Halloween

From ghoulies and ghosties
And long-leggedy beasties
And things that go bump in the night,
Good Lord, deliver us!

it's that time when you daren't open your door without some goodies or the Ghosties will get'ya. And why not? They've been waiting a whole year to come out to play and they just have to get it all one in this one night.

Halloween is the time when all children, no matter how old can break free of the shell they wear for the work-day world and let their "real" personalities come out. Sure some of the monsters are accountants and principals and maybe  policeman or two and they have to be really good and serious all year long, except tonight. Good for them

And the ladies, God'luv'em. the ladies get to be princesses and fairies and maybe even a stripper. This is the one night when even a dedicated PTA mom with responsibilities can throw off that proper mask and let the wild woman come out. So she's a super hero or a wanton moll, a seductress or a vamp, so what tomorrow when the sunrises she'll be mom again, but tonight, tonight the teenaged daughter better lock down her closet cause Big Momma's gonna get down!

And while we are all out there having a great, spooky time don't forget the folks who made the night possible. We didn't even do Halloween until 1840, before that we were too busy settling a country. And when it started we didn't think much about it, it was just a bit of fun after the harvest came in. You could afford to shake a leg after you stored away enough food to make it through the winter.

No Halloween wasn't such a big deal until the movies got into the act and the it went through the roof and has never looked back. Boris, Bela and Jack Pierce made us all shiver and if you don't know who those guys are ask your grandparents. (Okay, maybe you should ask the librarian since your grandparents probably weren't  old enough to remember Universal's monster roll of honor.

And behind Boris and Bela and even Henry Hull, Lon Chaney Jr., Claude Rains, Charles Laughton and Una O'Connor there was Jack Pierce. Jack didn't have CGI, he made all f his horrors out of grease paint and mortician's putty and the scared the beejesus out of three whole generations. The running joke in Arsenic and Old Lace is that the mad murderer. goes wild every time someone says he looks like Boris Karloff. Yeah, he did, he was played by Boris Karloff who won one of his three Tony's for the part, but it wouldn't have been a good joke if everyone didn't know who Boris Karloff was and they did, cause Jack Pierce made him into our collective nightmare long before there was an Elm Street.

And no this isn't a very good sketch of Henry Hull as the Werewolf of London, but it is close enough to see the amazing creation of Jack Pierce.

Jack, now that you're doing makeover's for the Big Guy, just thought you should know your art isn't forgotten and it probably never will be. The Karloff Mummy outsells Brenden Frazier's remake by three to one and it is priced higher so guess who gets the brass ring? Sure it would be hard to miss with Boris the Great to work with, but you did the job of creating the chills and he did the rest. Thanks Jack you scared the hell outta me and I've been grateful ever since.