Maggie, at From Cave Walls, and Lauren, at LSS Attitude of Gratitude, alternate hosting Throwback Thursday. The idea of the prompt is for them to give us a topic and for us to write a post in which we share our own memories or experiences about the given topic. This week, Maggie wrote, “With Halloween coming up, I thought we should do something surrounding that. I know everyone does not celebrate Halloween, so I thought we could address costumes in general.
Here are Maggie’s questions.
1. Did you celebrate Halloween? If so, what was your most memorable costume?
I wouldn’t say my family “celebrated” Halloween, but I was allowed to go trick or treating and my parents would hand out candy to trick or treaters who came to our door on Halloween. As to costumes I wore, I know I did wear costumes, but they were always the cheap ones you buy at the pop-up Halloween stores or at other toy stores and apparently none were particularly memorable because I can remember even one costume I wore as a kid.
2. When was the last time you dressed in a costume? What was the reason?
It wasn’t a Halloween party. It was actually a work function in maybe 2005 and I dressed as a carnival barker with a red and white vertically striped sport coat, a straw hat, and a bamboo cane with a hook at the end, similar to the pictured below. And no, that’s not me in the photo.
3. As a child, did you like pretending you were someone else? Did you create costumes with things around the house?
I had convinced my best friend that I had a secret identity, Power Boy (like Super Boy). My only “costume” was wearing a bath towel pinned to my sweatshirt when I pretended to fly.
4. Did you ever attend Mardi Gras, Carnival, or any other festival with masks or costumes? Did you wear a mask or costume?
Nope.
5. Were you ever in a play (school or otherwise) that required a costume? If so, who were you?
Nope.
6. Do you participate in cosplay or go to Comic Conventions?
Nope.
7. What character from movies, comics, or plays has the best costume?
I’m sort of partial to Batman’s costume, the Dark Knight edition.
8. Think of scary or horror movies. Which character’s costume and/or make up was the most frightening? Was it the costume alone, or the movie itself which made it frightening?
Linda Blair’s make-up in the movie “The Exorcist” scared the crap out of me. Actually, the whole movie did, as well. It’s been decades since I last saw the movie, so I can’t really comment on how well it’s stood the test of time.
9. Have you ever visited historic places where the staff wears period costumes? If so, where was it??
I’ve been to a few Renaissance Fairs, to Medieval Times, and to Colonial Williamsburg.
10. Have you ever attended a Broadway or Off Broadway or Community Theatre production with great costumes? Leave a clip or photo here of your favorite.
Don’t most theater productions have great costumes? Well, to respond to this question, I’m just going with my favorite Broadway musical of all-time, Les Misérables.
This, That, and the Other 
Oh yeah. I forgot about Medieval Times. Fun!
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I enjoyed Les Misérables.
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Great musical.
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I bought the soundtrack because I really liked the songs.
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I’ll love it, too.
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That Les Misérables. scene is something. You would never forget that experience…….
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Power Boy sounds like a perfect alter ego, Fandango. Linda Blair’s performance always gave me the creeps. That was always a terribly disturbing movie to me.
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Oh I love les miserables too!
so good!
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The festival with costumes I’ve participated in as an adult is Purim. One year, I dressed my kids as m&ms — with my middle of the middle (of five boys) being the grey million-dollar one. I bought sweat shirt sets (with pants) of various colors and made the “m” from some kind of iron on fabric. (I probably could have bought “M”s somewhere, but didn’t think of that as lettering was fairly easy for me.) There were other memorable years, as well. And there was usually a play or comedy sketch, plus some carnival games and goodies. (The contest to be the Queen Esther could get a bit trying and old, in my opinion, and there were girls who cried.) The favorite Halloween costume I recall wearing as a kid, or character I liked being, was sort of a hippie cowboy/girl — with tasseled ankle boots and tasseled vest and a hat with a braid, all made of suede (with two purple pieces, and the third brown like the rest of the hat, of suede in the braid). I don’t remember dressing as something frilly in a girlie way for Halloween and felt it a little odd if other girls did. I was Little Bo Peep, though (not by any choice of mine) for a school play. And I was an angel, another year, for a school function. (I believe these were first and second grades.) My mom’s brother’s wife made these school costumes for me. The Halloween suede was bought in the west on vacation. That is except for the shoes, which were bought when I was at a shoe store in my own home city with Dad; we liked them so much that we got a brown pair and a blue pair (and they didn’t have to be for Halloween).
Best costume from a movie? Trinity?
I DID NOT watch scary movies.
I have been to places with staff in period costume (some very historical but also Siver Dollar City).
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Oh. My favorite community play was when my two youngest sons participated at a community center and the older of the two was selected as the MC with a top hat, while the younger was some kind of animal… an elephant? I wish I’d had a camera phone and recorded it. It was a comedy. The youngest was a lion for Purim, once. And he wore a gorilla costume to high school during spirit week once. Another time, he was a banana on a school day just to be a banana (no special occasion).
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I love The Exorcist. My family and I watched it (again) around the time of the lockdown and my younger brother (about 20 or 21 that time) still covers his eyes or walks away when something scary comes up.
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Thanks for joining in Fandango. I forgot about seeing Les Misérables. It was fantastic.
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