Today marks the end of an era in Lancaster County as the contents of the Discover Lancaster County History Museum were auctioned off one at a time. The figures and sets did not demand the same lucrative prices as the stars from the Movieland Wax Museum auction did, but some memorabilia fetched significant numbers. Here are a couple examples...
This James Hamilton figure, which is animatronic, sold at the auction for $500. It was made by the Creegan Company.
This figure was also sold at the auction, and was created by Dorfman Museum Figures. The figure and set sold for $275. It appears to be part of an interactive scene, but I don't know what it actually did. The figure is not very detailed, and I wonder if that has anything to do with the trick. Maybe his name is Roger Workman.
This sign draws visitors to make some noise, and that should activate the scene.Tags: Discover Lancaster Lancaster County Wax Museum Wax Figure Amish Auction
This figure is a self-portrait of Earl Dorfman, designer and creator of almost every major wax museum in the US from 1958 on. His son, Robert, continues to runs the business out of their factory in Baltimore but, with the demise of wax museums around the world, now specialized in singular figures and scenes for dozens of museums and attractions worldwide. IHis "lazy workman" tableaux became his signature for many of his wax museums and is truly an uncanny likeness of this great visionary. He is deeply missed. I was the last visitor to the National Museum of Lancaster County Heritage (like to refer to its original name) in December of last year and flew up from Atlanta to pay my last respects. Did a story on it for CBS radio and it was a really melancholy day for me. RIP
ReplyDeleteWhen you "woke up" the figure by making noise, a projector projected a "living" face onto the wax figure. The figure then blinked, opened its eyes, and "spoke" to the visitors via the projector and a speaker. It started out, "Oh my. Oh. You still here? How do you like the show so far? Man, I've been working on it for months!" and ended up, "You still here? You're trying to figure out if I'm alive? Man, I just don't work too hard, that's all. Go on, go look at the show. You paid your money. Go on. Go see. Let me sleep!"
ReplyDeleteThanks for the info Kasey. Disneyland recently added a figure to their Tom Sawyer's Island that does the same sort of thing. When you take a photograph the face is blank just like our handyman here.
ReplyDeleteI visited this musuem in the mid 70's as a kid. Loved it. I remember this exhibit fondly.
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