Over the years, Halloween has shifted for me, from neighborhood candy runs and costume shenanigans to cozying up, homo alono, with classic horror films.
Instead of the days (and nights) of tricks and treats, tonight, I’ll be hanging out with Universal’s 1931 horror icons, Dracula and Frankenstein. And maybe revisiting their silent predecessors too:
DRACULA
FRANKENSTEIN
For me, there’s something magical about these films. Dracula’s chilling stare, Frankenstein’s lumbering menace—it’s the kind of gothic beauty that keeps me hooked, Halloween after Halloween.
So, if you’re out there with candy bags and costumes, best of luck!
But nobody better come knocking on my door—this ain't Three’s Company.
I’ve got a date with Bela Lugosi’s Dracula and Boris Karloff’s Frankenstein.
My kind of monster mash-slash-orgy.
No tricks…this year. Just treats.
Happy Halloween and thanks for reading!
Clint
ON THIS DAY = OCTOBER 31
BIRTHDAYS
1632 = Johannes Vermeer = Dutch painter
1795 = John Keats = English poet
1896 = Ethel Waters = American singer and actor
1912 = Ollie Johnston = American animator and voice actor
1922 = Barbara Bel Geddes = American actor
1930 = Michael Collins = American general, pilot, and astronaut
1931 = Dan Rather = American journalist
1936 = Michael Landon = American actor and director
1939 = Ron Rifkin = American actor
1941 = Sally Kirkland = American actor
1947 = Deidre Hall = American actor
1950 = John Candy = Canadian actor and screenwriter
1955 = Susan Orlean = American journalist and author
1961 = Larry Mullen = Jr. = Irish musician and songwriter
1961 = Peter Jackson = New Zealand filmmaker
1963 = Dermot Mulroney = American actor
1967 = Vanilla Ice = American rapper
CELEBRATIONS
Halloween (duh)
LGBTQ History Month (last day)
EVENTS
1864 = Nevada is admitted as the 36th U.S. state.
1941 = After 14 years of work, Mount Rushmore is completed.
1955 = Three men are arrested in Boise, Idaho, on charges of lewd conduct and sodomy, inciting a “moral panic” in Boise that resulted in 16 arrests, 15 convictions and almost 1,500 people being questioned.
1962 = What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? is released in theaters.
1969 = Time magazine runs a cover story entitled, "The Homosexual: Newly Visible, Newly Understood". The author, Christopher Cory, presented a "case for greater tolerance of homosexuals," resulting in a protest at the Time-Life Building on November 12, 1969.
1969 = In San Francisco, lesbians and gay men protest homophobic language in the San Francisco Examiner. Newspaper employees respond by showering the demonstrators with purple ink. Violence ensues.
1975 = Queen releases “Bohemian Rhapsody” as a single.
1980 = French-Canadian flight attendant Gaetan Dugas pays his first known visit to New York City bathhouses. All of New York City’s early AIDS infections would be traced to Dugas, since labeled “Patient Zero.” (Note: Much of this narrative has been refuted.)
1986 = Bon Jovi releases “Livin’ On A Prayer” as a single.
2011 = According to United Nations estimates, world population reaches 7 billion.
TRICKS + TREATS
Decide for yourself who did it better, best, and worst:
I think the scariest monster of all, was Herman Munster. ( Heh, heh. )