A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving (1973)

Turkey Card

By Jeffrey M. Anderson

Buy A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving on DVD

The third in the great trilogy of year-end "Charlie Brown" half-hour holiday specials, this one is just as inspired, with its makeshift dinner of toast, popcorn, pretzels and jelly beans. Peppermint Patty invites herself and her friends over to Charlie Brown's for a feast, before Charlie Brown can tell her that he's going to his grandmother's house. So he, Linus, Snoopy and Woodstock cook up everything they know how to cook and serve it, complete with a prayer (from Linus) about the first Thanksgiving. (Goodness knows where the parents are in all this.) Along the way, we get some truly amazing, bizarre sequences, like Snoopy fighting with the lawn chair, the weird "Little Birdie" song (vocalized, apparently, by composer Vince Guaraldi), Franklin's little greeting to Charlie Brown, and the grand finale, with Snoopy and Woodstock settling down to their own supper. This made many a Thanksgiving cheerful for me, and it continues to do so.

With: (voices) Todd Barbee, Robin Kohn, Stephen Shea, Hilary Momberger, Christopher DeFaria, Jimmy Ahrens, Robin Reed
Written by: Charles M. Schulz
Directed by: Bill Melendez, Phil Roman
MPAA Rating: Not Rated
Running Time: 30 minutes
Date: November 23, 2009