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Halloween 1957, or "Tterrace and the Haunted Door Lock." Must be a dry run, since it's still daylight outside. My sister did the pumpkin decoration with an early felt-tip marker, and took this 2-1/4 square transparency. I'm 11. View full size.
What's the shredded newspaper for, you ask? It's the jack-o'-lantern's hair. Part of my sister's overall design concept.
Funny, I was at our local Long's Drugs the other day and reflecting on the amazingly inexpensive price of the outfits! I made nearly all my kids' costumes (I don't sew, but they never wanted to be anything easy! I have become a master of papier mache masks) and now for my grandkids. It adds up fast! In contrast, the store-bought costumes retailed for $16 and were half price, accessories included! Eight bucks looked really good to me right then, as I was paying $10 for just the dye I needed. And I can't think of anything else that you can get now for $8 that was $5 in the 1950's! Great photo as usual, Tterrace!
If a costume cost anywhere near $5 in 1957, it would have been extra special! I never had a store bought costume nor did my mother make me any. I scrounged up what I could find--usually old clothes, and a bandanna hanging on a stick.
Dave--your mother must have been a saint!
Not trying to one-up, but I don't think we even had that $5 for a one-night costume. Gosh I got so tired of being a hobo every year...
First Halloween costume I had my mother made and she didn't even sew! That was in 1953. All I remember is my mother sitting at the sewing machine sewing black and yellow material. I can't remember what the costume was however. No picture either. I don't think she ever did it again. I never had a store-bought costume that I can remember. It was always something I or my mom thought of and put together. I have wonderful Halloween memories. I hope you all had a wonderful Halloween!
Gee, up until now I thought my Halloween costumes had been store bought. Bless my mother.
That year, at age 10, I was on handing-out-candy duty (while trying to keep track of the "Zorro" episode on ABC-TV that Thursday night). The prior year had been my last in the "gathering mode" (in a group of about a half dozen) - nicely amassing nearly 2 large bags' worth and getting back in time to watch the Disney "Halloween Special" while sorting my goodies.
Must be the good old days when you made your own costume, and the total cost of the costume material was less than $5. These days, an 11-year-old cannot even purchase a DECENT (retail) costume for under $30. How times have changed.
[How well I remember my own mother seated at her spinning wheel next to the TV, whipping up a skeleton costume for Little Dave. Silk-screening the bones was the hard part. - Dave]
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