"Help the poor" or "Trick or Treat"?

[SMRJim]

'Trick or treat' in our neighborhood, Grand River/Greenfield, in the late 60s/early 70s. Never heard any kids say help the poor, though I think I may have heard someone talk about saying that in earlier years, either my parents or older brothers possibly.

[SWMAP]

Jackie Gleason had a charactor that he acted out on his television show- a bum called the "Poor Soul" in those years. I thought we were dressing up as the Poor Soul.

[sumas]

My Mom now 90 years old recalls, Help the poor. The kids went out as bums and hobos. Standard fare was apples, oranges, home made carmel popcorn balls, pennies and the like.

Even in the 50's/60's we used Help the poor but got more candy than homemade stuff.

[Brock7]

"Help the poor" was always the call when I was a kid. I didn't hear "Trick or treat" until much later. BTW, does anyone remember "Devil's Night" - the real one, not where you tried to torch yours or your neighbor's house? We soaped a lot of windows, spilled a bunch of trash cans, etc.

Yes, and ringing doorbells, then running to hide. The bad kids used wax on the windows and lit bags of dog poop on the porch before ringing the doorbells.

Started out saying "Trick or treat". Later we used "Help the poor our pants are tore. Give us some money and we'll buy some more!" which shortened to "Help the poor" by the end of our run. On my block we learned the rhyme from the teen daughters of one of our neighbors whose dad used it when he was a kid. Same era and area as jcole. I remember hoping it would increase our intake of coins, which was my favorite treat, but it didn't.

The last time I went trick or treating, I think I was about 11, I wasn't sure if I was too old for it but decided it would be OK if I collected for UNICEF. So many people insinuated or outright accused me of collecting it to keep myself [[which I had no intention of despite what I said above) that it left me soured on the whole deal.

[reddog289]

After reading these post, My folks still refer to the kids as beggers.On a side note my cousin up north was kinda surprised that Halloween is celebrated down here on Oct 31st. She thought it would be on a Friday or Saturday night. I guess some cities do that.
I think she just wanted to bring her kids down here to get more candy and didn't want to miss work on monday.I go through this every year with her.Can't wait till she gets the drift and remembers how things are down here as opposed to up there.

[jcole]

Yes, and ringing doorbells, then running to hide. The bad kids used wax on the windows and lit bags of dog poop on the porch before ringing the doorbells.

Started out saying "Trick or treat". Later we used "Help the poor our pants are tore. Give us some money and we'll buy some more!" which shortened to "Help the poor" by the end of our run. On my block we learned the rhyme from the teen daughters of one of our neighbors whose dad used it when he was a kid. Same era and area as jcole. I remember hoping it would increase our intake of coins, which was my favorite treat, but it didn't.

The last time I went trick or treating, I think I was about 11, I wasn't sure if I was too old for it but decided it would be OK if I collected for UNICEF. So many people insinuated or outright accused me of collecting it to keep myself [[which I had no intention of despite what I said above) that it left me soured on the whole deal.

Not only did the bad kids wax windows, they egged cars. I don't know how true it was then or now, but the parents used to tell us never to do that because once the sun came up in the morning it would bake the egg to the paint and ruin the paint job.

[mikefmich]

I always went "begging" and the word was help the poor. If someone said trick or treat they were weird.
This was at the HW, GPW, Det. corner. Moross from Harper to Mack....1953 thru 1963....maybe '64. Can't remember anymore.

[jackie5275]

they egged cars. I don't know how true it was then or now, but the parents used to tell us never to do that because once the sun came up in the morning it would bake the egg to the paint and ruin the paint job.

Our house got egged several times in the 70s. The offenders usually hit the garage door during the night, so you wouldn't see it until morning. The egg wouldn't be baked, but it would be dried. Once the egg is dried it's a major hassle to clean off. It's the egg white part that's the worst. You have to really scrub it with brush that's like a scrub brush for cleaning barbeques in order to get it all off.

[mittengal]

We said help the poor--westside, 50's. I do remember some kids saying trick or treat, but not the kids on our block that I played with. Most were Catholic--I wonder if that had any connection? I've never heard of help the poor anywhere else. Devil's Night was the older kids soaping windows, egging, & other minor vandalism. I remember a friend's father telling us how, in his teens in rural western Michigan, he & some friends put the local grouchy farmer's outhouse on top of his barn, then yelled insults until the man chased them & fell into the hole. Kinda mean but at least it wasn't arson!

[szla]

60s Redford. It was" help the poor my pants are tore, give me some money to buy some more". We were all beggars. Devils night everyone went out and soaped windows. Your parents would get real pissed if you waxed anything. My daughter lives in Chicago and some of the upscale nw suburbs have Halloween on the nearest Sunday from about 1-4. Yes daytime. Thought it was strange and everyone not from those suburbs think its real strange and paranoid.

[d2dyeah]

Growing up in West Dearborn from 1956-1966 we said Trick or Treat. When we collected for UNICEF, which was actually a few days before Halloween night, we said Help the Poor. Halloween night was totally about the candy. I don't think as kids back then, we were thinking about the poor for those few hours that we were able to act like idiots. I do remember that every kid would say Thank you for the loot to each Mom or Dad that gave it out. It was like machine gun fire," thank you, thank you.. thank you..during the rush hours. Devils night was soaping windows, which i think the neighbors expected, but waxing was frowned on. Soap you could rinse with the hose, wax, forget about it. We used to sneak apples and those weird grapes that grew in Michigan, they used for jelly. from the neighbors yards. It seemed like we were doing something so bad, but it was a blast.

[jcole]

We used to sneak apples and those weird grapes that grew in Michigan, they used for jelly. from the neighbors yards

Concord grapes?

[d2dyeah]

Concord grapes?

They were real thick skinned with bright green inside. They only tasted good real cold. We would put them by our nose and sneeze with the obvious result being green "Snot" shooting out. Real cool 8 year olds.