Halco-- the forgotten Halloween Costume Maker

[CAR2NIST2]

Here's the HALCO Frankenstein version I have.......same bodysuit, but maybe a different paint scheme on mask......One of the Best Frankenstein Halloween costumes I've run across!!

[raycastile]

Revisiting this bumped thread, the "zombie" costume makes me think another gauze mask I have might be a Halco. This fabric Frankenstein looks like the same mask as the zombie, but painted differently.

[jimm]

Wow that's too cool...

[carbon]

The Halco Morlock knockoff shown in reply #9 has received some unexpected mainstream media coverage over the years. In the early 1960s Look magazine featured it quite prominently in their pages:





In 1971 Sylvania featured it in an ad for their Blue Dot Flash attachments for cameras:



Todd Franklin over at the Neato Coolville blog has posted a nice recreation of the photo used in the Sylvania ad at http://neatocoolville.blogspot.com/2012/10/halloween-halco-mask-in-blue-dot-flash.html

And of course there's the comprehensive eBay listing for the mask by seller mpgstuff, which provides additional photos and info: http://tinyurl.com/HalcoMorlock

The mask certainly qualifies as one of the most memorable of the Halco monster line.

[mjaycox]

It is indeed a GREAT mask, and thank you for those awesome pictures.

Although, unless I am much mistaken, I don't believe the Morlock was in fact a Halco mask. I'll check mine when I get home to confirm. But I don't think it was...

Best,

Matt

The Halco Morlock knockoff shown in reply #9 has received some unexpected mainstream media coverage over the years. In the early 1960s Look magazine featured it quite prominently in their pages:





In 1971 Sylvania featured it in an ad for their Blue Dot Flash attachments for cameras:



Todd Franklin over at the Neato Coolville blog has posted a nice recreation of the photo used in the Sylvania ad at http://neatocoolville.blogspot.com/2012/10/halloween-halco-mask-in-blue-dot-flash.html

And of course there's the comprehensive eBay listing for the mask by seller mpgstuff, which provides additional photos and info: http://tinyurl.com/HalcoMorlock

The mask certainly qualifies as one of the most memorable of the Halco monster line.

[carbon]

Matt: It'll be interesting to know if the mask you have is the same as the one pictured here. And if so, whether or not it has any imprint that reveals the manufacturer. It will indeed be a surprise if it turns out the pseudo Morlock mask seen in the above pictures wasn't a Halco product; because I don't know of any other company that's ever been suggested as having a connection with it.

Not having the mask myself I have no first-hand knowledge about it. The belief that it was a Halco creation seems to be rooted primarily to its inclusion in early Halco product catalogs. F'rinstance, in 2008 Devlin Thompson posted on flickr a picture of the mask from a 1967 Halco costume catalog. (Of course it's never called "Morlock"):



A couple of years before Devlin's posting, toyranch posted an entire 1969 Halco catalog which also included the mask at http://www.flickr.com/photos/toyranch/sets/72057594049663073/.

In order to be objective there are two questions that could be raised: Did Halco ever include masks other than their own in their catalogs? And can we be certain the mask pictured in the catalog is the same as the one shown in the above photos? I have no answer for either question, but until someone comes up with evidence to the contrary I'm comfortable assuming it's a Halco creation.

As far as other Morlock knockoffs from the period go, there was the Ben Cooper boxed costume patterned after a Morlock (they apparently called it "Apeman"), which Ray Castile posted at http://www.universalmonsterarmy.com/forum/index.php?topic=16158.0. It has also turned up on eBay:



But the Morlock mask pictured in the Look magazine shots appears to be identical to the one that pops up on eBay that's described as a Halco. It doesn't appear as though Halco ever offered the Morlock mask as part of a boxed costume; only as a deluxe mask:



I'll wrap this up with one final photo of the mask; this one from Brecht Bug's amazing flickr photostream mask compilation. I'd list the URL for it but the coding here messes up any URL with an 'at symbol' -- commonly used in email addresses -- rendering it useless. But you can find Brecht Bug's flickr offerings by running a search; if you're not already familiar with his mask postings.

[Dr_tongues_toys]

Man, reading through this bumped thread gave me a HUGE monster flashback! I bought the Halco Sea Creature mask off of the mask display, late 60s?, and my older brother (nine years my senior) helped make me a costume by taking green garbage bags, cutting out scales and taping them to my hoodie sweat shirt with double sided carpet tape. Hadn't thought about that for years!

[Hepcat]

The belief that it was a Halco creation seems to be rooted primarily to its inclusion in early Halco product catalogs.

That's a pretty compelling argument right there!

[Hepcat]

No longer as famous as Ben Cooper or Collegeville, Halco was in its day the premier manufacturer of kids Halloween costume.

Halco was i believe already eclipsed by competitors Ben Cooper and Collegeville by the early 1960's.

I only have three Halco costumes in my collection, though I hope to one day have more.

So has that one day arrived? Have you acquired any more Halco costumes?

[Hepcat]

Here's a very cool Halco Shari Lewis Wing Ding costume from 1961:

[Hepcat]

Here are a couple more really cool boxed Halco costumes:





I really like how the skull is wearing a derby!

[Mike Scott]

Here's a very cool Halco Shari Lewis Wing Ding costume from 1961:

I don't seem to remember "Wing Ding"?

[Hepcat]

Ahhhhh yes. Poor misbegotten maltreated Wing Ding!



While Lamb Chop had been introduced by Shari Lewis on the Captain Kangaroo show in March 1956, Hush Puppy, Charlie Horse and Wing Ding were all introduced on Shari's Hi Mom show which aired on WRCA-TV in New York from 1957-59. When NBC gave Shari her first network program, The Shari Lewis Show, which debuted on 1 October 1960 replacing The Howdy Doody Show, her family of puppets made the move with her.

But a problem eventually arose. You see Wing Ding was a crow and therefore black. Wing Ding was as a result seen as a caricature of an African-American by certain over-imaginative segments of the populace and thus politically incorrect. You couldn't have that kind of thing on prime time TV, now could you? So at some point Shari bowed to parental or network pressure and had Wing Ding put down. Yes, a very sad, cruel and tragic ending to a beloved TV character from the fifties indeed.



After The Shari Lewis Show's run ended in 1963, NBC unaccountably taped the 1964 Democrat and Republican national conventions over The Shari Lewis Show tapes thus destroying them! I wonder how much that cost NBC and Shari Lewis in lost future syndication revenues?

Though long gone from the airwaves, Wing Ding still survives in the hearts of fans since his noble visage continues to adorn many Shari Lewis collectibles from the early sixties:











Including these from my own collection:

[Hepcat]

As part of its series of Terrytoon characters Halco issued a Heckle (or Jeckle) costume in the early fifties. This came with a fabric mask as opposed to the vacuum formed plastic ones that began to appear later in the decade:

[Mike Scott]

After The Shari Lewis Show's run ended in 1963, NBC unaccountably taped the 1964 Democrat and Republican national conventions over The Shari Lewis Show tapes thus destroying them! I wonder how much that cost NBC and Shari Lewis in lost future syndication revenues?

Arrrgh! The fools! How many TV episodes/series were taped over to save (literally) a couple of bucks!