Wreck the Halls with Bowels of Ghoulies 2016

Welcome to Halloween 2016!  As usual, I didn't get to post everything I wanted, but I think I did pretty good. I did manage at least one post per day.

 My final post closing out the season is dedicated to my annual yard haunt and decorations.  Ever since I was a kid, I envied the people who went beyond the normal scarecrow on the porch and really put on a show for the kids.  It inspired me to create my own display and laid the foundation for my love of Halloween.  I hope you enjoy and a Happy Halloween to all!

On October 31

I found this album of 78's at a garage sale last weekend.  The black cat and Jack O' Lantern caught my eye.

The Scarecrow

I picked this book up at an estate sale Friday for two reasons.

Recipes

Halloween is nigh and with zero hour approaching, I thought I'd offer some last minute recipe ideas for your Halloween party. You are having one, right?

General Foods Corporation Monthly Dessert Calendar, 1940

Halloween Highlight

If yesterday's "Hallowe'en Party Fun" courtesy of "Hospitality Homes" wasn't enough to plan your party, perhaps this Holiday Handbook published by Highlights Children's magazine can fill the gap.

Hospitality Homes October, 1952

This issue of Hospitality Home published by Hot Point Appliances (and Anderson's Appliance Store) contains some "Hallowe'en Party Fun" along with helpful hints for the 1950's housewife (and husband!).

Scholastic Halloween

This October 1961 edition of "News Explorer" was published by Scholastic Books and is the standard flyer we all received in grade school plus some additional news and features.

Amscan Owl

This "honeycomb" owl Halloween decoration was made by the Amscan Company and probably dates anywhere from the 1960's to 1970's.

Flicker Eye Skeleton

Each year as Halloween draws near, I realize I still have an abundance of things to post and start throwing out random items.  This year is no diffferent.

This flicker-eyed skeleton is hollow blown plastic.  He measures 7" tall and is attached to a string. I have no idea of his age.  I have him hanging in front of my computer. When you turn him back and forth, his eyes appear to roll.

Die Cut Blow Out

The big day approaches quickly.  I was going to post these die cuts separately thinking I'd need to stretch things out a bit, but it looks like I have enough to finish out the season.  Up first is this Beistle trio of witch, cat and ghosts. By the way, the orange in these scans don't do the die cuts justice, they are much brighter and vibrant in person.  No amount of color adusting can replicate it.

Doing her best "Kilroy" impersonation.

We Interrupt this Countdown for an Important Radio Announcement...

I was contacted by Neil Pellegrin who hosts a 1950's R&B show on WWOZ radio in New Orleans. He had come across my recent post about Ernie "The Whip" Bringier and requested permission to play the tracks on his show tonight at 7:00 p.m. Central.  It's fund raising season and he'll be hosting a few local R&B legends as well as a protege of Ernie, "Tee" Eva Louis Perry, an R&B performer herself.  Neil thought everyone would have a good time hearing Ernie's voice again.

If you'd like to listen in (and maybe throw a few bucks their way), the show will be streaming at wwoz.org.

Wilton's Halloween

This Wilton Cake catalog from 1978 displays some of their Halloween-themed decorations.

Fangs for the Memories

I recently picked up these "Horror Fangs" at an estate sale.  I believe I paid $1 for them.

Click and Clack

This pair of "clickers" was a recent find. They were made in Hong Kong and probably date to the 1970's.

Nightmare

This 1963 issue of "Casper and Nightmare The Galloping Ghost" may not be exactly Halloween-themed, but hey... Ghosts.

Children's Play Mate Magazine, October 1950

Unlike the Halloween edition of other children's magazines I've seen over the years which might offer a few pages of Halloween, a poem and a craft or two, this October 1950 is chock full of treats and goodies.  Almost every page features some form of Halloween enjoyment along with some great art.

Dennison Die Cut

This Dennison Die Cut wasn't in the best condition when I found it, but I couldn't pass it up.  I've never seen it before and I loved the artwork.

Revenge of the Owls

This book titled "Little Sunbeams" dates from 1921.

Crankenburger

Recently, I bought a 45 record at an estate sale just because of the sleeve it was in.  Well, not really because of the sleeve, but because of what was on the sleeve.

Halloween Hang Up

I found this Halloween door hanger in a box lot I bought at an estate sale about a month ago.  

Halloween Mask-o-rama

It's time to display some of the Halloween masks and costumes I've picked up over the past year. Most are unmarked and unidentified.  Let me know if you recognize one.

Gurley Witch

Gurley candles, such as this witch, were a Halloween staple of the 1970's.

Fun World Pumpkin Inflatable

While there are no markings on this pumpkin inflatable, it's attributed to Fun World, Inc. and was made in the 1970's.

Racheting Up a Halloween Frenzy

When I first saw this ratchet noisemaker at an estate sale, I almost passed on it.  It was in a bag of other miscellaneous junk for $4 and frankly, I have enough noisemakers.

I came back the next day (50% off) and it was still there, so I went ahead and bought it. I assumed it was just another New Year's Eve noisemaker, but when I got a closer look at it at home, I noticed the imagery was a little different.

Light Up the Night

My parents had no qualms about sending me out into the night alone on Halloween. Their only rule (really, my Mom's rule as my Dad didn't even know what I was doing most of the time) was that I was not to go Trick or Treating before 7:00 p.m. because "people are still eating".  When the time did come, I'd slip on my Ben Cooper plastic mask with eye-holes so small, a mouse couldn't slip through them, and head out into the darkness without a flashlight or a scrap of reflective tape, walking a single-lane road without sidewalks. I'd like to think my Mom at least said, "Listen for cars" (I couldn't watch for them because, again, the eye-holes), but I don't think she did.  Panting through that tiny slit of a mouth (I had to walk a pretty good distance to even take in 10 homes), I managed to avoid being hit or abducted.

Clearly, other parents in the '60's and '70's did concern themselves with their children's safety and did provide them with illumination on Halloween night as is evidenced by these flashlights.

Cat Nap-kins

It's always fun this time of year, as I pull things out of my big box o' Halloween finds, to come across something I've not just forgotten I'd bought, but can't even remember buying.  That was the case with these vintage Halloween napkins.

Jack and Jill October, 1951

This October 1951 issue of "Jack and Jill" was another in the same lot I bought that was featured in last month's post.

Have a Dynamite Halloween!

I've spoken before about my love for Scholastic Publications when I was a kid.  The day that flyer arrived along with the day the books I ordered came in made school that much more tolerable. 

Dynamite magazine was published by Scholastic and sold through those flyers.  It was aimed at elementary school students through 6th grade, but I read it (somewhat ashamedly) long after that.  It was edited by Jane Stine, wife of R. L. Stine who also occasionally worked on the magazine (known simply as Bob Stine at the time), so it should come as no surprise that it frequently highlighted monsters.

Don't Lose Your Head

When I saw this shrunken head hanging from a bar at an estate sale, I immediately grabbed it.  Well, first I made sure it wasn't real.

Frankenstein or Bust!

When I found this mini-Frankenstein bust (I know, Frankenstein was the Doctor, he's Frankenstein's Monster, blah, blah blah. Hey, it's on the bust!) in a bag of miscellaneous toys last summer, I had no clue where it came from.

Witchcraft Primer

Though technically not Halloween, this "Eclectic Primary History of The United States" published in 1884 covers (if very briefly) the Salem Witch Trials.

 

Speak-Easy

The first mask posting of the season is this Ben Cooper "Speak-Easy Mask" from 1984.

Sliding into Halloween Once Again

Here are a couple Halloween-themed 35mm slides found among the many I picked up this past year. What's spooky about this one is the kid is completely unfazed.

Beistle Halloween Pirate Die Cuts

These early Beistle die cuts are probably my favorite ones found this year.

Witch's Brew

I wrote previously about the beer can collection I had when I was a kid.  Even though I don't drink beer, I'm still fascinated by the multitude and variations of the cans.  This can caught my eye this past spring.

Halloween -- It's My Bag Baby, Again

I know, it's a dated joke, from a dated (14-years-old) movie and I use it every year, but it's the truth. Halloween is indeed my bag, baby.

I'm once again participating in the Countdown to Halloween.  As always, my goal is a post per day, with no guarantees.  All year long, I save up my Halloween-related finds for for this month-long celebration.  And now it's finally time for the unveiling.

First up is the opening Trick or Treat bag for this Halloween Season.