Friday, October 21, 2016

Movieland Wax Museum - Chamber of Horrors


Since Halloween is less than two weeks away, let's do another SCARY Movieland Wax Museum post!

The museum's Chamber of Horrors used to feature Elvira greeting guests at it's entrance.


Elvira even appeared in person at the unveiling of her wax likeness.


Her hand and footprints still exist in the cement out in front of the old museum building.....or what's left of the building. (As of today, the facade is still standing, but a large portion of the building behind the facade is currently being demolished. I'm not sure if any part of it will be kept, or if it is all going to be coming down. Hopefully, the celebrity hand and footprints out front will be preserved!)


I took that first Elvira photo during a visit to the museum back in 1991. I took the following two pics during my next visit which was in October of 2005, just a few days before the museum closed forever. At some point during those 14 years between my visits, Elvira was removed from the museum altogether (why?) and replaced with Lon Chaney Jr. as the Wolfman.



During a visit back in 1976, I had my picture taken with the Wolfman in the museum's "Monster Photo Gallery".



I found a similar shot for sale on eBay.


During that same visit back in 1976, my brother had his picture taken with the Frankenstein figure. Unfortunately, he can't find it, but a friend of mine gave me permission to post his souvenir photo of him with his brothers. I actually posted this one previously in my Movieland Wax Museum's Haunted House & Frankenstein post from last October.


Dracula "meets" the Mummy (Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff, respectively). These next two photos were taken in the Chamber of Horrors in 2005.



Dracula and his victim had originally appeared in a different setting as seen in this vintage postcard.


This photo of the Phantom of the Opera (Lon Chaney Sr.) and actress Mary Philbin as "Christine," was also taken in 2005.


Here's the official postcard shot of the same scene.


Vincent Price from House of Wax, taken in 2005:


Notice how the set had changed from when this professional shot was taken.


Norman Bates isn't quite himself today! This is how the Anthony Perkins figure appeared in 2005.


The scene was quite different back when this postcard shot was taken. Note the Psycho House up on the hill outside the window, and also the stuffed bird under glass on the table.


Michael Myers from the movie, Halloween:


And last but not least, we have Linda Blair (not credited on the clap board) from The Exorcist. The head on this figure rotated 360 degrees. Too bad it didn't also spew pea soup out of it's mouth!


Movieland has now been closed 11 years this month. The old sign is still standing (for now) out front. As you can see, a Starbuck's sign has been added to it. Starbuck's moved into the former Movieland gift shop (Starlite Gifts) long before the museum closed and it is still open for business today.


A theater complex and a butterfly pavilion are supposedly going to replace the former museum building. As mentioned earlier, this facade is also still standing at the moment. However, the letters on top of the building were recently removed. Last weekend, I shot some photos and video footage of certain parts of the museum being demolished. I will try to get those posted in the near future, if anyone is interested.


If you are an Elvira fan and want to watch a pretty funny clip of her interacting with her wax figure live at Movieland Wax Museum, you can click on the link below. It is from her official "Elvira, Mistress of the Dark" Facebook page, so you will probably need to be a member of Facebook in order to view it: Elvira on TV's Bloopers and Practical Jokes.

11 comments:

Unknown said...

Now That's Scary. :)

MRaymond said...

We last visited Movieland in 93. It was a nice compliment to Knots and Disney when you were on vacation from out of state. I think I still have photos somewhere.

TokyoMagic! said...

Josh, the Chamber of Horrors, the demolition of the building, or Elvira posing as a wax figure? Ha, ha! :-)

MRaymond, it's good to hear from you! I hope all is well with you! Have you ever thought of posting your photos online?

MRaymond said...

I've posted a few that I have on micechat and on the vintage Disneyland Facebook page. I've lost more pictures and slides from bad storage and military moves than I still have. Over 400 Ectachrome slides from the 70s disappeared after one move (along with some electronics in the same crate). Also lost were several 8mm film reels from the Matterhorn and pre-updating of Fantasyland. I get depressed thinking about it.

Major Pepperidge said...

I loved going to Movieland when I was a kid - even though I didn't know most of the movies or celebrities represented in the scenes. It was just so odd! We always liked the monsters and scary stuff the best; as far as I was concerned, the whole place should have been spooky.

I love the photo of you with the wolfman! ;-) I'm imagining a whole series of images with you photoshopped out. "Here's me in Hawaii!".

Meanwhile, I remember driving a ridiculous distance back in the 80's to get my Elvira "glow cup" from Der Wienerschnitzel! And I got 3D glasses from 7-11 to watch something on TV - "The Creature From the Black Lagoon"? "House of Wax"? The 3D didn't work very well, but Elvira kept throwing popcorn at the screen.

TokyoMagic! said...

MRaymond, I'm so sorry to hear that! :-(

Major, I also liked Movieland as a kid, even if I didn't know who all of the stars were. The monster scenes were the best! I love your idea for a series of pictures of me after I've removed myself from all of the photos....HA! And I remember when Elvira was broadcast in 3-D. I don't remember the movie that was shown, but I do remember her throwing the popcorn. I thought I read somewhere that she was the first person to be broadcast on television in 3-D, but now I can't seem to find any information about it. I still have my 3-D glasses from 7-11, but it's too bad they were just plain "generic" 3-D glasses without Elvira's image on them.

outsidetheberm said...

This is a great post! I especially like you posing as 'The Invisible Man'! Genius.

TokyoMagic! said...

Thanks, OTB! Invisible Man...HA, HA! I wish I had thought of that line!

Snow White Archive said...

Never got to visit, but I think I would have loved this place.

Unknown said...

...the last i visited MOVIELAND was in 1992,and my favorite was THE WIZARD OF OZ set, the closest i ever got to JUDY GARLAND , and i also got to see a pair of the Ruby Slippers..i just loved it.RANDOLPH BURNS,COLUMBUS,OHIO

TokyoMagic! said...

Randolph, welcome...and thanks for commenting! The Wizard of Oz set was always one of my favorites in the museum. My first visit to Movieland was as a child (in 1976) and I only took three photos. One of those was of the Wizard of Oz set and another one was of Tony Orlando and Dawn! I need to post those photos!