Making His Mark for a Good Cause

Donald Trump wouldn’t do it. But wife number two, Marla Maples Trump, dived right in.

“He would not roll his sleeves up,” sighed sculptor Melvin Slavick, pointing to the marble likeness he made of Trump’s hands, which stops short well before The Donald’s cuff links would have risked touching the gooey casting material.

Over the past three years, Slavick, 38, who lives and works out of a warehouse studio tucked behind auto body shops in an industrial section of Orange, said he has dedicated himself to creating 133 sets of famous hands, from former First Lady Nancy Reagan to actress Mira Sorvino to the late Sonny Bono and the Chicago Bulls’ Dennis Rodman.

The artist said he succeeded in persuading the celebrities to allow him to cast their hands on one condition: Proceeds from an upcoming auction of the sculptures will benefit their handpicked charities.

Now that all the hands are set, Slavick is ready to take the show on the road. But you won’t find the collection in an art gallery. Slavick said he wants to reach the masses.

“Most people, the regular ‘ma and pa,’ they don’t go to galleries; they travel to the mall. This whole show is about America, and America isn’t just about rich people,” says Slavick, who hopes to tour with the collection for about a year before auctioning off the artwork.

In the coming months, he’s scheduled to go to 15 malls throughout California, from San Diego to San Francisco. The first stop is in May at Santa Ana’s MainPlace.

But for now, the hands take up just about every available spot in Slavick’s studio.

There, in his combo kitchen-dining area is former President Bush, or his hands anyway, making the “V” for victory sign. Right next to it is a likeness of former First Lady Barbara Bush’s hands, appearing plump and friendly, like the woman herself.

Next are comedian Dana Carvey’s hands, and just beyond that are hip-hop star Coolio’s hands. Elsewhere, Nancy Reagan’s hands, stylish and marked by delicate wrinkles, perch above a dedication to the National Alzheimer’s Assn. Nail-biting actress Sorvino and the late Bono, his hands clasped as if in prayer, both have their place on a shelf.

The rich and famous didn’t all descend on Slavick’s studio. He went to them. Starting with Leno in June 1995, and finishing with Rodman in August 1998, Slavick and an assistant made the rounds of dressing rooms, Beverly Hills homes, and the occasional back alley, coaxing star golfers, journalists, magicians and singers to spend a few minutes plunging their hands into a bucket of the seaweed-based goo that he uses to create the casts that harden to take on the shape of the celebrities’ hands.

“Trisha Yearwood was singing at the Crazy Horse [in Santa Ana], and the management said we couldn’t do it inside. She said ‘Let’s do it out back,’ so I cast her hands right next to the dumpster,” said Slavick. “She was great.”

Adam Sandler’s house was another highlight. Slavick said it reminded him of a men’s college dorm. At the actor’s invitation, he sat down and had a bowl of cereal before getting to work.

The L.A. Lakers’ Shaquille O’Neal is the only one so far who required two buckets--one for each hand. After the cast is set, a marble mixture is poured inside, and Slavick creates the artwork by shaping and polishing the finished form.

Slavick has been doing casting all his life: “There isn’t a body part I haven’t done,” he boasts.

The artist made a comfortable living as a special sets designer for the likes of Disney, Knott’s Berry Farm and grade-B monster movies before he “retired” at age 31 after going through a painful divorce. He says he tries to live simply now, living off $1,600 in monthly interest he earns from a trust fund.

“I don’t live extravagantly,” he said.

When he retired, he began working with the Make-A-Wish Foundation, casting the hands of terminally ill children. Slavick said he dreamed up the “Helping Hands” project after being awed by the size of Shaq’s hands after he watched the Laker star on “The Tonight Show With Jay Leno” one night. Slavick decided to start with Leno, and faxed a letter to NBC asking for Leno’s cooperation. To his surprise, Leno agreed.

Now, it looks like the sculptures may have been the easy part. Slavick said he is struggling to come up with sponsors to help underwrite the more than $600,000 he says it will cost to tour the sculptures nationwide, including transportation and special shelves for the artwork.

He remains $5,000 short for the first show. But so far, no luck.

If sponsors don’t turn up, Slavick says, he will return the one-of-a-kind works to the celebrities, and they can auction them off or donate them to the charities themselves. A sports memorabilia dealer already looked him up to offer $20,000 for Wayne Gretzky’s hands holding a hockey puck. Slavick said he politely refused.

Slavick said he will earn nothing from the tour, and hopes to just have his expenses covered.

The charities earmarked by celebrities range from the Make-A-Wish Foundation to organizations that help abused children or promote medical research. For example, both Carvey and singer Tom Jones, whose miner father suffered from lung disease, have pledged proceeds from the sales of their hand sculptures to the American Lung Assn. of Orange County.

Executive director Diane Masseth-Jones of the association’s Orange County branch said Slavick’s work is to be celebrated.

“The guy is truly a community activist. He went and got 133 celebrities to participate in raising funds for charities. And . . . he’s done it with his own resources, his own money,” she said.