If you were a kid in the 60s or 70s, you definitely remember them. Heck, you probably even wore them for at least one Halloween: the masks were plasticy, easily cracked, and were sometimes difficult to see through. The costumes themselves, usually tied in the back and shredded by just looking at them. Yes, maybe they weren't the sturdiest, but they were definitely iconic, colorful, and they transport you back to a simpler time, when you didn't have to have an adult walk around with you for Trick or Treat, when you didn't have to wear glow-in-the-dark or reflective gear for safety, when kids showed up at the doorstep dressed like popular Saturday morning cartoon characters or Universal Monsters, not some colorless 2010s toy or princess.
Yep, I'm talking about those individually-boxed Collegeville Halloween costumes for kids!
What I didn't know was that Ben Cooper designed costumes for the Cotton Club and the Ziegfield Follies back in the day! The children's costumes were available from the 1930s through the late 80s. You could purchase them at Sears, J.C. Penney's, Woolworth's and your local five and dime (where I remember seeing them as a kid, at Stewart's 5 & 10 in the Southwest Side of Chicago, Garfield Ridge).Many of the costumes are highly collectible, especially if they are in their original boxes. A book was even published in 2002, Dressed for Thrills: 100 Years of Halloween Costumes & Masquerade by Phyllis Galembo, which featured photos and text regarding these iconic costumes.
You can learn more about them at the Collegeville Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Collegeville-Ben-Coopers-vintage-mask-and-costume-collectors/229579747092005#!/pages/Collegeville-Ben-Coopers-vintage-mask-and-costume-collectors/229579747092005
Or check out the 1966 catalog!: http://search.aol.com/aol/imageDetails?s_it=imageDetails&q=collegeville+costumes&img=http%3A%2F%2F2.bp.blogspot.com%2F-Yr1tby5dWOs%2FT7KSMUel7VI%2FAAAAAAAAEj8%2FKnGQwCEzDGs%2Fs1600%2FCollegevilleCostumes1966-Catalog-pages3-4.jpg&v_t=tb50-ie-customie9-chromesbox-en-us&host=http%3A%2F%2Fmonstermasks.blogspot.com%2F2012%2F05%2F1966-collegeville-costumes-catalog.html&width=181&height=117&thumbUrl=http%3A%2F%2Ft3.gstatic.com%2Fimages%3Fq%3Dtbn%3AANd9GcRyaI4bknvXvk9j8IM9ftjGPlFQlKdFl4vBEc-nwx9-OTZocD8dhdtoqFdkbw%3A2.bp.blogspot.com%2F-Yr1tby5dWOs%2FT7KSMUel7VI%2FAAAAAAAAEj8%2FKnGQwCEzDGs%2Fs1600%2FCollegevilleCostumes1966-Catalog-pages3-4.jpg&b=image%3Fq%3Dcollegeville%2Bcostumes%26v_t%3Dtb50-ie-customie9-chromesbox-en-us%26s_it%3DimageResultsBack%26oreq%3Ddacb8f6acee64721bff8a7b7753ee946&imgHeight=1041&imgWidth=1600&imgTitle=of+costumes+and+masks.&imgSize=420426&hostName=monstermasks.blogspot.com
Want to own one? Check out this link on Ebay: http://www.ebay.com/bhp/collegeville-costume
Can't get enough "memory lane"ness? Take a stroll through this extremely well-documented Flickr site, devoted to the art of the Collegeville mask: https://www.flickr.com/photos/22686070@N08/sets/72157609652753603/
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