It Was A Short Summer, Charlie Brown

Originally created in 1950 as a comic strip, Peanuts centers around Charlie Brown and his friends. Charlie Brown, or "Chuck" as he's often called, is a kind child who just happens to be pretty unlucky in life. Often joining him is his imaginative pet Snoopy, and Linus his best friend who has a habit of always carrying around a blue blanket. Also part of the main group is Schroeder the fledgling pianist, Lucy who is well known for taking joy in Charlie Browns mistakes, Peppermint Patty the tomboy of the girls and Sally, Charlie's younger sister who has a crush on Linus. Rounding out the gang includes Violet who drives Charlie Brown crazy, Frieda who proudly wears curly hair and Pigpen who's arrival is generally announced by swirls of dirt and is much like his namesake.

The interesting thing to note about the Peanuts shorts is just how adult the kids often talk, using a vocabulary where even I at times have to look something up. As well, the world generally lacks visible adults. Rarely do we see any of the parents, and even then just partially. Perhaps the most recognizable is the teacher, Miss Halverson who is well known for her "wah-wah wah" manner of speaking.

Moving onto the review itself, the first of six shorts from the 1960's collection which contains the more iconic featurette's of the gang. While it will be some time until I get around to the Christmas and Halloween specials, for now I present "It Was A Short Summer, Charlie Brown"



Featurette: It Was A Short Summer, Charlie Brown
First Aired: September 27th 1969
Runtime: 25:16

We actually start on the opening day of school where after being caught playing Hangman, Linus and Charlie Brown earn the class a 500 Word essay on what they did during the summer. This is when we begin to backtrack to the events taking place months earlier through the point of view of Charlie Brown, Linus and Lucy.

As it turns out, some of the kids have plans for the summer which comes to a halt when Lucy signs them all up for summer camp, much to their dismay. What follows is a fun series of competitions between the boys and the girls, from softball to nature hikes the girls dominate the poor guys.

However, in the end the boys issue one last challenge. Wrist Wrestling. It comes down to Lucy versus the Masked Marvel, aka Snoopy who is described by Peppermint Patty as the only one on their team with any athletic ability. After a bit of back and forth between the two, and many crazed looks, Snoopy finally gets the upper-hand when he kisses Lucy which causes her to flail and announce that the Masked Marvel had fouled.


A rather enjoyable featurette, like all of the early Peanuts. Though it may lack the popularity of "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown" or "A Charlie Brown Christmas" it still retains a feeling of nostalgia and charm. Despite the simple animation, and often changing number of campers per team, it's the simplicity that helps enhance an already charming and innocent world.