters thrown in occasionally. There are also some stretches of no dialogue, instead focusing entirely on Schroeder's playing, like at the very beginning and when Snoopy walks in on him. Notably, during the first scene with

him and Lucy, there are about thirty full seconds of her leaning on his piano as he plays. It looks as though she's going to turn around and say something to him at one point, but she turns back around, and a little more time passes before she finally does next speak to him. The same also goes for when the combo plays and Lucy finds herself dancing to the music. On the one hand, it's nice to see a cartoon that's not throwing something at you every other second, but it also feels like padding because they don't have much material to work with. Then, with only eleven minutes left in the special, we get the moment where

Peppermint Patty suggests that Lucy get Schroeder to play at the benefit, leading to the conflict of him being torn between sticking to his principles or coming through for his friends. To be fair, the notion of him hating the idea of a musician selling out is set up near the beginning, when he goes on that rant when Lucy asks him how much money there is in being a pianist, so there is some depth to it, but, again, the conflict is over about as soon as it's introduced. While the message of not compromising yourself or what you believe in is certainly not a bad one to teach kids, a lot more could've been done with it.

While it still features music by Vince Guaraldi and company (though none of the familiar Peanuts themes), much of the special's soundtrack is made up of various works by Beethoven, including eight sonatas (all of them performed by Lillian Steuber), as well as the Fifth Symphony. The rest of the music is comprised of a really rocking title theme by Guaraldi, which you first hear when Sally unsuccessfully tries to jump rope, as well as in a slow, melancholic version when Schroeder is debating about whether or not he should perform, and during the ending credits; an upbeat, jazzy piece by John Scott Trotter for when Snoopy dances with Linus; much more familiar Guaraldi-style music for the scene between Lucy and Charlie Brown, when Snoopy gives her advice (that track is officially called "Lucifer's Lady"), and when Lucy is ecstatic; an electric band version of Peppermint Patty's theme for her first appearance; and the nice rock and roll bit that the combo plays, also by Trotter, who arranged and conducted the score, and was nominated for an Emmy for his work.

Play It Again, Charlie Brown certainly isn't bad but there's a reason why you don't hear many people talking about it. There's just not much to it, with the first half comprising Lucy's repeatedly failed attempts to get Schroeder to notice her, and the third act finally having a bit of conflict and a personal dilemma on Schroeder's part, which is resolved almost immediately. There are some funny moments, as well as some good animation and style, and if you like classical music, you'll get plenty of well-played performances of Beethoven's work, along with the expected good work that Vince Guaraldi always composed, but don't go into it expecting anything truly special.