THE FOOTNOTES

TRICK OR TREAT--WHATEVER HAPPENED TO GOOD OLD FASHIONED VANDALISM?
Noonski's most dreaded night--Halloween--came and went rather routinely this week. With Moeski's capable assistance, Noonski faced the horde of greedy illusionists with an assurance seldom seen in the Western World. Several fun seekers questioned the authenticity of Noonski's costume which consisted of a Grouch Marx nose, eyebrows, glasses and mustache, plus a mortar board hat, by asking," Is that a pretend nose?"

As any prudent planner would do, Noonski selected only candy he would be willing to eat if any were left over. The crowd was around 55 which is a far cry from the 350 we had 44 years ago when we were in one of the two developments in town. People brought kids from all over so they could hit a lot of houses in a short time and still get to bed on time. In other parts of town houses were too isolated to be able to colllect a load of candy efficiently. We had a load of Hershey bars left over this year. Mary took most of them to the nursing home where they would be appreciated.

Trick or Treat was unknown in Noonski's early years. Halloween was a night to vandalize, besmear, or even destroy. We even heard of somebody in a well-to-do neighbohood who hooked up his pick-up to a guy's porch and ripped the porch off the building. In those days, older brother, Jack, would begin gathering tomatoes and eggs in anticipation of the big night, Nothing like a rotten egg or tomato to assert one's virility.

Lots of people in the 30's heated apartments with coal-burning stoves. The burning process resulted in lots of coal ashes which when packed into an old sock made formidable weapons. If you got bopped up side the head with one of those blackjacks, you would remember the occasion. The older boys travelled in gangs seeking targets of opportunity.

It was inevitable that an incident would change the public perception of what Halloweeen was supposed to stand for. Around 1935, the son of a fire official was kicked to death near Walnut Hill Park on Halloween night. As they might have said in New Britain, "Well, that done it."
The next year officials decided that a community Halloween Party would be held at the Stanley Arena which was the only arena in the city. Basketball, Boxing, Wrestling, and Roller Hockey and other large events were held there. The place probably could hold a couple of thousand people. The party would give the kids something to do other than vandalize. The plan was to have sort of a grand march of kids dressed in costumes. The parade route wound through a sizeable area of downtown and finally brought the participants the the Arena on Church Street in downtown New Britain. It was a great idea except that nobody expected the juvenile army to overwhelm the place. To digress a bit, my friends and I managed to get in the front of the parade which became larger and larger as it wove its way around downtown. Because we were in front, we got into the arena with a lot of others before the arena was packed to the rafters, but the majority of the marchers never even got in the door. As I recall, in succeeding year, parties were held in neighborhood schools. I don't recall attending any in those places.

Nobody in New Britain had ever heard of Trick or Treat in those days as far as I know. I think the first time I heard the term, our own kids were making the rounds with their pillow cases which they filled, brought home to empty and head out to get more stuff. When you are part of a large family, it is tough to have private property. Pillow cases full of candy had to be stashed away. You had to hide your stuff. The trouble was sometimes the hiding places were forgotten, or even discovered by unauthorized persons which led to confrontations and a lot of ill will.
Being practical parents, we closely examined the loaded pillow cases as they came home to be emptied. We would have the kids spill out the contents of their pillow cases, not to find contraband, but to confiscate candy bars our kids didn't want so we could pass them out to other kids coming to the door.

Never could see any sense to the Halloween exercise. I would favor banning it entirely, Trouble with that is that I would not have many opportunities to wear my pretend nose.