It's Magic, Charlie Brown

"It's Magic, Charlie Brown" is a 1981 "Peanuts" special directed by Phil Roman and written by Charles M. Schulz (which earned him a nomination for an Emmy award).

Plot summary

Charlie Brown decides that Snoopy needs to educate himself, and gives him his library card to go get a few books. Snoopy decides takes out one book, a book on magic, which after reading, influences him to hold a Vaudeville show (under the stage name "The Great Harry Houndini"), recruiting Marcie as one assistant and announcer, and Sally as his silent assistant. In the show, he pulls a a rabbit out of his hat (actually Woodstock with rabbit ears), then does a ring trick that's goes a bit wrong. Both of these tricks raise the ire of one heckler who doesn't see the humor the others see, but Snoopy quickly shuts him up both times. He also does the "stick-in-the-hole" trick to Franklin, the "amputation-decapitation" trick to Peppermint Patty, cutting Linus's trademark security blanket into strips (which appears to fail), the "levitation" trick to Lucy van Pelt, and biggest of all, making Charlie Brown literally disappear.

Unfortunately, a sudden rainstorm ends the show early, and Charlie Brown is left invisible. Convinced he is going to remain that way for the rest of his life, he prepares to "roam the world as a lost soul", and Sally begins moving her stuff into his room. When Snoopy realizes he cannot yet reverse the trick, he tries a couple of different ideas to make Charlie Brown somewhat visible again, including draping a sheet over his head, which scares Sally, and causes Charlie Brown to faint when he sees himself in the mirror.

Meanwhile, Snoopy tries working on reversing the invisible trick, but still has trouble with it even after seeing his supper dish floating in mid-air. While Snoopy searches for a counterspell, Charlie Brown realizes he has a golden opportunity to kick Lucy's infamous football without her usual prank of pulling it away at the last second. Taking advantage of his invisibility, Charlie Brown finally kicks the ball out of a bewildered Lucy's hand and then taunts her about it.

Furious that Charlie Brown seems to have gotten the upper-hand, Lucy demands that Snoopy find a way to turn him back, threatening to 'clobber him.' Snoopy studies the book, and after testing a number of counterspells on Woodstock (much to the little bird's disdain), he goes about casting his counterspell in all directions, unsure just where Charlie Brown is. As Snoopy wanders into a vicinity where Lucy is setting up another place-kick, Charlie Brown happens to run by where Snoopy is practicing. Just as he is about to kick the ball again, Snoopy casts the counterspell in Charlie Brown's direction, causing him to unknowingly become invisible again. Lucy witnesses his reappearance and once again pulls the ball away as Charlie Brown winds up to kick it, and again he lands flat on his back.

Nevertheless, Charlie Brown is happy that he finally kicked the ball, though Lucy considers this a false statement, saying no one will believe him. When Lucy scoffs at Snoopy's magic abilities, the insulted beagle magically levitates Lucy into the sky, and leaves her stuck there as payback. Snoopy and Charlie Brown happily laugh and dance away to conclude a satisfying day, while Linus eventually pulls Lucy down with his blanket during the closing credits.

Notes

Snoopy levitating Lucy is a pun on The Beatles song "Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds."

Cast

* Sydney Penny: Lucy van Pelt
* Cindi Reilly: Sally Brown
* Earl Reilly: Linus van Pelt
* Bill Melendez: Snoopy and Woodstock
* Michael Mandy: Charlie Brown
* Shannon Cohn: Marcie
* Brent Hauer: Peppermint Patty
* Christopher Donohue: Franklin

Quotes

**Charlie Brown: [after Charlie Brown gets done kicking the football away from Lucy three times] [sarcastically] : "What's the matter? Did you lose something? Is this yours?"

**Lucy van Pelt: " [after Charlie Brown finally reappears from his invisibility and Lucy pulls the ball away from him for the 11th time] " "Welcome home, Charlie Brown."
**Charlie Brown: "I did it! I finally kicked that football!"
**Lucy: "Oh, no you didn't! I just pulled it away!"
**Charlie Brown: "I did it when I was invisible."
**Lucy: "You can't prove it, Charlie Brown, and nobody will believe you."
**Charlie Brown: "Snoopy knows I did it. He made it possible."
**Lucy: "Why that stupid dog couldn't disappear himself out of a paper bag!" [Snoopy growls at her for that, then starts zapping her with a spell]
**Lucy: "Hey, what are you doing?!" " [she starts rising in the air] " "Put me down! Put me down! Hey! Hey! You can't leave me up here! Hey! Hey, what about me?"

**Lucy: "Linus, have you seen Charlie Brown?"
**Linus: "Nobody has seen him since Snoopy's magic show. I just spoke to Sally, and she says even when you look at him, you don't see him."
**Lucy: "What's that supposed to mean? That's the dumbest thing I ever heard."

External links

** imdb title|id=0082570|title=It's Magic, Charlie Brown