Hair Shaper

Hair Shaper

Remembering the Halloween Milestones of the 20th Century

Halloween is probably the fastest-growing holiday in America today. Particularly in the twentieth century, the celebration of Halloween has evolved so quick that it has become the second-largest commercial holiday in America next to Christmas. What started as a mere Celtic celebration of the New Year, the Halloween holiday as we know it has become what it is now thanks to representations by the media as well as products invented and created for this special event. To know more about this surprising and often misleading evolution of the Halloween, read on as we discuss some of the major events that are crucial in molding Halloween in the twentieth century.

Halloween Capital of the World

To some extent, a town in Minnesota called Anoka, started it all. In 1920, civic leaders suggested the idea of a town wide celebration commemorating Halloween. Complete with a parade, games and dance numbers, people of Anoka went to the streets and partied away. Bags of candy, popcorn, peanuts and other treats were given away to the kids and young teen-agers. Since then, the same Halloween celebration has been held in that town every year. Finally, in 1937, Anoka proclaimed itself as the Halloween Capital of the World.

America first learns about the vampire

A television program called Vampira was the first horror show in American television. From 1954-1955, the show was broadcast on the television station KABC-TV. Although the show featured mostly low budget horror and suspense films, it set the stage for even more horror movies. Apart from that, Vampira introduced the horror and suspense genre to America, who quickly gave a positive response. Since Vampira, numerous underground horror shows and indie films have come out.

Charlie Brown

In 1966, the Halloween holiday caught the attention of children all over America as they were thrilled by a 30-minute long animated Halloween special based on the “Peanuts” comic strip characters. Perhaps this show is responsible for getting all of America into the Halloween spirit because a lot of today’s Halloween festivities can be traced on this show. Because of that, this will definitely go down as one of the classics and shapers of the American Halloween tradition.

Halloween the movie

Proof that America loved the horror genre surfaced in 1978 when the classic horror movie Halloween was released into movie theaters. It quickly became the highest-grossing independent movie at that time. Even though it had a very low budget of $300,000, the movie turned out golden as the prop crew did a wonderful job in creating a monster that terrified all people across America. By finding the cheapest scary looking mask available, spray-painting the face white, teasing out the hair, and reshaping the eye holes, the prop and design crew was able to make a character with a very devilish appearance, which made the movie entirely believable.

“The Haunted History of Halloween”

In 1997, the History Channel aired a very detailed, well researched, and unbiased Halloween documentary. It is essentially a must have for all Halloween fans and for anyone who wants to learn more about the ancient history of this popular American holiday. GP

About the Author

Benedict Smythe is an article writer for Costume Finder. Costume Finder is one of the UK’s leading suppliers of Fancy Dress Costumes such as Vampire and Skeleton Costumes

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