It’s the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown (1966) (TV Special Review)

   When it comes to both Halloween and Christmas … I’m crazy about collecting holiday specials. In fact, there’s hardly a year I don’t get something new for either holiday. As far back as I can remember, the very first Halloween special I ever owned on any form of physical media, and the one that started my whole collection was a VHS of a classic little TV special from 1966 called “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown”. We all know it … the special has endured over the years as a classic staple of the holiday … and now I’m finally going to talk about it. While plenty Halloween specials predated Charlie Browns, I’ve always viewed this as the first Halloween TV special that was a real event, had multiple viewers tuning in at once, and is still being celebrated today. Even though it’s not my absolute favorite Halloween special of all time, it is still one I carry a great deal of sentimental value for. For all the great Halloween specials to come over the years, one thing I never lose sight of … is that my first Halloween adventure was Trick or Treating with Charlie Brown.

   This was only the third Charlie Brown special to air on TV, and the second Holiday themed special after “A Charlie Brown Christmas”. The creators were most eager for another Blockbuster in order to get the networks approval to produce further specials. Halloween seemed like a natural pick, as it opened a wide range of possibilities in animation, and it inspired Peanuts creator Charles Shults to combine three of his most popular comic strips together in one package. The first and most obvious was Charlie Browns best friend Linus waiting in the pumpkin patch for the Great Pumpkin, as the message of a boy keeping his beliefs alive in the face of doubters was something personal to Shults. 

The second comic strip was naturally with the characters trick or treating, and Charlie Browns iconic bedsheet ghost costume, which has too many holes. I think the general concept of bead sheet ghost costumes was ingrained in the public conscience thanks to this special. Lucy’s Witch costume was also a memorable one, and in general, I always love a Halloween special that features kids out Trick or Treating. Finally, sense everyone was in costume, Charles Shults wanted to incorporate his comic strip of Snoopy as the flying ace. While nothing supernatural happens in this short, it somehow still feels like it captures the magical elements of the holiday. The main strength of Great Pumpkin is how it incorporates everything we relate to doing around the Halloween season. We have pumpkin carving, kids picking out costumes, racking leaves, trick or treating, group parties, and characters using their imaginations to let the impossible come to life.

   The TV special begins with one of the most iconic openings in TV animation, with Lucy and her brother Linus picking out a pumpkin, and it’s one that’s been referenced many times in our pop-culture ... my favorite being a spoof from “The Simpsons” titled “It’s the Grand Pumpkin, Millhouse”. On a side note, the music by Vince Guaraldi, mainly the Peanuts theme, has always been iconic, but for me, whenever I hear those recognizable piano notes … I always think of this opening shot of Lucy and her brother Linus picking out a pumpkin. Also, I’ll never forget watching this special with a group of Elementary classmates … most of whom were watching this special for the first time … and everyone erupting in laughter at Linus’s disproval of killing a pumpkin for carvings. The same thing actually happened with my little nice, who loved her pumpkin, and was upset when dad started taking out seeds. Another Pumpkin Carving gag revolves around Charlie Browns bald head being used as a model. As another tie-in story, my dad has always had a similar round bald head, and I distinctly remember when I was a kid asking him to model for my Jack O Lantern.

   The opening title card of this special is also my favorite of any Charlie Brown special, as unlike the others which simply show the title and quickly jump back to the narrative, this one has a lengthy build-up, and we get this wonderful animated montage of skeletons, Jack O’ Lanterns, a Black Cat, bats, and a Witch flying on her broom. Personally, I never feel like a Halloween special is complete, unless it has some kind of montage of imagery, and characters that we associate with the holiday. The animation in general was also a step-up over the previous Christmas offering, with a bigger budget, a brighter color pallet, more detailed backdrops, and far more expression in the characters movement and facial features. I’ve always loved the backgrounds in this special, especially the night sky, with its mixing of black and purple colors, misty clouds, and a giant moon.

   Charles Shults and the team were also very passionate about having little kids voice these characters, as it always felt more natural than an experienced adult imitating a kid’s voice. While actress Sally Dryer reprised her signature role of Linus’s big sister Lucy from the Christmas special, all the other kid actors were brand new. 

Honestly, I think the voice acting in this special is some of the best from the peanuts, with Christopher Shea and Kathy Steinberg delivering my favorite performances of Linus and Charlie Browns little sister Sally. Linus in general is the one kid on the block who always seemed wiser beyond his years, with vast biblical and historical knowledge … but this is the special that reminds us he’s still a kid, and has his child-like beliefs that he’s passionate about. Charles Shults goal with the Great Pumpkin was to set an example for kids … and even adults … to keep their personal hopes, and by extent their beliefs alive, even when all the facts seem against you. That isn’t to say he wanted viewers to believe in fantastical creatures, but to simply take inspiration from the passion Linus demonstrates as something we can incorporate to our own beliefs, goals, and passions that seem impossible.

   Of course, another iconic staple of this special is Snoopy’s fantasy of taking flight as a World War 1 flying ace, which became one of the most iconic animated segments in all of Peanut’s history. While the comic strip existed beforehand, this special still incorporated some original elements, including the changing color pallet, and snoopy imagining his house plane riddled with bullets. Personally, my favorite moment of this whole special has always been the aftermath of Snoopy imagining himself across enemy lines, and traversing the country side. Even though it doesn’t feature any traditional Halloween imagery, this is the moment that I always felt captured the spirit, and mood of the season the best. The music, the pacing, the imagery, and the general concept of Snoopy fantasizing about avoiding danger at every turn is exactly what I love most about the holiday. I always viewed Halloween night as a mini-adventure, a time when kids journey out into the night, imagine facing their own fears or dangers, and return home for sweet treats, celebrating their victory.

  However, the one scene I never liked was the mandatory Schroder playing on his piano scene, with Snoopy dancing to the music. That to me always came off like filler, and all these years later, I still don’t get the joke behind Snoopy emotionally reacting to certain music cues. It doesn’t really matter, because what follows is the iconic and hilarious finale of Snoopy rising from the patch, and being mistaken for the great pumpkin. The one thing funnier than the sequence is a little story behind the scenes. The child actress who voiced Sally had a loose tooth, which was going to come out soon, and would have resulted in a lisp that wouldn’t match her previously recorded dialogue. Thus, the pressure was on to get her lines recorded before her tooth was pulled out. Upon the first take of Sally’s furious rant, and screaming her famous line … “You Owe Me RESTITUTION!” … the actress actually blew her tooth out onto the microphone. Thankfully it was a good take, and the character didn’t have any speaking lines after that.       

   In a very brave move from the writer’s, we never actually see the Great Pumpkin, and both Linus and Charlie Brown are left feeling unfulfilled. Yet, there’s still that lingering sense of hope that maybe next year will be better, as Linus refuses to give up on his passions. 

As a side note, I always loved Lucy quietly going out into the night to rescue her little brother from the patch, and making sure he finds his way to bed. The two siblings may not get along, but secretly, they both still care for each other. The only thing I wish the special did was give us some closure on Snoopy, because after his big entrance in the patch, he just disappears without a proper sign-off scene. Regardless, this is still a classic, and one of my favorite classic Halloween specials. While Charlie Brown has had numerous specials, TV shows, and even movies over the years … it’s his holiday specials that have always meant the most to me … and “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown” still remains my personal favorite of the whole bunch. It’s the first thing that comes to mind when I think of Charlie Brown, it kicked off my love for my favorite holiday, and I still make a tradition of watching it around Halloween.

Thanks for reading my review of the 1966 TV classic “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown” … and continue to make every day in October feel like Halloween!