It's Arbor Day, Charlie Brown

Directed by:	Phil Roman
Written by:	Charles M. Schulz
Release date:	March 16, 1976
Running time:	25 minutes
Preceded by:	You're a Good Sport, Charlie Brown
Followed by:	It's Your First Kiss, Charlie Brown
Availability:	It's the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown (bonus episode) DVD, It's the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown Deluxe Edition (bonus episode) DVD, Peanuts 1970's Collection, Vol. 2 DVD

It's Arbor Day, Charlie Brown is the fifteenth animated TV special based on the Peanuts comic strip by Charles M. Schulz. It first aired on CBS on March 16, 1976. It is the first animated cartoon in which Rerun van Pelt appears.

Plot

To celebrate Arbor Day, everbody works together to plant a garden, after Sally was humiliated in class by not understanding the purpose, her response being "it's the day the ships sail into the arbor!". Unfortunately, the garden is located in Charlie Brown's baseball field, and he has a game with Peppermint Patty's team approaching. However, Charlie Brown works to make the best of the situation by attaching baseball gloves to the trees as well as caps (to make them look like scarecrows), which results in Peppermint Patty's team being unable to score due to the large number of fly outs from the balls being hit into the gloves. Schroeder says he will kiss Lucy if she hits a home run, which he figures she will not. However, Charlie Brown is happy to see that Lucy indeed hits a home run and scores the only run in the game. The game is cut short by rain, and although Charlie Brown expresses agony that "We were winning!", he accepts it as a de facto victory and one of the few times his baseball team has won a game.

Goodbye Guaraldi

Vince Guaraldi had composed the soundtrack to the TV special, which was his final opus. After work, he went to a Howard Johnson's where he had been staying in San Francisco, but was later found dead at the desk in his room. An autopsy revealed that Guaraldi had died of myocardial infarction. Although some critics gave It's Arbor Day, Charlie Brown low marks due to celebrating an obscure holiday, many have regarded it as the swan song of Charlie Brown music, as later Peanuts specials often lacked the jazzy tones Guaraldi was known for.

Voice cast

• Dylan Beach - Charlie Brown
• Gail Davis - Sally Brown
• Liam Martin - Linus van Pelt
• Sarah Beach - Lucy van Pelt
• Vinny Dow - Rerun van Pelt (briefly)/Pig-Pen
• Greg Felton - Schroeder
• Stuart Brotman - Peppermint Patty
• Michelle Muller - Frieda
• Bill Melendez - Snoopy/Woodstock

Marcie and Violet appear, but are silent.

Notes

• This is the second animated cartoon that Snoopy got kicked out of the library, along with Woodstock, the first being Snoopy, Come Home.

External links

• It's Arbor Day, Charlie Brown on the Internet Movie Database.
• It's Arbor Day, Charlie Brown on the Big Cartoon Database.