Business Notes NEW PRODUCTS

What could be homelier than Cabbage Patch dolls but just as ripe for adoption? Answer: the pumpkin-patch crew. The hottest novelty craze is a crop of leering foam pumpkin heads called the OH Lantern family. More than 1 million of the ugly mugs have been sold for as much as $17 apiece only two months after their debut. The OH Lanterns, whose seedy pasts are described on their packages, include Father Jack, Mother Jody and their unsavory kinfolk.

The pumpkins are the creation of Todd Masters, 27, a Hollywood slime-and- ooze specialist who learned the trade while working on such films as Poltergeist II and Predator. Says Masters, who has eavesdropped on shoppers as they pick his pumpkins: "They usually compare them to someone they know."