Peanuts "Great Pumpkin" Special on TV Page – October 26, 1967

I've mentioned several times how as a kid I used to look forward to the arrival of the Journal each day. Besides the two full pages of comics to enjoy, there was the TV section, which usually included promotional photos of upcoming programs.

Above is a page from the October 26, 1967 television pages from 50 years ago this month. Besides the photo of Bob Hope (another favorite of mine) and Lucille Ball, we have a photo of the Peanuts gang. It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown had premiered the previous year, but was popular enough to warrant a photo in the Journal for its second showing.

I remember seeing the special for the first time, and being confused when Snoopy had his ‘dream sequence’ as a World War I flying ace. I still have drawings that I made after seeing the special, as I tried to draw the characters from memory.

It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown remains my favorite Charlie Brown special, although I haven’t sat down and watched it for decades. Unlike many of the other Peanuts specials, it has no sappily sentimental or maudlin message; it’s mostly just a nice reflection of how trick-or-treating used to be in the 1960s.

Sadly, though, when I’ve stumbled upon the special on TV these days, it is so chopped up that it’s unwatchable. (Coincidentally, it was on last night, and huge chunks of the original show were missing.)

By the way, I’m old and grizzled enough to remember seeing the advertisements for Coca-Cola and Dolly Madison snack cakes that used to be in the credits. Although these promos were edited out decades ago, someone has posted them to YouTube!

And here’s a clip of the beginning of the special, if you want to be a kid again for a few minutes.