{"id":55693,"date":"2026-10-30T07:00:01","date_gmt":"2026-10-30T11:00:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/?p=55693"},"modified":"2026-10-28T19:15:20","modified_gmt":"2026-10-28T23:15:20","slug":"the-bootleg-files-the-pumpkin-who-couldnt-smile","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/2026\/10\/30\/the-bootleg-files-the-pumpkin-who-couldnt-smile\/","title":{"rendered":"The Bootleg Files: The Pumpkin Who Couldn’t Smile"},"content":{"rendered":"

BOOTLEG FILES 951:<\/strong> \u201cThe Pumpkin Who Couldn\u2019t Smile\u201d (1979 Raggedy Ann and Andy animated television special created by Chuck Jones). <\/p>\n

LAST SEEN:<\/strong> On YouTube.<\/p>\n

AMERICAN HOME VIDEO: <\/strong>There was a VHS video release.<\/p>\n

REASON FOR BOOTLEG STATUS: <\/strong>There may be a rights issue holding it up.<\/p>\n

CHANCES OF SEEING A COMMERCIAL DVD RELEASE: <\/strong>It doesn\u2019t seem likely. <\/p>\n

I don\u2019t have the authority or the nerve to say that the 1979 production \u201cThe Pumpkin Who Couldn\u2019t Smile\u201d is the worst animated television special ever made. However, I can say that it is one of the worst that I\u2019ve ever seen. And I don\u2019t say this with pleasure, since this horrible little work is the creation of Chuck Jones, who was responsible for some of the greatest animated films ever made.
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\u201cThe Pumpkin Who Couldn\u2019t Smile\u201d was a Halloween presentation featuring the characters of Raggedy Ann and Raggedy Andy. Jones didn\u2019t create those characters, nor was he the first animator to put them on film. The Fleischer Studio did a one-shot two-reel cartoon in 1941 featuring these living dolls, while Richard Williams was responsible for a 1977 feature-length animated musical with the characters. <\/p>\n

But not unlike his Tom and Jerry cartoons from the 1960s, Jones inherited characters that he didn\u2019t invent and had no idea what to do with them. He first brought them to the small screen in a 1978 Christmas special before he went ahead with this Halloween endeavor on year later.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Pumpkin Who Couldn\u2019t Smile\u201d feels like a half-assed Halloween ripoff of \u201cA Christmas Carol,\u201d with nasty old Aunt Agatha as the aged villain who hates the holiday and insults its celebrants. The Dickensian vibe is expanded by Ralph, a blonde boy who is Agatha\u2019s nephew \u2013 the whereabouts of his parents is not explained. Ralph is sad because Agatha won\u2019t let him join in with the neighborhood kids who are doing the Trick-or-Treat routine around the neighborhood. Why, that old rhymes-with-runt won\u2019t even let him have a pumpkin. As she sourly explains, \u201cPumpkins cause fires and they attract fruit flies.\u201d <\/p>\n

However, this borderline child abuse is observed by Raggedy Ann and Raggedy Andy, who live in a neighboring house. Raggedy Ann surmises that there must a lonely pumpkin in need of the companionship of a lonely boy. And that brings us to the title character, a pumpkin who remained unsold as Halloween night falls. <\/p>\n

The pumpkin in question spends his time crying pumpkin seed tears and whining about how no one wants a pumpkin after Halloween. He wishes that he could have been made into a pie \u2013 yes, a suicidal talking pumpkin. A mute mouse hears this and, in typical Chuck Jones fashion, puts on a hat and takes a suitcase to exit from this self-pitying pumpkin.<\/p>\n

Raggedy Ann and Andy, along with their skateboard-riding dog Raggedy Arthur, locate the pumpkin and transport it to Ralph. But things go awry as the pumpkin lands on the dog\u2019s skateboard and goes barreling down a hill with a scared cat perched atop its head. This leads to one of the dullest chases ever captured in an animated film, with Raggedy Ann and Andy following in a wagon and on a unicycle, respectively, before getting wrapped in white sheets hanging on a laundry line. That makes them look like ghosts, which confuses the dull cops on patrol.<\/p>\n

With those shenanigans out of the way, Raggedy Ann and Andy manage to get the pumpkin to Ralph and the two bond immediately. Indeed, the pumpkin is all smiles in his new home. As for nasty old Aunt Agatha (remember her?), the Raggedy duo whisper messages into her ear while she is sleeping to remind her that she loved Halloween as a kid and should love it as an adult. That subliminal trick works and she wakes up, dresses as a witch and dresses Ralph as a pirate to engage in last-minute Trick-or-Treat fun across the neighborhood. Where the costumes came from is also unexplained, but by this point who cares?<\/p>\n

Everything about \u201cThe Pumpkin Who Couldn\u2019t Smile\u201d is a misfire. This production is typical of the late career output from Jones, with soft and cheap-looking animation, endless verbosity, poorly paced slapstick, syrupy sweet cuteness, and unnecessary breaking of the fourth wall. Even the voice acting is off \u2013 June Foray\u2019s Raggedy Ann and Daws Butler\u2019s Raggedy Andy don\u2019t seem to fit the characters, while Les Treymane\u2019s crying pumpkin quickly becomes obnoxious. (Foray also voiced Agatha but chose to pay tribute to her husband by being billed as \u201cMrs. Hobart Donavan\u201d for that character.)<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Pumpkin Who Couldn\u2019t Smile\u201d debuted on CBS on Halloween night in 1979. It bombed in the ratings and did not become a new holiday perennial. There was a VHS video release but it has yet to return to the home entertainment channels on DVD or Blu-ray. There might be a rights issue holding up its return, and we should be grateful for that.<\/p>\n

However, unauthorized uploads to YouTube are keeping this awful obscurity front-and-center. For those who care, you can watch it here:<\/p>\n