The Return of the Flying Sasser (re-post from Kevin Kidney 2012)

  

• The Return of the Flying Sasser (re-post from Kevin Kidney 2012)

Sasser 'n Sass-tronauts! (2012)

by Kevin Kidney 

The Anaheim Hallowe'en Parade's theme in 1953 was "Out of This World" and featured, among many things, a witch riding a missile instead of a broom, a platoon of pretty young Martians wearing kitchen colanders on their heads, and, most memorable of all, a "Flying Sasser" built by neighborhood kids.

Thanks to the one-and-only known photograph taken of it, the "Sasser" managed to survive obscurity over the passing years. Four boys, wielding toy space pistols, pose in front of homes on a suburban street (presumably Broadway or Center Street). A TV antenna, borrowed temporarily from a rooftop, supplies a hint of a high-tech to the otherwise homemade-looking spacecraft. The scene is so charmingly Americana, it's no wonder the photo has been published in several books on Anaheim history. Even our local Ruby's Diner has a framed print on the wall over one of the tables.

On October 27, 2012, the Flying Sasser returned to the Anaheim Halloween Parade, 59 years after it first appeared, thanks to some creative people in the AHS-