October 1 of 13

I went to Apple TV this morning to kick off the October 13 with the EYG Hall of Fame cartoon, It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown.

This is such a classic with the Peanuts gang, created by EYG Hall of Famer Charles Schulz.

The idea that Linus was determined to wait up because the Great Pumpkin would rise from the pumpkin patch to deliver toys to kids across the world and he wanted to be front and center when it happened despite the condemnation by his sister Lucy and the others of the Peanuts gang.

Also in this show, we had the iconic football trick by Lucy on Charlie Brown and Snoopy flying his doghouse during World War I and being shot down by the Red Barron.

One of the things I noticed while watching this classic cartoon was how intelligent some of the dialogue and vocabulary was by these characters. This was absolutely not dumbed down in any way because kids are not smart enough to understand what is going on. That is a refreshing idea, that children’s animation can reach to elevate the material instead of bringing it down to a lower level.

There was also a great scene with Schroeder playing the piano and Snoopy dancing/reacting to the classical music he was playing. Again, it elevates the material.

There is a reason this is still played during the Halloween season, even after 57 years. This is an all-time classic that is funny, clever, intelligent and entertaining.