Manufacturer Don Post Studios was the go-to if you wanted a quality, mass-produced mask of Chewbacca, Darth Vader, C-3PO or a Stormtrooper. But as Post told The St. Louis Post-Dispatch in October 1977, he was overwhelmed. “I can’t make most of my Halloween deliveries,” he said. “In fact, I’m sold out now through Christmas, but most of the merchants say they’ll take the ‘Star Wars’ masks no matter when I deliver them.” Still, Post lamented missing out on an even bigger seasonal windfall. “If I had 100,000 ‘Star Wars’ masks in this room now, I could sell them all,” he said. “How could I know the movie would take off like this?”
For less discriminating trick-or-treaters (i.e. elementary school kids), there were always the Ben Cooper costume-in-a-box offerings, which consisted of a cheap plastic mask (affixed to one’s skull via a stapled-on rubber band) and an even cheaper, easily tearable plastic onesie that vaguely approximated the character’s outfit. Ben Cooper only made outfits for Luke Skywalker, Darth Vader and C-3PO, and these, too, were difficult to find after early October. (Honestly, the big story here is why no one anticipated the massive appeal for Han Solo; Princess Leia should’ve been a no-brainer, but this was 1977, when girls were supposed to dress up as princesses or witches or stay the hell home).
Some savvy/shameless businesses addressed the “Star Wars” costume shortage via pricey rentals (a Darth Vader mask could be obtained for $50), but that was out of the question for most people. In the absence of store-bought costumes, parents and kids had to improvise. In doing so, they helped to mainstream the act of cosplaying in the United States.