Over on my Facebook page, I’m posting pics of all my costumes, one a day counting down to Halloween. Bit of fluff to pass the time. I’ve posted pics of me on a speeder bike in my Cobb Vanth stuff, one of my Starfleet workout shirts I made and the KONG: SKULL ISLAND A2 I painted. Even a weirdo pic to start it off of me wearing a Nemesis vest with ops gold (which I never!) and an old Minbari skull I had kicking around. Click over there if you feel like, it’s fun.
But this one was going to take a bit of explaining so I figured instead of trying to write it all out for an audience on FB of malcontents and ne’er-do-wells I’d air it out here: my sister has been trickling me boxes of detritus from the old days to me on the beach in San Francisco and amongst the first word I spelled (“TEER” …also, first typo) and pictures of my fifth grade class, there’ll be some cool pic from the old days that is proof I was there and did that.
This pic, believe it or not, was to do some half-assed public service: the graduating seniors were to dress up at Halloween and go entertain the elementary school kids at an assembly and everyone feels good about going into the weekend or whatever, I don’t know, this was October of 1980 and Mister Ezzo and Mister Ward probably had margaritas in their Thermoses, who cares, all I know is I got my buddy Tim to go in on this with me… He dressed like a hobo and I dressed like a monkey and we danced around and did organ grinder schtick for the kids and it’s all laughs until he told me to do some pose and I stood up straight and said NO!
Well now the kids are in shock and the teachers are all… I mean, I guess they are are all shocked too but in a low key not-my-problem way because of the margaritas and Tim falls over but rips his shirt off and tucks into the fetal position. I, of course, Roddy McDowell over and put my foot on him and launch into “Beware the beast, Man, for he is the Devil’s pawn” speech which I can still do from memory to this day in the proper cadence and to the absolute abject awe of everyone in the dead quiet until one of the littlest kids jumps up and yells
I love Planet of the Apes!
So, you know? That worked out. Nobody’s mad, Tim and I get some street cred from our English teacher and her one ally, the Art teacher, everybody’s happy, and literally forty-three years later, I get to tell that story because I found a Polaroid in a pile of stuff my sister sent me. Happy Halloween!
Man Wears a Mask; His Face Then Grows to Fit It
