Vintage, Antique 1940s-50s Collegeville Costumes Gorilla, Halloween, complete in original box. Includes order Box, Head covering Mask. # 4000

Vintage antique 1940s-50s Collegeville Costumes Gorilla, complete in original box. Includes Box, Head covering made of felt like Material, NON Plastic Mask, and Felt like Material Full Body Costume. We include a Picture of a Model wearing costume, she is aprox 5 feet tall and 180 lbs. It states on box that it is for a 16 year old ( Teen-Age) Total height when laid out of body part of costume is 55" from top of shoulder to the bottom of ankle. ( Foam Head that the head piece and mask are displayed on in pictures is NOT INCLUDED) Costume is in excellent shape with no tears or holes that we could find. Box has some damage to the corners on the cover that are split but still displays very well. Please see all pictures, Estate sale find, feel free to message us with any questions.

Collegeville Costumes - a family-run business that can trace its roots to the 1920s - was once one of three major manufacturers of Halloween gear. Its reputation was built on hundreds of cartoon- and superhero-based costumes that consisted of a plastic mask (held in place by a thin rubber band) and a silk-screened drape.

From the 1940s to the 1970s, boxes of these outfits flew off five-and-dime store shelves in droves.

Collegeville Costumes' history, however, didn't start with order selling Superman or Wonder Woman.

It began with selling American flags.

"Collegeville Costumes was originally part of the Collegeville Flag Manufacturing Company," says Lisa Cornish, who, along with her husband, has stewarded this family business since 2003.

"Our store is part of that old manufacturing plant. You can still kind-of see the aisles where they had the sewing machines," she says, pointing to patches in the hardwood floor that have darkened with years of use. She also motions to a long display counter: "This was their cut table," she explains.

The migration from flags to fangs evolved from the repurposing of material left over from making flags. "I don't know if our first costume was Santa or Uncle Sam, but it involved some reuse of the red and white fabrics that were part of the flag-making process. This was back in the 1920s."