Bon Voyage, Charlie Brown (and Don’t Come Back)

This superb piece of animation, which bears witness that the foundation of the art is cartooning, simply takes the gang to Britain and France with a constant stream of gags and subtle work. Peppermint Patty shares a classroom crisis with Chuck, Snoopy whoops it up in a bistro, Woodstock wins at foosball by taking the field himself.

They’re all sitting around in big chairs and sofas talking while a French girl pats Snoopy’s head, unaware of his kaleidoscopic expressions of satisfaction, contentment, joy and ecstasy.

You have to wonder if it’s a seasonal thing, like The Three Stooges. Everyone has a favorite epoch, but A Charlie Brown Christmas hardly says it all. Just the other day it seems the New York Review of Books was asking itself whatever happened to Edward Albee, the great and widely-known playwright.