Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1958-03-12
Woxworks Museum to Open Sunday
With 50 Figures Of U. S. History

VIII ~ lIS
Lifelike figures Of American
history step out of their pages
here Sunday.
In q handsomely renovated,
onetime Foggy Bottom brewery
stable, the new National His
torical Waxworks Museum be-
gins its animated still life pres
entation at 500 Twenty-sixth
street NV.
The opening is set for pm,
wit hdaily hours running from
8 am. to 9 pm. thereafter.
In natural settings and, in
some instances, with true an
tiQues. the 15-tabIeaux produc-
ton has an initial cast of about
SO figures, lifelike enough to
|startle first viewers.
The tableaux run from Co
lumbus' landing without re-
newing the controversy Of where
he actually landed1 through
the great hieh-Water marks of
American history. Through It
|all, the horror scenes SO often
associated with wax museums,
has been supplanted BY history.
on They March
Columbus opens the lesson,
| followed BY the Pocohontas-
John Smith scene. Then fol-
low, as in page-turnine, q
Salem witchcraft trial, signing
the Declaration Of Independ-
Ience; Betsy Ross at work on
the first American flag; the
Alexander Hamilton-AaronB Burr
duel.
On the figures march--Davy
Crockett at the Alamo, the dis
covery Of gold at Suffers Mil,
the Grant-Lee scene at Appa-
mattox, Lincoln in Ford's The
alter, with death at his head;
Gen. Pershing standing elo-
quently alone in his niche.
There are the three impress
sive figures of Yalta and Presi-
dent and Mrs. Eisenhower.
In full and natural array in
the Hall of Great Americans
stand such figures as John d.
Rockefeller, Henry Ford
Thomas Edison, Samuel Com
pers. George Washington Car
yer, Prof. Einstein, Stonewall
jackson and Andrew jackson,
Dolly Madison, Harriet Beecher
Stowe. Clara Barton and
Eleanor Roosevelt. To COM
lplete the cross-section, there
stand Bobby Jones, Jack Demp-
sey. Jim Thorpe and Babe
Until a few days before, the
scene was one of co-ordinated
chaos. Harry S. Truman arrived
in halves and Gen. Lafayette,
preparing for appearance in
the Mount Vernon scene, came
to the museum with a broken
leg.
Only yesterday, the real palm
trunks for the Columbus scene
arrived for placement, each
weighing 400 pounds. Teddy
Roosevelt was getting a last
minute couture and they were
Tightening Davy Crockett's grip
on his dubbed rifle on the
Alamo ramparts amid slain
Mexican troopers.
A cooperative incorporation
if there ever was one, the
museum is the product of
Historic Figures, Inc, q homer
town organization.
It had its beginning in Paris
five years ago because Richard
j. Riddell, 3l25 Chain Bridge
road, and his four children were
entranced with the Musee
Grevin.
They voiced their thanks to
the man who sent them there
veteran newsman Frank L. Den
mis-, then director of informa-
ton for the Marshall Plan in
Europe.
why don't we have some-
thing like that in Washington"
Mr.. Dennis asked, and Mr.. Rid
dell echoed the opinion.
Reputation In Europe
Mr.. Dennis Immediately
opened correspondence, con-
tinued it after a transfer to
Rome. THE talent for making
wax figures had always seemed
confined to Europe" he said.
land that seemed the obvious
place to look"
He had about decided on a
French expert when he was re-
turned to Washington.
Then Earl Dorfman, of Bal
timore, a former display man
at Hecht's and more recently
an expert in mannequin work,
stepped on the scene.
Mr.. Dorfman returned to
Washington a few weeks later,
met Mr.. Dennis in a restaurant