If you close your eyes and think about halloween costumes in 1960, your brain probably goes straight to those crinkly, stiff plastic smocks and the thin vacuum-formed masks held on by a single, treacherous rubber band. You know the ones. They smelled like a chemical factory and made your face sweat within three minutes of hitting the pavement.
It was a weird time.
Honestly, the transition from the 1950s into the early sixties marked a massive shift in how American kids actually celebrated the holiday. We moved away from the "make it yourself out of a burlap sack" era and dove headfirst into a world of licensed plastic. It was the year of the "store-bought" revolution. If you weren't wearing a boxy outfit with a picture of the character you were supposed to be on your chest, were you even trick-or-treating?
Probably not.
The Tyranny of Ben Cooper and Collegeville
In 1960, two companies basically owned the childhood soul of America: Ben Cooper, Inc. and Collegeville Flag & Manufacturing Company. These weren't just manufacturers; they were the gatekeepers of cool.
Ben Cooper was the king. Based in Brooklyn, they had this uncanny ability to snatch up licensing rights for every cartoon, superhero, and public figure imaginable. By 1960, they had perfected the "mask and smock" combo. It’s funny because, looking back, these costumes were incredibly literal. If you were playing Zorro, the costume didn't just look like Zorro’s clothes. No, it usually had a giant picture of Zorro’s face and the word "ZORRO" printed right across the torso in bold letters.
Just in case people didn't get it, I guess.
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Collegeville was the main rival, often focusing on more "traditional" archetypes like clowns, devils, and nurses, though they fought hard for those same TV licenses. These outfits were cheap. You could grab them at the local Woolworth’s or Sears for maybe $1.98 or $2.98. Adjusted for inflation, that’s roughly twenty bucks today, making them the ultimate impulse buy for a busy 1960s parent.
What Kids Actually Wanted to Be
TV was the driver. Period. In 1960, The Flintstones premiered in September, just in time to influence the tail end of the season, but the real heavy hitters were the westerns and the early Saturday morning staples.
- The Western Obsession: You couldn't throw a rock in October 1960 without hitting a kid dressed as Gunsmoke's Matt Dillon or Paladin from Have Gun – Will Travel. Westerns were the peak of pop culture. Every boy wanted a holster set, which usually featured "clicker" guns that sounded nothing like a real Colt .45 but felt like the coolest thing in the world.
- Huckleberry Hound and Yogi Bear: Hanna-Barbera was exploding. These were the premium licenses for the younger set. The masks were notoriously bright—pinks, blues, and yellows that didn't exist in nature—and they had those tiny, narrow eye slits that made it nearly impossible to see a sidewalk crack, let alone a stray black cat.
- The Classics: Ghosts, witches, and skeletons never went away. But even the "classic" skeleton in 1960 was usually a screen-printed jumpsuit. The glow-in-the-dark paint back then was... well, it was questionable. It worked for about ten minutes after being held up to a light bulb, then faded into a dull, sickly grey.
The Safety (or Lack Thereof)
We have to talk about the breathability. Or the lack of it.
Those masks had one tiny hole near the mouth, maybe the size of a pencil eraser. If you were a kid in 1960, you spent the night huffing your own carbon dioxide and licking the condensation off the inside of the plastic. It was a rite of passage.
And the flammability? That’s not an urban legend. Before the Fabric Flammability Act of 1967 really tightened things up, these rayon and thin plastic suits were essentially kindling. Parents were warned about "fireproof" claims that weren't always true. Combine that with the fact that many people still put real candles in carved pumpkins on their porches, and you have a recipe for a very high-anxiety evening for the neighborhood fire department.
Homemade vs. Store-Bought: The Great Class Divide
While the Ben Cooper era was ascending, the "homemade" costume hadn't died out yet. Not by a long shot. 1960 was a bridge year.
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In many rural areas or more frugal households, you’d see "Hobo" costumes—which basically involved smearing burnt cork on your face and carrying a stick with a bandana tied to the end. Or the "Old Lady," which was just a kid wearing their grandma's shawl and carrying a spare cane.
There was a certain pride in the store-bought box, though. Carrying that box with the cellophane window into school for the Halloween parade was a status symbol. It meant your parents had gone to the department store and spent actual cash on a one-time-use item. That was the American Dream in 1960.
The Weirdness of Political Costumes
Believe it or not, 1960 was an election year. Kennedy vs. Nixon.
Ben Cooper actually produced masks for both candidates. Imagine a seven-year-old trick-or-treating as Richard Nixon. It happened. Political masks were a huge part of the "novelty" wing of the costume industry. They were creepy then, and they are arguably even creepier now when you find them in an antique shop with the paint peeling off.
Why 1960 Still Matters for Collectors
If you’re looking to buy original halloween costumes in 1960 today, you’re going to pay a premium. Collectors go nuts for the boxes.
The box is usually worth more than the costume itself. A pristine Ben Cooper box with the original $1.29 price tag and intact cellophane is the "holy grail" for vintage toy hunters. The graphics on the boxes were often better than the actual costumes. They featured vibrant, spooky illustrations that promised a level of realism the actual plastic smock could never deliver.
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Practical Insights for the Modern Vintage Enthusiast
If you are looking to recreate the 1960 aesthetic or collect these items, keep a few things in mind:
- Check the Staples: Genuine 1960-era masks usually have the rubber band stapled directly to the plastic. Later models used different attachment methods, but the "staple through the temple" is a classic marker of early sixties production.
- Smell the Vinyl: If you’re buying "new old stock," be prepared for that "vintage smell." It's a mix of degrading PVC and attic dust. It’s iconic, but probably not great for your lungs if you wear it for a long time.
- Handle with Care: The masks from 1960 are incredibly brittle now. The plastic becomes like eggshells over sixty years. If you’re displaying them, keep them out of direct sunlight, which will bleach the neon oranges and greens into a sad, ghostly white.
- Don't Wear the Original: Seriously. Between the potential toxicity of old dyes and the fragility of the material, these are display pieces. If you want the look, buy a modern "retro-style" mask from companies like Trick or Treat Studios, which license the old Ben Cooper designs but make them out of wearable materials.
The year 1960 was the turning point where Halloween stopped being a community-made folk holiday and became a full-blown commercial powerhouse. It was the start of the "Pop Culture Halloween." We stopped being "a cat" and started being "Top Cat."
That shift changed everything about how we celebrate today.
Next Steps for Your Vintage Search
To further explore this era, your best move is to search specifically for "1960 Ben Cooper Catalog" images. These scans show the original marketing layouts and give you a definitive list of every licensed character available that year. Additionally, if you are looking to purchase, check auction sites specifically for "vacuum-formed" masks to ensure you are getting the thin, rigid plastic style authentic to the 1960 season rather than the later, thicker latex versions.