A turn of events

Through a tip from Keith Dagg, I found Alister (Al) Frame living in Cobble Hill BC living with his wife Anne.

Indeed Humphrey did come from the classic car museum and Al remembers him well. I asked if they also had one of Humphrey's Packard’s but alas, no they didn't. They regularly decorated the classic cars with wax figures and adopted the rule, if the Figure Sat in the car, then the car belonged to the personality or they actually rode in it, if they stood next to the car, then they owned a car like it. Bogie was the latter, standing next to a 1932 Packard.

I asked him about the Light hair and dark skin and he explained that wax figures took a lot of care and the hair was likely sun-bleached, as also the skin tends to get darker if exposed to sunlight ...who knew a wax figure could tan?? I also asked about the hair, he wasn’t certain if this was on purpose or more likely to save costs, but the sculptor did offer them a toupee which they couldn’t afford and went for a fedora instead. He said likely the clothes were not provided by the maker.

This leads into the biggest news: that it was not in fact a Madame Tussauds figure, rather he seems to remember it was one created somewhere in Colorado Springs, United States. They also had some figures or busts like John Diefenbaker and Lester B. Pearson that made out of Vancouver Canada by a very talented Italian wax sculptor whose name eluded Al.

He also told me about a place in Duncan BC called Joe’s Tire Hospital where a lot of the wax figure collection apparently went.

Well! Not a Madame Tussauds. Disappointing but exciting, in the fact that now I have to find out who the sculptor was and approximately when it was made. As an antique and one of such great quality this should be interesting.

The only history online I can find regarding wax figures in Colorado Springs was the Hall of Presidents Living Wax Studio, 1050 S. 21st St., Colorado Springs, CO that shut down in 1996.
Al will be digging through some old boxes and hopefully find some brochures and photographs of the classic car museum so we can post them and create a bit of an online archive for all of the fans of the classic car museum.  Stay tuned!

Bracing the legs

OK, so given the existing holes, cuts and marks in the existing body, I decided the least intrusive and effective bracing that could be easily removed later to access the bolts would be 2"x1" pieces of  oak carved to match the inner curves of the legs and carefully screwed from the outside in three spots, using some thin steel as a washer protecting the fibreglass and being sure to keep clear of any markings in case they are of any significance.

Well, it worked! He now stands securely on his own, ...except he leans a little to the right and the time he was broken, bent his shoes up a bit at the front so he looks like he is balancing on his heels ...but hey it's a start!

I also note he stands 5'9½" so either I or the sculptor have made him 1" to 1½" too tall or the history books are incorrect in recording Humphrey as 5'8" or 5'8½". ...another mystery!

I'm thinking once he settles back into the original shape he was designed to be in I'll design a new brace, a piece of wood the same shape as the holes and held in place by a tensor bandage.

If it works, it will be easier to remove and although will not be as strong, will be less intrusive to the figure.

Undressing Bogie

Disrobed Humphrey today. Taking great care to preserve the clothes as they may in themselves be antiques. Although most people were interested in how anatomically correct he was, I was more concerned about his collapsing shins. At least that’s my story.

First the suspenders, then the tie, carefully photographing each. The shirt was heavily stained from time and the odd cup of coffee it appeared. Quite surprised to see an Arrow Arden label on the shirt …popular in the 50's and 60s in the US.

The tie was very telling though: 100% Acetate imported fibre, complete with an ancient Woolco tag stapled to it. Woolco was the Target or Walmart of the 70’s here in Victoria. Seems unlikely therefore that Humphrey came dressed from his creator - at least not the tie.

Linda had mentioned they had long lost his pinstriped jacket, but his blue pinstriped (and heavily faded) pants had no tags that I could find. Likely a Woolco suit too.

I then thought, I’d better carefully check his pockets too. Thinking I should wear gloves lest there be a wolf spider in wait, I couldn’t wait and carefully began rifling through his pockets. Lo-and Behold, in his rear left pant pockets I found another wax finger!

Comparing the new finger with the two loose ones Linda gave me; it was difficult to tell which ones were original. I did know Bogie only had 10 fingers, not 11, so one either was a skilfully carved replacement by the expert hands of Barrie McClung, or maybe somewhere there was another wax figure that came from the Classic Car Museum missing a finger. It appeared that he had also lost some from his left hand; I’m not entirely convinced the correct ones were reinstalled. …Time will tell.

I began daydreaming that if these clothes had no historical value, and dry-cleaning certainly wouldn’t restore them anyway, that with my costume connections in filmmaking, and also many talented tailors in India, I could have a replica suit made exactly like that he wore in Casablanca.

Anyway, as I was unable to remove his pants completely due to his feet being securely bolted to the steel base-plate, I simply untied the rope serving as a belt and dropped them to his feet.

Interesting that he was wearing size 40 Healthknit long johns underneath complete with the butt-flap. I felt like I was standing behind Al Swearengen on the TV Series Deadwood.

The long johns were a brand popular in the 40's (which might help date the figure) and appeared to have become stuck in places over time to his primarily fiberglass body.

On his chest two rust spots on the Long-johns turned out to be from steel wire holding his internal skeletal structure to his fiberglass chest plate. There was also what looked like vermiculite on his shoulders, likely asbestos. Perhaps filler or patching of some kind?

Anyway, I was able to carefully remove his Long Johns down to his waist but no further safely, as they were sealed to his wrists with what looked like self expanding insulating foam. I was able to see that the shape of his abdomen and his butt was that of an older thin gentleman, as a former student of life drawing, this was quite a well done sculpture anatomically, really.

There were also many numbers and notes scribbled on his body under layers of fiberglass, I presume assisting in putting him together, or more likely once built, cut him apart to install the skeletal structure. The back had a wide rounded rectangular cut that was sealed back up and the front was cut in a Y shape similar to how an autopsy cut would be.

I rolled the Long-Johns up from his ankles (and black socks) to just above his knees exposing his broken shins. Here was my first proof this was in fact Bogie ...or at least his body, "Bogart" clearly marked on each shin. Anyway, on to the broken shins - seems there was a hole about 3”x4” below each knee exposing a threaded bolt and nut inside that must be the way to take off the base-plate. There is no evidence of these bolts on the underside of the base, so they must be very well welded to the plate under his dress shoes.

The holes, it seems, were the weak link, making the legs unable to support the forward weight of the body and head and eventually bowed and began to collapse.

How on earth would I fix or reinforce this so that I can still get at the bolts when needed and not do any permanent damage to the figure in the process? I decided I had better sleep on it.

Classic Car Museum

I did some initial research on The Classic Car Museum today. Owned by Murray Gammon Murray Gammon also known as the builder of the landmark Hotel Grand Pacific on Victoria's Inner Harbour, and managed by Allister (Al) Frame and Alan Reid. The museum opened in 1971 and Gammon sold it in 1989.

Murray passed away in October 2008, and as the existence of the Classic Car Museum predates popular internet and the prevalence of digital cameras, there is very little visual record on the web that I have found so far. I did find out had several children: Earl, Warren, Lynn and Laura and Warren reportedly is still in the area. If I can’t find Allister or Alan, I may try and track him down.

In knowing now the wax figure now likely came from the Classic Car Museum instead of the Royal London Wax museum, I sent another email off to Madame Tussauds London with the new Classic Car Museum connection and dates in hopes of narrowing down records.

I found out my good friend and boss Paul Curtis, way back when, was the voice for the Mr. Peebles radio spots. The old man (wax figure) that sat on a bench reading a paper in the lobby of the Royal London Wax museum, and suggested a mutual friend: Keith Dagg formerly of Copeland Communications (a man who knows everybody) may be a good resource in finding Allister.

I contacted Keith, indeed he did know Al, and he suggested I might find him living near the Arbutus Ridge Golf Course.

Royal London Victoria Wax Museum

Determined the original owner/CEO of the recently rendered homeless Royal London Victoria wax museum Victoria est. 1959 - Kenneth Lane and sent him an email (Thanks to Mike McCall) asking about the history of the figure.

Also sent an email off to Madame Tussauds London asking for any creation/sales records between 1971 and 1989 …gotta love the simplicity of the internet.

In researching Humphrey (the man) I found a way to send an email and follow-up tweet to the Bogart Estate (presumably Stephen Bogart?) asking for information and any expression of interest in my journey.

Through all of this usage of the Internet, I decided this whole situation may be a good social media experiment. A Blog promoted by Twitter and Facebook posts. I gathered the Bogart Estate was also leveraging Social Media to raise money and awareness for cancer research under Humphrey’s name so they may be also game to the approach. Something I’m pretty sure Bogie would have approved of himself, never losing sight of the common man no matter how “big” he got.

That night, I heard back from the Bogart Estate! Naively presuming it was Stephen himself, they expressed an interest in my journey, asking to be kept in the loop and requested any photos – which I sent. I further asked if they could corroborate the actual hair loss and colour but I have not yet heard back.

Kenneth Lane also emailed me back tonight.  He told me the Royal London Wax Museum in Victoria never had a Humphrey in their collection, but given my mention of Barrie McClung and his history with classic cars, perhaps the figure came from Murray Gammon and/or Alister (Al) Frame of the Victoria Classic Car Museum which also had a small collection of Wax figures to support the display of their infamous collection of classic Packards.  Kenneth also provided some information I was interested in for the wax restorative experts I would need to restore Humphrey:  The closest "sculpting house" he recommended was the Alvarez Wax Productions Company in Salem Oregon USA.  There is also an individual on the Canadian side of Niagara Falls who is quite familiar with repair and maintenance of wax figures - but Kenneth was unable to provide a name.

Picking up Humphrey!

Nervously picked up Humphrey tonight, I felt like a kid on his first date!

I met Linda at her door and she took me to the garage. We moved the old boat carefully out of the way and I got my first close look at him. I had to admit he didn’t look much like Humphrey, Linda agreed, she often wondered herself. I joked maybe Barrie only told her it was Humphrey so she’d agree to let him bring him home – after all there is certainly a bit of a creep factor to owning a lifelike wax figure. She laughed.

He was leaning against the window as his legs were bending somewhere around the shin. They thought he was “melting” but I figured his body would be more like fibreglass – either way I was curious and even more cautious.

The metal base-plate he was bolted to must weigh 50-80lbs, so it was difficult moving him without causing further damage but we managed. First removing his head and carefully placing it in a cloth lined box, Linda joked that Barrie, on his way home with it in 1989 stopped at a light and picked it up to scare other drivers idling next to him. I would have like to meet Barrie.

We got Humphrey’s body safely stowed in my van and rid of the family of spiders he was taking care of.

Driving home I started to worry. What if this isn’t Humphrey? What if he is some boring Canadian Politician …or worse a serial killer? I could never sleep with something like that in my house! (the politician, not the serial killer)

At a stoplight, a police car pulled up next to me, I looked at the decapitated body lying in the back of my van through my rear-view mirror, smiled and fought the urge to hold the head up to them.

My always helpful neighbour Merv came over while I was unloading, when I told him what it was, he gave me the “ok, you have finally lost it neighbour” look. He helped me unload the body (only a good neighbour helps you do that) and I asked if he wanted to see the head? Not waiting for an answer, I pulled it out and just as I was saying that I wasn’t sure it really looked like Bogie, the evening light hit him in a particular way and Wow! It really was him! The blond eyelashes and eyebrows and missing hair really disguised him, but in certain light you could still see it was him.

My puppies (Toby 13 months and Raja Kahn 3 months) didn’t know what to make of this headless man, Toby wanted to greet him and lick his hand, Raja was terrified, which turned into wanting to eat him, which turned into being really interested in eating some of the crud that was still on the base.



My wife blinked a lot.

A bit about Bogie

Did some research on Humphrey:

Humphrey DeForest Bogart was born December 25, 1899 in New York City, New York to Belmont and Maud Bogart.

Humphrey was married 4 times, the 4th being Lauren Bacall who he met in 1944 and married a year later. They had two children: Stephen Humphrey Bogart on January 6, 1949 (named after Bogart's character's nickname in To Have and Have Not) and Leslie Howard Bogart on August 23, 1952, (named after British actor Leslie Howard)

Bogart, Bacall and Sinatra

I confirmed my father's understanding; that he started losing his hair in 1947 reportedly due to hormone shots among other things. He was apparently completely bald by the time he got to Mexico to shoot Dark Passage. Vitamin B shots reportedly helped restore some of his hair but regularly wore toupees from then on. This leads me to think my figure being bald and having fair hair may have been a true to life version of Bogie and not the more common Character portrayal (Casablanca, African Queen, etc.) version. At least that’s what I hope.

During a film career of almost thirty years, he appeared in 75 feature films.

By the mid-1950s, being both a heavy smoker and drinker, Bogart's health was failing. Reportedly, after signing a long-term deal with Warner Bros., Bogart predicted with glee that his teeth and hair would fall out before the contract ended.

January of 1956 Humphrey was diagnosed with cancer of the esophagus and passed away at the early age of 57 in 1957.

His cremated remains are interred in Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery, Glendale, California. Buried with him is a small gold whistle, which he had given to Lauren, before they married. In reference to their first movie together, it was inscribed: "If you want anything, just whistle."