<P> With fall in full swing, the Peanuts gang prepares for Halloween . In the cold open, Linus and Lucy go out to the local pumpkin patch to find a pumpkin . Lucy selects the largest they can find, and poor Linus has to get it back to the house . He becomes distraught when it turns out Lucy is going to gut it to be a jack - o - lantern . After the opening credits, Snoopy ends up helping Charlie Brown, the dog's owner, when he rakes a pile of leaves . But then Linus jumps into the heap with a large lollipop . Then Lucy entices Charlie to kick a football...with the usual results . Later, Charlie Brown gets invited to a Halloween party hosted by Violet . Neither Charlie Brown nor Lucy can believe his invitation: as he breaks out into a "happy dance," she assumes it is a mistake . </P> <P> Linus is writing his yearly letter to The Great Pumpkin, despite Charlie Brown's disbelief, Snoopy's laughter, Patty's assurance that the Great Pumpkin is a fake, and even his own sister Lucy, who threatens to "pound" him . (She is watching TV and reading a TV Guide with her picture on it .) Only Sally, Charlie Brown's younger sister, supports Linus, because she is smitten with him . Linus goes out to mail the letter but cannot reach the mailbox . Lucy refuses to help him, so he lassos the mailbox handle with his security blanket to open the box and wafts in the letter . </P> <P> On Halloween night, the gang (including Sally) goes trick - or - treating, each with their own costume . Most dress as ghosts in simple white sheet costumes . Charlie Brown botches his costume with errant cutting, and Pig - Pen's trademark dust cloud makes him easy to identify . Lucy dresses as a witch, saying it is the opposite of her real personality . On the way, they stop at the pumpkin patch to jeer at Linus for missing the festivities, just as he did the previous year . Undeterred, Linus is convinced that the Great Pumpkin will come to his sincere pumpkin patch, and tries to convince Sally to join him . Sally, acting almost entirely on her infatuation with Linus, agrees to skip trick - or - treating to be with her sweet Babboo . </P> <P> During "tricks or treats," the kids get their goodies (except for Charlie Brown, who gets nothing but rocks). After going back to the pumpkin patch to tease Linus and Sally, the gang goes to Violet's Halloween party . Meanwhile, Snoopy, wearing his World War I flying ace costume, climbs aboard his doghouse (imagining it to be a Sopwith Camel fighter plane) to fight with the Red Baron . After a fierce but losing battle, Snoopy makes his way across "the countryside" to briefly crash the Halloween party . He is entertained by Schroeder's playing of World War I tunes on his piano, though the sad songs make him cry . Embarrassed, he leaves . Linus and Sally are still in the pumpkin patch . When Linus sees a shadowy figure rising from the moonlit patch, he assumes the Great Pumpkin is there and faints . Sally sees that it is only Snoopy . When Linus wakes, she furiously yells at him for making her miss the Halloween festivities as Charlie Brown and the others come to get her . As they leave, Linus, still convinced that the Great Pumpkin will materialize, promises to put in a good word for them "if he comes ." Then he panics, because he had said * if * instead of * when * . Is he too insincere for the Great Pumpkin? </P>

When did it's the great pumpkin charlie brown