Hanna-Barbera and Ben Cooper. One's specialty was in animation and the other was in Halloween costumes, but their histories have more similarities than differences. They are two companies synonymous with childhood nostalgia of the 1960s through to the 1980s. Both pumped out a lot of products fast and efficiently, even if the end result could sometimes have been more satisfactory. And, even though neither company exists anymore, the brand names continue on and are still in use to this day. Naturally, with their similar stories, it's not surprising that the characters of Hanna-Barbera were often fodder for Ben Cooper costumes. And, with today being Halloween, I thought I'd share some of the ones I found the most interesting. This is by no means a comprehensive catalog of every HB-themed outfit they did, just some of my favorites. I hope you enjoy!
We start off this collection with a look at the Flintstones themselves, Fred and Wilma! Interesting to see that Wilma's portrayed as having blonde hair here, a look for the character that wasn't uncommon to see in earlier Flintstones merchandise. Of course, I can only critique the inconsistencies between the costumes and their animated counterparts so much. If I were to get into all the details of how they differ, I'd be here for days!
Next up, we have characters from Hanna-Barbera's other most famous franchise, Scooby-Doo. These are outfits based on Shaggy and Scooby, and come from the early 1970s. Love the box art for the Scooby one, depicting both him and Fred Flintstone with some of their cartoon contemporaries!
Now, here's a quick assortment of costumes they did for Hanna-Barbera's sixties output. Included are costumes of Yogi, Huckleberry Hound, Top Cat, and Touche Turtle. Of course, you'd be hard-pressed to find a Hanna-Barbera series from that decade that didn't get the Ben Cooper costume treatment. From Jonny Quest to the Banana Splits, from Quick Draw McGraw to Magilla Gorilla, they truly did not leave any stone unturned. Below that are two outfits they did for one of my favorite Hanna-Barbera series of that era,
Wacky Races. Dick Dastardly and Penelope Pitstop both got costumes, but it, unfortunately, looks like the same can't be said for their competitors.
Superheroes have always been common picks for Halloween costumes, and the superheroes of Hanna-Barbera were no different. Below is a collection of suits based on Space Ghost, Birdman, Atom Ant, and Coil Man of The Impossibles. Unlike the prior costumes, which often fell under the "TV/Cartoon costume" umbrella of branding, Space Ghost and Birdman here were coupled with other famous superheroes, including Spider-Man and the Incredible Hulk.
Though there weren't as many as there were in the decade prior, Hanna-Barbera costumes continued to be commissioned by Ben Cooper throughout the seventies. In this assortment, we have Hong Kong Phooey, The Funky Phantom, Grape Ape, and Goober of Goober and the Ghost Chasers "fame". I can't say I'm the biggest fan of these shows or most of Hanna-Barbera's seventies cartoons, but since I rarely talk about them here, I figured I'd show these ones off. Besides, it's not every day you get to see Goober and the Ghost Chasers merch! Whatever could be the reason for that now?
After the last of these costumes popped up (which seems to be Grape Ape in 1975), Hanna-Barbera costumes seemed to have fallen out of favor with Ben Cooper. I imagine newer properties like Star Wars and so on began to get more of the focus from the company, and I also can't imagine sales for the seventies costumes were that strong, either. The last Ben Cooper costume I could find online is this one of Judy Jetson from 1989, released merely three years before the company closed its doors. I'm sure others were made in the time between this one and the Grape Ape costume, but I couldn't find anything on them. I also guess I was wrong about George, Jane, and Rosie being the only Jetsons characters to get Ben Cooper costumes!
Thus ends the partnership between Hanna-Barbera and Ben Cooper! Admittedly, it's a pretty dull note to end on, but in their time together, the two were able to create memories for thousands of children across multiple generations, both on their own and together. I now pose a question to any older followers of my blog: did you have any of these growing up, and are you aware of any that I didn't mention here? Like I said, I'm aware that plenty of other properties, like
Shazzan and
The Cattanooga Cats all got costumes, but I'm confident there are others that aren't as well known. Maybe one of you may know of some more obscure pieces they did, and could shed some light on them. Thanks for joining me on this short retrospective, and I wish you all the happiest of Halloweens!
Trendier households use them now as decorations. But some of us remember when they turned up every year in Woolworth and Thrifty, and children actually wore them. If Rite Aid, Thrifty's successor, had continued selling them, maybe they wouldn't be going bankrupt now.
ReplyDeleteI'm seriously impressed they kept Ed Benedict's eyeball-overlapping-the-hat design quirk on the Yogi mask. Now I'm wondering if they included the floating straw boater hat on the Huck one.
ReplyDelete