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[coalesce99]

Anyone have any pics of it?

I loved going there. It was by where the old tower was...isn't that across the street from where the Titanic is today?

Wasn't it like $1 to get in? Remember the Hulk inside of it?

It may be gone, but it will always live on in my mind, my friends 

[Junior]

So you remember Long's Wax Museum? It was located on the same spot the current Hollywood Wax Museum occupies. As a teenager, it was a weird funky place to take a date. You didn't really know what was going to pop up around the corner. It had a dank, moldy smell to it. It had a display of wax figures depicting the life of Christ. Most of the wax figures looked like rejects from a second hand carnival sideshow. Framed newspaper headlines of the Kennedy Assasination, Nixon's Impeachment, and the success of the 1960's space program covered walls. One room was filled with old Victrolas and other sound recording machines with old 78 records and wax cylinder records. I LOVED THAT PLACE! Part of the museum was old buildings, part of it was old mobile home frames, all of it was strung together. You walked through narrow passages and uneven vinyl covered floors. The air conditioning system kept you sweating in some places, freezing in other passages. The front lobby area had cheap tourist trap type junk you could buy, cold sodas, snacks, pinball machines...a Xenon pinball machine that was fun to play. Did I mention, I LOVED THAT PLACE? Best part of all, as a SDC employee, I got in free. It was always good to spend a couple of hours in there on a day off, once or twice a year. Ahhhhh, memories! But memories worth repeating? Eh, I don't know. However, I wish you all could have experienced that place, at least once. So does anyone remember the old museum that was located across from the Jesse James Motel and Confusion Hill? Anyone remember Confusion Hill? How about Shad and Mollie Heller's place, called the Wilderness Settlement, home of the Toby Show? Remember Grandpa's Farm, located north of Branson on Hwy 65? How about Lloyd Durre's Tanglewood Nature Trails on Fall Creek Road? What about Mutton Hollow arts and crafts village? How about Branson USA theme park? Anyone have photos of those places? I wish I did.

[coalesce99]

The smell! I'll never forget that smell!

Yes, I seem to remember a scene where Jesus was getting flogged, right? And another where one of Jesus' disciples cut the ear off the Roman soldier...

Also, wasn't their a bullet-riddled Mussolini?

[Junior]

You have got a great memory. That Nazi room also included other "dead" figures. It also seems each wax figures were only about two thirds the height of a normal person. Cheap, cheap, cheap...but fun...and funny!

[Gilligan]

I've been spending time in the Branson/Arkansas area since I was about 3 yrs. old.  I remember falling backwards off a porch swing in Arkansas and taking the ferry across the lake to have a doctor check me out.  As many times as I have been to Branson (area), we seldom spent anytime in Branson.  We were lake bums!  About once a week, my grandparents and I would head to Reed Springs or Kimberling City to buy groceries.  If Grandpa and I couldn't find the right fishing lure (um..I kept losing it), we would head to the hardware store in Branson to purchase it and get an ice cream cone.  Grandpa was diabetic, so he enjoyed sneaking away from Grandma to get the ice cream.  The most exciting thing in Branson was the Sammy Lane Pirate Cruise, and I never did get to take that cruise. Those were the good ol' days of Branson! 

I remember Mutton Hollow, also.  Absolutely loved that place.  Remember Aunt Parthene's Pie Shop, Aunt Molly's Dry Goods Store, and the Sammy Lane Restaurant?  They had chocolate fudge pie.  It was a sad day when they shut the place down.

[MissinTheGreenTrams]

Ummm wax museum.....nazi room??? Bullet ridden Musselini....

[Junior]

Yeah...Nazi Room. To make it appear if these wax figures were in a jail cell, or something...you looked through holes that were not much bigger than peepholes. Seems like they had Gobbels and his wife in there, and a couple of others. Anti Nazi articles and signs on the walls, and, if I remember correctly, there was a sign calling the Nazi leaders "bastards" or something of that nature...pretty strong language for Branson in the '70's. The wax museum was initially located in Hollister, and moved to the strip, probably sometime in the late '60's or early, early '70's. It was a very old attraction, and again, was replaced with the Hollywood Wax Museum, which is much higher in quality.

[oldsdcer]

did this not have a car in a cage that was supposed to be some gangsters car? It was in a room that had records all over the walls.

[coalesce99]

Yep. I seem to remember a car of some sort...

What I wouldn't give to see a home video of someone walking through that place.

[plasticman6]

Hi, I'm not a SDC fan but I found this post searching for info about the wax museum! I thought that place was great! Really one of a kind...Anyway, Junior's description is perfect, and I found some photo's I had taken of the place...

the corpse of Mussolini


Larry Hagman from Dallas


Marlon Brando and Farrah Fawcett sharing a scene together!


Electro Man!


And I think these are from the museum too...








Branson lost much of its appeal to me when the wax museum closed (did it close or did it move somewhere else?)

[Junior]

Wow! Thanks for posting the photos. I remember all the wax figures you posted. I'm sure they hit the dumpster decades ago!

[coalesce99]

Yeah! This is awesome!