Back to Halloweens past, at Dick's house

Introduction

I first met Dick, while working at a company called Anti-Gravity products in 1996.

This company specialized in Amiga computers.  Dick had such computers and had need of some technical support.

Being the technical support for Anti-Gravity at the time, an employee called me and told me that Dick was having troubles and wanted some help.

He was calling from out of state and was having troubles doing a fairly involved installation for his ex wife.

After about an hour and half, I had successfully talked him through the installation.  He was very relieved and asked me if I did other work with Amigas, to which I told I told him of my experience.  He then told me that he had been looking for someone like me for the last 5 years.

He invited me to come out to his place to help him with his Amiga and he gave me directions over the phone.  For some odd reason, it took me a while to locate the streets and I finally made it to his house.

He met me at the door and asked me if I had any troubles finding the place.  I told him yes, at which he became serious and concerned and continued, "but I bought a map to the star's homes and had no problems after that." He gave me a very puzzled look and then realized that I was pulling his leg, breaking out in a big grin.

That was the start to many years of fun.

It was not long after when he asked me if I would help him out for Halloween.  I was up for making monsters, so I agreed, having no idea of what I was getting myself into.

Unfortunately, I don't have any photos or videos of the early years. All I have are very fond memories of a myriad of monsters and children screaming.

For the first Halloween, he had some simple props, with motors and wires, masks and heads, vocal recordings and lights.  It was simple and a lot of fun.

Sometime after that, he told me, "Maybe I can get some special effects houses to loan me some stuff." and of course, he was successful.

One year we obtained this great item of the upper torso of a man and the lower torso of a horse, with a very pained expression on the man's face.  This thing had wires which would move the arms and head. I quickly put together some wooden levers to work this item.  I did not realize, at that time, that the operators (myself and Dick) would need to use gloves to prevent blisters.

This thing was set up on a platform with black cloth behind it, as well as all around to cover the platform.  We set up the candy bowl between its arms.

Dick and I took turns working the levers.  From our position, we had a slit which allowed us to view the candy bowl.  Dick took the first shift, while I kept fiddling and fine tuning other stuff.  I relieved him and that's when I found out that he had gotten blisters ... but he was having too much fun to stop.

I took over for him and as the kids got close to the bowl, I would work the arms and the kids would scream.  What was puzzling to me is that I heard them yell a second time, even louder.  I couldn't believe that this gag would elicit such a response.

Later, after we had stopped for the evening, Dick told me that one of his guys a.k.a. "big George" was dressed as a mummy and standing perfectly still while the kids went to get candy.  As they approached the boal, George would walk up close behind them.  When I moved the arms, the kids would scream and jump back, right into George ... and then they really yelled.

Rumor had it that a famous star was taking his young son out for trick-or-treating and when he saw what was happening, he grabbed his son and hurried by without stopping.

Of course, since I was working the handles, I did not witness the event.  I guess one misses a lot when being the "man behind the curtain" but it was still a lot of fun.

I have helped Dick with Halloween, every year except the year he had his house remodeled.  Since he was not able to stay at the house durning construction, he rented a little house on Pacific Coast Highway.  He had hoped to be home for Halloween, but construction took too long.

This year, in March 2013 I got the call from Dick that he was no longer going to host Halloween.  His health has been declining and he doesn't have the energy to participate.  That was the call I knew would come one day and did not want to hear.

For this reason, I'm posting as much of past Halloweens, as I have, as a tribute.