After finishing “A Johnny Bravo Christmas,” I decided to pitch the network on another holiday special where I revealed that Valentine’s Day was actually Johnny’s birthday! It being a special, I also wanted him to get the ultimate birthday gift: the perfect date.
I didn’t know whether or not this was going to be my last Johnny production so I wanted to use some Hanna Barbera luminaries while I still had the chance. Not only did Jerry Eisenberg return to help with background design, but I was also able to bring Willie Ito out of retirement to help out as well. It was the first and only time I worked with Willie and am happy to say that it was a delightful experience. He went above and beyond the basic layouts and keyed every scene they were used. This also marked the last time I was able to work with Ed Benedict. I assigned him a whole sequence where he designed the layouts as well as the characters and backgrounds. The finished product is a montage sequence in the middle of the special where Johnny goes on a whirlwind spree trying to collect phone numbers. I’ve included one of his layouts above.
For storyboarding, I brought back Vaughn Tada from the Christmas special and gave the other half to legendary animator, Dan Haskett. I’ve included a few pages of his storyboards above. This particular sequence was cut out from the final version because of time.
FUN FACT: I named both holiday specials in tribute to the two Charlie Brown holiday specials, “A Charlie Brown Christmas” and “It’s Valentine’s Day, Charlie Brown!”.