New-York tribune., 1920-11-14

WV 'Su'Ptor 70 shape his figure.
Visitors from far corners of tho
giooe have como to view the exhibi.
uon' Kings have met them selves face
I" face IN wax there and been fattered
or mortified as the case might be. The
Duke of Wellington was discovered
once IN one of the exhibition halls gag
ing down with interest on the effiev
Oh the great Napoleon lying in state
on the same camp bedstead he used
at st. Helena. Wellington made some
immortal comment which Mr.. Tussaud
unfortunately fails to record.
During the war a sightseeing Co.
ionlal soldier, fresh from the trenches,
came to the figure of Kaiser Bill,
Living. dead or done in colored wax
to the soldier Kaiser Bill was Kaiser
Blil. Without waiting for orders from
any superior officer, he promptly bor-
rowed sword from the scabbard of
the Austrian Emperor, who was stand.
ing near by, and knocked the Kaiscr's
wax head off with a single mighty
blow. And afterward felt that he had
performed rather neat feat.
Madame Tussaud's is full of such
anecdote. The present Mr.. Tussaud
has possibly lived too intimately with
his wax figures to realize the full pos.
sibiiitles of romance, but he has done
we'll enough. He has packed his book
with entertaining "reminiscences of his
own day and those handed down from,
his ancestors.
Chief interest in the exhibit center.
about the collection of portraits mod.
eled during the French Revolution
As Hilaire Belize points out in his
introduction to the book:
Gwen though the famous collection
had dealt with nothing more than the
main figures of the Revolution and Of
the great wars that followed it, it
would have been possession of per-
manent and lasting historical value.
l am not sure if it had so remained,
stopped short at the efigies. of those
now long dead, it would not now re-
ceive a greater respect"
Most of these Revolutionary figures
were modelled by Nine. Tussaud, who
Lad acquired the art in the studio of
her uncle, Christopher Curtius. For a
time she lived in the court of Louis
NNI at Versailles as the protege of
Nine. Elizabeth and became intimate
with the important persons of the
Royahst party. Later, when the Rev
olution threatened, Curtius recalled
her to his studio.
During the days of terror, when the
streets of Paris were running red with
the blood of Revolutionists and Royal
lists alike, Nine. Tussaud was in con-
slant demand TO make models of heads
that were brought to her straight from
the guillotine. Often she was forced
by the terrorists to take the impress
sions OF the heads of her intimate and
loved friends. Thus she was compelled
to reproduce the lineaments Of Louis
XVI, Marie Antoinette, Princess de
Lamballe, Robespierre and many others.
When Jean Paul Marat was mur-
dered in his bath by Charlotte Corday,
Nine. Tussaud was Immediately called
upon to take dAst of Marat's head.
"They came for me-" Nine. Tus-
sauds own words are recorded, "to go
to Marats, house at once, and take with
ne what appliances I needed to make
an impression of his features. The
cadaverous aspect of the fiend make me
feel desperately i'll, but they stood over
me and forced me to perform the task"
Marat's model is still to be seen in
the exhibition lying in the bath in
which he was stabbed by the young
Norman girl. Mr.. Tussaud writes that
Surprise has sometimes been ex-
pressed by visitors that the bath in
which Marat was stabbed to death
should be so small and Of such a curious
shape"
From our own viewpoint, we are sur
prised that Tussauds visitors should be
surprised over this feature of the case.
The size of the tub seems small
point Why glide over the startling
fact that Jean Paul Marat received a
lady while still at his formal ablu-
tions? Apparently, Mr. Tussaud's visi-
tors have no time to worry about the
conventions of Revolutionary days.
With the Peace of Amicns in 1902,
Nine. Tussaud took her uncle's exhibi-
ton and her own models across the
Channel and began tour of England.
Meeting with satisfactory financial suc-
cess wherever she travelled, the idea oc-
Cured to her Of commanding perennial
attention by keeping the exhibition con-
stantly up to date through adding por-
traits of people whose names were on
everybody's lips. This principle has
been faithfully observed ever since,
while the exhibition has taken up per-
manent residence in London and been
handed down from one generation of
Tussauds to the next.
At the present day in England the
measure of mans personal success is
not infrequently estimated by whether
or not his figure is represented at
Nine. Tussaud's. But to be there for
the moment is not to be sure Of immor-
tality.
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