A Simpler, Cheaper Halloween in 1932

The contrast couldn’t be sharper between these tattered Depression-era children and the modern Portsmouth Halloween Parade. These five (six counting the baby) North End kids remind us us of an era when an apple or a stick of gum was a holiday treat. Almost a century later, Halloween has become a full-blown commercial extravaganza, as much for adults as children. No Spirit Halloween Superstore with racks of bloody severed arms, packaged costumes, and scary animated figures. No hoardes of well-rehearsed zombies daning through the street to Michael Jackson’s “Thriller.”

An old sheet, some cut-up paper, a bit of grease paint, some ribbon and your costume was done. Exactly what these kids are dressed as is not immediately clear. But we do know who they are. Meet the Pesaresi family of Deer Street and  Russell Street in the former North End neighborhood around 1932. Left to right: Mary Pesaresi holding Dorothy Pesaresi, Azio Ferrini, Lincoln Tosi, Fred Tosi and Adam Pesaresi. Azio would go on to own the Portsmouth Heral d newspaper, which stood by almost silently as the “Little Italy” neighborhood was declared a slum and torn down under urban renewal. Today the lost neighborhood is a crowded collecetion of modern “high-rise” buildings with brick facades, commercial space, and luxury condos.

To emphasize the point, here is an AI “clean-up” of the same photo.