everyday is halloween

on more day till the high holiday & i like to sample some of my favorite things.  one of those things is watching old-tymey trailers for a 20th C phenomenon, spook shows.  spook shows were live stage acts hosted by a ghoulish host who claimed he/she had access to the occult. there would be a little magic show, some hypnotism, a little bloody horror by the faking of some kind of body mayhem, &, this is the most important thing, a big scare caused by the cutting the house lights for a couple of minutes while screams played over the PA & a few ghosts & goblins hanging from chicken wire would fly above the heads of the audience.  also, usually these performances were done at a movie house so naturally the spook show included the screening of some cheesy horror flick.  often the spook show would be light on real scares but i would guess those in the audience were pretty amped up in preparation of a night of fright so anything that bumped in the night would suffice to scare them silly.  maybe not.  i wished i had attended a spook show.  they were around when i was a wee lad in the 1970s.  but like state fair, & circus, sideshows, which i do remember attending, where you could see the world's strongest man, bearded ladies, & freaks of all sorts, spook shows belong to another age.  i wouldn't see these spook show trailers until my mid 30s when were were already locked in to what change the 21st C would come.  at any rate, these are wonderfully cheap, & cool, things.  these trailers make me happy, especially the third one on this reel.  watching these spook show trailers during the halloween season makes me think that had i been in attendance of one of these fabled spook shows i'd have been the kid who faked his courage all the while watching the show between the fingers covering my face. 



boo