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Speaker 1: This Day in History Class is production of iHeartRadio.

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Speaker 2: Hello and welcome to This Day in History Class, a

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Speaker 2: show that knows life could be so sweet if every

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Speaker 2: night was a night to go trick or treat. I'm

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Speaker 2: Gabe Bluesier, and today we're paying tribute to an unofficial

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Speaker 2: mascot of Halloween, the Orange and Black Cat, who's as

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Speaker 2: round as a pumpkin and ten times as lazy. The

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Speaker 2: day was October thirtieth, nineteen eighty five, Garfield's Halloween Adventure

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Speaker 2: aired for the first time on CBS. The animated primetime

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Speaker 2: special was well received by viewers and critics alike. It

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Speaker 2: won a p Timetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Animated Program

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Speaker 2: and went on to become a seasonal staple on CBS

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Speaker 2: for years afterward. Originally titled Garfield in Disguise, the special

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Speaker 2: was renamed for future airings to make its connection to

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Speaker 2: Halloween more explicit, and while it hasn't had the same

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Speaker 2: staying power as the Peanuts Halloween Special for many viewers,

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Speaker 2: the Garfield specials mix of broad humor and genuine scares

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Speaker 2: better captures the true spirit of the spooky season. Garfield

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Speaker 2: debuted in nineteen seventy eight as a comic strip character

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Speaker 2: created by Indiana cartoonist Jim Davis, the lazy orange Tabby

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Speaker 2: Cat quickly clawed his way into America's heart, winning over

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Speaker 2: readers of all ages with his deadpan wit and relatable

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Speaker 2: character traits like his hatred of Mondays and his love

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Speaker 2: of lasagna. The Garfield strip and the mountains of merchandise

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Speaker 2: that spawned proved such a hit that the character made

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Speaker 2: the leap to time television just four years later. Here

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Speaker 2: Comes Garfield, aired on CBS in the fall of nineteen

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Speaker 2: eighty two, the first of twelve animated Garfield specials produced

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Speaker 2: over the next ten years. The second and third specials,

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Speaker 2: Garfield on the Town and Garfield in the Rough, were

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Speaker 2: just as successful as the first one, with all three

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Speaker 2: winning Primetime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Animated Program. CBS was

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Speaker 2: hoping to continue that winning streak in nineteen eighty five,

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Speaker 2: and since Garfield specials were always aired in late October,

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Speaker 2: the decision was made to base the next one around Halloween.

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Speaker 2: On some level, the network was probably hoping to replicate

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Speaker 2: the success of its other comic strip based Halloween special,

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Speaker 2: It's the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown. The annual airing of

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Speaker 2: the nineteen sixty six pe Nuts classic had reliably pulled

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Speaker 2: in viewers for going on two decades at that point,

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Speaker 2: and after three consecutive Emmys, CBS had reason to hope

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Speaker 2: that a Garfield Halloween special could prove to have the

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Speaker 2: same longevity. Most of the creative team from the first

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Speaker 2: three specials returned for the fourth, including director Phil Roman,

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Speaker 2: composers Lou Rawls, Desiree Goyette, and Ed Bogus, and voice

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Speaker 2: actors Lorenzo Music, Tom Hughes, Greg Berger, and Charles Lindsay.

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Speaker 2: Workman Jim Davis was closely involved as well, of course,

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Speaker 2: drawing character art and storyboards, and writing the special's original story.

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Speaker 2: One of Davis and Roman's goals was to create a

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Speaker 2: show that was not only funny, but genuinely frightening, or,

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Speaker 2: as Davis put it, quote, I wanted to go somewhere

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Speaker 2: that would at least scare four year olds. Davis decided

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Speaker 2: the best way to do that was to start the

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Speaker 2: story off in safe, familiar territory so that viewers thought

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Speaker 2: they knew what to expect. Then, in the last ten

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Speaker 2: minutes or so, he would flip the script and deliver

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Speaker 2: some legitimate scares. The tricky part was finding the right

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Speaker 2: balance between the comedy and the horror, a top priority

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Speaker 2: for CBS's Standards and Practices Committee. Decades later, Davis reflected

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Speaker 2: on the many content notes he and the crew received,

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Speaker 2: calling out certain scenes as being too scary for young viewers,

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Speaker 2: as soft and as family oriented as it appears today,

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Speaker 2: Davis told the av Club, we rode the line of

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Speaker 2: what standards and practices would allow. It couldn't be anything

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Speaker 2: that appeared to be physical harm. Even with Garfield waking

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Speaker 2: John up. He could put his hand on John's cheeks,

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Speaker 2: but he couldn't put it on his shoulders because that

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Speaker 2: was too close to the throat. The team wound up

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Speaker 2: making numerous subtle changes to the animation to comply with

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Speaker 2: the requests, but in each instance they were careful to

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Speaker 2: soften the scares only as much as necessary. In the end,

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Speaker 2: the censors were appeased, and Garfield's Halloween Adventure aka Garfield

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Speaker 2: in Disguise prepiered on CBS on October thirtieth, nineteen eighty five.

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Speaker 2: The plot of the special centers on Garfield's quest to

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Speaker 2: gather as much free candy as possible on Halloween night.

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Speaker 2: To maximize his hall he enlists the help of his

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Speaker 2: fellow pet, a good natured, dim witted dog named Odie.

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Speaker 2: There's a fun musical sequence about getting psyched up to

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Speaker 2: go trick or treating called this is the Night, and

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Speaker 2: another about choosing the right costume called what Should I Be. Eventually,

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Speaker 2: Garfield and Odie settle on a pair of pirate costumes,

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Speaker 2: and after bidding farewell to their clueless owner, John, they

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Speaker 2: set out through the neighborhood in search of candy. It's

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Speaker 2: pretty standard fare as far as Halloween specials go, but

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Speaker 2: about two thirds of the way into the run time,

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Speaker 2: the story takes an unexpected turn. Hoping to squeeze in

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Speaker 2: a few more houses before the night's over, Garfield lets

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Speaker 2: his greed take over and decides that he and Odie

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Speaker 2: should continue trick or treating on the other side of

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Speaker 2: the river. The duo commandeer a rowboat from a nearby dock,

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Speaker 2: since they are pirates after all, but they wind up

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Speaker 2: lost in the fog. After drifting downstream, they come ashore

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Speaker 2: on a spooky island with a single house, a ramshackle

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Speaker 2: mansion which Garfield insists they investigate. Once inside, the pair

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Speaker 2: meet up with a strange old man who tells them

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Speaker 2: a story about pirates who supposedly buried treasure on the

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Speaker 2: island a century ago. He claims to have been the

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Speaker 2: crew's cabin boy and says that on Halloween night, they

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Speaker 2: signed a contract in blood stating that their ghosts would

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Speaker 2: reunite one hundred years, hence to claim their riches. Garfield

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Speaker 2: doesn't buy the tail, but the old man is so

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Speaker 2: convinced the pirates are coming that night he steals the

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Speaker 2: rowboat and the candy on board, and leaves the animals

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Speaker 2: stranded on the island. Moments later, pirate ghosts begin to

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Speaker 2: emerge from the water, confirming the old man's story and

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Speaker 2: giving Garfield an Odie the scare of a lifetime. The

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Speaker 2: detailed designs of the old man and the pirate ghosts

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Speaker 2: stand out from the cartoony style used in the rest

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Speaker 2: of the special, and multiple special effects were employed to

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Speaker 2: make the ghosts as ghoulish as possible. When they stand still,

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Speaker 2: for example, you can see lots of rotting flesh, muscle,

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Speaker 2: and bone. But then when they begin to chase Garfield

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Speaker 2: and Odie, the animators use a cross dissolve effect that

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Speaker 2: essentially merges their faces with a thin layer of white,

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Speaker 2: glowing fog. The result is downright eerie, and the technique

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Speaker 2: behind it remains impressive all these years later. Yet as

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Speaker 2: menacing as the Pirate Ghosts may be, Garfield and Odie

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Speaker 2: managed to escape them anyway. They're even reunited with their

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Speaker 2: lost bags of candy, providing a happy ending to their

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Speaker 2: harrowing night. There's no shortage of Halloween programming to choose from,

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Speaker 2: but for many families, the choice really comes down to

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Speaker 2: just two specials. It's The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown and

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Speaker 2: Garfield's Halloween Adventure. Plenty of people and enjoy both, but

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Speaker 2: most would also admit to favoring one over the other.

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Speaker 2: And while I myself and Team Peanuts as longtime listeners,

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Speaker 2: could probably guess there's something to be said for a

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Speaker 2: Halloween special that actually dares to be scary, the team

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Speaker 2: behind the Garfield Special understood that there's a fine line

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Speaker 2: between a Halloween party and a harvest party, and the

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Speaker 2: thing that pushes you one way or the other is

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Speaker 2: the scare factor. Pirate Ghosts make it clear which side

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Speaker 2: of the line you're on, but a great pumpkin that

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Speaker 2: never shows up. Not so much. Way to go, Garfield.

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Speaker 2: I'm Gabe Bluesier and hopefully you now know a little

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Speaker 2: more about history today than you did yesterday. If you

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Speaker 2: enjoyed today's episode, consider keeping up with us on Twitter, Facebook,

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Speaker 2: and Instagram at TDI HC Show. You can also rate

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Speaker 2: and review the show on Apple Podcasts, or you can

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Speaker 2: send your feedback directly by writing this day at iHeartMedia

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Speaker 2: dot com. Thanks to Chandler Mays for producing the show,

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Speaker 2: and thank you for listening. I'll see you back here

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Speaker 2: again tomorrow for one more scary day in history class.