And we thought that the commercialization of Christmas was a new thing. Here’s a great image from Victorian era England circa 1894 featuring Father Christmas as portrayed by the Brooke’s Monkey Brand Soap monkey. Actually, this simian huckster was quite a regular in the print ads of the time. If you click here it will take you to the Google Image search page with a large group of this great imagery.
Have Yourself a Monkey Soap Christmas
December 23, 2012 by redtreetimes
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Redtree Times 
A great (if somewhat creepy) image. Brooke’s Monkey Brand Soap was bought by Lever Brothers in 1899 and production was moved to its model village, Port Sunlight, where (to make this diversion a bit more relevant) you’ll find the Lady Lever Art Gallery.
Best wishes to you, Gary, and to your family and loved ones for the season and coming new year.
And a merry Christmas and a very happy 2013 to you, Mike. Hope all is well in your world.
On Sun, Dec 23, 2012 at 5:09 PM, Redtree Times
I nearly got lost on that linked image search page. There are a few things there that surprised me mightily – pretty racy stuff for Victorian England, made even more remarkable by the “creepy” factor Al mentioned.
I’ll have to refresh my memory on Father Christmas. Some of the items in the ad look to be traditional/symbolic – just not that monkey!