Friday Foto Follies: Madame Tussauds Hollywood

Since I’m preparing for my yearly pilgrimage to Hollywood for the TCM Classic Film Festival (TCMFF) I thought it would be fun to dedicate these Follies to my visit to Madame Tussauds Hollywood last year. As you peruse these images you’ll note I am taking the plunge (after a deep breath) and exhibiting myself at the height of foolishness. I visited Madame Tussauds Hollywood prior to last year’s TCMFF with Annmarie Gatti of Classic Movie Hub, Kellee Pratt of Outspoken & Freckled and Doug and Laura Grieve. Laura blogs at Laura’s Miscellaneous Musings and dedicated a post to our visit to Madame Tussauds last year so be sure read her take on the experience. I should add that Laura and her husband Doug have become unofficial tour guides for the lot of us every year and they do a fantastic job of it, let me tell you. I can’t imagine any other way to get to know classic Hollywood up close.

It was the Sunday before TCMFF kicked off that the five of us walked into Madame Tussauds unsure of what to expect. The museum is located on Hollywood Blvd. right by the Chinese Theater. You can take a look at various pricing options and discount tickets at the museum site here. Thanks to Madame Tussauds Marketing Manager, Ashlea Tate we were granted free media passes to cover the museum, which we did via live-tweeting, Instagram, Tumblr and Facebook as we navigated through the exhibits during our visit.

When you walk into Madame Tussauds you get the impression that it’s primarily dedicated to contemporary personalities. Jack Nicholson greets you at a bench in front of the elevators and many other, notable stars stand in a grand area after which I thought we were done. By that point we’d seen a few classic stars, but the general first impression is that Bob Hope and George Burns are basically it from the golden era. By the way, it’s possible that the stars and exhibits change from time to time so you may see different people than we did on this visit.

Here are some of the pictures from the first half of our walk-through…

The entrance – where I dropped and broke my digital camera

Kellee is ready for some wax

I stopped to chat with Nicholson first thing

Hope and Burns looking dapper

Close-up of George Burns

Bob Hope

This country music section includes Hank Williams, Patsy Kline and Johnny Cash

Pacino and me

The Godfather

Making an offer, but he refused

DeNiro

Dr. Lecter

A bitt too close to Tom Hanks

Dustin Hoffman in THE GRADUATE

Annmarie was Captain of the Enterprise for a moment

President Barack Obama

Conan and me

Selma Hayek looking over my shoulder

With Brangelina

With Beyonce

Kellee and Will Smith hanging out

Golden Girl Betty White

Kellee, Betty White and yours truly

Meryl Streep

With my BFF Meryl

Jimmy Fallon

Julia Roberts

Annmarie and Kellee want to be on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon

With Timberlake

Charlize Theron and Justin Timberlake

Halle Berry

Joan Rivers

With Joan

Kellee comparing her profile to Hope’s

We were in a giddy mood and among Hollywood elite so up to this point fun was had, but there had to be more because I’d seen somewhere that Norma Desmond is prominently displayed at this Madame Tussauds and she’s the reason I wanted to go in the first place. I have a soft spot for Norma and her brand of insanity, you see.

We continued through the generous space where the underrated Meryl Streep resides, which is separated by different themes, and as we did so it became clear that there are quite a number of gorgeous displays dedicated either to classic stars or classic movies. Unfortunately, Laura and Doug went through the museum quickly because they had another engagement so I have no pictures of them to share. Kellee, Annmarie and I lingered, however, and had a blast interacting with each and every display. Here are some those pictures…

Chaplin

I want to be like the Little Tramp

Broadway stars Margot Channing and Kellee Pratt

Margo with her agent, Annmarie

Pretending to be worthy

I snuck a Margo close-up to see if some of her attitude rubbed off

Dietrich and Pratt

Steve McQueen in THE GREAT ESCAPE

Dustin Hoffman in THE GRADUATE

Ingrid Bergman in CASABLANCA

This one doesn’t resemble Ingrid

Dorothy

Dorothy is near Fred and Ginger and Hughes

Howard Hughes

A Hughes closer look

Fred and Ginger

Close-up of the dip

The GWTW display

I saw it in the window and couldn’t resist

Butler

And then came Norma Desmond

and more Norma Desmonds

I was like Norma Desmond for a moment

On the African Queen with Kate as Bogart looks on

Humphrey Bogart in THE AFRICAN QUEEN

Moses

One Million Years BC and still standing!

George Bailey in Bedford Falls

Close-up of George

Alfred Hitchcock is murder

Hitch and Bailey in adjacent displays

Audrey in BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY’S

Elvis

Lawrence

Elizabeth Taylor as CLEOPATRA

Marilyn

I was able to push others aside to take this

the Westerns section – Kellee, Eastwood and me

Eastwood

Duke Wayne close-up

Duke Wayne

Butch and Sundance

We shoulda gone to Bolivia

I ended up in jail

Then Annmarie was arrested

I grew angry as time elapsed

Bruce Lee doing his thing

An enjoyable couple of hours, but I left with a splitting headache

There you have a glimpse of our trip through Tussauds. I hope you enjoyed it.