That's Jasper in 1998, from an ancient Bleat. Do you think I wouldn't observe that tradition?

And yes, there's a Halloween Diner. Ditto about tradition. Here's your link. It's dashed-off, and mostly babble for the first ten minutes.

Halloween simply wasn’t a big deal in the olden times; a few pumpkins showed up here and there, but you can go through an entire issue of Life the week of Halloween and find nothing. Maybe a picture of a kid in a costume. Why? Because it was a children’s thing. A notable exception is the ad above, part of Schlitz’ interminable “I was curious . . .” campaign. They ran a triptych about a guy who was Curious About Schlitz, then tried it, then was convinced. The one above is rather pathetic - in Monday’s installment, we saw him flirt with a woman dressed as a ghost, but she’s gone by the second panel, leaving him with the bottle; in the third panel, he’s a solitary drunk, talking to the pumpkin.

Some other Halloween ads: Schlitz eventually went with “Leisure’s Light Refresher,” which suggests leisure is so exhausting it requires one to periodically refresh. Happy pumpkin time:

 

Some ad for a bowel-mover or Ovaltine, I can’t remember; people in the 50s were always sluggish due to inadequate defecation, or needed to put a spring in their step by drinking Ovaltine the night before.

 

Don’t be sluggish and miss out on ceremonial gourd configuration! Note how the candle in the boy’s hand appears to be drawn in; didn’t register in the photo, I guess.

Now and then, a candy ad:

Fleer was the good stuff. Much better than Bazooka Joe, which often came hard and crumbly. Those damned comics, with that kid who had the sweater over his face - why? Burns? The fortune. Joe himself, with one eye apparently shot out by a rock from a slingshot or an arrow.

Ah, the burn-victim was named Mort, which makes him sound even clammier. The fat kid was Hungry Herman.

Fleer had comics, too. But Fleer was better, somehow. Bazooka Joe was the basic acceptable flavor for pink gum. Fleer added something. I’ve no idea. Maybe tumeric or asphaligated malt.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For Halloween, the very last Mummy:

 

 

 

Starring Carol O'Connor!

 

 

Actually, no. The obligatory Female in Peril in White:

 

 

Substantial support work on those undergarments:

 

 

She's actually a SCIENTIST.

 

 

Obligatory Fez Guy who's in charge of sending the Mummy hither and yon:

 

 

This time the Mummy is buried under rock. To recap: Fire doesn't work. (Twice.) Drowning in a bog doesn't work. Burying his body under tons of rubble? Good enough - at least until Abbott and Costello show up.

By the way, Wikipedia says:

The Universal Mummy series boasts of a parallel-earth kind of timeline. The Mummy's Hand was made and set in 1940; The Mummy's Tomb takes place 30 years later in 1970; The Mummy's Ghost is also set in 1970, and The Mummy's Curse twenty-five years after "Ghost." That means if the timeline is taken seriously, this film is set in 1995. Although the previous two films in the series take place in New England, with no explanation being given for the change, The Mummy's Curse moves the action to Louisiana.

A better little thriller:

 

 

It's one of five movies made about severed hands grafted on to someone else; "The Hands of Orlac," named directly after the source material, was a silent film in the 20s. When they redid if for sound, they used a German cinematographer who'd given "Metropolis" its distinctive look, and cast around for Mr. Creepy:

 

 

Lorre's remarkable. He's the Genius Surgeon who can make hands live again, but can't make any normal woman with decent eyesight give him any time. He lusts after the woman whose husband's hands he repaired, and this drives him around the bend - leading to a scene that's really worse than the famous reveal from "Phantom of the Opera."

 

 

 

Oh. Man.

Supposedly the movie was influential; Gregg Toland, who'd later work on "Citizen Kane," was one of the cinematographers, and critics say the film's style can be seen in Kane. I'd have to watch it again to offer an opinion - but I will say that one thing stood out and reminded me of "Kane."

 

 

Toland, I think, was frightend by those birds at an impressionable age.

 

As noted: Diner! Babble, but it's free. And it's here.

 

 

New WNAX, if you care: enjoy, and see you around.