Sure, Peppermint Patty went into a swivet when Charlie Brown’s Thanksgiving dinner consisted of popcorn, pretzels, jellybeans and toast (and Linus had seen him make toast). But she wouldn’t complain about what Abrams and Lee Mendelson Film Productions have served up in book and recorded form, respectively.
The Essential Peanuts by Charles M. Schulz: The Greatest Comic Strip of All Time by Mark Evanier (Abrams Comic Arts) is a lavish coffee-table book packaged with collectible bonus materials. It is stunning visually from cover to cover, from the iconic “warm puppy” image on the slipcase and “cloud dreams” scene from the Sunday strip (and later in the first feature, 1969’s A Boy Named Charlie Brown) on the book cover itself.
Mark Evanier, a person whom everyone reading this should already know about (and if not, visit his venerable daily blog, newsfromme.com), wrote the detailed text. Mark is quick to point out his discomfort having sole author credit, as so many people were involved, even before he was brought into the project.
“Up front here,” he said, “This book was really a team effort, and I don’t say that to sound humble.” By calculated coincidence, a new interview with Mark can be heard in an episode of POP Culture Classics Podcast with Greg Ehrbar called “A Celebration of Charles M. Schulz and Peanuts” (Please subscribe and “like” it on your favorite streaming service.)
The book is organized by era, providing a chronological context of Schulz’s life, art, and characters, as well as the world around him. To newer Peanuts fans or those interested in comics, animation, art, and all things that connect it, it is a valuable series of revelations. To those of us who see Peanuts as an organic part of their lives, it is both reaffirming and fascinating.
Several people adroitly offer their perceptions of Charlie Brown and the gang within their own lives and careers, but again, Mark Evanier eloquently express the scope and attachment we enthusiasts have for Schulz’s one-of-a-kind accomplishments. Of course, the genuine author is really Schulz himself, still astonishing us with his gift for combining character-driven writing that is infinitely quotable with an ability to convey humor and emotion in a manner so extraordinary, he is the real-life superhero of all comicdom.
IT’S ARBOR DAY, CHARLIE BROWN / CHARLIE BROWN’S ALL-STARS
Original Television Soundtracks
50th Anniversary Extended Edition
Music by Vince Guaraldi
Lee Mendelson Film Productions LM26ADAS01 (stereo/mono) 12” LP (also download and CD).
Released in 2026. Producers: Sean Mendelson, Jason Mendelson. Musicians: Vince Guaraldi, Frank Snow, John Coppola, Eugene “Fuzzy” Firth, Eddie Duran. Liner Notes: Derrick Bang, Sean Mendelson, Jason Mendelson. Mastering: Vinson Hudson. Mixer; Clark Germain. Running Time: 33 minutes.
“It’s Arbor Day, Charlie Brown” Music: “Rerun’s Lament,” “Rerun’s Lament (Reprise),” “Ships Sail Into Arbor,” “Laughter In The Library,” “Flatten Patten (Baseball Theme),” “Young Man’s Fancy,” “Jay Sterling Morton Jazz,” “We’re The Visiting Team,” “Seeds For Thought (Joe Cool),” “Don’t Forget The Shovel,” “Sprinkle Your Bird,” “Snoopy At Bat,” “Lucy’s Home Run,” “Rain, Rain, Go Away (Rain, Gentle Rain),” “Happy Arbor Day, Charlie Brown,” “Jay Sterling Morton Jazz (Bonus Alternate Take),” “Happy Arbor Day, Charlie Brown (Bonus Alternate Take),” by Vince Guaraldi.
“Charlie Brown’s All-Stars” Music: “Charlie’s Run,” “Charlie Brown’s All Stars!” “Baseball Theme (Medley),” “Oh, Good Grief!” “Surfin’ Snoopy,” “Pebble Beach,” “Rain, Rain, Go Away,” by Vince Guaraldi.
This is the back cover of the same album.
Arbor Day, which occurs on the last Friday of April has been around for well over a hundred years, observed by planting trees to make the earth a better place, certainly an accessible way for people, especially kids, to do something positive. Admittedly, it’s not as “big” as some other holiday, especially in retail terms, but it’s to the credit of Schulz, Mendelson, Melendez, and CBS that it was given due attention on a Peanuts TV special.
Now Lee Mendelson Film Productions, in their ongoing effort to release these treasured soundtracks on vinyl, CD, and streaming, have combined Vince Guaraldi’s superb music for Arbor Day with the soundtrack from the 1966 special, Charlie Brown’s All-Stars (which is explored by our colleague Mike Lyons in this fine Animation Cel-abration feature on Cartoon Research.
Charlie Brown’s All-Stars was only the second Peanuts animated special, and one of the more forgotten ones among the early classics. One reason is that it isn’t connected to a holiday, and another might be that it did not “score” as highly in the ratings over the years.
It’s also uniquely dated for a Peanuts special, because an offer to put Charlie Brown’s team in a real league with uniforms is withdrawn because of females on the team (in addition to a very highly unique dog).
Peppermint Patty, who had not made her indomitable debut in a special, would have surely confronted Mr. Hennessy himself. A remake of sorts was produced for video in 1996. It’s Spring Training, Charlie Brown, in which the team again loses its chance for uniforms but for a different (and amusing) reason.
Because Charlie Brown’s All-Stars contains less than ten minutes of music, and the special has become less evergreen (sorry) than It’s Arbor Day, Charlie Brown, the latter soundtrack is featured on the front cover with All-Stars on the back. They complement each other perfectly, both in story and music, with baseball being the main connector.
Like planting trees for a better tomorrow, get a copy of this new soundtrack, as sales dictate the reoccurrence of the kind of media we really want.
“Charlie Brown’s All-Stars” on Charlie Brown Records
Covered in an earlier Animation Spin, Disneyland/Vista’s Charlie Brown label offered the story with dialogue as well as music, but not the music on its own. Here is the read-along seven-inch LLP/cassette, which is an edited version of the full album with page turning signals.
GREG EHRBAR is an author, presenter, and recent guest host on Turner Classic Movies (TCM). His latest book is Hanna-Barbera: The Recorded History. Greg creates content for such studios as Disney, Warner, and Universal, hosts the POP Culture Classics and the Funtastic World of Hanna & Barbera podcasts, and teaches at universities nationwide. Visit 
Welcome back to these pages, Greg! It’s always a treat to hear from you! And it’s been a while!
The Mark Evanier book looks like a winner and I can’t wait to check it out! In recent years, Peanuts fans have been treated to “The Complete Peanuts” series from Fantagraphics, which reprints all of the original comic strips, dailies and Sundays, in a black-and-white format, plus several volumes of the Sunday strips reproduced in full color. I also can highly recommend, from a few years back “50 Years of Happiness: A Tribute to Charles M. Schulz” by Derrick Bang with Victor Lee, a publication of the Charles M. Schulz Museum. For any Peanuts fans who might be visiting Northern California on a vacation trip this summer, I highly recommend a visit to the museum, which is located in Santa Rosa. There is also an ice skating rink in the vicinity as well as two Peanuts-themed gift shops (one for the museum specifically and another across the way which contains even more memorabilia). There is even a cafe at the ice rink where visitors can stop for a snack.
It’s always a fascinating study to trace the evolution of the comic strip from its beginnings to its grand finale. The original cast consisted of only four characters–Shermy, Patty, Snoopy, and Charlie Brown. Within a few weeks, Violet was added to the mix, with her speciality for making mud pies. At first Shermy appears to be the lead character, and in some of the earliest strips, he even seems to be Snoopy’s owner–although for a while afterward, Snoopy becomes sort of a neighborhood dog before he is definitively established as Charlie Brown’s pet. Several of the characters debuted as tots or infants, including Schroeder, Lucy, Linus, and much later, Sally, and later still, Rerun. In fact, Sally and Rerun were both “born” into the strip. Another interesting development is Charlie Brown’s character, from a well-adjusted, self-assured, somewhat flippant wisecracker to the insecure, perpetual loser he is known as today. The transformation didn’t happen overnight, but by degrees as the nature of the strip grew and changed. Similarly, Snoopy’s role expanded and evolved greatly over time, as is the case with many other characters as well. Linus’ blanket, Schroeder’s piano, Lucy’s psychiatry booth, Snoopy’s perpetual battle against the Red Baron, Peppermint Patty’s baseball team, Franklin’s debut, summer camp adventures, and all the rest are chronicled throughout the strip’s development.
As for the holidays, there are still several which have never yet seen a Peanuts special to commemorate them. St. Patrick’s Day, April Fool’s Day, Flag Day, the Fourth of July (although the miniseries “This is America, Charlie Brown” could be considered as covering our nation’s heritage), Cinco de Mayo, Juneteenth, Presidents’ Day, the Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King’s Birthday, Washington’s Birthday, Lincoln’s Birthday, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Black History Month, Women’s History Month, Pentecost, Yom Kipper, Rosh Hashanah, Hanukkah, All Saints’ Day, Epiphany, Kwanzaa, and Labor Day–to name only a few, and this is not a complete list by any means, only to show that there is a long way to go.
It’s great to know that the Peanuts characters are still alive and well! These look like great additions to anyone’s Peanuts collection! Thanks for sharing!
Oh, yeah. April Fool’s Day. I recall that great Sunday strip from the ’70’s where Snoopy is The April Fool (which was the center strip for one of the Holt Peanuts Parade paperbacks). I think that might make a good start point for an animated special.
I love the peanut gang sents I was a little girl. Thank you for putting it on the Internet.
I don’t know if the mistake is on the album cover, but bassist Eugene Firth was nicknamed “Puzzy”, not “Fuzzy”. As far as I know, he was not related to longtime Boston Symphony Orchestra timpanist and drumstick entrepreneur Everett “Vic” Firth. Likewise, trumpeter John Coppola was not related to flutist and composer Carmine Coppola, patriarch of the famous Hollywood dynasty. The Bay Area was home to a vibrant community of talented jazz musicians, many of whom would never have gained the attention of the world at large had it not been for Schulz’s recommendation, or rather insistence, that Vince Guaraldi be put in charge of the music for the Peanuts specials.
I well remember that panel with Violet and Patty laughing at Lucy in Charlie Brown’s zigzag shirt; although my parents didn’t subscribe to the local newspaper that carried the Peanuts comic strip, we had many of the paperback collections. In this particular strip, Lucy puts on one of Charlie Brown’s shirts and begins to mock him, much to her friends’ amusement: “My name is Charlie Brown! Nobody likes me! Everybody hates me! I wish I had a friend!” When Charlie Brown comes along, he looks at Lucy for a moment, then says: “Well, hello there, Charlie Brown, you blockhead!” He walks off, Lucy sighs, Violet and Patty roll on the ground in hysterics. That Schulz was able to wring heartfelt laughs from the bitter cruelty and indignity of childhood was by no means the least of his accomplishments.
I’ve been to Nebraska City, which takes a large measure of civic pride in being the birthplace of Arbor Day; it’s mentioned on all the signs at the city limits. There was an old Our Gang comedy in which the children put on a pageant for Arbor Day. I wonder if Schulz might have seen it during his own youth.
It’s not true that Charlie Brown had run out of holidays by 1976. In the comic strip, Schroeder once hosted a party for the other kids on Beethoven’s birthday, which he believed should be an official holiday, but this subject was never explored in a TV special. Too bad. They could have had Schroeder copying out excerpts from Beethoven’s “Immortal Beloved” letters to put in a report for school, but then Lucy sees it and thinks that he’s writing a love letter to her, and hijinks ensue. Pity that Beethoven’s birthday falls just nine days before Christmas….
Great review for both, but two teeny observations: one, the slipcover graphic isn’t a “Warm Puppy” image but rather from a strip dated May 12, 1984 where Snoopy gives CB an unsolicited hug after “listening to his Leo Buscaglia tapes.” And two, “All-Stars” main plot point (that girls and dogs aren’t allowed on a “real” team) doesn’t seem dated to me at all, particularly given today’s political rancor. Charlie Brown’s decision to value his team over “a real league” remains one of the most heartfelt moments in any PEANUTS special. IMHO
I got the book and really enjoyed it. I like that it even mentioned the 40th anniversary book which I borrowed a lot as a kid (but I seemed to can’t find a copy at a second-hand bookstore). I recall that book included one of my favorite strips (the one where Spike writes to his brother on his ingenious but somewhat flawed idea on decorating a tumbleweed like a Christmas tree) which I recently found out came out on the day I was born!
Thanks for sharing my video!