Stars Frozen in Time

The golden years of Hollywood saw a nearly endless legion of talented actors and beloved stars come and go. At the Movieland Wax Museum in Buena Park, California, many of those figures actually gathered and lived together for decades... in wax.

Created in 1962 by Allen Parkinson, Movieland went through several shifts in ownership but enjoyed a hugely successful run as America’s biggest wax museum and a frequent tourist attraction. Visitors could gaze at their favorite screen icons and learn about their lives and work as they strolled through the building’s many ‘sets’ designed for the ambience of their Tinseltown subjects.

Those subjects included everyone from Rudolph Valentino and Tom Mix to Marilyn Monroe and Clark Gable to Jennifer Lopez. An accompanying ‘Starprint Gallery’ collected famous cement hand prints to view as well.

Inevitably, time has cast a curious shadow on some of the choices that the artists made for the subjects of their creations. Bill Clinton, Billy Ray Cyrus, Ricky Martin and the Olsen Twins are a few that might have seemed appropriate for about a week or two but now only serve to forever boggle your pop culture mind.

In 2005 the waxy star palace finally closed its doors after 43 unrivaled years. The building itself has since been demolished and will apparently be set aside for what will be the world’s largest butterfly observatory!

Now only a fantastic memory of ‘celluloid heroes’, the Movieland Wax Museum is remembered for its first-rate showcasing of those greats of the silver screen with imagination and artistry that brought it all to the masses in style.

Acknowledgement: Thank you to Daveland for use of the photos in this story. Check out his blog, photography and art at davelandweb.com.

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Christopher Robinson

When the Circus Rocked Into Town

Copyright by Preview London (1992) Rock Circus

For about 12 years and through the duration of the 1990s, the celebrated Madame Tussaud’s featured a wildly ambitious and sensational wax museum and show in Piccadilly Circus that showcased the legends of rock and roll in an unprecedented multi-media experience.

The musical aspects of the dazzling but short-lived exhibit were emphasized by its animatronic technology which brought various performers to life using selected movement enhanced with audio synchronization and occasional special effects. Narration and song clips were played on visitors’ headsets using infra-red capabilities depending on where they were and what direction they were facing within the exhibit. The tour climaxed with an animatronic “live” concert which represented different styles, trends and stages in rock history.

Copyright by Thames News

Many life size fan favorites were displayed in the finale as well as throughout the exhibit's walking tour including The Beatles, Elton John, Led Zeppelin, The Who, Bob Marley, Elvis, Madonna, The Jacksons, Rod Stewart, Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis, Stevie Wonder, Sting, The Sex Pistols, Sam Cooke and... Liberace- ???

Copyright by ROCK CIRCUS. London. Piccadilly Circus 1993

While some of the exhibit’s thematic concepts were trite, erroneous and cliched, one can’t deny that they told an engaging and colorful story. Similarly, the revered roster of heroes was an overtly subjective one and understandably English. The absence of many major rock stars at Rock Circus would inevitably give scores of visitors cause to complain, spurn and mock. Indeed there were a number of inclusions that most rock fans would protest on the basis of having never heard their names before!

Copyright by Madame Tussauds Rock and Roll Museum

In any case, it would be financial reasons that led to Rock Circus’s 2001 closing and probably not matters regarding the content of the exhibit or its general popularity. For those Londoners and tourists who took that magical mystery tour, however, it proved quite “brilliant” and provided a once-in-a-lifetime glimpse at an idealized rock music journey that only the Madame herself could have pulled off. Rock on, blokes!

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Christopher Robinson