Today in Halloween: Razor blades in apples

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It’s possible it never happened, but it’s too good a story to resist. Some madman in some city – maybe one not all that far away from your own – slipped a razor blade into an apple given out one Halloween to a trick-or-treater. The kid bit into it and the razor blade lodged firmly in the roof of his mouth. Ouch!

Since I was a child, the rumors of razor blades in apples has been one that haunted kids – but even more so their parents – every Halloween. Parents insisted on inspecting the contents of the trick-or-treat bag for tampered-with apples and candy before kids were let loose to indulge their Halloween gluttony.

Some hospitals even offered free x-raying of Halloween candy to make sure no foreign objects were included. I’m not sure if the irradiated candy was any more dangerous than the unscreened treats.

You know it’s a “real” urban legend when there’s a Snopes.com page dedicated to the subject, encompassing razor blades and the equally insidious pins and needles in apples and candy.

Perhaps surprisingly, Snopes quotes an expert, Professor Joel Best, who says he’s confirmed about 80 cases of sharp objects in Halloween treats since 1959.

I guess if your chances are 80 in … how many billion? … treats given out over the years, you’re probably pretty safe.

By the way, Best wrote a 1985 paper, “The Razor Blade in the Apple: The Social Construction of Urban Legends,” that is available for download.

Interestingly, Snopes notes that poisoned candy was the fear from the post-war years until the mid-1960s, when sharp objects became the thing that parents could obsess about.

Shailene Woodley in ‘Spider-Man’ sequel? Gwen’s fate coming?

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Word broke today that Shailene Woodley was close to being cast as Mary Jane Watson in the sequel to “The Amazing Spider-Man.”

Woodley, of the “Secret Life of an American Teenager” TV series and the movie “The Descendants,” looks perfectly fine for the part. At just about 21, she still looks like a teenager.

But the news of the addition of Mary Jane to the rebooted “Spider-Man” series carries with it, of course, the implication that director Marc Webb’s series might soon address the famous “Death of Gwen Stacy” storyline from the comics.

Issues 121 and 122 of the original “Amazing Spider-Man” – published in the summer of 1973 – were famous, and justifiably so, for featuring one of the most shocking comic storylines published to that point. In a battle between Spidey and the Green Goblin, Gwen is thrown from the top of a bridge. Spidey shoots a web to catch her and, at first, believes that he has saved her.

Then he realizes the horrible truth.

Gwen’s sacrifice put Peter Parker/Spider-Man back on the market, so to speak, and eventually redhead Mary Jane – a character previously only glimpsed – was introduced.

 

Granted, the Gwen Stacy story – not including some regrettable retrofitting a few years ago – has been comics history and thus familiar to fans for decades.

But it will be interesting to see how movie fans in general react.

Today in Halloween: Trick-or-treating trio

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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

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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?

On the TV: What I’m watching (and looking forward to)

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Thanks to a lot of work and only a little bit of time, I’m playing catch-up on fall TV shows.

There’s nothing at the moment that I’m looking forward to as much as Sunday’s return of “The Walking Dead.” Here’s hoping the third season of Rick, Daryl, Merle and the rest will be a great one.

Really, considering the machete hand that Merle is sporting, how can it be anything but cool?

In the meantime, here’s what I’ve been watching.

“The Mindy Project” features Mindy Kaling, late of “The Office,” in a sitcom she created and writes. Kaling plays a very different character from Kelly on “The Office.” In this case, she’s a physician who (sitcom cliche alert) is more proficient at work than in her personal life.

Kaling has a likable presence and the supporting cast is quite good. And here’s a bonus: The second episode was better than the pilot.

“Alphas,” in its second season on SyFy, is one of the best shows I’m watching now. This series about a group of mutants who work for the government has a nice, X-Men-type mythology – good mutants versus “evil” ones – an intriguing bunch of characters and a good cast.

“Alphas” is also casting to appeal to geeks, with recent appearances by Summer Glau of “Firefly” and Sean Astin of “Lord of the Rings.”

“Last Resort” continues to be my favorite new fall show. I’ve written about its first two episodes and I’m looking forward to the third.

“Raising Hope” has been on for a few seasons now but I’m always pleasantly surprised by how fun it is. It’s a silly, non-sequitur-filled show about a goofy, white trash family. If you liked “Scrubs,” you’ll probably like it.

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

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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

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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

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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

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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?

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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.