Saturday, October 31, 2020

The Two-Faced Halloween of 1968

            On Halloween, 1968, I was twelve years old—almost too old for trick-or-treating.  It was a Thursday night.  And this year I did a sneaky thing, something I’m not proud of now.  But it seemed cool at the time.

            Somehow, this year, I had access to two Halloween costumes.  Don’t ask me what the outfits were—but we can say with certainty that both involved masks.

            After darkness fell, I made the neighborhood trick-or-treat rounds and stocked up on candy.  Then I came home, changed into the other costume, and went out again, to the same houses.

             I remember this caper of shame for two reasons.  At one house the lady said, “Haven’t you already been here tonight?”  How did she know?  I was dressed completely different, including a mask over my face!   But when she said that, friends, I felt about this tall.  I wasn’t raised to be a cheater, but here I was—acting like one.

             Memory number two of this night:  When I wandered home, Mom and Dad were watching Raymond Burr in Ironside.  A vague ancillary memory recalls part of the episode taking place on what I recall as a surrealistic TV stage or play set, surrounded by darkness.


            And that’s how I was able to pin down the date for this memory!  “I, the People,” from Season Two of Ironside, is the only episode of that show’s run to air on a Halloween night.  The date was Thursday, October 31, 1968.

          And, as you can see from the first and following images, much of the show does indeed take place on a TV stage.  The story involves a populist, controversial talk-show host (played by Milton Berle) who receives death threats.


            So, you can see that my memory was pretty accurate!

 Happy Halloween memories!

  See you on Monday!

  

Wednesday, October 28, 2020

The Munsters Sink Slowly into the West ...

There three pages are the last images from the Munsters coloring book for this year.


I think Marilyn should have said, "It's a dummy, dummy!"  By the way, do you suppose that the label "toxic leaves" was somebody's attempt to remember the term "tana leaves"?

See you back here at the end of the week.  Not on Friday, but on SATURDAY, OCTOBER 31st ... Halloween ... with a special reminiscence of a certain shameful Halloween ...
  

Monday, October 26, 2020

Scary Books, Kiddies! Dracula: Asylum

Scary Books, Kiddies!

Dracula: Asylum. By Paul Witcover. DH Press, 2006. Cover painting by Stephen Youll.

Well, the 2001 Dracula reboot by Christopher Schildt must not have sold, because five years later we’ve got another licensed paperback, re-re-reintroducing the Universal baddie to another flash-fired (or flash-fried?) generation.

This Dracula is an intentional lord of evil, brought back to life from the ruins of Carfax Abbey, ignoring the occurrences depicted in the film Dracula’s Daughter (and all the rest!). It’s set around WWI.

And we have characters named Renfield (nicknamed “Renny”) and Mina, too! Maybe you can figure it out, it’s beyond me.


Hand me that stake, Watson!


See you on Wednesday for more Halloween havoc!
   
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© by Mark Alfred