BUENA PARK : Wax Sculptor’s Work Has a Star Quality

Edward G. Robinson’s head lies in a box of foam plastic. Too many people have tried to pull a gun from his left hand, which has been mended together several times.

The rest of the movie gangster’s frame stands completely bare, except for a pair of spats on his feet.

This relic of movies past desperately needs a Movieland Wax Museum comeback. For Bill King, Robinson may be gone from the gallery but he’s not forgotten.

“He was in a pretty vulnerable position because he was placed close to the public,” said King, the museum’s sculptor in residence. “Sometimes they’ll want a souvenir like a finger.”

King can spend two months creating new figures for the museum, but his work doesn’t end there. In time, with the ravages of wear and tear and simple old age, the wax stars need face lifts and hair implants. King looks after more than 250 figures, some of which date to 1962, when Movieland first opened.

“There are some that were built so they would last forever and others that are not so good,” King said from his second-floor studio behind the museum, where heads of William Holden and Gloria Swanson hang from the ceiling. Boxes of hands fill shelves, next to touch-up paints and wigs.

“I’m a lot more aware of the problems with the figures,” he said. “Even a careful observer won’t see them. But now I know them so well I can spot them.”

Once a month, King inspects the museum’s 250 figures, looking for anything out of place or in need of repair. Last week, he had to mend Red Skelton’s finger and repair Gloria Estefan’s broken nail.

“My little girl thinks this is what all daddies do--repair hands,” said King, 47, a former theater arts professor who has been with the museum for three years.

But work sometimes means recasting a figure, as happened with Mae West. Her figure became top heavy, and was gradually collapsing. Several months ago, he did major work on Yul Brynner, who had been on the set of “The King and I” for years.

“All the king’s toes had been smashed and his nipples had fallen off,” King said.

Older figures are more susceptible to damage. Some were created by molding wax over plaster, which tends to crack. Now, figures are often made of more durable fiberglass, and wax is used only where the flesh is exposed.

As for those souvenir-greedy tourists, pulling parts from the likes of Roy Clark or Zasu Pitts will trip an alarm in the museum. And King makes repairs so that the celebrities can better withstand the unfriendly guests. For example, Robinson’s hand will be replaced by fiberglass and his gun molded onto the figure.

Save for the private parts, all of the figures are anatomically correct. King has a catalogue of everything from the size of a celebrity’s nose to the length of a middle finger. Sometimes the sculptors measure the celebrities themselves, or have to rely on what the stars tell them.

“They have embellished it a bit,” he said. “It’s a little embarrassing when they stand next to them and they (the stars) are a little shorter.”

King’s maintenance duties go beyond looking out for wear and tear. Sometimes celebrities are pulled from the museum because their popularity has waned. (Gina Lollobrigida, once scantily clad in lace, lies naked on the studio shelf, and will be replaced by a new Eddie Murphy.) Or the celebrities change themselves.

“Michael Jackson,” King said. “Whenever he changes his look, we do a new Michael Jackson.”