The 1973 Ben Cooper Catalog gets Groovy

The name “Ben Cooper” and “Halloween” are pretty synonymous to children of the 1970s/ The company produced a staggering amount of items devoted to October 31st and chances are if your parents used “store bought” costumes, they were from Ben Cooper.

1973 like every year is a load of fun, lots of popular licenses (including the insanely logical Groovy Goolies) , popular generics and neat-o stuff like Jigglers which were popular year round.

Click Here to Explore the 1973 Ben Cooper Halloween Catalog

More Halloween Costume Goodness:

1980 Ben Cooper Catalog

The Ben Cooper name is synonymous to many of us with Halloween from their well known "Smock and Mask" Halloween outfits that had all the relevent licenses to their rubber masks and jigglers, Ben Cooper had almost a stranglehold on October 31st. Journey back to the 1980 Ben Cooper catalog for a an incredible variety of pop culture characters and memories.

Featuring well known characters such as Frankenstein, Darth Vader and the Incredible Hulk to the more obscure ones like Web Woman, this catalog is the biggest item I have ever attempted to put on the site before.

1976 Ben Cooper Halloween Catalog

Ben Cooper was the leading manufacturer of Halloween costumes and Novelties in the United States during the 1970s.

This extensive 1976 catalog really demonstrates the power house licenses they had from the Universal Monsters and Mickey Mouse, the Superheroes of both Marvel and DC to TV sensations like the Six Million Dollar Man and the Sleestaks, Ben Cooper had almost a stranglehold on what kids liked .

Dig into a true piece of 70s heaven with the 1976 Ben Cooper Halloween Catalog.

   

1981 Ben Cooper Costume Catalog

Halloween around here wouldn't be the same without the store bought goodness that is Ben Cooper. If you were a child of the 70s or 80s, then you certainly knew their product.

Cooper held some of the great licenses in 1981 including the Disney characters, both the DC and Marvel comics Superheroes, Clash of the Titans and of course, Star Wars. The only thing they were missing were the Universal Monsters (who had jumped ship to rival Collegeville).

In addition the store bought costumes, Cooper had a mountain of other fun Halloween related items like rubber masks, fake blood, rubber bats and bugs and tons of Jigglers to suck your wallet dry like a vacuum baby!

Scan through the 1981 Ben Cooper Catalog here.

For more Superhero and Monster related items, Check out these fabulous links:

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1986 Ben Cooper Costume Catalog

It wouldn't be Halloween without at least one costume catalog on PlaidStallions and I'm thrilled to be showcasing this rarity from 1986.

It's pretty hard to find an 80s property that isn't represented here, I mean seriously this thing is chock full of cartoon and toy characters.



Check out the 1986 Ben Cooper Catalog here!

More Halloween at PlaidStallions

   

Unexpected Halloween costume collection

I honestly never set out in this life to collect Halloween costumes, I blame working on this site because now I've got a bunch of these things littering my house and I thought I'd share.

It all began with the Ben Cooper Frankenstein above, which I bought two years ago yesterday at a toy show that took me a long time to get to and I didn't want to go home empty handed from. The beauty of the box with it's swiped Aurora art really spoke to me. I'll reveal more of my " new collection" after the break.

One Strange Marvel Team Up

 

My good pal at Heroes West Coast suprised me last week with some pictures of a truly rare item that I could not afford to own. This display of Marvel Comics "Action Figures" (most of us would call these Jigglers) is both wonderful and well, odd. The assortment on the front kind of proves that, these characters have little to do with one another and it's a merchandising first for two of them.

Sleestak Jiggler

Pretty overjoyed with today's Rack Toy showing, something I've been after for years. The Ben Cooper Sleestak jiggler, the closest thing we ever got to a Land of the Lost action figure and honestly, I'm not sure how many of us ever knew this thing existed?




This excerpt from the '76 Ben Cooper catalog showcases the costume, Ben Cooper often released jigglers in conjunction with costumes. However this one must have been brief! 

He's dressed like Enik but totally green.



His tail got snipped but I ain't complaining, I've probably seen two of these in the last few years. One of these days I'd love to see the display box.

Rack Toys: Cheap, Crazed Playthings is a limited edition 144 page book from the creator of Plaid Stallions. Order from us and get three free promotional post cards.

Ben Cooper Star Wars

While Kenner was scrambling to make Star Wars action figures, Ben Cooper got Star Wars costumes out for 1977. 

Two weeks after Halloween, I doubt it mattered.....

1974 Collegeville Costume Catalog

When it came to Halloween costumes, the two biggest names in the 70's were Ben Cooper and Collegeville. If one didn't have a specific license, the other surely did.

In the mid seventies, Ben Cooper had a lock on some prosperous licenses namely The Universal Monsters and Superheroes from DC and Marvel houses.

This left Collegeville with some interesting choices and a great deal of "imitation brand" characters. Concentrating on cartoon characters and popular toy brands, Collegeville has a real mix of fun knock off costumes that would be fun to collect.
While looking through this catalog, I was shocked to discover that much of my trick or treating involved Collegeville. It must have had a lot to do with my proximity to a Woolco.

Enjoy the 1974 Collegeville Halloween Costume Catalog

And if you still want to look at Halloween Costumes, check out these other two galleries:

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1978 Collegeville Halloween Costume Catalog

With it being October, I tend to get a little nuts with the Halloween costumes especially my favourite company Collegeville.

1978 was a fun year for Collegeville, sure they didn't have Star Wars but did Ben Cooper have the Hardy Boys? Not a chance. The 1978 Collegeville catalog is exploding with characters and creations that made the 1970s great including Jaws, Grizzy Adams, Farrah Fawcett, Superjoe, TV Super teams The Osmonds, Laverne and Shirley, Starsky and Hutch and the Monster Squad, just to name a few. It's like some weird TV special that probably happened...

Rob Reiner has one of these somewhere. Click on any image to check out all the fun of the 1978 Collegeville Costumes Catalog.

More Costume Catalogs: