On the first day of Christmas, a New Jersey dentist gave to me: A sexy mannequin lawn party. Not so much to me, specifically, as to all of us — this being the season of giving, and all. Yes, it appears Santa (Clifton's Wayne Gangi) has received your letters and responded accordingly, constructing a vampy "12 Babes of Christmas" display in front of his office.
As has been the case with Gangi's previous mannequin works, it features plastic women outfitted in skimpy lingerie (this time, crimson, for Christmas) and various other, unrelated characters, like a Cookie Monster, and deer. It's all cordoned off with caution tape to avoid a repeat of the situation that unfolded over the summer. You remember, when one of Gangi's neighbors — outraged that her teen son, "a good boy," had to look at so many stimulating ladies, and by the apparent sexism of it all — hacked apart his racy Easter display? A real bloodbath, and nobody needs that on Christmas.
As usual, though, the mannequins have polarized Clifton. Some locals have deemed them "trashy" and "misogynistic," according to NorthJersey.com, as well as inappropriate for children. Still others appreciate Gangi's efforts to create a small and sultry winter wonderland. "They have very nice decorations, full of lights, and it’s really beautiful,” Clifton resident Divya Tailor told CBS New York. "It’s always nice to see a beautiful lady,” another onlooker commented.
For his Yuletide tribute, Gangi perched one of the inert babes — sporting festive, candy cane-striped stockings and a red negligee trimmed in white faux fur — on the top tier of a stone fountain, where she limply sits like a dead-eye Elf on the Shelf (only, you know, hot). Meanwhile, her compatriots wave their disjointed wrists at passersby, alluringly. Gangi told North Jersey he's adding a new character every day, and that once he has all 12 babes installed, he will add his pièce de résistance.
"It may be Trump. It may be Biden," Gangi said. "I don't know yet." Some of you may see this as a real lose-lose — who wants to watch either of these men get sexy on a lawn, when you could have had a horny nativity scene? — but Gangi knows his audience. "I get women out here taking selfies," he said, "and lots of younger single guys who tell me thank you."
Give the people what they want! Give them sexy and alarming mannequins.
"12 Babes of Christmas," like the Easter and Halloween tributes that preceded it, will be a philanthropic venture. In October, for example, he raised $3,500 for St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital. And what's more, he can write this shit off as a promotional expense for his dental office. So who's laughing now??
