Wax auction draws movie buffs, collectors

? Daniel Roebuck showed up at Buena Park’s Movieland Wax Museum on Saturday with one major goal.

“I want their Frankenstein to live in my house,” said the 43-year-old Los Angeles resident and self-described “actor, writer and monster collector.”

Roebuck was one of about 400 movie fans who came to bid in the daylong “Everything Must Go” auction sale at the museum, which closed its doors last Halloween after a 43-year run. Owners cited declining attendance and rising competition from nearby amusement parks.

On the auction block, which happened simultaneously at the museum and over the Internet, were about 500 items.

“This is a piece of Southern California history,” said Edward D. Testo Jr., president of Asset Reliance Inc., the auction company. “It’s a little bit of Hollywood. People have a chance to own a celebrity.”

Well, not exactly, but their likenesses in wax anyway, including longtime stalwarts such as Bette Davis, George Burns, Marilyn Monroe, Marlon Brando and Andy Griffith.

Chris Doohan, 46, whose father, James Doohan, played Scotty in “Star Trek,” had hoped to buy the figure of his late dad, who died last year at 85.

But the bidding was a little high for the medical technician – the wax figure fetched $4,200.

“I had a feeling it would go for a high number,” said Doohan, who downplayed his loss by saying the piece was not in pristine condition.

The auction was expected to go into the evening. By mid-morning, two of the biggest bids belonged to Elizabeth Taylor in her classic “Cleopatra” character, which fetched $25,000, and a “Wizard of Oz” scene featuring Judy Garland, which sold for a cool $33,000.

Garland’s Oz scene went to George Krikorian, owner of the Southern California theater chain bearing his name.