Today in Halloween: Trick-or-treating trio

Here’s another vintage trick-or-treating picture from the vast resources of the Interwebs.

What I like about this picture is that – just guessing here – it’s a snapshot of three brothers, trying out their spooky masks before heading out to trick or treat.

Two of the kids are in what look like elf masks and hats, while the oldest (tallest, anyway) has what might be a clown mask.

Look closely at the oldest boy. He’s missing part of his left arm. Makes you wonder what happened.

If he’s anything like one of my uncles, he lived to a ripe old age and enjoyed tormenting kids with that abbreviated appendage. To this day, I have vivid memories of my Uncle Oren, who was missing a hand, and how he would good-naturedly tease me by poking his stump into my belly. We would laugh and laugh, but it was a little unnerving.

‘Til next time.

‘The Simpsons Treehouse of Horror’ for 2012

For a couple of decades, “The Simpsons Treehouse of Horror” was an annual ritual in my household. Even after we weren’t watching the show regularly, we would tune in each October (sometimes November, when Fox pre-empted the show for post-season baseball) to see the yearly collection of horror and sci-fi parody shorts.

So we watched the show this week. And yes, this is another of those “‘The Simpsons’ isn’t as funny as it used to be” entries.

A quick overview:

The pre-credits “cold open” of the show might have been the most consistent of the stories in the episode. Set in Mayan times, Homer is about to be sacrificed but Marge saves him, thus dooming the Earth to destruction in … 2012.

The next segment, about the creation of a black hole (“Can we call it that?” Homer asks in a stage whisper) that swallows most of Springfield and transports it to an alien planet where the aliens worship everything that’s worthless. Good premise, funny visuals, totally flat punchline.

A parody of the “Paranormal Activity” movies follows and ends with Homer on the receiving end of a demon-Homer-demon threesome. Ugh. The only good part of the segment? Timelapse video, taken overnight like the “Paranormal” movies, of Homer peeing. And peeing. And peeing.

And peeing.

The final segment has Bart traveling through time, ala “Back to the Future,” meeting his parents when they were young. There’s a nice callback to Artie Ziff, the rich young nerd/suitor of Marge.

What I miss about the annual “Treehouse of Horror” episode:

The gravestones. I loved the ironic and sarcastic tombstones that the “camera” drifted past as episodes opened.

Kang and Kodos. Everybody’s favorite aliens are glimpsed at one point. But I sure wanted  more.

The wrap-arounds and introductions. Remember how earlier episodes had wrap-around framing devices? And that introduction that had Marge taking the stage to parody the introduction to the original “Frankenstein?”

Is it too simple to say … the funny stuff?

Today in Halloween: One is the loneliest trick-or-treater

I don’t think I ever went trick-or-treating by myself. Not that I was an in-demand Halloween night companion, but I pretty much always made the rounds with cousins and friends in town.

So there’s no snark from me about this solo trick-or-treater. Here’s hoping she (she rather than he? I’m thinking that’s a witch costume) joined up with a whole pack of trick-or-treaters at the end of her sidewalk.

And I’m hoping she has many happy Halloween memories to this day.

 

 

Today in Halloween: Creepy trick-or-treaters, outstanding in their field

It’s time for another vintage Halloween photo, a snapshot of trick-or-treating and masquerading long gone.

And good riddance.

This photo, undated but probably from sometime in the 1950s or earlier, has a weird vibe to it. Looks like a rural setting, maybe a Halloween photo of a bunch of classmates outside a school.

The paper bags that a couple of the kids are wearing are … interesting. Maybe they were from families too poor to afford masks. Or didn’t believe in Halloween.

It’s “Children of the Corn: The Early Years.”

The masks we do see are just unsettling, though. The little boy to the left, wearing overalls and a bow tie? That mask is freaky.

And what the hell is the teacher/parent/adult guardian wearing? That outfit must have given those kids nightmares for weeks afterward.

And that house, or church, in the background? What’s that in the upstairs window?

Just kidding.

 

iPhoneorgraphy: More from the Halloween store

It’s time for another look at fun stuff available this Halloween, courtesy of my iPhone.

This time I thought I’d mention some trends I’m seeing.

Political masks like the one above are a staple of Halloween dress-up, although never more so than in an election year.

I know 7-Eleven does  a straw poll each election year predicting (pretty accurately) the winner by how many straws representing which candidate are taken by customers. I’m not sure you could do this with masks, though, because the best-selling mask might not indicate support. Anyway, with a suit or – better yet – a dress shirt with rolled-up sleeves, symbolizing sympathy with the masses, these masks would make suitable costumes.

I was thinking of Halloween treats that have fallen in popularity recently and thought of popcorn balls. I see them for sale as trick-or-treating items sometimes but I’ve noticed them more this year than other years. Some kind of trend?

Did you watch “American Horror Story” on FX last season? That was a strange show, to say the least. It’s inspired the sale of black rubbery fetish suits.

I’ve seen a lot of big ol’ spiders in stores this year.

Big hairy ones.

And grisly heads on hooks appear to be a thing this year.

Yeesh. In case you need a two-pack.

And I don’t think this Gothic Minx costume represents any particular trend. I’m just posting it because my wife said she would punch me if I ever called her a “gothic minx.”

 

Today in Halloween: Topstone monster masks

I probably had some Topstone Halloween masks and didn’t realize it. You probably did too.

Unlike Don Post Halloween masks, Topstone were more reasonably priced masks. They were latex/rubber masks like the Don Post masks but were thinner and sold for two or three bucks – a third of the price of the most affordable Don Post masks – through stores and Captain Company ads in magazines like Famous Monsters of Filmland back in the 1960s.

As a kid, I certainly didn’t notice the brands of masks I eagerly bought around Halloween time, so I’m mostly guessing some of mine were made by Topstone. And needless to say many of the masks don’t exist any more. They were never meant to survive for four decades or more.

Topstone sold full over-the-head masks, but I think most familiar to some of us were the “full face” masks, both soft latex and harder plastic, that were common at the time.

Topstone Rubber Toy Company, according to online histories, began making masks in the 1930s. Besides horror masks, the company made clowns, “goofs” and – unfortunately – race-based caricatures like “Remus” and “Chinaman.” As late as 1960, the company marketed “colored” masks.

The company’s heyday was in the 1950s and 1960s, when the advent of the “Shock Theater” package of classic Universal horror films became popular on TV stations and spawned not only magazines like Famous Monsters of Filmland and TV horror hosts like Indianapolis’ Sammy Terry but also a craze for scary monster masks.

Particularly memorable was the “Shock Monster” mask that was aggressively marketed to young geeks like me.

Keith Ward, whose other famous designs included Elsie the Cow and Elmer the Bull (the latter for Elmer’s Glue) designed many of the classic Topstone masks.

Ray Castile is an acknowledged expert on Topstone, its history and its masks. He also produced thegalleryofmonstertoys.com.

Everything you want to know about Topstone masks can be found here.

Today in Halloween: A witch and … a what?

It’s time for another dip into the misty days of Halloween long gone. It’s another snapshot of creepy trick-or-treaters!

I’ve been trying to run some of these masks through Google image search, hoping I can identify them.

The little kid on the left is, obviously, a witch. It’s a pretty classic mask, hat and outfit.

But the guy on the right? A Google image search mostly produced photos of bald old men from Russian websites. True story.

So, based on the bumpy skin, the big pointy teeth and the outfit that looks like it might be some kind of medieval armor, I’m gonna say this kid was ahead of his time and decades ahead of Peter Jackson’s “Lord of the Rings” costume designers.

Looks like an orc to me.

Today in Halloween: Scaring trick-or-treaters

Because I lived in the country when I was growing up, I’d venture into the city and go trick-or-treating every Halloween with my cousins and some friends, who lived in a densely-populated part of town with what seemed like a bazillion trick-or-treaters.

Seriously, you almost couldn’t make your way down the sidewalk without tripping over some other pint-size goblin or superhero.

We did it every year, but one year in particular stands out in my memory.

My cousin, friends and I made our way from house-to-house, like we always did. I was at a disadvantage, as always, because of my mask. I’m pretty sure this year it was a cheap rubber monster mask of some kind, but the disadvantage came in because I had to wear it over my glasses.

As a kid who got glasses in the middle of first grade, I had grown accustomed to all the drawbacks of being a four eyes. But one of the worst was how anything that covered your nose and face – winter weather knit ski masks, for example, but especially Halloween masks – would make my glasses fog up.

So I was flying blind. Or walking blind.

My group walked up the sidewalk to a house much like every other house we had visited that night. But this one was different.

Inside lived someone who loved Halloween very much. That or a sadist who hated kids.

As we drew near the door, someone on the front porch pulled a rope and a dummy fell out of a tree in front of us. It was obviously a stuffed figure but freaked us out anyway. We turned to run.

But they weren’t done with us yet. The homeowner had stationed friends or, most likely, teenage offspring, behind bushes and trees in the front yard. As we beat a hasty retreat they popped out at us, yelling and growling.

We all ran like crazy. Some of us missed the sidewalk and burst out into the nearby street. Luckily cars were moving along at a crawl because of all the kids who were out.

I’ve never forgotten that night. I still think of it when I’m walking my son through our neighborhood and somebody has obviously replaced a stuffed figure in a porch chair with a living, breathing person, ready to jump at us.

It’s fun to be scared on Halloween. A little bit.

Today in Halloween: Spooky farm boy trick-or-treaters

I grew up on a farm out in the country, so I know that there’s not always time to run into town and shop for Halloween costumes. Especially back 40 or 50 years ago, when Halloween costumes were in short supply.

So you get yourself a mask and some of dad or grandpa’s clothes and you make do, dagnabbit!

So while there’s familiarity to today’s installment of unsettling – even creepy – vintage trick-or-treaters, there’s also a little chill.

Maybe it’s the rosy red cheeks and hair bow (I think?) on the kid on the right.

Maybe it’s the authentic, backwoods-feeling addition of the cap on lefty.

I did a Google image search of the mask on the right and it gave me dozens of Facebook photos of women with blonde hair and heavily made-up faces.

Personally, I’d be insulted if I were them.

Today in Halloween: More creepy trick-or-treaters

No, nothing creepy about that picture at all.

As part of our continuing series of snapshots – many of them vintage – of old Halloween costumes and trick-or-treaters, we present this picture, undated but certainly from the mid 1900s or earlier.

Maybe it’s the lack of costumes other than the masks.

Maybe it’s the pose, the body language that says, “Please, father, would you finish taking the picture?”

That or, “When you wake up in the middle of the night we’re going to be standing by your bed wearing these masks.”

Or maybe it’s just the ears on the little boy.