Dressed for Thrills: 100 Years of Halloween Costumes and Masquerade
From a 1930s waxed, painted buckram "Evil Bunny" and a mohair and cotton "Colonial Ladies Wig" from the 1940s to "Buddie Beatnik" and "Rubik's Cube" costumes, this colorful photographic survey by Galembo, a photographer and SUNY professor of art, shows vintage costumes worn by (sometimes rather unhappy looking) young models. Mark Alice Durant, a University of Maryland professor of Visual Arts, offers the accompanying essay, "Glowing Turnips, Pointy Black Hats, & Insomniac Aliens: The Hybrid History of Halloween," showing how we "shape rituals to fit the realities of the moment." The play versions of Groucho Marx, Olive Oyl, astronauts and Lady Liberty among the 123 full-color photos illustrate that principle whimsically and sometimes scarily.Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.