Additional Info and Errata for the 3rd Edition

(Updated 04/04/24)

(Please make a copy of this page and keep it with your book!)
The last addition(s) will be bolded.

I had an opportunity to chat via email with the last surviving son of the founder of Alberts Display and Novelty Company. He told me that his father, Philip Alberts, shut down the firm's operations in 1948. Their Halloween output was restricted to a period from ~1941-1946. Therefore, the dates attributed in the book to all items made by the Alberts Display and Novelty Company are slightly off. The correct date range would be ~1941-1946. Please see pages 29 and 58 where collectively three items made by the firm can be found. 

P. 19: At least one of the manufacturers of the Fortune Telling Favor Set was the J. Levinsohn Company of New York, NY. 

P. 21: Relative to the Beistle Ringer Hallowe’en Donut Toss Stunt Game, the cat fits into slots on the box lid, not the box bottom.

P. 26: I’ve recently concluded that the items referred to as skittle game pieces are not game pieces at all but, instead, table favors that could act as place card holders. When I first started collecting, two individuals then-prominent in the field, Paul Schofield and Mary Lou Holt, told me that the little German-made figures in wood bases were skittle game pieces. I’ve clung to that belief all these years, although I’ve had doubts for the last 1-2 years. Recently, a long-time collector who likes to keep a low profile sent me a photo of an original box that once held all of the table favors. They are not described as skittle pieces or shown in any way that would indicate that they would be used in some game. So, let’s begin calling them what they are - table favors. Thanks so much for your persistence, G!

P. 49: The Dennison cat face shade at the upper right was issued during the early 1930s. 

P.94: There are two candles at the middle left that are identified as being probably made by Emkay. The candle at the right, a JOL creature, was actually produced by Penn Wax Works, Inc. of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania during the very early 1950s.

P. 116-117: I have concluded based on some information contained on the bottom of a Rosen Valentine Pops box that the Rosen mechanical and non-mechanical "Pops" boxes were not meant as retail countertop displays, but were actually sold to the end-consumer. (See the blog section of the site for more information.) 

P. 119: The items at the upper right are hat pin holders, not sugar shakers.

P. 144: The JOL hot air balloon diecut at the upper right is referenced in Dennison’s 1932 Price List pamphlet. It was called Pumpkin Balloon and was listed as Large Cut-Out Decoration. Its stock number was H2088.

P. 145: The stock number for the Beistle Pumpkin Head Garland bag is 652, not 852.  

P. 147: The caption for the Witch and Cat Decorations envelopes at the page’s bottom should have been written more clearly. Each envelope, whether it has the witch or the cat on the front, has identical contents - four diecuts total: a large and small broomed witch against moon and a large and small electric cat.

P. 149: The broomed witch at the upper right hand corner seems to have been produced by Gibson. A collector states he has an original retailer’s box for the diecut indicating it was produced by Gibson.

P. 152: The three diecuts at the bottom of the page were first produced during the middle 1930s.

P. 153: The two diecuts at the top of the page were first produced during the middle 1930s. The owl diecut at the middle left was also first produced during the middle 1930s.

P. 164: The two small diecuts at the center were made by Hallmark during the 1930s, not Whitney during the 1920s.

P. 165: The two Hallmark diecuts shown at the top of the page were produced during the mid-1920s, not the early 1950s.

P. 165: The two diecuts at the lower left (orange broomed witch and an orange cat) were almost certainly produced by Hallmark during the 1930s.)

P. 171: I have concluded that the diecut designs at the top of the page were all made during the early 1930s.

P. 171: Three black jazz musicians comprise the full set. Two are shown on this page. The third and final design is a female musician playing the banjo. It is the rarest of this rare set.

P. 183: The caption for the JOL clown diecut at middle left should read that it is 7” w, not 7” h.

P. 187: There are three, not four, pennant designs - the two shown on this page and one showing a black cat head atop a pennant. The pennant itself has a winged owl, four stars and a striped bottom.

P. 199: The Merri-Lei skeleton clapper has been reproduced for ~15 years. The reproductions are double-sided and have no maker’s mark.

P. 205: All of the diamond-patterned noisemakers at the bottom of the page were produced by Spearhead Industries, Inc. of Minnesota. They incorporated in Eden Prairie in 1968, so the noisemakers were produced during or shortly after that year. They have been out of business for many years.

P. 211: The manufacturing date of "1930s" for the trio of T. Cohn clickers at left, near the bottom was inadvertently omitted. 

P. 215: The manufacturing date of "1930s" for the tambourine at top left was misprinted as "193s." 

P. 215: The manufacturing date of "1930s" for the two tambourines shown at the bottom right was inadvertently omitted. 

P. 217: The Beistle Complete Party Outfit pictured at the top right was produced from 1919-1921. It represents the second iteration of Beistle’s efforts to create a party set to compete in that rapidly developing space.

P. 236-237: The Domino Hat Masks shown should all be correctly called Domino Masks.

P. 221: There was an earlier variant of the Beistle Nut or Candy Trays envelope available in 1921. The envelope contained 8 identical trays and was sold with a stock number of 626. I suspect Beistle discontinued this product after the 1921 season and resurrected it in 1930 with the envelope shown on this page. 

P. 222: The Beistle enveloped set of 5 Halloween Fortune Place Cards was produced during the early 1920s, not the late 1920s.

P. 224: The Beistle reversible nut cups shown at middle left were sold with stock number 1865. 

P. 228: At the lower left, the Beistle cauldron centerpiece shown is actually the largest of the three sizes produced. It measures 8” high by 8.5” across.

P. 255: The owl cut-outs shown at the upper right were sold in a glassine envelope for one year, 1922, with a stock number of H-48. The next year and for several subsequent years the same cut-out in the same quantity was sold in a slide box with stock number H-99.

P. 257: The cat and candle place card at the bottom left first appeared in Dennison's 1927 Price List pamphlet. 

P. 259: All of the Dennison nut cups at the bottom first appeared in their 1927 Price List pamphlet. 

P. 267: At the top of the page, the white enveloped set of Gibson Black Cat Shape Cards were issued from ~1913-1916, not the early 1920s.

P. 271: I know now that Gibson did issue the four sides of the lantern shown at the top of the page as individual diecuts for a short time during the later 1920s. 

P. 272: I have concluded that the mechanical witch invitation shown at the upper right was produced by Hallmark.

P. 274: The Veggie person interlocking centerpiece at the middle bottom was produced by Whitney and was sold with stock number 77.

P. 274: The witch and ghost fence centerpiece at the bottom was produced by Whitney and sold with the stock number 2247.

P. 283: The tally at the upper left with a wrap-around scene was not produced by Whitney. It may have been produced by Merri-Lei.

P. 287: The two “The Henderson Line” items shown on the right side of the page were produced during or before 1925, as the company was purchased by the Goes Lithographing Company of Chicago that year.

P. 298: The plate at the lower left with an arched-back black cat in the center was not produced by Beach & Arthur. It was actually produced by the C.A. Reed Company of Williamsport, PA.