Monkeys

The Monkeys The monkey made his entry into the Humpty Dumpty circus around 1906 and probably performed until the 1930s. Two basic body designs are known. The earliest has a flesh painted two-part face, leather ears, and a red felt suit with yellow fringe. The later design has a dark nose, molded ears, and a red felt suit with fringe very much like the early suit. The early monkey's feet were carved deeper and the toes made longer than the later ones. The early monkey has been found with at least three hat styles shown below. The later monkey is known with three hat styles. Both monkey designs used electrical cord for tails. All monkeys have painted eyes - no decal eyes or glass eyes versions are known.
Photo by Jim Sneed from the collection of Jim Kramer White-face, Silk Hat The silk with the gold rickrack is the most commonly found hat on the white-face monkey. Photo by Jim Sneed from the collection of Andy Yaffee Photo by Jim Sneed from the collection of Jim Sneed White-face, Tall Felt Hat This monkey was found in a group from ca 1910. He wears a rare brimless felt hat. The hat is supported by a wooden cone.	Photo by Jim Sneed from the collection of Jim Kramer Dark Face, Felt Hat The red felt hat is sometimes found on the later monkey. It sits on a small cone. Some later monkeys have their face undercoat painted a much lighter color than others. This felt hat features a simple overcast stitching for a rim. This felt hat seems to be simply rolled up a little to form a rim. Some later monkeys like this one were painted with a toothy smile. Dark-face, Silk Hat Most later monkeys have red felt hats but this one has a "silk" hat with gold rickrack about 1/4 the way up the hat. The rim of the hat has an overcastting stitch. Note that the face undercoat in this sample is a dark grey color. Tooling marks are evident on this monkey's face. The ruff may not be original to this piece as we have not seen it on any other monkeys. No teeth are showing in this one's smile.
White-face, Short White Felt Hat This is an early monkey with a rare white felt hat. Early monkeys have two-part heads. Photo by Jim Sneed from the collection of Susan Turner White-face, Short Red Felt Hat This is a rare early monkey hat - red felt with a white cloth band around its brim.	Photo by Jim Sneed from the collection of Jim Sneed The early monkey on the right is slightly taller than the later one on the left.