"Of All the Charlie Browns, You're the Browniest"

Last night J and I sat down to watch "Its The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown." Yes, we own it. Correction: J owned it, now that we're married I own it by proxy. He has quite a few collections of childhood favorites from boxed sets a la Costco. Not a surprise, really. Come Christmas, we'll be watching the old claymation of Rudolph as well. Our future kids will love it.

As we finished the beloved classic, we found another Charlie Brown special on the DVD: "You Are Not Elected, Charlie Brown." I can't say I remember this one being aired on television so we watched it. I thought it might be Charles Shultz's attempt to get kiddos involved in their government. Well, kind of. Linus is running for student body president in this one. However, Linus only gets put on the ballot after Charlie Brown's pre-poll numbers are dismal. You can imagine that Snoopy gets in charge of the signs and Lucy is the campaign manager. What an obscure topic for a cartoon special. I began to wonder what other Charlie Brown specials existed on our DVD boxed set.

Wouldn't you know, he did an Arbor Day special. I don't remember this at all. Its on the Easter Beagle special (again, never seen) DVD. That one hasn't been opened yet, but perhaps I will crack the plastic seal just to see what Mr. Shultz had to say about a National holiday dedicated to trees.

I also found another special dedicated to the Mayflower attached to the Thanksgiving special. Haven't seen this one either, but my guess is Mr. Shultz decided to leave out the gory details of our first settlers and ill attempts of establishing colonies. He'll probably just end it with the Native Americans bringing corn and other side dishes to the first Thanksgiving and like all good hosts, the settlers will take care of the main dish of turkey.

I began to wonder why Mr. Shultz did not do a special on the 4th of July. He was a very patriotic gentleman from The Greatest Generation (coined from Mr. Brokaw), so it would make sense that he would have done something. Alas, in our Complete Holiday Collection of Peanuts, not one single 4th of July special exists, nor do I remember one. Rather odd for a man to do something to Arbor Day but not Independence Day, if I do say so myself. However it got me thinking about other holiday specials he left out.

1) If not a 4th of July, then why not a "Its a Great Flag Day, Charlie Brown"? The Peanuts gang could find a library Flag in ruins and then discover how to properly take care of our Nations treasure (also then teaching the young kids that it is Unpatriotic to make any clothing of the flag, depict any flag bumper stickers, etc...it is only meant to be flying during the day in good weather.) Yes, this is what my stint in Girls State sponsored by the American Legion taught me.

2) "Happy Columbus Day, Charlie Brown" Don't have a plot worked out for this one yet.

3) "A Classic Memorial Day, Charlie Brown" This could be paired with "Its the Veteran Beagle, Charlie Brown." I think this would pair well with Snoopy's delusions of being a World War Flying Ace.

4) "Its Boxing Day, Charlie Brown" (He was from Minnesota and I would like to believe he would pay homage to our great neighbors of the north.)

5) "Presidents as our Forefathers, Linus" Lets face it, Linus would be the only Peanuts character to pontificate upon the true meaning of Presidents day and Charlie Brown would just be left home from the skiing trip. Rats.

6) "Its Martin Luther King, Jr Day, Charlie Brown" This would have to be hosted by Franklin, the only non-White Peanuts character, which was quite a controversy back when Mr. Shultz was first illustrating.

7) "Lucy's Labor Day" She could be the bully sweatshop owner who was taught a lesson.

8) "Its Grandparents Day, Charlie Brown" Finally he could give something back for inviting Peppermint Patty, Marcie, et al to his grandmothers unannounced for Thanksgiving.

9) "Its the Chinese New Year Beagle-Dragon!" You can see where I'm going with this one, but they could introduce a new character of ethnic decent.

Both J and I were hoping for the other Charlie Brown specials we remembered through childhood like the summer camp special, the spelling bee special, and the bon voyage special where they end up in France sleeping in the barn and Snoopy drinks root beer at the local tavern. This is the closest thing to celebrating Bastille Day that I could find. We don't own these nor do we know where they exist in boxed sets.