Alternative Halloween

By Sandy Bradley

I avoid costume parties, though. I see so little of my friends, I'm eager for a few moments of the "real" them. Instead I endure the small part which always wanted to be a mad surgeon, a pirate, or a salt shaker. I'm a real fan of "business as usual."

I consider the number of kids knocking for candy a reflection of the health and safety of the neighborhood. I'm honored, and do my best to provide something sweet their parents would be ashamed to feed them.

For those seeking a different terror holiday adventure, go to Hokum Hall in West Seattle. On Halloween and November 1 you can be charmed and by a special show, Halloween Cinema Classics. This year features The Haunted House (1921) with Buster Keaton. He's "a bank clerk who gets involved with crooks, a theatrical cast, and the bank president's daughter, in a haunted house." It's a double feature with The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, directed by R. Weine with Conrad Veidt and Lil Dagover--the generic sire of all horror films, and still one of the best.

Your kids will have limited opportunities to discover these icons of silent films, especially offered in the original style: accompanied by piano and organ. Andy Crow is a master of the art of silent film back-up. A professional theatre organist, he turns the film into a live adventure, by enhancing and responding to the audience reaction. Bridging the live/canned gap completes the loop between you and Buster Keaton, so you can see him the way he was intended to be enjoyed.

Hokum Hall is a phenomenon West Seattle is learning to treasure. Preserved in its grange hall glory, Hokum and Lou Magor have turned it into a warm vaudeville hall, complete with popcorn. They offer magic, classic jazz bands, old musicals, jazz, a Sousa Birthday Party, childrens' matinees, a ragtime festival, and corny sing-alongs. I'm one who is shy to sing along (I fake it on Happy Birthday) but at Hokum Hall, I sit in the front row and sing at the top of my lungs, laugh at the hard corn and cheer every pratfall. It's easy to feel unabashed there, always entertained and made to feel welcome. I even saw a former Original Mousketeer (Darlene) do a show of bird calls!

To get there, take the West Seattle Bridge, turn left at 35th Ave SW (the first light) and go south 30 blocks. Hokum Hall is just south of Kenyon and 35th SW. The #21 Metro bus from First Avenue downtown stops right in front of the hall. For more info: www.hokumhall.org or 206 937 3613.

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