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It's the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown

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It's the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown
Original 1974 title card
GenreAnimated TV special
Created byCharles M. Schulz
Directed byPhil Roman
Voices ofTodd Barbee
Melanie Kohn
Stephen Shea
Lynn Mortensen
Greg Felton
Jimmy Ahrens
Linda Ercoli
Bill Melendez
ComposersVince Guaraldi
Christian Petzold
Ludwig van Beethoven
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
Production
Executive producerLee Mendelson
ProducerBill Melendez
EditorsChuck McCann
Roger Donley
Running time30 min.
Original release
NetworkCBS
ReleaseApril 9, 1974

It's the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown! is the 12th prime-time animated TV special based on the comic strip Peanuts by Charles M. Schulz. In the United States, it debuted on CBS on April 9, 1974 at 8 PM. Thereafter, CBS aired it each Easter season from 1974 to 2000. ABC repeated the special in some years during the period 2001 through 2014.

Summary

While most of the Peanuts gang is busy getting ready for Easter, Linus futilely tries to convince them that it's all a waste of time, and that the "Easter Beagle" will take care of everything. Only Charlie Brown's sister, Sally, believes him, although she remains skeptical after their Great Pumpkin misadventure on Halloween.

Peppermint Patty and Marcie attempt to color Easter eggs, but as it is Marcie's first time, she does not know how. Their first attempt fails as Marcie fries the eggs on a griddle. The second attempt fails when she tries cooking more eggs on a waffle iron (for 4 of the eggs), then in a toaster (for 1 of them, which is unsuccessful because the egg cannot fit in one of the toaster's slots), and baking the rest of them (the same egg she tries toasting and the remaining 7) in the oven. In the third and final attempt, Peppermint Patty spends the last of her allowance with another carton of eggs. In doing so, Peppermint Patty (after spending the last of her money) explains to Marcie that the eggs are neither to be fried, roasted, toasted, nor waffled. The eggs are supposed to be boiled. Marcie does boil the eggs, but instead of putting them in shells-and-all, Marcie puts the eggs into the pot of water (without the shells) resulting in egg soup. At the end of that attempt, Peppermint Patty is out of money and she and Marcie end up with no colored eggs (and cannot make any more attempts).

Woodstock wakes up shivering in his nest after a cold spring rain. He goes for help to Snoopy, who buys him a birdhouse. At first Woodstock hates it, but soon makes it over into a bachelor pad, complete with television, contemporary artwork, a sunken bed, modern furniture, and a quadrophonic stereo system. Curious to see more of the inside, Snoopy gets his nose stuck in the entry hole and accidentally shatters the birdhouse, and so he buys Woodstock another house.

Much to Schroeder's chagrin, Lucy believes that Easter is the "gift-getting season", so she decides to have her own private Easter egg hunt, painting and then hiding the eggs herself to find them on Easter morning. But unbeknownst to her, Snoopy follows close behind and snatches up each one of the eggs. Easter morning arrives, and so does the Easter Beagle, tossing eggs to everyone including Woodstock in his new birdhouse, to Lucy (whose hand Snoopy furtively shakes), and even Peppermint Patty and Marcie. But by the time he gets to Charlie Brown, Snoopy has run out of eggs, and he gives Charlie Brown an embarrassed smile.

Peppermint Patty instructs Marcie to put salt on her egg and eat it (after telling Marcie that you eat the eggs after you have received them), which she does without removing the shell. After the Easter Beagle's visit, Sally becomes a believer, but Lucy quickly realizes that the Easter Beagle gave her one of her own eggs; she is still brooding about it ten weeks later, and Linus suggests that she go and talk about it with Snoopy. She visits Snoopy's doghouse to pick a fight, but Snoopy takes the fight out of her with a disarming kiss on the cheek.

Voice cast

Notes

  • It was the last special for Todd Barbee. He would be replaced by Duncan Watson, respectively.

Television

The program's rights are held by ABC Television, where it runs annually. It ran annually on ABC from 2001 up to April 11, 2006.[1] In 2007, the network, without any explanation, did not air the program, but it returned on March 18, 2008, as filler programming against American Idol. The TV special was watched by 6.32 million viewers, in fourth place behind Idol, NCIS and The Biggest Loser, and fifth place if Spanish-language Univision is counted.[2] ABC didn't air the special in 2011 or 2012, but it aired on Easter Sunday 2013 along with Charlie Brown's All-Stars (1966), watched by 2.56 million people, tied for fourth place behind the end of the NCAA Championship Basketball Game between Duke and Louisville and a rerun of The Voice.[3][4] The special aired again with Charlie Brown's All-Stars on Easter Sunday in 2014. To date this is the last broadcast airing of the special.

ABC telecast

To make room for more commercial advertisements, ABC cuts off the following scenes in this special:

  • The part where Lucy had a talk with Schroeder was cut.
  • The escalator scene in the department store was cut, as well as the parting of the friends when they are done shopping.
  • The part where Linus explains to Peppermint Patty and Marcie about the Easter Beagle was cut.
  • The last minute of the scene (a fight between Lucy and Snoopy, almost 10 weeks later) was cut.
  • The credits for this special was shown for a short time until ABC's own credits took over, until the 2013 airing where the credits were shown in their entirety.

Home media

It's the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown was released to DVD twice, first on March 4, 2003 by Paramount Home Entertainment and again on February 15, 2008 on a Remastered Deluxe Edition DVD from Warner Home Video. It was also released in the UK by Firefly Entertainment in 2004, with Life Is a Circus, Charlie Brown.

VHS releases of It's the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown have, in the past, been available in the 1980s from Kartes Video Communications, Media Home Entertainment and subsidiary Hi-Tops Video and in the 1990s by Paramount.

Music score

The musical score for It's the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown was composed by Vince Guaraldi (except where noted) and performed by the Vince Guaraldi Sextet.[5]

The song "Snoopy and Woodstock" featured is an uptempo reworking of "Mystery Theme," the primary theme of It's a Mystery, Charlie Brown (1974) which was broadcast two months prior to It's the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown.[5]

  1. "Peppermint Patty" (laid-back vamp)
  2. "Easter Beagle Theme"
  3. "Piano Sonata No. 3 in C Major, Opus 3" (Ludwig van Beethoven)
  4. "Snoopy and Woodstock"
  5. "Linus and Lucy" (version 1)
  6. "Woodstock's Dream" (version 1)
  7. "Tisn't the Season"
  8. "Easter Beagle Theme" (version 2, bunny-wunny dance)
  9. "Woodstock's Dream" (version 2)
  10. "Snoopy and Woodstock" (reprise)
  11. "Tisn't the Season" (version 2)
  12. "Kitchen Music" (version 1)
  13. "Linus and Lucy" (version 2)
  14. "Woodstock's Pad"
  15. "Woodstock's Dream" (version 3)
  16. Minuet in G major (Music Box dance) (Christian Petzold)
  17. "Tisn't the Season" (version 3)
  18. "Kitchen Music" (version 2)
  19. "Linus and Lucy" (version 3)
  20. "Linus and Lucy" (version 4)
  21. "Symphony No. 7 in A Major, Opus. 92; second movement" (Ludwig van Beethoven)
  22. "Symphony No. 7 in A Major, Opus. 92; first movement" (Ludwig van Beethoven)
  23. "Kitchen Music" (version 3)
  24. "Kitchen Music" (version 4)
  25. "Linus and Lucy" (version 5)
  26. "Easter Beagle Theme" (version 3, end credits)

No official soundtrack for It's the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown has been released. However, in the mid-2000s, recording session master tapes for seven 1970s-era Peanuts television specials scored by Guaraldi were discovered by his son, David Guaraldi. This resulted in the release of "Snoopy and Woodstock" and "Kitchen Music" (version 2) on the compilation album, Vince Guaraldi and the Lost Cues from the Charlie Brown Television Specials, Volume 2 (2008).[6][7] A live version of "Woodstock's Pad" was also released in 2008 on Live on the Air from a Vince Guaraldi Trio concert original recorded on February 6, 1974.[6][8]

References

  1. ^ It's the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown - Home - ABC.com Archived 2012-07-07 at archive.today
  2. ^ FOX Cuts In on ABC Tuesday. Zap2It.com. 19 March 2008. and Fitzgerald, Toni. Miss Guided lands short of the mark Archived 2008-05-09 at the Wayback Machine. Media Life. 19 March 2008.
  3. ^ Sunday Final Ratings: 'All-Star Celebrity Apprentice' Adjusted Up & Unscrambled CBS Numbers 2 April 2013.
  4. ^ Peanuts Animation and Video List. 30 March 2013.
  5. ^ a b Bang, Derrick. "Vince Guaraldi's Peanuts Song Library: It's the Easter Beagle, Charlie Brown". fivecentsplease.org. Derrick Ban, Scott McGuire. Retrieved 9 March 2020.
  6. ^ a b Bang, Derrick. "Vince Guaraldi on LP and CD". fivecentsplease.org. Derrick Bang, Scott McGuire. Retrieved 25 February 2020.
  7. ^ Vince Guaraldi and the Lost Cues from the Charlie Brown TV Specials, Volume 2 at AllMusic. Retrieved February 26, 2020.
  8. ^ Live on the Air at AllMusic. Retrieved 4 February 2020.
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