''It Was My Best Birthday Ever, Charlie Brown'' is the 38th

animated Animation is a filmmaking technique whereby image, still images are manipulated to create Motion picture, moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on cel, transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and e ...

television special A television special (often TV special, or rarely television spectacular) is a standalone television show which may also temporarily interrupt episodic programming normally scheduled for a given time slot. Some specials provide a full range of en ...

based on characters from the Charles M. Schulz

comic strip A comic strip is a Comics, sequence of cartoons, arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often Serial (literature), serialized, with text in Speech balloon, balloons and Glossary of comics terminology#Captio ...

Peanuts ''Peanuts'' (briefly subtitled ''featuring Good ol' Charlie Brown'') is a print syndication, syndicated daily strip, daily and Sunday strip, Sunday American comic strip written and illustrated by Charles M. Schulz. The strip's original run ext ...

''. It is one of two

direct-to-video Direct-to-video or straight-to-video refers to the release of a film, television series, short or special to the public immediately on home video formats rather than an initial theatrical release or television premiere. This distribution strat ...

''Peanuts'' specials that have yet to air on U.S. television.

Plot

The special begins with Linus roller-skating all over town. On his way back from a birthday party, he passes by a garden where he hears someone singing (" O Mio Babbino Caro"). As he enters the garden, he learns that a little girl named Mimi is the person that was singing. After Linus and Mimi spend time gardening together, Linus invites her to his birthday party, and she accepts the invitation. Linus keeps hearing Mimi's singing voice everywhere he goes and can't seem to stop thinking about her. As Linus is writing his guest list for his birthday party, Lucy asks who Mimi is. After Linus tells her, Lucy thinks that it's ridiculous that Linus is inviting a girl that he just met and thinks Mimi will not show up, but Linus is positive that she will. On the day of Linus' birthday party, Linus wonders where Mimi could be. Lucy and Sally bring out Linus' birthday cake and light the candles, and everybody starts singing "Happy Birthday" to him. Linus tries to get them to stop, but to no avail. As soon as everybody finishes singing, Linus hears Mimi singing "Happy Birthday" from outside. After Mimi finishes singing to Linus, she gives him a flower and a kiss. At first, Linus is sad when Mimi has to leave, but he later starts dancing along with everyone else. The end of the special shows Linus talking to Charlie Brown about if he'll ever see Mimi again and Woodstock shows up, whistling the song that Mimi sang.

Cast

* Steven Hartman as

Charlie Brown Charles "Charlie" Brown is the Protagonist, principal character of the comic strip ''Peanuts'', syndicated in daily newspaper, daily and Sunday newspapers in numerous countries all over the world. Depicted as a "lovable loser", Charlie Brown ...

* Anthony Burch as Linus van Pelt * Jamie Cronin as Lucy van Pelt/Mimi *

Danielle Keaton Danielle is a modern French female variant of the male name Daniel, meaning "The God(dess)" in the French language. The name "Daniel" originates from the Hebrew Bible and is associated with the prophet Daniel. In Hebrew, the name is composed of ...

Sally Brown Sally Brown is a fictional character in the comic strip ''Peanuts'' by Charles Schulz. She is the younger sister of main character Charlie Brown. She was first mentioned in May 1959 and throughout a long series of strips before her first appea ...

* Brandon Taylor as

Pig-Pen Pig-Pen is a fictional character in the comic strip ''Peanuts'' by Charles M. Schulz, syndicated in Daily newspaper, daily and Sunday newspaper, Sunday newspapers in numerous countries all over the world. While amiable, he is a young boy who is, ...

* Megan Ellis as Birthday Girl *

Bill Melendez José Cuauhtémoc "Bill" Melendez (November 15, 1916 – September 2, 2008) was an American animator, director, producer, and voice actor. Melendez is known for working on the ''Peanuts'' animated specials, as well as providing the voices of Sno ...

Snoopy Snoopy is an anthropomorphic beagle in the comic strip ''Peanuts'' by American cartoonist Charles M. Schulz. He also appears in all of the ''Peanuts'' films and television specials. Since his debut on October 4, 1950, Snoopy has become one of ...

Woodstock The Woodstock Music and Art Fair, commonly referred to as Woodstock, was a music festival held from August 15 to 18, 1969, on Max Yasgur's dairy farm in Bethel, New York, southwest of the town of Woodstock, New York, Woodstock. Billed as "a ...

Cathy Cavadini Catherine Cavadini is an American voice actress. She is most well known as the original voice of Blossom on Cartoon Network's short series '' What a Cartoon!'' and the animated television series '' The Powerpuff Girls'', and as Tanya Mousekewi ...

as Mimi's singing voice (uncredited)

Marcie Marcie is a fictional character featured in the long-running syndicated daily and Sunday comic strip ''Peanuts'' by Charles M. Schulz. Marcie is a studious girl who is sometimes depicted as being terrible at sports. She is friends with the ...

Shermy Shermy is a fictional character from the comic strip '' Peanuts'', by Charles Schulz. Schulz named him after a friend from high school. When Peanuts made its debut on October 2, 1950, Shermy sat on the curb with another early character, Patty ...

Franklin Franklin may refer to: People and characters * Franklin (given name), including list of people and characters with the name * Franklin (surname), including list of people and characters with the name * Franklin (class), a member of a historic ...

, Clara (who Linus accidentally called Patty) and Frieda appear but do not have dialogue.

Production

''It Was My Best Birthday Ever, Charlie Brown'' was one of the final television specials completed during creator Charles M. Schulz's lifetime (along with the next special ''

It's the Pied Piper, Charlie Brown ''It's the Pied Piper, Charlie Brown'' is the 39th and last animated special produced under the supervision of Charles M. Schulz. Based on characters from the comic strip ''Peanuts'', it was originally released exclusively in VHS and DVD format ...

''). He died in February 2000. It was the last to be released while he was still alive, with ''It's the Pied Piper Charlie Brown'' eventually being released in September 2000. This was also the first Peanuts special to be animated using

digital ink and paint Traditional animation (or classical animation, cel animation, or hand-drawn animation) is an animation technique in which each frame is drawn by hand. The technique was the dominant form of animation of the 20th century, until there was a shif ...

(although the backgrounds are still done in the classic hand-painted style of the 1960s–90s specials.) The song Mimi sings when Linus meets her is the " O mio babbino caro" ("Oh my dear Papa")

soprano A soprano () is a type of classical singing voice and has the highest vocal range of all voice types. The soprano's vocal range (using scientific pitch notation) is from approximately middle C (C4) = 261 Hertz, Hz to A5 in Choir, choral ...

aria In music, an aria (, ; : , ; ''arias'' in common usage; diminutive form: arietta, ; : ariette; in English simply air (music), air) is a self-contained piece for one voice, with or without instrument (music), instrumental or orchestral accompan ...

from the 1918

opera Opera is a form of History of theatre#European theatre, Western theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by Singing, singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically ...

Gianni Schicchi () is a comic opera in one act by Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Giovacchino Forzano, composed in 1917–18. The libretto is based on an incident mentioned in Dante's ''Divine Comedy''. The work is the third and final part of Puccin ...

'' by

Giacomo Puccini Giacomo Puccini (22 December 1858 29 November 1924) was an Italian composer known primarily for List of compositions by Giacomo Puccini#Operas, his operas. Regarded as the greatest and most successful proponent of Italian opera after Verdi, he ...

. It was featured on several other ''Peanuts'' specials.

References

External links

* {{Peanuts television specials 1997 direct-to-video films Peanuts television specials Television shows directed by Bill Melendez 1997 television specials 1997 in American television Television shows written by Charles M. Schulz 1990s American television specials 1990s animated television specials