TUSSAUD’S COLLECTION.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 5105, 25 March 1927, Page 4

TUSSAUD’S COLLECTION.

A NEW CHAMBER OF HORRORS.

REMODELLING WELL UNDER WAY.

At tlie back .of certain galleries some of the greatest criminals and celebrities the world has known are gathering together, their numbers swelling slowly but surely, prior to bursting upon the world of London in their 'full horror and glory. By the courtesy of their Com-mander-in-Chief, a representative of the "Morning Post” was admitted to their meeting place, and, from the gallery above, looked down upon a scene difficult to describe. Armless, legless, headless bodies o’f men, women, and children lay about in all directions. A grinning head could be seen here, a naked foot there, and a headless man in evening dress lay with his knees drawn up as though he bad died in agony.

A 'few figures stood about in groups. Bismarck and Horatio Bottomley glared at one another, while Alfred the Great looked on gravely amused. Patrick Mahon and Mrs Thompson and Bywaters kept company with Landru ; Burke and Hare were not far away. A great statesman’s legs, arrayed in a pair of shoes and socks, of which there was little le'ft but holes, were set upon' a. stool.

A lightly-clad lady glanced superciliously at her next-door neighbour a gentleman in a tie and one suspender. A poet peeped shyly round the do'-r, and the notorious Mrs Dyer glared ferociously at an inoffensive little man in a tailless shirt.

The stillborn figures o.f Madame Tossy ud’s, With their eyes of glass and their hair of flax, They only stare whatever you ax, For their ears, you know, are nothing but wax.

For this is what this chamber of tragedy and comedy contains—all that was left of the famous wax figures of Madame Tussaud's vast collection after the great fire.

In the studios and rooms surrounding this vast chamber the work of remodelling and redressing the figures v.'as being carried out. A new collar has to be made for Mr Gladstone ; Charles Peace has been measured for a new suit; Nelson has been supplied with a new head ; King John is being fitted with a new pair of legs. Of the 500 figures that will eventually comprise the new collection about 200 have been' completed. Others have to be washed and have their, complexions restored, their hair attended to by the hairdresser, and their clothes, where new ones are not required, sent to the cleaners. Women were busy stitching on tapes with the wearer’s name clearly marked on each to piles of garments belonging to such celebrities as QueenCaroline, Charlotte Corda.v, the exKaiser, and others.

Mr John Tussaud was busy modelling a. head of Mussolini, which, with Sir Oliver Lodge, Mr Tim Healy, Sir Alan Cobham, Sir James Barrie, Sabatini, Hindenburg, and many other equally celebrated people, will be included in the new Madame Tussaud’s. It is hoped that the collection will be completed in time 'for next Christmas.