A little earlier this year, I was doing some Halloween related math in my head (as one does) and it hit me that 2016 would mark the 50th anniversary of that most beloved of classic All Hallows' Eve related TV cartoon specials: It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown.
{A true delight for youngsters and the young at heart alike, It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown - which celebrates its fiftieth birthday this year - may be the most iconic Halloween television cartoon special of all time. Vintage image source.}
I would venture to guess that most of us in North America, and many in other parts of the world (especially where Halloween is observed to at least some degree), too, have seen this immensely beloved mid-sixties animated cartoon at least once in our lives - if not many, many times.
I fall into the latter camp and would estimate that I've probably seen It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown upwards of a hundred times (possibly more) at this point. I pretty much know it verbatim, but if anything, that just makes me adore it all the more.
It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, is a Halloween TV special that first aired on October 27, 1966, on the American station, CBC. It has seen been shown an untold number of times on many different TV channels, particularly in Canada and the US, ever since and has become a truly integral part of the autumn holiday landscape for millions upon millions of people for decades now.
As the name of this program implies, it stars the Charles M. Schulz’s characters, Charlie Brown and the Peanuts Gang, and centers around Halloween night.
In an endearingly charming twist on the age old practise of penning notes to Santa Claus, early on we see Linus van Pelt writing his annual letter to a (fictional) character called The Great Pumpkin - in spite of the fact that he is razzed by his peers, including Snoopy, for doing so.
{Linus, welcome sign in hand, waiting in earnest at a local pumpkin patch for the The Great Pumpkin to appear on Halloween night. Vintage image source.}
Linus later goes out, accompanied by Charlie Brown's little sister, Lucy (who has a major crush on her brother's BFF), to spend Halloween night in a local pumpkin patch waiting for the Great Pumpkin to appear, as he believes that "on Halloween night, the Great Pumpkin rises out of the pumpkin patch and flies through the air to bring toys to all the good little children" (again, in a serious nod to Old St. Nick).
Accompanying this plot line, we see Charlie Brown and his friends don costumes for, then go out, trick-or-treating, before heading over to Violet's house for the "big Halloween party". As well, there is a gorgeously animated (the colouring on the skies always knock my socks off) scene of Snoopy imagining he's WWI flying ace and that his doghouse is his fighter plane.
{The Peanuts gang, sans Linus and Sally, celebrating at a fun filled Halloween party at their friend Violet's house. Note Snoopy in his cute WWI flying ace costume. Vintage image source.}
Despite his faith and "sincerity", the Great Pumpkin does not appear as the night wears on and at one point Sally chides Linus over the fact that she wasted her Halloween evening and didn't get to go out for "tricks or treats" with the other kids.
Ultimately, Linus falls asleep in the pumpkin patch on a chilly autumn night until, at 4:00 AM the next morning, his sister Lucy wakes up, sees that he's not in his bed as he should be, and goes out to bring a very sleepy and chilly Linus into the house.
The show wraps up with Charlie and Linus discussing the previous evening and Charlie saying that he's done some "stupid things in his life", too, which only gets Linus' goat up all the more, strengthening his faith that The Great Pumpkin will indeed appear the following year after all.
There is something deeply relatable in Linus' steadfast belief in The Great Pumpkin. Aside from the fact that I think many of wish there was a Santa Claus or Easter Bunny type figure for Halloween, we can relate to Linus' belief that good behaviour and devoted faith (in something that isn't accepted by the mainstream population) will lead to positive rewards in our life.
Though only 25 minutes long, It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown packs so much fun and festive merriment into its modest sized time frame, that for some folks, it almost feels like a full length movie (this point is helped along all the more by the program's terrific musical score, which was preformed by the Vince Guaraldi Sextet).
{With little more than three weeks to go until Halloween arrives again, why not treat yourself to an early viewing of It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown. Video source.}
There are certain elements without which a given holiday or special occasion just wouldn't feel the same and for me, and countless others, It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown is one of the things that makes Halloween, well, Halloween in my books.
It is sweet and iconic, gorgeously illustrated, easy to see yourself in at least one of the characters its stars, and a clear sign - when it appears on TV in mid to late October - that All Hallows Eve, a night of playful mischief and goodhearted fun, is just around the corner again.
{Snoopy’s appearance at one point in the night leads Linus to temporarily think that The Great Pumpkin has indeed risen out of the pumpkin patch. Alas, such didn’t happen, but that won’t stop Linus from waiting up the following year, hoping that such will finally happen. Vintage image source.}
I've truly enjoyed watching this classic Peanuts holiday special for the 32 of the 50 years that it has been around, and am certain, it will continue to be an integral part of my autumn time celebration for the rest of my life.
Especially since, as I'm sure many others do as well, I've always secretly hoped that Linus was right and that The Great Pumpkin was/is real.
Who knows...a little faith and a big imagination always make Halloween – much like watching It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown itself – all the more enjoyable!
