Today in Halloween: Princess of Pumpkinland

Here’s another look at vintage Halloween pictures from the world wild web.

I’m not sure what to make of the creepy, rough-hewn masks of yesterday we’ve seen in a lot of these old snapshots. Were mask-making skills so rudimentary more than a half-century ago? Or was a lot of detail lost in these photos? Was it possible to tell, face to face, the character or person the mask was based on?

In this one, a girl cradles a pumpkin while she sits among other pumpkins.

Her mask is a puzzler. The arched brows, full but frozen lips …. who knew there had ever been a market for Tallulah Bankhead masks?

Today in Halloween: Clowns and Indians?

Here’s another of our looks back at old-timey Halloween costumes, pulled from the vast array somebody plunked down on the Internet.

Your guess is as good as mine – likely better – on a time frame for this snapshot. The boots on the kid in the middle are interesting and make me guess early first half of the 20th century.

As for the costumes?

The fringe on the kids on the outside makes me think they’re western getups, maybe Indian costumes.

And while I can’t quite figure out the mask on the kid in the middle, that outfit sure looks like one worn by a clown or jester.

More next time.

Today in Halloween: Let’s join the circus!

Here’s our latest look at vintage Halloween photos from the World Wide Web.

In my ongoing half-assed effort to guess about the origin of these pictures, I’m going to speculate that this photo depicts high schoolers in the area of Peru, Indiana, in the first half of the 20th century.

Why?

Because Peru has always been a haven for circus performers and the abundance of clowns in the picture makes me think these kids borrowed some of their parents’ professional makeup.

I don’t know what to make of the guy at lower right. Devil? Yellow peril?

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.

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.