The Halloween Tree

So we all know that the Disney details are what we really, really love and get into and that just make Disney so special.

But did you know that there are so many different trees of Disney that have a special meaning or history? Well, a couple of weeks ago, we were doing a meeting and I don't know how it came up, but something about the Halloween tree at Disneyland and I think Dan was busy inputting information into the spreadsheet.

So there was like a lull or something.

So I started thinking about Disney trees from the Halloween tree to like the various Christmas trees to like the Peter Pan tree with the carvings and all of the trees.

By the time he was done inputting the information, I said, did you guys know how many special trees there are? And I have a list of like seven, just like off the top of my head.

And it just seems like the silliest subject, but yeah, That's our subject for today.

There has to be so many more that we've missed, but we're going to touch on some of them today.

I'm going to start us off with the one that started this list and this whole crazy topic.

Having taken root in the British Isles and flourished in North America, the idea of the big orange jack-o'-lantern has now been exported back to Europe, bringing an appreciation for pumpkins back to the place where it all began.

Perhaps one of the greatest literary testaments to the modern symbolism of the jack-o'-lantern can be found in Ray Bradbury's classic 1972 novel, The Halloween Tree.

In this fanciful story, a group of small town boys embark upon a thrilling journey through the history of All Hallows' Eve.

But with all the ghosts and witches and rituals they witness, one image stands out among all the others.

And it is that of the Halloween tree itself, festooned with jack-o'-lanterns.

Bradbury writes, there must have been a thousand pumpkins on this tree, hung high and on every branch, a thousand smiles, a thousand grimaces, and twice times a thousand glares and winks and blinks and leerings of fresh-cut eyes.

And then weaving the shining pumpkins into the holiday itself, Bradbury adds the smile of the witch and the smile of the cat, the smile of the beast, the smile of the bat, the smile of the Reaper, taking his fee all cut and glimmer on the Halloween tree.

Whether your Halloween is about gathering with friends, participating in trick-or-treating, or savoring the thrill of history and magic, may the jack-o'-lantern light your way.

Act Two, Nobody Likes the Great Pumpkin.

One of the earliest steps towards the Halloween tree story was a painting that Ray Bradbury made for his daughters, an image of a tall, wide oak in an empty field.

The painting was made at home by Bradbury somewhere in the early 1960s, though the exact date has now been lost.

In this painting, a mature oak tree dressed in orange leaves is presented before an ochre sky, with pumpkins hanging down from its limbs.

It was a painting in which Halloween took over one of the main Christmas symbols, the Christmas tree.

Instead of glass ornaments and garland, the new holiday tree was decorated with carved jack-o'-lanterns.

The next step along the path to the Halloween tree story happened in 1966.

On Thursday, October 27th, four days before Halloween, Ray Bradbury watched the premiere of the new Peanuts holiday special, It's the Great Pumpkin, Shelly Brown,

It absolutely is.

Um, my, my second Bradbury recommendation for this month is The Halloween Tree.

Ooh.

Which is, uh, it is a-

Uh, this is my, my, my autographed copy of-

Wow

... of, uh, the, uh, o- of, uh, The Halloween Tree that, uh, Bradbury signed for me back in the day, 2003.

Good heavens.

And incredibly, Bradbury wasn't done defining the genre.

Exactly 10 years later, in 1972, he published The Halloween Tree, which the CVR article considers the pinnacle cozy horror classic.

Another masterpiece.

The premise alone makes me want to wrap up in a blanket.