Saturday 9

Saturday 9: Monster Mash (1962)

1) In your younger days, did you ever trick or treat while dressed as a monster or ghoul? No. Never anything scary. I was almost always something store-bought, with a plastic mask held on with a very thin piece of elastic that I always broke.

2) Do you enjoy being frightened by celluloid boys-gone-bad, like Michael Myers

(Halloween) or Jason (Friday the 13th)? No. Though I have always wanted to watch Friday the 13th, since Jason's mama was played by Betsey Palmer. I grew up watching her as a smiling, sunny contestant on daytime game shows. I think it would be campy fun (no pun intended) to see her in something twisty.

But she seemed so nice on I've Got a Secret!

3) When you were a kid, did you ever TP a neighbor's house or indulge in any other Halloween acts of vandalism? (Don't worry, the statute of limitations is up.) Nope

4) Will you be attending any Halloween parties this year? If so, will you dress up? No parties, but my movie group is meeting tonight for a special screening of Arsenic and Old Lace. It's a screwball comedy about a handsome young man (Cary Grant) who brings his best girl home to meet his dear old aunties and discovers the old girls are actually serial killers. No, really. It's very funny. And, in its way, wholesome. It was made by Frank Capra -- you know him from It's a Wonderful Life.

They don't look too scary, do they?

5) Can you see any Halloween decorations as you answer these 9 questions? Nope

6) While Halloween is most popular in the United States and Canada, and isn't really celebrated at all in Japan or South Korea. How would you explain our Halloween customs to a visitor from another land? It's all about fantasy. We can believe in the supernatural, or pretend to be someone we're not, and forget that candy has calories.

 

7) "Monster Mash" is one of Halloween's most played songs. Are you happy to hear it every year? Or does it set your teeth on edge? I'm glad we only hear it once a year.

8) This week's featured artist, Bobby "Boris" Pickett, started as a stand-up comedian who incorporated his imitations of Boris Karlof and Bela Lugosi into his act. Can you impersonate anyone? Nope

9) Dick Clark was an impossibly young looking 33 in this week's featured clip. Are you often told you look good for your age? Yes. I'm lucky that way. It's not like either of my parents or my sisters aged particularly well, so I can't credit it to good genes. Just good fortune.