The Birmingham age-herald., 1913-05-04

ure he sleeps regularly and allows moth
| ing to interfere with his rest Eight
hours of sleep he requires. and never
fails to get it.
Turner was born in st. Joseph, Mo,
and has been in the theatrical and busi-
ness allied to it all HIS life. He began
his career an usher in the Tootle
! theatre in st. Joseph, for which he re-
ceved no pay, but got two passes each
week He then IS years old.
Altogether Turner has been % years
before the public Leaving St Joseph
he went to New York and for years he
was with Barnum & Bailey's Circus and
made trips abroad with amusement en-
terprises He has been an announcer,
an expert whistler in the band and can
whistle two notes above a brass band
! He has been with amusement enterprises
at Coney island and Brighton beach and
other resorts around New York. He ap-
peared in poses plastique in the Crea-
ton in Dreamand, at Coney island.
! Turner got the idea that he could i'm
personate a wax figure one day in New
| York nine years ago he stood in front
! of the display of a photograph gallery.
| There was an enlarged photograph in
the collection with particularly set fea-
! lures and staring eyes, perfectly rigid
pose Turner had heard of Frozo, the
| originator of the stunt, and he had heard
| of another man in California who was
doing a similar performance, but as a
profession it had never occurred to him
to go into It. The photograph set him
thinking. however. and he decided that a
real man who could leoll like that photo
graph would make a real sensation. Tur-
ner did not spend a long time in prac-
| tice, but started out to get an engage
ment. although he had never done the
act When he got his original engagement
and went into that window he was so
nervous for the first five minutes that he
| felt himself getting white. After five
minutes he said to himself: "Old chap,
YOU are as good as anybody who ever
did this act" He never has had any
! trouble since. Turner says that that to
some extent Is the secret of rigidity-
the control of mind over matter, the
will to do the thing. In preparation for
| going into his wax figure state, Turner
throws all of his muscles into a rigid
position. Long practice has given him
| perfect control of every muscle. includ-
! ing those of the eve, which are the most
important of all. for during his act Tur-
ner must not permit his eyeballs to move
hairs breadth. If he did, it would
! cause him to wink and the illusion would
be dispelled. Turner says there are
| s'Frozos" who can do the act perfectly
| with the exception that they must bat"
their eyes. These are "would-bes," he
saws. There are only about 25 of these
wax figure men IN the world, Turner
| says.
The Makeup
It takes Turner an hour and forty-fve
minutes to make up, and 1t takes him
| from a. minutes to an hour to remove
his makeup. First he applies cold cream
| and then three kinds of grease paint and
| two kinds of theatrical makeup powder.
| over the whole he sprays cold water,
! which congeals the paints and converts
| them into wax. After the wax is hardened
and his face dries the surplus powder is
busted off and the wax effect Is obtained
and he goes into the window. Turner
says he is the only "Rigo" who does not
wear a wig. He has secret process,
| he saws which makes the hair in his
head and around his eyes appear to be
| fmbedded in wax Turner's face with his
makeup off appears almost ashen due
| to the application of the makeup through
many years.
Turner does two kinds of wax acts.
One is demonstration act in a store
window in which it is necessary for him
to lift his arms with jerky effect, and
to throw his head forward and back
ward in a bumpy way like a wax doll.
Another is to sit motionless for hours
holding some article in his hand in
natural position. For example. one of
Turner's stunts is to sit at a soda foun-
tain with a glass clasped in one of his
hands which rests upon the marble coun-
ter. This is the human dummy act He
| will sit there for an hour and never move
! muscle. Persons will come in and
say: Don't sit there; that is a dummy
there"
! The Woman Who Tainted
| On one occasion a wax museum at
Brighton Beach had the wax figure of a
| policeman in front of its place. AS Jest
! Turner walked up in front of the police
| man. placed one hand on the wax figure
on his shoulder in an attitude of ar