Up until the late 1960s, long-haired male visitors to Disneyland were stopped at the park gates by cast members who politely informed the hirsute guests that they did not meet the standards of Disneyland’s (“unwritten”) dress code and therefore would not be allowed to enter the park. Disney’s philosophy was that customers preferred park workers to be wholesome and well-scrubbed, and some of the same appearance restrictions they placed on their employees were applied to other park guests as well. (For example, Jim McGuinn, future founder of the Byrds, was turned away from Disneyland in 1964 merely for sporting a Beatle cut, and at one point women wearing halter tops were also prohibited from entering the park.)

Step 43 on Google Maps to get from Japan to China tells you to jet ski across the Pacific Ocean.

* As the movie was actually shot in early spring in southern California (as opposed to Illinois in late October), the crew had to buy paper leaves from a decorator and paint them in the desired autumn colors, then scatter them in the filming locations. To save money, after a scene was filmed, the leaves were collected and reused.
* Due to its shoestring budget, the prop department had to use the cheapest mask that they could find in the costume store: a Star Trek (1966) William Shatner   mask. They later spray-painted the face white, teased out the hair, and reshaped the eye holes.
* Halloween was shot in 21 days in April of 1978. Made on a budget of $320,000, it became the highest-grossing independent movie ever made at that time.
* All of the actors wore their own clothes, since there was no money for a costume department. Jamie Lee Curtis went to J.C. Penney for Laurie Strode’s wardrobe.

*The original script, titled “The Babysitter Murders”, had the events take place over the space of several days. It was a budgetary decision to change the script to have everything happen on the same day (doing this reduced the number of costume changes and locations required) and it was decided that Halloween, the scariest night of the year, was the perfect night for this to happen.

* Halloween candy sales average about 2 billion dollars annually in the United States.
* Chocolate candy bars top the list as the most popular candy for trick-or-treaters with Snickers #1.
* Halloween is the 2nd most commercially successful holiday, with Christmas being the first.
* Bobbing for apples is thought to have originated from the roman harvest festival that honors Pomona, the goddess of fruit trees.
* Black cats were once believed to be witch’s familiars who protected their powers.

1 The Television series “The Twilight Zone” premeired (1959)

& Walt Disney World opened in Orlando, Florida (1971)

2 Peanuts comic strip by Charles Schultz first appeared in newspapers (1950)

3 Frank Robinson becomes major leagues baseball’s first black manager for the Cleveland Indians. (1974)

5 The World Series was broadcast on radio for the first time (1921)

6 Thomas Edison showed the 1st motion picture (1889)

6 The first Physician’s Assistants graduate from Duke University (1967)

9 The general public was first admitted into the Washington Monument.

11 Space Shuttle Challenger astronaut Kathryn Sullivan became the first American woman to walk in space. (1984)

12 The very first Oktoberfest is held in Munich, Bavaria, Germany (1810)

13 The U.S. Continental Navy was created. See Navy Day

14 Martin Luther King Jr was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize (1964)

15 “I Love Lucy” premiered on television. (1951)

U.S. Department of Transportation was created (1966)

16 Marie Antoinette was guillotined for treason. (1793)

16 Cuban Missile crisis begins. (1962)

17 Mobster Al Capone was convicted of income tax evasion. (1931)

19 The Senate passed a bill making Martin Luther King’s Birthday a national holiday. (1983)

19 The Revolutionary War ended. (1781)

21 Thomas Edison invented the incandescent electric lamp. (1879)

23 25,000 women marched gin New York City demanding the right to vote. (1915)

24 The United Nations came into existence. (1945)

24 Anna Edison Taylor is the first person to survive going over Niagara Falls in a barrel. (1901)

25 U.S. forces invade Grenada. (1983)

26 The Erie Canal opens, connecting Lake Erie to the Hudson River. (1825)

26 The “Gunfight at the OK Corral” occurs. Wyatt Earp, his two brothes, and “Doc” Holliday, have a shootout with the Ike Clanton gang. (1881)

26 The Erie Canal opens. (1825)

27 President Theodore Roosevelt’s birthday. (1858) The “Teddy bear” was named after him.

28 France presented the U.S. with the statute of Liberty. (1886)

28 The Gateway Arch in St. Louis is completed. (1965)

29 The New York Stock Exchange crashed on what came to be known as “Black Tuesday”, starting the Great Depression (1929)

31 Magician Harry Houdini dies from complications of a ruptured appendix. (1926)

31 Indian Prime Minister Indira Ghandi was assassinated. (1984)

Jack-’o-lanterns have been around for hundreds of years. The legend is of a man named Jack. According to the History Channel’s website, www.history.com, Jack invited the devil for a drink. Jack did not want to pay for his drink, so he made a deal with the devil. The devil turned himself into coins, but instead of paying for the drink, Jack kept the coins. Later freeing the devil, he promised to change him back if he did not steal his soul. Upon his own death, God would not let Jack into heaven because of his past and the devil would not let him into hell. Instead, the devil gave Jack a piece of coal, which Jack placed into a turnip. The legend goes that Jack used the turnip and coal to light his way as he looked for a final resting place. The original jack-’o-lanterns in Ireland were carved out of turnips or potatoes.

More than 35 million pounds of candy corn is produced each year according to the National Confectioner’s Association. Created in the late 1800s, the three colors are supposed to look like the colors in kernels of corn.

Trick-or-treating for candy and prizes is a common tradition in the United States. A predecessor of trick-or-treating is a Scottish and Irish practice called “Guising,” where children went from door to door in costumes collecting coins and food. Children would only receive the prize if they did a “trick” such as song or dance, before the treat was given.