Madame Tussauds Gets The Measure of the Man

Marion Barry has a new nickname: "Wax Man!"

Last month, the Ward 8 D.C. Council member, Mayor for Life, civil rights leader, jailbird and legendary night crawler was elected -- in a man-on-the-street landslide vote -- to be the final of 50 figures in the District's new Madame Tussauds wax museum. When it opens on Oct. 9, Barry will join George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Franklin Roosevelt and others in the "Spirit of Washington, D.C." exhibit.

"I'm going to be here forever," he told us, a grin across his face. "It's really going to be Mayor for Life."

But first, the 71-year-old politician has to be immortalized in wax -- which is why he was measured, photographed and scrutinized yesterday by museum artists in his downtown office. They have only this one sitting and eight weeks (a rush job in this business) to create Barry's exact likeness, a process that calls for round-the-clock shifts in Tussauds' London headquarters and will cost $125,000.

Wax Man arrived late (there's real time and Barry time) wearing a gray pinstripe Polo suit and pink tie that the museum wants him to donate for his figure. They've already agreed on his stance (looking off to the side) and his expression (a slight smile); now came the painstaking process of recording every inch.

"I'm about eight pounds heavier than I want to be," Barry admitted. He stood erect on a wooden turntable that slowly rotated to display every angle. The artistic team had flown in from London and New York. The photographer took the first of 200 pictures, the artist began mixing paint to precisely match Barry's skin tone, and the sculptor began to measure every nook and cranny. By hand -- the way Madame Tussaud did it almost 200 years ago. The museum has tried computer programs and body scans, but they've never proved to be as accurate.

Barry introduced himself to British sculptor Dave Burks.

"I've been to London," he told him.

"What did you think?" asked Burks.

"Kind of dreary," said Barry.

They meticulously matched the color of Barry's eyes, hair and teeth (the museum asked his dentist for records to replicate his mouth). Barry's receding hairline is a relative bargain: Artists insert human hairs one by one in a wax head, so bald is the most cost-effective. (Actor Patrick Stewart? Cheap!)

And all those late-night, lived-too-hard lines on his face? Gold for waxworks. "He's got great character in his face," said Burks. "From an artist's point of view, it will be a lovely portrait to do." Those flawless supermodels look lousy in wax because they end up looking . . . well, like mannequins. They kept trying, but never really got Elle Macpherson right.