Bristol Zoo chimpanzee tea party

In a FB group for zoo things i found that. The owner allowed me to share this on STS

Very nice. The chimps at the tea party have a better life than those in the cage. The chimps in the cage are Britains; Britains also made a chimp tea party.

Taylor or Barrett for the boxed set? Can't remember which, but in lead it would have been Taylor & Barrett!!

H

What a wonderful tea party, I love these vintage models!

I am sure that when the Portuguese Princess, Katerine of Braganza set the tea as a fashion in England, this kind of tea parties were not in her conjectures. I remember Willy talking a long time ago about the Britains set, now this one. It seems this kind of entertainement lasted for more than 50 years and the fact that these shows were replicated as souvenirs, show how much appreciated and popular they were. I understand, how much closer you are from a human, more you look like a perfect clown. Thus, we all know who are the perfect clowns.

Great sets !!! Please thank the owner for letting you show us the pictures
It is amazing that they are in such a good condition !!

RogerGB , - yes, imagine it is not many years since wild animals were kept in cages like that
I don't consider myself extremely old, but can remember it .

RogerP, - as always you know the history
This is very interesting, and makes the set extremely precious.

These days I would not be surprised if somebody wanted to forbid sets like these, just like the wonderful children's books by Laura Ingalls, Pipi Longstocking's father, several old songs etc.
"Uhh it is bad taste, so let's bury our history" : the children must not know

I thought the toy manufacturers had a lot of imagination with their chimp tea parties, but I now realise that they really existed in zoos . There was even a tea producer that advertised on TV with chimp tea parties (the brand still exists): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z5em8lQAcvg

Yes,tea parties with not just chimps were very common in zoos up until the 1960s.The other things that were common as well at the same time were rides on camels and elephants and also carts pulled by Llamas. The TV chimps,I remember when I was younger and they were as you say used by a certain tea company and quite a common sight on TV.