Candy Cottage

Yet another awesome mid-century merchandise package for what must have been the popular "haunted house carry-case" genre..., this time from Brach's Fine Candies circa 1955. You can see the handi-pak described in the 1955 Halloween Candies brochure:

No. 5101 - Trick or Treat Handi-Pak
Haunted house design on satchel-shaped pak contains minimum of 70 assorted cello packets of Candy Corn, Halloween Jelly Beans, Orange and Black Imperials, and Assorted Creme Cones. Empty satchel serves as a container for Trick or Treat loot.
Net weight per pack 22 1/2 ounces.
16 Handi-Paks to case. 

For more haunted house candy-boxes see Witch's Chest and Candy Loot.   

Pull the String!

A cool black cat from Gibson (circa 1930s) that follows the character design of many of their table decoration sets. In this instance the large diecut is an articulated hanging paper decoration --- a string would attach to slots (not visible) in the rear of the limbs and create motion when the "tail-end" string was repeatedly pulled downward and released. This particular example fortunately escaped any damage from excessive teasing... though i do wonder if the visibly missing tail was simply the string or a representational tail missing from the diecut? 

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.