Be My Valentine, Charlie Brown

AIRDATE: 1/28/75

STORY: For being the first Peanuts special to tackle this most tortuous of holidays, it gets a 10.

There are six intersecting couples of interest (not all the parties willing, however): Lucy and Schroeder, Linus and Sally, Linus and Miss Othmar, Snoopy and Woodstock (more playful), Violet and unnamed teacher, Charlie Brown and whoever will send him a freakin' valentine.

At my elementary school, we would acknowledge Valentines Day by handing out our cards personally, milling around during punch and cookies. If anybody got dissed, nobody else had to know. Unless the poor shunned schmuck decided to roll into a ball of whine near the cubbys and emit the occasional agonized wail until his mother had to come mutter some comforting words as she dragged him out by his collar. That memory still makes me laugh. I bet that kid peed the bed a lot.

Well, at Charlie Brown's house of education, the students put their paper hearts into a big box and some lieutenant of love (Schroeder, in this case) calls out the names of fortunate recipients as he delivers valentines. This is practically a set up, as poor Charlie Brown--clutching a briefcase in anticipation of an overflow of superficial affection--has to sit by and see everyone get theirs, waiting and waiting for his name to be called. It never is.

The girls realize that no one deigned bless Chuck with a valentine and are overcome with guilt. After school, they gather around and present Charlie Brown with a "pity valentine". Despite the righteous indignation expressed by Schroeder (yeah, bros before hoes, you go piano man), the poor blockhead gratefully accepts the thrown bone.

He tells Linus that this may be the start of something wonderful for the lonesome loser, the first trickling of a veritable wave. But the blanket-dependant will hear none of it. His hopes to be with his beloved teacher, Miss Othmar, were dashed when he saw her drive off with her boyfriend.

MUSIC: This is not the standard Vince Guaraldi. Tinkling 88s have been replaced by electric piano and crystal-gleam synthesizers. Regardless of the instrument used, the soundtrack is playful and cheery (even as the action twists knives), a sort of hokey-pokey as seduction method. Classical music pops up three times over the course of the show, never sounding awkward. (For the quiz-minded: Bach during Snoopy's carousel; Chopin during the Pawpet Theatre; and Beethoven for Schroeder being Schroeder.) 10

ANIMATION: The drawings are superb. You know this already. The marvel lies in the colors, thatches of red and purple, deep in more ways than one, the very hues of hearts, veins and blood. 10

VOICES: This is a special where the story sustains the voice actors, rather than the two running neck-and-neck. Duncan Watson and Stephen Shea do Charlie Brown and Linus much deeper than their predecessors; it fits the sage Linus a little better. 8 and 8.5, respectively.

Melanie Kohn does a fine Lucy (9) while Lynn Mortensen's Sally is more mature. Which is fine (8), but I do love when Sally has the voice of a child so obviously struggling with phonetics, and putting accents on the most random syllables.

The most pleasant surprise is the job Greg Felton does with Schroeder. It's nice to see the tow-headed boy wonder standing for a change, and Felton delivers his lines naturally. 9

Although she doesn't have as much opportunity to shine (really just two talks with Linus), the only 10 goes to Linda Ercoli for voicing Violet. Ercoli is one of the finest voice actors the producers ever lucked into, in the pocket and out of the park everytime. She gives instant credibility and personality from word one.

"I LOVED TWO COOKIES ONCE"


Midway through the action, Lucy decides that even crabby girls need to be entertained. Luckily for her, Snoopy is feeling feisty and Charlie Brown has decided to rest his ulcers. Presenting....dah dah dah! Pawpet Theatre!

Snoopy is the consummate showman. In addition to pawpets, he makes the experience interactive. If it's raining, the audience will get wet. If it's muddy, the audience will get dirty. And if there's a crash, expect a trash bukkake.

--It's not all grimy for our girl, though. One of the best strips in Peanuts history gets animated in this special, giving Lucy a spotlight she is loathe to relinquish.

"Sometimes I don't think you realize that you could lose me. Are you sure you want to suffer the tortures of the memories of a lost love? Do you know the tortures of the memories of a lost love? It's awful! It will haunt you night and day! You'll wake up at night screaming! You can't eat! You can't sleep! You'll want to smash things! You'll hate yourself and the world and everybody in it! Awwwwww! Are you sure you want to risk losing me?"

All that said while she stomps Schroeder's piano beyond recognition. If the Lucy/Schroeder pairing was a sadistic treat before, the revelation via David Michaelis' Schulz that the tense, one-way relationship was in fact based on Schulz' doomed first marriage enriches their circuitous dance by the addition of an almost too-real (for something that utilizes strictly children) element, the artist finding a muse in an unhappy woman whom he was better able to communicate with via his creation than actual conversation. Or would have been better able to communicate, if she'd had the inkling to read the strip. Hmmm.

--Sally receives a candy heart that hilariously bears the entirety of Elizabeth Barrett Browning's "How Do I Love Thee?" She recites the text with dogged determination, which of course calls for a little reenactment job by Snoopy, who just happens to be walking around the perimeter of the school when he overhears romantic poetry and springs into action.


"I'll balance ice cream cones on my feet if you read some Wallace Stevens next, sweetie."

--Schroeder calls out some unfamilar names as he hands out valentines. But they sure weren't random.

Phil (Roman, the director)
Monte
Jill
Amy (Three of the Schulz children)
Sam (Jones, animator)
Lee (Mendelson, executive producer)
Pat (possibly Patricia Long, animator)
and Joanne Lansing (painting supervisor)
Linda (Ercoli, possibly)

That leaves only the names Laura, Tom and Evelyn as mysteries.

"FRIVOLOUS MINDS ARE WORN BY TRIFLES"



--Really, Sally? I sure don't. I mean, that's the city that gave us Nelly and Kurt Warner and the Blues and East St. Louis.

--Per Linus: "The amount of money you spend on a present should be in direct proportion to the amount of affection you have for that person." Poppycock. Love means never having to say, "I hope I got enough left on my card for this."

--When Charlie Brown doesn't receive any valentines in the mail, he insists on running his stubby hands all around, as if he will unlock a secret compartment, some nook and or cranny that the paper fell into. Likewise, after the disaster at school, he goes over to glare into the box, shake it, and once again run his fingers inside, across the bottom and around the sides, refusing to accept the obvious. We all have not only done something like this...we continue to do it.


--"Valentines For Those We Love...Chocolate Covered Fugu For Those We Hate"

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This show really struck a chord back when it first aired. Children from all over mailed valentines to "Charlie Brown" out of compassion and love. The storyline stands for now and always even as customs change, because longing for affection will always exist, as basic to human survival as breathing and eating. Charlie Brown is not wanting one particular person to give him a cute drawing surrounding syrupy doggerel...he just wants it from someone, anyone. For all the pathetic trees and rock-filled bags, this just may be Charlie Brown at his most sympathetic.

Charlie Brown Snoopy Peanuts