One of the great American traditions that (hopefully) still live on in households today are watching the old animated TV holiday specials. Garfield’s Halloween Adventure was a staple in my house for a long time. But I can only find it YouTube these days. Not to mention the Christmas stand-bys: Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, Santa Claus is Comin’ to Town, and A Charlie Brown Christmas. One Halloween TV special that still lives on is It’s the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown. I own it digitally so it’s always in my library. It’s one of my favorites to watch right around the start of Halloween. For today’s blog, I thought it’d be fun to see what fun facts I can find about the Halloween classic.
It’s the first time Lucy snatched the football from Charlie Brown. On screen anyway. Of course she’d done it several times in the comic strip, but the world had never seen it in animated form. It debuted in The Great Pumpkin.
It’s also the introduction of the World War I Flying Ace. Comic readers already knew Snoopy’s alter ego. The animators thought it’d be even better animated. Along with the sound effects, the visual style and colors, they were right. Snoopy’s doghouse dogfight is one of the best parts of the TV special.
Violet threw up after every recording session. Animation today usually use adults over kids actors for voicwork. But they used to use actual child actors. Anne Altieri, who was the voice of both Violet and Frieda, was so nervous to be apart of the show that she threw up after every recording session.
Racing against a tooth. Kathy Steinberg was only 4 years old when she voiced Sally for A Charlie Brown Christmas. The creators brought her back for The Great Pumpkin. When Kathy revealed she had a loose tooth, the creators of the show feared a lisp would develop if she lost the tooth too early. Therefore, ruining any previous voice work. So, they rushed to get her lines recorded. The tooth fell out the day after they finished recording.
The gift of candy. Several young viewers were upset seeing Charlie Brown only get rocks for Halloween. As a result, Schulz’s California office received candy in the mail addressed to the character for years.
Not one rock, but three. In a playful argument between Charles Schulz and the show’s producer Lee Mendelson, Schulz proposed the idea of Charlie Brown getting a rock while trick or treating. Mendelson said that was too harsh and cruel. Yet, Schulz liked the idea no matter how hard Mendelson pushed back. Eventually he relented and said, “Fine, he’ll get three rocks!”
Say it together now. Kathy Steinberg’s Sally was too young to accurately pronounce the word “restitution” which was in the script. So, the animators had Kathy break up the word by syllables and recorded the voicework. Which they then spliced together later for a smooth replay.
The real Charlie Brown got rocks too. Peter Robbins-the 10 year old boy who voices Charlie Brown-got rocks for Halloween too that year. Of course, it was just a prank. Let’s hope he also got his “fair share” of candy, apples and gum, and cookies and money and all sorts of things.
Power Rangers in Space
On November 19th and 20th Fanboys Marketplace is hosting a Power Rangers in Space Reunion Event. VIP passes and photo tickets are available now for purchase ahead of time. Click the link here, and we’ll see you in November!
