In which Christopher Borrelli, the most underrated newspaper feature writer in America, explores a deep Gen X memory/trauma: the cheap 70s era Halloween costumes. www.chicagotribune.com/2024/10/03/t...
I was a Stormtrooper from “Star Wars” when I was eight. I had a Ben Cooper mask of a Stormtrooper. But the front of the jumpsuit was not Stormtrooper armor, it was a picture of a Stormtrooper.
I can still smell the plastic. It had a particular plastic smell.
I think the rise of “no masks” school carnivals and church parties added to the demise of Ben Cooper costumes. The mask WAS the costume. Without it, you’re just wearing a plastic garbage bag.
Hi handsome 💕
I told everyone I was going to be skeletor in 1986. Then I saw a cheap costume for some toy series I was obsessed with at the time. I convinced my parents to buy that instead. I finally saw how bad it was, I was upset. When I walked into school & someone asked me why I wasn't skeletor 😢 😢 😢.
The very first costume I remember getting was as a kinda tall, lanky 9 year old, my dad stopped at a store in the way home from work and grabbed the only thing they had left - a Maggie Simpson mask & polyester bag. I think it must have been baby sized bc it was an XL and I was waaaay too tall for it
There's a Halloween museum about an hour from me, and they have an incredible collection of vintage costumes. So many paper costumes, it's amazing an entire generation didn't go up in flames I wish I had a picture, but you're only allowed to take one photo and I used mine on this
I had the blond princess mask. My brother had the Scooby Doo and the Smurf. We complained about the plastic smock that had a picture of the character on it. The Smurf would not wear a picture of himself. I will never forget the feeling of sticking my tongue into that tiny, sharp-edged mouth hole.
Besides the mask smell, I remember how the eye holes felt like they might somehow slice my eyes if I moved just wrong.