Ben Cooper Masks and Memories

I did pretty well with finding vintage Ben Cooper Halloween masks this past year.  I found this Frankenstein's Monster and the Skull below it at estate sale, untouched by everyone that had passed through the room prior.  They are made in Hong Kong and date from the 1970's.

I found this Wolfman at another sale.

The commonality among these first 3 masks, aside from the fact they are Ben Cooper, is that they were sold as standalone masks, not part of a full costume.  These would have hung on peg boards by themselves.  The Frankenstein sold for $1.39 as evidenced by the original price tag.

I found this mask at an estate sale just up the street from me.  It was a private sale and the family was there.  The lady there told me her brother used to scare her with this mask.  Some sellers have identified this as an "Elvira Gulch from the Wizard of Oz" mask, but I'm skeptical.

And finally, this mask is near and dear to me.  This isn't my original one, but it is the mask I wore for my first Halloween as part of the Ben Cooper Spider-man costume.

When given the choice of who I wanted to be, there was no question. I was a diehard fan of the 1967 Spider-man cartoon (seen in syndication by the time I was around).  But even as a 6-year old, I had a beef with the design of the costume.  I didn't like the bulging outline around the eyes, the sculpted nose, the nostril holes or the mouth slit.  Who cared about breathing??? I wanted to look like Spider-man. And did you ever cut your tongue on a Ben Cooper mask mouth slit or was that just me?

Then there was the smock.

Photo courtesy of eBay

Spider-man didn't have yellow on him.  His spider emblem was stylized; it didn't look like an actual hairy spider.  He didn't have the name "Spider-man" written on his chest.  There were no webs on his non-yellow ribs.

But it was the best you could get and I was happy with it.  It was the only store-bought costume I ever had for Halloween and it only lasted one Trick or Treat outing.

What was your first costume? Was it store bought or hand made?