Tuesday, September 21, 2010

HELP!: The Mystery of the Childhood Halloween Skull Pail...

You know I've been pulling my hair out trying to research and figure out this mystery and then I thought, "Why not ask fellow Halloween Addicts (MY PEOPLE!) if THEY know! 

Here's the deal:  When I was a little kid (circa 1970s), I remember getting a small skull pail filled with candy for Halloween from my grandparents.
I LOVED that thing.
LOVED IT.
To to the point that I kept it in my closet and used it to hold tokens for the arcade, change from my allowance, Star Wars figure's weapons and all the other trinkets that come with childhood.
Somewhere over time, the skull pail was lost, discarded, thrown away, stolen by the gremlins that steal childhood things, whatever.

Recently I was at Cost Plus World Market looking at their latest Halloween wares and I was drawn to this (see left) giant glow-in-the-dark skull candy bucket.  I didn't know why because the gummy candy contained within isn't really my bag, but I kept coming back to it.

Then it dawned on me:  THE CHILDHOOD SKULL PAIL!  
I had completely forgotten about it 'til that moment!

Being a pretty good internet searcher I began scouring the net looking for THE skull pail I had as a kid.  I eventually found THIS one on eBay--- but it had already sold.
In my memory, mine was white, not green as this eBay listing states.  Though, honestly, it doesn't appear green to me, but more of a "glow-in-the-dark translucent white."  
Regardless, the dimensions seem correct (it wasn't as big as the Cost Plus one or even as big as the generic plastic jack o' lantern pails they sell at .99 Cent stores and everywhere else), and the handle seems right, and I believe the face of the skull (the most important part) is correct.

So I ask, you, dear readers and fellow Halloween Addicts:  who made this skull pail and where can I find another??!!  I'm really hoping someone responds with a "Oh that's the '70s Blargedy-Blarg Pail made by Blargy Boo Productions.  They made a ton of 'em.  Here's a link to a vintage place that still sells them for pennies on the dollar."
That's what I hope.
Somewhere, someone out there knows exactly what this skull pail is.
PLEASE HELP ME COMPLETE MY QUEST!
I now return you to your lives, already in progress...

(In case the eBay link goes dead, I've snagged the rest of the detailed photos from the listing and I post them here for your reference... NOW.)

UPDATED:  Turns out this is NOT my childhood skull pail.  You can actually still buy this one at various retailers or in cases of 100 (you know... when one just isn't enough...) right from the vendor Blinky Products, Inc. HERE

To read about my ACTUAL childhood skull pail (I really mean it this time...) go HERE and let me know if you find it... in cases less than 100...
















13 comments:

Mr. Macabre said...

I can't really help you find this but you might want to put a search on eBay for the terms "blow mold skull" and see what that turns up over time. Just a suggestion and hope you find it!

AllHallowSteve said...

Thanks Mr. Macabre!
I already had skull candy bucket but the key words "blow mold" are a great tip. Thanks!

The Captain said...

I know this isnt a 1970's blargedy blarg but is this similar?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/blissfamily/4989827425/sizes/l/in/photostream/

Target for a buck. I'll look around the Interwebs to see what else I can find.

The Captain said...

http://cgi.ebay.com/vtg-HALLOWEEN-blow-mold-lot-light-lamp-Empire-witch-/360302945179?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item53e3baa39b#ht_515wt_930

Here's a lot of blow molds with a skull bucket included.

AllHallowSteve said...

Captain: HA! Leave it to Target to reinvent the past!
Yes, that Target skull is very similar... but not enough that I'm going to give up my quest.

And re: your 2nd post-- I've seen that white skull in my own research but it's not the same unfortunately.

Thank you for your efforts. And keep an eye out for me!

Adam said...

You might try asking Mark Ledenbach. He is this vintage Halloween guy, he may or may not know. His website is Halloweencollector.com and you can use his contact form to ask if he has any ideas where it came from etc. I don't recognize it at all.

AllHallowSteve said...

Adam: Thanks for the tip!

R. O. Glockenspiel said...

Hey, one good place to look is old newspaper archives online. I've been doing research on a local Detroit-area witch and peruse a lot of October editions and will keep a look out for the skull bucket. My guess is that it'll be in a Toys R Us flyer somewhere. If you have a more precise date range I'll specifically look in those years.

--The Recordo Obscura guy

AllHallowSteve said...

R. O. Glockenspiel: Thanks for the tip! I can narrow it a little bit more: I received it somewhere between 1975 and 1979.

R. O. Glockenspiel said...

I've been looking all over and keep coming across the pumpkin buckets like:

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4110/5040937546_e99a47f5d3_b.jpg

but no skull! This site also seems to have a bunch of vintage buckets so maybe they know something:

http://www.bonanza.com/booths/gladustopped/items/Vintage_SKULL_Halloween_Candy_Bucket_by_Empire

AllHallowSteve said...

R. O. Glockenspiel: Thanks for continuing to search on my behalf! I really appreciate it.

Yeah those pumpkin buckets are the same ones they sell in every store on the planet. I'm convinced they made 3 billion of them in WW2 and they're still shipping them from the same Raiders of the Lost Ark-like warehouse.

That other Empire blow mold skull keeps coming up in my searches too, but it is definitely not the right one.

Incidentally those Halloween Toys R Us flyers are fantastic!

the said...

I'm still looking for your skull! Except I had forgotten that it was indeed a skull and when I saw this ghost http://i53.tinypic.com/15x484k.jpg at an antique shop I was like: Man, this might be the Halloween guy's bucket he's looking for! And I took a picture of it. Obviously it's not but it's still a pretty cool ghost bucket.

AllHallowSteve said...

The: Thanks so much for keeping an eye out for my skull bucket! Not sure if you noticed, but I did another post(see the bottom of this post) with the actual one I had as a kid.
Thanks to an eBay Search alert I've seen it turn up in auctions a few times, but unfortunately it's buried in a "lot" of other Halloween junk I don't need and don't want to spend $50+ on it. The quest continues...

Related Posts with Thumbnails