LEGO Halloween

I loved LEGOs as a kid, but didn't get serious with them til I was a teen.

I liked the castle/Robin Hood stuff, but if they had had scary/Halloween versions

back then, I would have been all over them.

Here's some pics of what my younger self would have loved:

Ben Cooper Costumes

When I was little, my mom made our costumes.

I remember being a clown and also a hobo.

But as we got older, we wanted more "serious" costumes.

Big kid stuff. Ben Cooper costumes.

And I don't remember which ones I wore.

I seem to think there may have been a CHiPs costume, or a Duke cousin.

But I honestly can't remember.

So, anyway, here are some Ben Cooper costumes I think are cool,

weird, or just creepy. Enjoy!

Aquaman (thanks to The Aquaman Shrine)

Why does Aquaman have a mask? He never wore a mask.

Technically, this means your costume is wearing a costume.

Meta before meta was a thing, I guess...

Dukes of Hazzard costumes.

Now that I see these, I really hope I wasn't a Duke boy.

Creepy!

The Six-Million Dollar Man

His eye is on fire...

And why did the costumes always have pictures of the characters on the chests?

Mork from Mork & Mindy

Can't decide whether this is great or creepy.

No, it's creepy.

And why does the face on the shirt look less like Robin Williams

than the oddly serious-looking mask does?

Devil & Frankenstein's Monster

So the costumes got less scary and more unsettling as time went on, I guess?
'Cause these two pretty much rock.

Samantha from Bewitched

Did Ben Cooper think she was a heavily made-up, slutty, bedraggled ho?

And this time, TWO pictures of herself on her top!

Laverne from Laverne & Shirley

Guess she had a tough day bottle-capping, since her mascara is running.

And the costume is "dressed" in what might be the worst fake clothes for any horrible plastic costume ever.

Fonzie from Happy Days

Again, you would be wearing the Fonz wearing the Fonz.

I guess it was just cool at the time.

And hey, at least the nose on this costume gave you some breathing room!

Sleestak from Land of the Lost

Okay, they made it less creepy in one sense,

and more creepy in a totally different way.

Sheesh...

Clown

Seriously, why are clowns so damn creepy???

Do you all have a favorite Ben Cooper costume memory?

Share it in the comments!

The Man with the Golden Helmet - FINALLY!

For years as a kid, my siblings and I were creeped out by a painting my parents had. We never received a real explanation as to who the man in the painting was or the artist who painted it.

He was just there, always watching.

Imagine our shock when we found an identical painting in my aunt's basement! We were convinced he was following us!

Here is the man who has lingered in memory for years:



I had posted about this painting when I stumbled across it on the wall in a horror movie I watched called "Blood Freak". My interest was piqued anew, and I added a sidebar gadget to this blog asking for help with the painting's history. No one ever responded, however.

Yesterday, while messing with my blog layout, I decided to eliminate some stuff, that painting being one of them. I was talking with my buddy Jeff and he asked why I was curious about it. He started looking online, and I did again, as well.

At the same moment he sent me a link to the actual painting, I found it as well, by doing a less detailed search (old man in a helmet painting). After all these years, I had my answer.

The original painting is called "The Man with the Golden Helmet" and, up until recently, was believed to be a classic work by none other than Rembrandt. All those years of nightmares and refusals to walk by the "scary man" at night were thanks to Rembrandt!

Of course, now there is some debate as to whether it is by Rembrandt or not. I am not an art critic/follower/anything, so I have no clue. But it is cool to know the painting is considered a classic and was not, as I long believed, the product of some weird dude churning out creepy paintings in his basement!

I guess knock-offs were mass-produced in the 60s or 70s, and this would explain why my mother and her sister both had copies. Maybe they got them after filling a few of the old S&H Green Stamp booklets.

Thanks to Jeff for helping me solve this little puzzle of childhood.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Some links to read more about this painting:

Time.com - The Man with the Golden Helmet

Web Gallery of Art - The Man with the Golden Helmet

The New York Times - In Search of the Real Thing