Turnip carving

I have done this before. A looooong time ago. I was happy with the results; very rustic, quaint, old-worldy...but, oh boy, it's not easy work! Turnip, or should I say rutabaga, abound here on the Rock.

Ghost Flight

If the popularity and inventiveness of Beistle is to vintage Halloween collectibles what The Beatles are to music, then Rust Craft is Tones on Tail or perhaps The Creatures of alterna-eighties - somewhat (yet thankfully) obscure and magically bizarre. (Apologies for the lo-fi quality of these images)... 

For more Rust Craft, see also: Ain't Grub Grand! or Gold Filigree Halloween.

Ghostly Flexatones

This entry is dedicated to arguably one of the most ignored Halloween noisemakers of vintage collectibles - the Flex-a-tone (wikipedia). Its minimal graphics (opposed to artwork that lifts others into triple digits) may forever hold the value of this particular item down (as of this writing) to about $10-$25, and yet for audiophiles it could in fact be the most desirable of any in this genre. Contrary to other noisemakers with their monotonous racket, the musical sound of a Flex-a-tone was used in the recording studios of classic cartoons and vintage jazz for its glissando effect - a warbling that changes tone - something like a ghost crawling up and down your spine.

You probably recognized that sound instantly and can likely name a few tunes or shows where you've heard it? (For example, one person identified it used in the film Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger (1977) whenever the evil sorceress Zenobia made her appearance). Well, it's been around for much longer. An invention for a flexatone occurs in the British Patent Records of 1922 and 1923. In 1924 the 'Flex-a-tone' was patented in the USA by the Playatone Company of New York (wikiedpedia). Here's one example of the effect used in a vintage cartoon Scrappy's Ghost Story (1935), making its eerily sonic appearance at about 1:18 into the animation (and appearing in quite a few other places during the song such as 1:53 to heighten the lyrics "I'm a ghost. Whoo-oo-oooo!"):

Below are a few photographs of the vintage Halloween version of the Flex-a-tone (exact date of production unknown). 

Shown below are some vintage ads... but you might be interested to know that professional Flex-a-tones style instruments are still sold in at least two different sizes. I have seen them available from a few online stores including Latin Percussion.

Here are some more links on the vintage Flex-a-tone:

• http://www.flexatone.org/article/flexatoneHistory
• http://rhythmdiscoverycenter.org/onlinecollection/flex-a-tone/

Hallowe'en Panorama

Hallowe'en crepe paper (and it's ephemera relatives - napkins, paper plates, cups, etc.), is in some ways the forgotten art form of vintage Hallowe'en, and the great variety of these prints mostly absent from many modern books on collectibles. Dennison's Bogie Books offer a resource from their own company catalog, but a full visual retrospective of multiple companies' work could fill an entire collector's book of richly bizarre patterns. It would be a welcome addition if someone out there surveyed these amazing works!

One amazing snippet from this neglected history is listed as a Panoramic Crepe in the 1921 Bogie Book - H108 Hallowe'en Design  (fold 10 ft. long without repetition of design).  It can be seen appearing for a few years in the Bogie Books, and is here (image below) used as a table skirt. Amazing to imagine how these now precious paper designs were sliced up to make other displays. Directly below this "decorating suggestion" is a slow un-rolling photograph of the design left to right.

Bogie Book decorating suggestion - 1921.

For more Halloween crepe paper patterns check out Rise & Fall Of the House of Crepes and for a little something about the challenges of maintaining these fragile works see Halloween Humidification Horrors! If you know of any good visual surveys on paper party-good designs for crepe, napkins, cups, etc., don't hesitate to share the link. 

Wordless Halloween

Another hidden treasure of early instructional illustrations for the classroom. A wordless story of the traditional carving of the pumpkin from Before We Read by W.J Gage & Co. Limited. (page 24) printed in Canada. No date (perhaps circa 1950's?) - artist uncredited. 

(original book layout)

The Lids Off!

THE LIDS OFF! Awesome play on words and mid-century graphics on this vintage (date unknown) Halloween candy box for Snickers candy bars for Tricks... Treats. 24 Mars bars - Snickers, 3 Musketeers, Milky Way.

Gold Filigree Halloween

Two more by Rust Craft. See also Ain't Grub Grand.  

Also check out this other blog's entry on the Rust Craft Rustler in "Mid Century Card Shop"

Updated 11-25-2015 - Addition from set? Marked on back Rust Craft 5H222.

Hallowe'en Gate

While Beistle's vintage oeuvre gets plenty of attention (that I don't suspect it will need much repeating here), some of the smaller details get lost "in the shuffle" shall we say? The Kitty Card Game from the late 1920's is often shown with the packaging and instruction sheet, while perhaps the best part, the imagery of the individual items, is only hinted by a stack of nearby cards. I thought it would be fun to create this quick collage of the 10 hatching-effect sketches seen in the deck.

Jack O'Lantern Joe

Offered here are random "pumpkin bits" from a 1905 stage production of Pearl and the Pumpkin (originally a1904 children's book, written by Paul Clarendon West and The Wonderful Wizard of Oz illustrator W. W. Denslow). And though remarked by many as having little success, the glimpses we get of the stage show and of the musical recordings are intriguing to Hallowe'en aficionados.

Pearl and the Pumpkin - Sheet Music

Hallowe'en night, Pearl watches her cousin Joe Miller carve twenty Jack O'lanterns in the pumpkin patch. See image above with Joe Miller offering Pearl a Jack O' Lantern, and read the lyrics to Jack O'Lantern Joe at Hungry Tiger Press. A baker and a canner (disgruntled by the wasted food), as well as a Mariner (who magically appears from an apple-bobbing tub and wishes to learn the secret of Joe's green thumb) conspire against Joe.

As the scenes proceed from the Pringle Barn, to Hallowe'en Hollow, to an Enchanted Cornfield, we get this song from ACT I - Scene 4 - The Enchanted Cornfield - "When the Moon is in the Sky (Shadow Song)" sung by Harry Macdonough. (Music player embedded below found here from the Library of Congress).

It seems (as described here by The Wonderful Wiki of Oz website) that by the end of scene 4 - Joe has wished himself into a pumpkin through the conniving art of the baker, canner, and Mariner, also in league with the Corn Dodger, a vegetable spirit from the cornfield.

The Mariner and the Corn Dodger

Here are just a few photos after Joe's pumpkin-head transformation. From there the story moves out of the Hallowe'en realm, but would certainly love to see or hear more from these beginning scenes!

P.S. - If you found that interesting, check out these stage costumes posted on The Oz Enthusiast. 

Witches Black as Pitch

Amazing vintage witch imagery on un-marked tally score cards. Have you identified others from this set and/or the manufacturer?

Forever After...

A HALLOWE'EN WISH

May all the bats and ghosts and frights
Bring jolly fun and laughter
And fill your day with such delights
You'll smile forever after!

Here's an incredible vision - of another pumpkin-headed spirit at the fence (see also Beware! The Gatekeeper). This is a vintage Hallowe'en card posted by Alan Mays on Flickr (originally posted on Ipernity: A Halloween Wish). Would love to know more details on this item which is stated as being a single-sided greeting card from the 1920's-1930's. Will this smiling spook be as friendly once it climbs to the other side of the fence? 

Check out the meticulous details of this illustration. The landscape above the fence reminds me of Seattle where you see 1930s brick tudor style architecture in neighborhoods of extremely tall Douglas Firs silhouetted in the skyline. The fence alone has me stunned, with the glowing highlights at top, the visible knots and nail-heads, and orange light seeping into blue shadows along the bottom edge.

Do you know any more about this image? The manufacturer? Or the artist? It makes me think of works by George Carlson for John Martin's Book, or Hazel Frazee for Child Life Magazine.

Halloween Diecut Quiz

Here's a bit of fun for both newbie and seasoned collectors? Look at this selection of lanterns, candy packages, toys, and more. Can you name which of these is a diecut?

Now that you've looked them over, do you have your answer? Well, before you read onward for the solution, can you say for certain what a diecut is exactly?

While not technically incorrect, the terminology "diecut" seems to be used without much understanding by many folks in the Halloween community as a word generalizing a certain range of flat 2-D hanging decorations. It is interesting to see how many mis-understand what diecut really means. This is most obvious when a remnant shows up at auction and is called a diecut. Or a long-time seller lists an item with sloppy hand-cut edges claiming it must have been a bad day at the factory. While the first instance is still a diecut (just referenced incorrectly), a ragged hand-cut edge on anything is not. 

Die-cutting is an industrial machine process that, in tremendous assembly-line quantity, created a large variety of Halloween products, all in the same cookie-cutter shape --- paper lanterns, cardboard box displays, on and on..., as well as that outer line of tissue paper pumpkins that expand into three dimensions, and metal objects. (See this wikipedia article).

So the answer is? Quite possibly every piece of what you see pictured above!

Halloween Fence Centerpiece

digital mock-up created from photo of fence/pumpkin pieces

Here's a vintage decoration set that gets generally pooh-poohed by some time-wearied collectors, however those with less discriminating eyes will have an instant fondness for the design and the roughly executed graphics seen on boxes or the instructions (shown below). The label depicts a picket fence posted with a weathered sign in turn illustrating the kit's arrangement featuring one large pumpkin peeking out from black-rimmed eyes. These were Dennison centerpiece kits that included a box of orange crepe-grass, classic cat/fence silhouettes of at least 2 different lengths, pumpkins to prop between fence slats, and a large air-fillable paper pumpkin. (The expanding pumpkin was somewhat like these paper balloons from Japan).

actual product label

Although I attempted to find something more about the long history of the Dennison company, these recent articles of the company's unfortunate demise may be of interest...

Jan. 20, 2013 - Framingham unearths decades of Dennison memories. 

April 7, 2013 - Framingham Departure On The Horizon For 169-Year Old Avery Dennison

November 15, 2014 - VIDEO and SLIDESHOW: Dennison Manufacturing Exhibit at Framingham History Center The public is invited to see the exhibit starting today, Nov. 15.

Beware! The Gatekeeper

Has this scarecrow figure, like Hawthorne's Feathertop, been animated from the spell of some distant witch, to drop by your home for an innocent house call? How would you like to see this arriving at your gate on Halloween night for trick or treat? 

Early century Hallmark doesn't get much attention in the vintage Halloween category, but here's one invitation card that oozes elements of sweet and sinister rivaling some of the best in weirdness from Beistle, Gibson, or Dennison. First we've got branch-like arms, gnarled and twisted (with one hand reaching for the gate) on a body topped with the classic pumpkin-head. In the other hand is a black cat Halloween lantern (like an incense burner) that leers as pink smoke drifts upward into a purple sky. (And it's those weird color choices that help make this so alarmingly distinct in the usual vintage Halloween oeuvre of orange and black).   

This invitation has an early Hallmark insignia that dates it around the late 1920s; (you can see more about Hallmark brand identification on this website). It makes you wonder what other marvels might be out there. Have you seen forgotten Halloween items by Hallmark deserving of attention?