Madam Tussaud’s

Wax Museum

Student: Coordinating teacher :

May 2018

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Introduction

Madame Tussauds is a wax museum in London with smaller museums in a number

of other major cities. It was founded by wax sculptor Marie Tussaud. It used to be
known as "Madame Tussaud's"; The apostrophe is no longer used. Madame
Tussauds is a major tourist attraction in London, displaying the waxworks of
famous and historical people as well as film characters.

History

Marie Tussaud was born as Marie Grosholtz in 1761 in Strasbourg, France. Her
mother worked as a housekeeper for Dr. Philippe Curtius in Bern, Switzerland,
who was a physician skilled in wax modeling. Curtius taught Tussaud the art of
wax modelling. He moved to Paris and took his young apprentice, only 6 years old,
with him.

Tussaud created her first wax sculpture in 1777 of Voltaire. At the age of 17 she
became the art tutor to King Louis XVI of France’s sister, Madame Elizabeth, at
the Palace of Versailles. During the French Revolution she was imprisoned for
three months awaiting execution, but was released after the intervention of an
influential friend. Other famous people whom she modelled included Jean-Jacques
Rousseau and Benjamin Franklin. During the Revolution, she modelled many
prominent victims. She claims that she would search through corpses to find the
severed heads of executed citizens, from which she would make death masks. Her

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death masks were held up as revolutionary flags and paraded through the streets of
Paris.

She inherited the doctor's vast collection of wax models following his death in
1794, and spent the next 33 years travelling around Europe. She married Francois
Tussaud in 1795, and the show acquired a new name: Madame Tussaud's. In 1802,
she accepted an invitation from Paul Philidor, a magic lantern and phantasmagoria
pioneer, to exhibit her work alongside his show at the Lyceum Theatre, London.
She did not fare particularly well financially, with Philidor taking half of her
profits.

She was unable to return to France because of the Napoleonic Wars, so she
traveled throughout Great Britain and Ireland exhibiting her collection. From 1831,
she took a series of short leases on the upper floor of "Baker Street Bazaar" (on the
west side of Baker Street, Dorset Street, and King Street), which later featured in
the Druce-Portland case sequence of trials of 1898–1907. This became Tussaud's
first permanent home in 1836.

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Origins

Poster for the Tussaud wax figure's exhibition, Baker Street, London 1835.

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.
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.

This part of the exhibition included victims of the French Revolution and newly
created figures of murderers and other criminals. Other famous people were added,
including Lord Nelson and Sir Walter Scott.

Some sculptures still exist that were done by Marie Tussaud herself. 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, the work of Curtius from 1765 and part of the
waxworks left to Tussaud at his death. Other faces from the time of Tussaud
include Robespierre and George III. 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.

Bernard Tussaud finishes the wax figure of Lady Alice Scott and the Duke of
Gloucester - 1935.10.16

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

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were a great success. However, Randall had bought out his cousin Louisa's half
share in the business in 1881, and that plus the building costs meant that 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 Tussaud's was sold to a group of businessmen in February 1889
led by Edwin Josiah Poyser.

Edward White was an artist who was dismissed by the new owners to save
money; he allegedly sent a parcel bomb to John Theodore Tussaud in June 1889 in
revenge.

The first sculpture of a young Winston Churchill was made in 1908, with a total
of ten made since. The first overseas branch of Madame Tussauds was opened in
Amsterdam in 1970.

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Current status

Wikinews has related news:

Amy Winehouse wax model unveiled

Man rips off Hitler waxwork's head in Berlin

Wax Hitler will return to museum after three years of repairs

Madame Tussaud's wax museum has now become a major tourist attraction in
London, incorporating (until 2010) the London Planetarium in its west wing and a
large animated dark ride, The Spirit of London, opened in 1993. Today's wax
figures at Tussauds include historical and royal figures, film stars, sports stars, and
famous murderers. It is known as "Madame Tussauds" museums (no apostrophe)
and is 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 that he attacked the statue to win a bet. The original model
of Hitler was unveiled in Madame Tussauds London in April 1933; it was
frequently vandalised and a 1936 replacement had to be carefully guarded.

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 In November 2015, Madame Tussauds announced that it would open a museum
in New Delhi in 2017.

Trinidadian-American recording artist Nicki Minaj's statue at the Las Vegas

museum was provided extra security following an act of vandalism by one of her
fans who took some "inappropriate" photos in June 2015.[citation needed]

In January 2016, the statue of Adolf Hitler was removed from the London
museum in response to an open letter sent by a staff writer of The Jewish Journal
of Greater Los Angeles, followed by significant support for its removal from social
media.

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In popular culture

Celebrity poses with their wax figures

Many times celebrities pose like their wax figures as pranks and publicity stunts.

On 3 November 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.

In 2010, Ozzy Osbourne did similarly in New York to promote his Scream
(2010) album.

In 2012, One Direction posed as their statues in the London museum, as a prank
for the TV series Surprise Surprise.

National Basketball Association players Carmelo Anthony and Jeremy Lin

pranked fans during the unveiling of their statues at the New York and San
Francisco museums, respectively.

In 2015, Arnold Schwarzenegger posed as the Terminator statue in the

Hollywood museum, to promote a charity event.

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 Madame Tussauds New York

Madame Tussauds New York the family themselves pronounce it is a wax

museum located on 42nd Street close to Times Square in New York City. Madame
Tussauds was founded by the wax sculptor, Marie Tussaud, and is now operated by
the United Kingdom-based entertainment company, Merlin Entertainments. The
Madame Tussauds New York location opened in 2000 with five floors of attraction
space and over 200 figures; it has quickly become a popular destination in New
York City.

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Recent figure launches

Lionel Messi

In May 2015, Madame Tussauds New York officially unveiled the wax figure of
soccer icon and star forward for FC Barcelona Lionel Messi. The dynamic wax
figure features Lionel Messi mid-kick as he prepares to score a goal. The figure is
wearing his recognizable #10 team Argentina jersey, as he wore it during the 2014
FIFA World Cup games in Brazil. Studio artists from Madame Tussauds worked
for 4 months to create his figure, calculating over 250 measurements from photo
and video references of the athlete in order to perfectly recreate his appearance and
capture his on-the-field intensity. His figure is located in the all-new Sports Zone
at Madame Tussauds New York and is part of an interactive soccer simulator
where visitors can practice their best Messi kick in a virtual soccer arena.

Ed Sheeran
On May 28, 2015, Madame Tussauds announced the unveiling of award-
winning singer-songwriter, Ed Sheeran. The unveiling event, featuring Sheeran
himself, took place at Madame Tussauds New York in Times Square and his
figure currently resides in the recently renovated Music Experience room.

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Sheeran worked closely with the Madame Tussauds team who spent hours
sitting with the star taking over 250 measurements, identifying exact eye color,
and detailing each strand of hair. The figure, which is the first time the star has
been immortalized in wax by Madame Tussauds, features every intricate detail,
including each of his colorful tattoos and a few childhood scars. He generously
donated the figure's attire and a Martin & Co. guitar and guitar strap.

Pink
The high-flying figure of the legendary singer, Pink, was installed on June 25,
2015 and is on prominent display, soaring mid-air at 25 feet on silk ropes in the
Madame Tussauds New York lobby. The completion of the newly redesigned
lobby marked the continuation of Madame Tussauds' investment in their Times
Square location. Pink's figure, which was meticulously created from research by
Madame Tussauds' Studio Artists over the course of many months, features the
singer on aerial ropes reminiscent of her 2014 tour acrobatics. The ropes are the
made of 100% silk and are the same as those used by actual aerial gymnasts.

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 Biography :
Wikinews
Wikipedia
Google Images

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