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You're in Love, Charlie Brown is the fourth animated television special based on the Peanuts comic strip by Charles M. Schulz. It first aired on CBS on June 12, 1967. It is the first TV special in which Peppermint Patty appears and the first in which a trombone is used in place of a voice when an adult speaks. Although the special centers around Charlie Brown's feelings towards the Little Red-Haired Girl, the Little Red-Haired Girl herself remains unseen throughout, as she does in the strip.

This special was nominated for the Emmy Award for Outstanding Achievement in Children's Programming (as was He's Your Dog, Charlie Brown), and garnered separate nominations for Special Classification of Individual Achievements for both Charles Schulz and Bill Melendez. It therefore received 3 Emmy Award nominations, the most of any Peanuts special.

Plot[]

It is late spring, school is about to let out for summer vacation, and Charlie Brown is upset about everything, and very stressed. On the way to school, he meets Linus and tells him he is frustrated that he cannot enjoy himself like all the other children at school. When he notices the Little Red-Haired Girl, sitting on a passing bus, he gets very excited, and wonders why he can never eat lunch with her. Linus exclaims, "I know what the problem is. You're in love, Charlie Brown."

During the second-to-last day of school, Charlie Brown agonizes over the Little Red-Haired Girl, trying to think of different ways to get her attention, only to have each attempt fail embarrassingly. First he writes her a love note, but he gets called on by the teacher to read a report in front of the class, and accidentally reads the note aloud to the raucous laughter of the class. Then he goes to the pencil sharpener, which is right behind the Little Red-Haired Girl's desk, but accidentally sharpens his ball-point pen. Lunch hour is just as frustrating. He tries to get up the courage to go and talk to the girl, only to fail at the last moment. Then he panics when the Little Red-Haired Girl approaches him; he ties his peanut butter sandwich in a knot and pulls his lunch sack down over his face. When lunch is over, Charlie Brown accidentally bumps into Lucy and removes the bag from his face. Charlie Brown is mad at himself for what happened. He tells Lucy that pretty faces make him nervous, to which Lucy replies, "How come my face doesn't make you nervous?" On the way home, Lucy and Violet tease Charlie Brown for the ridiculous book report he gave in class and they both start laughing at him. Linus defends him by telling them he is madly in love with the Little Red-Haired Girl, but this only provides the girls another way to humiliate Charlie Brown.

That afternoon, Charlie Brown meets Peppermint Patty and talks about the girl at school, but before he can mention her red hair, Peppermint Patty jumps in and tells "Chuck" that she knows exactly who he is talking about, and will set up a meeting with her. She then tells Lucy that "someone" wants to meet her at the ball park that night. Lucy agrees, thinking the "someone" is Schroeder, and Peppermint Patty returns to tell Charlie Brown everything is all set. When the two meet each other at home plate, they respond with "You! Bleah!"

The next morning, the last day of school before summer vacation, Charlie Brown plans to get up early in the morning, so he can take the bus (he normally walks to school) and meet the Little Red-Haired Girl at the bus stop. He actually sets his alarm for 4:30 in the morning, but is so tired, he falls asleep on the bench at the bus stop, and when the bus comes, it leaves him behind. He arrives late for school and is sent to the principal's office. When he comes back to class, the teacher calls on him to solve a math problem on the blackboard. Thinking he will finally impress the Little Red-Haired Girl, he struts to the blackboard and works hard, but when the teacher asks him if he knows what he is doing, he admits he does not have a clue. He is once again laughed at, and once again goes slowly back to his desk.

I Like You Charlie Brown-1-

Charlie Brown finds that the Little Red-Haired Girl has given him a note.

When school is finally over, Charlie Brown realizes he can go on the bus, and finally meet the Little Red-Haired Girl. Charlie Brown beats everyone out to the school bus to meet her but a clamoring crowd of fellow students pushes him away. The last student gets on the bus, and it pulls away again, leaving Charlie Brown behind. He shouts out that he missed his last chance to meet the Little Red Haired Girl, until he notices a sheet of paper that had gotten slipped into his hand. It reads:

I Like You, Charlie Brown. signed Little Red Haired Girl

Charlie Brown's anguish quickly turns into delight and hope as he dances up the hill toward home as the end credits roll. At the very end, he stops and asks himself, "Good grief! How will I live until September?"

Voice cast[]

Patty, Schroeder, Shermy, Frieda, "Pig-Pen", and 3 and 4 also appear in this special, but they are silent.

Recycled gags[]

Soundtrack[]

  1. "It's Spring"
  2. "Charlie Brown Theme"
  3. "You're in Love, Charlie Brown"
  4. "You're in Love, Charlie Brown" (vocal)
  5. "School Days"
  6. "Red Baron"
  7. "Trio Ad-Lib"
  8. "Peppermint Patty" vamp
  9. "I Before E Except After D"
  10. "Love Will Come"
  11. "You're in Love, Charlie Brown" (minor key variation)
  12. "Theme Parody" (vocal arrangement of title theme, sung by the cast)
  13. "You're in Love, Charlie Brown"
  14. "Pomp & Circumstance" (traditional, arranged by Guaraldi)
  15. "Psychiatric Vamp" (alternate arrangement of the "Peppermint Patty" vamp)
  16. "Schroeder Practices"
  17. "Schroeder Plays"
  18. "Psychiatric Vamp" (alternate arrangement of the "Peppermint Patty" vamp)
  19. "Peppermint Patty"
  20. "Psychiatric Vamp" (alternate arrangement of the "Peppermint Patty" vamp)
  21. "You're in Love, Charlie Brown"
  22. "Charlie Brown's All-Stars"
  23. "Charlie Brown Theme"
  24. "School Days"
  25. "You're in Love, Charlie Brown"
  26. "Fanfare Finish"

Comic strips adapted in the special[]

Notes[]

  • This is the first special to do a callback to a previous special. When Lucy complains to Charlie Brown that her face doesn't make him nervous, she protests, "Wasn't I the Christmas Queen?", in reference to A Charlie Brown Christmas.
  • The version on Apple TV+ has the audio cut off before Charlie Brown's final line after the credits ("Good grief! How will I live until September?!"), thereby completely removing the entire punchline of the special.

Goofs[]

  • When Charlie Brown goes to sharpen his ball point pen, he is clearly holding a pencil. When he comes back, he is holding a pen.
  • On the school playground, Patty and Violet are jumping rope. As Snoopy swings around hanging on to a tether ball, Patty is then immediately seen on the ladder of a slide, where Lucy also is. Linus slides ahead of them, and then walks past Violet, Lucy and Patty on swings.
  • During the mad rush at the bus stop in the final scene, Linus, Lucy, and Violet get on the bus twice.
  • Irony: Lucy mocks Charlie Brown for being in love, while she herself is in love with Schroeder and is furious at not being reciprocated.

Gallery[]

External links[]

Peanuts Animated Features
TV Specials Released 1960s A Charlie Brown ChristmasCharlie Brown's All-StarsIt's the Great Pumpkin...You're in Love...He's Your Dog...It Was a Short Summer...
1970s Play It Again...You're Not Elected...There's No Time for Love...A Charlie Brown ThanksgivingIt's a Mystery...It's the Easter Beagle...Be My Valentine...You're a Good Sport...It's Arbor Day...It's Your First Kiss...What a Nightmare...You're the Greatest...
1980s She's a Good Skate...Life Is a Circus...It's Magic...Someday You'll Find Her...A Charlie Brown CelebrationIs This Goodbye...?It's an Adventure...What Have We Learned...?It's Flashbeagle...Snoopy's Getting Married...You're a Good Man...Happy New Year...!Snoopy!!! The MusicalIt's the Girl in the Red Truck...
1990s Why, Charlie Brown, Why?Snoopy's ReunionIt's Spring Training...It's Christmastime Again...You're in the Super Bowl...It Was My Best Birthday Ever...
2000s It's the Pied Piper...A Charlie Brown ValentineCharlie Brown's Christmas TalesLucy Must Be Traded...I Want a Dog for Christmas...He's a Bully...
2010s Happiness Is a Warm Blanket...
2020s For Auld Lang SyneIt's The Small Things...To Mom (and Dad), With LoveLucy's SchoolOne-of-a-Kind MarcieWelcome Home, Franklin
Movies A Boy Named Charlie BrownSnoopy, Come HomeRace for Your Life, Charlie BrownBon Voyage, Charlie Brown (And Don't Come Back!!)The Peanuts Movie
The Charlie Brown and Snoopy Show Season 1 "Snoopy's Cat Fight" • "Snoopy: Team Manager" • "Linus and Lucy" • "Lucy vs. the World" • "Linus' Security Blanket" • "Snoopy: Man's Best Friend" • "Snoopy the Psychiatrist" • "You Can't Win, Charlie Brown" • "The Lost Ballpark" • "Snoopy's Football Career" • "Chaos in the Classroom" • "It's That Team Spirit, Charlie Brown" • "Lucy Loves Schroeder"
Season 2 "Snoopy and the Giant" • "Snoopy's Brother Spike" • "Snoopy's Robot" • "Peppermint Patty's School Days" • "Sally's Sweet Babboo"
This Is America, Charlie Brown "The Mayflower Voyagers" • "The Birth of the Constitution" • "The Wright Brothers at Kitty Hawk" • "The NASA Space Station" • "The Building of the Transcontinental Railroad" • "The Great Inventors" • "The Smithsonian and the Presidency" • "The Music and Heroes of America"
Snoopy in Space "The Application" • "Training" • "The Graduation" • "Welcome to the ISS" • "I Never Promised You a Space Garden" • "Space Sleepwalking" • "The Journey on Orion" • "Crater Crash" • "Searching for Moon Rocks" • "You're a Good Moon, Charlie Brown" • "The Next Mission" • "Mars or Bust"
Others Peanuts (2014 TV series) • Peanuts Motion ComicsThe Snoopy Show
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