Halloween Revisited -- A Monster Mask Mystery

I originally posted this October 5th, 2015.  When I repost these, I just copy and paste from the original post as I don't want to actually repost the original  because that changes the post date and puts it out of the original sequence of posts.  And to recreate a post with this many photos defeats the reason behind "Halloween Revisited" which is "I'm lazy".  So I apologize if this shows up with weird format/font/etc.  I'll fix if I see that it does.

Sometimes when I start writing a post, it begins as one thing and ends as another.  Initially, this post was about trying to identify a mask, but it turned into a tangential examination of Halloween masks used in classic television shows and movies I recall fondly from my childhood.  In other words, I'm easily distracted.

Last spring, I drove a fair distance to attend what appeared to be an enormous estate sale chock full of retro goodies.  What particularly caught my eye in the ads for the sale were numerous Ben Cooper/Collegeville plastic Halloween masks. Once inside and after fighting my way through the crowd, I finally found the room with the masks, just in time to see a lady grabbing every plastic mask there. I pushed toward her to see if she'd left any, but she hadn't.  However, she had passed on a rubber mask which I grabbed.

Halloween's a Scream

When I first started decorating my house for Halloween in the 90's, it was pretty low-key.  I didn't have a lot of decorations, vintage or otherwise.  At some point, I picked up a screaming door mat from somewhere, probably one of the Halloween stores like Spirit Halloween, Halloween City or Halloween Express.  I would put it under the normal front door mat and watch people jump when they came to my front door.  That mat is long gone, but I found one still in the package a couple years ago.

Later, when my first son was about 4 or 5, he was petrified of the mat.  He would leap in or out of our door to avoid stepping on the mat.  He's 27 now. I think he's probably still a little leery of it. I imagine there are a lot of kids of the '90's that are traumatized by this scream.

Come to the Party

I apologize for the lapse yesterday. It's been a busy week at work.

This poor little invite never got a chance to invite someone to a Halloween party.  He looks out the window waiting for guests to arrive that never will.

It was made by Hallmark and looks to date from the 1950's to '60's.

Won't you come to his party?

Spearhead Industries Mummy Make-Up Disguise Kit

My first Halloween was the only year I got a store-bought costume. It was a Ben Cooper Spider-man in all its red, blue and yellow shame (I won't go into how disappointed I was with the off-model coloring).  Every year after that, I was on my own to make myself up with whatever resources I had. I've written previously how I used my mom's makeup and Imagineering vampire blood and teeth to transform myself into a wannabe Wolfman (everyone thought I was a tramp).  I never had any actual Halloween makeup like this.

This Mummy Make-Up Disguise Kit comes from a little-known company called Spearhead Industries.  It dates from 1981.  While it's hard to see, it comes with a "mirror" on the front of the packaging so you can check yourself out.  It's actually just a thin strip of reflective foil.

Monster Hot Rod Plaque

While out garage saling last weekend, I stumbled onto an unadvertised estate sale in my childhood hometown (which isn't saying I took some long drive. I only live about 5 minutes away from where I grew up).  The sale was at the home of a family my family knew and in fact only lived about 1/4 of a mile from our home.

The last person to live in the house was one of the sons of the family.  He had been into hot rodding cars since the 1960's and a lot of items were hot rod related.

While looking through a box of cast metal plaques, I came across this one (actually, I found two of them).

Halloween Revisited -- Brew Print

Some of the things I find that I love the most have no monetary value, not that that should be a shock or unusual. This blueprint of a witch stands out. Why was it made? We'll never know.  But I'm glad it was.

I found this smashed in the bottom of a box in the basement at the same estate sale where I found "Tom's Book".

Halloween Revisited -- Halloween Monster Fun Find

It's the weekend which it's time for reruns Halloween Revisited where we revisit past years' posts while I take a break.  Today's comes from 2013.

It's always fun to find something extra in the items I buy at garage and estate sales.  Usually, I find them in in books, entrapped for years in the dark of the pages.  It might be a pressed flower, a four-leaf clover, lost love notes or even hidden tardy slips.  Over the summer I even found two $2 bills tucked inside a CB jargon book.

I was at an estate sale a couple of weeks back and found a few Halloween records.  One was "Sounds to Make You Shiver" by Pickwick Records published in 1974.