Madame Tussauds Gets The Measure of the Man

By Amy Argetsinger and Roxanne Roberts
Wednesday, August 1, 2007

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.

Sometimes, they renovate. A few years ago, Chelsea Clinton walked into the London museum and complained about her father's wardrobe. "She said, 'My dad would never wear that tie,' and then sent us another one," said Janine DiGioacchino, manager of Tussauds in New York and Washington. Later, Bill Clinton requested a few minor changes, and the museum gave him a new, much grayer head.

All of Barry's photographs and measurements will be rushed to London, where artists will first create a life-size clay figure, then the final product: a hollow fiberglass body with wax head and hands. The faux Barry will arrive back in Washington just in time for the real Barry to make last-minute tweaks, then be placed in the D.C. exhibit for the world to admire.

Proof, said Wax Man, that "I'm handsomer than my photographs."

HEY, ISN'T THAT . . . ?

· Mandy Moore sipping "extra dirty" martinis and ordering a protein-heavy lineup of rockfish, red snapper and Kobe beef with four friends at Georgetown's Mie N Yu Monday night. The singing starlet, in town to tape a performance for XM Radio, wore a fetching little skirt-jacket combo in gray and either no makeup or the kind of makeup that's so artfully done you just think she isn't wearing any.

· Mark Warner and family dropping by Zenith Gallery downtown to see the landscape paintings of Bradley Stevens, a college pal who painted the potential (pick one: veep/Senate/guv) candidate's official portrait now hanging at the Virginia Capitol.

· Sen. Russ Feingold dining with staffers at Lebanese Taverna Monday night -- necktie flipped over his shoulder, safe from the red wine and hummus; BlackBerry pressed to his ear.

· Dave Chappelle, definitely no longer exhausted, skateboarding K Street in Georgetown before catching "The Simpsons Movie."

THIS JUST IN . . .

· Moment of silence: The nearly three-year-old marriage of Britney Spears and Kevin Federline officially ended yesterday in a Los Angeles courtroom. How the whole alimony thing worked out remains a secret. They will continue to have joint custody of toddlers Sean Preston and Jayden James but face an Aug. 14 hearing on the matter.

· Nicole Richie finally confirmed that she's expecting a baby with boyfriend Joel Madden, reports ABC News. Richie spills the news tomorrow on "Good Morning America" -- "I'm almost four months," she tells Diane Sawyer.

· GMA anchor Robin Roberts announced on the show yesterday that she has breast cancer and will undergo surgery Friday. Roberts, 46, said she found the lump early and that the prognosis is good: "My doctor expects me to be flying planes and hanging on to submarines in the middle of the Atlantic and scaling the Mayan pyramids in no time."