The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1919-11-30
PERSH|NG FIGURE IS
| LATEST ADDITION TO
|. TESSAUD GALLERY
Famous Collection in Lon
don Is Still Visited by
Thousands of People
Every Year
BY GEO. t. BYE.

French Swiss lady famed for her
cereoplastic art, in which she had been
taught by an uncle renowned as
sculptor throughout Europe, moved
from Paris to London with her col
lection of war effigies of Napoleon. Vol |
| taire, Benjamin Franklin and all the
| other celebrities of the day. She was
Madame Tussaud few days ago her
! great grandson, John Theodore rus
saud, placed in the now universally ia
nous exhibition of Madame Tussaud
| & Sons. a perfect wax likeness OF
| Geoneral Pershing.
| Pershing stands in tableau com
posed of all the allied leaders, center
| ing around King George. President
| Wilson is on the Kings left and just
! behind him is Pershing, the most recent
addition to the group and one OF lhe
best examples of the Tuccaud art me
President is not quite himself, nor is
! the King, Lloyd George, Foch and Haig |
| But the commander in chief of the A
| E. F. Clemenceau and Poincare are
| perfect almost caught Black Jack |
! saying, I'm in a fine crowd, and mDl
| uniform fits perfectly and all that, but
| it. does get tiresome standing mere with
| one leg in front of the other for weeks
at a time" The programme identihes
| him as Gen Sir John ]. Pershing, since
| he was knighted by the King and is Sir
John whenever he is in Great Britain
| BENJAMIN Franklin sat for his por-
| trait model 1t was more necessary In
Mime. Tussaud's time to have sittlngs;
| photography was not well developed
| Now photographs are available OF all
| the world celebrities in all conceivable
poses.
| To go to Madame Tussaud's is red
| letter day for every British child. They
migrate to the exhibition from all cor
ners of the British Isles. Fathers and
! mothers are nearly as eager. Kings an6
| queens go there, too. and prime minis
| ters-to see themselves as others see
| them.
GALLERY OF PRESIDENT
The exhibition is housed in a large
steel building on Baker street. It's
| two floors are divided into great gal
| Iery halls, which are always crowded
| with human and wax figures. at least
/ the latter At nearly any time of the
day there is a line of people fling past
| the ticket office You enter and pass
| UP a marble staircase to the entrance
! hall where policeman stands in the
! doorway with a number of tickets in
| his hand. "f gave mine up down.
| stairs" you protest, and then look
|
| say word He's wax.
| Somewhat haughtily you move away
| from him to desk where a young
| woman in attendants uniform is bent
! over a book. sign on the desk, which
| has a reading lamp. advertises catalogs,
| Excuse me, I'll have catalog please"
| But she doesn't bulge, and you make
| u pyour mind once and for all that
| you'll address no more strangers until
hax civ
| life.
On the platform to the left of the
entrance is a standing array of Ameri-'
can Presidents, with Taft. Roosevelt
and Mckinley in the foreground To
the right is a similar gallery of French
Presidents. Then Charles Dickens
/ Kipling Bernard Shaw; little group
| of suffragettes, and another of ex
| plorers, famous aviators and aeronauts
including Walter Wellman the Ameri-
can Journalist who made the first at
tempt at flying the Atlantic in di-
rigible.
In tne grand hall are famous characters
in history, dead and living, great writer's
and musicians, statesmen, actors, De Les
seps who built the Suez canal and failed
in Nicaragua, and celebrated French
beauty lying asleep under a silken net her
bosom rising and falling most deceptively
in spite OF slight attack of bronchitis or
heaves in her electric bellows.
In the Hall of Kings are gathered all
the British kings in their chronological
seuuece with principal incidents in their
reigns noted This is an easy way to get
an outline of English history, and thou
sands of school children, at the suggestion
of their teachers avail themselves of the
valuable opportunity. Glasses go to the
museum in a body. In the catalogue his
tory none of the kings and queens are
spared analyses of objectionable traits
Passing a dark corner you see an old
man asleep OF chair. Pathetic sight.
You are inclined to slip a shilling in his
outstratched had. Poor old fellow. Fhen
you bite your lip and pass blithely on,
stopping farther down the hall to watch
the duil-nindea mob being taken in by
the wax trick.
the Napoleon rooms. These were col
lected personally by Madame Tussaud,
who was a friend of the Bonapartes. or
then fell later into the hands OF the rus
saud sons by purchase.
The military carriage OF the emperor
taken at Waterloo by the Prussians while
he escaped out side door has the place
of honor. 1t was specially built for Ma
poleon at the command of his second
wife. Marie Louise, for his ill-f>ted expe-
dition into Russia. 1t was with him on
his exile to Enba. and in 1t he rode on his
short campaign that ended at waterloo
Its PANELS were bullet proof 1t included
a polished stee bed with mattress;
writing DESK tciet case food hamper,
liquor case and compartments for maps
and telescopes Overhead was net for
clothing not unlike the Pullman variety.
His St. Helena carriage Is there. TOO,
and the bed ne died on. his uniform ana
underclething. riding whips coffee cups
chairs and tables. many intimate articles
associated with him. even the forceps his
personal dentist used in pulling tooth.
And of course there are relics of his
wives and relatives.
Before descending to the Chamber OF
Horrors you inspect the medieval mstru-
ments of torture. including the origihih
guillotine that decapitated Marie Antoi-
nette. Louis XIV and 10000 others in the
French revolution.
In the stone cellar below you md ali
the celebrated rogues (uncrowned and
without portforfcs) of Europe. There ,s
the bath tub in which the notorious BATH
murderer drowned his Various brides to
obtain their property, the very pistols and
knives that others used. And model
of an electric chair and a well known
gallows: gruesome relics of old NewSaee
prison. an executioner at his work. AMI,
an opium den man imprisoned fof
20 years is seen studying rats in his
Bastiile cell--rats that scurry and bob up
their heads dreadfully.
70 Commander Houses
BERLIN October 20.--The dwelling