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The world-class city: Finally, we're getting a wax museum
By adamg on Wed, 06/07/2017 - 5:37pm
Orange Bird snuck a peek inside some space that is clearly under construction in One Washington Mall (that office building where the Staples is and where the health club used to be on that alley between City Hall Plaza and the Old State House), and, wait, does that say "Wax Museum"?
Why, yes, it does, thanks to some sleuthing by Erik Griswold, who led us to this Web site on the verge, which is already good enough to get the place listed on this Boston tourism site, which features photos of what will apparently be wax dummies of Amy Winehouse, Bruce Willis, Tom Cruise, Queen Elizabeth and that consumate Bostonian, Steve Jobs.
While we're mildly disappointed the slide show has no photos of a waxen James Michael Curley or a replica of Ted Williams's head, maybe they're saving the best for the unveiling.
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Comments
Boston Had a Wax Museum
In the 60s and 70s there was a Madam Tussaud's wax Museum at 179 Tremont Street, where the Emerson radio station is now. It was a popular attraction for a while. I was there once in the 60s, I recall it as being small, unimpressive and not well kept. If I recall correctly, there was a fire sometime in the 70s and some of the partially melted wax figures were salvaged and put on display at the nightclub Dummies on Comm Ave. , which is where the Paradise is now. I think the progression is that it was the Boston Club, then Dummies for a while, then the Paradise.
Not a fire. Someone broke in
Not a fire. Someone broke in and cut up most of the exhibits. It was too expensive to replace them and it closed. It was very popular and well liked with historic figures. Many schools took field trips there. A close friend worked there and lost her job which she loved. It was very sad.
I used to go there with my
I used to go there with my Dad regularly. Loved it, and still vividly remember the guy hanging from a hook in the "Chamber of Horrors" and the dead soldier with his eye hanging out in the Bunker Hill diorama. I don't recall it being "not well kept" but I was just a little kid and of course the whole neighborhood was a lot shabbier in those days.
I hear they were gonna have a
I hear they were gonna have a wax statue of Curt Schilling with the "bloody" sock but then he offered to stand still all day for $50 and a hot meal. He got fired on his first day of training after he got into a debate about evolution with a wax statue and lost.
About once a year ...
I pose the kidlet in front of the Curt Schilling Memorial Girder just outside Faneuil Hall Marketplace on the Greenway. I think she's sick of doing that.
It Has Been In The Planning Stages For About 2 Years
It is owned by a Brazilian Family, so it was jokingly called in the office the Brazilian Wax Museum before it had a name.
Fair play to them. If you can get people from Ohio to go to the same stores that they have at their local mall when they come to Quincy Market, what is stopping someone from making a buck on the backs of the summer hordes of State Street?
Genuinely curious: what is the appeal of wax museums?
I can't imagine they generate enough revenue from visitors coming for irony's sake after a boozy brunch seeing as they predate such things being en vogue.
To Tourists, It Sounds Nicer Than "Kidney Museum" ...
... more interesting than "String Museum"
... less dangerous than "Pinto Museum"
... easier to spell than "Garbanzo Museum"
... etc., etc.
( when they're deciding what museums to visit in "Beantown" )
A couple guesses
Tourists need things to do and seeing colonial era buildings gets "old" pretty fast, unless you are a real history buff. As such, things like the swan boats are a nice diversion. Similarly, going to a "museum" that is fun and modern seems like a good way to kill an hour.
Growing up, in my tourist town we had both the House of Frankenstein wax museum and Dr Morbid's house of wax. (They say that in the early incarnations, HOF had mainly leftover Charles Bronson statues for just about everyone, each with an appropriate wig to turn them into more relevant wax figures.)
Lake George?
I don't remember Dr. Morbid, but the House of Frankenstein features in some childhood-vacation memories, along with the Around the US/World in 18 holes putt putt courses, and the candy shop that promised that the next person who bought 100 lbs of fudge would win a free 5-ft cement duck (my siblings and I used to vow to our mom that we would one day bring her that duck but alas, it never came to be)
Bingo!
You win the prize, but alas, not a cement duck.
Dreamland?
I have to say holy shit on this one. The only other place I've seen a Dreamland is in Foz do Iguacu, Brazil, and it appears to be a Brazilian chain of wax museums. Makes sense given that the area has one of the biggest diasporas in the world, but I didn't think I'd ever see the brand again.
Should be a hoot!
http://dreamland.com.br/c/foz-do-iguacu/
RocknFitness was there
Probably still charging members credit cards even after the gym has been closed. That was an absolute nightmare to get out from, and I was not even a member of that outfit, but the super fitness that preceded it. I wonder if ABC Financial, the financing company behind RockNfitness, is run by the fake monk mafia.