There's No Time for Love, Charlie Brown is the ninth prime-time animated TV special based upon the comic stripPeanuts, by Charles M. Schulz.[1] This marks the on-screen debut of Marcie, who first appeared on the comic strip in 1971. The special originally aired on the CBS network on March 11, 1973.[2] The first half of the special is presented as a series of sketches based on various Peanuts strips, while the second half depicts Charlie Brown's erroneous trip to a supermarket, mistaken for an art museum.
The special was released on DVD as a bonus feature (along with another Peanuts special Someday You'll Find Her, Charlie Brown) on January 6, 2004. It was also released in remastered form as part of the DVD box set, Peanuts 1970's Collection, Volume One. It had been previously released on CED in 1981,[3] and on VHS by Kartes Video Communications in 1987, and by Paramount on January 11, 1995. The special occasionally saw airings on the American TV channel Nickelodeon from 1998 to 2000 as part of Nickelodeon's umbrella branding for Peanuts programming, You're on Nickelodeon, Charlie Brown!
Plot
There are three months of school left and all of the Peanuts gang are under pressure from too many tests and homework assignments. They now have to make preparations to write a report on a field trip to an art museum.
Charlie Brown's grades are falling from A to C and he has to receive a big grade on his museum report in order to salvage his grades for the entire term. Simultaneously, he must fight off the distraction of Peppermint Patty and her classmate Marcie (in her animated debut), both of whom have feelings for him. On the way to the art museum, Charlie Brown, his sister Sally, Peppermint Patty, Marcie, and Snoopy inadvertently arrive at a supermarket and mistake it for the museum. When Linus shows Charlie Brown and Lucy slides that resemble the works he took pictures of, Charlie Brown's hopes of salvaging his grades are shattered. As he waits for his grade, he expects nothing less than expulsion from school. However, everything works out for the best, as his teacher assumes his report is a description of an art museum described through the metaphor of a supermarket and she gives him an A.
Peppermint Patty later apologizes to Charlie Brown for snapping at him, saying that it was not easy for a girl to talk like that to a boy. But Peppermint Patty angrily blows Charlie Brown away after Charlie Brown brings up the Little Red-Haired Girl. Marcie reminds Peppermint Patty that she said the wrong thing again. Peppermint Patty then asks Marcie if she knows how annoying it is being called 'sir' a lot when she tells her not to. Marcie responds, "No, ma'am".
Violet, Patty, and Frieda made cameo appearances but they are silent.
Music score
The music score for There's No Time for Love, Charlie Brown was composed by Vince Guaraldi and conducted and arranged by John Scott Trotter.[4] The score was performed by the Vince Guaraldi Quintet on January 15, February 22 and 26, 1973, at Wally Heider Studios, featuring Tom Harrell (trumpet), Pat O'Hara (flute), Seward McCain (bass) and Glenn Cronkhite (drums).[5]
"Early Wake-Up"
"There's No Time for Love, Charlie Brown" (version 1, opening credits)
"Pitkin County Blues"
"There's No Time for Love, Charlie Brown" (version 2)
"Play It Again, Charlie Brown" (aka "Charlie's Blues" and "Charlie Brown Blues")
"Incumbent Waltz" (piano + electric guitar version)
"There's No Time for Love, Charlie Brown" (version 4, brass)
"There's No Time for Love, Charlie Brown" (version 5, wah-wah guitar/end credits)
No official soundtrack for There's No Time for Love, Charlie Brown was released. However, recording session master tapes for seven 1970s-era Peanuts television specials scored by Guaraldi were discovered by his son, David, in the mid-2000s. The songs "Pitkin County Blues", "Play It Again, Charlie Brown" (aka "Charlie's Blues" and "Charlie Brown Blues"), "African Sleigh Ride", "Peppermint Patty", "Joe Cool" and "There's No Time for Love, Charlie Brown" (version 3, electric keyboard version) were released in 2007 on the compilation album, Vince Guaraldi and the Lost Cues from the Charlie Brown Television Specials.[6]
In addition, a live version of "There's No Time for Love, Charlie Brown" was also released in 2008 on Live on the Air from a Vince Guaraldi Trio concert originally recorded on February 6, 1974 (exactly two years to the day before Guaraldi's death).[6][7] The song was also covered by New Age pianist George Winston on Love Will Come: The Music of Vince Guaraldi, Volume 2 (2010).[8]
Credits
Written and Created by: Charles M. Schulz
Directed by: Bill Melendez
Produced by: Lee Mendelson and Bill Melendez
Original Music Composed and Performed by: Vince Guaraldi
Music Supervision by: John Scott Trotter
Graphic Blandishment: Ed Levitt, Evert Brown, Dean Spille, Frank Smith, Bernard Gruver, Carole Barnes, Ellie Bogardus, Phil Roman, Don Lusk, Bob Carlson, Sam Jaimes, Bill Littlejohn, Al Pabian, Rod Scribner, Hank Smith, Beverly Robbins, Eleanor Warren, Manon Washburn, Faith Kovaleski, Adele Lenart, Joanne Lansing, Dawn Smith, Joice Lee Marshall, Carla Washburn, Debbie Zamora
"Joe Cool" Sung by: Vince Guaraldi
Editing: Robert T. Gillis, Charles McCann, Rudy Zamora
