Frank Smith

Turkey, cranberries, pumpkin pie... and the Peanuts gang to share them with. This is going to be the greatest Thanksgiving ever! The fun begins when Peppermint Patty invites herself and her pals to Charlie Brown's house for a REALLY big turkey party. Good grief! All our hero can cook is cold cereal and maybe toast. Is Charlie Brown doomed? Not when Linus, Snoopy and Woodstock chip in to save the (Thanksgiving) Day. With such good friends, Charlie Brown - and all of us - have so many reasons to be thankful.

With the school election looming, Linus is talked into running for school president. With Lucy and Charlie Brown as his campaign manager and Snoopy and Woodstock assisting, he stands a decent chance of victory. Soon however, he makes unrealistic promises and learns the hard way that preaching about the Great Pumpkin can not be considered a sound campaign strategy.

This classic "Peanuts" tale focuses on the thumb-sucking, blanket-holding Linus, and his touching faith in the "Great Pumpkin." When Linus discovers that no one else believes in the creature, he sets out to prove that the Pumpkin's no myth—by spending the night alone in a pumpkin patch.

When Charlie Brown complains about the overwhelming materialism that he sees amongst everyone during the Christmas season, Lucy suggests that he become director of the school Christmas pageant. Charlie Brown accepts, but it is a frustrating struggle. When an attempt to restore the proper spirit with a forlorn little fir Christmas tree fails, he needs Linus' help to learn the meaning of Christmas.

The near-sighted Mr. McGoo takes his duties as an Air Raid Warden, in the civil-defense, cold-war/iron curtain days of the 1950s, seriously. When he stumbles across the premiere of a new science-fiction movie at a theatre, he thinks his town has just been invaded by outer-space aliens. He takes the on-screen activities as part of the attack and goes through all the civil-defense steps to save the audience.

The near-sighted Mr. Magoo is on his way to take a French ballet star to a ball, but he makes a wrong turn and ends up escorting an ostrich, a zoo fugitive, in her place. A detective becomes suspicious, as well he might, when the ostrich becomes attached to some of the guest's jewels. Magoo finally takes his date home and he suspects that she would like for him to call again.

Dance teacher Miss Placement is dismayed to learn that the head of the School of Ballet where she teaches has entered her beginners class in a contest just three weeks away. But she manages to get them ready and they are a huge success. The school owner is so pleased that he enters all of the school's 1400 students in a contest where they have to learn "Swan Lake" in just two weeks.

This short from the UPA studio was nominated for the 1952 Oscars. Based on the Madeline series of children's books.