Madame Tussaud’s – A Souvenir Brochure from the 1930s

by | Jan 14, 2012 | 3 comments

When I saw Pete Berthoud’s recent blog post reproducing a review of Madame Tussaud’s from the 1880s this prompted me to look out a Souvenir Brochure from the very same place that I had acquired from a charity shop a few years ago.

The brochure isn’t dated but it was produced sometime between 1928 to 1935. The first Madame Tussaud’s was in Baker Street until 1884 when it moved to Marylebone Road. In 1925 it unfortunately burned down but was  reopened 3 years later in 1928. The brochure’s Foreword comments on the fire in the third paragraph from the bottom.

The second date is gained from the First Plate in the brochure which is of “Their Majesties King George The Fifth and Queen Mary”. The text talks about them in the present tense. George V died on 20 January 1936.

The next plate refers to “His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales” who later became Edward VIII and we all know what happened to him.

There are another 13 plates in this brochure; far too many to put on one blog post so I will be dipping into them occasionally maybe on the relevant anniversary.

On this occasion the last set shows “Madame Tussaud the Foundress of the Exhibition” standing next to The Sleeping Beauty.

The author of this blog (Joanna Moncrieff) is a qualified and insured City of Westminster Tour Guide who specialises in food and drink themed walks in the West End. 
Details of all her walks are listed here and upcoming public walks are here.

3 Comments

  1. Benny

    i also have this one… its an amazing item for a madame tussauds fan like me!

    greetings from vienna!

    Reply
  2. Jenny Pedler

    Hi Joanna,
    I was interested to come across this post as I'm currently researching Mme Tussauds for the talk I have to give at my interview for the Westminster guiding course.
    Above you say that "The original Madame Tussaud's in Baker Street burned down in 1925…" but it was actually the original Marylebone Rd building that caught fire. See Guardian archive article http://www.guardian.co.uk/theguardian/2010/apr/28/madame-tussauds-fire.
    The exhibition moved from original premises in the Baker St Bazaar to Marylebone Rd in 1884. That building – Druce's Depository – was destroyed in the Blitz. See: http://www.westendatwar.org.uk/page_id__7_path__0p2p.aspx
    Thought the above might be of interest. I think it's accurate.
    It's a fabulous brochure though – I'm jealous 🙂
    No doubt bump into you again at some point.
    Jenny (Jane's friend and fellow LA).

    Reply
  3. Joanna

    Thanks Jenny. I have no idea how I got this wrong as even the link that I have put in for "1928" says the same as you do.

    I hope the interview goes well and I look forward to hopefully seeing you as a Westminster Guide in the future.

    Reply

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