"Enter If You Dare!" plus...

The Disney book 'Enter If You Dare,' Scary Tales From The Haunted Mansion, was published on Halloween in 1995. The spooky stories inside are geared toward the pre-teen audience who devoured the "Goosebumps" series, was written by Nicholas Stephens, with about a half-dozen black-and-white illustrations inside by Sergio Martinez.

The tales are basically generic ghost stories that happen to take place in or around the Haunted Mansion, which even in the cover art seems to be "a" Haunted Mansion" rather than "the" Haunted Mansion. Instead of being the backgrounds of the various inhabitants we are familiar with, or adventures of those that come into contact with them, the stories could really be about any haunted house. One feels that the Haunted Mansion title was bestowed simply to help sell it. It's not that it's a bad book by any means; it's just not something that a true HM fan will feel connects with their much-loved manse of familiar spooks.

The best thing about it is the cover art and the sparse illustrations inside, and if you don't have the book I know you will enjoy seeing some of the art here.

And for your enjoyment, here is an illustration from a 1984 issue of Monsterland. Elvira and the classic monsters are like peanut butter and chocolate; they're even better together! I wish she could make one more movie using all of them in it, before she's too old. Wouldn't it be a hoot?

This is the front and back of my favorite-ever Halloween card that I've received, all of which I have saved over the years. I display this on a table-top each October.

Disney's 1977 Halloween Hall O' Fame

Today's Monster Memories are of: Disney's 1977 Halloween Hall 'O Fame

Page updated on 10-3-2019 to add these color images of the makeup process posted online by William Forsche! Photos by Gene Trindl.

Last October as I was going through old videos, to put favorites on DVD, I found two treasures that I had taped off TV back in the early 80's... both versions of the Disney Halloween specials! The first, (and best) was the "Halloween Hall O' Fame," and featured Jonathan Winters as a security guard and pumpkin-headed Jack O. Lantern. The show, part of the weekly "Wonderful World of Disney," premiered on October 30th, 1977.

This was my first introduction to my now-favorite Disney Halloween cartoons; "Lonesome Ghosts," "Trick or Treat," "Pluto's Judgement Day" and most importantly "Legend of Sleepy Hollow." Later I searched out the entire cartoons, but for years this tape was must-watch each October. But it got lost in the boxes of tapes, and now has been rediscovered like an old toy from childhood.

Last October I transferred it to DVD and now have it to savor again. I also have the next special that came out a few years later, "Disney's Halloween Treat," with the talking pumpkin on the table. Although it is padded out with the "Disney Villains" clips, (which have nothing to do with Halloween to me), it is good as well for all the actual HW clips. After the new one began showing, the one with Jonanthan Winters was no longer seen, which was a shame. And there's zero chance it will ever be sold on DVD, unless it's part of a collection of Wonderful World of Disney shows. If you have this on tape somewhere, treasure it! I know my DVD transfer will be viewed many times in years to come.

Loathe to lose a customer, Joe the barber didn't have the heart to tell Jack he had no hair left to trim.

On October 3rd, 1977, Time magazine published this mention about the upcoming special in an article:

Cinderella's coach turned into a pumpkin—and Jonathan Winters' head has now suffered the same fate. With a little help from his makeup man, Comic Winters ripens into a big jack-o'-lantern on the set of Walt Disney's special, The Halloween Hall o' Fame. The show, scheduled to air Oct. 30 on NBC, stars Winters as a bumbling night watchman who swaps heads with a talking pumpkin. The tricks and treats are vintage Disney, and Winters loved it all—especially his costume. "I was secure with my head," he says. "I knew I was a pumpkin mentally. There's a lot of seeds up there—some gone."

After kicking off this year's Halloween season by watching it, I made some screen captures off of the DVD to share with you. Enjoy!

The program opens at night, as we move past the sign and toward a window in a building on the Disney campus. Inside, we see a beagle walking down a hallway, followed by the night watchman, played by Winters. The dog's name is Peanuts. That doesn't sound like what he is saying, though.

Peanuts senses something strange in a dark room, and the night watchman goes in to check it out.

Bumping into a skeleton unawares, the guard gets a scare as he cautiously secures the room.

It turns out to be a prop room, with all sorts of interesting things laying about. This prompts the night watchman to mess around with some, doing impromptu bits using various items on a table. This is the kind of comedy Winters was famous for, unrehearsed improv using various voices and characters.

Giving an award to the midget baseball team, whose players are the same size as the trophy.

After finding a bird that had been placed in his lunch pail, he discovers that it had eaten his food.

An Indian fakir charms a snake but gets bitten, then bites the snake in return.

A small-town fire chief rallies his men to put out a doghouse fire.

A doctor chides his patient for not eating his veggies.

Jack O. Lantern startles the night watchman when he appears in a crystal ball.

Challenging the pumpkin-headed intruder, he learns that Jack is hiding out til midnight to avoid Halloween. He doesn't like what it has become, a kid's holiday full of fun and not true scares.

The night watchman disagrees, telling his he ought to be ashamed; a pumpkin hiding on Halloween!

Jack tells how back in the old days they had real ghosts and goblins, not like today. To illustrate, he shows some clips from classic Disney cartoons in his crystal ball. The first is "Trick or Treat."

The final scene from "Trick Or Treat," a last-second "boo" shot if there ever was one.

The next was an edited version of "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow." So... was the Headless Horseman in this cartoon a real ghost, or just the jealous Brom Bones?

After all the cartoons, at the end of "Legend of Sleepy Hollow," the night watchman, using some reverse psychology, cleverly provokes the spirit of Halloween to come out of hiding and go celebrate the season.

Finding himself temporarily in the crystal ball, our hero wonders what is going on.

Jack tells him he's using his body to go out and mix with the trick or treaters.

Thinking he is paying back the night watchman for questioning his ability to frighten, Jack has a good laugh and heads out into the night.

Content to switch places just for the evening, the night watchman is happy that he got the spook to join the celebrations.

"And it was always said of him, that he knew how to keep Halloween well, if any man alive possessed the knowledge. May that be truly said of us, and all of us! And so, as Tiny Tim observed, Happy Halloween, Every One!"

A treat fer ya; Here's a Youtube post someone has made of the entire special!

Fantasia's "Night On Bald Mountain"

The Monster Memories this time are of:
The "Night On Bald Mountain" segment of Disney's Fantasia
(Click on images to view larger size.)

Detail of pre-production painting for the "spookshow" segment.

My favorite segment of Walt Disney's classic Fantasia is of course, "Night on Bald Mountain." The music composed by Modeste Moussorgsky is powerful and one of my favorite scary compositions, so seeing it brought to "life," as it were, by the animators is a special treat.

Another pre-production painting of the cemetary scene.

Recently I put on my DVD of the movie and made a series of screen captures to post here. Taking the time to just look at still images gives you a greater appreciation of the artistry that went into it, don't you think?

Click on any image to see a larger version. And as you view each picture, I challenge you NOT to hear the strains of the music in your head! Impossible to do, isn't it?

I grew up knowing about Fantasia, from the various film and monster magazines I had. I had a real itch when I was about 21 to learn more about it, so I went to the public library in Savannah, GA (the town I lived in at the time) to see what I could find about it. This was in the late fall of 1979.

The large imposing edifice made quite an impression on me, located in the beautiful historic section near downtown. Surrounded by huge oaks draped with greenish-gray spanish moss, I was reminded of what Officer Brophy in "Arsenic and Old Lace" said... "Why, this whole neighborhood just stinks with atmosphere." And he meant that in a good way. The setting sun streaming through the leaves and moss cast a dappled orange glow on the white stone of the library.

In the library I found a large reference book on the art of Disney, and was entranced by the paintings from "Fantasia." But then, I discovered the motherlode; an old LP record and book of the soundtrack of the film! The pages bound in the LP cover book had all sorts of pre-production art, and I was especially attracted to the scenes from "Bald Mountain." The beautifully-painted cemeteries and ghosts had a style to them that really gave one the chills. As I walked out into the autumn evening air, which carried an uncharacteristic coolness in with a light fog, a slight tingle went up my spine as I anticipated getting home and listening to the record while studying the pictures.

Pre-production painting of the opening scene.

Page from the LP soundtrack book.

A year or so later I was able to acquire the same record and book to own at a flea market, and that was the extent of my knowledge about the movie. But in 1984, to my total and complete delight, most of the sequence was shown on one of "The Wonderful World of Disney" Halloween Specials (I'll be doing some posts on these specials in an upcoming October series of blog entries). It was indeed as dark and foreboding as I had imagined, and depicted the dispair and horror among the wicked dead, even as they are called to celebrate and entertain their dark lord. Hardly the typical Disney fare!

"Monster File" feature from an issue of "Famous Monsters" in the early 80's.

Unlike the cute, bare-breasted but nipple-less centaurettes of the "Pastoral Symphony" sequence earlier in the film, there are several glimpses of topless harpies sporting their nips, albeit only briefly. The demons and ghosts are not "Disneyfied" and softened for this segment, but the entire scene is played out in an unrelenting cacophany of wicked revelry, and demonstrating the short-lived nature of it.

When it was released for the first time on VHS in the 90's, I could much more appreciate the dark beauty of the entire segment. I have only enjoyed it more with the subsequent re-releases on DVD with much improved picture. I think I'll go watch it again right now!