Enchanted Tiki room figurines from 1963

This is my first post so I hope I do it properly! These pieces were either prototypes or replacement figures for the then new Tiki attraction. My father was a Disney exec and very friendly with John Hench, I believe these were a gift from him. I used to play TIki Room under our kitchen table with these little guys, nothing has been added to them except the dust! Each one (there are several) has an embedded WED Enterprises copyright plate in the casting (I have included a close up photo). Has anyone seen other pieces like these? I would appreciate any info!
I tried posting this earlier today but it did't seem to go through.

img]https://tikicentral.com/uploads/77871/51e6c845.jpg[/img]

additional photos

Nice !! :)

[ Edited by: JOHN-O 2013-07-17 14:33 ]

Wow! Those are fantastic. A nice piece of tiki history you have there!

VERY cool! I have a couple lithographs (non-tiki room) signed by John Hench. Somewhere in my collection I also have a tiki room graphic signed by a bunch of the imagineers who worked on the project, including John Hench and Rolly Crump, I think... I put it away for safe keeping, hope to run into it soon.

In the 60's they used to sell the tiki babies (the new gods that would come down from Tangoroa. These are probably originals since they have the WED mark on the back.

Five years ago they made replicas of two of them for the Tiki Room's 45th anniversary.

If you are going to sell, you might have some confusion from customers since they may think they are the reproductions, which would probably be worth less (even though there were fewer made)

[ Edited by: wizzard419 2013-07-17 21:43 ]

I have seen the Tiki Babies like the one you have, but it did not have the WED markings.

Were the Tiki Babies that were originally sold when the attraction opened exact copies or scaled down versions? Were they smaller? Also, how many different Tiki Babies actually descend? I have a fourth figurine not shown. I wonder how many there are in total!

Tigertail, I am not 100% sure, but I believe the ones that sold at the Adventureland Bazaar were scaled down cast replicas. The ones you have, were most likely the actual show pieces, and had to be larger, based on Tangaroa, the tree of life. The only two people I know who would have an absolute answer would be Miehana, and BigBroTiki...Incredibly awesome pieces, though, and I've never seen them that clean! Mr. Hench seemed like a standup guy, even in the old Disney World of Color clips!

How large are they? We might be able to give a guess if the castings came from the ones used in the show or not.

If the one with the blue hair is about 14 inches tall (not counting the hair) then it may have been the same mold that was used for the ones on the tree.

It is interesting to note that because yours were hand made for mass consumption, they didn't all follow the exact same criteria, which led to yours having a wig.

Pretty please...may we see a photo of the fourth one...and Thank You

The one on the right I have seen the copy that was made and it was about a foot tall.

I am curious about the one you saw without the copyright plate, which seems to have been a separate stamped or cast element. Note the bottom of the foot on the standing figure with the blue headdress, The plate has been slotted in and glued. Also, because of the color variations on the same 'models' I wonder if these were early castings that they were messing around with in terms final coloration and decorative elements (beads, skirts, headdresses etc). They may have settled on the final design and these were leftovers,
hence available to be given as a gift.

Possibly, you can find artist proofs for various merch from time to time. Another reason the plate might look so out of place on all of them is that they were using the original figures to make the forms and added the plate to the casts. Normally, on a finished product, the engraving would be more subtle.

It is my understanding that they sold pieces like these out in the Adventureland area these look like older ones I've seen but I could be wrong. I have also seen the same sculpts with a simple WED on the bottom which might explain the slot and fancy tag on these, in any case they are very cool.

Bosko

Thanks for all the responses! I still have a couple of more questions. How many different 'models' of Tike Babies descend from the tree? Also, who sculpted the originals, was it Blaine Gibson? I met him several times as a teenager and he was not only an astounding portraitist and sculpture, but also a really kind and unassuming guy.

I can look next time I am in the park (they haven't really changed the design much so the babies should still be the same). For the sculptor, you might want to check with Dave Smith at the Disney Archives for that info.

I will do that. Here is the fourth figurine, it is a familiar one...

Tigertail, it was great to chat with you at Tonga Hut on Sunday! Thanks for posting these photos of those great classic tiki figures! Awesome!

These are AWESOME!

On 2013-07-22 15:47, wizzard419 wrote:
I can look next time I am in the park (they haven't really changed the design much so the babies should still be the same). For the sculptor, you might want to check with Dave Smith at the Disney Archives for that info.

Dave retired a year or so ago. But the staff will take great care of you.

He still apparently answers fan questions on the archive's page (though I have a feeling the staff do most of the legwork).

Those are incredibly awesome! I am pretty sure Rolly Crump sculpted those, but I may be wrong. Regardless, they are very beautiful from one tiger to another. :wink: