''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 A television special (often TV special, or rarely television spectacular) is a standalone television show which may also temporarily interrupt episodic programming normally scheduled for a given time slot. Some specials provide a full range of ent ...

featuring

Raggedy Ann Raggedy Ann is a character created by American writer Johnny Gruelle (1880–1938) that appeared in a series of books he wrote and illustrated for young children. Raggedy Ann is a rag doll with red yarn for hair and a triangle nose. Gruelle r ...

and Raggedy Andy. Produced by Chuck Jones Enterprises, it was first televised October 31, 1979 on

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

. The special was a sequel to the 1978 Christmas special, '' Raggedy Ann and Andy in The Great Santa Claus Caper''.

Synopsis

Raggedy Ann (

June Foray June Foray (born June Lucille Forer; September 18, 1917 – July 26, 2017) was an American voice actress. She was best known as the voice of such animated characters as Rocky the Flying Squirrel, Natasha Fatale, Nell Fenwick, Lucifer from Disney' ...

), Andy (

Daws Butler Charles Dawson Butler (November 16, 1916May 18, 1988) was an American voice actor. He worked mostly for the Hanna-Barbera animation production company where he originated the voices of many familiar characters, including Yogi Bear, Huckleberry H ...

) 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. At first, the Raggedeys seem upset 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, then there must be an unhappy pumpkin somewhere out there waiting for a little boy. The Raggedeys set out to find the pumpkin who's just right for Ralph. The abandoned pumpkin in the pumpkin patch (

Les Tremayne Lester Tremayne (16 April 1913 – 19 December 2003) was an English actor. Early life Born in Balham, London, he moved with his family at the age of four to Chicago, Illinois, where he began in community theater. His mother was Dolly Trema ...

) 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 as a gift 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 wakes 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 greats the pumpkin. The movie ends with Aunt Agatha putting on a witches' hat and carrying a broom while Ralph wears a pirate's costume with the now smiling pumping in tow surprising the neighbors as both Aunt Agatha and Ralph merrily go trick or treating together and Aunt Agatha finding a newfound joy for the Halloween season.

Voice cast

as Raggedy Ann/Aunt Agatha (credited as Mrs. Hobart Donavan)/Neighbor *

as Raggedy Andy * Steven Rosenberg as Ralph *

as The Pumpkin

Reception

The special brought in a 14.4/24 rating/share, ranking third in its timeslot, behind NBC's ''

Real People ''Real People'' is an American reality television series that originally aired on NBC from 1979 to 1984, Wednesdays from 8 pm to 9pm Eastern Time. Its initial episodes aired live in the Eastern and Central time zones. ''Real People'' featured "r ...

'' (20.0/33) and ABC's ''

Eight Is Enough ''Eight Is Enough'' is an American television comedy-drama series that ran on ABC from March 15, 1977, until May 23, 1981. The show was modeled on the life of syndicated newspaper columnist Tom Braden, a real-life parent with eight children, who ...

'' (18.0/30).http://americanradiohistory.com/Archive-BC/BC-1979/BC-1979-11-12.pdf

References

External links

* * {{Raggedy Ann 1979 in American television 1979 television specials 1970s American television specials CBS television specials Halloween television specials Films about sentient toys Films scored by Earl Robinson Television shows directed by Chuck Jones Raggedy Ann