Madame Tussauds

Madame Tussauds and the London Planetarium

Madame Tussauds is a wax museum in London with branches in a number of major cities. It was set up by wax sculptor Marie Tussaud. It was formerly spelt "Madame Tussaud's", but the apostrophe is no longer used.^[1][2]

History

Marie Tussaud, born Anna Maria Grosholtz (1761–1850) was born in Strasbourg, France. Her mother worked as a housekeeper for Dr. Philippe Curtius, who was a physician skilled in wax modelling. Curtius taught Tussaud the art of wax modelling. In 1765, Curtius made a waxwork of Marie-Jeanne du Barry, Louis XV's mistress. A cast of that mould is the oldest work currently on display. The first exhibition of Curtius' waxworks was shown in 1770, and attracted a large audience. The exhibition moved to the Palais Royal in Paris in 1776. He opened a second location on Boulevard du Temple in 1782, the "Caverne des Grands Voleurs", a precursor to the later Chamber of Horrors.

Tussaud created her first wax figure, of Voltaire, in 1777. Other famous people she modelled at that time include Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Benjamin Franklin. During the French Revolution she modelled many prominent victims. In her memoirs she claims that she would search through corpses to find the decapitated heads of executed citizens, from which she would make death masks. Following the doctor’s death in 1794, she inherited his vast collection of wax models and spent the next 33 years travelling around Europe. Her marriage to Francois Tussaud in 1795 lent a new name to the show – Madame Tussauds. In 1802, she went to London. As a result of the Franco-British war, she was unable to return to France, so she travelled throughout Great Britain and Ireland exhibiting her collection. For a time, it was displayed at the Lyceum Theatre. From 1831 she took a series of short leases on the "Baker Street Bazaar" (on the west side of Baker Street between Dorset Street and King Street) - which featured in the Druce Portland Case sequence of trials of 1898-1907. This became Tussaud's first permanent home in 1836.^[3]

By 1835 Marie had settled down in Baker Street, London, and opened a museum. One of the main attractions of her museum was the Chamber of Horrors. This part of the exhibition included victims of the French Revolution and newly created figures of murderers and other criminals. The name is often credited to a contributor to Punch in 1845, but Marie appears to have originated it herself, using it in advertising as early as 1843.^[4] Other famous people were added to the exhibition, including Horatio Nelson, and Sir Walter Scott. Some of the sculptures done by Marie Tussaud herself still exist. The gallery originally contained some 400 different figures, but fire damage in 1925, coupled with German bombs in 1941, has rendered most of these older models defunct. The casts themselves have survived (allowing the historical waxworks to be remade) – and these can be seen in the museum’s history exhibit. The oldest figure on display is that of Madame du Barry. Other ancient faces from the time of Tussaud include Robespierre, George III and Benjamin Franklin. In 1842, she made a self portrait which is now on display at the entrance of her museum. She died in her sleep on 15 April 1850.

By 1883 the restricted space and rising cost of the Baker Street site prompted her grandson (Joseph Randall) to commission the building at its current location on Marylebone Road. The new exhibition galleries were opened on 14 July 1884 and were a great success.^[5] However, the building costs, falling so soon after buying out his cousin Louisa's half share in the business in 1881, meant the business was under-funded. A limited company was formed in 1888 to attract fresh capital but had to be dissolved after disagreements between the family shareholders, and in February 1889 Tussaud's was sold to a group of businessmen lead by Edwin Josiah Poyser.^[6] Edward White, an artist dismissed by the new owners to save money, allegedly sent a parcel bomb to John Theodore Tussaud in June 1889 in revenge.^[7]

Madame Tussauds in New York City.

New Washington, D.C. location.

Madame Tussaud's wax museum has now grown to become a major tourist attraction in London, incorporating (until recently) the London Planetarium in its west wing. It has expanded with branches in Amsterdam, Berlin, Las Vegas, New York City, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Washington, D.C. and Hollywood. Today's wax figures at Tussauds include historical and royal figures, film stars, sports stars and famous murderers. Known as "Madame Tussauds" museums (no apostrophe), they are owned by a leisure company called Merlin Entertainments, following the acquisition of The Tussauds Group in May 2007.

In July 2008, Madame Tussauds' Berlin branch became embroiled in controversy when a 41-year old German man brushed past two guards and decapitated a wax figure depicting Adolf Hitler. This was believed to be an act of protest against showing the ruthless dictator alongside sports heroes, movie stars, and other historical figures. However, the statue has since been repaired and the perpetrator has admitted he attacked the statue to win a bet.^[8] The original model of Hitler, unveiled in Madame Tussauds London in April 1933 was frequently vandalised and a replacement in 1936 had to be carefully guarded.^[9][10]

Sculpture of Shakespeare, London

The wax sculpture of Andy Lau (劉德華), Hong Kong.

Madame Tussauds in popular culture

• Madame Tussauds is the focus of Steve Taylor's song "Meltdown (at Madame Tussauds)" in which the song talks about someone turning up the thermostat (and claims it never did work) and causing the wax figures to melt.^[11]
• The Doctor Who episode, "Spearhead from Space", features a scene at Madame Tussauds.
• In April 2009, the London Madame Tussauds appeared in an episode of LivingTV's paranormal programme Most Haunted.
• The museum was featured on the History Channel's series, Life After People: The Series.
• On November 3, 2009, the museum's New York City branch was featured in a segment on NBC's The Today Show in which weatherman Al Roker posed in place of his lifelike wax figure for two hours and startled unsuspecting visitors, who were at first led to believe they were viewing Roker's wax counterpart.

Trivia

• In 1894, Tussauds were sued by Alfred John Monson.^[12][13] Monson was tried for and acquitted of the murder of Cecil Hamborough. Tussauds placed a waxwork of Monson near to the Chamber of Horrors. Monson sued for libel and won, although the damages awarded were one farthing.^[14]
• Indian actor Aamir Khan is the only actor who has ever declined the offer of Madame Tussauds.^[15]
• Having been 18 at the time of his wax sculpture being made, Bill Kaulitz of Tokio Hotel is the youngest person ever to be immortalized in a statue of wax at Madame Tussauds'.

See also

• Madame Tussauds London
• Madame Tussauds Hong Kong
• Rock Circus

References

Notes

• "Man rips head from Hitler wax figure". http://www.reuters.com/article/oddlyEnoughNews/idUSN0547926220080705?feedType=RSS&feedName=oddlyEnoughNews. 
• "Museum's wax figure of Hitler is beheaded". http://www.philly.com/inquirer/world_us/23730109.html. 

Bibliography

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Madame Tussauds

Wikinews has news related to:

• Amy Winehouse wax model unveiled
• Man rips off Hitler waxwork's head in Berlin
• Wax Hitler will return to museum after repairs

• Berridge, Kate (2006). Madame Tussaud: A life in wax. New York: HarperCollins. ISBN 978-0-06-052847-8. 
• Chapman, Pauline (1984). Madame Tussaud's Chamber of Horrors: Two Hundred Years of Crime. London: Constable. ISBN 0-09-465620-7. 
• Deakin, Johnston and Markesinis (2008). Markesinis & Deakin's Tort Law. Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-928246-3. 
• Hervé, Francis (ed.) (1838). Madame Tussaud's Memoirs and Reminiscences of France, forming an abridged history of the French Revolution. London: Saunders & Otley. 
• McCallam, David (2002). "Waxing Revolutionary: Reflections on a Raid on a Waxworks at the Outbreak of the French Revolution". French History 16 (2): 153–173. doi:10.1093/fh/16.2.153. http://fh.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/reprint/16/2/153. .
• Pilbeam, Pamela (2006). Madame Tussaud: And the History of Waxworks. Continuum International Publishing Group. p. 100-104. ISBN 1852855118. http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=0XN85Rm85jEC&source=gbs_summary_s. 

External links

• Madame Tussauds - Official website
• [1] - Audio Review of Hollwood Location
• Steve Taylor music video - Meltdown (At Madame Tussauds)

Coordinates: 51°31′22″N 0°09′19″W / 51.52278°N 0.15528°W / 51.52278; -0.15528