Remember that invention called “The Clapper” and the commercials for it?

I do.

We were sitting around, watching television one day, when all of a sudden a commercial came on for this thing called “The Clapper.”  It was a device that you affixed to your lamp.  By simply clapping  your hands you could turn the lamp on.  Clap again, and the lamp turned off.

There was even a song that went with the commercial.

Clap-On [clap, clap]

Clap-Off [clap, clap]

Clap-On, Clap Off

The Clapper [clap-clap]

The purpose of the Clapper was that you could turn the light on and off without getting up.  The commercial showed people this – turning lights on and off without leaving the couch.

The last segment of the commercial was of an elderly woman in bed who claps off a television that is glowing blue snow.  She claps and collapses back into slumber.  What convenience!

I have yet to meet a person who owns a clapper.  In fact, I have yet to meet a person who has any device that turns lights on and off remotely.  Despite all the devices that have come our way in the last few decades, people still turn light on and off the fashioned way.

Except for Orthodox Jews on the Shabbos.