We are nine days out from Halloween and due to popular demand, combined with the desire to be lazy, we are once-again running one of our most-watched videos.

Our video tonight is one created a few years ago by yours truly and his wife. Recorded May 30, 2015 at WonderFest USA in Louisville, Kentucky. The above video was shot by Melanie Larch and edited by your PopCulteer.

The PopCult and Radio Free Charleston crew stumbled onto this incredible collection of delightfully cheesy, vintage Ben Cooper Halloween Costumes, tucked away in a little room just off from the main hallway at WonderFest USA, the annual fantasy and SF modelers convention.

Presented by a die-hard collector named Jeff Stringer, this was a fun and surprising little diversion to find just as we were on the way out the door to come home. We didn’t get much information about Jeff’s collection, but it sure looks cool and has lots of very rare items. This incredible collection of delightfully cheesy, vintage Ben Cooper Halloween Costumes, was tucked away in a little room just off from the main hallway at WonderFest USA, the fantasy and SF modelers convention.  We were actually alerted to this treasure by our friends from JoeLanta, who were also at WonderFest, taking in all the coolness.

As for Ben Cooper Inc., the costume-maker struggled through a few bankruptcies and other setbacks before shutting down over thirty years ago. In recent years the descendants of the original owners seemed to be staging a comeback, licensing their designs to folks like Retro-A-Go Go (who have just released a new series of Cooperesque masks and wall hangings), and NECA, who are producing MEGO-scale action figures of kids wearing Ben Cooper costumes.

Once again we present this video valentine to Halloween to get you in the holiday spirit. Plus we have a few newly-resized photos, if you want to take a closer look…

Jackie Kennedy and JFK. For some reason these didn’t sell too well after 1963.

What kids doesn’t want to dress up like an astronaut?

Okay, maybe the kid who wants to dress up like Mr. Potato Head doesn’t want to be an astronaut.

The Six Million Dollar Man, autographed, with an autographed Bionic Woman in the background.

Extremely rare Tron merchandising.

When Star Wars knockoffs are done up Ben Cooper-style, they really look way more like Star Wars stuff.