Sculpting Memories
The
WAXATTRACT
Story
Waxattract was the leading wax figure and animatronics design firm in Canada from the early-1960's to mid-1980's, and were fittingly based in Niagara Falls, ON. The company was owned by (and entirely comprised of) the Dunham family, with Robert Dunham founding the company sometime in the early 60's. His wife Betty as well as their eight children would all go on to become involved in the family business in some way as the company grew, and together they achieved several firsts and milestones in the amusement industry. The company's most popular attractions, and most groundbreaking, were their revolutionary haunted attractions which redefined the industry not just in Niagara but as a whole, and become an integral part of Clifton Hill's development and growth.
Mid-70's business card featuring the only documented
instance of the company's logo.
A Canadian Amusement History Special Feature
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Robert Dunham was a painter who first branched into the amusement industry at Crystal Beach Amusement Park in Fort Erie, where he constructed Fantasy Land, a walkthrough fairytale and folklore attraction, under the ballroom sometime around 1960. The attraction was a labyrinth of twisting halls past various scenes of animated fairytale and fantasy characters, brought to life using continuous animation similar to department store window displays at Christmas.
1964 newspaper ad for Dunham's painting services.
It was run by Dunham as a concession, but he noticed something while running the attraction. Families were flocking into Laff in the Dark, a haunted house dark ride attraction across the pathway from Fantasy Land, while Fantasy Land remained less than popular. That being said, Laff in the Dark was built way back in 1935, a package ride by Travers Engineering, and the extent of the scenes contained within were plywood cutouts with a flood light on them, or noisemakers on the ground which your ride car rolled over. Fantasy Land on the other hand contained scenes with multiple full 3D figures, dynamic lighting, and recorded sounds. Despite Fantasy Land being the much more detailed attraction, and family oriented, Laff in the Dark proved more popular since it was the parents spending the money, not the children. Parents would drag their hesitant children into the dark ride, have a good laugh, and then the children who felt they had braved the attraction would want to return. It was also popular with all age groups, including teenagers and adults without children, whereas Fantasy Land was not. He took note of the impact a horror theme had on an attraction, and remembered it for his future endeavors which would change Niagara Falls forever, but in the meantime, branched further into the amusement industry with other projects.
Fantasy Land's castle entrance under the dance hall, sandwiched between the Bowl-O-Matic bowling alley and Crystal Beach Wax Museum, the latter which Dunham may have later had a hand in (see below).
The first of these would be Waltzing Waters, which he built for local businessman Arthur White in the then-new Seagram Tower complex (later Royal Tower, Heritage Tower, Panasonic Tower, Minolta Tower, and most recently Tower Hotel.) Waltzing Waters was a computerized dancing fountain that was synchronized to music, and even lights at night. A switchboard operator controlled the show, making it customizable so no two performances were exactly the same, encouraging return customers. The attraction came at a time when computers were in their infancy, and was a smash hit. It was the third bonafide amusement attraction to open in the Falls proper only behind Louis Tussaud's Wax Museum and the Antique Auto Museum, and the first in the up-and-coming Fallsview district.
Early 70's Waltzing Waters postcard.
In 1966, Arthur White and his business partner Malcolm Howe commissioned Dunham to add to the Burning Springs Wax Museum that had also opened in the Seagram Tower complex in 1963. A basement level of the museum was constructed underneath the pre-existing two floors, featuring a Chamber of Horrors that brought the museum's total number of scenes from 33 to 50. It breathed fresh air into an attraction that was already becoming tired within mere years of opening, with the thrilling new addition being remembered as one of the most specifically terrifying horror sections to ever exist in a Niagara wax museum. This was Dunham's first confirmed wax museum contract, and the first job with a horror theme. It's also possible, while not confirmed, that he may have been in involved in the addition of a Chamber of Horrors to the Crystal Beach Wax Museum around the same time, which was also owned by White and coincidentally located directly next door to Fantasy Land under the ballroom. Just a year later in 1967, the Ricci family who owned the Oakes Hotel across the street from the Burning Springs commissioned an entire museum from Dunham, one that he would also manage. This would be the legendary Boris Karloff Wax Museum, which opened under the name "Niagara Wax Museum of Fantasy" before being changed to it's better-known name the following year after receiving the official license from Karloff himself shortly before the actor's death. Horror sections or Chambers of Horror in wax museums were nothing new, however this was the first entirely horror themed wax museum.
Left: May 1967 newspaper ad promoting the museum's grand opening. Very little is known of this early incarnation of the museum. Right: Early 70's brochure for the museum with it's better-known name. Notice the vast artistic style difference between the Dracula figures seen in the 1967 print ad and the 70's brochure, making details surrounding the first year of the museum even more strange.
Despite the horror theme, it was still truly a wax museum, not a haunted attraction. What limited photos exist in the brochures show it being fairly well-lit, and describe many non-horror scenes like Charlie Brown, MLK, Santa, Lincoln and Snow White. While there was a large amount of animation, it was done in the same style of the animatronics in Fantasy Land, but Waxattract's animation of horror figures would become much more advanced in the years that followed. It's heavy animation, lighting effects, sound design, and unique theme made it a massive success however, and it's remembered fondly by both locals and those who only visited the Falls once or twice. Dunham was right about the horror theme as braving his new attraction became a rite of passage, and the memories of (at the time) children who it terrified are only eclipsed by the memories of children and adults alike who fell in love with it.
More sights from the 70's brochure.
As this was happening, other operators in the area were taking note, and Waxattract was asked to do work for the biggest attractions in the Falls at the time, namely Movieland and Tussaud's. Dunham also did design consulting for the Niagara Belle ferry boat, which up until the 2020 pandemic, still took passengers on tours of the region.
The majestic Niagara Belle when it was still providing tours in the late 2010's.
Dunham was honing his craft, and opened another attraction of his own, the Royal London Wax Museum, in 1971. It replaced the Antique Auto Museum on Falls Ave. when it moved to Clifton Hill and became Cars of the Greats. The Royal London was themed after the royal family and was a Waxattract built and owned attraction, but was a co-project of sorts, with some of the scenes and figures being created by Bruce Randall. The building was adorned with neon signage, and in the front window sat a beautiful recreation of the Queen's royal stagecoach. Despite its gorgeous displays, it faced one problem: at the time, the Western world had no interest in the royal family. The museum was very well received by those lucky enough to experience it, but it simply was not a topic most people were willing to tour an entire museum on. The Boris Karloff Wax Museum was performing much better simply due to its theme, despite being in a much less trafficked area, whereas the underperforming Royal London was in perhaps one of the most heavily trafficked areas in the whole country. Dunham took note of this as well, and an attraction was on its way that would change Niagara Falls, and the amusement industry, forever.
Left: The Royal London Wax Museum's neon-clad exterior in grainy 1973 footage. Right: The Queen's royal stagecoach that sat in the window as it appeared in 1976 after being moved to the Tower of London Wax Museum (see below).
1971 postcard.
The highly complex Seance scene. This featured a levitating table, moving objects, and compressed air blasting at the guests.
This brings us to one of the most pivotal attractions in the landscape and history of Clifton Hill: The House of Frankenstein. The attraction was built in a second story added on to the pre-existing restaurant and gift shop of the Iannuzelli family's Hilltop Motel, and ran by the motel owner's brother Joe. Waxattract developed the attraction, and went partners with the brothers in ownership as well, as they had previously done with the Royal London. Dunham had learned from Fantasy Land and The Royal London, or more specifically, the success of the Boris Karloff. Rather than being a museum, it would showcase various wax horror scenes from film and history in a much scarier way, somewhat similar to the haunted house dark rides or haunted fun houses at carnivals and amusement parks, but at the same time, not similar at all, in fact lightyears ahead. I believe it to be one of the most important attractions in amusement history, rivaling the Pretzel Dark Ride, the Enchanted Tiki Room, and Chuck E. Cheese's in historical significance, yet totally overlooked by historians. From what I have been able to gather after years of research, it was the first instance of programmable animatronic figures outside of California's Disneyland, even beating out Disney World in Florida by a few months. It was simultaneously more than a wax museum and more than a haunted house, one could say it was the first modern walk-through haunted attraction, today an over $300 million USD a year industry.
Waxattract would even self-produce latex monster masks and hands cast from the same molds as the figures in the attraction for sale in the gift shop. It was a combination of multiple age old concepts into something totally new. The House of Frankenstein was packed with scenes and took the detail, storytelling, and walk through nature of a wax museum, combined it with the scare factor and startling nature of a dark ride, and sprinkled in the illusions, floor tricks, and mazes of a funhouse. The cherry on top of it all was Waxattract's technology. By now, Waxattract was an entire family business, with Dunham's wife Betty doing all the costumes and seamstress work for the figures. They had 8 children, all of which would go on be involved in the family business in some way, their eldest son Jeff being the computer and programming mastermind, their son Fred becoming the main sculptor for the figures and painter of the props and backgrounds, their sons Brian and Chris handling the construction and carpentry for the attractions, and Robert himself well-versed and highly involved in all aspects. The Dunhams would pull off some incredible special effects that would still be considered impressive today.
The Grotto, where amidst the corpses and circling bats guests would hear their own voices' echo chase them down the hallway, achieved via hidden microphones and a stereo system. This allegedly sent many guests running back out the entrance.
Collage from an opening year souvenir guide book.
Before this, dark rides and funhouses used on/off switches that would trigger a one time action for startling animatronics, or use continuously running motors for displays, as had department store windows during the holidays. However none of these were programmable, at best, you could install a timer that let a motor run for a set amount of seconds, then shut off. It was systems like these which the figures in Dunham's Fantasy Land and Boris Karloff Wax Museum had run off as well. Up until now, electronically controlled and programmable figures with dynamic movements had been exclusive to the Disney company, who by this point were using room-sized computers to run digitally controlled figures. Waxattract's system however used analog signals recorded on simple reel-to-reel Q4 tape rather than massive computers to control the figures, much more affordable and accessible for attractions, and eventually became the industry benchmark. Chuck E. Cheese's wouldn't open their first store and kick off the animatronics + pizza trend until 1977. Creative Engineering, who would go on to be responsible for rival chain Showbiz Pizza in the 80's, wouldn't begin inventing animatronic figures for theme parks until the mid-late 70's, nor would future animatronics manufacturers like Sally Corp or AVG.
The Dunhams' invention and it's debut in the House of Frankenstein predate them all, cracking the code and effectively birthing the animatronics industry. Going through an opening year guidebook for the attraction, you see how certain scenes couldn't even be possible without the programming system, and if you've seen many of the same scenes still present in the later Lake George location, it becomes even more apparent. Lighting, sound, and specific movements all come together to tell a story, groundbreaking for 1971. Nobody could have expected what awaited them when they walked into the House of Frankenstein. More can be read about this incredible attraction here on it's history page. In another first, there was even a live actor in a Frankenstein suit outfront (usually one of Dunham's sons in the early years) who would stand perfectly still until a crowd was gathered around, then suddenly lunge forward to incite a large scream from the crowd. The commotion would draw more people to the doors of the attraction, and was a great example of Dunham's genius marketing, a reocurring theme you'll see on this page.
The Phantom of the Opera plays his frantic music from his pipe organ, one of the few original figures still located in the attraction as of 2024.
The original Frankenstein scene, located towards the end of the attraction. This featured a massive Jacob's Ladder device with real electricity, and the Bride of Frankenstein (just out of frame) who was wearing Betty Dunham's wedding dress.
The House of Frankenstein tore Clifton Hill apart, and sent shockwaves through the industry. If Tussaud's had began the ball rolling 12 years earlier in 1959, the House of Frankenstein was the moment everything fell into place for the identity of Clifton Hill. Waxattract's brilliant artistry, figures, sets, paintings and technical wizardry amounted to an incredible experience. Photos of Clifton Hill in the 1970's shows lineups down the street to even get into the lobby. Soon after the massive success of the House of Frankenstein, Dunham partnered with the Iannuzellis on a second location in the tourist town of Lake George, NY, which opened in 1973. Many of the figures were made from the same molds and sculpts as their Niagara counterparts, however the list of scenes contained within varied slightly. Waxattract and the Iannuzellis would continue to own the attractions as a partnership until the Iannuzellis, seeing their success, wanted to buy them outright, which Dunham eventually agreed to for the right price. But by 1974, Dunham already had his sights set on building a second haunted attraction in Niagara Falls: Castle Dracula.
The House of Frankenstein in Lake George, still operating today.
The original Castle Dracula seen at the bottom of this 1976 image taken from the Oneida tower.
By now however, Dunham wanted to do something much more scary than he already had. To set it apart, it would have to be even more thematic and technologically advanced than the previous attractions, and it delivered. It was originally located on Victoria Ave. in an old Bell Telephone office building. It opened on June 1st, 1974 to rave reviews, with it's original full name being "Castle Dracula: Witchcraft and Black Magic", although it was also referred to as simply "Castle Dracula Wax Museum" in some media. Very little was documented about this original location, but by what accounts do exist, Castle Dracula was quite a spectacle to behold when it opened, and expanded on the proven haunted attraction concept established in the House of Frankenstein(s).
Castle Dracula was themed floor to ceiling. The halls were covered in stucco rock, made to look like twisting caves between castle archways, and blacklight stalagmites hung from the ceilings. It would use many of the same sculpts as the figures in the House of Frankenstein locations, and while containing many of the same scenes such as all the classic movie monsters, the overall list of scenes would vary even more than the two House of Frankenstein locations varied from each other. The scenes were also usually presented in a much scarier way than in the House of Frankenstein locations. In addition to scarier scenes and storytelling, it was also even more technologically advanced. The Seance room now had a projected recording of a talking face inside the crystal ball instead of a simple glowing light, but the projection technology wouldn't stop there. Many peoples' fondest memory of the Castle Dracula locations is the Lightshow room with Quadraphonic Surround Sound, which consisted of 50 projectors throwing special effects on a 96 foot U-shaped screen on three walls of a massive room, the finale of the attraction. Behind the screen was a lighting rig of various spotlights, projectors, moving lights (like fire or falling snowflake effects), and silhouettes. The operator would talk into a mic to the guests in horror characters' voices, able to actually interact with the guests in real time, and provide a customized show to each guest using the switchboard.
Exterior of a 1974 fold-open brochure.
The technological improvements wouldn't stop at lighting and audio technology however, as the attraction featured yet another first in the world of animatronics; the Monster Mash, which was a fully animatronic band of monsters singing Bobby Pickett's song of the same name. By every shred of surfaced evidence, it was the world's first animatronic full musical band outside of a Disney park. It was also incredibly advanced in movement for the time, capable of movements not seen in other animatronics until the end of the decade. Unfortunately, it was in the dark hallways of the actual attraction, not the lobby or window, so photos or video have yet to surface of this historic band.
The attraction was three floors, with guests taking a staircase up to the lobby on the second floor immediately upon entering. While a separate restaurant occupied the street-facing side of the lower level, the back half of this level was part of the attraction, and was underground as the building was built atop a natural slope towards Victoria Ave. This lower level was an incredible feat of design that still hasn't been done in another haunted attraction to this day, not even the subsequent Castle Dracula locations. A pool company was brought in to reinforce all the walls of the foundation with sealed concrete, turning the entire basement into "The Swamp"; a massive watertight fishtank with a twisting hallway running through the middle. Along this hallway were huge windows into various underwater horror scenes, such as the Creature from the Black Lagoon and Davey Jones Locker. All the scenes in The Swamp were connected between each other, for the room's large fish population to freely swim around, including 3 foot long Carp. This would be guests' first introduction to the attraction. After guests' journey through The Swamp they would come back upstairs to the level at which they began, where most of the attraction was located (including The Monster Mash), and from there head up to the top floor containing a handful of scenes as well as the Lightshow. Afterwards they would come down a staircase into the lobby.
The Exorcist scene as it appeared lit but not functioning in 2023, 46 years after the attraction's eventual move to Clifton Hill.
The face of the animatronic of the possessed girl in the Exorcist scene was actually a cast of Dunham's youngest daughter Debbie's face, who was 8 years old at the time, and Fred Dunham recalls several casts of him and his siblings' arms and limbs being used to build figures. The attraction would end up being a highlight of Waxattract's achievements, ahead of it's time and spectacular at every turn. It would go on to influence the company's direction over the following years in more ways than one. Despite drawing over 200,000 visitors in its first season and being incredibly well received, it wasn't without its issues, as the attraction's complexity would be a double-edged sword. The pool company who poured the concrete for The Swamp did a less than stellar job, and leaks were an issue from day one. This would cause the water (and fish) to eventually be removed halfway through the location's lifespan, being replaced with shimmering light effects to simulate water. The Monster Mash was also problematic, requiring constant maintenance due to the amount of moving components and servos. Robert Dunham's son Fred was usually the one to do the painstaking maintenance on the band to keep it running to its full potential.
There was also an issue with the attraction's location. Victoria Ave. between Clifton Hill and the Fallsview district is somewhat highly trafficked, but Victoria Ave. in the other direction, while still considered part of the Clifton Hill district until Bender St., gets much less foot traffic, even to this day. It still swells with people on a Summer weekend, but nowhere near the levels of the rest of the Clifton Hill area. With a fairly simple exterior and lack of visibility from down the street, the original Castle Dracula simply failed to pull tourists away from the other areas, despite the positive press and lasting effect on the wider amusement industry.
With the original Castle Dracula location in Niagara initially doing well, the Dunham family's Waxattract company closed the Royal London Wax Museum, selling off the collection to the ill-fated Tower of London Wax Musuem on Clifton Hill and setting their sights elsewhere. The first project Robert Dunham was involved with down in the States wasn't an amusement attraction at all, rather, he became co-owner of the Myrtle Beach Speedway, a dirt NASCAR track which he helped redesign and pave in 1974. Several up-and-coming stars raced at the track when they were young including Jeff Gordon and Dale Earnhardt. Meanwhile, Dunham was creating his first amusement attraction in the area, the second Castle Dracula, which would open on March 14th, 1975 on Ocean Blvd., Myrtle Beach's main strip near the beach. It would take heavy inspiration from the attraction here in Niagara, building on the concept even further, while dropping elements that had proved problematic. It contained mostly the same scenes, with the returning ones sometimes improving on their past versions.
This 1975 photo of the finishing touches being put on an unknown scene in the Myrtle Beach location may be the only photo of the master himself at work.
The Swamp basement level featured in the Niagara location was done away with completely, with the Myrtle Beach location only being two levels. The facade was a massive castle with four 60 ft. turrets, a moat, a window with three changing images on it, three drawbridges in, and adorned with two gargoyle statues. The middle drawbridge led to a scene of Dracula standing at a coffin someone was trying to escape from, similar to the ones in the lobbies of the House of Frankenstein locations. You could go either left into the gift shop or right into the arcade/lobby, with the rooms being connected behind the scene. This made for a much grander facade and entranceway, pulling you down the street and then into the building.
The impressive Myrtle Beach location, 1975.
The Dracula lobby scene immediately inside
the building.
The Monster Mash was also retooled into a quartet of singing head busts with projected holographic faces. To achieve the effect, the faces were projected onto the heads, which had faces in the characters' likenesses sculpted inwards rather than outwards. It served as a lobby display rather than part of the attraction, to prevent bottlenecking along the attraction's path due to guests watching the show. The Lightshow in this location is also the only one with mention of a dancing fountain (similar to the company's Waltzing Waters attraction) in the Lightshow room in an old brochure, which was located in the large open space in the middle of the room. It's unknown if the Niagara location had this as well, as the Lightshow room there had the same layout and would have had space, but proof is yet to surface. The arcade also contained a stage for a live magic show, another feature it's unclear whether the Niagara location had.
In a news article from four days before the location opened, it states that it had over 50 scenes and over 100 figures, with many having a $16 USD (over $93 USD when adjusted for inflation) pair of imported, glass, Czechoslovakian surgical eyes for the highest realism. It's unknown if the same imported eyes were used in figures in the Niagara location, but upon inspection it appears to be the case. A first for either location was an animatronic Dracula figure with a projected talking face, the face belonging to Dunham himself in Dracula makeup. Projected faces on an animatronic figure is something even Disney wouldn't implement in their attractions until 2014, nearly 40 years later, a true testament to how advanced the attraction was for the time. Another cool feature mentioned in the news article is that the height of the windows into each scene was dependent on how gruesome it was, with more bloody and disturbing scenes having higher windows so parents could choose whether or not they wished to lift up their children to show them.
"The Room Rats" in the Myrtle Beach location, where
a prisoner chained to the wall is eaten alive.
The attraction cost roughly half a million dollars to build, and revolutionized Myrtle Beach's amusement industry similar to the way that the House of Frankenstein and original Castle Dracula influenced Niagara Falls. Unfortunately, on August 12, 1975, just two days shy of the attraction's five month anniversary, someone tossed a cigarette butt into the "Night Stalker" scene of a vampire getting impaled through the heart on the second floor, and the attraction went up in flames around 10:30 P.M. Roughly 1,000 people crowded the street and watched the Castle burn. The entire attraction was thankfully rebuilt from the ground up in time for the next tourist season in 1976, with only minor changes made in the new version. The biggest change would come in Plexiglass now covering the windows into almost all of the scenes instead of just a handful of them, something that would continue to be implemented in all subsequent attractions to prevent a similar incident. It would remains as popular as it's first year, becoming the focal point of the strip.
Firefighters fighting the flames engulfing the
castle, 1975.
The Castle was heavily involved in the local community, in common Robert Dunham style. In addition to sponsoring sports teams, they also sponsored race cars (many of which fittingly raced at Myrtle Beach Speedway), leant props out for use in a charity haunted house free of charge, sent their resident magician to local schools and charity events, and even pledged the entire remaining amount of $412 for a local citizen's band radio club telethon to reach it's $3000 goal in 1977. Speaking of radio, they ran a frequent radio ad in the Myrtle Beach area, and even shot a television commercial at some point in the 70's. According to those who worked on it, the commercial featured someone in a Gorilla suit at some point. It most likely aired on public access or local affiliate TV stations before/just at the dawn of VCRs, meaning off-air recordings of the commercial by the public likely don't exist. It remains an extremely obscure piece of lost media, with neither the TV or radio spot even having a page on the Lost Media Wiki or mention on their forums.
The Myrtle Beach strip in the early 80's with the rebuilt castle standing tall in the center.
Waxattract was also asked to redesign a local amusement park in Myrtle Beach, which had begun as a Wild West park and most recently had been rethemed to Pirateland. Dunham redesigned the park as a nautical themed park called Magic Harbour, complete with a Haunted Shooting Gallery utilising infrared target-activated characters made out of the same sculpts and molds as the figures in the House of Frankenstein and Castle Dracula locations. The park also contained The Hound Dog Revue/Country Dog Jamboree, Waxattract's second full animatronic show after the Monster Mash.
The only known photo of The Hound Dog Revue.
The Panama City Beach castle located on the main strip.
The genie statue seen faintly to the right was unrelated to
the castle, and from a neighboring attraction.
With business already booming at two Castle Dracula locations, Waxattract would spread the influence of Niagara Falls and Clifton Hill further with the third Castle Dracula in Panama City Beach, FL. It was located on the main strip facing the ocean with the same facade as the Myrtle Beach location. The attraction would be even more toned down from the previous locations, and while having a two story facade and drawbridge entrance identical to the Myrtle Beach location, would actually only be a one story building behind it.
It had a much larger footprint than the other buildings however, allowing it to still contain most of the same features within. That being said, the Lightshow was scaled down somewhat, becoming a hexagonal mirrored room with mirrors on five sides and an entrance/exit on the other. The mirrors were all two way, with the projection effects being projected on the glass rather than a screen.
Left: Jesse Dodd operating the Lightshow at the PCB location, 1977. Note the 8-Track tape control system in the back right. Waxattract had updated their reel-to-reel tape animation system to running on 8-Track by this point, and all the animatronics in the attraction would have had an 8-track control box. Right: The Dracula figure in the main Dracula scene inside the PCB castle, where he cast no reflection in his mirror. The same scene was prevalent in all the Castle Dracula locations. This rare close-up offers a glimpse into the high level of detail on the figures, and comes from a 1983 news report from inside the attraction, making it the only location to have interior footage of it's glory days to surface so far.
After the American locations of Castle Dracula were open and running smoothly by 1977, Dunham would move on from opening new Castle Dracula locations to work on other projects. Back in Niagara Falls, despite the version of the attraction there being the most advanced, it was still failing to pull people in the same way that the U.S. locations were due to it's distance from the Hill. Dunham sold the attraction in 1977, and it moved to its current home on Clifton Hill. This took up the entire plot of land formerly occupied by the historic Darling Motel, which contained the doomed Tower of London Wax Museum which had suffered a massive fire the previous year. What remained of the Motel's cabins were demolished, so all that was left was the two story motel building running along the back of the property, and the former wax museum, gift shop and offices building at the front of the property facing Clifton Hill. The front building was severely burnt out by the wax museum fire, and had sat abandoned for several months. It's unknown what the extent of the damage inside was, but the circa 1925 structure was apparently savable, and was connected with the structure at the back of the property to make one building taking up the entire plot of land which would be large enough to house the relocated attraction. Only a fraction of the original scenes would make the move however, with the Lightshow, Monster Mash, and Swamp area being left behind.
The now-iconic Clifton Hill location as it originally appeared following it's move from Victoria Ave. This image circa early 80's.
After the Castle Dracula locations were constructed, Waxattract began creating a portable version of their haunted attraction concept for travelling carnivals and small amusement parks. While it's not clear how many were produced, how large they were, or where they ended up, one was likely located on Sportland Pier in Wildwood, NJ. Several people remember a temporary attraction there called "The Boris Karloff Wax Museum" (a name Dunham had the rights to) which only lasted one season, and remember identical scenes as those found in the House of Frankenstein and Castle Dracula locations. That particular attraction likely received the older Boris Karloff name due to the name "Castle Dracula" already being taken in Wildwood by an unrelated attraction, and the House of Frankenstein name belonging to the Iannuzellis. To give an idea of how advanced the animation in these portable attractions was, they apparently contained a Dracula figure capable of raising his "wine" glass, moving his mouth to a line of dialogue, opening it, pouring fake blood out of the glass into his mouth (which was recirculated into the glass via funnel and pump), and then continuing dialogue. This was miles ahead of what major theme parks are doing even to this day, meaning on a carnival midway or in a small park in the 70's, it would have been even more impressive.
The temporary (and temporary-looking) Castle Dracula overlay of Lake George's Movieworld Wax Museum in 1982. It's likely Waxattract had little to no involvement in this location.
Then there's the mystery of the Movieworld Wax Museum in Lake George, NY, which bears more than one connection to Waxattract, including briefly becoming a Castle Dracula for the 1982 season only. Movieworld opened in 1978 and was owned by the Iannuzzelli family who Dunham had co-owned the House of Frankenstein locations with, bearing striking resemblance to Niagara's unrelated Movieland. There's even public records of a land development proposal submitted by Dunham and the Iannuzzellis for an unnamed development on Canada St. (the street both Movieworld and the House of Frankenstein are located on) in 1977, five years after the House of Frankenstein would have already opened. Despite these connections, the figures in Movieworld beared zero resemblance to Waxattract's other works, with some evidence even suggesting that Don Post Studios, who had constructed the initial batch of opening day figures for Niagara's Movieland, was involved in the project. Members of the Dunham family also recall no involvement in the project.
Regardless of the museum's origin, it was briefly renamed "Castle Dracula Wax Museum" for the 1982 season only, receiving a temporary exterior sign, before reverting back to Movieworld the next year, as it would remain until it's closure in 2000. The sole advertisement that has surfaced for the attraction during its tenure as Castle Dracula touted it as "the finest collection of monsters and movie stars", hinting that perhaps the rebranding was more of a name change than a remodel, and it was simply always just Movieworld with either an expanded or rerouted horror section. It's likely this was done to cash in on the success of the Waxattract Castle Dracula locations, with the Iannuzzellis seeing the House of Frankenstein locations draw in far more people than Movieworld and wanting to give it the same appeal, something Movieworld allegedly struggled with right up until it's closure. By 1982 Waxattract had long moved on from building new Castle Dracula locations, and the Dunhams themselves have claimed no involvement. As of writing this, no proof of Waxattract being involved in this attraction has surfaced aside from the land development proposal, and the connections were likely a coincidence.
1982 tourist book advertisement for the Lake George Castle Dracula, utilizing the same quote from Bram Stoker's novel that the official locations did in their advertising, including a strikingly similar logo. This ads even more confusion to the mystery of this attraction and it's true ties (or lack thereof) to the other locations.
Around 1977 or 1978, Waxattract would create the Jungleland Miniature Golf course in Niagara, located on Victoria Ave. at the bend where it becomes Ferry St. (the lot currently occupied by the Courtyard Marriott and the Starbucks plaza.) The fiberglass animal statues were imported from Amusement Products in Tennessee, being their popular "Jungle Kingdom" line of figures that were purchased by many courses from the mid 70's-early 2000's. The Dunhams built the large volcano however, as well as the course itself. In another genius marketing move, Dunham charged $3.50 for a play all day pass. The idea was that after an expensive outing in Niagara Falls, families would see the $3.50 play all day pricetag and think it was a steal. The reality of course, is that no matter how good a miniature golf course is, the amount of players (especially families with young children) who are going to play more than one round is an extremely low number, so players would rarely stay for more than a single round of golf anyway, freeing up course space and equipment for more potential customers. It was genius, and a total money maker. Despite the fact most people only played one round, the course was so busy that there were often times lineups to even wait for a putter to become available to play the course.
Left: Bobby Mergl lines up a putt at the Big and Little Brother Golf Tournament held at the Victoria Ave. Jungleland course, 1986. Right: The course's elephant in the winter, 1985.
Waxattract wasn't involved in the second Jungleland location however, selling the Victoria Ave. location to Herbert Cowan at the end of the 1980 tourist season. He initially changed the course to a standard one-round play system, but after the course didn't perform nearly as well as when Dunham owned it, he reverted back to the play all day pass system. Cowan would go on to build the second, more challenging course on Murray Hill in the Fallsview District sometime in the mid-80's.
Low resolution image of the coin-operated
Barbershop Quartet machine at Waxattract's studios.
Shortly after Jungleland opened, Waxattract became the designers for the upcoming Many Worlds of Jules Verne theme park planned to be out near Marineland. However, after the company who was to own the park, G&A Holdings, ran out of capital, the project was dead in the water and unfortunately never left the planning stages. It's unclear what attractions Dunham was planning for the park, but copyright filings show it would have included an Arby's fast food restaurant somewhere in the premises. The only aspect originally planned for the park to make it to production was The Barbershop Quartet, a miniature, animatronic, coin-operated barbershop quartet machine. According to the copyright database it began life during planning as "The Doggone Quartet", and was likely to feature singing dogs that were to be the park's mascots, but were changed to human barbers after the park was halted. It was produced, but it's unclear if it was ever installed in another attraction instead.
While this was happening, it showed a shift in Robert Dunham's work away from museums, wax figures, and exhibits, and even more into the field of animatronics. In the late 70's, Waxattract rebranded as Enter-Tech, "Entertainment Technology in Motion", a division of Waxattract. At this time they would move from their former studio in a warehouse just off Portage Rd., to an industrial plaza on Thorold Stone Rd. The newly branded Enter-Tech would usher in a wave of animatronics being a Clifton Hill area staple, even more so than they already had as Waxattract.
Cover of an early-80's Enter-Tech trade show pamphlet.
An animatronic mouse character plays the
piano at the entrance to Circus World, which
looks identical to Enter-Tech's work (more on that later.)
In 1979, Enter-Tech as well as other local firm Costello Productions were separately involved in different aspects of Circus World, an arcade and gift shop that also included a hybrid attraction that was a mix between a circus museum and a funhouse. There was also an impressive shooting gallery at the front of the arcade named the Tombstone Saloon, as well as an animatronic, piano playing mouse outside the museum next to something in a circus wagon. It's unknown what party did what exactly for the attraction. It's possible the Tombstone Saloon was a Dunham creation due to them being involved in the shooting gallery in Magic Harbour, but it's also possible it was an off the shelf "Bonanza" shooting gallery that was popular at the time (Niagara had at least 3 others at one point in time.)
In 1979, Pyramid Place, an outdoor amusement park and indoor mall, opened in the former Niagara Wire Weaving factory at Fallsview and Robinson. The mall's main attraction was "The Legend Niagara", an Enter-Tech attraction of massive proportions. It was a multi-media museum with animatronic figures and displays discussing Niagara's history. The museum was a pre-show of sorts for the star attraction: a giant theatre with a wraparound film screen high above on the wall. Beneath it were multiple animatronic figures hidden behind scrim screens around the guests. A film about Niagara Falls' history played on the screen above, and when it discussed certain key points, the matching animatronic scenes would come to life to synchronize with events taking place in the film. The attraction was incredible, and was updated the next year as "The Great White Water Picture Show" with a new film, and the animatronics reprogrammed to match the new movie. The Dunhams sold the attraction in 1981, and a company called Landmark Entertainment would take over, slightly remodling the attraction. Fred Dunham also painted a large Disney advertisement mural in Pyramid Place, likely in the mall along the outside wall of the theatre.
Newspaper ad for the Great White Water Picture Show.
These low-quality images may be the only surviving stills of the film. It should be noted the theatre full of guests at the bottom-left is the IMAX Pyramid, not the Great White Water Picture Show.
Maple Leaf Village, Niagara's well-missed tourist mall and amusement park, was home to another Enter-Tech animatronic show, the now-obscure "Hillbilly Bear Jamboree". The show was "run" by Big John, a banjo-playing Panda bear on a side stage. Other characters on the main stage included the dim-whitted Leroy (also on Banjo), Harry Harmonica, Beverly Bear on the fiddle, Jug Head, a chicken, and the tiny Hooter the owl, who would introduce and close each show. There was also a larger bear at the center of the main stage with a guitar. It's possible this may have been "Big John" and the panda bear was a separate character either out front or on a side stage, but a newspaper article about the attraction which contains some of the only documentation of it, shows a photo of the Panda bear with the caption saying he was Big John.
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Left: The panda bear proclaimed to be "Big John" in a 1982 newspaper article. Above: A rare photo of The Hillbilly Bear Jamboree courtesy of the Dunhams' personal archives.
A still from a 1982 commercial for
Maple Leaf Village, which contains the
only known footage of the Hillbilly Bear Jamboree.
Unfortunately, after only two or three years operating at the mall, the computer equipment was stolen from the attraction. It would have been a huge heist at the time both literally and figuratively, as the equipment wouldn't only have been extremely valuable, but also extremely large and heavy in 1982. Afterwards, the Dunhams turned the space into an animatronic Lincoln show similar to the ones at the Disney parks, titled "Meet Mr. Lincoln". Lincoln would get up from his chair, appear to walk forward, and deliver the Gettysburg address (via Robert Dunham's voice acting.) This attraction is incredibly obscure however; no photos, videos, newspaper clippings, advertisements or other mentions of it exist outside it being listed in a 1984 Maple Leaf Village store directory.
There was also a Dare Devil Gallery in Pyramid Place's IMAX Pyramid by the mid-1990's. Enter-Tech created an exhibit attraction in The Falls entitled Dare Devil Gallery sometime in the late 70's/very early 80's, evidenced by it's mention in an early 80's Enter-Tech brochure's project portfolio. According to newspaper articles the attraction moved from its home Stanley Ave. to the former Burning Springs Wax Museum building for the 1991 season only. It's unknown if the attraction ceased to exist after that point and the naming is simply a coincidence, or if a downsized version infact became Pyramid Place's Dare Devil Gallery.
Another obscure attraction listed in the same brochure is "Ocean World". There's several theories as to what this could be. It may be referencing the few animatronic figures and fiberglass statues that could be found in the National Marine Aquarium of Canada which opened in 1971. The attraction had a rocky history of ownership and rebranding, so it's possible this simply could have been it's name at the time the brochure was created. While there's currently nothing explicitly tying Waxattract to the Aquarium, they did some work on other attractions owned by the Aquarium's original developers, so it's a possibility they did the thematic work for this attraction as well.
An animatronic toucan from the brochure in question. It's
unknown if this figure ever made it into an attraction or was simply a proof-of-concept.
By 1980, Waxattract/Enter Tech were allegedly producing around 60 animatronic figures a year for various clients, with sales upwards of $1 Million annually, or over $3.7 Million today when adjusted for inflation. By this logic, it stands to reason there's probably a large handful of attractions/installations the company worked on that have since gone undocumented. With so many attractions under their belt, several of which were high-profile money makers, the company name was steadily turning more and more heads in the industry. Between and the company's incredibly advanced technology, highly detailed artistry, thematic design skill, and proven ability to push the boundaries time and time again, potential high-profile clients were beginning to take note, and the small Canadian company was finally positioned to become a global giant in amusement design.
The All Star Mouse Revue featured prominently in the early-80's
Enter-Tech brochure. The band was comprised of parodies of famous musicians, hence the "all star" theme. From left to right: "Victor B. Mouse","Elvis Mouse", "Ringo Mouse", "Dolly Mouse", and "Louis Mouse."
In the early-80's, Enter-Tech had allegedly entered into a contract with fast food chain Pizza Pizza to supply all the animatronic stage shows for a planned chain of arcade pizza restaurants across Canada, with a starting 15 locations that could expand to more in the future. The show was to be "The All Star Mouse Revue" featuring the new chain's would-be mascot mice. The piano player for this band appeared to be of the same design as the company's Circus World mouse seen earlier on this page, likely being the inspiration for the band. The production, including the parts, research, and development, would have been a huge and expensive undertaking for Enter-Tech, not to mention time consuming. That being said, when completed, it would have been extremely lucrative and open even more doors for the company. The first show was built, programmed, and delivered, with several more already in production. Pizza Pizza missed their second payment however...
Meanwhile, a planned pizza parlor chain of similar nature, this time with 20 planned locations in the U.S., caught wind of the show and wished to commission 20 for their chain instead. However, weary of Pizza Pizza taking legal action against Enter-Tech for breaking contract and selling the characters and show to another company, Dunham kept hope that Pizza Pizza's second payment would eventually arrive. It never did, and upon Dunham's inquiring, the fast food giant supposedly claimed to have no clue who Enter-Tech were and hold no record of the shows being commissioned or even delivered, or apparently the planned restaurant chain at all. Not to go down the conspiracy theory road (this is simply speculation based on industry trends at the time), but it's possible that what happened is with the arcade industry recently posting it's first sales decrease in history in 1983, and other restaurant chains of the same concept going belly up after expanding too quickly, Pizza Pizza got cold feet and thought it easier to sweep the whole thing under the rug rather than front the costs to properly backpeddle. By this point it was too late for Dunham to sign with the company from the States instead, and the financial loss from the costs of production of the Mouse Revue shows forced the mighty Enter-Tech/Waxattract into bankruptcy.
Fred (Left) and Jeff (Right) Dunham build one of the mouse
figures, 1980. This newspaper article on the company features the only-mid production photo from inside Waxattract/Enter-Tech's studios to surface, offering a glimpse into the complexity of the figures.
A few days later, Robert Dunham suffered his first heart attack. He would survive and begin to rebuild the company, now focusing on Monsterland Golf, an indoor blacklight miniature golf course featuring animatronic horror figures made from the same sculpts and molds used in the House of Frankenstein and Castle Dracula locations. It was an idea he apparently had for a while, as the copyright was filed way back in 1979 when Jungleland's was. It would have been revolutionary for 1985 if completed, as this was likely before Nightmares Fore opened, and not only would have been both the first blacklight and horror themed mini golf, but also the first interactive one, where obstacles you hit and cups you sink trigger effects on the course. This is a concept that even today is considered revolutionary, and is just starting to become wide-spread in the industry. Unfortunately, it never got passed the planning stages, and on March 11th, 1985, Robert Dunham would suffer another heart attack and pass away at the young age of 55.
The industrial plaza on Thorold Stone Rd. formerly home to the final location of Waxattract/Enter-Tech's studios as it appears today. Legendary attractions in both Niagara Falls and across North America were literally created from this building.
It was a huge loss to Niagara Falls and the wider industry. Some of Enter-Tech's final projects to actually be completed would be an animatronic Pioneer museum in P.E.I., a talking and drinking W.C. Fields for a bar in the States, and an animatronic salmon puppet built for the Ontario Ministry of the Environment, which would travel around to classrooms giving presentations via a professor with a microphone hidden out of sight of the children. Perhaps no company in the history of the Canadian amusement industry has had a higher volume of attraction output, especially abroad in the U.S., which makes the outstanding quality of those attractions and the fact that one family was creating them rather than a giant crew of employees, all the more astonishing and impressive. Many of the attractions they worked on would become iconic in their respective locations, and even the few that fell through the cracks of history are remembered fondly by those who experienced them.
Who knows what else Dunham would have come up with, invented, or built in Niagara and abroad if given more time. One thing is for certain, his legacy, and the joy he brought to millions in his short time, will live on forever in Niagara Falls and the amusement industry as a whole, even if people may not know him by name. The joint efforts of the Dunham family gave fond memories to millions of people who walked through the halls of their museums and haunted attractions, watched the spectacle of their shows and animatronics, or were immersed by their designs in their themed attractions. Art in general often bears the curse of anonymity, and often goes uncredited, especially in the amusement industry. Despite being a knowingly thankless line of work, that doesn't mean the artists and designers who bring an experience to life don't deserve credit for the smiles they create. The strongest kind of example is with a company such as Waxattract, who sculpted memories for those lucky enough to experience their attractions, and the many who continue to experience the handful of them still operational today.
Thanks for Reading
Written by Alex Crew
A list of confirmed and suspected projects Waxattract were involved in can be viewed on the company's main History page in the "Artists and Designers" section of this website. If able, be sure to visit The House of Frankenstein locations in Niagara Falls, ON and Lake George, N.Y., and Castle Dracula (now named "Dracula's Haunted Castle") in Niagara Falls, ON. These are the last confirmed Waxattract attractions in existence. Although it's undergone minor updates, The House of Frankenstein in Lake George, N.Y. remains the most unaltered and best surviving example of Waxattract's work. This article has been made possible by members of the Dunham family who took the time to give interviews and share this incredible story. A huge thank you to Debbie Piccirillo and Fred Dunham for sharing the story of their father's company and everything they themselves contributed to the family business.