REVIEW: The Great Pumpkin Case

The newest book in the AAUGH.com Reference Library is The Great Pumpkin Case… and, despite it’s name, it’s not a licensed Peanuts book. In fact, it’s not a Peanuts book at all. And if you’re saying “hey, it’s got to have at least been influenced by Peanuts to be named that,” well, no. I am absolutely certain that Charles Schulz’s comic strip Peanuts was no influence on it. How can I be so sure? Simple: while in some ways it’s the newest book in the reference library, it’s also the oldest book. This thing was published in 1903, before Charles Schulz created the Great Pumpkin… really, before Schulz himself was created. Written and published by T. S. Denison, who was America’s leading creator of amateur theatricals, the book (well, more a booklet, a mere 20 pages) is the script for a short play. Schools, churches, community groups, etc. could buy the scripts for 25 cents a copy and put on their own show… and that they did. I can find record of this play being produce from 1904, when the…

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