The Countdown to Christmas Continues... with "Bad Santa"

Today's Santa is a squeaky-clean grandpa figure thanks to decades of Rankin-Bass Christmas specials and the combined efforts of the mass media, toy manufacturers and retailers, and the packaged food and beverage industry ("Hellooo Coca-Cola!")



But the mid-century Santa... well... that Santa was "different."











You're probably familiar with the 1952 Christmas hit song, "I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus", but you may have missed the less-frequently heard lyrics, "I saw mommy showing Santa her seamed stockings"...



... and "I saw Santa checking out mommy's cleavage"...



... which would have been right at home in a Spike Jones parody song "recorded for Jones' own amusement."



Ah, the good ol' days!

* More mid-century Christmas ads and illustrations in my Mid-Cent X-Mas Flickr set.