Mystery of the Wax Museum

Mystery of the Wax Museum is a 1933 American Pre-Code mystery-horror film released by Warner Bros. in two-color Technicolor and directed by Michael Curtiz. The film stars Lionel Atwill, Fay Wray, Glenda Farrell, and Frank McHugh.

This film is notable as the last dramatic fiction film made, along with Warner's Doctor X, in the two-color Technicolor process. (Constance Bennett filmed two documentaries; Legong: Dance of the Virgins (1935) and Kilou the Killer Tiger (1936) using the old process.)

Plot

Ivan Igor (Lionel Atwill) is a sculptor who operates a wax museum in 1921 London. He gives a private tour to a friend and an investor, showing them sculptures of Joan of Arc, Voltaire, and his favorite, Marie Antoinette. Formerly a stone sculptor who did wax modeling as a hobby, he explains he turned to wax sculpting completely because he felt more "satisfied" that he could reproduce "the warmth, flesh, and blood of life far more better in wax than in cold stone". The investor, impressed by his sculptures, offers to submit Igor's work to the Royal Academy after he returns from a trip.

Wax museum

A wax museum or waxworks usually consists of a collection of wax sculptures representing famous people from history and contemporary personalities exhibited in lifelike poses, wearing real clothes.

Some wax museums have a special section dubbed the 'chamber of horrors' in which the more grisly exhibits are displayed. Some collections are more specialized, as for example collections of wax medical models once used for training medical professionals. Many museums or displays in historical houses that are not wax museums as such use wax figures as part of their displays. The origin of wax museums goes back to the early 18th century at least, and wax funeral effigies of royalty and some other figures exhibited by their tombs had essentially been tourist attractions well before that.

History before 1800

The making of life-size wax figures wearing real clothes grew out of the funeral practices of European royalty. In the Middle Ages it was the habit to carry the corpse, fully dressed, on top of the coffin at royal funerals, but this sometimes had unfortunate consequences in hot weather, and the custom of making an effigy in wax for this role grew, again wearing actual clothes so that only the head and hands needed wax models. After the funeral these were often displayed by the tomb or elsewhere in the church, and became a popular attraction for visitors, which it was often necessary to pay to view.

Wax Museum (Jay and the Americans album)

Wax Museum is the eighth studio album by Jay and the Americans released on February 28, 1970. The album went to #105 on The Billboard 200. It reached #68 on the Cashbox charts. The album was the group's last charting album. Be sure to listen for the unexpected imitation of a raven: "Caw! Caw! Caw!, which happens a few seconds after the last track on side two.

The group's remake of The Ronettes song "Walkin' in the Rain" hit #19 on The Billboard Hot 100 in 1970.

Track listing