
Look at that image. I feel like a budding paleontologist spying a treasured dinosaur fossil for the first time. It's like documenting the history of haunting.
That is a classic example of the Captain Company collection. This one is courtesy of toyranch's flickr account where he has kindly shared a tremendous collection of these vintage ads.
So what is (or sadly, was) this Captain Company? Here's a very simple history from someone who just missed this cultural gemstone.
Horror movies really hit their stride in the livingrooms of the late 1950's, and UHF stations entertained audiences with classic films. Riding the monster popularity wave into the 1960's and 1970's was Famous Monster's of Filmland Magazine, in the back of which you would find Captain Company ads.
Captain company was a Philadelphia-based mail order business, and the merchandising arm of Warren Publishing. It specialized in horror movie related products including masks, model kits, rings, posters, Super 8mm films...you name it.
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