Grim Reaper’s Halloween
January 11th, 2010 by John WolfeThis vid, according to YT user, GalaxyJDW, aired on PBS and was shown to school children every October during the 1980s. Though I was a child of the 80s, I somehow missed out on this cool piece.
The animation is set to Saint-Saens’ “Danse Macabre” and features a visual interpretation of the music’s theme: “Death,” playing his violin at midnight, summons forth the dead to partake in a Halloween dance party.
Whenever I hear this piece, I start singing, “H-A-double L-O-W-double E-N spells Halloween.” 
If you don’t remember that one, you may want to check out my post, Halloween in the 1960s. The song plays around the one minute mark, just as the kids are showing off their costumes.
January 11th, 2010 at 10:59 pm
cool…don’t think you’d see anything even remotely like this in today’s schools. too dark (please…) anyway, thanks for sharing…enjoyed watching
January 12th, 2010 at 11:18 am
Thanks! Now I have “h-a-double L-o-w-double e-n spells Halloween” as an ear worm today! It makes me so happy to hear it, though. I just remember the excitement of going to school in costume–it was a huge thrill to be someone else for one day!
January 12th, 2010 at 4:14 pm
Hey! Groundbreakers
Those look familiar. This was really cool. I never saw anything like this in school nor would I ever find such a cartoon on tv during the 80′s. I just love how much SoS feeds my Halloween appetite through out the year. Thank you very dearly John for all of your wonderful and creative ways. I hope your feeling better this morning.
January 13th, 2010 at 12:18 am
Pam,
Very true. Though I’m out of touch with how the curriculum/classrooms are conducted nowadays, since I don’t have children, I can only imagine pieces like this aren’t celebrated the way they were when we were kids during the 60s, 70s and 80s.
autumnforest,
Glad to be of service.
I’ve had it stuck in my head ever since finding this vid yesterday. If I could have, I would have gone to school wearing a costume everyday of the year.
Goldie,
I sure don’t remember this on PBS during the 80s either, but I definitely remember the “creepy” cartoon intro for the PBS program, Mystery during the 80s. Do you remember that one? Glad you’re enjoying all of my eclectic tastes for Halloween and the spooky, my friend.
I was still in a lot of pain this morning, but I’m finally starting to get some range-of-motion back tonight. Thanks for checking on me.