Charlie Brown's All Stars!

Charlie Brown's All Stars!
Genre	Animated TV Special
Created by	Charles M. Schulz
Directed by	Bill Melendez
Voices of	Peter Robbins Sally Dryer Christopher Shea Ann Altieri Glenn Mendelson Kathy Steinberg Geoffrey Ornstein Lynn Vanderlip Karen Mendelson Gail DeFaria Bill Melendez
Theme music composer	Vince Guaraldi
Country of origin	U.S.
Production
Executive producer	Lee Mendelson
Producer	Bill Melendez
Editors	Robert T. Gillis Steven Melendez
Camera setup	Nick Vasu
Running time	30 minutes (with commercials)
Original release
Network	CBS
Release	June 8, 1966 (1966-06-08)

Charlie Brown's All Stars! is the second prime-time animated television special based upon the popular comic strip Peanuts, by Charles M. Schulz. It was the second such TV special (following A Charlie Brown Christmas) to be produced by Lee Mendelson and Bill Melendez (who also directed), and originally aired on CBS on June 8, 1966. It ceased to be aired annually by 1971, and was last shown on CBS on April 3, 1982 (although Disney Channel and Nickelodeon aired reruns of the special in the 1990s). ABC returned the special to television on April 7, 2009, as a companion to It's the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown.

Plot

After Charlie Brown's team loses their first game of the season (123–0), his team quit in disgust. Depressed, Charlie Brown wanders around aimlessly until Linus meets him with good news: Mr. Hennessey, operator of a local hardware store, is offering to sponsor Charlie Brown's team, place them in an organized league, and even buy them new uniforms. While Linus is inflating a pool, Charlie Brown's sister, Sally, appears in her bikini bathing suit.

The excitement gets the better of Charlie Brown, and he eagerly tells the team the good news. Lucy is apprehensive, but states that if Charlie Brown can really get the team uniforms, they will give him another chance and return to the team. Later, Charlie Brown gets a phone call from Mr. Hennessey, and is told that the league does not allow girls or dogs. Charlie Brown tries to reason with Mr. Hennessey, but Mr. Hennessey replies that they are the league's rules, not his. Unwilling to sacrifice his friends, Charlie Brown has no choice but to turn down Mr. Hennessey's offer.

Charlie Brown relays the news to Linus, who tells him that Lucy and the team will most likely be angry with his decision. However, Charlie hits on an idea: he will not tell them until after the next game, figuring their lifted spirits will drive them to a great win. Linus says this may not be a good idea, but Charlie Brown feels it will work. The game starts off slowly, but as it picks up, the team begins to play spectacularly. Inspired by Snoopy successfully stealing second, third, and home, Charlie Brown attempts the same thing in the bottom of the ninth inning, successfully stealing second and third. However, he tries to tie the game by stealing home, only to be thrown out at the plate, ending the game.

Lucy and several others tell Charlie Brown that if it were not for the uniforms and the league deal, they would quit. Charlie Brown then tells the team (leaving out the reasons why) that he told Mr. Hennessey that the deal was off. This causes the team to storm off. As the girls (Lucy, Patty, Violet and Frieda) complain about their misfortune and Snoopy is shown sharing their disgust, Linus tells them the real reason why Charlie Brown turned down the offer. Both Linus and Schroeder berate the girls and Snoopy for their selfishness. This causes the girls and Snoopy to feel terrible. Lucy comes up with an idea to make up for the insults. They make a plan by creating a special baseball uniform for Charlie Brown. Linus insists there is no material available. However, Lucy responds (grinning evilly), and says they do. Seeing that Linus's security blanket is the only material, she then angrily makes Linus give up his blanket. The girls and Snoopy (when creating the uniform) force Linus to act as a dress dummy. Finally, as Linus looks on, both the girls and Snoopy make the uniform out of the blanket (using the only material available). The dismayed Linus (used as a model) can only watch in horror as the girls and Snoopy destroy his security blanket and (successfully) make (refashion) it into a baseball uniform for Charlie Brown.

The girls and Snoopy present the newly made uniform shirt (completed with the words "Our Manager" on the front) to Charlie Brown, who is very pleased with it. He is determined that his team will win the next day, but the game is rained out. Charlie Brown just stands in the rain on the pitcher's mound, where Linus finds him and tells him that nobody will come to the field. Linus looks nervously at Charlie Brown. When Charlie questions why Linus is looking at him like that, Linus wails and says to Charlie Brown that his uniform was made from his blanket. Then Charlie Brown offers his best friend Linus the shirt's tail of his baseball uniform so he can use it like a security blanket. Linus happily accepts it and stands with it pressed against his cheek, sucking his thumb as he normally does. The closing credits run over the two of them standing there in the pouring rain.

Voice cast

• Peter Robbins - Charlie Brown
• Sally Dryer - Lucy van Pelt
• Christopher Shea - Linus van Pelt
• Kathy Steinberg - Sally Brown
• Bill Melendez - Snoopy

Additional voices

• Ann Altieri - Frieda
• Glenn Mendelson - Schroeder
• Lynn Vanderlip - Patty
• Gail DeFaria - Shermy
• Geoffrey Ornstein - Pig-Pen
• Karen Mendelson - Violet

5 also appears, but is silent. This is also the first Peanuts special to not feature Tracy Stratford as Lucy van Pelt, she has been replaced with Sally Dryer, who voiced Violet in the previous special. This is also the first special where Karen Mendelson voices Violet.

End credits

• Created and Written by: Charles M. Schulz
• Original Score Composed and Conducted by: Vince Guaraldi
• Graphic Blandishment by:
  • Ed Levitt,
  • Bernard Gruver,
  • Ruth Kissane,
  • Dean Spille,
  • Frank Smith,
  • Bob Carlson John Walker
  • Rudy Zamora Ed Love
  • Herman Cohen Beverly Robbins
  • Reuben Timmons Eleanor Warren
  • Russ Von Neida Faith Kovaleski
• Editing: Robert T. Gillis
  • Assisted by: Steven Melendez
• Sound by: Producers' Sound Service
• Camera: Nick Vasu
• Executive Producer: Lee Mendelson
• Produced and Directed by: Bill Melendez

Book v. television special

A book about the television special was published shortly after it initially aired. In the book, Charlie Brown approaches him teammates and said the whole simple "we don't need them" line, then turns and walks away as his teammates heaps verbal abuse on him nonstop until Linus steps in to stand up for him, but without telling them why. In the book, Schroeder is not shown berating the girls and Snoopy along with Linus, although he does in the television show. It is Schroeder who says: "Those uniforms meant just as much to Charlie Brown as they did to you. Probably more!". Also, at the end, Linus just comes up to Charlie on the pitchers mound where Charlie had the new uniform shirt on, and without a word spoken, as if he knew, Charlie lets him use his shirt tail to hold up against his cheek like at the end of the show.

Home media

Charlie Brown's All Stars! was released in DVD format on March 2, 2004, grouped with the similarly-themed It's Spring Training, Charlie Brown (1992) and Lucy Must Be Traded, Charlie Brown (2003). On July 7, 2009, it was released in remastered form as part of the DVD box set, Peanuts 1960's Collection.

Production notes

• The scene where Snoopy is surfing is later used in Snoopy Come Home, You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown, and Snoopy's Reunion.
• Like A Charlie Brown Christmas before it, this special also had sponsoring from Coca-Cola (and Dolly Madison on a repeat after 1966), which was later edited out from later broadcasts and video/DVD releases. As well, the original music cue "Surfin' Snoopy", which appeared in the first special, is re-used here.
• This is the first non-holiday-oriented Peanuts special.
• Even though Linus knows why Charlie Brown did not terminate the girls and Snoopy from his team, he can be seen getting angry and yelling at Charlie Brown with the others. And then turns on them and explains to them why Charlie Brown turned down the offer.

Reception

The special was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Children's Program in 1967, along with It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown. It lost to Hanna-Barbera's Jack and the Beanstalk, starring Gene Kelly.

External links

• Charlie Brown's All-Stars at IMDb