“Greatest Show In Wax”

Popular Mechanics – January 1952

By: James F. Scheer

[only portions pertaining to Danny were included. To read the entire article, click the above link.]

Before Bernard Tussaud even raises a finger to interpret his subjects in wax, a great deal of work must be done. What happened to screen star Danny Kaye is typical of the experience most celebrities endure to gain near immortality at Madame Tussaud’s Wax Museum on Baker Street.

Danny had to sit and stand for 12 stereoscopic photographs as well as for 20 to 24 more or less candid shots. Then he had a thorough going over with a pair of calipers for finding eight head measurements—between eyes, from tip of nose to point of chin, from point of chin to back of head, between lobes of ears, between base of nose and lower ear-tip, lower lip to point of chin, upper lip to base of nose and bridge of nose to hairline.
Before Kaye had knew what had happened he felt tape measures around ankles, wrists and necks. Then came measurements for vital statistics such as tailors keep on file for their most exacting customers. Next a barber shaved off the most minute hair of his hands, up to the wrists. With plaster of paris applied as a cast from wrist to finger tips, Kaye was forced, for an hour and a half, to refrain from talking by hand.


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