The most sought-after bodies in Los Angeles

Despite little in the way of advertising, snob-appeal or celebrity dazzle, Hollywood-style “buzz” has made “Body Worlds: The Anatomical Exhibition of Real Human Bodies” the most popular offering ever at the California Science Center in Exposition Park.

The palaver over cadavers has even sunk the Titanic: Since opening in September, “Body Worlds” -- featuring preserved whole bodies and parts in various graphic stages of dissection -- has attracted more than 600,000 visitors, more than doubling the record set with the Science Center’s presentation of “Titanic: The Artifact Exhibit,” which drew about 240,000 people in 2003.

To accommodate expected last-minute crowds, the Science Center will be open around the clock for the first time in its history, from 7 a.m. today to midnight Sunday. (Tickets for 9:15 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. today are already sold out, representing 8,300 more visitors.)

In terms of content, “Body Worlds” can hardly be compared to a popular art exhibition, such as 1999’s “Van Gogh’s Van Goghs” at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Nor can its eclectic visitors be compared to the self-consciously arty, star-studded crowd that attended the Museum of Contemporary Art’s 2002 “Andy Warhol Retrospective” (Van Gogh and Warhol drew about 800,000 and 200,000 people, respectively).

So, as the exhibition prepares to close Sunday at midnight, it’s time for the postmortem. Why see dead people?

“Some friends of ours came to see it and they were just taken by it -- and one of them is actually an ex-chief of paramedics,” said Sheri Soladar, who brought her daughter Shelby, 12, and son Chadman, 9, in from the San Fernando Valley on Thursday, before the weekend crowds descended. “I thought it was so important that I took them out of school, and I never take them out of school.”

Museum President Jeffrey N. Rudolph believes that it’s word of mouth, the kind that often spells success for a small or independent film, that is responsible for the show’s unusual attendance pattern, which has seen the audience build rather than decline since the opening. Usually, he said, a large crowd attends the opening days, then peters out.

The buzz was supplemented by a push from the Los Angeles Visitors and Convention Bureau, L.A. Inc. Although an exhibition at a nonprofit state museum could never afford a Hollywood-style ad campaign, Carol Martinez, associate vice president of L.A. Inc., says the bureau marketed the exhibition heavily to travelers.

“Any time L.A. can host ‘the first,’ ‘the only,’ it helps our tourism business,” she said.

USC marketing professor David Stewart observed that although only a segment of the population is interested in “Titanic,” everybody has a body. “In some cases, it is probably the same audience that likes to play the video games with lots of blood and gore. There is a certain morbidity associated with it,” Stewart said. “But it’s also appealing as a learning tool, and it’s a good family outing. It’s one of those kinds of exhibits whose popularity grows from being able to appeal to multiple segments of the population for quite different reasons.”

Certainly the opportunity for learning is what prompted Inhee Shinn, 50, a student of Oriental medicine, to drive in from Orange County. She busily compared a wall display of brain slices with what she saw in the textbook she carried. “I like this, this is real,” she said.

All of the whole bodies in the exhibition were donated, but to preserve anonymity no details are revealed about how they died.

Long Beach middle school teacher Marissa Maccarelli, 27, said the lack of details only made her more curious. “I’m intrigued by them not saying what happened,” she offered.

Greer Shephard, executive producer of the Golden Globe-winning FX cable TV series “Nip/Tuck,” featuring graphic depictions of plastic surgery, has seen “Body Worlds” and said both shows tap into the historical fascination with death that dates to gladiators and public executions.

“Morbidity has always been a spectator sport,” she said.

But, she added, just as “Nip/Tuck” or a violent movie provide a certain comfortable protection from reality, so does “Body Worlds.” “Whether it be celluloid or plastic, it separates the viewer and makes it safe,” she said.

Although previous “Body Worlds” shows in Europe and Asia spawned protests over the idea of displaying real bodies for public inspection, museum President Rudolph reported that no such outrage accompanied the Los Angeles show -- in fact, more than 50 patrons have signed up to donate their bodies for plastination, including Rudolph.

Because of the success of the current show, a second exhibition, “Body Worlds 2,” will open at the Science Center on Jan. 29 with a whole new set of specimens. Among the highlights: “Suicide by Fat -- Obesity Revealed.”

USC’s Stewart guesses the fact that the exhibition is presented by a science center lends some ethical credibility. But he also said he thinks U.S. audiences may be more open to controversial subject matter than those elsewhere.

“I also think you can put a Southern California or Los Angeles overlay on that,” Stewart said. “Hollywood’s in our backyard, we tend to be much more into fantasy or special effects.”

Plastination, he said, is a very special effect.