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| The
History of PEZ Halloween Dispensers
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| Vintage
Dispensers |
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PEZ Halloween
Dispenser Timeline
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1956 – Witch regular
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1957 – Witch A & Witch B
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1965 – Universal Studios
Monsters Pez
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1970 – Witch C, Mr. Ugly, One Eyed Monster &
Octopus
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Early 70’s – Pezpal Pirate & Gorilla
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1972 – Skull A
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1979 – second series of monsters and ghouls, Eerie
Spectres (Airspirit, Diabolic, Scarewolf, Spook, Vamp & Zombie)
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1981 – Pumpkin A
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1991 – Pumpkin B, Skull B & Witch D
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1998 – GITD ghosts, Happy Henry, Naughty Nell, Polly
Pumpkin & Slimy Sid
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1999 – Non-glowing
U.S.
version ghosts
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2003 – GITD U.S. version pumpkin
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2003 – Redesigned Witch, Pumpkin, Skull & a
new Mummy character featuring
GITD stems and heads
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| One
of the very earliest Pez candy dispensers produced was what is now
called a witch regular.
This Pez dispenser featured a silk screened picture of a witch
flying on a broom on each side of the dispenser stem and did not have a
character head.
Made sometime in 1956, it is the first Pez known to have any
reference to Halloween and appears to be extremely rare.
Later, in 1957, the Pez Company produced the first Halloween
character head dispenser that we now call Witch A.
This is a footless Pez dispenser with a very detailed witch |
character
head that also featured an embossed figure of a witch on one side of the
dispenser. A variation of this dispenser, Witch B, came into production
shortly after and is regarded as the scarcest of the two varieties.
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| Monsters
and Ghouls! |
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early pez candy dispensers were not specifically made for Halloween but
featured characters that would be reminiscent of Halloween monsters and
ghouls. The most notable is the series issued in 1965 called the
Universal Studio Monsters Pez. They include the Creature from the
Black Lagoon,
Frankenstein, and the Wolfman. These monster Pez show remarkable facial
detail and are highly prized Pez finds. In 1970 a new witch Pez
dispenser was introduced,
now called Witch C or Three-Piece
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Witch,
along with three new Halloween characters: Mr. Ugly, One Eyed Monster,
and Octopus. These are very popular with collectors today and all
can be found in numerous color variations. The early 70’s
also included in the Halloween mix of characters the Pez Pal
Pirate and Gorilla. In 1972 the skull character (Skull A) was
added to the Halloween assortment. A second series of monsters and
ghouls was issued in 1979 with a new “soft” head. These are
known as Eerie Spectres and include Airspirit, Diabolic, Scarewolf,
Spook, Vamp, and Zombie. These Pez were quite unique in that the
heads were soft rubber and fit on to a plastic adaptor that finally
attached to the dispenser stem. All were very limited in
production and not manufactured for very long. |
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| “Witch
regular … featured a silk screened picture of a witch flying on a
broom on each side of the dispenser stem and did not have a character head.”
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Modern
Dispensers
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Halloween pumpkin Pez dispenser didn’t make its first appearance until
1981, and we now call this dispenser Pumpkin A or the die-cut pumpkin.
In 1991 new versions of the pumpkin (Pumpkin B), skull (Skull B) and
witch (Witch D, head molded in one piece) were released to the PEZ
community. These Halloween Pez dispensers were now all with feet,
since by 1987 the footless stems started being phased out of production.
It wasn’t until 1998 that any
new Halloween Pez characters were made; the glow-in-the dark (GITD)
ghosts, Happy Henry, Naughty Neil, Polly Pumpkin, Slimy Sid, were
introduced in Europe
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along
with a non-glowing revised
pumpkin, Pumpkin C or large head pumpkin, for the
U.S.
market. Also in that year the U.S. Pez Company offered, by mail
order only, crystal variations of the ghosts and color variations
of Skull B and Witch D (called misfits). In 1999 Witch D was made
available in a crystal version, and became part of a trend that provided
many variations of current Pez using different plastic parts and colors.
Also in 1999 the Halloween ghosts were released for general retail sales
in the
U.S.
, but as non-glowing versions. Then in 2002 the Pez glowing ghosts
became available in
U.S.
stores. However, the pumpkin had a GITD stem rather than a
glowing head like Polly Pumpkin. The current Halloween Pez series,
introduced in 2003, consists of a new revised witch, pumpkin, skull, and
introduced a new mummy character. All feature GITD stems or heads.
Happy Halloween!
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| This
Web Page is a Collector hobby site, and is neither endorsed by nor
affiliated with Pez® Candy, Inc. Pez® is a registered trademark of Pez®
Candy, Inc.;
Orange
,
Connecticut
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| ©
2005
www.gatreasures.com
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