Wax Museum

With a showman's flair, Parkinson opened Movieland Wax Museum in May 1962 with all the hoopla of a Hollywood premiere: searchlights, bleachers holding thousands of fans and the arrival of stars in long black limousines.No less than Mary Pickford cut the ceremonial ribbon at the Beach Boulevard museum, which included a wax likeness of America's Sweetheart and dozens of other film greats ranging from Rudolph Valentino to James Dean.At its peak in the 1960s, Movieland drew as many as 1.2 million visitors a year, and Hollywood superstars considered it an honor to be selected for enshrinement in wax.With the addition of each new star's wax likeness to the museum, Parkinson would send a gold Rolls-Royce to bring the honored celebrity to Buena Park in style."He was a man with tremendous imagination," recalled Beebe Kline, a former vice president of the publicity firm Rogers & Cowan, who represented Sophia Loren in 1962 when she was included in the museum in a scene from "Two Women."Kline recalled that Parkinson flew to Loren's villa in Italy, where the actress presented him with the dress she had worn in the film, for which she won an Oscar."Whenever he did anything, he always met with the people," said Kline.