It Was a Short Summer, Charlie Brown

It Was a Short Summer, Charlie Brown is the sixth prime-time animated television special based on the comic strip Peanuts, created by Charles M. Schulz. It was directed by Bill Melendez and originally aired on CBS on September 27, 1969.

It Was a Short Summer, Charlie Brown was the first Peanuts special not to receive any Emmy Award nominations.

Plot

School is out for the summer and Charlie, Linus, Schroeder, and Pig Pen are planning to spend it reading every comic book, watching television, playing baseball, and playing classical music. However, Lucy tells them that she signed them up for camp. The girls are eager to go, but the boys hate the idea. The boys shove each other to get on the bus, while the girls line up in order. At camp, Charlie is chosen as captain of the boys' camp. The boys and girls have a swim race, which the girls win easily. Then they have a softball game, which the boys lose with only one run. Other competitions are just as lopsided.

Charlie and Shermy, disillusioned by their continued defeat, see Snoopy arm-wrestling with the boys. They realize that the boys might get even with an arm wrestling game, with "The Masked Marvel" (Snoopy) as their champion. Snoopy goes into training, eating the camp's awful food, doing exercises, and drinking a nutritious and noxious concoction. In the contest, Snoopy goes up against Lucy. They both get sweaty and tired in the match, which ends when Snoopy kisses Lucy. He pins her hand; but she says that kissing her was a foul, and she is the winner.

Back at school, Charlie only comes up with 13 words on his essay that he and Linus are forced to write on the first day, having been caught playing hangman in class. Linus gets an A but Charlie gets a C−. Linus then says "Oh, well, it was a short summer, Charlie Brown", to which Charlie gloomily replies, "And it looks like it's going to be a long winter".

Cast

• Peter Robbins as Charlie Brown
• Pamelyn Ferdin as Lucy van Pelt
• Glenn Gilger as Linus van Pelt
• Hilary Momberger as Sally Brown
• Ann Altieri as Frieda and Violet Gray
• David Carey as Shermy
• Christopher DeFaria as Peppermint Patty
• Gai DeFaria as Pig-Pen
• Sally Dryer as Sophie, Clara and Shirley
• Matthew Liftin as Roy
• Lisa DeFaria as Patty
• John Daschback as Schroeder
• Bill Melendez as Snoopy

Credits

• Created and Written by: Charles M. Schulz
• Directed by: Bill Melendez
• Produced by: Lee Mendelson, Bill Melendez
• Graphic Blandishment: Ed Levitt, Bernard Gruver, Ellie Bonnard, Evert Brown, Don Lusk, Frank Smith, Bob Carlson, Spencer Peel, Ruth Kissane, Beverly Robbins, Rudy Zamora, Brad Case, Phil Roman, Alan Zaslove, Bill Littlejohn, Herman Cohen, Manuel Perez, Hank Smith, Jan Strejan, Sam Jaimes, Eleanor Warren, Faith Kovaleski, Manon Washburn, Gwenn Dotzler
• Original Score Composed and Performed by: Vince Guaraldi
• Arranged and Conducted by: John Scott Trotter
• Editing: Bob Gillis, Chuck McCann, Steve Melendez
• Recording:
  • Voices: Radio Recorders, Sid Nicholas
  • Music: United Recorders, Arte Becker
  • Mix: Producers' Sound Service, Don Minkler, Bill Mumford
• Camera: Jim Dixon, Nick Vasu, Wally Bulloch
• In Cooperation with United Feature Syndicate, Inc.

Production notes

It Was a Short Summer, Charlie Brown was the first Peanuts special to not feature the majority of the original voice cast from the inaugural A Charlie Brown Christmas (1965), who had begun to age out of their roles; Ann Altieri, Sally Dryer and Peter Robbins (in his last appearance voicing Charlie Brown) did return, as did Melendez, who once again not only directed but voiced Snoopy and Woodstock. Among the notable additions to the cast was Pamelyn Ferdin, Robbins's co-star on Blondie, replacing Sally Dryer as Lucy, who instead voiced minor roles.

Soundtrack

The soundtrack for It Was a Short Summer, Charlie Brown was composed by Vince Guaraldi (except where noted) and conducted and arranged by John Scott Trotter. The score was performed by the Vince Guaraldi Decet on September 11–12, 1969, at Western Recorders, featuring Monty Budwig (double bass), Herb Ellis (guitar), Jack Sperling (drums), Victor Feldman (percussion), Frank Rosolino (trombone), Conte Candoli (trumpet), Pete Candoli (trumpet), Peter Christlieb (woodwind) and William Hood (woodwind).

On July 5, 2024, a remastered album featuring the original recordings and several bonus tracks was released to commemorate the 55th anniversary of the special.

Home media

In 1985, Media Home Entertainment released the special on VHS and Betamax along with It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown and What a Nightmare, Charlie Brown. It was re-released by its kids subdivision Hi-Tops Video in 1989. Paramount Home Media Distribution released the special along with You're Not Elected, Charlie Brown as part of the Snoopy Double Feature: Volume 3 compilation on August 17, 1994. On July 7, 2009, it was released on DVD for the first time, in remastered form as part of the DVD box set, Peanuts 1960s Collection. On October 6, 2015, the special was released in the remastered deluxe edition of He's a Bully, Charlie Brown along with an episode from The Charlie Brown and Snoopy Show as bonus specials.

References

External links

• It Was a Short Summer, Charlie Brown at IMDb