A Mold-A-Rama™ vending machine is a tiny, automated factory that uses an injection molding process to manufacture small, hollow waxy plastic sculptures on-demand that children use as toys and adults keep as souvenirs. [This is a revised and expanded version of an article I wrote for my more scholarly blog In the Garden City. ] Built in Chicago by people who didn’t believe in engineered obsolescence, many Mold-A-Rama™ vending machines have been operating in the same facilities for over half a century, while others are in the care of second or third-hand owners.  Most of the machines that remain in operation are owned and/or lovingly maintained by two family-owned enterprises who have been in the business for up to four generations. 

Both the appearance of a Mold-A-Rama™ machine and its name are dead giveaways that it’s a holdover from the mid-20^th Century.  It is a common experience to walk into a building and know it has been used for generations whether it’s a family home or a church or city hall, but it’s unusual to use a machine and know your parents, grandparents, and possibly great-grandparents could have used it but that is the case with a Mold-A-Rama™.  Some readers who may object, “What are you talking about?  My family has been driving cars (or watching televisions, etc.) for three or four generations.”  To these people I would reply, “Sure, but your family hasn’t been using the same telephone since the 1890s or driving the same car since the 1930s, etc.”  A technology might be used for generations, but aside from families with the money and wherewithal to lovingly maintain an antique car or antique airplane for generations, it is rare to use a particular machine and know you family did or could have used it for generations.

The word Mold-A-Rama™ is a portmanteau of mold and a-rama.  The first part of the name, Mold, is self-explanatory because the machine employs an injection molding process, as I explained in the first sentence.  The A-Rama part might require some explanation for younger readers.  Merriam-Webster Dictionary recognizes -arama and -rama as variants of -orama.  The definition is a word informally “used chiefly in nonce words to denotes an event, production, situation, etc., that amounts to or is suggestive of a prolonged or extravagant display or exhibition of a specified kind.” [1]  This word “-arama” or -orama” word is derived from the words panorama, diorama, and cyclorama.  Those English words, in turn, are derived from the Greek word horama, which means “sight” or “view.” 

In an entertaining essay (“Word-orama!”) from its Words at Play section, an anonymous Merriam Webster writer observed, “Tacking an -orama on the end of an existing word is a fine way to impart, in jovial fashion, that something is of a particularly extravagant or notable nature… Many people associate this word (which is a combining form, rather than a suffix) with smell-o-rama, one of the many misguided attempts in the middle of the 20^th century to introduce various forms of stink to the moviegoer’s experience.”

I can think of only two things with -arama or -orama names from recent decades.  Firstly, there was the Bananarama girl (pop music) group in the 1980s, which is best known for the song “Cruel Summer” that was released in 1983.  Secondly, there was the animated series Futurama, which aired on Fox (2003-2007) and Comedy Central (2010-2013) and Hulu is reviving with a new season that will start streaming in 2023. 

Originally, Mold-A-Rama™ sculptures cost twenty-five cents and even today they only cost a few dollars.  Old Mold-A-Rama™ sculptures produced by machines that are no longer in operation or with molds that are no longer in use can sell anywhere from ten dollars to hundreds of dollars.  These include replicas of the Colleen Moore’s Fairy Castle at the Museum of Science and Industry.[2] 

Mold-A-Rama™ machines became famous because of their use at Sinclair Oil Corporation’s Dinoland exhibit at the New York City World’s Fair in the early 1960s.  To simplify matters, I will often use the abbreviation M-A-R when referring to the machines and sculptures and try to reserve the full name Mold-A-Rama™ for the company that made the machines.  The most-sought after M-A-R sculpture is the 1958 Purple People Eater, one of which sold for $809 in 2012.[3] 

Each Mold-A-Rama™ machine has seventy pounds of polyethylene (waxy plastic) pellets in its hopper and to convert those pellets into liquid ready to be molded, they are heated at 225° to 250° Fahrenheit in the pot.[4] The way it works is that after the customer feeds cash into the machine – or, at a few select locations, swipes a card – two hydraulic cams close the two halves of the mold together, a third pushes polyethylene into the mold, and a fourth blows air into the sculpture to make it hollow.[5]  [These are negative molds made from an original sculpture.[6]] The liquid polyethylene at the core of the sculpture falls back into the tank.[7] Coolant chills the mold.[8]  The two mold halves part and another cam goes into motion to push the sculpture forward into a holding bin.[9]  The customer should wait a minute to let the finished product cool off before opening the bin to pull it out.[10] Also, the customer should initially hold the M-A-R sculpture upside down while it cools.[11]  There are very few M-A-R machines left, and most of them are at zoos.

Only two companies operate most of them. One of those companies is Mold-A-Rama, Inc. (the second company to have that name) in Brookfield, Illinois.  In Chicagoland, this company operates M-A-R vending machines at the Brookfield Zoo, the Lincoln Park Zoo, The Field Museum, the Museum of Science and Industry, and Willis Tower (formerly the Sears Tower).  In addition, the company operates M-A-R vending machines at the Milwaukee Zoo; the Como Park Zoo & Conservatory in St. Paul, Minnesota; The Henry Ford Museum & Greenfield Village in Dearborn, Michigan; and the San Antonio Zoo.  The other company is Replication Devices, also known as Unique Devices, Inc. in Florida.  It operates M-A-R vending machines at Zoo Miami (also known as The Miami-Dade Zoological Park & Gardens), the Central Florida Zoo & Botanical Gardens in Orlando, Florida; Monkey Jungle in Redland, Florida (an unincorporated suburb of Miami); the Museum of Discovery and Science in Fort Lauderdale, Florida; Tampa Electric’s Manatee Viewing Center in Apollo Beach Florida; Weeki Wachee Springs State Park in Weeki Wachee, Florida; Gatorland in Orlando, Florida; Busch Gardens in Tampa, Florida; the Toledo Zoological Park & Aquarium (formerly Toledo Zoological Gardens) and the Toledo Imagination Station (formerly the Center of Science and Industry) in Toledo, Ohio; the WonderWorks children’s museum in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee; Zoo Knoxville (formerly Knoxville Zoo) in Knoxville, Tennessee; and the Oklahoma City Zoo.  Replication Devices has labeled its Mold-A-Rama™ vending machines Mold-A-Matic™ machines. 

Replication Devices also sells and leases out M-A-R machines.  The Knoxville Zoo acquired its M-A-R vending machines from Dollywood,[12] and the Knoxville Zoo depends on Replication Devices for parts and support services.[13] 

Figure 1 Credit: S.M. O’Connor Caption: This is a Mold-A-Rama™ Space Robot from the Museum of Science and Industry. It is an example of a Mold-A-Rama™ sculpture that is no longer in production.

Figure 2 Credit: S.M. O’Connor Caption: This is the back of the Mold-A-Rama™ Space Robot from the Museum of Science and Industry. Mold-A-Rama™ figures are fragile and need to be carefully stored.

In 1937, inventor J.H. (“Tike”) Miller first started making figures when he found it difficult to replace a broken infant Jesus from a crèche (nativity scene) when he went back to the department store.[14]  He and his wife began to make and paint plaster figures in their basement.[15] They began to sell plaster figures in novelty shops.[16]  I do not know if he ever finished the book, much less got it published, but in 2013 Ken Glennon was writing a book he intended to entitle “Dimestore Dynasty of J.H. Miller,” and he visited Quincy, Illinois, where Miller’s factory was located and Quincy Herald-Whig’s Don O’Brien interviewed him. 

Glennon explained that The J.H. Miller Company was located in Chicago until Miller moved his family and his business to Quincy, Illinois.[17]  The business address was 225 Hampshire Street in Quincy from 1941 to 1959.[18]  [Today, several windows in that building have a commanding view of the Mississippi River.]  Miller’s father was an executive with Kresge (which evolved into Kmart) and helped ensure Miller’s porcelain figures wound up on store shelves.[19]  Germany was the leading source of nativity scenes in the whole world, but, of course, during the Second Great World War, the American market was cutoff, and The J.H. Miller Company was perfectly poised to soon become the largest American manufacturer of nativity scenes.[20]  The J.H. Miller Company retained this position for several years after the conclusion of World War II.[21]

In 1955, The J.H. Miller Company transitioned from the manufacture of plaster figures to the manufacture of waxy polyethylene figures using plastic mold injection technology, which was less expensive than plaster casting and allowed Miller to experiment with and enlarge his line of figures.[22] These were dinosaurs, jungle animals, aliens, and, of course, Christmas figurines.[23]  The Earth Invaders Miller manufactured then are now called “Miller Aliens” by collectors. [24]   Unfortunately, in 1959, The J.H. Miller Company went bankrupt. [25]  

That was not the end of the story because a resourceful Miller sold the technology to Automatic Retailers of America, Inc. (A.R.A.). He worked with the company to develop Mold-A-Rama™ vending machines that manufactured waxy souvenirs for twenty-five cents. 

Subsequently, A.R.A. introduced the Mold-A-Rama™ vending machine at the 1962 Seattle World’s Fair, the Century 21 Exposition.[26]  The M-A-R sculptures produced at the 1962 Seattle World’s Fair included a model of the Seattle Space Needle, a model of the Seattle Center Monorail, a Budai (also known as Hotei or Laughing Buddha), and a three-dimensional Century 21 Exposition logo.[27]

A.R.A.’s Mold-A-Rama, Inc. subsidiary manufactured M-A-R vending machines in Chicago.[28]  We could look at that event as the return of Miller’s technology to Chicago. 

The retail price for a M-A-R vending machine was $3,600.[29]  Between 1962 and ‘69, Mold-A-Rama, Inc. manufactured approximately 200 M-A-R vending machines.[30] 

Mold-A-Rama, Inc. machines made dinosaur figures for the Sinclair Oil Corporation’s Sinclair Dinoland exhibit at New York City’s second World’s Fair, EXPO New York (1964-65). [31]   [This was the second World’s Fair to be held in Flushing Meadows – Corona Park and was referenced with Stark Expo in Iron Man 2 (2010).  The first New York World’s Fair, EXPO New York City (1939-1940) had previously been held there.  That Worlds Fair was referenced in Captain America: The First Avenger (2011).]  At Dinoland, M-A-R machines produced seven kinds of dinosaur sculptures. 

These included a Brontosaurus sculpture (very similar to the Sinclair Oil Company Brontosaurus mascot, which is referenced with the DinoCo mascot in the Toy Story films); Tyrannosaurus rex sculpture; Stegosaurus sculpture; and Triceratops sculpture.[32] [Note that today scholars would insist on calling the Brontosaurus sculpture an Apatosaurus sculpture.]  These cost just twenty-five cents.  The Children’s Museum of Indianapolis has one of the green M-A-R Brontosaurus sculptures. 

Sinclair gas stations sold bags of M-A-R dinosaurs for forty- nine cents.  Nostalgic Baby Boomers who want to purchase M-A-R dinosaurs that were actually made at Dinoland should make certain beforehand that dinosaur sculptures that are offered for sale have the inscription “1964-1965 New York World’s Fair.”  If that inscription is missing, the dinosaur sculpture was made by a M-A-R somewhere else, possibly at a much later time.  There may have been up to 150 M-A-R vending machines at EXPO New York. [33] 

In addition to the Sinclair Oil Company, Disney, Pepsi, and other organizations had M-A-R machines at the World’s Fair.[34]  These other machines produced sculptures that included Disney figures, presidential busts, N.A.S.A.’s Space Lab and Project Mercury space capsule, and dolphins.[35]  [One of the life-size dinosaur statues from Dinoland, constructed by Louis Paul Jones Studios, the Trachodon, ended up at the Chicago Zoological Society’s Brookfield Zoo in west suburban Brookfield, Illinois.]  Mold-A-Rama™ vending machines were popular at zoos, bus depots, train stations, airports, arcades, and shops. [36] 

By 1964, there were M-A-R vending machines manufacturing Disney figurines at Disneyland; busts of Abraham Lincoln at Springfield, Illinois; and religious figurines at the Vatican.[37]  Mold-A-Rama™ was also prominent at the 1967 World’s Fair in Montreal, Expo ‘67.[38] 

The original Mold-A-Rama, Inc. ceased to exist because its parent company, A.R.A., decided to shut down the subsidiary.  That parent company, incidentally, evolved into Aramark. 

One employee of the original Mold-A-Rama, Inc., Roy Ward, acquired several of the M-A-R vending machines, as well as the right to operate the machines at the Brookfield Zoo and the Museum of Science and Industry.  [Tike Miller, meanwhile, developed the “Golden Goat” machine that sat in grocery store parking lots.  These were sort of reverse vending machines where customers could turn in aluminum cans to be recycled in return for money.]  His wife, Doris Ward, was a secretary at Interstate United, and on the eve of her retirement, her boss, William A. Jones, a Michigan State University graduate who was working as a supervising accountant, expressed interest in purchasing the M-A-R machines from Roy, and she replied that she and Roy had considered selling them the previous night.[39]  After William A. Jones worked with Roy Ward over weekends for a year-and-a-half, he purchased the M-A-R machines on April 22, A.D. 1971 and formed the William A. Jones Company (WAJCO).

Another small business owner who kept M-A-R machines in operation was Paul Nathanson of Minnesota.  He was one of the original franchise owners who worked with A.R.A.  Jones and Nathanson began to cooperate for the purpose of acquiring custom-made parts. 

Nathanson had several accounts and owned more M-A-R machines than Jones.  In the early 1980s, Nathanson decided he wanted to get out of the business and Jones bought him out in 1985.[40]  Jones tripled the number of M-A-R machines he had when he purchased a total of fifty-five M-A-R machines from Nathanson and doubled his sales.[41]  Thus, William A. (“Bill”) Jones, Sr. became the largest operator of M-A-R machines in the Midwest. 

He brought his sons, Paul Jones and Bill Jones, Jr. in to help him run WAJCO. Around the turn of the century, WAJCO was able to purchase six M-A-R machines that went on sale on eBay.[42]  The Jones family ended up using those machines for spare parts.[43] 

The most popular Mold-A-Rama™ vending machine WAJCO had by far was the one that produces dolphins at the Brookfield Zoo.[44]  The Jones family explained to the Chicago Tribune’s Eric Benderoff in 2006 that at the peak of the summer season, it produced 350 sculptures per day.[45]  Bill Jones, Sr. and Paul Jones also explained to Benderoff that all of the M-A-R machines at The Field Museum produced dinosaurs.[46]  There had been one that produced gorillas (which I imagine was a reference to Bushman, the popular Lincoln Park Zoo gorilla whose mounted remains have been on display at the Field Museum for over half a century) but when sales fell off they replaced it with one that produced Tyrannosaurus rexes (which was undoubtedly a reference to Sue).[47] 

Bill Jones, Sr.’s favorite Mold-A-Rama™ machine, out of the sixty-eight he had in operation in 2006 across the Midwest and in Texas, was the one that produced U-505 models at the Museum of Science and Industry.[48]  That was his son Paul’s favorite one, too.  “But I have a different reason,” he told Benderoff.[49]  “That machine has few problems I have to fix.”[50] 

In 2011, WAJCO re-branded as Mold-A-Rama, Inc.  Unfortunately, in 2014, Bill Jones, Junior passed away at the age of fifty-three. 

The next year, his father chose to go into semi-retirement.  Today, Mold-A-Rama, Inc. operates sixty-three Mold-A-Rama™ machines in facilities spread across five states.  One needs not go to all of those facilities to buy a M-A-R figures. 

On the Website of Mold-A-Rama, Inc., one can purchase all the figures currently being manufactured by M-A-R machines, plus some surplus figures such as an orange Frankenstein’s monster (identified as the “Standing Monster,” for some reason).  In addition to selling M-A-R figures, the company also sells M-A-R-themed apparel, magnets, keychains, pins, Christmas tree ornaments, and stickers.

Figure 3 Credit: Heid Peters, Museum of Science and Industry This is a green tractor that the Mold-A-Rama™ machine in the Farm Tech exhibit at the Museum of Science and Industry produces most of the year.[51] Farm Tech is on the Lower Level (ground floor) in the Museum of Science and Industry’s Central Pavilion.

Figure 4 Credit: Heid Peters, Museum of Science and Industry Caption: This black steam locomotive Mold-A-Rama™ sculpture is made in a Mold-A-Rama™ machine in the Transportation Gallery near the 999 Steam Locomotive, on the Main Level in the Museum of Science and Industry’s Central Pavilion.

Figure 5 Credit: Seán M. O’Connor Caption: In November of 2018, there was a Mold-A-Rama™ machine in the Museum of Science and Industry’s Transportation Gallery.  This one was located on the Grainger Court Balcony near several airplanes and other aircraft on display on the Balcony or suspended from the ceiling.

Figure 6 Credit: Heid Peters, Museum of Science and Industry Caption: This Mold-A-Rama™ gray sculpture represents a F-16 jetfighter. 

Figure 7 Seán M. O’Connor Caption: This is how the Mold-A-Rama™ outside the U-505 exhibit gallery appears from the hallway that connects the Henry Crown Space Center to the East Pavilion of the Museum of Science and Industry.

Figure 8 Credit: Seán M. O’Connor Caption: This is a light gray U-505 model produced by the Mold-A-Rama™ outside the U-505 exhibit gallery photographed in November of 2018.

Figure 9 Credit: Heid Peters, Museum of Science and Industry Caption: This Mold-A-Rama™ sculpture is a dark gray replica of the U-505 submarine photographed on Thursday, October 13, A.D. 2022.  The real U-505 is a German Navy attack submarine, a U.S. Navy war prize, and a museum ship.

Figure 10 Seán M. O’Connor Caption: This is how the Mold-A-Rama™ looked outside the Launch Pad gift shop in the Museum of Science and Industry’s Henry Crown Space Center in November of 2018.

Figure 11 Credit: Seán M. O’Connor Caption: This is the white space shuttle model produced by the Mold-A-Rama™ outside the Launch Pad gift shop at the Museum of Science and Industry in November of 2018.

Tim Striggow is a third-generation Mold-A-Rama™ owner who operates and leases Mold-A-Matic machines in Florida, Tennessee, and Ohio.  His maternal grandfather, Eldin Irwin, started to lease M-A-R machines from A.R.A. back in the 1960s after he saw the technology demonstrated at a state fair and placed his units in Michigan and Ohio.  Then A.R.A. decided to get out of the business of building M-A-R machines and he purchased as many of the M-A-R machines and molds as he could.  His business was called Contour Shops, Inc.  He used trailers to bring M-A-R machines to state fairs and carnivals.  Tim Striggow was thirteen when he started to accompany his grandfather and learn the trade of maintaining the machines. 

About forty-two years ago, Eldin Irwin acquired the Mold-A-Rama™ machines owned by the Mold-A-Matic Company in Florida and adopted the Mold-A-Matic™ identity.  [This company is not to be confused with Penndel, Pennsylvania-based Moldamatic.]  Around 1990, Eldin Irwin sold the business to Tim Striggow’s mother, Nancy Leslie, and stepfather, Tom.  In 2004, Tim Striggow and his wife, Denise, bought out his mother and stepfather, and changed the company name to Unique Souvenirs, Inc.  He brought in his son-in-law, Kevin Tucker.

A vlogger (video-blogger) with the handle The Carpetbagger has made a number of videos about visiting Mold-A-Rama™ machines across the country.

Credit: The Craptebagger Caption: He related in a 2015 video, “The hunt for Mold-a-Ramas,” in the course of profiles of the M-A-R machines at the Brookfield Zoo, the Sears Tower, and the Henry Ford Museum, that there were two more Mold-A-Rama™ machines he dubbed “rogue.”  These were at Jack White’s record store, where there was a Mold-A-Rama™ that made guitars and at the Rotofugi toy shop in Chicago, where there was a Mold-A-Rama™ labeled a “Roto-A-Matic,” but it was broken and out of service. 

Jack White’s record store, which he founded in Detroit in 2001, moved to Nashville in 2009, and is called Third Man Records.  [It houses the retail arm of his record label, Third Man Records, which opened a record pressing plant in Detroit in 2017.  However, the Nashville location is also a music venue and houses the headquarters of the entire company.]  The Mold-A-Matic™ at Third Man Records is labeled the “Wax—A-Matic” and it is situated in the shop’s Novelties Lounge.  It casts a red Jack White 1964 Airline guitar, a miniature replica of the guitar the singer-musician-songwriter used with his first band, the White Stripes. 

Rotofugi is an art gallery as well as a toy store.  In 2013, Aimee Levitt recounted in the Chicago Reader how it had taken the previous four years for Rotofugi to get its Roto-A-Matic machine to work.[52]  In the course of explaining how a Mold-A-Rama™ vending machine works for How Stuff Works, Bernadette Johnson profiled Rotofugi’s Mold-A-Rama™.[53]

Chicago toy store Rotofugi acquired and repurposed a Mold-A-Rama that was originally at the Los Angeles Zoo. They call it the Roto-a-Matic, and it produces a toy called the Helper Dragon from a new custom mold of a sculpture by artist Tim Biskup. You can get one by purchasing a token for $6, putting it in the machine and watching it go, or by ordering the sculpture from the store.

The mold was made by 3-D scanning an original sculpture, designing a mold using CAD (computer-aided design) and having an aluminum cast made of the mold. Rotofugi had planned to regularly feature new designs by artists, but making new molds has proven difficult and expensive, so for now they are simply changing the color each month.

In 2017, I asked Rotofugi for an update, and Gallery Director/Toy Wranger Kirby Kerr replied, “We haven’t completely given up on our ‘Roto-A-Matic’ project just yet, but it’s definitely been sidelined.  Our machine is currently in storage.”  Rotofugi Designer Toys is located at 2780 North Lincoln Avenue, Chicago, Illinois.  The Chicago Sports Museum has a Mold-A-Rama vending machine that produces sculptures of the Chicago skyline.  Please note that a friend with whom I used to work at the Museum of Science and Industry alerted me on Thursday, December 22, A.D. 2017 that the Mold-A-Rama™ at the Chicago Sports Museum had broken down in 2016 and they had not been able to get it fixed.

In 2015, The Capetbagger also made a video about the last remaining operational Disneyland Mold-A-Rama™ machine, “Original Disneyland Mold-a-Rama.”  It is in the Volo Auto Museum in Volo, Illinois.  Labeled the “Disneyland Toy Factory,” for $5 it produced a green Mickey Mouse figure for his daughter Annabelle.  It is part of the Disney Gallery, which is full of sculptures from Disney theme parks and stores.  

The blog Mold-A-Ramas stated in 2015 that Tampa’s Lowery Park Zoo in Tampa, Florida and Mote Laboratory & Aquarium in Sarasota, Florida both also had Mold-A-Rama™ machines in operation.  In her 2014 blog post “Mold-A-Rama at Busch Gardens and the Mote Aquarium,” Korinthia Klein shared pictures of Mold-A-Rama™ sculptures she acquired at Busch Gardens and Mote Aquarium.

In 2016, the Brookfield Zoo celebrated the 50^th anniversary of Mold-a-Rama™ at Brookfield Zoo.  The celebration included a “Mold-A-Rama Hall of Fame” display case.   Paul Jones told the Chicago Tribune’s Steve Johnson that a Mold-A-Rama™ vending machine held seventy pounds of plastic pellets in its hopper and yet between Memorial Day and Labor Day, they had to refill the hoppers of most machines every day at the Brookfield Zoo.[54]  Thirteen of the sixty-one Mold-A-Rama™ vending machines the family owned were at the Brookfield Zoo.[55]  Mr. Jones said that people sometimes tell him that 3D printers will put him out of business but he counters the Mold-A-Rama™ is the “original 3-D printer.”[56]

That same year, 2016, Wendy McClure paid tribute to Mold-A-Rama in the Chicago Reader.[57]

You don’t go looking for a Mold-A-Rama. That’s not how it works. It’s true that a Google search will reveal all the locations of these 1960s-era souvenir machines, including at least 20 around Chicago. But ideally you stumble across one, glowing quietly in a vestibule or stairwell, with its translucent bubble dome waiting for you.

When this happens, you’ll likely be in a place that you’ve visited plenty of times before in your life: the zoo, the museum, the skyscraper, the other zoo, the other museum. The place itself doesn’t really matter, even though the ostensible point of Mold-A-Rama is to create a souvenir of that place, a molded object representing it in some way. But then, the object doesn’t really matter either. Mold-A-Rama isn’t about the plastic rhino, or the dolphin or the kangaroo or steam locomotive or dinosaur or bust of Lincoln or John Deere tractor or alligator or German submarine. (It is just a little bit about the gorilla, however. The one from the zoo, waving hello. That one is cool.)…

Ultimately, though, Mold-A-Rama is about dwelling in the perpetual rather than the past. There’s now a company in Brookfield called Mold-A-Rama Inc., dedicated to keeping the machines running. And while it’s true that your exclusive product—your penguin or lion or fighter jet or Komodo dragon or bison or space shuttle or whatever—doesn’t signify much in and of itself, you might as well take it home and keep it after it has cooled in your hands. Just don’t think of it as a ‘collectible,’ or as kitsch; or God forbid go on eBay and buy ‘rare’ Mold-A-Rama exclusive products of anonymous moments you were never a part of. That said, if you find yourself with three or four or ten of these memory thingies, it’s usually an indication of a life well lived. And if you keep only one, keep the gorilla, always and forever saying hello and good-bye.

Credit: The Carpetbagger Caption: The Carpetbagger’s video “New Mold-A-Ramas” showing new Mold-A-Rama™ figures and a M-A-R t-shirt with the years that various M-A-R sculptures debuted at Brookfield Zoo which a friend in the Chicago area bought for him at the Brookfield Zoo and sent him.  This was a sequel to a video he made, “The Mold-A-Rama Collection.”

Credit: The Carpetbagger Caption: In the video “The Mold-A-Rama Collection,” The Carpetbagger had his young daughter show off his sizable collection of M-A-R sculptures. 

Between the two videos, The Carpetbagger and his daughter have exhibited a nearly exhaustive collection of newly-made M-A-R sculptures that were then available, as he had visited most of the operational M-A-R machines in the U.S.A. because he went out of his way to visit the zoos, museums, and roadside attractions where he knew they were still in operation and he had avoided purchasing old M-A-R sculptures second-hand.  Brennan Murphy, formerly of Riverside, Illinois, amassed what was likely the largest collection of Mold-A-Rama sculptures in the world, with somewhere between 600 and 700 figures, as of 2006.[58]

Santa Claus and Christmas Tree M-A-R Sculptures at the M.S.I.

During the Museum of Science and Industry’s annual Christmas Around the World and Holidays of Light joint festivals, there are often two M-A-R machines dedicated to producing festive red Santa Claus figures and green Christmas tree sculptures. This is very appropriate given that Tike Miller started his first company because he discovered it was difficult to replace a broken baby Jesus for a nativity scene. I do not know where they will be positioned for the 2022 Christmas Around the World and Holidays of Light festivals but in recent past the one that produced the green Christmas tree sculptures was in the M.S.I.’s Rosenwald Court (North Court) on the Main Level in the Central Pavilion and the one that produced red Santa Claus figures was in the Farm Tech exhibit on the Lower Level in the Central Pavilion.

Figure 12 Credit: S.M. O’Connor Caption: This Mold-a-Rama™ produced Santa Claus figures during the Museum of Science and Industry’s Christmas Around the World and Holidays of Light festivals. In November of 2018, I photographed it in the Farm Tech exhibit on the Lower Level (ground floor). Figures then cost $3.

Figure 13 Credit: S.M. O’Connor Caption: This is a closeup of the red Santa Claus figureI in the Mold-A-Rama™ machine that was then in the Museum of Science and Industry’s Farm Tech exhibit.

Figure 14 Credit: Museum of Science and Industry Caption: In November of 2018, the Christmas tree-making Mold-A-Rama™ stood in the northwestern corner of the M.S.I.’s Rosenwald Court, near the Silver Elevators bank and the entrance to the exhibit Extreme Ice.

Figure 15 Credit: Seán M. O’Connor Caption: This Mold-A-Rama™ in Rosenwald Court at the Museum of Science and Industry made Christmas tree sculptures during the 2018 Christmas Around the World and Holidays of Light festivals.

Figure 16 Credit: Seán M. O’Connor Caption: This is the Christmas tree sculpture the Mold-A-Rama™ in the Museum of Science and Industry’s Rosenwald Court produced during the 2018 Christmas Around the World and Holidays of Light festivals.

Figure 17 Credit: J.B. Spector, Museum of Science and Industry Caption: J.B. took this magical picture of the Mold-A-Rama™ Christmas tree in 2014.

Mold-A-Rama at The Field Museum in 2018

I visited The Field Museum of Natural History with my family on Friday, March 9, A.D. 2018 and found three of the aforementioned four Mold-A-Rama™ machines.  The first one pictured is a M-A-R machine that sat outside the exhibit Evolving Planet on the Upper Level of The Field Museum. 

Figure 18 Credit: S.M. O’Connor Caption: This is the Mold-A-Rama™ machine outside Evolving Planet on the Upper Floor of The Field Museum as seen on Friday, March 9, A.D. 2018.

Figure 19 Credit: S.M. O’Connor Caption: The Mold-A-Rama™ outside Evolving Planet makes green triceratops sculptures.

The next three Mold-A-Rama™ machines are located near the Dino Lab Store, Sea Mammals exhibit/picnic Eating Area, Explorer Café, washrooms, the James Simpson Theatre/3D Theater, and West Entrance on the Ground Floor of The Field Museum.

Figure 20 Credit: S.M. O’Connor Caption: This is one of two Mold-A-Rama™ machines on the Ground Floor of The Field Museum outside the James Simpson Theatre/3D Theater.

Figure 21 Credit: S.M. O’Connor Caption: This is a close-up of the example green brontosaurus sculpture.

Figure 22 Credit: S.M. O’Connor Caption: This is the other Mold-A-Rama™ machine on the Ground Floor of The Field Museum, which at least at that time was located outside the James Simpson Theatre/3D Theater.

Figure 23 Credit: S.M. O’Connor Caption: This is a close-up of the Mold-A-Rama™ red Tyrannosaurus rex sculpture produced at The Field Museum.

Mold-A-Rama Exhibit at the Museum of Science & Industry

A Mold-A-Rama™ exhibit opened at the Museum of Science and Industry (M.S.I.) on Thursday, November 3, A.D. 2022.  It occupies the space formerly occupied by the Circus exhibit in the East Gallery on the Lower Level of the M.S.I.  This is a temporary exhibit, which seems to be named Mold-A-Rama™ based on the latest M.S.I. map, and will be open for approximately a year, through the autumn of 2023.

Figure 24 Credit: Heid Peters, Museum of Science and Industry Caption: These are Mold-A-Rama™ sculptures are a gray jetfighter, a black steam locomotive, a red Chicago skyline, a dark gray U-505 submarine, and a green tractor.

END NOTES

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[1] A “nonce word” is a noun used for “the one, particular, or present occasion, purpose, or use.”  This is not to be confused with the British English insult “nonce,” which means the subject is (or is thought to be) a criminal of a particularly vile sort: a pedophile.

[2] Dennis Cooper, “Mold-A-Rama Day,” (https://denniscooperblog.com/mold-a-rama-day/) Accessed 11/20/17

[3] Dennis Cooper, “Mold-A-Rama Day,” (https://denniscooperblog.com/mold-a-rama-day/) Accessed 11/20/17

See also Rob Lammle, “A Brief History of Mold-A-Rama,” Mental Floss, 18 March 2014 (http://mentalfloss.com/article/55241/brief-history-mold-rama) Accessed 11/20/17

[4] Eric Benderoff, “Old technology proves a modern-day classic,” Chicago Tribune, 4 September, 2006 (http://www.chicagotribune.com/ct-archive-mold-a-rama-technology-20160817-story.html) Accessed 11/20/17

Bernadette Johnson, “How Mold-A-Rama Works,” How Stuff Works, p. 4

(https://entertainment.howstuffworks.com/mold-a-rama3.htm) Accessed 11/20/17

[5] Eric Benderoff, “Old technology proves a modern-day classic,” Chicago Tribune, 4 September, 2006

See also Bernadette Johnson, “How Mold-A-Rama Works,” How Stuff Works, p. 3

(https://entertainment.howstuffworks.com/mold-a-rama2.htm) Accessed 11/20/17

[6] Bernadette Johnson, “How Mold-A-Rama Works,” How Stuff Works, p. 4

(https://entertainment.howstuffworks.com/mold-a-rama3.htm) Accessed 11/20/17

[7] Bernadette Johnson, “How Mold-A-Rama Works,” How Stuff Works, p. 3

[8] Eric Benderoff, “Old technology proves a modern-day classic,” Chicago Tribune, 4 September, 2006

See also Bernadette Johnson, “How Mold-A-Rama Works,” How Stuff Works, p. 3

[9] Eric Benderoff, “Old technology proves a modern-day classic,” Chicago Tribune, 4 September, 2006

See also Bernadette Johnson, “How Mold-A-Rama Works,” How Stuff Works, p. 3

[10] Eric Benderoff, “Old technology proves a modern-day classic,” Chicago Tribune, 4 September, 2006

[11] Bernadette Johnson, “How Mold-A-Rama Works,” How Stuff Works, p. 3 (https://entertainment.howstuffworks.com/mold-a-rama2.htm) Accessed 11/20/17

[12] John Shearer, “Vintage souvenir machines popular at Knoxville Zoo,” Chattanooga Times Free Press, 8 September, 2013 (http://www.pressreader.com/usa/chattanooga-times-free-press/20130908/281981785264652) Accessed 11/20/17

[13] John Shearer, “Old money-making machines still humming at Knoxville Zoo,” Knoxville News Sentinel, 3 September, 2013 (http://archive.knoxnews.com/business/old-money-making-machines-still-humming-at-knoxville-zoo-ep-510461355-355513361.html/) Accessed 11/20/17

[14] “A History of The Mold-A-Rama,” The Weir Times & The Cocheco Times, 25 May, 2015, p. 25

[15] Dennis Cooper, “Mold-A-Rama Day,” (https://denniscooperblog.com/mold-a-rama-day/) Accessed 11/20/17

[16] “A History of The Mold-A-Rama,” The Weir Times, 25 May, 2015, p. 25

[17] Don O’Brien, “Author coming to Quincy to find out more about J.H. Miller Co.,” Herald-Whig, 19 April, 2013 (http://www.whig.com/story/22023147/author-coming-to-quincy-to-find-out-more-about-jh-miller-co#) Accessed 11/20/17

See also “The J.H. Miller Company,” Rodney’s Dimestore Gallery

(http://rodneysdimestoregallery.com/j_h__miller_company) Accessed 11/20/17

[18] O’Brien

[19] O’Brien

[20] “A History of The Mold-A-Rama,” The Weir Times, 25 May, 2015, p. 25

Dennis Cooper, “Mold-A-Rama Day,” (https://denniscooperblog.com/mold-a-rama-day/) Accessed 11/20/17

[21] “A History of The Mold-A-Rama,” The Weir Times, 25 May, 2015, p. 25

[22] “A History of The Mold-A-Rama,” The Weir Times, 25 May, 2015, p. 25

Dennis Cooper, “Mold-A-Rama Day,” (https://denniscooperblog.com/mold-a-rama-day/) Accessed 11/20/17

[23] “A History of The Mold-A-Rama,” The Weir Times, 25 May, 2015, p. 25

[24] “A History of The Mold-A-Rama,” The Weir Times, 25 May, 2015, p. 25

[25] “A History of The Mold-A-Rama,” The Weir Times, 25 May, 2015, p. 25

[26] Steve Johnson, “Smelly, plastic and nostalgic, Mold-A-Rama celebrates 50^th birthday at Brookfield Zoo” Chicago Tribune, 17 August, 2016 (http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/ct-mold-a-rama-50th-birthday-20160817-story.html) Accessed 11/20/17

[27] Dennis Cooper, “Mold-A-Rama Day,” (https://denniscooperblog.com/mold-a-rama-day/) Accessed 11/20/17

[28] Ibid

[29] Ibid

[30] Bernadette Johnson, “How Mold-A-Rama Works,” How Stuff Works, p. 2

(https://entertainment.howstuffworks.com/mold-a-rama1.htm) Accessed 11/20/17

[31] “Mold-Rama Draws ‘Em,” Billboard, 12 December, 1964, p. 43

[32] “A History of The Mold-A-Rama,” The Weir Times, 25 May, 2015, p. 25

[33] “A History of The Mold-A-Rama,” The Weir Times, 25 May, 2015, p. 25

[34] “A History of The Mold-A-Rama,” The Weir Times, 25 May, 2015, p. 25

[35] “A History of The Mold-A-Rama,” The Weir Times, 25 May, 2015, p. 25

[36] “Mold-Rama Draws ‘Em,” Billboard, 12 December, 1964, p. 43

[37] “Mold-Rama Draws ‘Em,” Billboard, 12 December, 1964, p. 43

[38] “A History of The Mold-A-Rama,” The Weir Times, 25 May, 2015, p. 25

[39] John Fecile, “Mold-A-Rama-Rama! The Secrets Behind Chicago’s Plastic Souvenir Empire,” WBEZ 91.5 Chicago, 13 November, 2015 (https://www.wbez.org/shows/wbez-news/mold-a-rama-rama-the-secrets-behind-chicagos-plastic-souvenir-empire/0cdbea6b-d991-420a-9a3e-62dcc0c072d1) Accessed 11/21/17

[40] Eric Benderoff, “Old technology proves a modern-day classic,” Chicago Tribune, 4 September, 2006

[41] Eric Benderoff, “Old technology proves a modern-day classic,” Chicago Tribune, 4 September, 2006

[42] Eric Benderoff, “Old technology proves a modern-day classic,” Chicago Tribune, 4 September, 2006

[43] Ibid

[44] Ibid

[45] Ibid

[46] Ibid

[47] Ibid

[48] Ibid

[49] Ibid

[50] Ibid

[51] The reason I wrote “most of the year” is because I recall at least one year that Mold-A-Rama™ machine in the Farm exhibit (now called Farm Tech) was re-purposed to produce Santa Claus figures during Christmas Around the World and Holidays of Light.

[52] Aimee Levitt, “Show us your…Roto-A-Matic,” Chicago Reader, 30 May 2013 (https://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/rotofugi-squibbles-ink-roto-a-matic-mold-a-rama/Content?oid=9814048) Accessed 11/20/17

[53] Bernadette Johnson, “How Mold-A-Rama Works,” How Stuff Works, p. 6

 (https://entertainment.howstuffworks.com/mold-a-rama6.htm) Accessed 11/20/17

[54] Johnson

[55] Johnson

[56] Johnson

[57] Wedny McClure, “Mold-A-Rama memories harden like molded plastic,” Chicago Reader, 23 June, 2016

(https://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/moldarama-souvenir-museums-science-industry-brookfield-zoo/BestOf?oid=22604819) Accessed 11/20/17

[58] Bernderoff