[5] Cooper designed costumes and sets for the legendary Cotton Club in Harlem and several editions of the Ziegfeld Follies.

[7] By the late 1940s, Ben Cooper, Inc. was one of the largest and most prominent Halloween costume manufacturers in the United States.

[9] The company began selling its costumes through large retailers such as J. C. Penney, Sears, Woolworth's, and five-and-dime stores.

Terrified parents nationwide refused to allow their children to celebrate Halloween the following month, and sales of costumes plummeted and did not recover for several years.

[18] The company recovered around 1987, as total sales of accessories, costumes, and makeup rose at an annual rate of 20 percent a year.

[16][19] A 2024 documentary by Rob Caprilozzi, Dressing Up Halloween: The Story of Ben Cooper, Inc. traces the firm's corporate history.

[22] In 1980, they produced a set of "Marvel Super Heroes Action Figures," which were also flexible, non-articulated "jigglers," depicting Spider-Man, The Thing, Doctor Strange, and the evil Red Skull, the latter two possibly appearing as toys for the first time.

Ben Cooper, Inc.'s financial problems became so severe in 1988 that many customers left the firm and diverted licenses and business to its biggest competitor, Collegeville.

[28][31] The 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals considered the jurisdictional issue, found in Cooper's favor, and reinstated its original ruling in January 1991.

[32] Just days after the appellate court's second ruling, executives of Ben Cooper, Inc. announced they were moving the company to Greensboro, North Carolina.

[33] The company hoped to invest $6 million ($13,421,940) in building its new Greensboro facility, and said it would apply for a $600,000 Community Development Block Grant to help defray costs and provide jobs to low-income workers in the area.

[34] The company's chief executive officer said the cause of the second bankruptcy was due to relocation expenses, the early 1990s recession, and delays in obtaining bank loans.