Last night, I attended the Cathedral of St. John the Divine‘s beloved annual Halloween celebration,
The night started with a ‘cello-ween’ performance by a scary skeleton musician. The haunting melodies filled the cathedral’s amber-hued walls, creating an eerie atmosphere. Next, we enjoyed a screening of the silent film The Phantom of the Opera, from 1925, starring the incomparable Lon Chaney. I always thought Lon Chaney was a one-note performer best known for scary roles, but his performance as the Phantom was masterful.
The film remains most famous for Lon Chaney’s ghastly, self-devised make-up, which was kept a studio secret until the film’s premiere. The lighting design filled with shadows, the mythic Grand Opera House stage, cellar and river, the enormous cast, and the superb editing of this film make it a must-see movie.
TV guide said, “One of the most famous horror movies of all time, The Phantom of the Opera, still manages to frighten after more than 60 years.”
Our screening featured a live organ accompaniment that heightened the horror and drama. After the film finished, we were treated to a parade of ghouls and goblins from the Mettawee River Theater Company. Performers emerged from the smile of a gigantic, grotesque clown to scare and delight us.
The Mettawee River Theatre Company dramatizes myths, folk tales, and legends from diverse cultures. Their original theatre productions incorporate masks, puppets, and giant figures with music, movement, and text.
Under the Artistic Direction of mask maker, designer, and director Ralph Lee, the Mettawee River Company experimented with means of presenting masks, puppetry, mythology, and theater in ways that led an audience to experience the powerful relationship between human beings, their ancestry, and the natural environment.
Janet and Rosetta Van der Voort, born in the 1800s, were two wealthy sisters whose father rarely let them leave the house unaccompanied. The one place they were allowed to visit was Central Park’s Wollman Rink, where they went ice skating in the winter. The two sisters never married, were lifelong best friends, and died a few months apart. Since their death, their ghostly spirits have been seen periodically skating together on the Central Park Pond, wearing the same red and purple outfits they wore over 100 years ago.
Divabetic pays tribute to the sisters’ spirits, hoping to encourage you to indulge in the creativity associated with Halloween instead of candy. Halloween’s record-breaking sugar consumption and its detrimental effects on overall health are scarier than any ghost story.
It’s been reported that consumers gobbled up a record $36.9 billion in candy, gum, mints, chocolate, and other confections in 2021. High dietary sugar intakes in the context of a worldwide pandemic of obesity and cardiovascular disease have heightened concerns about the adverse effects of excessive sugar consumption.
The American Heart Association suggests limiting added sugars to less than 100 calories per day (about 6 teaspoons or 24 grams) for most adult women and no more than 150 calories per day (about 9 teaspoons or 36 grams of sugar) for most men.