/internal/media/dispatcher/48826/fullPlastic Halloween mask in the shape of a caricature of Fidel Castrocirca 196010 3/4 × 8 7/16 × 6 in. (27.3 × 21.4 × 15.2 cm)Plastic; Metal; Fibers, Man-madeThe Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza Collection2002.033.00020One molded, plastic, painted, caricature Halloween mask meant to be Fidel Castro.
Mask has exaggerated features. Beard, mustache, and eyebrows are painted black, lips painted orangish with white teeth showing. Holes cut in mask for eyes, nostrils, and small slit for mouth below teeth. Small area of black painted around perimeter of eye holes; the rest of the eyes are painted white. Forehead and eye wrinkles in face are emphasized with painted black lines. Plastic is an all-over peachish color to suggest skin tone. Cheeks, tip of nose, and underneath eyes are painted in similar color to lips to suggest rosiness in the facial features of the mask. Molded ears stick out from the sides of the mask; painted black inside ears to suggest hair. The mask has an olive green hat on the top of the facial form covering the top of what would be the head.
Two small metal grommets with a puncture hole in the middle of each one are just above each ear with a piece of black elastic strung through for wearing. The eyeholes are crudely cut.
"MADE IN FRANCE" stamped in relief onto top back edge of mask in olive green hat area.
Mask is in good condition. Highest relief areas of mask have minimal paint loss. Inside of mask is very dirty; black flecks present throughout - likely paint transfer - but some are also possibly mold. Removed by Stephanie Allen and Jan Masterson 04/11/2017. Crack in plastic along proper left brim of hat. (JM 04/11/2017)Artifacts6623521.431292862627.305000000022102Mask15.2400000000Plastic Halloween mask in the form of a caricature of Fidel Castro. At the height of the Cold War, this would have been a costume representing one of the nation's greatest enemies, the leader of Communist Cuba.
The mask has holes cut in it for eyes and nostrils, as well as a small slit for the mouth cut below the teeth. Two small metal grommets, one just above each ear, are connected with a piece of black elastic strung through for wearing.
"MADE IN FRANCE" is stamped on the back edge of the mask's green hat.Pop CultureHalloweenMaskWorld leadersCaricaturesCold WarSatireCubaToysCostumeCastro, FidelFranceThis mask, along with similar masks of John F. Kennedy and Nikita Khrushchev, is briefly featured in the 1962 Universal Pictures film, Forty Pounds of Trouble, starring Tony Curtis. In the movie, Curtis, playing a casino manager, is on the run with his two companions, actress Suzanne Pleshette and eight-year-old Claire Wilcox. The trio end up at Disneyland where they use these masks to hide from a pursuing detective. Tony Curtis wears the Kennedy mask, while Pleshette appears as Khrushchev and little Claire Wilcox comically wears the full-size Castro mask. In the film, it appears as though they purchased the masks at a Disneyland shop, though in reality the Anaheim theme park never sold these political masks. - Stephen Fagin, Curator