Vintage Halloween Magic Show Poster

Another poster from my Magic/Halloween/Spookshow collection.

Winged Beistle Ghost

One of my favorite early diecuts by the Beistle Company.  It has tissue "wings" that fold out.  the example seen above is a scan of it's body, modified in Photoshop.

Happy Black Friday!

Zombies Shopping - Zombiecon

Let Us Give Thanks

That we aren't eating turkeys as big as this movie.

Icons of Horror Collection - Sam Katzman (The Giant Claw / Creature with the Atom Brain / Zombies of Mora Tau / The Werewolf)

Merry Thanksoween

Thanksoween card by Allison Smith on Deviantart.com

LINK

Hallowgiving

Thoughts about combining the two holidays

Vintage Halloween - E Rosen Lollipop Holder

Love this great black cat Halloween image.

The Free Health Care Plan of Dr Zomb

Light years ahead of his time, Dr. Zomb offered free health care for any persons attending his "Seance of Wonders" show.

 
No deductible, all preexisting conditions allowed.

Spookville

A favorite banner of mine - the original was only a few colors, I colorized it.  Click photo for a larger view.

Vintage Halloween Invitation

Vintage Halloween Invitation.  Click on the photos for a MUCH larger view!

The Pumpkin Shark

Yesterday we spotted this Great Pumpkin-Shark graphic on an old door in Pasadena.

1914 Dennison Halloween Crepe

1914 Dennison Co. Halloween Crepe Paper, one of my favorite designs.  The 1914 patent appears below.  Click any photo for a larger size image.

Bring Me A Tiny Car

"Bring Me A Tiny Car" - After a long night watching the trick or treaters, Toby the Cat takes a much needed break.

These Ghoulish Things

Last night was "Holiday in the Park" in Burbank, an annual "welcoming of the holiday season".  There was live music in the streets, many types of food, and most of the stores were open for business.  Although the Halloweentown store was not open, their windows were dressed perfectly for the upcoming holidays.

Halloweentown

The Paintings of Mark Ryden

LINK to Mark's Website

Happy Weekend!

Have a relaxing, enjoyable weekend!

Steampunk Pumpkin

Instructions and video on his blog HERE

More Stats Floral Halloween Displays

 More photos from Stats Floral in Pasadena.  I like their store - they always have their Halloween displays up by early August, and the displays are done very nicely.  I bought the above prop from them a few years ago.  I call her "Mamacita".  The building was originally built as a hotel in the 1890s.  A fire burned the upper levels of the hotel in the early 1900s and the once tall hotel became just one story tall.  You can still see melted plaster from the fire on the top of the columns in their Christmas tree display room.  A great store with a spooky past!  Click on any of the photos for a larger view.

 

 

Stats Floral

Haunted Tiki Island

I love this guy's 2009 Halloween Display!

 

 

Just AMAZING!

More Photos Here

His Blog

Celebrate Halloween With Your Hair in Flames!

In keeping with the "Potential Halloween Disaster" theme as in the previous "Fortune-Telling Charms" post, I found this 1903 patent online for a Halloween mask.  I would have never thought to design a paper or cardboard mask that ties over your head and is illuminated by a REAL candle.  What could possibly go wrong?

Vintage Fortune Telling Cake Set

Hoo-Boy, I wonder how many hospital trips were caused by these things?  Metal fortune-telling charms meant to be baked into a cake.  Yes, the instructions say to either wrap a ribbon around the charm, or wrap them inside wax paper before inserting into the batter, but how many read the directions?   I wonder if these were made of lead?  Cool packaging though.

A friend of mine once baked coins into chocolate chip cookies to surprise her family, she thought it would be magical for them to find money that way.  Her brother nearly lost his tongue when it was burned by a sizzling hot nickel.   Ah, how did we survive our childhoods?

A Shelf of Skeletons

Skeletons taunting shoppers to buy them from an upper shelf at Stats Floral in Pasadena.

Stats Floral

Skeleton Dance Diecut

This diecut appears in one of the early Halloween collector books, but I've never been able to find one of these diecuts in person.  In the 1990s I created a vector illustration of this and printed it in a very large size to use as a decoration.  I think this is as close as I'm going to get owning a copy of this rare Beistle diecut.

The William Castle Film Collection

A newly released set of DVDs - with LOTS of extras including the great documentary "Spine Tingler!  The William Castle Story"   All the details and reviews can be seen on the Amazon link below.

The William Castle Film Collection (13 Frightened Girls / 13 Ghosts / Homicidal / Strait-Jacket / The Old Dark House / Mr. Sardonicus / The Tingler / Zotz!)

Vintage Beistle Witch

A great Beistle witch design.  Vintage cardboard diecut, 1940s-50s.  Unusual coloration for this diecut.  Not embossed.  Click image for a larger view.

Dangling Skeleton

This is one of my favorite Beistle skeleton designs.  The size of the diecut is huge, the pieces are connected together with string.  I really like the evil facial expression.

Face transplants for papier mache JOLs

If you are missing or need replacement paper inserts for your vintage Halloween papier mache pumpkins, cats, devils, etc, make sure to check out my sales page on Spookshows.com .  The inserts are only $2.50 each right now and are printed on vellum with the exception of the "Choir Boy" inserts which, like the originals, are printed on less transparent paper.  Nearly all of the American papier mache lanterns have replacement inserts available on my website.

LINK to paper insert sales page