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.
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.
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.”
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.
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.
Two episodes in, ABC’s serial drama “Last Resort” is still surprising me, not only in its level of intensity but in how it’s advancing its plot.
So far we’ve seen an exchange of nuclear weapons, a country wiped half off the map, a rogue nuclear sub and, with the second episode, maneuvering by other countries and interests.
Anybody else having trouble imagining this series running five years?
If you haven’t seen it yet – and I certainly recommend it – “Last Resort” is about what happens when the principled captain and crew of the world’s most advanced nuclear sub, the Colorado, gets orders through unorthodox channels to launch missiles on Pakistan.
Capt. Marcus Chaplin (Andre Braugher) questions the order and is relieved of command. His executive officer, Sam Kendal (Scott Speedman) raises the same concerns and another American ship tries to blow them out of the water. The global situation quickly spirals out of control: Another sub launches nukes on Pakistan and Chaplin is branded as a “nuclear madman.” Chaplin, Kendal and loyal but green Lt. Grace Shepard (Daisy Betts) decide to take shelter in the cove of an Indian Ocean island. Chaplin broadcasts to the world an ultimatum: Keep a distance of 200 miles or I’ll launch a nuke. Just to prove his point, he fires a shot over the bow of Washington D.C.
In the second episode, Chaplin and the crew are reacting to forces testing their resolve. Early on, a U.S. sub crosses the line and Chaplin chases it away. Then a jet appears in the sky and the sailors quickly figure out that a Navy SEAL team has jumped out at high altitude and is hours away from the island.
While Kendal and Shepard prepare an away team – sorry, I can’t stop thinking of “Star Trek” while watching “Last Resort” – to meet the SEALS, Chaplin takes to back channels to figure out just who’s about to invade “his” island.
The second episode of “Last Resort” impressed me with how quickly it advanced the plot. We learn what’s happening with Kendal’s wife (Jessy Schram) at the hands of the government back home and we learn that Chaplin is keeping secrets. We see Shepard’s leadership continue to be tested. And we get a better idea of the island doings, including the now imprisoned chief of the boat (Robert Patrick) and King (Daniel Lissing), a SEAL who might shake off his guilt to become a player on this chess board.
Random thoughts:
I keep expecting Hurley to show up in an old VW van. Some of the Hawaii locations look very familiar.
Braugher has a big scene each episode, either a dramatic speech or an emotional moment. The guy is Emmy bait already.
My favorite part of the show, besides the military speak and chain of command, is the strong bond developing between characters.
I love the show’s intensity but it also makes me wonder how they can sustain it.
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.
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.
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.
Here’s a nice look at Tony Stark’s new armor – reportedly the Mark XLVII – from “Iron Man 3” and – bonus – another shot of the red-white-and-blue armor that everybody believed was Iron Patriot a while back but might be the more commercialized version of the War Machine armor worn by Jim Rhodes.
The movie’s shooting for a May 3 release date.
