MADAME TUSSAUD'S HEADLESS HORRORS

The original creator of the Wax Museum has inspired more than a few monster movies over the years, the most prominent being Lionel Atwill's MYSTERY OF THE WAX MUSEUM (1933) and Vincent Price's HOUSE OF WAX (1953).

Madame Tussaud at age 42.

Born on December 1, 1761 in Strasbourg, France, Anna Maria Grosholtz lost her father in the Seven Years War only two months before her birth. She was brought up by a physician benefactor as his housekeeper, and, in his spare time, taught her the art of wax sculpting. She later put this to good use after marrying her husband François Tussaud in 1875; she went to London with a "wax museum" exhibit of murderers and other notorious personages (see the wax image of Adolph Hitler at the top of this post). The show was a smash and Maria, now known as "Madame Tussaud" (tyso), with the help of her son, set up wax museums all over the world.

Madame Tussaud's, London.

Her most famous exhibit was the "Chamber of Horrors" in London which displayed the decapitated heads of history's victims and villain's, a number who literally lost their heads under the blade of the infamous guillotine, of which a model was also exhibited. It was closed under the inexorable scourge of political correctness in 2016 as a result of "complaints" (!). Despite the suffering under the modern-day malleus maleficarum, the many locations of Madame Tussaud remain very popular tourist destinations and still bringing in crowds.

Poster, 1935

Execution of Charles Peace by William Marwood, 1879.

The offending "victims on a stick" exhibit .

Following is an article that appeared in the September/October issue of NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC HISTORY, which provides further insight of this amazing woman and her artistic accomplishments.

And here is a feature on MYSTERY OF THE WAX MUSEUM in FAMOUS MONSTERS OF FILMLAND #113 (Jan. 1975):