Chickasha Leg Lamp

In the 1983 classic A Christmas Story, chaos breaks out in the family when Mr. Parker, the narrator’s father, receives an enormous lamp fashioned to look like a fishnet-clad leg balanced on a stiletto. More than a generation later, in November 2022, the small town of Chickasha, Oklahoma, erected a 40-foot-tall replica of the famous lamp, which rests atop a 10-foot-tall box marked “FRAGILE,” or as Mr. Parker says in the film, “Fra-gee-lay! It must be Italian.”

So how did this slightly salacious piece of holiday kitsch wind up here? According to locals, Noland James, an art professor at the University of Oklahoma and a Chickasha native, had a similar lady-shaped lamp in his office, albeit with two legs instead of one. A student later went on to work on the production design of the movie, leading James to believe that his lamp was the inspiration for the one in the movie.

After James passed away at the age of 89, the town rallied to have the leg erected in his honor. At night, just as Robbie narrates in the movie, the lamp glows green with “the soft glow of electric sex.”