Writer of Pop Culture

After the success of the TV special, A Charlie Brown Christmas, CBS hired Charles Schulz to create two more specials. The second special was the baseball-themed, Charlie Brown’s All Stars! which was shown during the summer of 1966. It did okay, but it wasn’t the hit that the network was hoping for. So, when it came to the third TV special, CBS stressed Schulz that it had to be a “blockbuster.” Fortunately, It’s the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown became just that and has been a hit ever since.

The basis for the Halloween special came from the Peanuts newspaper comics. It was on October 26, 1959, when Linus began his crusade. From then on, the strip usually included some reference to the gourd every October. According to him, the Great Pumpkin “rises from the most-sincere pumpkin patch and lacking hypocrisy on Halloween carrying a large bag of candy to deliver to believing children.” Charlie Brown attributes Linus’ belief in the Great Pumpkin to “denominational differences.”

“Each year, the Great Pumpkin rises out of the pumpkin patch that he thinks is the most sincere. He’s gotta pick this one. He’s got to. I don’t see how a pumpkin patch can be more sincere than this one. You can look around and there’s not a sign of hypocrisy. Nothing but sincerity as far as the eye can see.”

– Linus Van Pelt

In the comic strip dated October 25, 1961, Linus is shown feeling dejected after being called “stark raving stupid” by Violet because of his beliefs. He laments, “There are three things I have learned never to discuss with people: religion, politics, and the Great Pumpkin.” And later, in the Sunday comic posted on October 29, 1961, Linus talks to Charlie Brown reciting public records of Great Pumpkin sightings.

“On Halloween night in 1959, the Great Pumpkin appeared in the pumpkin patch of Boots Rutman of Connecticut” he says. “In 1960, the Great Pumpkin appeared in the pumpkin patch of R. W. Daniels in Texas…Now, somewhere in this world the Great Pumpkin has to appear this Halloween night. Why not here?”

It’s the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown premiered on October 27, 1966, on CBS. It was the first major Halloween special to broadcast on television. The half-hour special features a variety of vignettes including Lucy “murdering” a pumpkin, Violet using Charlie Brown’s head as a model for a Jack-O-Lantern, Linus becoming a false gourd prophet and Sally proving that she’ll do anything for her sweet baboo.

“I got a rock.”

– Charlie Brown

Throughout the special, while trick-or-treating, Charlie Brown continues to receive rocks instead of candy. Why? because his ghost costume had about six extra eye holes. “I had a little trouble with the scissors,” he says.

Initially, the director, Bill Melendez didn’t like the idea that Charlie got the rocks. He thought that it was too cruel but later decided that it was a good choice. Fans who watched the special sent boxes of candy to CBS addressed to Charlie Brown because they felt bad, he didn’t get any candy. This apparently continued for years with packages being sent to Schulz’s home too.

One of the key elements of the special is Snoopy acting like a World War I flying ace battling the Red Baron aboard his Sopwith Camel (his doghouse). He gets shot down and valiantly travels to a place a refuge – at Violet’s Halloween party. Schulz decided to include the story in the special since he thought Snoopy’s outfit resembled a Halloween costume.

“I was robbed! I spent the whole night waiting for the Great Pumpkin, when I could have been out for tricks or treats.”

– Sally Brown

Although the special ends with Sally being disillusioned with the Great Pumpkin and leaves him alone in the pumpkin patch, it’s Lucy that is shown with a rare moment of kindness. After waking up at 4 a.m. and realizing that her brother has never made it home from the pumpkin patch, she goes out to retrieve him and put him to bed. (Of course, that begs the question – where were their parents when all of this was going on?)

It is said that a few professional scholars asked Schulz where the Great Pumpkin legend originated. He told them that they should take up the matter with Linus.

The Great Pumpkin pushed out the network’s My Three Sons and ran against Star Trek on NBC and The Dating Game on ABC. Like the Christmas special, this Halloween tale did very well with viewers with 17.3 million of them (or 49%) watching the show. It even tied it with Bonanza which was quite a feat in itself.

With Linus quoting scripture about the nativity story in A Charlie Brown Christmas airing the year before and knowing that Schulz was a man of faith, many had speculated that the cartoonist had intended a deeper meaning to The Great Pumpkin special. But it wasn’t true. As it turns out, Schulz just thought it would be funny for a child to confuse a pumpkin for Santa Claus. And he was right!

CBS continued to run The Great Pumpkin special every year until 2000. In 2001, ABC bought the rights to the special and continued to air it through 2020. In 2003, the rebroadcast was the most successful holiday special of the 2000’s with 13.2 million viewers tuning in.

In 2018, all of the Peanuts property was purchased by Apple, Inc. with the intention of them being shown exclusively on Apple TV+ from 2021 on. However, the streamer made an agreement with PBS to air the special one more time on free TV in 2021. Since then, Apple TV+ has offered free “streaming windows” for non-subscribers to enjoy this special as well as A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving and A Charlie Brown Christmas.

Main Image: Apple TV+