League Assignment: Halloween

Another assignment from the League. This one is about one of my very favorite holidays.

Halloween.

Who doesn't love Halloween except, maybe, the Amish. I mean, what's not to love? Candy, costumes, candy, scary movies, candy, tricks or treats, candy, It's The Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown, and did I mention candy?

As a kid, Halloween was a very special occasion. It meant a trip to Woolworth's (Google it, kids) to pick out a Halloween bucket to hold the loot in and a trip to my favorite aisle. The aisle of Ben Cooper Halloween costumes.

For those not in the know, Ben Cooper was a company that manufactured Halloween costumes. They had licenses to turn any character into a Halloween costume. The costumes were basically plastic masks and vinyl smocks with a silk screen image on the front, but during the 50's, 60's and 70's Ben Coopers was synonymous with Halloween.

Thanks to Ben Cooper, you didn't need an imagination. For around $4.00, you could be a Six Million Dollar Man

A Beatle

Or A Damn Dirty Ape

You could be a masked crime fighter

Or something just down right creepy

How parents allowed their kids to dress up as an Alien yet fight for the removal of said toy I will never understand.

Some of my personal favorites costumes are some that I wore as a kid. Allow me to indulge my middle aged geeky self and take a walk down memory lane.

Since two of my favorite heroes are Spider-Man and Batman you would think that I was Spidey and the Caped Crusader for Halloween and you would be correct. Two of my favorite costumes are the Batman and Spider-Man costumes. I believe I was Batman first, then Spider-Man the next year. With the Spider-Man costume, I had the matching Spider-Man Halloween bucket. Batman, I had the usual pumpkin shaped bucket. No matter, that bad boy was filled with candy and when I got to my little Batcave, I ate as much candy as I could before I passed out.

Another year, The Incredible Hulk T.V. series was a huge hit, so I wanted to paint my skin green and wear rags. Thankfully, I was given this instead:

Give me that candy and don't make me angry. You wouldn't like me when I'm angry.

The last year I remember getting a Ben Cooper, I wanted to be Luke Skywalker. So, basically, I asked my mom for this:

And I got this instead:

Is it any wonder why I can be deliciously evil? That's all on you Mom.

I never wore this, but I just think it's freaking sweet and would love to add it to my future Green Hornet collection.

As much as kids today have costumes that look a bit more realistic, I will always have a soft spot for the Ben Cooper outfits. I mean, today's costumes come in a bag. No presentation whatsoever. You guys can keep that. I will just cherish the memories I have of seeing those boxes stacked on the shelves of Woolworths, going home and staring at the graphics on the box. I wish I had some of them. To me, nothing says Halloween like Ben Cooper.

Check out what Halloween means to the other League members:

http://coolandcollected.com/1965-munsters-lunch-box/

http://monstercafesaltillo.blogspot.mx/2013/10/league-assignment-here-comes-halloween.html

http://teamhellions.com/2013/10/09/halloween-the-league/

http://goodwillhunting4geeks.blogspot.com/2013/10/halloween-countdown-day-7-loeg-here.html

http://nerdoutwithmeblog.blogspot.com/2013/10/this-nerds-favorite-halloween-movies.html

Ask them for some candy and bring it to me!

God, I Miss These...

I have to admit, as of late I have been on a serious Batman kick. I read nothing but Batman comics, watch Batman movies, peep out Batman cartoons (The day I finally bought Filmation's The New Adventures Of Batman on DVD, I danced a jig right in Barnes N Noble) buy Batman goodies,and rock my Batman t-shirts. I have been bitten by the Bat-Bug, if you will (Dusty Rhodes in da hiz-ouse).

Lately, I have been wanting to change out my shelf and display some of my Batman toys and memorabilia. As I started to think about what I wanted to display, I started thinking about some of the stuff I had as a child of the late 70's, early 80's. My first thought was "God, I'm old". Then I thought of all the cool things I owned and lost or had tossed out by my mom. 

Here are some of the awesome things I had and will someday re-own. These are not my photos, so to the people who posted these on the internet, I thank you for the loan.

1-Remco Batman Helicopter

This thing was pretty tricky to use. You had to use a set of 2 levers to lift and lower the Bat-copter and pick up cardboard figures of The Joker, Riddler and Penguin. If memory serves me correctly, that was pretty much it. Not even sure I ever mastered the maneuvering of the Bat-copter. 

Avon Batman Hairbrush

I remember getting this brush from my aunt one Christmas and using it to brush my mane everyday. I had long, hippy hair as a child and this brush came in handy, except for brushing out tangles. The bristles in this brush were soft, but still hurt when you had a determined mother trying to get that last and most difficult knot out. I believe this brush met an untimely end when it dropped off the dresser. I remember dropping to my knees like Wilhem Dafoe did in Platoon.

Duncan Yo-Yo

One side Caped Crusader, other side Dynamic Duo. I won this Yo-Yo at a Yo-Yo demonstration at the Riverdale Public Library. I don't remember what the contest was, but I do remember that I was handed a Yo-Yo of the Incredible Hulk and the other kid I was paired up with was given the Batman Yo-Yo. Now, I was (and still am) a huge fan of the Bill Bixby/Lou Ferrigno Incredible Hulk T.V. Series, but The Hulk was no Batman, dammit! Plus, the kid who got the Batman Yo-Yo was wearing a Hulk t-shirt, so you would have thought that the lady would have given the kid the Hulk and me Batman. The kid came up to me and asked if I wanted to trade. Um, did Burt Ward have a Holy something for everything? I accepted the trade and played with that thing until some dimwitt stole it off my desk at school. Sigh, I miss Walking The Dog with that thing.

Duncan Batmobile

I remember laying with this car on the floor of my room for hours, running over my other toys with it. All while singing The Batman Theme from the 1966 TV Series in a loud, obnoxious kiddie voice. I'm sure it annoyed my mom and sister to no end. Is it any wonder this turned up among the missing not too long after I got it? It turned me into Encyclopedia Brown, trying to learn it's location. I interrogated my mom and sister. They weren't talking. My mom claimed I left it at the park, but I know better. when Jimmy Hoffa is finally found and there is a Duncan Batmobile next to him, please return it to me.

Ben Cooper Batman Jiggly Figure

As weird as this thing is, I had an absolute blast with it. He fought crime, he bounced, he did the Bat-Tutsi. I think Ben Cooper came out with a few others. I have the Spider-Man one, but I would love to get this one back in my collection someday.

Mego Bat computer

Yeah, I know. I've talked about this thing ad nausea already. But I absolutely loved this thing, not I could actually make any communication with anyone on it. When my granddad gave it to me as a Christmas gift, little did he know that I would, again, drive my family crazy with it. It made a lot of sounds, picked up police and truck driver radio signals and oh those pretty, blinking lights. It was beautiful. I was the moth being led into the light. Plus, it's a Mego toy. This is one of my holy grails and I will have this again.

Sooner or later, I will come up on all these awesome toys from my childhood and I won't be able to resist adding them to my Batman collection. Once I re-added my vintage Spider-Man bank, it was on. I started a quest for my holy grails and I will not be stopped until my vintage Batman collection has all these goodies and more. Que the Indian Jones theme and hand me that Fedora and whip.