Cigarettes and suffragettes... look out, it’s a non-PC cracker!
TODAY’S Christmas crackers contain nothing more offensive than awful, groan-inducing puns – but it wasn’t always so.
Over their history they have included novelty items and messages that would appal modern politically correct sensibilities, including racist language, real cigarettes, ‘amusing’ souvenirs of the fatal women’s rights struggle and Father Christmas posing with the latest military hardware.
A 1921 box of crackers called La Cigarette included real cigarettes and ‘a magic matchbox’. Each cracker came with a verse promoting the ‘joys’ of the vice, such as: ‘Some says girls shouldn’t smoke; What stuff! What do they know about it; When every woman has a puff; And wouldn’t be without it.’
Our Charming Prince, a box of crackers dedicated to then Prince of Wales, also included cigarettes among the novelties designed to reflect the future King Edward VIII’s passions.
And decades before drinkdriving became taboo, a 1923 box called Xmas Motoring featured a miniature bottle of champagne.
These are among thousands of products found in the archives of the family business set up by Tom Smith, a baker’s son who invented the Christmas cracker in 1847, and remains the official supplier of crackers to the Royal Household.
The firm’s catalogues, now held by the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, show that the company would historically market crackers with a specific theme – and drew on some very unlikely sources for inspiration.
In 1914, the firm produced its Votes For Women crackers which were reproduced in the violet, white and green associated with the suffragette movement.
The crackers – produced a year after Emily Davison died under the King’s horse at the Derby – contained ‘souvenirs of the agitation’ and came with the claim they were ‘amusing to all and offensive to none’. But each box warned: ‘Not recommended for juveniles.’
Similarly in 1881 the Parnell’s Portmanteau selection tried to cap- italise on the public’s fascination with Irish nationalist l eader Charles Parnell.
The cracker was described as ‘being full of fun with no political significance’ and contained such politically incorrect novelties as ‘grotesque Irish costumes... Paddy’s hats, peasant shawls and aprons with shamrock leaves.’
In the 1920s, the company churned out crackers to cash in on popular pastimes such as jazz, cinema and radio. A 1924 box which was dedicated to ‘up-to-date dances’ such as ‘the foxtrot, the hesitation waltz and the one-step’ would no doubt find favour with fans of Strictly Come Dancing.
But boxes dedicated to the joys of fox and stag hunting – containing ‘stirrups, riding crop, horse, hurdles, bull stage and other amazing novelties’ – might prove more contentious today.
Some of the company’s biggest selling ranges were dedicated to the British Imperial rule. Empire Crackers were decorated with the national flags of the colonies and a box called Cosmopolitan illustrated just how the British regarded their place in he world, with items representing nations, including fans (Japan), battleships (England), teapots (China), and syphon and soda glass (USA).
Some of the crackers of the day would now be seen as offensively racist, using such terms as ‘sambo’ – while a Black And White collection for another company, Batger & Co, features an exaggerated minstrel-style entertainer.
Tom Smith was quick to embrace the patriotism unleashed by the First World War and produced crackers included Big Gun Crackers and Trophies of War which featured a ‘Hun’s hat’; while another range even featured a picture of Father Christmas driving a tank.
But the firm – now owned by Cardiff-based International Greetings UK – was sensitive to changes in the public mood. In 1932 the Talisman range included the swastika alongside other lucky charms. But the traditional Hindu symbol was dropped from the 1933 catalogue after Adolf Hitler’s rise to power.