By Dan Shine
Voice Columnist
Hallowe’en, 1950s Style
What do you remember about Halloween when you were a kid?
The Boy remembers trick-or-treating on Kelsey Avenue with a bag full of candy in 1959: The bag was made of brown paper, like the kind the grocery stores used, and a grinning Jack O’Lantern was printed on the side of it. The kids were all wearing raincoats over their costumes that night, because it was pouring down rain. As The Boy ran home across Kelsey Avenue, the bottom of his bag burst, and all that candy was spread far and wide across the glistening pavement. And so ended a memorable, miserable Halloween for him.
Peter Malia recalls, “Halloween for the neighborhood kids began as soon as the leaves started falling. People would make huge piles of leaves on the street and kids would begin what’s now called mischief night — only then it was called “ringing doorbells night”– for several nights, not just one. The older the kids the more daring they became. Ring the bell and hide in the pile of leaves! Or in the hedges — close enough to the houses to learn a few new cuss words every year! (Those leaves always were eventually burned, and I can still remember the familiar smell wafting all over West Haven).
“But a couple of things really stick in my mind: First, the time and effort we all put into our homemade costumes (aided by trips to a costume shop on the corner of Campbell Avenue and Brown Street). If you had a store-bought outfit you were ridiculed. One of my friends kept showing up every year with this Peter Pan mask. As he grew older, it seemed to grow more ominous. Another kid had to wear his German lederhosen as a costume. And then there was always the kid who went way overboard. His mom spent hours making him up to be Frankenstein, right down to the bolts an either side of his neck — I think we had just seen the movie at the Rivoli. He had green make-up on for days after that. But I wasn’t much better.”
Carole Lunde Mikenis relates, “I vaguely remember my only EVER trick or treating in the snow—this was in 1956, maybe–trudging up Grove Place hill. We always had costumes that were homemade. My mom would pick a theme, and my younger sis and I would go out together, except SHE was always the cute one, while I was the Mad Hatter (a huge cardboard top hat with legs, and pointy shoes my dad made out of linoleum). Meanwhile, she was Sweet Little Alice with long blonde hair.
“Another year, she was the cute little Dutch girl, and I was the little boy that that stuck his finger in the dam.
“Candy bars were bigger than the store sized ones you buy singly now! And there were popcorn balls–homemade ones. We always had a big Halloween party–Grove Place Association would put it on.
“Remember doorbell ringing? We would go out the night before Halloween, and ring a doorbell, and hide. One year–I was probably ten, I got caught by the ‘mean lady’ at the top of the hill. My friends ran and I got taken into her house. Inside, I expected to be chastised, but instead I ended up with hot chocolate chip cookies and a glass of milk. I don’t remember ever throwing eggs, or toilet papering houses–we didn’t have MONEY for that.”
In the words of Allan Gagnon, “I remember the year Greg Morrissey was running for mayor, it was like a candy shop in his front room. He told us we could take one of whatever candy bar we wanted, and they were full size bars. Hard choice! Another year my cousin Jim Hubbard had fallen off his tractor and broken his arm just before Halloween and Mom had me take an extra bag and ask everyone for candy for Jim. Most people gave me dirty looks and almost didn’t give me the extra goodies until my friends stood up for me and told them my mother was making me do it. I don’t think Jim ever got that much candy before. Back then we used pillowcases for bags.”
To all the children of the 1950s, 1960s 1970s and beyond,
Best Wishes for a safe and Happy Halloween!