The towers were created by Melbourne designer, Rupert Brown, for the opening of Luna Park 1935. The image of a mouth as an entrance can be traced to Balinese temples and the entrance to Hades Sculpture in the 'Villa d'este' in Italy. Arthur Barton, the creator of many of Luna Park's amusement rides and features, changed the original "glum" disposition to the now familiar smile. More recently, Martin Sharp introduced the current clown's face. The face and towers are classic examples of thirties art deco styling. The face is holed in an incandescent sun-burst which introduces the popular thirties chevron motif, while the towers themselves rise to lofty scalloped pinnacles with emulate the skyscraper forms seen in the Chrysler Building in New York. One of the most interesting aspects of this structure is the use of lighting (originally neon until a fire in the harbourside tower, when it was replaced by incandescent), outlining the face and towers.

Original Ray Neon Design Drawing 1934 ^

1935^

1960's ^