55 Years of The Great Pumpkin!

I have an incredible love for all things Peanuts Gang and Charlie Brown.  On this day 55 years ago, the TV special It's The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown aired for the first time.  For my money, it is mandatory viewing every holiday season, along with Charlie Brown Thanksgiving, and A Charlie Brown Christmas.

But for now, lets focus on this one.

When this special was created, it was actually written as a satire for Santa Claus.  I didn't know that.  And apparently, many scholars thought this was a real legend.  And this special has a very unique distinction: It was the first time, in animation, that Lucy pulls the football away from Charlie Brown.  Poor Charlie Brown, just once I wanted him to kick that ball.   :)

Now we know that Peanuts has been a popular comic for a really long time, and Charlie Brown is beloved.  Apparently after this airing, creator Charles Schultz's office was overloaded with candy sent FOR Charlie Brown.  The fans were angry that Charlie kept getting rocks in his bag.  Makes sense, I would be ticked off too.

He is another surprising fact from the special.  The young girl who was the voice of Sally, apparently has a loose tooth and had to rush to record Sally's voice.  The producers of the special were concerned that a potential lisp would ruin her voiceover work.  After she recorded the voice...her tooth fell out.  I hope she got a nice gift from the Tooth Fairy for her hard work.

By the way, ever wonder why Charles Schultz never had adults in the cartoons or specials? Simple...Charles claim he couldn't draw them very well, so we get just the kids and animals.

Peanuts has stood the test of time, and I still love the specials today.  55 years later, we still love the Great Pumpkin.  And kind of feel bad for Linus and Sally.  Happy Halloween!