Thursday, October 22, 2009

A Glowing Light in the Window.

When the late 1960's hit the world like a ton of bricks and change was  
in the air - changes to Halloween decorations followed. I have one  
word for you - Plastics! Gone were the paper mache' Jack-o-lanterns  
and candy containers of yesteryear. In came the blow molded soft  
plastic of a new generation. As the name implies, liquid plastic was  
plopped into a mold and air was introduced to the mix and the mold was  
lined with the goop. When cooled it retained the shape of the mold.  
plain and simple.
 
The main manufacturing company for years was Empire Plastic out of  
North Carolina. There were other but they were the biggest. Most of  
what you see here (90% are Empire). These little fella's were made to  
be used indoors or in windows. That is why you see a lot of them faded  
on the front from Sun exposure.
 

This is a fairy common decoration with many  
different variations. The one on the left has a ring of Skeletons  
around the base, the one on the right Witches. The one in the middle  
has the Treat on the opposite side
 

A couple variations on the Scarecrow theme.
 
 

Always popular - dressing up the Jack-o-Lantern in  
a witch hat
 

These are a couple of rarer blow mold's. The  
Ghost hangs on a wall.
 

The Haunted House is fairly rare especially because it was molded in  
Green plastic instead of Orange. There is a modern day reproduction  
using the same Empire Mold done in Orange.
 


Any child of the 60s and 70s remembers carrying  
either a pillow case or one of these! Yeah there was the paper bags  
but they didn't quite hold the amount of loot you could fit into one  
of these babies. Of course the Pumpkin has Treat on the other side and  
a smiley face. The Devil bucket is made by a company named TopStone -  
known for making crappy rubber Halloween masks seen in the back of  
Monster Magazines. There is also a Pumpkin Pirate (if you have one - I  
need it!!).

These particular decorations were made for years using the same molds so it is really hard to nail down an exact date for them. But they are all fun regardless of when they are from. Only 9 more days till Halloween!I hope your house is decorated with lots of scary fun and magic!

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