If it was 1971 and you really liked clowns, chances are you could have filled every room in your house with these amazingly frightening lamps straight from the JCPenney catalog.
Don’t be too scared .. it’s just a little taste of John Wayne Gacy in every room… or Pennywise the Dancing Clown… or even that infamous clown from Poltergeist, though that one hadn’t yet terrorized anyone because this was 1971.
Maybe clowns were more simple and less sinister back then. Maybe all the clown-related events that have unfolded in the decades since have slowly morphed our collective clown repertoire into something darker. Because when I look at this picture, I don’t just see playful décor. I get a little heebie-jeebie feeling. There’s something about that blank, wide-eyed stare that hints at carnage rather than comfort.
I can’t help but wonder how many kids had one of these glowing in the corner of their bedroom. And I wonder if any are still around today.. tucked away in the back of an antique shop, or sitting quietly on some auction block.
Not that we’d buy one.
But we’d definitely like to see it… preferably displayed in someone else’s house.
