Today in Halloween: Princess of Pumpkinland

Here’s another look at vintage Halloween pictures from the world wild web.

I’m not sure what to make of the creepy, rough-hewn masks of yesterday we’ve seen in a lot of these old snapshots. Were mask-making skills so rudimentary more than a half-century ago? Or was a lot of detail lost in these photos? Was it possible to tell, face to face, the character or person the mask was based on?

In this one, a girl cradles a pumpkin while she sits among other pumpkins.

Her mask is a puzzler. The arched brows, full but frozen lips …. who knew there had ever been a market for Tallulah Bankhead masks?

Today in Halloween: Who’s a cute little Frankenstein?

Could. Not. Be. Any. Cuter.

Seriously, our latest dip into vintage Halloween costumes is probably the cutest picture yet.

The devil on the left is pretty doggone cute.

But the Frankenstein on the right? Wow.

Maybe it’s the cute grimace in the mask. Or the cheesy tunic.

But I personally think it’s the upraised hands, fingers curled in monster-ific fashion.

Awwww!

Bonus points if anybody can identify the costumes. I did Google image searches to see if the costumes were from Collegeville or Ben Cooper, big makers of kids costumes in the 1950s and beyond, and didn’t come across them.

Today in Halloween: Clowns and Indians?

Here’s another of our looks back at old-timey Halloween costumes, pulled from the vast array somebody plunked down on the Internet.

Your guess is as good as mine – likely better – on a time frame for this snapshot. The boots on the kid in the middle are interesting and make me guess early first half of the 20th century.

As for the costumes?

The fringe on the kids on the outside makes me think they’re western getups, maybe Indian costumes.

And while I can’t quite figure out the mask on the kid in the middle, that outfit sure looks like one worn by a clown or jester.

More next time.

Today in Halloween: Let’s join the circus!

Here’s our latest look at vintage Halloween photos from the World Wide Web.

In my ongoing half-assed effort to guess about the origin of these pictures, I’m going to speculate that this photo depicts high schoolers in the area of Peru, Indiana, in the first half of the 20th century.

Why?

Because Peru has always been a haven for circus performers and the abundance of clowns in the picture makes me think these kids borrowed some of their parents’ professional makeup.

I don’t know what to make of the guy at lower right. Devil? Yellow peril?

Today in Halloween: A truly frightening bust

Here’s another dip into the vintage Halloween snapshots resource that is the vast series of tubes we know as the Internet.

I’ve seen a lot of these photos on the web but there’s little explanation of their origin. I’ve been making some (not-so) educated guesses on a few of them.

This one seems to be another with a rural setting, based in part on what looks like a field or rolling hills in the background and … holy hell, what’s the deal with the trick-or-treater on the right?

The other three have that mix of old clothes and bizarrely terrifying masks that we’ve become accustomed to in these vintage photos. Ditto for the one on the right, with two very noticeable exceptions.

Maybe I’m missing the point here, but wonder why this kid put on a creepy mask and then stuffed her bust with a couple of couch cushions?

We’ll never know.

Trick-or-treater on the right, I dub thee Zombie Mamie Van Doren.

Today in Halloween: One is the loneliest trick-or-treater

I don’t think I ever went trick-or-treating by myself. Not that I was an in-demand Halloween night companion, but I pretty much always made the rounds with cousins and friends in town.

So there’s no snark from me about this solo trick-or-treater. Here’s hoping she (she rather than he? I’m thinking that’s a witch costume) joined up with a whole pack of trick-or-treaters at the end of her sidewalk.

And I’m hoping she has many happy Halloween memories to this day.

 

 

Today in Halloween: Creepy trick-or-treaters, outstanding in their field

It’s time for another vintage Halloween photo, a snapshot of trick-or-treating and masquerading long gone.

And good riddance.

This photo, undated but probably from sometime in the 1950s or earlier, has a weird vibe to it. Looks like a rural setting, maybe a Halloween photo of a bunch of classmates outside a school.

The paper bags that a couple of the kids are wearing are … interesting. Maybe they were from families too poor to afford masks. Or didn’t believe in Halloween.

It’s “Children of the Corn: The Early Years.”

The masks we do see are just unsettling, though. The little boy to the left, wearing overalls and a bow tie? That mask is freaky.

And what the hell is the teacher/parent/adult guardian wearing? That outfit must have given those kids nightmares for weeks afterward.

And that house, or church, in the background? What’s that in the upstairs window?

Just kidding.

 

Today in Halloween: Topstone monster masks

I probably had some Topstone Halloween masks and didn’t realize it. You probably did too.

Unlike Don Post Halloween masks, Topstone were more reasonably priced masks. They were latex/rubber masks like the Don Post masks but were thinner and sold for two or three bucks – a third of the price of the most affordable Don Post masks – through stores and Captain Company ads in magazines like Famous Monsters of Filmland back in the 1960s.

As a kid, I certainly didn’t notice the brands of masks I eagerly bought around Halloween time, so I’m mostly guessing some of mine were made by Topstone. And needless to say many of the masks don’t exist any more. They were never meant to survive for four decades or more.

Topstone sold full over-the-head masks, but I think most familiar to some of us were the “full face” masks, both soft latex and harder plastic, that were common at the time.

Topstone Rubber Toy Company, according to online histories, began making masks in the 1930s. Besides horror masks, the company made clowns, “goofs” and – unfortunately – race-based caricatures like “Remus” and “Chinaman.” As late as 1960, the company marketed “colored” masks.

The company’s heyday was in the 1950s and 1960s, when the advent of the “Shock Theater” package of classic Universal horror films became popular on TV stations and spawned not only magazines like Famous Monsters of Filmland and TV horror hosts like Indianapolis’ Sammy Terry but also a craze for scary monster masks.

Particularly memorable was the “Shock Monster” mask that was aggressively marketed to young geeks like me.

Keith Ward, whose other famous designs included Elsie the Cow and Elmer the Bull (the latter for Elmer’s Glue) designed many of the classic Topstone masks.

Ray Castile is an acknowledged expert on Topstone, its history and its masks. He also produced thegalleryofmonstertoys.com.

Everything you want to know about Topstone masks can be found here.