You're In Love, Charlie Brown

What is love, if not a twisted face?

AIRDATE: 6/12/67

STORY: It's almost the last day of school, and Charlie Brown is overwrought. But it's not lackluster grades or the looming threat of an underloved bully stalking 'round the flagpole that has our balloon-headed hero crapping razor blades. It's "that Little Red-Haired Girl". Charlie Brown is determined to let his Venus know exactly how he feels, and spends the better part of two days trying to muster up the due courage. Best effort and intentions are rendered moot, however, in the blank unfeeling face of utter terror. Thus, inner pep talks fizzle, notes are mixed in with school work, sandwiches are knotted and the PTA gets much love for their brush skills.

As the school year ends, Charlie Brown races to the bus. Eyes wild with young-boy desperation, he seeks out his dreamgirl amid the trampling mass of ecstatic kiddies boarding the cheese wagon to freedom. It seems all is truly lost when the bus rumbles off, leaving behind a shattered soul and some unsympathetic fumes.

Or maybe not.

It takes several seconds for the crestfallen lad to realize he is clutching a piece of paper.



A solid 9. Why not a perfect 10? Read on.

MUSIC: This came out in 1967, so that means Guaraldi genius top to bottom, bottom to top. The soundtrack to You're In Love tickles and hugs in all the right spots at all the right times. Instantly catchy, utterly unique originals sit alongside variations of songs that had already become favorites of viewers. Vince even throws a rearranged "Pomp and Circumstance" in the bag. "Release all Guaraldi cues on CD boxset now" is not code for anything, but rather a tearjerking plea for some kind of sanity. This gets the Jimmy Onishi 10.

ANIMATION: Still classic-era, warm and inviting as a cup of hot chocolate in bed. Includes some of my all-time favorite Peanuts standbys, like soundless clapping (how Zen! Or not), hearts surrounding Sally as she swoons over the unmoved Linus, Snoopy dancing after some seemingly non-danceworthy action (in this case, setting the table for breakfast), and of course, the deluge of the mammoth HA's. Most head-shakingly stupendous of all? Sharply expressive faces that tell tales on the soul. How can animated kids have more life than half the people in my hometown? 10

VOICES: The kids behind Charlie Brown, Linus, Lucy and Sally are the same from the first three specials: Peter Robbins, Chris Shea, Sally Dryer and Cathy Steinberg. All get their standard 10's, with the exception of the usually-sublime Shea, who seems lacking here as the trusty buddy of a lovestruck loser. I dunno, he just needs more timbre, less Cindy Brady. 9 regardless, but it seems kin to when Ringo got disillusioned during the White Album sessions.

Ann Altieri voiced Frieda in the prior programs, but seeing as the other red-haired girl wasn't featured in this special, the producers merely transferred her to the role of Violet. Not much to do, but good one on her regardless. 8

Everyone save Robbins is overshadowed, however, by Gail DeFaria's pitch-perfect Peppermint Patty. You're in Love marked the animated debut of the ruggedly cute girl from the other side of the neighborhood (the side where all the kids seem to be growing up and out quicker). There are two types people in this world: Peppermint Patty People and Kid Rock People. Take your side, knowing that one comprises sweet, fun-loving smartasses turned on by lynx-scratched larynxes and the other is lined with drunken hicks convinced that there is a conspiracy afoot to turn all American men into vegan Communist Radiohead fans.

"LOVE MEANS NEVER HAVING TO QUOTE ERICH SEGAL EVER AGAIN"

--As Charlie Brown is in the midst of his latest (and lovingly tended to, even if he doesn't understand it fully yet) existential crisis, the resounding "yes!" of recess is in full bloom.

The blue of Sally's dress matches Linus' blanket. You'd think this would make him a bit more receptive.

Watch out, kid, you've stumbled upon the "Bitches Only" swingset.

It's 3 & 4!

--"You know why that Little Red-Haired Girl never notices me? 'Cause I'm nothing. When she looks over, there's nothing to see. How can she see someone who's nothing?" Ooooh, Nietzsche stuff!

--Peppermint Patty attempts to play matchmaker for the ol' boy, except she never lets him get out exactly who his crush is. Assuming it's Lucy, she then runs off to inform "Lucille" that her paramour will be waiting to spill his heart at the baseball field that night. While she's a bungler as Cupid, you have to admire Patty's ability to toss French into the conversation. "An affaire d'amor, eh?" Which leads to, "Won't give you a tumble, eh?" It's clear that Peppermint Patty's love of baseball is eclipsed only by her passion for the sound of her own voice. Me too!


--No amount of still-frames, animated gifs, or mere words can do justice to the hysterically funny, drop-off-the-couch moment when Charlie Brown is accosted by Lucy and her pulled-hair doppleganger on their way home from school.

"Hellloooo stupid."

Lucy's delivery of this jawbreaker is so cool and smooth, so reeking of malevolent glee, that the very glow of it may blind you to what truly makes this line a rewind-button ruiner. Kids are this mean to other kids. The genius of Charles Schulz was not only that he knew this, but that he used it as a springboard to greater observations.

Pardon me while I go rewatch that part seven more times and then see if I can make a ringtone of it.

--Charlie Brown's avoidance of the Little Red-Haired Girl outside the school grounds and his subesequent marveling that they, so obviously unequal, should share the same sidewalk is a fabulous reminder of how dumb love can make you. I admit that I have on occasion looked over at my boyfriend and thought to myself how fortunate I am to ride in the same car with him or share a laugh with him or even, yes, have this wonderful human being in my life. Isn't that sweet? It sure is. It's also borderline retarded. I mean, I also occupy space with deadbeats and lowlifes every time I pass under the bridge near the police station on my way to work. Should I consider myself among the blessed that I trod on the same cracked sidewalk as that guy in the Orlando Magic Starter jacket pissing against the wall?

--This special was also the first to feature the now-legendary "wa-wa" for adult voices.

"BOY MEETS GIRL, HEAD MEETS PILLOW"

--Back to the conclusion, wherein Chuck's damp paws moisten a note ostensibly from his long-admired. But come on. I know these shows are not canon and thus liberties can be taken left and right with the Peanuts universe, but can this even be remotely believed? Let's take a closer look.

Roll call! Couple faceless-nameless, Patty, Sally, some dudes, some chicks, Lucy...

...Violet not far behind amid a gaggle of other unspecifieds, and oh oh! There's a Little-Red Haired Girl! Could she be the one? Doesn't look anything like the Little Red-Haired Girl of It's Your First Kiss, Charlie Brown, though. Hmm.

Linus shows up...and so do Lucy and Patty again.

There's Violet and that damned redhead again! Hey...this looks like lazy animation! Someone got real sick of drawing distinct children real fast. The appearance of doubles calls this entire story into question. Did the Little Red-Haired Girl have one opportunity to press the paper into Charlie Brown's hand, or two?

MIND=BLOWN.

There was never a follow-up to the twist at the end, and jeez, certainly something so earth-shattering as the girl Charlie Brown kiddy-lusts over throwing him a bone would warrant a new special to explore the possibilites (Let's Just Be Friends, Charlie Brown), but nope. Not even a requisite throwaway comment in any future specials. Say wuzza? So why have this ending? If it's not going to be developed even slightly, if by next year Charlie Brown will still be shown as a pining, whining pile of heartsick, why bother? It's kinda cruel, really.

You know what I think? That note was a practical joke, and that it's meant to be implied by the lack of followthrough. Lucy probably wrote it, or even Violet in some attempt to impress Lucy. They both knew how he yearned for her, and thought a fake note would be quite the larf. Then they told Charlie Brown in mid-July.


So you can stop dancing, jerkass! It was all a scheme to break your heart, and it worked! AGAIN. Seriously, why would she sign it "Little Red-Haired Girl"? Did you ever think about that, Chuck? Huh?


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