Switched to Buzzr while finishing up and getting organized. Press Your Luck gets spooky in its second half when a lady in glasses and a young man are so close, it's scary...but it's the lady who manages to pull ahead and win two trips and a ton of cash. Peter Tomarken finishes by reciting a viewer poem parodying Edgar Allen Poe.
Went for a walk to Dollar General next. I wanted to buy more things to give the trick-or-treaters. Considering the weather is supposed to be gorgeous all week and we've run out before 5:30 - 6 o'clock the last two years, I figured we're going to need more than even the Mystery Bags. Wanted something different, though, from the usual mini-chocolate bars. Ended up with bags of Fruit By the Foot, Fruit Roll-Ups, Sour Patch gummies, and apple-caramel lollipops. Saw a pretty black lace mask with red sequins that I thought would work with my bat costume.
Headed down the White Horse Pike to Newton Lake Park next. I'm guessing Camden County's been doing a lot of work over there since the 4th of July. Even with the recent lack of rain, the field next to the parking lot looks full and lush, and there's a small plot of flowers in one corner. I got an even bigger surprise when I strolled down the path and saw nothing bordering the water. The playground and picnic tables that used to be there were gone. There was nothing left but churned dirt.
(Several articles online said they were supposed to have broken ground in August and taken 90 days to complete. Uh...they'd better get cracking, because I didn't see any playground equipment at either spot. All I saw were dirt and wood chips.)
It was a gorgeous day for a walk. It remains sunny and dry here, cool and breezy but not overly so for this time of year. It couldn't have been a more perfect day in late October. I'm surprised I didn't see more people out and about. There were a few talking at a truck on the curb and a few people out walking dogs, but that was it. Even the stairs leading up to West Clinton had a newly-repaired sidewalk leading to it.
Took the laundry downstairs, then had lunch and went through the closet where I keep my toiletries and medicines, making sure none of them were expired and tossing those that were. Watched sitcom horror episodes as I worked, starting with The Monkees. Davy thinks he's going out with an exotic lady in black, but he quickly discovers she's actually a vampire out to create a "Monstrous Monkee Mash" with her uncle. The others go after him, but first Micky gets turned into a werewolf, then Frankenstein's monster grabs Peter to use his brain. It's up to snarky team leader Mike to save his friends and find out what the monsters have in mind.
Laverne and Shirley are having an equally spooky time at the condemned Ramsdale Manor. Shirley's convinced it's a "Haunted House" with a monster that'll take off your head. Laverne thinks a house is a house, and they need a couch. After Squiggy and Lenny disappear, Laverne starts to wonder if her friend might be right, until Shirley discovers the real reason behind the scary goings-on.
Put the laundry in the dryer, then came back upstairs to continue my sitcom marathon. Richie Cunningham is also worried about a "Haunted" house in the second season of Happy Days, especially after Joanie claims that anyone who'll go in it will lose their head. Richie finally goes to Ralph's big Halloween bash anyway after Fonzie points out that there's nothing to fear but fear itself...and the party being raided by a local gang out to play some nasty tricks.
Vincent Price turned up on F-Troop in its second season for "V is for Vampire." He's a pale-skinned man in the traditional black and red Dracula tux whose courtly ways turn Wrangler Jane's head and baffle the Natives. Agarn, Parameter, and O'Rourke are convinced he's a vampire, until they learn that just because something looks obvious doesn't mean it actually is that obvious.
Jimmy Olsen is visiting his Aunt Louisa and cousin Chris on the real-life Moose Island, Maine in The Adventures of Superman. She keeps warning him away from "The Haunted Lighthouse," but her deaf-mute housekeeper Alice keeps trying to point him there. He calls Clark Kent to help him figure out what's really going on...and Superman to stop the people who are hiding out there.
Early 1800's scientist Emilia and secret agent Jack are shocked when tombs are desecrated in the name of his alter ego the Daring Dragoon on Jack of All Trades. Emilia takes a concoction that makes her appear to be dead, so they can get in the tomb and investigate. They're lucky to escape being creamated when Croquey thinks she's really dead. Jack uses her "death" to his advantage to try to draw the real thief out of hiding.
Moved to The Roku Channel for Hart to Hart after I brought the laundry upstairs and put it away. Jonathan and Jennifer don't have a clue when they run across "Night Terrors" at a supposedly "haunted" mansion recently purchased by two eccentric friends of theirs. The party turns into a treasure hunt when they learn that the previous owner may have buried priceless jewels on the premises, but things get ugly when one of the guests dies after stealing what appears to be part of it.
Since Silver Spoons is at The Roku Channel right now as well, I next watched its Halloween episode "A Dark and Stormy Night." Edward encourages Ricky and his friends Alfonso and Freddy to make up their own round-robin ghost story when the power goes out on Halloween night. They concoct the wild story of three brave lads who try to rescue a pretty lady (Kate) from a Dr. Jeckyl-like mad scientist (Edward) and his very unlikely Frankenstein monster (Dexter).
Watched Match Game '77 during dinner. They're now on the week near the end of the year with Tom Poston and Mary Ann Mobley. The first episode began with Bertha, the dear old woman who won big in the previous episode. They had technical problems in the second. The lights on the sign didn't work, while Brett wails about looking as slovenly as she claimed Charles did and Gene scolded Charles for yelling too loudly into his microphone.
Finished the night with a shower, then vintage game show episodes revolving around horror icons or that actually aired around Halloween. Vincent Price was at his zenith as a horror star when he appeared on the panel of What's My Line in 1958 and as the special guest on I've Got a Secret in 1959. The latter proved to be one of the funniest episodes of that series when Price joined Gary Moore to add humorous captions to art works that predate memes by more than 50 years.
Monty Hall may not have been thrilled to be hosting Beat the Clock in 1979, but he still got to lead two married couples through stunts involving tossing rings on witch hats and flinging slimy space aliens at astronaut helmets. Peter Marshall had far more fun with a "Storybook Squares" episode of Hollywood Squares from 1976. Look for Roddy McDowell as Pinocchio, Charro as Lady Godiva, Doc Severinson as the Pied Piper, William Shatner in costume as Captain Kirk, Bonnie Franklin as Goldilocks, Rip Taylor as General Custer, and Joan Rivers as a hilarious Old Woman Who Lives In the Shoe.
Families had their own fun dressing up in 80's game shows. Family Feud did its first Halloween episode in 1989. Host Ray Combs was a very unlikely Batman with his son as Robin as they asked families in wizard, Mickey Mouse, clown, and Lady Liberty outfits which Halloween candy was the most popular and and what people are afraid of.
Whammies had their own fun dressing up on the episode of Press Your Luck that aired the day after the one I saw earlier. Spooky noises accompanied money-grabbing Whammies, while the lady once again just barely got past an older man. Peter Tomarken did a really goofy dance at the end in a Frankenstein mask and passed out when he was done!
NBC did a week-long "Trick or Treat" Halloween event with all of its game shows of the time in 1988. A recently-unearthed episode of Super Password with Rebecca Arthur and Pat Sajak had contestants receiving little gifts called "treats" (like a cassette tape of showtunes) or "tricks" (elephant ears and a trunk or a pull-back skeleton) when they lost. Sale of the Century gave away a trip to Transylvania, a silver punch bowl, and a beautiful red upright piano, among other spooky prizes.
Let's Make a Deal celebrated the holiday in 2010 with ladies dressed as Snow White, pigs, fairies, suns, farm girls in gingham pinafores, and cheetahs in tight jumpsuits. They carved pumpkins, pulled Zonks out of witches' cauldrons, and watched a brief filmed parody of Thriller with Wayne Brady and one of the models. The pig went for the Big Deal of the Day. She missed the Big Deal, but she did get some very nice 60's-style living room furniture that was almost the same price as the game room she gave up.
Celebrate the spookiest season of the year game show style with a scary marathon of your own!
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