A Peculiar Vintage Madame Tussauds Waxwork Head of Jimmy Edwards
SOLD
Origin: British
Period: Mid Twentieth Century
Provenance: Unknown
Date: c.1960
Height: 11 inches
Circumference: 23 inches (at temple)
Modelled as Jimmy Edwards (23 March 1920 – 7 July 1988) the waxwork head with glass eyes, realistically rendered eyelashes, handle bar moustache, and teeth with original bandana neckerchief.
Jimmy was an English comedic script writer and comedy actor on both radio and television, best known as Pa Glum in Take It From Here and as the headmaster 'Professor' James Edwards in Whack-O!
Before turning to entertainment, he served in the Royal Air Force during World War II, earning the Distinguished Flying Cross. His Dakota was shot down at Arnhem in 1944, resulting in his sustaining facial injuries requiring plastic surgery and he disguised the traces with the huge handlebar moustache that later became his trademark (he was later a keen member of the Handlebar Club), and we now present both him and his handlebar immortalised in wax. Aside from a vintage patina Jimmy has one smal section of his neck missing but otherwise is in good all round order hey what.
Madame Tussauds has roots dating back to the Paris of 1770 and it was here that Madame Tussaud learnt to model wax likenesses under the tutelage of her mentor, Dr Philippe Curtius. At the age of 17, she became art tutor to King Louis XVI’s sister at the Palace Of Versailles and then, during the French Revolution, was hastily forced to prove her allegiance to the feudalistic nobles by making the death masks of executed aristocrats. Madame Tussaud came to Britain in the early 19th century alongside a traveling exhibition of revolutionary relics and effigies of public heroes and rogues.
Aside from a Brighton & Hove bus being named after him, this is surely the most appropriate way to celebrate big Jim.