No, I don’t think so. I mean, Halloween has become a fun holiday for children and adults alike. I don’t think it ever waned too much for kids, but certainly for adults, it waned for a while, and then it came back with a vengeance. I have always practiced good Halloween manners and good Halloween decorations and good Halloween pranks—it’s just part of my DNA. I just like Halloween a lot.
When and why do you think Halloween had a comeback for adults?
Well, since Bette Midler has had her Halloween party every year. For many years, she had it at the Waldorf Astoria. I went every single year for quite a few years, and you would go dressed up, and your costume would be voted upon and Michael Kors was the one who gave out the prizes. You know, it was serious. But it was a fundraiser too, for the New York Restoration Project. I am not able to go this year, but I’ve gone almost every year for the longest time. Nobody scoffs at it. Nobody turns it down. Everybody wants to go.
How do you decorate for Halloween?
We decorate both inside and outside. I live on a farm now, so the gate is always decorated, and the security guard has to open the gate for children who are trick-or-treating. I usually give children an assortment of candies–quite a few candies in—in a bag and a little cash too.
Do trick-or-treaters come to your house?
I guess so! That’s what they say. But I’m never home on Halloween. I try to be out and about.
Photo: Lucas Allen
Photo: Victoria Pearson
What are some of your favorite Halloween memories?
We used to make box lanterns out of a cardboard box–you cut a jack-o’-lantern, and on the sides, paste orange and black tissue paper over the holes, and you would put a candle in it, a real candle. You would walk it in the Halloween parade to school, where we would all congregate down the playing fields, and in the middle of the playing field, we threw our beautiful pumpkin boxes, I want to call them, down into the pool. Today, I taught my granddaughter how to make one of these fabulous boxes, and she’s going to do it actually out of tin cans—little aluminum cans. I don’t know what they’re eating to get the cans, but I’m not going to ask.
