Those Cheap Masks

[vanhelsing]

Information about the manufacturer and place of origin (mostly likely China) is/was unavailable and I'll do my best to describe them using the very little amount of information available. Does anybody here remember those cheap, thin plastic face moulded masks that were attached to the wearer's face by a thin length of elastic cord and available from news agents? There must have been 100s of different designs ranging from the bas staple horrors (vampire, Frankenstein, werewolf, witch [no doubt Cthulhu made an appearance somewhere), zombie to the futuristic robot ones?

I know I'm not imagining them as they were widely available in the 70s/early 80s.

[Heather74]

Re: Those Cheap Masks

Lots come up on ebay if you type in vintage masks or vintage vacuform masks

[vanhelsing]

Re: Those Cheap Masks

What about the manufacturers? There were no details of company or place of origin on them and the Made In China Corporation has loads of factories and plants spread through out China, the most likely place of origin (@@@@ knows how they managed to survive the import process without so much as a scratch due to how cheap and fragile they were).

[bakermuk]

Re: Those Cheap Masks

As well as splitting easily they also smelled funny too! Like plastic and glue! Thats what I remember!

[Richard1978]

Re: Those Cheap Masks

I remember me & my brother having a few over the years.

I lent one to a friend & his Mum went & binned it, & he never said sorry.

[Retro Ghoul]

Re: Those Cheap Masks

I think the masks you mention here were most likely the ones made by either 'Ben Cooper' or 'Collegeville' both American companies that made so may Halloween masks over the years as well as children's costumes that usually had one of the masks alongside the vinyl costume. There is quite of lot on the net about these masks and costumes.

[Trickyvee]

Re: Those Cheap Masks

A plastic mask, a cardboard witch's hat and a bin bag cape was all you could get once upon a time. I had loads of those masks over the years. They always split and the holes were never in the right place to see or breathe. Used to stink where you had breathed all over it.

[battyrat]

Re: Those Cheap Masks

When I think of plastic masks I tend to recall those that my younger brother and sister used to get. I suppose there may of been plastic masks but I have more memories back in the early to mid 70's of pressed card masks. I used to play with the things then when we made a Guy for bonfire night it usually ended up on that. I was talking to some people at work last week about Guy Fawkes night and none seemed to remember the pressed cardboard masks but they were sold everywhere from the newsagents right through to the main toy shops in town. I even remember seeing them in the garages at the time.

[NeilC]

Re: Those Cheap Masks

When I think of plastic masks I tend to recall those that my younger brother and sister used to get. I suppose there may of been plastic masks but I have more memories back in the early to mid 70's of pressed card masks. I used to play with the things then when we made a Guy for bonfire night it usually ended up on that. I was talking to some people at work last week about Guy Fawkes night and none seemed to remember the pressed cardboard masks but they were sold everywhere from the newsagents right through to the main toy shops in town. I even remember seeing them in the garages at the time.

I remember cardboard masks made out of egg box type cardboard.

[battyrat]

Re: Those Cheap Masks

That's the ones, They were often made of fairly thick board, always had a mesh type pattern inside. I saw one a couple of years back for sale in a curios shop for over £30. Shocked by the price