My Harpo Halloween costume

I’m not a big fan of Halloween as a holiday but did read this interesting article at the New York Times about Halloween costume correctness on campuses today.  California Institute of the Arts, the school I attended in the mid-8os was famous (or infamous) for their outrageous Halloween parties.  No costume correctness there; the biggest concern there was if the costume covered anything (paint seemed to be the choice of material).  This not being my style I decided on dressing up as Harpo Marx, complete with a curly wig, trench coat, and horn.  I loved this character- no talking, just blowing my horn as a response.

Harpo&Lucy

image from marxbrothers tumbler

The video that started it all

Michael_Jackson's_Thriller_title_card

A related story from the early 80’s: I remember sitting in my CalArts design class waiting for our instructor  Bob Winquist to arrive.  After apologizing for being late he mentioned he had been a visitor on the set of a video shoot in LA – the very one- and marveled at what a genius that “young man” was.