Gray Drug & Woolworth Halloween Ads – October 1973

How do you know when you're too old to go trick or treating?

I've mentioned before how I knew when it was my last Halloween. I'd been accompanying my younger brother door to door, and we had covered a lot of turf. After hitting all the houses on Skyline Drive, we had greedily worked our way up Palm Springs Drive near Masson School. There was still a little time left, and we didn't want to waste it.

I still remember the house to this day. The homeowner took a look at me, made up like a hobo with a burnt cork Hanna-Barbara five o'clock shadow. He sneered, "Aren't you a little old to be trick or treating?" I felt like crawling into a hole. 

So by the time Halloween 1973 rolled around, my trick or treating days were over. That's why I don't particularly remember any of the costumes shown in the ad for Gray Drug above, which appeared in the Journal on October 18, 1973.

Here's a closer look.

Several Hanna-Barbara characters are front and center in the ad, including Jane Jetson, Jonny Quest, Jinks the Cat and Dum Dum, the canine sidekick of Touché Turtle. It's odd to see Jinks in there, seeing as he was the 'oldest' HB character in the bunch, with no new Jinks vs meeses cartoons made since the early 1960s.

As for photos of the costumes, the great plaidstallions.com 1970s website corn-veniently posted images of a brochure that includes just about all of them – saving me time trying to scrounge them up one at a time!

As the plaidstallions.com website notes, the 'Speed Bird" is pretty much a ripoff of the Roadrunner, right down to the Beep Beep lettering on the front of the costume!

I did find the Jonny Quest mask online. He looks like he's been gobbing on the lipstick!

Here's another advertisement from Halloween 1973 highlighting costumes. This one's for Woolworth, and it ran in the Journal on October 24, 1973.

It's an odd assortment: generic Halloween characters (a ghost, a devil, a witch); and well-known licensed characters (Fred Flintstone, Batman, Spider-Man and Scooby-Doo). One of the Groovie Goolies is there (Frankie) and there's also comic film actor Charlie Chaplin, an unusual choice since he was in his mid-80s at that point.

And here are the photos of some of the costumes culled mainly from eBay. Somehow these managed to escape the garbage can over the last fifty years.

Here's the generic Woolworth ghost. Casper he ain't.

And here's Fred Flintstone – who looks like he's been clobbered by a club-wielding Bamm Bamm Rubble.

Here's the aforementioned Frankie, one of the Groovie Goolies, a good example of cartoon drac dreck from Filmation Studios.

Here's Scooby-Doo – the ever-popular Hanna-Barbara hound, who was in his original heyday in the early 1970s. Hey, he kind of looks like the much-hated puppy Scrappy-Doo.

Lastly, here's Spider-Man. The off-model illustration of the costume in the ad doesn't exactly make my Spidey sense tingle. But in fairness to the artist, he might have been confused with the nostril holes and mouth slit on the mask.

Woolworth Halloween Ad – October 23, 1969

Each Halloween, I post vintage newspaper ads showing what costumes the various chain stores were offering that year. It’s a nice snapshot of popular culture at that time.

The Woolworth ad above ran in the Lorain Journal back on October 23, 1969.

Here’s a color version of the ad.

It’s a real grab bag of TV-centric costumes, that’s for sure. The most dominant one in the ad is the genie called Shazzan, which I don’t remember watching at all. 

The Lite Up Shazzan Mask
(Courtesy Worthpoint)

(I’m not surprised I don’t recall that cartoon. By the late 1960s, my parents concocted all sorts of things for my siblings and me to do on Saturday mornings to keep us away from the TV set. This included bowling in a league at Shoreway Lanes in Sheffield Lake, as well as taking art lessons from Paul Henschke at St. Mary High School.)

Elsewhere in the ad, you can see a Flying Nun costume. Now that was a show that we watched, er, religiously.

Courtesy Etsy

I wonder if Sally Field got a kickback for the use of her image on the Sister Bertrille mask?

For wholesome youngsters, there was perennial favorite Archie. I like how Jughead is identified as merely, ‘Jug.’ And why is Archie’s slick-haired, arch-rival Reggie smiling?

For me, the oddest costume on the page is the one at the bottom identified as ‘Giant Man.’ Although he looked like a caveman, he has on what looks like a doctor’s surgical garb, with little people hanging from his pocket.

It turns out that he is designated as being a character tied in with the show Land of the Giants – a giant professor. He doesn’t seem to be a regular character on the series.

The Ben Cooper company must have changed its mind at the last minute as to the design of the costume. Perhaps the decision was made to promote the show more obviously, because the only costume I could find online was the one below, with the tie clasp inscribed with LAND OF THE GIANTS.

That tie looks very Hanna-Barbera-ish to me. By the way, it looks like the eye holes are deliberately low so that the mask makes the wearer taller and more like a giant.

Another version of the same mask (below) gives the giant a row of upper teeth and a more unkempt hairdo. I wouldn’t be a bit surprised if he’s really the Jack in the Beanstalk giant retrofitted for the Land of the Giants TV series.

Finally, the ad includes the usual off-model superhero costumes, including an unreasonable facsimile of Spider-Man and a strangely masked Superman.

I guess what I glean from this Woolworth ad it that the costume manufacturers were trying harder than ever to appeal to TV-watching kids. There are very few generic costumes. 

But in my family’s case, we hardly watched any of the shows or cartoons on which the costumes were based, and didn’t clamor to buy them. Thus we probably wore an old mask from our stash of them from previous Halloweens. We had all the classics: Popeye, Woody Woodpecker, Fred Flintstone, Huckleberry Hound, Yogi Bear, Casper, Bugs Bunny, etc.

Midway Mall 5th Anniversary – Sept. 1971

Fifty years ago this month, Midway Mall – “Ohio’s Showplace Enclosed Mall Shopping Center" – was celebrating its Fifth Anniversary. At that time, the Mall boasted fifty four ‘fine firms.’ 

Above is the full-page ad that appeared in the Journal on Sept. 19, 1971.

To celebrate the occasion, the Mall booked a grab bag of entertainment acts including Quantrell and Company Magic Show; Lipko’s Human Comedy Chimps (who I previously wrote about here); Arnold & Sir Richard Burton (an organ grinder and his monkey); and Blossom the Clown (an animal balloon artist). There was also Fritz, the Bavarian Glass Blower;  a caricature sketch artist; nightly drawings for gift certificates; and Mini Grand Prix Children’s Rides.

Stores at the Mall at that time included: Andre Duval Beauty Salon; Arnold Palmer Cleaners; Baker’s Shoes; Barricini Candy; Bentley Ties; Blvd. Juvenile Shoes; Clarence Faflik Shoes; Cleveland Fabric Shop; Clowntown; Diamond’s Men Shop; Fanny Farmer Candy; Fisher-Fazio; Foxmoor Casuals; Goodyear Tire & Rubber; Gray Drugs; Midway Opticians; Harvest House Cafeteria; The Higbee Co.; Hobby Center; Hough Bakery; Household Finance; Lane Bryant; Lorain County Savings & Trust; Louis Cohn Mens Wear; Melody Manor; Memory Lane Card Shop; McDonald & Co.; Michael-Angela Hair Fashions; Midway Barber Shop; Midway Cinema; Nobil Shoes; O’Henry’s Pub; Parklane Hosiery; Paul Harris; JCPenney; Petries; Puppy Palace; Record World; Regal Shoes; Richman Brothers; Rose Jewelers; Sam Kleins; Schwede Appliance & TV; Sears, Roebuck and Co.; Seven Seas Gift Shop; Sidewalk Cafe; Singer Sewing Center; Spencer Gifts; Ted Jacobs; Tweed Shop; Union Savings Associates; Walden Book Co.; Winkelman’s; and Woolworths.

In case you were wondering (like me), Clowntown was a photography studio that specialized in children. For some reason, I don’t think this place would succeed today.

Some of the businesses listed were not in the main portion of the Mall. For example, O’Henry’s Pub and Household Finance were in the strip of stores anchored by Goodyear Tire & Rubber (at the north end) and Fisher-Fazio (at the south end). In later years, AAA was a longtime tenant before it flew the coop to Avon.

Woolworth’s Halloween Ad – Oct. 1963

Well, it’s Halloween – so here’s one last post dealing with vintage trick-or-treat costumes.

Above is what Woolworth’s was offering Lorainites in an ad that ran in the Lorain Journal on October 24, 1963. The ad has a nice layout featuring a prominent Frankenstein’s monster. (Like most kids, we always thought the monster itself was called Frankenstein).

There aren’t too many TV-related costumes in this ad, surprisingly.

There’s a George Jetson costume; I wonder how many little boys thought, “Gee, I think I’ll go as that much-abused, hapless button-pusher from the future who seems to get fired by Mr. Spacely in every episode?”

If you look closely at the George Jetson outfit, it looks like something Evel Kneivel would wear.

Next to George is a Ben Cooper skeleton costume featuring a Magic-Glo mask that glowed in the dark.

And here’s the ever-popular Cleopatra with a costume that also glowed in the dark. It’s on Ebay right now if you’re interested.

There’s also a Dick Tracy costume with a “Moving Mouth Mask.” That’s one gimmick that I don’t remember.

It’s kind of amusing when you realize that his mouth didn’t move too much in the low budget Dick Tracy Show made-for-TV cartoons (which we watched like everyone else). His mouth was deliberately hidden when he was talking on his two-way wristwatch radio – to save money animating it!

Anyway, Happy Halloween!

1960 Woolworth’s and W. T. Grant Halloween Ads

Well, it’s Halloween – so it’s time for my annual look back at what costumes kids were wearing for trick-or-treat. This year we’ll take a look at 1960.

As you can see from the Woolworth’s ad above, which ran in the Lorain Journal about a week before Halloween, TV cartoons were now the big thing, although a few classics were still in the mix of “spooky and gay(!)” costumes.

Whoever illustrated the ad did a nice job of presenting the various costumes in a creative fashion. Besides popular favorites Huckleberry Hound and Yogi Bear, we see Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck, Felix the Cat, Heckle (or is it Jeckle?), and Dennis the Menace.

Speaking of Dennis, his mask makes him look like he has a bad case of the measles.

I like the way a few kids in the Woolworth's illustration have already taken off their masks, as if they were tired of wearing them. And the kid wearing the Felix costume seems to be channeling a real backyard cat.

Classic costumes shown include a witch and a devil. There’s a bat costume as well, which the ad helpfully identifies as Belfry.

W.T. Grant ran an ad in the Journal about the same time featuring many of the same costumes. The store’s line-up included Superman, Casper the Friendly Ghost, Porky Pig and my least favorite cartoon character, Tweetie Pie.

I feel sorry for any kid that had to go as that masked bunny.

But what I’d like to know is: what is that kid supposed to be that's wearing a helmet with two hoses attached to his nose? He seems to be wearing goggles, and the helmet might have an eagle on it.

I’ve Googled it to death and reviewed dozens of vintage masks, but I can’t come up with a match. Anybody got any ideas?

Anyway, Happy Halloween!

****

UPDATE (November 1, 2016)
As you can see by one of the comments below, an anonymous contributor identified my mystery costume as being pretty much the same one depicted as the generic "Spaceman Rocket Commander" in a 1958 Kresge ad that I posted last week (shown below).

In my defense, the 1960 rendering wasn't the best; the little boy in the W.T. Grant ad looked more like a space bulldog with jowls to me.

Here's a photo of a somewhat similar costume on an actual kid (courtesy of David Eppen's Library on the Photobucket website).  

1959 Woolworth’s Halloween Ad

Well, Halloween is only a few days away – so I’d better start posting some of these seasonal ads.

First up is one for Woolworth’s, highlighting their selection of costumes for trick or treating. It ran in the Lorain Journal on October 21, 1959 (the year I was born) – 56 years ago this month.

Although the ad is from 1959, there are no TV characters in the costume line-up with the exception of Walt Disney’s Zorro. Otherwise it’s strictly big-screen cartoon characters (Bugs Bunny, Mickey Mouse and Casper), Walt Disney-licensed properties (Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty) or generic monster types.

By the way, I don’t remember ever going trick or treating as a skeleton, devil or something scary. I was strictly the type to go as Huckleberry Hound, Woody Woodpecker, etc. (That probably says something about me, but it would take an analyst to figure it out.)

I did my usual internet scavenger hunt to compare photos of the actual costume with the artist’s renderings in the ad.

The Mickey Mouse costume was pretty easy to find.

Finding the Cinderella mask took the better part of my lunch yesterday (below).

On the other hand, it took less than a minute to find the Disney Zorro costume (courtesy of modernkiddo.com).

I managed to find an actual photo of a kid wearing the Bugs Bunny costume.

It sure beats this (ugh) modern monstrosity (below), where Bugs appearing to be gnawing on this kid’s noggin. What fun is that?

Lastly, I had a devil of a time trying to find this mask (below).

Yikes, that thing is too creepy for me, even as an adult. No wonder I went trick or treating as Huckleberry Hound, Yogi Bear, Donald Duck, etc.