The Steves discuss the 1966 classic, "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown" while also reflecting on some of their favorite Halloween memories across the years.
What's making us happy? Midnight Mass on Netflix!
Topics Discussed Include:
Ending- Any music or audio clips were borrowed from the original source material.
The Steves discuss the 1966 classic, "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown" while also reflecting on some of their favorite Halloween memories across the years.
What's making us happy? Midnight Mass on Netflix!
Topics Discussed Include:
Ending- Any music or audio clips were borrowed from the original source material.
Hello returning happies and new listeners. This is Steve Bennet-Martin, and
Stephen:this is Stephen Martin-Bennet. And welcome to a lifetime of
Steve:happiness. The podcast where we take you on our journey through some of the movies, TV shows, and other bits of pop culture that are helping to keep us happy. We'll hopefully bring a smile to your face along the way.
Stephen:And it's the. Wonderful.
Steve:Darling, it's not December yet. It's not time for Christmas,
Stephen:but spooky season. And today we're kicking off that Halloween season with the classic. It's the great pumpkin Charlie brown.
Steve:That sounds like a fabulous idea. And you're right in hindsight, you do love Halloween a little bit, even more than
Stephen:Christmas. I love them both so much. And like for me, Thanksgiving is just. Eating pit stop in between the two. Yes.
Steve:And so my love before we get into this classic, what's been making you happy lately.
Stephen:So a lot of things something that didn't make me happy this week, poor ramekins got a hold of a toad in the backyard. And he started foaming at the mouth and it was very, very scary and he's okay. But oh yes, I should preface this with, he is just fine and that. Is what's making me happy is that he is okay. It turned out to be a typical Southern toad and not the poisonous cane toad, but all toads secrete a toxin on their back as a defense mechanism. So anyone listening to this. In the Florida area and you have pets that head outside, especially around dusk, into the dark times, be on the lookout for any toads in the backyard, the regular Florida ones aren't deadly, but will still make your puppy sick and a special thank you to the. Sarah Sarasota that ER, down on 41, they were amazing. Excellent.
Steve:And also last time that our listeners checked in with us, you were getting ready for your birthday celebration. How'd that go?
Stephen:Oh my goodness. A birthday was amazing. Friday night. We went out with your parents to our favorite sushi restaurant tsunami, downtown Sarasota. And then Saturday we had couples acupuncture with Dr. Bria and Horvat. And then an Italian feast with my family at my parents and Sunday, you and I and little Remy went up to Fort DeSoto park. We explored the Fort and then we swam at the dog beach and dinner in downtown St. Pete St. Pete with DIA, Greg and Declan. And then on Monday to just top it all off, we had massages and facials at. The Ritz Carlton. Thank you. The Ritz Carlton and downtown Sarasota. And it was all magical and it was all thanks to you, darling. Yes. Well, I
Steve:just like setting the bar for my next birthday,
Stephen:you know, by the time we get to. 50 for each of us, it'll be like, well, I got in touch with the Elon Musk and we are going to be flying
Steve:Mars. We can only hope and meanwhile, a phrase I never thought I would say until Netflix happened is I've been loving or I loved midnight.
Stephen:We have not been going to church service or service.
Steve:No, thank goodness. No, this is midnight mass, the Netflix series by famed hard director that did the house on haunted hill. Mike Flanagan. Yes. And what did you think of his take on the vampire
Stephen:tale? It was perfection. Like it was so well done. He always. At just a high, high caliber. His wife, Kate Siegel was in it. We first saw her in hush, which was also awesome, which was also by him. And you can probably still find that on Netflix. It's amazing. He just always gathers together the best group of actors and the writing was great. The directing was fantastic. And it was really deep with a lot of different themes and messages throughout the whole thing. And then it was near the end where you're like, oh my gosh, I see all that. He was trying to say with all of this. And it was just so well
Steve:done. Yes. I never thought I'd see a mass suicide followed by a mass murder all during mass.
Stephen:That's Catholicism for you.
Steve:True. That it's been a minute since I've been to Catholic mass. So I guess I might've missed out on a couple
Stephen:changes. I've only been to it twice, so it's not exactly what I remember, but who knows, who
Steve:knows who's to say, who's just say now, why do you love Charlie brown in general? So much Steven.
Stephen:So I grew up loving Charlie brown, always. And then in, when I was living in Cincinnati, I had the distinct pleasure of working for. A company that went by several different names, United media, United features, syndicate that were underneath EDW scripts and then later renamed to peanuts, Inc. Yep. That is right. I worked for the company that owned Charlie brown and Snoopy. Yes,
Steve:you certainly did. And that gave us a lot of cute memorabilia, especially around the Christmas
Stephen:season. Yes. And I had so many amazing coworkers there. Okay. Quick, short story because of television season and scaring people. So our friends. Donna Rosemary and Margie all shared an office together. And their door was like at this frosted glass door. And Margie came back from lunch and I was hiding behind the door and I waited like four minutes and she was in the middle of like telling a story. And then I slammed the door and screamed. She screamed so loud and we were all laughing and she said, I can't get up and we're like, oh my God, are you okay? She goes, no, if I get up, I'm going to pee. So we had to wheel her in her desk chair to the bathroom. So it was just a hop from the chair into the stall and it re just one of my favorite scares of all time. And it happened at.
Steve:Excellent. Yes. And speaking of scares it's the great pumpkin Charlie brown was released in 1966 as the second released peanut special, right after a Charlie brown Christmas in 1965. Yes. And next, do you like better?
Stephen:I think a Charlie brown Christmas, I like better, but just the blind faith and belief. It's a great pumpkin. Charlie brown always sticks with me a lot, but I love so many of the different sectors. Have a Charlie brown Christmas. It's hard to choose. Yeah.
Steve:What about you? This is my favorite. I love this more than the Christmas one. Mostly just cause I have such memories that like watching this and the Garfield Halloween special, like on repeat back-to-back like all throughout the month while the, and I think it's because there's a lot more competition for Christmas specials, especially like as a kid there were, but there wasn't that many Halloween specials. And so this one certainly made it a special place in my heart. And while many people know this as the second released animated special, it is. Third animated special that peanuts created. Did you know about a boy named Charlie brown? My love
Stephen:I did, but that's because
Steve:I worked for peanuts. Yes, that was their first attempt at animation. And it was included in a TV documentary created in 1963, named a boy named Charlie brown, which featured newly animated sequences. However, I find this wild now in hindsight with how sexy successful they've been, but they couldn't find us a network that was willing to air this.
Stephen:It's really interesting. You know, back in the day that it didn't have the name in the cloud, and then it went through a period where it wasn't as popular and then it came back. So it's interesting to think that something that is as classic at one point had a hard time getting. Put on the syndication. Yeah.
Steve:I mean, even with this special, like the Charlie brown Christmas special was somewhat successful when it came out. But apparently CBS even said that if the Halloween special didn't produce better results in the Christmas special is it would have been the last special as well. So I'm glad that it was successful enough to continue the Charlie brown named going.
Stephen:Yes. Yes. And as for all of the animated specialists back in the day, great. Pumpkin was written and created by Charleston. And it was directed by bill Melendez and produced by the Mendelsohn family. Yes.
Steve:And it originally aired on CVS on October 27th, 1966. And it was sponsored originally by Coca-Cola and Dolly Madison snack foods. And they were plugged via scarecrows in certain scenes, but were eventually phased out and removed, not
Stephen:know that. And I guess it's because by the time I started with. They weren't on
Steve:there. Yeah. It was like one of those things where, when the owl swoops seem at the beginning originally, like it sweeps over like a Coca-Cola scarecrow. And like later while the kids are walking, like there was a scarecrow that was like a Dolly Madison scared. So yes, and apparently like they weren't removed as soon as a sponsorship ended. Like the people like forgot about taking them out for a couple of years afterwards. So they got some free sponsorship until they were removed now,
Stephen:back in the day. And I remember this, it used to air annually on CBS. And then ABC got the rights to it in 2001 through 2019, and then apple picked it up in 2020, which caused a huge kerfluffle with people on the internet.
Steve:Yes, it certainly did. But why, why are all these networks bidding over it? I mean, how profitable are these specials?
Stephen:Hugely profitable. For all the parties. So I got to be there to see all the contracts. And then we would also hear about the ratings results and everything like that. It pulled in millions of viewers and it was always in that perfect demographic than advertisers want. So without going into too many specifics if, when ABC had it and they were running it. You know, the first run through was close to seven figures, and then anytime they ran it after that was a high six figure amount. So, you know, 30 minutes of TV and you're paying yearly over$1.5
Steve:million. That's why they can have all those parade floats, I guess,
Stephen:which by the way, those parade floats are so expensive. So, you know, for the longest. Certain of the Macy's Thanksgiving day balloons. And it's the same ones year after year. And you're like, well, why didn't they just get. Because they cost about half a million dollars per balloon.
Steve:I believe it because they are big
Stephen:balloons. Oh. But I never would have guessed that that's how much they cost. So whenever you see a new balloon realized that that company shelled out over half a million dollars for that balloon.
Steve:Nice. Now, in addition to the talent behind the scenes, the voice actors of the peanuts games were actually. Children. Yup. With Peter Robbins, voicing Charlie brown, Christopher Shay is Linus Sally dryer as Lucy and Cathy Steinberg as Sally. Meanwhile Melinda's himself voice Snoopy's little sound effects
Stephen:that he makes. Yes. Now the producer Mendelson, his son voiced me one of Charlie Brown's friends. And by the time I was working for peanut. Mendelson junior was the actual family member I was dealing with wonderful guy, wonderful to deal with. And, but it was just kind of interesting, like, oh yeah. I heard your voice back in the day on TV. Yes.
Steve:Okay. And from the Christmas special to the Halloween special, only one voice actress was unable to return. Can you get guests who it was?
Stephen:And if you actually watch them back-to-back you can hear it, but if you don't, it's hard to tell, but it's
Steve:Lucy. Yeah. Yes, it certainly is. And IMDV summarizes the specialist, the peanuts, the da, the penis gang. No. Nope.
Stephen:I think I'll let
Steve:you
Stephen:jump in. How about the peanuts gang celebrates Halloween with Linus, hoping that finally he'll be visited by the great pumpkin while Charlie brown is invited to a Halloween party. And does that
Steve:pass the Steve test of descriptions from IMD be close enough. All right. Excellent. Well, let's get into how we would talk about it
Stephen:then. So. All of the peanuts, cartoons have music by grotty and it has that wonderful orchestration. And so the show begins with Lucy and Linus, silently with girly music, going out to pick out the perfect pumpkin with line, struggling to get it back while Lucy's just like, you know, you're my henchman, get it back. And he can't get it through the fence and he has to roll it all home. And. He gets inside and Lucy begins to cut it open and empty its guts out to make a jack-o-lantern, which makes Linus have to say, ah, you
Steve:didn't tell me you were going to kill it. Ah,
Stephen:which is very
Steve:lightness. Certainly as an pumpkin picking is certainly a big fall tradition for the Halloween season. What does the perfect pumpkin look like to you,
Stephen:babe? For me, you and getting the perfect pumpkin is a big deal because you're either getting it for aesthetic value or for Jacquelyn or in value. So if you're going for the Jacqueline, it can't be too flat. You want to get something that is a little bit taller and to be able to carve well, you don't want it too rounded. You almost want it to be oval type of shape. So it's difficult, but like, if you're just going to place them around, then you can go with some, maybe some of the flatter ones or more of the Roundup. Like it's a big
Steve:deal. I believe it is. Yes. Do you want to know how much of a prissy pants I was when I was little detail, I could find the perfect pumpkin, but if it had a little bit of dirt on the backside, like how they get those dirt clumps, I was like, Ooh, it's dirty. I don't want that pumpkin, but it washes off, but it was still dirty and gross. Yes. And do you have any fun jack-o-lantern stories from over
Stephen:the years? I always found it extraordinarily difficult to carve Jacquelyn earns. Well, so like I could picture in my head what I wanted the face to look. But I never was able to achieve that. Like, so they mainly got triangle eyes upside down, triangle noses, and then whatever I can make the mouth end up being,
Steve:I was the same way growing up. I mean, in college, I went through like an artistic phase where I couldn't, I didn't have like the imagination to be able to make it off the top of my head, but I would buy like those stencils. Thing, these that you put over the pumpkin and then like follow, basically cutting along the lines. And I did that for a couple of years and I was always very proud of
Stephen:the results. Yeah. So I did in my twenties start downloading the stencils. So I did like the flying WV for West Virginia university and I did the X-Men symbol. But I'm always impressed when I see the people that can do. Celebrity faces and steps where you don't carve all the way through, like it's certain levels that you take out of the flesh in the skin, so that as the light's shining through, it gives you depth and things. Yeah,
Steve:it definitely is impressive. And an art form of itself. That is very neat. Yes. Now going back to the, the peanuts, the cold open, while they have the credits running, has the children and costumes running from various scary creatures, like a black cat or ghost. And that's what scared you the most as a child, Michael Myers, Michael Myers, and today Michael Myers.
Stephen:So my babysitter, when I was, I've told before my babysitter, when I was like nine or 10, let me watch Halloween for every day, for a month. And as a child, like reality started to blur near the end of that time period. So I You know, it still bothers me today.
Steve:It doesn't stop you from having a baby with your favorite horse series.
Stephen:Now it is absolutely my favorite horror series, but if I have Michael Myers nightmares, they're still the scariest dreams that I have. I also don't want to be buried alive or burned to death. Those seem scary to, yes, I can imagine. What about you? What scared you most as a child?
Steve:I would say probably clowns. I see that, but I outgrew that. I would say that today it's mostly like the torture horror, like a hostile and like real life, like body torture, like having needles go into people are having their fingernails pulled off. It's like something that I can't get over. Ugh. I hate that kind of stuff.
Stephen:I would agree
Steve:with that. Yes. And then next up in the special Snoopy and Charlie are making a pile of leaves only to have Linus charge right into the pile while having a lollipop. And what does he say? Never jump
Stephen:into a pile of leaves with a lat socks. I
Steve:guess you can't jump into a pile of leaves with me, babe. Oh,
Stephen:did you ever have to like rake leaves as a child
Steve:and yeah, yes, I did. Even with how soft I was as a child and as an adult, I guess my dad, my dad didn't make us pitch in with the yard work of making the leaf piles and then like bagging them up around the fall.
Stephen:So. With our yard and living on top of a mountain, like the wind took care of most of the leaves. So if I wanted to jump into the leaves, I had to be quick about it. But dad never really made us rake them up because the lawnmower mulched them up really well. And so. Raking leaves was pretty much only for jumping into them. and now we get to one of the most famous section. Of any peanuts thing. And it's something that people always think of is Lucy, Charlie brown and a
Steve:football. Yes. Yes. And while this is, was already famous from the comic strips, this is the first time that was animated. It was not in the Christmas
Stephen:special. Yeah. Yes. And she promises that she's going to be genuine this time because she has a signed document and he goes sign doc. That's something and he decides that he's going to do it. And like the whole time he's looking at the sign talk, man, he's walking so far away. So he builds up so much steam running towards it. And at the last second pulls it away and he falls on his back. Wow. Did it because it wasn't notarized.
Steve:Yes. And as a notary, you know how important that is for legal documents?
Stephen:I do as a child, I had no idea what notarized meant.
Steve:Yeah, of course not. Now question as a peanuts expert question as our peanuts expert in house. Does he ever kick the football.
Stephen:Back in those days, not ever, not once.
Steve:Okay. And we already heard of one of the Halloween tricks you would play on your friends at work at peanuts, any other famous tricks from your past that you've played on friends?
Stephen:So I, with my friend Jessalyn we sat on her porch in Halloween costume. And we sat there all silent and not moving with the bucket of candy, nearest and waited for people to come up and get candy. And then we would move and like jump and scary. And so that was always fun. Yes.
Steve:And while it wasn't necessarily a Halloween trick, as much of Remy's brought so much joy to our home in our lives, he has taken away one joy that I had previously in our marriage. And that was scaring the shit out of you whenever you would come home from work. And I would beat you.
Stephen:You would beat me home. I would
Steve:beat you home. I would beat you. No, no, no, no. That's not the type of fun that we had, but I would like without a dog, I would hide somewhere in the place and like jump out and scare you and I'd have such fun just getting you. But Remy gives away my hiding spots. So it doesn't work anymore.
Stephen:Yes, he does give away your house. And he also gets scared easily himself. Yes,
Steve:he certainly does. Now the next step we have Linus writing a letter, the great pumpkin. And after this release, many scholars were reaching out to shelves for information of where he heard about this legend, because they were convinced it must have been based on truth. His response was way to, he said, well, I don't know. You have to ask Linus about.
Stephen:Exactly. I mean, who hasn't heard of the great pumpkin?
Steve:Well, now we haven't, but, and you can kind of see it, but like, it was actually a, he says based on Santa Claus, he wanted to kind of bring light to a figure that kids write to who will never actually show up. Of course they
Stephen:can
Steve:see. Exactly. So don't tell the kids that. Yes. I don't think I, hopefully we don't have too many children
Stephen:listeners. Hey, I still. Santa Claus works for me. True.
Steve:Yes. Now three things that Linus recommends, you never discuss with other people because Lucy got embarrassed was religion politics and the great pumpkin. How do you do with this advice? Stephen? I fail on all three. Yes you do. Out of all three, the great pumpkin is the one that you probably bring up the least. And yeah,
Stephen:I only bring that up once a year and everyone's like, yay, great pumpkin. Yes. The other stuff. I might, I may have a larger number of Facebook friends, but I'm pretty sure that after the time of 2016 to 2020, that I've been muted or silenced by a lot of people because of my outspokenness in the politics realm. Yes.
Steve:Meanwhile, I'm just pretty and happy to be alive. And I don't really know what's going on around me with politics, unless you tell me. Now while Lucy is embarrassed, Sally appears and it shows off that she clearly has the childhood crushed onlyness and gives him a chance to explain the story of the great pumpkin. So my love, what is the great pumpkin
Stephen:story? So great pumpkin is this mythical figure that will rise out of the most sincere pumpkin patch on Halloween. And. He will for the children that are there, he will give them toys.
Steve:Yes. This sounds very interesting. I like it. Now. One thing I like when Sally appeared is I learned that the voice actress, Cathy had a loose tooth during the recording. And so when their mom, when her mom like reported that they rushed her to complete all the lines before the tooth fell out, because they were afraid that if it fell out, it would result in a list that would ruin the continuity of the diet. Yeah, I can see the ass stories tells it justice. She finished her last line. His tooth came flying out of her mouth.
Stephen:Yep. That seems believable. Yeah,
Steve:of course it does. Now Sally's childhood crushed from Linus as something that comes from the comic strips and continues on through the story. Do you have any childhood crushes that you remember? So,
Stephen:There were two girls in that I grew up with Erica Williams and Missy. Who were seemed to be my always on again, off again, girlfriends when I was younger and Missy, well, I'm still friends with both of them, Missy and I really bonded in teenagers. Over Stephen King books and things, and she's just an amazing person, Erica is still in Spencer. She and her husband just opened a restaurant and we originally bonded over supermarket sweep and Paula Abdul. Oh, I made her my first mix tape,
Steve:how cute mine has started off when I was really young, like I would say. Probably four or five, but I remember Alexa was like the daughter of someone who babysit us regularly. So we were kind of matched up and there was mostly just like, play like play pretending of like being married or, you know, Things like that. And then in preschool or kindergarten, it was Ava who, I remember just having an infatuated crush on, but by third grade I graduated to my friend Greg's older brother.
Stephen:And how much older was he?
Steve:I think like I was probably. First or second grade. And he was like in like sixth or seventh grade. And I was just like, so infatuated with him that that's when I started realizing that the girl play was like mostly just like, kind of like playing a long or mimicking what I see in adults. And that was I would, I consider my first genuine.
Stephen:Well, there you go.
Steve:Yes. Now Charlie brown gets invited to a Halloween party, but Lucy swears, this must have been a mistake.
Stephen:Two lists, Charlie brown, one for the people that were invited and one for the people that weren't, you must have been put on the wrong list.
Steve:It must've been now. That's just so mean. I know they're not very
Stephen:kind to him and it's supposed to be their friend though. It's just so strange.
Steve:Now in terms of Halloween parties, what are some of your favorite Halloween party memories? My
Stephen:love. So some of the best Halloween parties I've ever been to we're here in town where the planned parenthood, safe sex, Halloween bash every year at Michael's on east. I concur they had amazing themes. Like there was the disco bloodbath theme. There was the midnight on the Bayou. There was the. Haunted prom theme. And you know, the year we went as roller discos zombies, and we went as voodoo priests. And then another year we went as Harry Potter and Draco Malfoy. And it was, they were always just a really good time. We put a lot of effort into the costume. And it was really, really fun. And those are the Halloween parties that I remember the most.
Steve:Yes. And speaking of costumes, the kids are getting dressed up and Lucy shares that a person must choose a costume that is in direct contrast with their personality. Now, do you agree?
Stephen:No. I have always felt that Halloween is a time where sometimes you just want to grab a costume that. It seems really fun. Like last year I did a male version of Medusa and that was fun. I really enjoyed that costume a whole bunch. You know, and sometimes people are like, well, how women gives me the time to get rid of my inhibitions. Dressed how I normally wouldn't.
Steve:Yes. I agree. Now they get a chance to explain what trick or treating is just in case kids have never heard of it using Sally as the innocent little girl who needed to have it explained, and she hears it and she says, are you sure it's legal?
Stephen:And they always call it tricks or treats or
Steve:treats. I guess that was something from the sixties that we had to drop the plurals eventually. But any favorite trick or treating memories that you
Stephen:have. So we actually still went trick or treating in high school. Like some years we went trick or treating for canned goods to donate to charity. And then other times we just went trick or treating and there was an area in town called green acres. And it's kind of like the big suburban area in my town where a lot of the people. And that's where so many people went to get candy because of how far out of town I lived. We only got. Three or four trick-or-treaters a year. So my neighborhood was not the best, but I always started in my neighborhood because I was guaranteed to get a bunch of
Steve:candy. Yeah. Yeah. I can imagine. What about you? I remember growing up, I'm going to my friend, Dennis Andrew's neighborhoods because especially drew lived in a very rich. So that's where you would get the king size candy bars or the nicer candy. But then I also just really have fond memories of after as my grandmother got older, I would end up just, I took over the role of the adult in there because she was having trouble getting up and down for trick or treaters of just being the one to hang out while she cooks her spaghetti dinner. And I would handle all the trick or treaters and it got to, you know, even though it was like, you know, still in middle school, I had stopped trick or treating so I can help her out. And I just have fond memories. Watching scary movies on TV with her while I was helping out around the house. So,
Stephen:Whenever I was in my twenties and living in Cincinnati Brady and Elaine would come over and we would set out on my front porch and hand out candy. We originally tried the first year to do watch scary movies while we handed out candy. But there were like people kept coming and we would like get 15 seconds in the movie and pause. So we finally worked. We're going to sit outside and we'll hand out candy. Cause I used to get. 250 trick or treaters at my house and Sensi. And that's a
Steve:lot. Yes, I can imagine. Now, as the kids are getting their costumes, a lot of times you can tell who is in what costume like pig pen has his infamous trail of dust around him. But Charlie brown, you can tell because he's had multiple, multiple holes in the ghost costume instead of just the two for eyes and the reason what does he give as
Stephen:to why. He had trouble with the scissors. Now
Steve:I have a question with that is I had trouble with scissors too, as a child because of I'm a lefty. And so they never really like fit right in my hand. I, so I wonder, is Charlie a lefty, babe?
Stephen:Well, I don't think so. I think Charlie brown had trouble doing the circles and instead of fixing the circle that he was working on, he kept going until he got two circles that he. We're perfect. But by that point he had like 20 ghost eyes
Steve:on his costume. Yes, it definitely was a unique look. Then the kids all dressed up for tricks or treats stopped by the pumpkin patch and Linus gets a little bit misogynistic over a little girls. What does he say?
Stephen:I thought they believe anything that was told to them that they were innocent and trusting,
Steve:not cool Linus, but it ends up working on little Sally who does end up staying with him. And this brings me to my question about the pumpkin patch. Yes. Well, it looks like a nice pumpkin patch. How can a pumpkin patch be sincere? So.
Stephen:That's an excellent question. And I've been putting some thought into this. So obviously it needs to be a natural pumpkin patch, not one where people are selling the pumpkin's, because I would say that capitalism and commercialism wouldn't count as sincere. So it needs to be a natural occurring or somebody's pumpkin patch that they did in their yard. That would be the. And then it needs to, I would say, have very, a natural aspect to it, to be maybe not perfect lines and rows to just be growing around. And that way, when you look back at it, you're like, damn it that's
Steve:sincere. Must be. I can imagine it needs to be away from the roads, have the sounds of traffic.
Stephen:So you definitely want it to be quiet because if the great pumpkin is going to come. He doesn't want to be like, seen by a lot of people. So it does need to be more secluded because he doesn't want to give toys to kids that didn't actually put in the effort. Now, what does the great pumpkin look like? Darlene, if you haven't seen him, I can't tell you. I know, but
Steve:I just imagined like this horrific figure of like a jack-o-lantern with like arms and legs, like 10 feet long and thin like slender, man. I don't know why I just decided to turn him into a, her creature, but
Stephen:I can obviously tell that you got, you were never visited by the group. Never
Steve:got a visit from the great pumpkin Noah. It was sad. I was too busy doing tricks or treats, which the kids are also. And a funny story with Charlie brown, only getting rocks when Lucy asks for a piece of candy for her brother at the first house, that means that line has got more candy from Halloween than Charlie brown did.
Stephen:And I love the hole where they're like, I got. A popcorn ball. I got a caramel, apple. I got a rock. Yes.
Steve:And this was my first ever three beat that I saw as a child, or was able to recognize a three meters of popular, especially in comedies where you do the same Joe kind of three times over to make it a perfect trio. But Shults originally wanted Charlie brown to get a rocket, just one house, but Melinda's insisted on it becoming a three. And how did that, what did that do for the peanuts
Stephen:company? So the peanuts company in New York ended up receiving bags and boxes of candy from children all over the U S dressed, addressed to Charlie brown out of sympathy. And I love that so
Steve:much. I do too. I can only just imagine little kids watching it and being like poor Charlie brown. I want to send them my candy and then like the parents who would do it. Oh, it just was so
Stephen:cute. I absolutely agree now. So we both went trick or treating. Did you have a favorite to candy to get to
Steve:Reese's cups? And I loved Butterfinger when I was little too. I, after a while, I think I got lost interest in Butterfingers. Once I got braces, cause they were already a base ticket out of your teeth, but you throw embraces and you just had butter finger in your mouth for weeks on end.
Stephen:So mine were always Reese's peanut butter cups and Snickers or not Snickers. Sorry. But also as a child, I love sweet tarts. So if you've got sweet tarts, but then people might give you Smarties and you're like, not as good as sweet tarts. No, not at all. And, but when I was growing up, it was actually still safe to get popcorn balls and caramel apples from the little old ladies that would actually take the time that was before. People were like, oh, you can't do that. They'll put a razor blade in your apple. They'll put drugs in it and it'll be that Candyman. And as we can always say, Nobody that buys drugs is going to waste it. Poisoning your child's
Steve:candy. Yes, I can agree back when I did the drugs, I loved just having them all to mess out. Did
Stephen:you and your smack problem, he wrote. Oh, I can inject those apples with heroin. I have to keep it for me between the toes, because you don't want to embarrass your family and friends by having track marks on your arms. Drugs
Steve:are bad children. Yes. Now, and then it goes back to Snoopy, who is a world war one, flying ACE. Yes. And I didn't, I don't like these parts. I just found them so boring. So
Stephen:it was very popular because it was only. Snoopy versus the red Baron. Yes. Snoopy had three personalities that were always very popular. You had regular Snoopy, you had Joe cool where he had his sunglasses and it was. That was the sixties version of memes was like Snoopy posing with something in fun words. And then there was Snoopy the flying ACE and he was always after the red Baron who was a real German fighter from world war one, man, Fred Von rectum, Finn, and these dream sequences were popular in mid-century Hollywood, not just here, but they would do them. And I think that even though. World war two was closer by going back further, it was able to add some fantasy that people could enjoy and, and being removed. From something that people just recently lived through.
Steve:Yeah, I guess so, but I didn't live through it, so I don't need to do that, but it did remind me of the imaginary play that kids do growing up. I know that I was always big into making forts and then once I like the age of Mario came out, it was always like, you build the castle and you had to like save the princess from the castle, from Bowzer. What did you do for imaginary play that you remember growing up?
Stephen:So when it was just me, I had, you know, my. Figures and stuff. And then later it was some Batman things, but like with neighborhood kids I had these Halloween props that I turned into what I call the power weapons. And so like mine had the power of earth, air, fire, and water. I was big into captain planet. And like, so we would use those and we'd run around the neighborhood, like defeating. Monstrous fantastical creatures. So that was always a good time. Yes.
Steve:And meanwhile, at the Halloween party Charlie brown gets to be a mother. Doesn't he, he does get to be a model for a jack-o-lantern or a jack-o-lantern. And that made me think this time around. Why is he bald anyway? So technically
Stephen:he's not bald. If you look at him from all angles, he has hair in the front and he has hair in the back. You can definitely see it. When he turns to the side, he does have less hair, but he does have hair as for why he's bald. I have no idea. Well,
Steve:apparently for childhood baldness, there are two major things. He could either have alopecia, or it could be caused by a treatable, fungal infection, like a scalp ringworm. So I wonder if he's infecting his parents because they're never around any way or just letting them have ringworms scalps.
Stephen:Honestly, I would say that he probably has anxiety induced alopecia because he seems to be worried. Everything. Yes.
Steve:I'll take that as a go it's much better than the idea of little fungal bacteria just in his hair. Just making them balls.
Stephen:Yeah. The trick or treaters before they actually head over for the Halloween party, they show up to be like, so are you coming? And Sally sticks up for Linus again. And like, why do you think people love this episode? Well,
Steve:I can imagine you know, it is just overall very fun, but I think that there's something to be said about childhoods blind. You know, they addressed it here. You know, more so than even the Christmas special, I believe of just, you know, kids believing in something just so wholeheartedly with their full like body and soul. And that's something that Linus does. And it's something that's just really admirable that we definitely lose as we end up getting older. Do
Stephen:I do know, like I, so a belief in something bigger than yourself that you cannot see and have no physical evidence. That it actually exists or is happening
Steve:organized religion? Well, that sounds like my higher power as well, but my higher power it's different than the great
Stephen:pumpkin. And I'm not going to get into all of this because it'll cause a big thing, but I don't see a huge difference between children believing in Santa Claus, something that they've never seen. And adults believing in God or higher power, something that they feel strongly about, but they have never seen, I think it is about blind. And believing in something bigger than yourself. And I have zero problem with
Steve:any of it. Yes, of course. But I guess that's why the grade pumpkin is mixed in with politics and religion in terms of things you don't talk about because we just saw firsthand how quickly that will snowball. Yeah. Yes. Now back at the party Lucy's bobbing for. And gets a surprise in the
Stephen:Bob tank because the Snoopy was in the water. Yes. And
Steve:that gets into her. Ooh, good goose, gross stock kisses. Ah, ah, how do you feel now as a pet owner about dog
Stephen:kisses? I am 100% okay. With them and I use. Not like them at
Steve:all. Meanwhile, Remy kisses are just magic for you. Aren't
Stephen:they? They are. That's how I'm woken up in the morning. That's how he sends us to bed at night and he'll just come over and especially just the random times during the day, if he'll come over and be like kiss, kiss, kiss. Oh, melt my
Steve:heart. Yes, certainly then Snoopy, speaking of melting, your heart ends up dancing to Schroders piano. And I did some research and those are world war. One songs that he's dancing to.
Stephen:Yeah. And I can honestly say that's my least favorite part of the episode is the The music is great. I'm very impressed with the music that they include. That beat went on a little too. Well, it certainly
Steve:did, but I also, in my research found that I was thinking to myself like what's with peanuts and world war one and ends up shelf served in world war II. And so he did have a certain connection to the world wars. Yeah.
Stephen:And I still think that it, they went back further so that it's more of for the remove, the removed aspect.
Steve:Yes. And then Snoopy leaves the party and Linus then thinks he sees the great pumpkin rising out of the pumpkin patch.
Stephen:Yup. And
Steve:he faints. Yes, he does. And it ends up, it was just newbie playing his pretend games. And Sally breaks down finally and tells him off because he wasted her entire tricks or treats. And she says, I'll Sue.
Stephen:It's one and Linus is still with the whole no, no, it's okay. You know, you want to be here if he shows up? Oh, no. I said if, if I met when, when he shows up, oh, one little mistake, like that can just ruin it all for it. Someone. I love his like Linus is also the one that has the blind faith in every yes, he
Steve:certainly does. And he ends up staying out a way past his bedtime. And one of the most heartwarming parts for me of it is that Lucy wakes up at 4:00 AM, checks his bedroom and he is not there. So she ends up taking him home and that, you know, Touches my heart in one way, because she oftentimes tries to like, come off as like that bad-ass bitch who will, you know, take your money to give you psychiatrist help and, you know, be a bully to Charlie brown and all of that. But in that moment, you really see how much she cares about her brother. Meanwhile, I want to know where the heck are these kids' parents
Stephen:blindness end up out in the pumpkin patch till 4:00 AM where like his parents should have been like Linus. It's not. PM get him inside. It's your bedtime? Like? Because in my opinion, they're only like third or fourth grade, so they're like eight, nine or 10. So there's another cartoon called bond. Viola's Charlie brown, where the kids all go to France on a school trip and. No adults, no adults whatsoever. And Snoopy is the one that's driving them when they're over there. And it's like, I'm so bothered by the whole thing. That one line I do. Is whenever they're getting on the plane and the people that aren't going on in the episode go born via Charlie brown. And Lucy goes and don't come
Steve:back. Yes. But yeah. Where are their parents? I don't know, but meanwhile, the next day, Charlie and Linus reflect on their thinking wall. And even then Linus refuses to think his waiting was stupid. I'm ending with him, lecturing Charlie brown about how next year will be different while the credits roll.
Stephen:Because it's one of those things that you fully 100% believe in. And even as adults, there are things not related to religion and things like that, that we believe in, whether that's the goodness of certain people or that things will turn out. All right. And those are things that we have to go all in on. To make life better for all of us. So I can see where he's like, you know, next year is going to be different. The great pumpkin will be there. You'll see Charlie brown. You'll see, because I think we go through a lot of our lives being like, you know what, they're going to do the right thing. You'll see. Yes.
Steve:So wrapping it up. Who is your favorite character from the peanuts?
Stephen:I honestly think it is Linus because of. His just eternal, he's pragmatic, but also very optimistic. And I enjoy that. I really enjoy peppermint Patty she's larger than life.
Steve:She was my first ever lesbian I ever saw on TV.
Stephen:And you know, I always feel bad for Charlie brown. You want something good to happen for him? But I would say that it's Linus. I appreciate
Steve:him. I liked Snoopy and Woodstock together. They're just fun
Stephen:friends. Yeah. Those are amazing best friends. And I
Steve:wish Remy would make friends with like, something like an animal that you wouldn't think he'd be able to be friends with, but instead he just tries to chase them and eat them. Yeah.
Stephen:I was going to say. Chases birds, he chases squirrels. He likes other dogs.
Steve:He does. He does, but yes I definitely love the Halloween special. I definitely see why it's such a classic that's persisted for a while over. So is at 60 years now, help me with math. We're
Stephen:almost at six years. We're like at 55 years
Steve:now. Excellent. Yes. Well, I love it. And I love you and I love our listeners. Yeah,
Stephen:yeah. As do I, and you know, we would love to hear some of your. Favorite Halloween memories, whether they're related to peanuts trick or treating parties, costumes, or anything like that. And if you would love to tell us, you can get in touch with us on all the socials, whether that is Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram at happy life
Steve:pod. And if you're shying, you don't want to get involved in the conversation where people can see your secrets. You can email them to us and we'll read them out loud for all of our listeners. You can email us at happy life pod at Gmail dot.
Stephen:Exactly. And we do want to do a special shout out to your brother. Yes. Mickey Bennett, who has recently discovered our podcast and has gone all in on being a very big super fan. And so Mickey, we definitely appreciate you taking the time to listen. And to text us and tweet with us about your
Steve:thoughts. Yes, you are the one family member of mine that supports me in my podcasting. And I love you for that. Thank you. Making shade to mom and dad. Well,
Stephen:until next time everybody stay happy and watch out for the great pumpkin.
Steve:Not like watch out in a
Stephen:scary way. Just be on the lookout and find the boast sincere pumpkin
Steve:patch. All right. Excellent. Well, good luck with that. Listen to. Bye.