Halloween Hall o' Fame

A Wikipedia entry on the 1977 Halloween-themed episode of Walt Disney's anthology series The Wonderful World of Disney. Season 24, episode 5, first broadcast October 30, 1977, directed by Arthur J. Vitarelli and written by George Petlowany, with cinematography by Frank Phillips, and a 60-minute running time. Jonathan Winters plays a night watchman working late at Walt Disney Studios on Halloween night, accompanied by his dog Peanuts. Resentful about working the holiday, he wanders into the prop room and acts out scenes with the props, eventually discovering a crystal ball and uncovering a talking jack-o'-lantern, also played by Winters. The jack-o'-lantern explains he is hiding from Halloween because it is no longer scary as it was in the olden days, and the watchman scolds him for it. Their dialogue frames four Halloween-related Disney cartoons that the jack-o'-lantern reveals in the crystal ball. Afterwards, the watchman prods the jack-o'-lantern to come out of hiding and celebrate Halloween since trick-or-treaters are counting on him. The jack-o'-lantern then uses his magic to swap places with the watchman, borrowing his body because he has none of his own, and heads out to join the trick-or-treaters. The watchman remarks it looks like a nice Halloween after all, and asks that anyone who sees Mr. Pumpkin Head on their block send him back before midnight. In syndicated versions, Lonesome Ghosts (1937) was not included, and the episode often played alongside 'Disney's Scary Tales of Halloween' (1986). The episode was preceded by 'The Incredible Journey' and followed by 'The Mouseketeers at Walt Disney World' in the series chronology.