Raggedy Ann and Andy in The Pumpkin Who Couldn't Smile

Raggedy Ann and Andy in The Pumpkin Who Couldn't Smile
Written by	Chuck Jones
Directed by	Chuck Jones
Starring	Daws Butler June Foray Mrs. Hobart Donavan (June Foray) Steven Rosenberg Les Tremayne
Theme music composer	Earl Robinson
Country of origin	USA
Original language(s)	English
Production
Producer(s)	Chuck Jones
Running time	30 min.
Release
Original network	CBS
Original release	October 31, 1979

Raggedy Ann and Andy in The Pumpkin Who Couldn't Smile, a.k.a. simply The Pumpkin Who Couldn't Smile, is a 1979 animated television special featuring Raggedy Ann and Raggedy Andy. Produced by Chuck Jones Enterprises, it was first televised October 31, 1979 on CBS.

The special was later aired on the Disney Channel every year around the time of Halloween along with Casper's Halloween Special, The Canterville Ghost, Mr. Boogedy, Bride of Boogedy, Witch's Night Out, The Halloween That Almost Wasn't, For Better or For Worse: The Good-for-Nothing, Halloween Is Grinch Night, The Worst Witch, and Disney's Halloween Treat/A Disney Halloween.

Synopsis

Raggedy Ann (June Foray) and Andy (Daws Butler) and their dog Raggedy Arthur noticed how cruel their neighbor Aunt Agatha (Foray) is and how sad her nephew Ralph (Steven Rosenberg) is on Halloween but realized that Aunt Agatha had a Scrooge like attitude towards the holiday. The Raggedies at first, seem really annoyed with how Aunt Agatha treats her nephew and think that she's really mean to treat him in such a way by not allowing Ralph to go trick or treating with the rest of the children in the neighborhood. However, they come-up with an idea on how to make Ralph happy. Raggedy Ann reasons that if there's an unhappy little boy where they live, than there must be an unhappy pumpkin somewhere out there waiting for a little boy. The Raggedies set out to find the pumpkin who's just right for Ralph. The abandoned pumpkin in the pumpkin patch (Les Tremayne) is very gloomy and emits pumpkin seeds as tears every time he weeps. The only way to cheer up the sad pumpkin is to bring it to Ralph to give and then convince Aunt Agatha to change her Scrooge like ways on Halloween by recalling to her in her sleep that Agatha or Aggie as she was known as a child and a witch costume that Agatha wore and loved as a child. Agatha woke up realized that she was wrong on not allowing Ralph to go trick or treating and discovering Ralph and the now smiling pumpkin in his room apologized to Ralph on how she treated him and escorting Ralph by putting on a witches' hat and carrying a broom while Ralph wore a pirate's costume with the now smiling pumping in tow surprising the neighbors as both Aunt Agatha & Ralph merrily went trick or treating together and Aunt Agatha finding a newfound joy for the Halloween season.

Reception

The special brought in a 14.4/24 rating/share, ranking third in its timeslot, behind NBC's Real People (20.0/33) and ABC's Eight Is Enough (18.0/30)

External links

• Raggedy Ann and Andy in The Pumpkin Who Couldn't Smile at the Big Cartoon DataBase
• Raggedy Ann and Andy in The Pumpkin Who Couldn't Smile at IMDb
• The Pumpkin Who Couldn't Smile videocassette at Raggedy-Ann.com