The strange era when kids could buy live monkeys

The strange era when kids could buy live monkeys through the post via comic book ads.

A regular ad in late Sixties and early Seventies comic books offered “a darling pet monkey”, and who wouldn’t want one of those?

Back in the glory days of the comic book ad pages, it was generally a given that the product being advertised was not going to live up to the extravagant hype. X-Ray Spex did not allow you to see through girls clothing. The Atomic Submarine was made of cardboard. The Lifesize Ghost was a balloon. And, most shamefully unlike the advertised product, Sea Monkeys were just tiny brine shrimp. But now and again, the advertisers delivered exactly what they promised, and of course, these instances were always the most horrific imaginable.

It cost a whopping $18.95, at a time when most mail order tat was a quarter of that, so you knew you were in for something special. And for that price, you not only got a monkey who would share your lollipops, plus a cage, a collar and leash, free toy and ‘instructions’. Though no food seems to have been supplied.  Naturally, the arrival of an excitable monkey was often an unexpected surprise for parents, and indeed the local neighborhood when the furious beast successfully made a bid for freedom after savaging the household. There are a couple of film-worthy stories online from people who bought monkeys – spoiler alert: it doesn’t always end well.