“J.C. Penney’s Front Window Halloween Art – 1965” copyright 1965 00individual TLL
HALLOWEEN FUN – 1965
In 1965, at age fourteen, 00individual entered his hometown of Westchester’s Halloween contest and the winner got to paint their entry on the front windows of the JC Penney’s department store that was on Sepulveda Boulevard, the main drag that led into LAX (Los Angeles International Airport). His entry won, so with a ladder and tempera paint he created the above image of a clown-costumed kid scared by a yellow monster while ghosts, a goblin, and an owl look to join in the scare. There’s even a black spider coming down from the mailbox of Dr. D. Evil !
To the left of the yellow monster, just inside the store window is a cardboard advertisement for JC Penney Appliances, and just below that a TV set with a dial that had only thirteen channels; network stations KCBS 2, KNBC 4, and KABC 7, and local L.A. stations, KTLA 5, KHJ 9, KTTV 11, and KCOP 13. Up to the mid ’60s the TV world was in black and white, but once color was technically available it was aired, celebrated and advertised across the airwaves to the point that “Walt Disney’s Wonderful World of Color” included it in the program’s title.
However, growing up in a film noir world held a strange allure all of its own; for while the world around in real life was colorful for the most part, on TV and movies one’s mind seemed more focused, and involved in the story and action when seen in black and white.
The lack of color allows for the amazing effects that light, shadow, and gradation reveal. The absolute control that black and white has over mood, excitement, mystery, humor, pathos, thrills, and heart-rending story-telling when shot in color seems to drain those inherent qualities of black and white.
While color was and is an epic history-making introduction to film, black and white continues to have the same alluring, interesting, and strangely involving quality as it always has.
00, seen here pushin’ it at 13, was ready for his last spooky night-time black-and-white film-noir knife-in-the-head Trick Or Treatin’.
…
To celebrate Halloween from the’60s, here are nine excellent black and white horror classics that prove that black and white contribute greatly to the mood and presentation of horror movies.
Darkness immediately plays to one’s animal psyche – where color was not a concern,
but survival was.
THE 1960’s TOP 9 BLACK AND WHITE HORROR FILM CLASSICS
Village Of The Damned (1960)
Psycho (1960)
Carnival Of Souls (1962)
The Haunting (1963)
The Twilight Zone – Nightmare at 20,000 Feet (1963)
Repulsion (1965)
The Alfred Hitchock Hour – An Unlocked Window (1965)
Spider Baby (1967)
Night Of The Living Dead (1968)
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HALLOWEEN FUN – 1968
“Monsters: High School Classroom Doodles” copyright 1968 00individual TLL
In 1968, at age seventeen, 00individual was a senior high school classroom doodlin’ fool and like all red-blooded American teenage boys, he loved monsters and monster movies, and as seen by the above “Hippie Frankenstein” and “Creature from the Fat Lagoon” doodles, the Counter-Culture influenced a hip Frankie and a Weird-Oh Creature.
The written part was a take on the current movies, psychedelic climate, and drugs:
“THE DAY I KNEW I WAS ON A BUM TRIP WHEN I BELIEVED THAT I ATE A 10 LB. MARSHMALLOW – AND THEN CAME DOWN OUT OF IT FINDING MY PILLOW WAS GONE!”
Starring:
Anna Fetameen
Mary Wahna
Ellis Dee
Barb Itchuit
and introducing
Estie Pea
SEE: Miss Wahna in the role she was made for!
SEE: Ellis take a lethal dose of Chocks Vitamins and turn into Ferguson Farley Frederick L. Fox!
A Freakie Production
As the above shows, 00individual’s time was spent wisely in class creating as much distance from classroom mediocrity, boredom, and unneccesary academia as possible as to keep from going insane. He learned and became adept at reading, writing (cursive), and arithmatic in elementary school, but focused more on developing his personality, social interaction, and creativity in jr. high and sr. high school.
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At seventeen, traditional Trick Or Treat was justly considered juvenile, as was egging or TPing (toilet papering) someones house. So Halloween was spent in costume, if one so desired, at spookily decorated parties, or cruisin’ the streets and highways wearing a monster mask and hangin’ out the car window scarein’ the locals, and getting high, and howlin’ at the Moon in the full Spirit of Halloween.
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In the 1950s, Halloween was a full-blown trip, all of the surrounding neighborhoods festively decorated their lawns and houses with carved and lit pumpkins, cobwebs, skeletons, witches and ghosts. For years pillow cases were used as Trick Or Treat “bags” as the amount of a Halloween night’s haul of good candy would last ’til Christmas, and longer – seriously, pillow cases held a lot of candy – and got heavy!
This was back when Halloween was for kids, not adults, and nearly every house on every block gave out candy, and there was never, ever any tainted candy, a little stale maybe, but still good!
How cool was Halloween?
Wear costumes, roam the neighborhoods on a spooky night, and get free candy?
A kid’s dream come true!
Life was good, just ask 00Bugs, circa late ’50s!
HAPPY HALLOWEEN!