Tuesday, November 09, 2010

HALLOWEEN 2010: HOW WAS IT?

It was a pretty good year, considering that everyone was bummed out by the economic crisis. Even fashion magazines had Halloween issues (above).

I collected plenty of good Halloween pictures on the net, but I forgot to label some of them. Where did I get this (above) from, and who did it!?


There were some really imaginative outdoor displays (above) this year.

It's amazing what people will put on their lawns (above)!

Since we're on the subject of outrageous Halloween efforts, I wonder if Glendale artist Peter Montgomery ever built that Jules Verne machine in his driveway? He went on the internet to ask for money for it.



This year saw zillions of gross pumpkin displays (above).

I'm wondering if Tim Burton and ray Bradbury have made Halloween Trees (above) a permanent holiday fixture. I saw a lot of Halloween trees this year. Some  people have beautiful trees on their lawns and simply hang pumpkins on them...




...others set up Halloween trees inside their houses. Mostly the indoor trees are dried up twigs painted black. People either buy ornaments or hang homemade stuff from them: little poison bottles, paper witches, Godzillas, etc.


The "Blair Witch" movie (above) continued to influence reality TV this year. A zombie mini-series debuted, but I missed it.

Zombies (above) are still a big item at Halloween time.



Expensive rubber masks took a hit this year; nobody could afford them! I saw lots of cheap masks, though, some of them good. It looks like the last of the old vintage masks (the two pictures above) have finally been put out to pasture. They lingered on for years in updated versions, but I haven't seen any this time around.


I saw some vaguely similar ones, though. How do you like this one (above)? It's the love child of the famous Ernie Kovacs caveman mask with a Schnauzer. 


I stumbled on a couple of Halloween blogs which featured photos of abandoned amusement parks (above).  


Gee, it kinda puts things in perspective, doesn't it? Everything we know and love will eventually end up like this park (above). 


So that was Halloween, 2010! The holiday is alive and well, at least in my part of the world. 



11 comments:

Lester Hunt said...

Oh Gosh! I had that "vintage" Neanderthal mask you show And a plastic club to go with it. It was so cool! That was about fifty years ago.

Steven M. said...

I'm surprised people actually thought about making a Halloween tree, even when I thought I was the first one in the world to thing that up.

pappy d said...

Have you ever been to the Hollywood Forever cemetery for Day of the Dead? People put up altars to the departed & paint skulls on their faces. There's an art gallery in the mausoleum, parades & live entertainment, too. I wish I'd known about it in 2005 when Yma Sumac performed.

mike fontanelli said...

HOO HAH!!! Where can I get a Nairobi Trio mask? I've only been looking for one ever since forever!!!

disney 164 dvd said...

So funny! Well done!

Anonymous said...

What are your thoughts on William Castle?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homicidal A 45-second timer overlaid the film's climax as the heroine approached a house harboring a sadistic killer. A voice-over advised the audience of the time remaining in which they could leave the theatre and receive a full refund if they were too frightened to see the remainder of the film. To ensure the more wily patrons did not simply stay for a second showing and leave during the finale Castle had different color tickets printed for each show.[2] About 1% of patrons still demanded refunds, and in response:
Fright Certificate

"William Castle simply went nuts. He came up with 'Coward's Corner,' a yellow cardboard booth, manned by a bewildered theater employee in the lobby. When the Fright Break was announced, and you found that you couldn't take it any more, you had to leave your seat and, in front of the entire audience, follow yellow footsteps up the aisle, bathed in a yellow light. Before you reached Coward's Corner, you crossed yellow lines with the stencilled message: 'Cowards Keep Walking.' You passed a nurse (in a yellow uniform?...I wonder), who would offer a blood-pressure test. All the while a recording was blaring, "'Watch the chicken! Watch him shiver in Coward's Corner'!" As the audience howled, you had to go through one final indignity -- at Coward's Corner you were forced to sign a yellow card stating, 'I am a bona fide coward.' Very, very few were masochistic enough to endure this. The one percent refund dribbled away to a zero percent, and I'm sure that in many cities a plant had to be paid to go through this torture. No wonder theater owners balked at booking a William Castle film. It was all just too damn complicated

Severin said...

I didn't get any trick-or-treaters! What a gyp! I had a bowl full of snickers and reeses cups and everything, ready to go. I guess kids just don't go knocking on doors in apartment buildings...

mike fontanelli said...

Re: William Castle:
I like hucksters - if they're entertaining and original enough, and Castle fits that bill. He was the 20th century's equivalent of P.T. Barnum: a shameless huckster first and showman/innovator second, like the memorable conman characters portrayed by W.C. Fields and Phil Silvers. He could have played Mr. Haney on Green Acres, and I would've been happy.

Also, his natural screen presence is hilarious; arguably more entertaining than his films. He didn't cross the line into "shill", even though it's true that he was essentially selling junk. It was all tongue-in-cheek, and the audience wasn't fooled for a minute. They were in on it, really, and happy enough to be "taken in".

Steven Finch, Attorney At Law said...

Best Halloween in years!

Hosted my first Halloween party ever, and it was a success. And now I'm stocked up on (reproduction) vintage paper cut-out decorations, plastic masks, honeycomb pumpkins, and black lights for years to come!

pappy d said...

steampunk drill:

http://www.socalhalloween.com/

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