Doing Business / MOVIELAND WAX MUSEUM : Waxing Nostalgic

Movieland Wax Museum in Buena Park hits the big three-oh Saturday, and its crew of sculptors and costumers are busy readying new wax figures to add to their sets in anticipation of a big 30th-birthday celebration scheduled for this summer.

New celebrities to be immortalized in wax include “Andy Griffith Show” cast members Griffith, Don Knotts and Jim Nabors, “Carol Burnett Show” regulars Tim Conway, Harvey Korman and Vicki Lawrence--who will join an existing Burnett statue--and such other notables from Hollywood as Tom Selleck, Julia Roberts, Robin Williams and Hulk Hogan.

Each wax head costs $3,000 to $4,000 to produce. The process is time-consuming and exacting:

A star is photographed and his or her face and body are measured.

A model of the head is sculpted from clay or wax; that model is then made into a hollow plaster or silicone rubber mold.

Wax is poured into the mold. After the wax has hardened, eye sockets are burned into the head and glass eyes are inserted; teeth are also set in, or they can be cast at the same time the mold is poured, using a dental acrylic.

A wooden fitting is attached to the head and neck so it can later be mounted onto a mannequin body.

* The head is painted to match the subject’s pigmentation and makeup; and hair is inserted strand by strand with a needle.

The finished head is attached to a body that has been simultaneously prepared, using mannequins or a body cast, that captures the star’s posture, height and proportions. Hands and exposed skin areas are attached to the body at this time as well.

* The finished waxwork is sent to a costumer to be dressed, and then it is moved to its display area.