The Clown Prince of Crime: The Joker is a hot Halloween Costume

It seems the public craves something devilish for the masquerade.

The Joker is the costume generating the biggest buzz this Halloween season.

Just ask the folks at Rubie’s Costume Co., which is licensed to churn out characters from “The Dark Knight,” including its chief scene stealer.

“The Joker is phenomenal — can’t get him on the shelf fast enough,” said Terry Goldkranz, secretary to the president of the New York City costume manufacturer.

Whether it’s a $60 foam latex mask or a high-end $200 outfit complete with wig and makeup kit, the villain has inspired in-demand merchandise.

“It’s a popular item,” said Debbie Cox, a cashier at the Halloween USA store in Schererville. “The kids are crazy about it. …”

In Indianapolis, Landes Costumes by Rachel is getting riddled with requests for costuming that mimics Batman’s archenemy.

“We do get quite a few calls for it,” said Rachel Godollei-Johnson, owner of the costume shop and historian for the Indy-based National Costumers Association.

Unsettling realm

In “The Dark Knight,” which opened this summer in theaters, the late Heath Ledger played a deliciously psychotic Joker.

“It’s an interestingly disturbed character,” noted Godollei-Johnson.

“The Dark Knight” was wildly successful at the box office.

However, Ledger — who died before the film’s release — did not live to see the pop-culture phenomenon he created through his critically acclaimed performance.

The 2008 Joker ranks as an infinitely magnetic big-screen presence, but there is another reason why the antagonist’s attraction has carried over into Halloween time. Read more …

Fear Factor LIVE: Dead Celebrity Edition (Makeup for Halloween)

CORRECTION: This video was recorded on 10/20/06.

In honor of this evening of Friday the 13th, I bring you Universal Studios Hollywood’s Halloween Horror Nights 2006 presentation of “Fear Factor LIVE: Dead Celebrity Edition”. (Please be as brutal as possible when posting comments

Heckles (orange jumpsuit and green hair) and Twitch (yellow jumpsuit and purple hair) speak with Satan and Paris Hilton. The clown hosts look for a taste and smell tester victim for their “Jamba Juice” smoothie of seafood, Alec Baldwin bits, bugs, and lumpy sour milk. Our volunteer looks like she’s about to hurl. Heckles ate “Mexican” food in Paris’ dog, Tinkerbell. Paris nearly does a “Nicole Richie” vomit into a bucket. Read more …

Anna Nicole Smith at Halloween Party @ Playboy Mansion: Halloween Costumes

Full Gallery Here

Personal life: Birth of daughter

Smith announced on June 1, 2006, in a video clip posted on her official website that she was pregnant. “Let me stop all the rumors,” she said, while floating on an inflatable raft in a swimming pool. “Yes, I am pregnant. I’m happy, I’m very, very happy about it. Everything’s goin’ really, really good and I’ll be checking in and out periodically on the web, and I’ll let you see me as I’m growing.”

Though her announcement did not provide any details, in an interview with Larry King on CNN’s Larry King Live after her daughter’s birth and her son’s death, Smith’s longtime personal attorney Howard K. Stern said that he and Smith had been in a secret relationship for “a very long time” and that, due to the timing of the pregnancy, he was confident that he was the father of the baby. Her ex-boyfriend, entertainment photojournalist Larry Birkhead, steadfastly maintained that he was the baby’s father and filed a lawsuit to establish paternity. Smith’s daughter, Dannielynn Hope Marshall Stern, was born September 7, 2006, at Doctors Hospital in Nassau, Bahamas. The Bahamian birth certificate recorded the father as Howard K. Stern.

A judge in the United States ordered that DNA tests be performed to determine the biological father of Dannielynn. Following Smith’s death, Debra Opri, the lawyer for Larry Birkhead, asked for an emergency DNA sample to be taken from the corpse. Smith’s lawyer, Ron Rale objected strongly to this request. The request was denied by a judge, who instead ordered Smith’s body preserved until February 20. Read more …