The Movieland Wax Museum sign, 90’ tall, was a fixture on Beach Boulevard for the longest time. Now it’s long gone with the closure of the wax museum in 2005 and its demolition in 2016. There is a Movieland Wax Museum of the Stars, one of the many attractions, at Clifton Hill, Niagara Falls, Canada. Movieland Wax Museum formerly in Buena Park opened in 1962 by Allen H. Parkinson. He visited Madame Tussaud’s wax museum in London which itself had opened in 1835! I went to that wax museum in 2009. Parkinson also built the Japanese Village and Deer Park in 1967 after visited Nara Park in Japan. It closed in 1975. The wax museum figures and sets were auctioned off in 2006. I wonder some of them are at the Niagara Falls wax museum, the Hollywood Wax Museum, or the Hollywood Museum (the latter of which will be in a future review).
There was a round building that was the museum gift shop before the wax museum itself. To either side is the Starprint Gallery which is like the hand and footprints outside of the TCL Chinese Theatre. Looking at the list of many celebrities, it’s shame I didn’t take pics of all of them. The only one I took was of Ray Charles who visited on 3/6/81. It was Hollywood celebrity in Orange County. One of the first displays was the set and wax figures, Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks, from The Taming of the Shrew (1929). Pickford was the silent screen legend who was at the Grand Opening on May 4, 1962. The wax museum had a description of the figures, “Each star portrayed is life-size with uncanny characteristics & likeness. Facial features, body & bone structure are recreated precisely according to the measurements taken at photo sessions. Skin tone and hair, implanted strand by strand, are exactly color matched.” In many cases with the lighting, some of the figures do look like a scene captured from the movies, others are very plastic.
Movieland Wax Museum, before it closed, 2005, photo by the author.
Movieland also described its presentation of the wax figures, “Original costumes & studio props are obtained whenever possible to ensure authenticity. In order to enhance the enjoyment of visitors, special lighting, sound effects & imiginative animation are used throughout the museum.” Mary Pickford’s Katherine features her dress from the film, beautiful yellow with silver trim, it was great to see it in person when the movie is in black & white. Above the clapboard that was used in films was Wax Facts giving some trivia. There was also the “Flat as a Pancake Hat” from comedy legend, Buster Keaton on a display from the short film, Day Dreams (1922). I recall Keaton in the Twilight Zone episode, “Once Upon a Time” (1961). Also, Charlie Chaplin was featured from The Goldrush (1925). If you have not seen it, don’t miss Chaplin (1992), directed by Richard Attenborough and starred Robert Downey, Jr. in a stunning performance before the MCU.
There were other figures from the Golden Age of Hollywood. The Marx Brothers from Animal Crackers (1930), Laurel and Hardy, and Abbott and Costello showing the “Who’s on First” routine. My favorite is probably The Little Rascals showing Alfalfa in a dentist’s chair for the comedy short, “The Awful Tooth” (1938). Sophia Loren had a realistic wax figure for Two Women (1961). She gifted her dress from the film to Movieland and won the Academy Award for her performance in the war drama. One of the most memorable scenes was Gene Kelly (Don Lockwood) hanging off of a lamp post with his umbrella while rain splatters next to a wall from Singin’ in the Rain (1952). Plus, there was the Dorothy and friends walking down the Yellow Brick Road from Wizard of Oz (1939). It was only exceeded by the Great Movie Ride at Hollywood Studios. The attraction closed in 2017 replaced by Mickey & Minne’s Runaway Railway in 2020. There was a small recreation of the Enterprise bridge with all of the characters from the classic Star Trek. A note mentions that all of the actors had visited the Movieland set.
The Wizard of Oz display, Tin Man, Dorothy, Scarecrow, and Cowardly Lion, author’s photo.
There was also Robbie the Robot from Forbidden Planet (1956) though no Altaira (Anne Francis). In the Chambers of Horrors, was the figure of the Terminator (Arnold Scharzenegger) bursting through a brick wall on a motorcycle from Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991). Strangely, a bloody Xenomorph from Alien (1979) was standing in a cave. Also in the horror section was Frankenstein’s monster, approved by Boris Karloff, but with strange, bendy arms. There was a fantastic Phantom of the Opera (1925) set lit with eerie, green light and highlighting the figures of The Phantom (Lon Chaney) and Mary Philbin’s Christine. Standing by a gate was Basil Rathbone’s Sherlock Holmes form The Hound of the Baskervilles (1939). A slightly deteriorated Gill Man appeared from a pool of water from Creature from the Black Lagoon (1954). At the end of the walk through the wax museum was the Fortress of Solitude from Superman (1978) with Christopher Reeve’s Superman in an odd expression surrounded by crystals. Movieland Wax Museum was an appreciation of classic movies and television, some recent mvoies, that has been missing for some time.
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