CHAMBER OF HORRORS

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 73, Issue 34, 10 February 1930, Page 2

CHAMBER OF HORRORS

THRILLS IN WAXWORKS A STORE OF MEMORIES. TALK BY r AIR JOHN TUSSAUD. If one can get Air Tussaud to unlock his store of memories during a holiday visit to his famous waxworks, an abundant feast is yours, says a writer in Tit-bits, and Tussaud said to this writer. You may remember the carriage of Napoleon in the old exhibition:—lt was the actual vehicle which the defeated Emperor used on his retreat from Waterloo. Joseph Tussaud, Afadame’s eldest son, was on London Bridge one day when lie heard a country lad talking of a wonderful carriage he had seen in a Gray’s Inn Road repository. It proved to be that of Napoleon, and was acquired for the Exhibition. After the carriage had changed hands, a secret compartment was found containing jewels and money of great value. At one time visitors were allowed to sit inside it, but souvenir hunters were so destructive to the upholstery that he had to enclose it in a glass case. The Prince of Wales and Prince Albert were the last to sit in "Bonoy’s” chariot.

It was the same ancestor of mine who had another interesting experience connected with Napoleon. Early one morning he noticed an elderly man gazing at the figure of the dead Emperor. He stood bareheaded with a wistful expression on his face. That man was the Duke of Wellington. It was a dramatic tableau and well worthy of the fine picture Sir George Haytcr subsequently painted.

The Shah’s Ungratified Wish. I well remember the visit of the Shah of Persia in 1873. He was delighted with the Chamber of Horrors, and particularly with the model of the guillotine. He wanted a condemned man to be executed on the spot for his entertainment, and when he was tactfully informed that no such criminal was available just then, he turned to his retinue and called for volunteers. He had to be told that this was impossible, much to the relief of his attendants! On another occasion, Alexander 111 of Russia, the Czarina, and her sister, then Princess of Wales, came incognito to the Exhibition. When they desired to enter the Chamber of Horrors, where another sixpence per head was charged, they found that they had not a penny between them! Finally one of their attendants produced the fees. George Grossmith, senior, was a great practical joker. Once he stood stockstill in a row of figures. Visitors said: "Ah! George Grossmith! What a splendid likeness! ’ 1 until the irresistible George slowly extended a hand and grinned affably, whereupon the terrified sightseers fled! George R. Sims was a frequent friend. In one of his books he scribbled without a moment’s hesitation: "Dear Tussaud, I’m a model man, but you’re a modeller!” Once he had aked to be allowed to spend a night in the Chamber of Horrors. For about half an hour he walked about, talked to the models, and whistled. Then he stumbled in the semi-darkness and, looking up, found himself in Airs Pearccy’s kitchen! Suddenly panic-stricken, he hammered at the door until a night watchman let him out.

A Cunous Unfounded Rumour. This was the probable cause of the rumour, world-wide but entirely unfounded, that Madame Tussaud’s will pay a reward to anyone who spends a night alone in the Chamber of Horrors. No such offer has ever been made, yet, despite repeated denials, we constantly receive offers from soldiers, sailors, expolicemen, and even domestic servants. Another persistent legend is that some of the figures have been seen to moVe. The only moving models arc those of William Cobbett, who turns his head, and the Sleeping Beauty, whose breast is seen gently to rise and fall. Yet visitors have declared that they have seen Cobbett taking the snuff, Afarat breathing in his bath, and Henry VIII. turning to review his wives! The Exhibition has many unsolved mysteries. Who, for example, was the tall lady in black, wearing a veil, who came regularly for years and left bunches of violets on the" steps below the figure of Napoleon 111. What tragedy w r as played out when, on the morning of the execution of a murderer of many aliases, an old man led a frail and tearful young ■woman into the Chamber of Horrors, and, gazing at the recently uncovered model, said: "Free at last, my child, free at last! ”

Story of a Moving Figure. I am usually perfectly at home in the Chamber of Horrors at all hours of the day or night, but once I had a shock. It was very late, and I was taking a final walk round the buibling when suddenly I was sure one of the models moved. I looked again. Yes, it was moving slowly bending its leering head towards me as though about to spring. Then it stopped, and to my intense relief I found that its lifelike movement was duo to the vibration of a passing train on the Afetropolitan railway that ran beneath the building! It was arrested in its fall by a metal pin. A young Parisian visitor had a worse fright—and in broad daylight. Ho thought it would be a fine thing to be able to tell his friends in Paris that he had put his head in the guillotine that was used for the execution of Marie Antoinette. So he inserted his neck in the lunetter and, after a moment’s enjoyment of his novel position, was about to touch the spring to release himself when a horrible thought occurred to him. Suppose he touched the wrong spring and let drop the knife on his own neck! He screamed with terror until an assistant released him. Disappointed Man From Country. Some people think wc only show figures of murderers and other disreputables. I once heard a countryman—standing in front of the model of Henry Quatre —say: " ’Enery Carter—’oo did ’e kill!” He nearly asked for his money back when he learned the truth! Once an elderly bachelor from the Alidlands asked us to model to his design what he considered to be the ideal woman. He desired her to have movable joints, so that he could place her at table, or beside the fire to keep him company. "All the advantages of feminine company with the added bliss of silence,” was his comment.