/internal/media/dispatcher/48830/fullPlastic Halloween mask in the shape of a caricature of Nikita Khrushchevcirca 19609 3/4 × 7 15/16 × 5 3/4 in. (24.8 × 20.2 × 14.6 cm)Plastic; Metal; Fibers, Man-madeThe Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza Collection2002.033.00030One molded, plastic, painted, caricature Halloween mask meant to be Nikita Khrushchev.
Mask has exaggerated features. Two patches of hair and eyebrows are painted gray, lips painted orangish with white teeth showing. Wide slits cut in mask for eyes, nostrils, and small slit for mouth below teeth. Forehead and eye wrinkles in face are emphasized with painted gray lines. Plastic is an all-over peachish color to suggest skin tone. Cheeks, tip of nose, forehead, underneath chin, and underneath eyes are painted in brighter orange color than lip color to suggest rosiness in the facial features of the mask. Glossy magenta lines painted in wide lines on lower lids of eye holes; long eye lashes painted on upper lids of eye holes. Gray speckles of paint on forehead and underneath chin. Molded ears stick out from the sides of the mask; painted orangish color on outside edges. The mask has no hair on 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 yellowed elastic cord strung through for wearing.
"MADE IN FRANCE" stamped in relief onto lower back edge of mask in double-chin area.
Mask is in good condition. Highest relief areas of mask have very minimal paint loss. Inside of mask is dirty; black flecks present throughout that are possibly mold. Removed by Stephanie Allen and Jan Masterson 04/11/2017. (JM 04/11/2017)Artifacts6623620.161290322624.765000000022103Mask14.6050292101Plastic Halloween mask in the form of a caricature of Nikita Khrushchev. At the height of the Cold War, this would have been a costume representing one of the nation's greatest enemies, the Communist leader of the Soviet Union.
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 elastic strung through for wearing.
"MADE IN FRANCE" is stamped in relief onto the lower back edge of the mask on the chin.CaricaturesPop CultureHalloweenMaskWorld leadersToysCold WarSatireRussiaCostumeKhrushchev, NikitaFranceThis mask, along with similar masks of John F. Kennedy and Fidel Castro, 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