Halloween Haunts: An HWA Halloween
By Robert Cabeen
Instead of promoting my own dark doings, I’m going to provide photographic evidence that HWA members deserve Kevin Wetmore’s moniker, “Halloween People.” Our annual Halloween galas provided HWA members, from across the country, the chance to give their shadows the night off and go wild. Warning: to those of you who have been caught in the act here—this will now go down on your permanent HWA record. Our last Halloween party was in the before times, but we plan to carry on the tradition in the future—maybe next year. Will you dare to be there and what would wear?
Cecile and I began hosting Halloween parties in the late 1970s. By the early 80s, attendance exploded into the hundreds. An impressive roster of LA creatives became regulars. Some of the writers, artists, musicians, and film people included: Theodore Sturgeon, George Clayton Johnson, Mick Garris, Dave Stevens, Sergio Aragonés, Robert Williams, Bill Stout, Rick Baker and this whole crew, John Phillip Law, Alice Cooper’s lead guitar player, Mick Mashbir, and Carl Franzoni from the Mothers of Invention. The year John Phillip Law crashed our party, Cecile coincidently came as Barbarella—she had her angel!
In case we’ve never met: Robert Payne Cabeen is a screenwriter, artist, and Bram Stoker Award winner with his novel COLD CUTS. His screenwriting credits include HEAVY METAL 2000, for Columbia TriStar, Sony Pictures, A MONKEY’S TALE, and WALKING WITH BUDDHA. Cabeen’s illustrated book, FEARWORMS: SELECTED POEMS, was a Bram Stoker Award nominee. As creative director for Streamline Pictures, Robert helped bring Japanese animated features, like Akira to a western audience. Cabeen received an MFA from Otis Art Institute. Since then, he has combined his interests in the visual arts with screenwriting and storytelling for entertainment companies including: Warner Brothers, Columbia/TriStar, Disney, Sony, and Universal.
