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Sapolio was first manufactured in 1869 by Enoch Morgan's Sons Co. Its world-cleansing career began in 1883, when a high-powered adman named Artemas Ward was hired to push Sapolio sales. Adman Ward took a cake of greasy, gritty soap and put it in almost every grocery store in the U. S. A.

This set of advertising cards illustrate scenes from HMS Pinafore, and each bears a parody of a song associated with the character or characters depicted.

 

We sail the ocean blue
And our saucy ship's a beauty.
We're sober men and true,
And attentive to our duty.
Our cutlasses are bright,
Our marlinspikes are gleaming,
And like a polished table top
Our good ship's decks are seeming.
And if you ask what makes them so,
We answer, 'tis SAPOLIO.

  I'm called Little Buttercup — dear little Buttercup,
Though I could never tell why:
But still I'm called Buttercup, poor Little Buttercup,
Sweet Little Buttercup I.
I've snuff and tobaccy, and excellent jacky,
I've scissors and watches and knives.
I've ribbons and laces to set off the faces
Of pretty young sweethearts and wives.
But the thing I most treasure I'll tell you with pleasure,
It beats every soap that I know
For washing the dishes or what else you wishes
And it's Morgan's SAPOLIO.
  Capt. C. I am the captain of the Pinafore
All. And a right good captain too.
Capt. My sword in the light is exceedingly bright,
And so are my guns so true.
And they dazzle the eyes of the dastard foe,
For they're polished up with SAPOLIO.
And I hope you do not doubt it, that I never am without it,
That I never am without SAPOLIO.
All. What never?
Capt. No never!
All. What never?
Capt. Hardly ever!
All. He's hardly ever without SAPOLIO.
  When I was a lad, I served a term
As office boy to an attorney's firm;
I cleaned the windows and I swept the floor
And I polished up the handle of the big front door.
I polished up that handle so carefullee
That now I am the ruler of the Queen's Navee,
But I couldn't have polished it bright I know
If I had not used SAPOLIO.
  Sir J.P. I am the monarch of the sea,
And SAPOLIO is what saved me,
For when the storm did loudly roar,
And the ship went down off a rocky shore,
With a cake of SAPOLIO from the store
I gently washed myself ashore,
Therefore its praise I loudly chants,
Hebe. And so do his sisters and his cousins and his aunts,
His sisters and his cousins, whom he reckons up by dozens, and his aunts.




Capt. C. Fair moon, to thee I sing
Bright regent of the heaven,
Say, why do you shine so bright,
After the hour is seven?
Moon. O gentle Captain Corcoran,
The reason you shall know:
They shine me up the whole day long
Bright with SAPOLIO.

  MORAL  
 
Bright as the Moon will all things grow
When polished with SAPOLIO.
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Page modified 12 August 2007