Wednesday, May 28, 2008

A Day Amongst The Real Fakes


I know, I know. It's totally tasteless. And probably unoriginal. But so what? I was playing tourist! There I am at Madame Tussaud's wax museum at the Venetian with Siegfried, Roy and, presumably, Montecore.

It was really a fun time over there Monday with my niece, Courtney, and my mother. Some of the wax figures were startlingly accurate, like these of Bette, Sammy, Lar, Tiger, Simon, Ryan, Bugsy and Hef...







I say Hef should BE so lucky!

Here I am with Air Jordan and, beneath that, just for comparison's sakes, with Yao Ming back in Changchun, China in 2001 when, for USA Today, I became the first American reporter to profile him.


I do wonder why George Washington seems so pissed...


...but maybe it's because Courtney's heart belongs to Lincoln?


I have no idea who these two are supposed to be, although the first one was next to the Elton John sign, but there was no Elton John to be found.


And here are some of the more questionable likenesses. Angelina looks fine, but what happened to Brad? And Jackie looks great, but JFK looks like an insurance salesman...


And Meryl? Julia? Oprah? WTF?


Near the end of the tour, they have patriotic figures. I assume it's standard to have the current president next to a podium. God only knows what visitors did to Clinton at the height of the Lewinsky scandal, but it was notable that virtually everyone did something to insult President Bush. See?


And there's a sign-out book as well where folks are asked their favorites and least favorites. Notice the consistency with which Bush was rated as their worst favorite.


But, all in all, a fun time. And, FYI, I discovered that if you are buying Blue Man Group tix anyway, you might as well go buy them at Madame Tussaud's and you'll get free entry to the museum. That's worth about $20-$24 a person.

4 comments:

Thomas said...

I think the one next to the Elton sign is supposed to be Jon Bon Jovi. No clue on the tux guy.

Amy said...

I bet tuxedo guy is supposed to be Michael Crawford. He was the original Phantom of the Opera, and I believe he was in FX years ago in Las Vegas.

Bay in TN said...

Steve, I have never been interested in Madame Tussaud's. Damn you. You and your mom and Courtney made it look like so much fun! I am still boycotting Adelson properties until he drops his lawsuit against John Smith. This is obviously hurting me more than it hurts Adelson, because I sincerely miss some of my favorite dishes at the Grand Luxe cafe, and darn it, I now wish I could visit a wax museum. You're evil! Evil, I tell you!

But thank you for all the lovely photos.

Anonymous said...

JFK looks like he is going to fall over and break and you are right, he looks kind of like a vacuum salesman or something...

Mom looks good golfing with the pros! And I never knew about Courtney's affection for Lincoln? Who would have thought?