A mixed treat bag (of Halloween and non-Halloween stories) after the jump ...
But first: Top Comments appears nightly, as a round-up of the best comments on Daily Kos. Surely ... you come across comments daily that are perceptive, apropos and .. well, perhaps even humorous. But they are more meaningful if they're well-known ... which is where you come in (especially in diaries/stories receiving little attention).------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Send your nominations to TopComments at gmail dot com by 9:30 PM Eastern Time nightly, or by our KosMail message board. Please indicate (a) why you liked the comment, and (b) your Dkos user name (to properly credit you) as well as a link to the comment itself.
As we are nearly finished with Halloween 2019 — some stories of note. (And feel free to add your own, as we are always an Open Thread).
First, in this 1963 photo (of Basil Rathbone, Boris Karloff, Peter Lorre and Vincent Price) — besides his noted art collection and cookbooks (even hosting a cooking show in the UK) — I recall that after his death in 1993, it was noted that less than 1/5th of Vincent Price’s film/stage/TV roles fell into the “horror” genre. And even though that represented much of his later works (having truly found his niche) he still had some non-macabre roles into the 1980’s.
Several years ago, an essayist in Forbes lamented how Adults Have Hijacked Halloween from Kids— noting how kids used to be able to stay-up late, dress as they wanted and were able to go door-to-door, able to indulge themselves on candy. Now, they are often restricted to church/school trunk parties and even worse: only during the daytime and for only healthy snacks. “Yippee?”, she mused.
It is true that there is a change from my mis-spent youth, often based upon films (1978’s “Halloween”), the 1982 actual Tylenol tampering (that Johnson & Johnson had to overcome) and I seem to recall one year — 1981, perhaps? — where rumors of razor blades made several parents where I lived declare they wouldn’t let their kids go out.
Since the early 1980’s, a professor of criminology at the University of Delaware named Joel Best has been researching what he calls Halloween Sadism— and says there is little evidence that it exists, unable to find find a substantiated report of a child being killed or seriously injured by a contaminated treat picked up in the course of trick-or-treating. He adds, "I don't want to say that I can prove a negative — you can't say that it never happens. But it certainly isn't a giant problem."
Just walking around my neighborhood this evening, I see Halloween displays that rival (or even exceed) Christmas displays …. not your old-style jack-o-lantern and scarecrow, but flashing lights and all sorts of other-worldly creatures (covering an entire house’s lawn) that you didn’t see in such abundance ten years ago. An analyst for the advertising firm DDB Worldwide says that this day offers adults good reasons to take-it-over from kids:
“There’s no stress to it. You don’t have to travel or deal with relatives. There’s not the holiday pressure to find a date if you are single. You can wear whatever you want and not be judged. There’s the fantasy, role-play element”.
One factor may help contain this holiday to the autumn: pumpkins do not start ripening until late September. (Of course, pumpkin spice …. may yet try to muscle its way into August).
More myths surround black cats — with superstition being a common one. According to animal shelters, black cats are still adopted … but at a slower rate than other cats, and more black cats are surrendered than other colors. Hence, the appearance of them being unwanted, over-sampled at shelters. Another reason is that they do not photograph well (which affects people who search a shelter’s adoptable pets online).
Many shelters are reluctant, however, to allow adoptions of black cats during October. The most cited reason is that they will be used in pagan religious ritual sacrifice. Snopes does not dismiss the theory outright, yet concludes it is more legend — and that if it does happen, it is more likely kids who attack street/feral cats … much less any organized religion, and even less someone going to a shelter and paying an adoption fee and answering questions.
A more plausible reason …. are people who adopt a black cat intending them as a cute seasonal attraction … then returning them after growing weary of changing litter boxes, bringing them to the veterinarian, and scratching on furniture. Still, here’s hoping that black cats deserve a better fate/reputation than they have.
Next, while on the subject of house pets: nothing to do with Halloween …. but a follow-up to a story that I have been reporting here before.
This concerns an animal cruelty case in my region, which affected the Humane Society which I worked for (at a temp job) a few years back. A man who owned fifty-two Yellow Labs kept them in squalid condition, with the smell of ammonia quite strong. Bizarrely, he also had Smitten the Cat, seemingly treated as an ordinary house pet (and kept on a separate floor, not in squalor).
The Humane Society had to conduct massive fund-raising to offset the care they were directed by authorities to provide. Two puppies had to be put down (for medical reasons), with the other fifty and Smitten fostered-out to local families. But they could not be adopted, spayed-neutered nor leave the state until final adjudication. The owner was convicted on two counts of animal cruelty, but had appealed the case, which was set for a hearing this month.
Twice I have posted about this case: the first time (a year ago) is at this link…..
And the second (from this past May) is at this link.
Now …... an update.
The prosecution dropped the case, provided that the defendant (1) agree to surrender the fifty dogs and cat (which seemed to be what he was fighting for, as he had no means of support) and (2) stay out of legal trouble the next two years. This was welcome news for the foster families, as the Humane Society’s executive director indicated all fifty want to formally adopt the Labs (plus a shelter volunteer to adopt the cat) and she wrote a thank-you letter to the community.
Tonight’s final story (as is my wont) is a musical one. While my favorite Halloween tune is Season of the Witch— the Donovan song covered by many — and there are other great candidates (such as Screamin’ Jay Hawkins’ I Put a Spell on You) it is worth a look at another song that has been a annual classic of the season.
Bobby Pickett was born in suburban Boston in 1938 and after spending three years serving in the Korean War, he went to LA in 1961 to try to make it as an actor. He found himself joining a vocal group called The Cordials, and since Pickett had worked-up an impression of Boris Karloff to great effect in shows: he co-wrote (with his Cordials bandmate Leonard Capizzi) a novelty record in May, 1962 entitled Monster Mash. “The song wrote itself in a half hour and it took less than a half hour to record it," Pickett told The Washington Post.
Pickett was turned down by record producers until Gary S. Paxton took him on (re-naming the band the Crypt-Kickers) and Paxton also engineered the recording (featuring a young Leon Russell on piano on the “B” side of the single). Yet that was only half the battle to bring the song to the public:
Paxton was turned down by every major label he brought the tracks to. Pickett told Jan Alan Henderson that after this discouraging turn of events, Paxton drove around handing out copies of "Monster Mash" to radio DJs in Ventura and Fresno counties. That's when things really started to turn around. "By the time Gary got back to Southern California, his phone had been lighting up like a Christmas tree," Pickett said.
London Records, which had originally shot down Paxton's guerrilla marketing efforts, eventually helped distribute the album when "Monster Mash" became a ubiquitous force on popular radio. By October 30, The Original Monster Mash had climbed the charts to become the number one hit record in the U.S., where it sold 1 million copies.
Twice more it reached the Top Ten, and the song gets a new-lease-on-life each October with radio play: with a noted cover was done by the Bonzo Dog Band in the UK, six years later.
Bobby Pickett had some other minor hits and in 2005 re-recorded the tune to protest the Bush/Cheney administration’s environmental/climate policies with Climate Mash. Bobby Pickett died in April, 2007 at the age of sixty-nine from leukemia, yet his song will no doubt continue to outlive him.
Here are the lyrics to the 2005 version of Climate Mash (with a link to that song) — but the video below is that of the original hit from 1962:
We were hiking past the White House late one night... When our eyes beheld an eerie sight...x xYouTube VideoThe president appeared, with folks very strange The zombies and vampires of global climate change
'It's not global warming,' say oil company disciples 'According to our math, its natural weather cycles'
Claims from these and other industry heavies Let the president rest behind his own protective levees
(the climate mash) They're doing the climate mash (the climate mash) Real science is bashed (the climate mash) Solutions are trashed (the climate mash) And they do it for the ca$h
The creatures were having fun Our congress was overrun We couldn't tell the mindless zombies From the elected ones
Now we do know how to stop this, we have the technology But first we have to get past industry ideology We need your help, I'm glad to show you how Tell your leaders in Washington to save our climate now
Now, on to Top Comments:
Highlighted by aikosam:
In the diary by Aldous J Pennyfarthing — about the dismay of former congressman Jason Chaffetz over having to read an eight-page report in only two days — thanks for the extended guffaw, David54!
From FindingMyVoice:
In the front-page story about the federal judicial nominee upset over his Not Qualified rating at his confirmation hearing — PissedGrunty asks a question (beyond the nominee) to the larger world in which he resides.
From jayden:
In the front-page story about how just one month into his appointment (as the White House’s top cybersecurity adviser) your-friend-and-mine Rudy Giuliani risked national security by seeking tech support at an Apple Store ….. when I read later that a humorous reminder was original to ontheleftcoast it definitely became worthy of Top Comments.
And from Ed Tracey, your faithful correspondent this evening ........
In the diary by Aldous J Pennyfarthing about Steve Bannon targeting incels (involuntary celibate dudes) in the 2016 election because they are “easy to manipulate” — I like this explanation by thejeff on not overstating their numbers, but instead their cross-pollination to other subgroups.
