London's waxy export

By jonathanblack Last edited 198 months ago
London's waxy export
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As befits a truly global capital, London has established itself as a hub in the important international trade of tourist-attracting human reproductions, importing Chinese warriors and exporting waxwork celebrities.

While the first crowds were taking a gander at 20 members of the Emperor Ying’s terracotta court at the British Museum, 51 waxworks produced by Madame Tussauds arrived in Washington DC, naked and apparently ready to party. The likes of Beyonce, George Clooney, Tom Cruise and Angelina Jolie will be inhabiting a room modelled after a celebrity nightclub in Tussauds' newest museum, and they came shipped from their London creators in the buff. The on-site designers in Washington will be responsible for getting some clothes on them before their clubbing starts – the wax museum opens on the 5th of October.

But it won’t just be the usual celebs at the Washington Tussauds. This is America’s capital after all, and it would be remiss not to include some politicians. The waxwork exporters at Tussauds in London, therefore, also had to do some homework in order to create special sculptures of local figures. The Londoners learnt of Thomas Jefferson’s gingery-ness to create a red-haired, freckled reproduction. And then there was a model session with four-time DC mayor Marion Barry, who was caught in a hotel room in 1990, smoking crack cocaine with a former girlfriend. Unfortunately for Marion, he’s ended up stuck in the dreary, schoolbook-sounding ‘Spirit of Washington’ room, rather than with the real party in the celebrity nightclub, which is probably where he’d rather be. Sorry Marion.

Flickr image from mharrsch's photostream.

Last Updated 17 September 2007