USA: Ripley's Believe It or Not! opens its Times Square Odditorium, a museum for the odd and unusual

Record ID: 643662

  • Title: USA: Ripley's Believe It or Not! opens its Times Square Odditorium, a museum for the odd and unusual
  • Date: 28th June 2007
  • Summary: (L!3) NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES (JUNE 21, 2007) (REUTERS) RIPLEY'S BELIEVE IT OR NOT! TIMES SQUARE ODDITORIUM MARQUEE DAN MEYER, SWORD SWALLOWER AND RIPLEY'S BELIEVE IT OR NOT! TIMES SQUARE ODDITORIUM PERFORMER AT RIBBON CUTTING CEREMONY. (SOUNDBITE) (English) BOB MASTERSON, PRESIDENT, RIPLEY ENTERTAINMENT SAYING: "We want to show you something odd and unusual. We want to send you out with a little bit of interesting trivia that you can take to your friends. But really see and in many cases touch, things you would normally never be able to touch in your life." WOMAN WITH WORLD'S LONGEST FINGERNAILS SHOWING NAILS MAN WITH MORE THAN 200 HUNDRED PLASTIC STRAWS IN HIS MOUTH GABRIEL GOMEZ: MAN WITH HAIR-COVERED FACE (SOUNDBITE) (English) KAREN CAMPBELL, IN FRONT OF RIPLEY'S BELIEVE IT OR NOT! TIMES SQUARE ODDITORIUM, SAYING: "I've heard about it, I've read about it, but to actually be standing here seeing someone painted like a snake, and seeing this tiger woman and seeing the guy with his entire face covered in hair, (pause) speechless." CROWD WATCHING THE SHOW (SOUNDBITE) (English) LIZARD MAN AND RIPLEY'S BELIEVE IT OR NOT! TIMES SQUARE ODDITORIUM PERFORMER, SAYING: "For people in my business, our business, people who are sideshow performers or variety performers, those of us who do the odd and unusual as opposed to say the more classical arts, like dance and song, this is our legacy, this is our repository of history. This is how we get remembered and preserved in the past."
  • Embargoed: 13th July 2007 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Usa
  • Country: USA
  • Topics: Entertainment,Light / Amusing / Unusual / Quirky
  • Reuters ID: LVABA23YG6P7KTZHOE53E2B0L5C
  • Story Text: A sword swallower and a woman with the world's longest fingernails were among the attractions in New York when a Times Square branch of the Ripley's Believe It or Not! museum opened on Thursday (June 21).
    Others at the ribbon-cutting ceremony for the Ripley's Odditorium, a museum of the odd and unusual, included appearances by a tattooed Lizard Man, and the world's oldest living co-joined twins, Lori and Dori Schappell..
    Exhibits range from 24 shrunken heads to a section on the Berlin Wall, a baseball uniform belonging to Babe Ruth for appearances in a "Believe It or Not's" charity league, and other animal and human oddities.
    Bob Masterson, President of Ripley Entertaiment said, "We want to show you something odd and unusual. We want to send you out with a little bit of interesting trivia that you can take to your friends."
    Onlookers were impressed with the variety of entertainers on hand.
    "I've heard about it, I've read about it, but to actually be standing here seeing someone painted like a snake, and seeing this tiger woman and seeing the guy with his entire face covered in hair... speechless," said Karen Campbell, who was watching the show.
    Performers also expressed appreciation for the attention.
    "For people in my business, our business, people who are sideshow performers or variety performers, those of us who do the odd and unusual as opposed to say the more classical arts, like dance and song, this is our legacy, this is our repository of history. This is how we get remembered and preserved in the past," said Lizard Man, who was decorated in scaly green tattoos.
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