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It was the late 1970's when the World
of Wax first opened its doors. A local contractor by the name
of James Beasley - who had previously built many boardwalk structures
- recently finished work on the Castle Dracula - which was developed
by creative local ride designer Freddie Mahana and owned by
the Nickels family. Mr. Beasley decided to lease a section of
Marine Pier West from the Nickels to open the wax museum. He
called upon his friend Freddie Mahana to design the layout of
the attraction. Beasley Carpenters had previously worked on
many amusement related projects with Freddie including a New
Orleans style wax museum in Ocean City Maryland. The World of
Wax (also known as the Hollywood Wax Museum ) would occupy the
space that had previously housed the old Rhoads Carousel as
it had recently been dismantled and removed. Freddie - adding
his flair to the design of the museum - set it up like a walk-thru
show - with each set designed to have audio to accompany the
wax figures. A large stage area was also constructed for some
of the figures including Liberace at his Grand piano. There
was a wide variety of characters - from John Wayne...to Planet
of the Apes...to Kiss. Many of these figures had come from a
defunct wax museum in Las Vegas. The attraction had approximately
70 different figures (althought some of the ads claimed over
100 ) at a cost somewhere in the range of $3000 a piece. Mr.Beasley
along with his two sons ran the museum for about 4 or 5 years
before parting ways with Nickels Pier. Nickels continued to
operate the attraction for another year or two. Unfortunately
the museum was not climate controlled and over the harsh winters
and the heat of summer the wax figures actually began to crack
and melt. It was not long after that the museum would close
its doors and disappear into Wildwood Boardwalk history. |
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Shown above are some ads from local
publications in 1983. |
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The Rhoads building and Playland entrance
as it appeared before and after the Wax Museum. |
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The following interior shots were submitted
by John Brennan of Laurel and Hardy Central. Thanks John! |
This is a fine mess you've gotten us into Stanley. |
Thank you...Thank you very much. |
Velcome...children of the night. |
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Laurel and Hardy (above left) was one of several
paintings on the marquee as you enter the World of Wax. The Torture Room is shown above right. |
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The
photos above were taken by John B. in 1981. |
Piers
- Sculptures - Home
Copyright 2001 Ralph Grassi
