Hello, everybody! A giant pumpkin-sized HAPPY HALLOWEEN to ya' all from the MYSTERIOUS MANSION! I want to take just a minute of your time and thank you for the huge support you've shown in the few short months since MONSTER MAGAZINE WORLD has risen -- in the words of a certain Bobby "Boris" Pickett song -- from the slab. It has been awesome and makes this all worthwhile. And it's certainly a lot more fun sharing this stuff with other people that appreciate it as much as I do, too.
One of my earliest memories of Halloween was as a youngster in Elementary School. One day for our music portion of the school week, my great and loving teacher Mrs. Orsini (God bless, you, and thank you, Mrs. Orsini!) played a record of Halloween-themed songs. One was a man singing some pretty spooky lines in an even spookier voice. Thanks to the magic of Google, I recently found out that it was originally a poem by a children's writer. His name is Harry Behn. The title of the poem was, of course, Halloween! Well, I haven't landed the song yet after all these years, but seeing some of the words again brought it all back in a wave of that wonderful euphoria that us monsterkids like to call nostalgia. It could be that the piece was re-written for the record, because I remember the line "It's Halloween!" after each verse, whereas the poem only has it at the end. Anyway, here it is in what I call the "Remastered MONSTER MAGAZINE WORLD" version:
HALLOWEEN
By Harry Behn
Tonight is the night
When dead leaves fly
Like witches on switches
Across the sky,
When elf and sprite
Flit through the night
On a moony sheen ...
It's Halloween!
Tonight is the night
When leaves make a sound
Like a gnome in his home
Under the ground,
When spooks and trolls
Creep out of holes
Mossy and green ...
It's Halloween!
Tonight is the night
When pumpkins stare
Through sheaves and leaves
Everywhere,
When ghouls and ghost
And goblin host
Dance round their queen ...
It's Halloween!
Another fond Halloween memory is the movies that were shown on that particular evening. The local Los Angeles stations showed all manner of montser movie and fright flick. Somehow, I found enough time to go out trick or treating and watch at least part of the movie, too. The two that I remember being shown the most -- and which is probably why I resonate with them being among my favorites -- were ABBOTT & COSTELLO MEET FRANKENSTEIN and FRANKENSTEIN MEETS THE WOLFMAN. The opening sequence of FMTWM is hard to beat, isn't it? They'll always be a part of the many things that make up my monsterkid memories!
Well, time to beat the bats to the belfry, fellow Monsterologists. I'll be taking a few days off for a little R&R here at the MYSTERIOUS MANSION, but I'll be back before you know it with a ton of monster 'zine reviews, interviews, and the occasional rare goody or two that you all have come to expect and have enjoyed at MONSTER MAGAZINE WORLD!
Happy Halloween, John!
ReplyDeleteI also remember watching a lot of the '40s Universal monster movies as a kid. Every time I hear the '40s logo music it takes my right back!
I too remember that song and have looked for it for years, with no luck. Google lead to the author and poem, but no luck with the song. Great blog btw!
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