Wonderland Burlesque's Halloween Quiz!

Wonderland Burlesque's Halloween Quiz!

Halloween is fast approaching and I know that we are isolated and not celebrating in the manner we are accustomed, but that does not mean that we can't be costumed! Yes, get dressed up. Treat yourself. Entertain yourself. 

Sure, there will (or should) not be any goblins and ghosties knocking on your door for treats, but that doesn't mean we can shirk our duty and not dress up for the holiday. 

If I were to dress up this year, I would go as Moira from Schittt$ Creek.

With that in mind, here's today's quiz questions. 

1/ Did you get to dress up as a kid? If so, what was your first Halloween costume?

Yes. Every year. I loved Halloween, as it was an opportunity to be theatrical and creative and, for a brief time, be someone else. Even when we lived on the farm, we got dressed up and would travel from farm to farm to get some goodies. I do believe my first costume was done with my Mom and it was a hand-me-down from my oldest brother. She had bought him one of those flat plastic masks with eye holes, with the plastic bag you would wear depicting the image of a costume. It was of a cowboy and I refused to wear it. Instead, I dressed up like a cowboy and used my mismatched toy guns and a holster, a little vest, the red cowboy hat that came with the costume and a sheriff's badge that had come with one of the guns. I was very young... but that was my moment of claiming Halloween as my own. I think I was in preschool, so four years old. 

But there was no way I was wearing that mask. 

It smelled like my brother.

2/ As a child, what was your favorite Halloween costume?

Peter Pan. Fifth grade. 

Why did I have a pair of green tights? I don't know. But I did and I wanted to wear them. In public. I think they may have been hand-me-downs from these rich cousins we had in Denver. 

I hadn't seen the Disney version, nor the stage version. So where I got this idea, I don't know. I had a little green hat with a feather. I took a shirt and belted it. I wore slippers for shoes. But I was real excited about wearing tights in public and refused to wear anything underneath the shirt. 

I thought I looked awesome.

3/ As an adult, what was your favorite Halloween costume?

Mad Millie. 

I have mentioned her on this blog before. I had worked as guest director with this delusional woman at this theatre in a small town. The first production went really well and I was asked back. The second was a nightmare during casting and I left the production. 

So, I dressed up as this woman. I bought a raspberry polyester pant suit. I had a ton of costumes that I'd collected over the years, so I had a bunch of wigs. I took three short-haired wigs, stuffed two of them with the polyester fill used for pillows and stacked them up in a beehive, held together with bobby pins. Then I took a pair of elbow length opera gloves, stuffed them and sewed them to the beehive... kind of like antlers - because this woman was always up in arms about everything. 

My make up was heavy and tragic. Big raspberry lips. Crazy eyes. Very heavy hag drag.

I stuffed more polyester pillow fill in my hips and butt. I had a bra stuffed with it too. Everything was stuffed to the max.  

My then best friend came as Bette Davis in Whatever Happened to Baby Jane. I have a photo somewhere of the two of us... making out! He could not get enough of my big old butt!

Funny thing was, everybody in my circle and who came to the party immediately knew who I was... I guess I had talked about this woman and my trials with her at length. I had the best time. And that costume held together the whole night!

4/ Did you trick or treat in your neighborhood? Best experience / Worst experience?

Always. 

I don't remember a 'best' experience. Any year you got free candy was an awesome year. Once we moved into a small town, we canvassed the whole place every year. And I remember my Mom would let us eat our candy right away. I would just gorge myself. As a kid, I ran on sugar. Small wonder I was such a spazz. 

Worst? I have two.

The year I was Peter Pan.

The grade school was throwing an early-evening party and I was going. They were going to show cartoons on a screen in the gym. I went by myself and trick or treated on the way. These were the days before stranger danger. I remember going to this one house and two teens came to the door. The girl had her hair in her face and they were both giggling weirdly. They both looked like they needed a bath. They gave me a candy bar, I think. Now, in retrospect, I knew that house had a reputation. That they were weird kids... hippies, who still lived with their Mom.

I ate my candy as I went from door-to-door. I remember being in the gym, in the dark, sitting among my classmates, and the cartoons were playing. Suddenly, I was seized by this sense of 'other'. That I was alone, even though surrounded. That I existed only in my head. And I was able to look down on all the kids in the gym and I knew I didn't belong there and never would. That I was separate and always would be. I kept hoping I would just float away and disappear. And I began panicking a little because it kept coming in waves and I couldn't concentrate on the cartoons. And it wouldn't stop.

I think I was dosed. But not sure. It was a heavy trip. And, I think, it was one of those formative moments - as in, I was never the same and it changed the way I viewed the world forever. 

I never trick or treated alone again.

The other experience was the last year I went trick or treating. My oldest sister and I dressed up. I went as an old woman. We wanted free candy and were having fun until we got to the house belonging to my Mom's best friend, Yvonne. She opened the door and we thought, 'oh, she will get a kick out of us'. Because she was always laughing with my Mom, I thought she was a happy person. But, no. She looked at us and said... "Aren't you two a little old to be trick or treating?" She gave us candy and a look of disgust and closed the door. 

That was it. Crestfallen, we went home. Our days of trick or treating? Over. 

I never liked Yvonne after that.

5/ What were your three favorite treats (candy) to get from strangers?

Baby Ruth candy bars. The best!

Bit-O-Honey. Loved it

A box of raisins. I know, right? But I loved (and still do) raisins. Nature's candy.

6/ What is the worst / least favorite thing you ever got for a Halloween treat?

I hated getting an apple for a treat. Homemade popcorn balls, too. We were all terrified of razor blades. But those were not the worst...

Do you remember those little red pills you would take in order to show how well or awful you brushed your teeth that day? Someone actually handed those out. A packet of six. 

Why would you do that?

Oh, and it wasn't a dentist. My town was so small we had no dentist. And the school nurse lived in the country, so we never went to her house. 

I can't imagine who it was. 

Someone with a very perverse sense of humor, I guess.

Weird. 

7/ Do you decorate outside or inside the home? Describe.

No. Not anymore. I never got into it, unless I was throwing a party. And that stopped in the 'haties'. 

The ex does a little fall-oriented basket thing on the front stoop. That's it. 

I admire those people who go all out, creating graveyards in their front yards. 

But, it's not for me.

8/ Have you ever hosted a Halloween Party?

Yep. Described last week: here. I loved throwing a good party. Theatre folks are the best folks to invite to a Halloween party. They deliver the goods.

9/ Do you like going to Halloween Parties? Best experience / Worst experience?

I don't go to parties anymore. I never found them fun, just anxiety inducing. 

If I was hosting, no problem. I had the logistics of the evening to keep my thoughts occupied. My socialization was limited due to my abundant responsibilities and I would frequently go hide from all my guests so I could renew my energies. 

I remember the relief I would feel, closing a door behind me, shutting out the party buzz. The room would be dark. The cool air would move around me. I would be immediately comforted.

Attending a party someone else threw? I would try to be social, but it was always something I dreaded and felt uncomfortable doing. As I grew more mature, I would make excuses as soon as I could and exit stage right. I figured less of me was best. Otherwise, I tended to 'go get some air' and just walk the neighborhood by myself or hide in the bathroom.

Yeah. Who wants someone like that in their home?

It was very rare that I was social and talkative. If I was attending with a purpose (networking the theatre crowd), then I was driven. Because I was working. Dinner parties were a different matter. I knew what was expected and always delivered topics for discussion and laughed when expected. 

Halloween parties were fun, initially. You had the costumes to keep you occupied, complimenting everyone and laughing about how creative they were. But eventually they just became like every other party.

I've never been to a gay Halloween party. A sexy one. So maybe it's because I was with the wrong crowd?

Best experience? Described in last week's post.

The worst experience? 

I was working retail and had been collaborating with security to break up an employee refunding scam. Two of the scammers, women, were throwing a party and I was invited, so... because I had befriended them, I went. This was not my crowd. They were very rough. Drugs. Redneck macho crap. I was appalled by the condition of the house. 

I was very much a fish out of water. I was also still in the closet. 

For entertainment they played a stand-up film by Richard Pryor. Not knowing anyone (or wanting to get to know anyone), I watched the film. In it, he does this very homophobic bit and I remember how uncomfortable I felt. Everybody else roared and I?  I just felt obvious. 

I'd wisely chosen not to wear a costume. But I remember sweating a lot and also refrained from drinking anything offered. 

I lied and said I had another party to get to. 

Not the last time I used that excuse. 

I was so glad to get out of there.

10/ Have you ever gone barhopping on Halloween night?

I envy those people that do. How much fun must that be? Those zombie crawls look appealing. You know, except for the eventual vomiting.

I went only once. It was with a pair of lesbians I met when going back to college for the second time. They were a couple. I had my first real boyfriend and we stopped at his house first, because he was giving a party that turned out not to be much of a party. There was no one there when we arrived and we were not early by any means. We made our excuses and the boyfriend felt he had to stay in case other people showed up, so off I went with the lesbians to a bar. 

We did the rounds downtown... Saloon, Brass Rail, Gay 90's. There was also another club kitty-corner to the Saloon in a basement. Anyway, we got good and smashed and then they took me to a lesbian bar - it resembled (and may have been) a VFW club, where I had nothing to do but stand in a corner feeling obvious. 

I was dressed as... some goth creation. Black and white make-up, kind of Bowie-inspired. 

I was having fun until we got to the lesbian bar. Then I just wanted to go home. 

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These vintage pin-up photos (a rite of passage, in the day) feature the likes of Hedy Lamar, Ava Gardner, Ann Miller, Jane Greer, Veronica Lake, Ida Lupino, Clara Bow, Cyd Charisse, Jane Russell, Paulette Godard, Barbara Eden, Carole Lombard, and many, many more! See if you can spot who is who!

This is Halloween - Marilyn Manson

The Witches' Song - Marianne Faithfull