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.
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.
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