Subscribe 300x250 - Love

Halloween season highlights

by | Oct 24, 2024 | Opinion

There’s something about being scared. Some kids claim they don’t like it, but do. While a handful of other kids claim they don’t like it, and really don’t. I was the former. My sister was the latter.

In the small, redbrick house on Beech Street in Ashdown, Arkansas, the two of us knew that Halloween was on its way when three things happened. The decorations went up, our mom took us costume shopping at the Ben Franklin, and The Ghost and Mr. Chicken with Don Knotts and It’s The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown both came on television.

 Folks in the South never decorated for Halloween like we did for Christmas, but you usually found some fall-related decor (pumpkins, leaves that had turned yellow or gold, and the witch on a broom). Combined with the cooler weather, the decorations, costume shopping, and TV offerings created a feeling of fall. A sense of scary. Approaching fun.

Ben Franklin was a chain of some of America’s last, great five and dime stores. You could find pretty much anything at Ben Franklin, but when October approached, the latest costumes would appear on the shelves. When I say latest, I don’t mean the latest political masks or costumes to make you look like a teen idol, I mean latest as in witches, dragons, ghosts, or Cinderella. However, some of the costumes included the earliest superheroes, including Batman, who had made a comeback on a TV show.

My sister went with a costume that wasn’t scary. Always. So, it was usually a princess, Cinderella, or something else along those lines. Me, I wanted Batman. And Batman I got.

The problem with all Halloween costumes in that era was that they were hot. Really hot. Especially the masks. I don’t know what the material was they used to make kids Halloween masks, but it could suck the sweat out of your face, even when it was in the 40s outside. I can remember coming home with a Piggly Wiggly sack full of candy, pulling off my mask and costume, and immediately feeling frozen by being exposed to the cool temps.

Unlike today, where kids eat candy for breakfast, we weren’t allowed to have but two pieces a day until the candy ran out. This meant (as long as our dad didn’t get into our stash) that we had candy well into the New Year. My mom kept it hidden in the pantry (third shelf up, on the right) so that we wouldn’t be able to find it.

Almost everyone at that time had a subscription to TV Guide magazine. We’d ask our dad to look at every issue to see when The Ghost and Mr. Chicken and The Peanuts gang were coming on TV. The year 1966 was a good one for kids’ spooky entertainment. That was the year Don Knotts starred in that movie, and the same year that Charlie Brown, Linus, and Lucy debuted in It’s The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown. 

The Ghost and Mr. Chicken is a harmless and fun movie about a nervous newspaper employee (Don Knotts, of course) who spends the night in a haunted house so that he can write a story about the rumors that the ghosts of a murderer and a victim are still walking the halls of a local, abandoned mansion. Don’s character goes from being a typesetter, to a reporter, to a local hero who gets the girl. 

It’s nothing like the scary movies that come out now, including one I heard about that includes a homicidal clown that ruins the day of kids.

As if clowns didn’t already have a bad reputation as scary to some folks.

The other highlight of our Halloween season was Charles Schulz’ It’s The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown. The Great Pumpkin rises up from the pumpkin patch, bringing toys for the world’s good girls and boys. This, of course, was what Linus believed, but we all knew that wasn’t true. All of the toys for the good girls and boys came from Ben Franklin. Or from Santa. Who was arriving soon.

And if our dad stayed out of our candy stash, we’d be able to leave out some Halloween candy for the jolly old fat man. Our way of saying thanks for all of the free presents he brings.

By John Moore, owner of One Moore Production

For more stories about the Farmersville community see the next print, or digital edition of The Farmersville Times. Subscribe today and support local journalism.

Grad Profile Leaderboard

0 Comments

Related News

Path of progress: radio to TV

Path of progress: radio to TV

Columnist John Moore still enjoys the old radio and TV shows, even though they went off the air decades ago. Courtesy John Moore My father used to talk about radio programs a lot. The Lone Ranger. Lum and Abner. Amos and Andy. Edgar Bergen. People tend to talk about...

read more
Raking it in

Raking it in

I hate pine needles. Growing up in Arkansas will do that to you. Pine trees are everywhere in Ashdown, Arkansas. They are pretty much everywhere throughout the Natural State.  Pine trees brought the paper mills, which brought the paper mill employees, which...

read more
John Wayne: Movie star superhero

John Wayne: Movie star superhero

Columnist John Moore believes that you haven't been immortalized properly until you've been painted on black velvet. Like this John Wayne rendering that's available on eBay from Lindy1017. Courtesy eBay Lindy1017 You’d think that John Wayne said the word ‘pilgrim’ a...

read more
Our stories shape the stories that matter most

Our stories shape the stories that matter most

It seems like about every time I am out in the public, no matter what the occasion, once someone realizes I own the local paper they seem anxious to tell me something.  And in more cases than not, it is how something someone has read impacts their lives. For...

read more
2024 trip prices far from magical

2024 trip prices far from magical

Photo by Ricardo Guzman, Pixabay As we left Ashdown, Arkansas, in my mom’s 1971 Buick Electra 225 Limited, my mom turned to my dad and asked, “Jimmy, are you sure we have enough money?” He responded, “Well, Mary. If four hundred dollars isn’t enough to spend two weeks...

read more
Iceboxes are cool

Iceboxes are cool

Columnist John Moore has an ice box that's been in his family for a long time. One that still works if he ever needs it. Courtesy John Moore The fridge. Frigerator. Some even called it, “The Frigidaire.” A few decades ago it had many names. Growing up, my family...

read more
The screening process

The screening process

Movies were better in a theater. A theater filled with people. Such was the case before the internet. Before HBO. Before people holed up in their living rooms and away from their neighbors and friends. A time when pay-per-view meant you bought a ticket to watch a...

read more
Scouting for knowledge

Scouting for knowledge

John Moore’s genuine Scouting pocketknife. Courtesy John Moore  I learned a lot from Scouting. Started as a Cub Scout, then joined Webelos, then the Boy Scouts.  Girls and making money took priority over my time around age 14, so I never made Eagle Scout....

read more
The Pioneer Skillet

The Pioneer Skillet

Cast iron skillet used for generations by John Moore’s family that was featured in The Pioneer Woman Magazine. Courtesy John Moore. My momma’s skillet and this columnist are featured in the fall 2017 issue of The Pioneer Woman Magazine. Well, it used to be my momma’s...

read more
Subscribe 300x250 - Love