YEARS: 1958-1963

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Argyle pattern box with illustrations depicting nine masks that the company produced: Boney the Skeleton, Clown, Moon Man, Pirate, Mr. Jinx/Black Cat, Jet Commander/Space Rocket Commander/Col. McCauley, Winnie the Witch, Devil, and Princess/Fairy (only appears on the side panels).

This may be the first box to say “flame retardant”

The box was used for the company’s “Slinky Action” costumes which had masks with parts attached via the titular metal coils. The boxes had solid fronts with an illustrated label printed where the window would normally be.

Ben Cooper patented designs for three Slinky masks in 1958 (link) but I believe the elephant and koo-koo clock were the only two that were made.

Design Notes:

The illustrations are very close to the ones that appear on the Character Costume box (link) though slightly less refined. Similar illustrations were used on the earlier “Spotlite” boxes (link)

Typefaces: Venus Extended/Annonce/Aurora-Grotesk(?) (“masquerade”), Antique No.8/Modern Antique (“costume”), Filmotype Horizon/Filmotype Brody(?) (“Ben Cooper”).