A Monster Mash For Me (+ You Too, Boo?)

Newsletter + On This Day

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

  • 1922 = Nosferatu

  • 1931 = Starring Bela Lugosi

• FRANKENSTEIN

  • 1910 = Produced by Thomas A. Edison

  • 1931 = Original Cut + New Score

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

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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.

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TRICKS + TREATS

Decide for yourself who did it better, best, and worst:

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