Greetings Mez-Ites! Today Mezco Toyz takes some time to interview artist Barry Anderson from Ripley’s. Ripley’s Believe It Or Not headquarters is located in Florida and Barry’s workshop looks like a cross between House Of Wax (with Vincent Price) and a standard issue Mad Scientist Lab. I am filled with envy.


So what do you do at Ripley's?
I am the Director of Ripley’s Entertainments Art Dept. I am the lead artist and manager with a small but very talented staff of six artists. I have been with the Ripley Company for almost thirteen years. We create museum figures for all of our Ripley’s attractions around the world and we make many other artistic creations for our company’s other attractions such as our mini golf and haunted attractions and Louis Tussauds wax museums.
 

Did you go to art school?
I attended commercial art school studying advertisement and design at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh and transferred to Ft. Lauderdale Art Institute after coming down for a spring break visit, walking out of school and seeing girls in bikinis seemed like a great idea to me. This education gave me some survival skills and got me on my way. Right after that I studied film makeup at a trade school in Miami because my real dream was to work in the film and entertainment industry.
 

Tell us about your early career before Ripley's...
I have had a pretty interesting career although going through it especially the early years it was pure survival. I did a great deal of commercial illustration especially in the printed apparel industry, I also worked for some art studios cranking out large canvas paintings then I went into a different direction and started working in three dimensions working in a silver foundry sculpting and mold making and then at a Bronze foundry. As a side career I worked doing makeup effects since there was not enough of that work to sustain me full time in Florida. I have worked on over a dozen featured films although most would fit in the B category but most horror films do. I have also worked on many commercials as well as documentaries.

What's the oddest thing you and your team have made for Ripley's?
The Oddest thing is a tough question around here because we are so used to the strange and unusual that it becomes normal to us. I look around and here’s the tallest man and the smallest woman, impaled victims etc. etc. it really gets to be a blur. Something that we have made recently that was pretty different for us was a Buddha made from macerated money from the mint. We laid it up in resin and it looks like jade. I don’t know how much money it was but it was a lot!! {NOTE: The Buddha, filled with $1,000,000.00, is on display at Ripley’s in NY City)

I've always wondered, is there a danger of wax figures melting? When you have a wax museum do you need emergency generators in case there is a power outage in summer?
Wax is vulnerable to temperature change and yes there is a melting point to the wax. It is a big concern when I have to ship out new wax exhibits especially in the summer months or certain locations around the world. I use a blend of waxes in my formula and avoid waxes with a very low melting point. As far as emergency generators go that may depend on each individual museum, for instance we have one in Kuwait, which may be a good idea at that location.

Why does Ripley's do figures in wax instead of fiberglass or other materials?
We have ventured into using other materials as our company grows and the needs change, we are being challenged all the time because of our company’s growth. We have been making more interactive creations using translucent resins and silicones but wax is still a big part of what we do. I really love the fact that we are working with the traditional methods of wax museum figure making, and I have always been a big fan of Vincent Price and the house of wax. Wax has some great quality’s to it and will probably remain a part of Ripley’s .I should mention that we own a chain of wax museum called Louis Tussauds waxworks and you cant have a wax museum without wax figures {NOTE: Madame Tussaud and Louis Tussaud are related and both have wax museums that operate under their name but they are separate companies. Louis Tussaud is part of the Ripley’s family of entertainment, Madame Tussaud is not.}

On "Take your kids to work day" are all the kids traumatized or do they have fun??
My son is five years old and he really does not seem to fazed by any of it. When I get home at night he asks how many pretend people I made that day. Then again out in our garage at home he pushes the skeletons out of the way to get to his tricycle.

As you know, Mezco made Miami Vice toys. I hear you have a MV connection, what is it?
I was thrilled to see the Mezco Miami Vice toys because I was on the show during the first season cast as an undercover police officer. I started my career dabbling in acting, although I never took it too serious I was getting jobs mostly as an extra such as the punk rock guy gets in fight in bar scene. I had an agent that called about a new TV show and I decided to show up as a rockabilly rebel and was cast as a regular extra with gun and badge. Unfortunately all my speaking opportunities fell through due to shooting problems such as time or weather but it was a great experience and I made many friends on the show. After the first season I declined returning to pursue a career in art and makeup FX. I kept in touch with Philip Michael Thomas and asked him to visit my makeup studio that was around the corner from the studio where Vice was filmed and he came over with his friend Dion Warwick and I took castings off of both of their faces. It was a great day just hanging out and having fun.

What types of toys do you collect?
I have a lot of monster stuff and things retro to my childhood including some original toys from the 60s and 70s but I should mention that many of my toys are from Mezco and I am always interested in what you guys will produce next.

What were your favorite toys growing up?
I look back with great joy when reflecting on the toys from childhood, they were such an important part of my life and really steered my interests that turned into a career. I loved creating things so creepy crawlers and the fright factory were used a lot. I also put many of those Aurora model kits together and played with lots of cars some that stand out were the Corky cars such as the Bat Mobile and Beatles Yellow submarine. I love to go to toy and collectable shows and walk out with bags of stuff; it makes me feel like a kid again.

I understand you have children, is it hard to keep them away from "Daddy's toys"?
I have one son and he is five and yes he is interested in my things, but the plus side is now I have an excuse to play with toys again and encourage him to use his wild imagination. He has a good collection of odd toys himself.

What's your favorite book (not made by Ripley)?
Great question but hard to answer! I love reading and I am always looking for knowledge so I read a lot of non-fiction but for good enjoyment I love a good Horror suspense novel. One of my favorites is from a personal friend of mine named Owl Goingback who has written several great books but I like Evil Whispers it’s just good and creepy!

What's your favorite food to cook?
Because of my busy schedule my wife does most of the cooking but every weekend I make a big family breakfast, which my son really enjoys.

What is your dream project?
I am not sure if I would know my dream project even if I were working on it. I am blessed to love my job and always look forward to a new exciting project. At Ripley’s I would say creating a Haunted House of Wax would be it and for myself being an idea person I have many story ideas for films and I would love to work on a script and see it turn into a film someday.


And with that Barry jams his hands into a pickle jar size vat of eyeballs, plucks out two, and bids us adieu …believe it, or not!

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