Don Canney

When the first day of October rolls around, I can’t help but think of that “big” day of the month (no, not Columbus Day) when ghouls and goblins take to the streets of Nashua and surrounding towns to trick or treat their way to the next day’s sugar highs, unless, of course, your neighborhood consists of doctors and dentists who distribute healthy snacks and toothbrushes. Argh!

Remember when you were one of those kids? What was your favorite costume? I mentioned in a past column that mine was my superhero of the era, Zorro. Popular costumes of the 50’s included Elvis, car hops, poodle skirts, Marilyn Monroe and greasers, although on that last one it may have been difficult to distinguish the trick or treater from the everyday dress.

Trendy costumes of the 60’s were hippies (again, tough to distinguish from daily dress then) Superman, and Spiderman. Batman, Batgirl and Cat Woman were also “in”, not to mention the standard fare of witches, ghosts, clowns, and hobos we still see today. Adam West’s TV show, Batman, was so popular then, it was aired several times weekly at the “same bat time, same bat channel.” And, of course, the Beatles were represented with collar-less suits and fake wigs, be they realistic looking hair or hair formed as part of those horrid, unpleasantly hot plastic masks, which made the current pandemic variety seem quite comfortable.

Unlike today’s non-flammable costumes with reflective thread that is visible for miles, costumes of the fifties and sixties were often dark colored and rather drab. Few kids would carry a flashlight or any illumination, as we seemed less safety conscious back then. It is amazing those of us who didn’t become hood ornaments are still around to even reminisce about it.

What did you bring along to collect your stash of candy? I had the typical square paper “shopping” bag, as my mom would call it, a brown paper bag from 20th Century Markets, with reinforced loop handles, for groceries, good for at least ten pounds. The cool kids would have a plastic jack-o-lantern type bucket, with others toting a simple pillowcase.

Back in the day, I don’t remember houses being as decked out as they are today, with the orange or purple lights, motion activated characters, electronics and sound effects that would make Disney Imagineers proud. Of course, we had not yet landed on the moon and Disney World was still a vision in Walt’s mind.

But even then, there were houses that refused to participate, either shutting off lights, drawing shades or simply making the house so unappealing it prompted nightmares for any kid. And some localities even included Addam’s Family dungeon-like wannabees. I remember one house in my neighborhood where it was tough to determine whether they were acting ghoulish or simply not participating. An older guy sat on a dimly lit porch saying, “what do you want?” I simply said, “Trick or Treat,” and he stared at me hauntingly while tossing one piece of hard candy in my bag. I opted to vacate the premises immediately.

While researching fodder for this column, I encountered some very applicable and interesting celebrity quotes I wanted to share:

Standup comic Rita Rudner once said, “Halloween was confusing. All my life my parents said, never take candy from strangers. And then they dressed me up and said, go beg for it!” Think about it, how fitting is that?

Comic George Carlin mused, “There are nights when the wolves are silent and only the moon howls.” Shh, listen. Some nights, I swear I can hear it. Perhaps on those nights when the moon resembles the classic image of the Honeymooners TV show?

One of my favorite quotes comes from freelance writer Robert Brault who once said, “There is a child in every one of us who is still a trick-or-treater looking for a brightly-lit front porch.”

Whenever someone tells me I am acting like a kid, it’s a compliment. Why? Because “I don’t want to grow up, I’m a Toys R Us kid!” Here’s hoping we all find that seemingly elusive brightly lit front porch, not just in October, but year-round!

Don Canney is a freelance writer and professional voice artist. He was born and raised in downtown Nashua with great interest in Nashua history circa 1950-1970. He now resides in Litchfield.

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