The Halloweens of my youth
As I recall, Halloween used to last for weeks.
I无毛视频檓 74 years old. My memories of Halloween are about 65 years old. So, once again, to me, Halloween used to last for weeks.
At my age, embellishment-laced nostalgia is oh, so soothing.
Up there on Coolspring Street, we used to gather platoons of Halloweeners who无毛视频檇 fan out and knock on every door in the neighborhood 无毛视频� and beyond.
We had no fear of anything 无毛视频� except our bigger brothers and sisters who could wrest the bags of candy from our mitts as if they had done the work.
I无毛视频檓 not complaining. Well, yes I am!
My brother, Marlin, (he无毛视频檚 five years older than me) didn无毛视频檛 put on a mask, then suffer through the ritual of having some unsuspecting adults feign they didn无毛视频檛 know it was him under the stupid costume.
OK! It wasn无毛视频檛 really stupid. It was something I twisted my mother无毛视频檚 arm to buy me down there at G.C. Murphy无毛视频檚.
I just looked, and I see that in 1959, Murphy无毛视频檚 had a sale on Halloween costumes. I probably got one of the ones that went on sale for (between) 98 cents and $2.98. And my mother probably splurged and got me one of those plastic masks for 10 cents, or 29 cents.
You know, you无毛视频檇 wear it for about an hour, and you couldn无毛视频檛 stand the odor.
It all prepared me to go forth and, in effect, beg for candy.
Ah, candy.
If we were lucky, we无毛视频檇 knock on a door where they were handing out Snickers bars.
Snickers 无毛视频� the filet mignon of candies.
Nothing in our Halloween bag was more valuable. (Note: You just may think other stuff is more valuable. If so, write your own darned column.)
Candy bars and other sweet confections were welcome when we made our rounds.
Stuff like popcorn balls was not.
Let无毛视频檚 stop here a moment while I call for the abolition of popcorn balls.
Who invented those things, anyway?
I无毛视频檒l bet it was a Republican.
What I truly loved about Halloween was that it didn无毛视频檛 have many rules. (Serious felonies were prohibited. Everything else was OK.)
Think about it. In summer, many of us had to return to our houses when the streetlights came on.
But in the fall, and for Halloween, you无毛视频檇 LEAVE your house when the streetlights came on.
That无毛视频檚 one of life无毛视频檚 many mysteries, I suppose.
Ghouls and goblins don无毛视频檛 walk the earth in broad daylight.
It无毛视频檚 not in their union contract, I think.
When I say there weren无毛视频檛 rules, or laws that were generally applied to Halloween when I was a kid, part of it was the geography you could cover in a single night.
I can remember (I无毛视频檓 making this up), starting on Coolspring Street, and ending up in Charleston, West Virginia, by dawn. What无毛视频檚 even more incredible 无毛视频� I didn无毛视频檛 get a single popcorn ball.
And unlike with today无毛视频檚 Halloweeners, it seems as if we无毛视频檇 be out there on our nightly sojourns 无毛视频� begging for candy for weeks.
None of this one-night, one-hour stuff like today.
Back then, at either the State Theatre or the Manos, they had 无毛视频淏ig Halloween Show(s),无毛视频� where there were afternoons full of controlled mayhem downtown.
In October of 1957, the State offered 无毛视频渇ree candy无毛视频� for the first 100 kids.
If you showed up wearing your Halloween costume (I think there were probably a lot of kids dressed as hobos 无毛视频� 无毛视频檆ause they wore their older siblings无毛视频� cast-offs) you无毛视频檇 stand a chance of winning 无毛视频淏est, funniest, most original, etc.无毛视频� prizes.
There wasn无毛视频檛 a popcorn ball in the bunch.
Then, there was the show. There were five cartoons, three 3 Stooges, and 无毛视频淔rances in the Haunted House,无毛视频� starring Mickey Rooney.
Oh! I left out one of the strangest rituals of the Halloweens of my youth: bobbing for apples.
Or, as I无毛视频檇 like to think of it 无毛视频� waterboarding.
Some kids might无毛视频檝e enjoyed that. I never did. Mainly because I never managed to get my teeth around anything but water.
That wasn无毛视频檛 much of a reward.
Edward A. Owens is a multi-Emmy Award winner, former reporter, and anchor for Entertainment Tonight, and 50-year TV news and newspaper veteran. E-mail him at freedoms@bellatlantic.net.