(1890-1969)
One of the great athletes in Hawaiian history, Duke Kahanamoku greats visitors in the old Hawaiian Wax Museum. Standing in the lobby with a Koa canoe paddle, this figure is an example of Hawaiian hospitality. Behind him is a traditional surf board weighing 114 pounds, and measuring 16 feet tall! Named after the Duke of Edinburgh, who visited the island in 1869, Duke was a Gold Medalist in swimming during the
1912 Olympics in Stockholm. After a brief film career, he became a sheriff, and an ambassador of good will for Hawaii.
The Hawaiian Wax Museum focused its collection on Hawaiian history from the early settlers (around 500 A.D) to annexation by the United States of America (1898).
View more information on Duke Kahanamoku
here.
Tags:
Hawaii Wax Museum Wax Figure Wax Duke Kahanamoku
2 comments:
Aloha kakou -
The reason the HWM folded in the
1970s (its lifespan was less than a decade) was that it ran afoul of the property
usage desires of the owners of
the Princess Kaiulani Hotel. Its demise played out in public auctions and anguished press accounts of its creators struggles
to save it. At length a battered
remnant of figures was purchased
by a Canadian company and shipped
to Lahaina. That venture was short
lived and the last of the museum
figures/sets ended up at the Maui
County dump.
Thanks so much for the information. That is so sad. Wax figures are expensive to make and very time consuming. To see them end up in a dump is heartbreaking. There's a wax museum in Lancaster Penn. that is going through the exact same challenge. They were supposed to be relocated, but an auction of the figures is scheduled for May 19th. It's better than the dump.
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