Vintage Halloween Collectibles Research (1900-1979)

Sane Halloween Observer Does excluding the knowledge of other fields in turn affect our current understanding of certain vintage collectibles? I would attest that while each of us may have familiarity to large catalogues of past imagery (for example vintage decor images by Beistle, Dennison, Gibson, etc.), we should also ask if we (myself included) fully understand the historical context of their appearance. For example, do we know the full extent of design processes, merchandise production, and business operations ---- all of which are extremely important to properly assess time-capsule discoveries of Halloween items. If we ignore external and/or related variables we might create a powerful but incorrect interpretation. Just to play devil's advocate (with  no reference to current listings ) what follows  is historical fiction  that assumes  minimal  yet practical knowledge of the past employees of Gibson and Dennison. Note that  photo...

Sane Halloween Observer This entry is dedicated to arguably one of the most ignored Halloween noisemakers of vintage collectibles - the Flex-a-tone ( wikipedia ). Its minimal graphics (opposed to artwork that lifts others into triple digits) may forever hold the value of this particular item down (as of this writing) to about $10-$25, and yet for audiophiles it could in fact be the most desirable of any in this genre. Contrary to other noisemakers with their monotonous racket, the musical sound of a Flex-a-tone  was used in the recording studios of classic cartoons and vintage jazz for its glissando effect - a warbling that changes tone - something like a ghost crawling up and down your spine. You probably recognized that sound instantly and can likely name a few tunes or shows where you've heard it? (For example, one person identified it used in the film Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger (1977) whenever the evil sorceress Zenobia made her appearance). Well, it'...