The Clapper Board, also know as The Applause Board, was a set of animatronic animal hands that would clap at the end of the show. They were used from 1979 till the early-90s.
Design[]
The clapper board has four different designs. The first generation design had elephant, duck, horse, and dog hands clapping. The elephant also had their trunk sticking in along with tusks and a red bowtie. The second generation design had elephant, frog, horse, and dog hands clapping. The second generation removed the elephant's tusks and bowtie. It also flipped the horse's and dog's colors with each other. The third generation was the same as the second generation but it switched the frog for the duck. The fourth generation is the cyberamic and portait versions combined into one.
History[]
The clapper board would clap after each showtape. This was mostly likely to tell customers when they could clap as well. They were originally installed at the San Jose, California (370 S Winchester Blvd) location and the Kooser Road (San Jose) location. Later versions were installed between 1979-1983. The clapper board went extinct from stores between the mid-1980s and early-1990s, besides at the Lake Forest location.
Only three clapper boards are known to still exist today. They are located at Rocky and the Ramblin' Rascals, Marvin's Marvelous Mechanical Museum, and Smitty's Super Service Station. Only Smitty's Super Service Station has a working clapper board.
.jpg "The Clapper Board (1st Generation).jpg (6 KB)")
.webp "Clapper Board (1st Generation).webp (6 KB)")
.png "The Clapper Board (2nd Generation).png (329 KB)")
.webp "Clapper Board (3rd Generation).webp (8 KB)")
