Friday, June 3, 2011

Fun Fountain Clown Fountain Wham-O



The Fun Fountain clown sprinkler by Wham-O.

As the temperatures heat up, I remembered this freakish clown sprinkler toy. I believe the Wham-O Fun Fountain debuted around 1979 and continued its popularity into 1980. The idea behind the clown head sprinkler toy is attached to your family's garden hose. The force from the water stream keeps the cap suspended in the air. It's simply magical!

1979 Fun Fountain, creepy or cool?
Although I wanted one, my dad said something along the lines of, "We have a pool, no need for that plastic garbage." This meant no Wham-O Slip 'N Slide or Wham-O Fun Fountain for me.  Did you have one of these creepy, but cool clown head fountain sprinkler thingies? Some say when the clown hat fell on your back or head it wasn't very "fun." 

at

24 comments:

  1. AnonymousJune 3, 2011 at 8:56 AM

    OMG! I want one!!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. BigMikeJune 3, 2011 at 9:23 AM

    It never ever ever worked!

    ReplyDelete
  3. MoonDoggieJune 3, 2011 at 9:42 AM

    I've never seen one of these before but it looks great. I did have a swimsuit very similar to that stripy number though.

    ReplyDelete
  4. LL Cool JoeJune 3, 2011 at 10:18 AM

    Ha ha I've never seen one before, but my 12 year old would love it. I bet that hat falling on your head was no fun at all! Wham-o

    ReplyDelete
  5. UnknownJune 3, 2011 at 12:05 PM

    The clown one is awesome, but I didn't have that one. Back in the 80's I had one that was SUPPOSED to look like an octopus, but the face fell off. Instead, it looked like 8 dildos spraying all the neighborhood.

    Clowns > Dicks. The end

    ReplyDelete
  6. Pat TillettJune 3, 2011 at 12:22 PM

    Hey Ally!
    I remember those! Not when I was a kid though. We did have a slip and slip when I was a kid. They fun on a hot summer day. Right up until the time that you hit on of the little stakes that held it down.

    ReplyDelete
  7. edJune 3, 2011 at 12:32 PM

    does it really work?

    ReplyDelete
  8. BelleJune 3, 2011 at 1:16 PM

    My kids just played in a regular sprinkler, but my grandkids had a Slip n' Slide. They loved it.

    ReplyDelete
  9. Bossy BettyJune 3, 2011 at 2:39 PM

    Love it!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  10. CheeseboyJune 3, 2011 at 2:43 PM

    My neighbor had one. Smacked him in the face one day on the way up. Still laugh about it.

    ReplyDelete
  11. KristieJune 3, 2011 at 3:43 PM

    I remember you commenting on this when I posted about it a year ago or so. I loved this thing! We weren't lucky enough to have a pool when I was a kid, although my parents have since put in one after I graduated college. NO FAIR!

    ReplyDelete
  12. Ms. AJune 3, 2011 at 4:22 PM

    The Slip 'N Slide ruled over all the other stuff, including the Water Wiggle.

    ReplyDelete
  13. Blast from the PastJune 3, 2011 at 4:38 PM

    I would have loved to have one of those - they look like they were lots of fun. We did have a water wiggle, and we had a lot of fun with that!

    ReplyDelete
  14. AdaJune 3, 2011 at 9:42 PM

    That is such a cool toy!

    Although it raises the question of what other kind of inappropriate toys one could levitate with a sprinkler. My mind is awful.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Oilfield TrashJune 3, 2011 at 10:10 PM

    I had one of those when I was a kid.

    ReplyDelete
  16. AnonymousJune 3, 2011 at 10:49 PM

    Yep. I had one.

    ReplyDelete
  17. UnknownJune 4, 2011 at 12:56 AM

    Man... we had some fun with these Lil guys! If you didn't have good water pressure though.. you were sunk!!

    ReplyDelete
  18. JennyJune 5, 2011 at 2:22 PM

    You were the rich kids. We just got to play with the hose. On trickle. Once each summer.

    Sigh.

    ReplyDelete
  19. Anthony ScottJune 28, 2011 at 7:31 AM

    I was just eyeballing one on eBay. The price is too rich for my blood now, but I just read that they were recalled due to people getting smacked in the face with that clown hat. Guess that's why they're rare now...

    ReplyDelete
  20. AnonymousAugust 13, 2011 at 8:00 PM

    Found this when doing and Internet search for Fun Fountain. My sister and I host a podcast and in the latest episode we discuss the toy. CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO "MAD SIBS" or search for "Mad Sibs" on iTunes...we'd love to have your readers as our listeners! To answer the one poster, yes, it hurt like Hell when that clown hat hit you in the head!

    ReplyDelete
  21. b-chicaSeptember 12, 2011 at 4:48 PM

    Never had this. Based on some broken bits I remember seeing in my basement, we may have had some other semi-fun sprinkler when I was really, really young, but the sprinklers I remember were not fun; they were the ones that went around most of the way going "chuckt, chuckt, chuckt" and then "czhuuuuzt" as it went back the other way and it sprayed too hard to be fun to play in. I just wanted one of the oscillating ones that most people in my neighborhood had (http://www.lawnsprinklers.us/images/lawn-sprinkler-500.jpg) that looked fun to jump over. Now that I am too old to jump over sprinklers, my parents have one; my mother and I put plastic lawn chairs in the spray one day this year to cool off.

    ReplyDelete
  22. Matt BeemanMay 23, 2012 at 10:49 PM

    I had both the fountain and the slip and slide. Too bad they don't make toys like this anymore.

    ReplyDelete
  23. curleeequeSeptember 18, 2012 at 3:23 PM

    I had one and yes it worked! I loved it :) I wish they would bring it back. Although my kids are grown, my niece would love it!

    ReplyDelete
  24. UnknownJuly 20, 2013 at 1:32 PM

    My neighbour just handed me one for my girls, he found it in his mum's shed, my girls have had a ball with it all day

    ReplyDelete