Vincent Price, Master of Horror

Happy Halloween! I don't think there's a better topic for Halloween than native St Louisan Vincent Price. This was a special request awhile back, and I finally got a chance to seek out the boyhood home a couple weeks ago.



Today you get a look inside the CC&G lair, as I am a HUGE fan of Vincent Price. Above is my most prized possession, a copy of a life mask that has been "artistically enhanced." My living room is kind of a Vincent Price shrine.



So a couple weeks ago, I set out to learn more about Vincent Price's St Louis origins. Pretty much all you need to know is on his St Louis Walk of Fame star, located at 6509 Delmar in the U City Loop.



Called "The King of Horror," Vincent Price is best known for his villainous roles in more than 100 films, as well as many stage and television productions, but his accomplishments cover a much broader range. He is a connoisseur of fine art and the author of a number of books on the subject. A collector as well, he bought a Rembrandt drawing at age twelve, while still living in the family house on Forsyth Blvd. Price, who is also the author of several gourmet cookbooks, graduated from Community School and St. Louis Country Day School.



And there you have the "boyhood home," which should satisfy a lot of curiosity! Vincent Price's father, Vincent Sr, was the president of the National Candy Company, and Vincent Jr lived here until he went to Yale. The house is owned by Washington University and I did not have any luck finding out if it is used as a private residence or as a student center. As with all private landmarks covered in this blog, I ask that you are respectful of the property and the occupants, should you choose to visit.


Special thanks to a guy named Art, who gave me a jump on Forsyth Ave when my car battery died, for making this post possible.

THE WAX MUSEUM IS BACK!

I can't believe it. When I heard back in March that the Laclede's Landing Wax Museum had closed for "renovation," I was sure it was closed for good and I was devastated. Awesome kitschy attractions are closing down every day all over the country and I've become a pessimist. Thank goodness I was wrong!



I was browsing RoadsideAmerica.com earlier this week and saw recent updates to the Wax Museum's entry, so I made tracks down there as soon as I could. I'm not sure how I feel about it yet. One of the things I loved so much about the Wax Museum was it's low-budget eccentricity and DIY style. Some of that was lost in the remodel, but I hope that I'm just seeing a work in process.



Some may point out that a lot of these new figures are mannequins, not wax, but I'm not one to quibble. What's the point in paying hundreds of dollars for a wax figure that is completely covered in a costume?



Also, Charlie was not there, and he's half the fun. The people who were working there were polite and friendly, but they didn't have Charlie's enthusiasm. I hope he is still working there. I didn't see his wax figure (or did I...?)



Above is a picture from last year's post. That's Charlie. If you are new to the blog, you should definitely go back to read that one, so you have a sense of what is new (and what is blessedly the same.)



We went straight to the top (still 5 Levels of Fun!) and worked our way down. I was going to say something completely different in regards to how I feel about them taking away Madame Tussaud's hooch and pistol, and then as I was previewing this entry I realized THAT IS CHARLIE'S HEAD. At least I think it is. If so, WELL PLAYED.



Neil Armstrong is still missing his helmet, but you can see one of the major improvements they made to many of the cases: video screens. With a Dell computer and keyboard in full view in most cases.



Liz Taylor still has her amazing rack, though.



Here's a new one I just have to share, despite the poor lighting. It's supposed to be Tommy Lee Jones and Will Smith in Men In Black, but someone said they look like Will Ferrell and Jesse Jackson.



Standing in for Barack Obama's wax figure: Barack Obama's cardboard cutout. Now THIS is what I expect from the Laclede's Landing Wax Museum.



Check out Swayze's sweet mullet. I'm guessing he's next to Whoopi because of Ghost (they should just throw a Kevin Bacon into every ambiguous display.)





Creepy Snow White? Check. Now with creepier display. Speaking of creepy, did Michael Jackson ever look like this?



The expanded "Chamber of Horrors" is pretty amazing. The old Chamber of Horrors is still in the basement, but the first floor is full of horror displays, some of which are animatronic. I was startled more than once. However, while these are pretty awesome, I doubt many of them qualify as wax figures.











I didn't want to do too many repeats, so you will be happy to know that Henry VII and all his wives are still there, the Hall of Jesus remains virtually unchanged, and the room of musicians is still there but somewhat rearranged. Inexplicably, they got rid of Liberace's piano. Maybe it's out for rhinestone repair.

Laclede's Landing Wax Museum is located at 720 North Second Street and admission is $8. This is double the old rate, but still more than reasonable in my opinion. See the website (linked at the beginning of this post) for seasonal hours of operation.

Rombach Farms

So much going on, so little time to blog about it! This one doesn't need a whole lot of explanation, though. All you have to do is look at the pictures. Clearly this is the greatest pumpkin farm of all time.



Let me rattle off a list a la Meramec Caverns: They have pony rides, hay rides, a vintage fire truck, face painting, funnel cakes, cider, pick your own pumpkins, Jack O Lantern pumpkins, white pumpkins, pie pumpkins, mini pumpkins, mutant gourds, painted gourds, Indian corn, farm animals, western town, fort, haunted house, and a super cute tractor-train made of barrels. AND MORE.



















Look, we did a kid activity with an actual kid this time! We were all jealous that Ruby got to ride a pony.





Below is the water line from the Flood of '93. That's well over my head, and the river is nowhere in sight.



What's really amazing is how well it recovered. I remember a lot of this stuff from when I was a kid. I'm sure a lot of you remember Fort Rombach! (It's not as big as you remember, though, I'll tell you that.)





Remember to leave with as many kids as you brought!



Rombachs Farm is located at 18639 Olive Street Rd, Chesterfield, MO 63005. They are open from 9am-6pm, 7 days a week (I think this is May or June until November 1.) Admission is free, so you can spend as much or as little as you want! I think I spent about $20 for a cheeseburger, a good-size pumpkin, and some Indian corn.

Alton Cemetery

We had some time to kill before ghost hunting so we stopped by the Alton Cemetery. I wish I'd known some of the stuff I learned later in the evening before we stopped here, but no matter. Today I'll just show you how pretty it is, and next time I'm in Alton I'll talk more about the residents.



One thing I can tell you about is this most recognizable feature of Alton Cemetery, the Elijah Lovejoy Monument. Elijah Lovejoy was an abolitionist who published the St Louis Observer, and later moved to Alton and started the Alton Observer. On November 7, 1837 he and his supporters were guarding a printing press in a warehouse near the river until it could be installed at the Observer. A pro-slavery mob set the warehouse on fire, and as Lovejoy tried to put it out, he was shot and killed.



He was buried in an unmarked grave in Alton Cemetery, and his murder sorely wounded Alton's economy and reputation. Much commerce was lost as river traffic diverted south to St Louis. This monument was built in the 1890s as an effort to mend fences and was dedicated on the 60th anniversary of Lovejoy's death. You can read about the particulars of the monument on this website.



This cemetery is laid out differently than most I've seen on the St Louis side of the river. There are a lot of little stone walls breaking up various areas. Maybe this helps keep the land from eroding since it is so hilly.



I live near a few of the oldest cemeteries in St Louis, but Alton Cemetery is even older, dating back to 1870. One of these days I will learn how to do a proper grave rubbing so that I can read some of this old markers.





Here's an unusual one. It says "In Memory of Frank B Tesson and Wife Alice who were lost when the Lusitania was submarined in the Irish Sea. May 7, 1915." According to the Wikipedia page for the RMS Lusitania, the ocean liner was "torpedoed by a German U-boat on 7 May 1915. The ship sank in 18 minutes, eight miles (15 km) off the Old Head of Kinsale, Ireland, killing 1,198 of the 1,959 people aboard. The sinking turned public opinion in many countries against Germany, and was instrumental in bringing the United States into World War I."







Here we have the McPike family plot. McPike Mansion, built for Henry Guest McPike in 1869, is one of the most well-known haunted houses in Alton. It was vacant from the 1950s until George and Sharyn Luedke purchased it a few years ago, and they occasionally open the house for tours to raise money towards its renovation. You can read about McPike Mansion on their website.





This concludes our tour for today. Alton Cemetery is located on Monument Street, off Broadway Ave. You will see signs directing to the Elijah Lovejoy Monument/Alton Cemetery from Broadway (that's how we ended up stopping here.)