Pre'Ween logo by beingretro.com |
Pre'Ween is a term I coined to describe the thirty day period preceding Halloween. Only this and nothing more. I programmed a weekend long horror movie festival for the proprietor of the real Dog Farm last October, and I referred to it in the schedules as The Movies At Dog Farm Pre'Ween Picture Show. The event took place on the weekend prior to Halloween. It was clearly in the spirit of the approaching holiday, but it didn't actually occur on the holiday. Pre'Ween was born. Pre'Ween is just a made up word.
. . . except it isn't . . .
Just for shits and giggles I vowed to promote the notion of Pre'Ween. I decided it would be fun to see if I could get the term accepted into the local vernacular. Since I now have another platform in the form of this blog with which to propagate the notion of Pre'Ween, I decided I would do so this October. I researched a bit just out of morbid curiosity to see if I could find evidence of the term being used anywhere else . . . and dammit, I did. Pre'Ween wasn't my creation after all.
Screamin' Jay Hawkins, not Gatorbait |
October of 1966 was actually the second year that Gatorbait used the term Pre'Ween on air, but it was the first that the term turned up in print ads for the his show published in the Gainesville Sun newspaper. WGFL used the term in newspaper ads throughout the month as a marketing hook to lend a little extra pizazz to the ads and to milk Halloween for an entire month rather than just a single day. It's clear, though, that Gatorbait used the term on air in October of 1965, prior to its use in the station's marketing.
The arrival of the Great Pumpkin, the end of Gatorbait |
Public outcry was swift and merciless, and even though he apologized on air the following week, the damage had already been done. WGFL was anxious to quickly put the bad publicity to rest, and Gatorbait's show was replaced with reruns of The Honeymooners. Ghoulish Gary Gatorbait vanished into obscurity, as did the notion of Pre'Ween.
That, friends, is the horrible truth about Pre'Ween. That's the whole story.
. . . except it isn't . . .
Carl at The Info Zombie has discovered that the history of Pre'Ween can be traced back even further than this sad chapter. Click the link for the rest of the story.
This justifies me having my Halloween decor out early! Happy October, Brandon, and to everyone at the Dog Farm!
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