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The photo above will make many Denverites gasp. After all, the likeness of Russell Scott, who spent decades on local TV as Blinky the Clown, is so uncannily accurate that it looks as if the Blinkster ran into a blade-wielding executioner with absolutely no sense of humor.
But no: It’s actually the head of a wax figure made by Nashville’s Shannon Schrum for a possible future museum exhibit. And for Schrum, the job has been a labor of love.
Reached by phone in Nashville, Schrum, who’s also pictured above, notes that he’s a native of Western Colorado who was on Blinky’s show as a child. He credits Scott, a personal friend for the past fifteen years, with inspiring him to go into show business as a ventriloquist.
Schrum also has a couple of very specialized sidelines, making replicas of Edgar Bergen characters such as Charlie McCarthy and Mortimer Snerd at his own Schrum Studios, as well as creating wax figures for assorted country-music museums in Nashville.
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That’s where the faux-Blinky comes in. According to Schrum, Scott has had casual conversations about contributing costumes and the like to a future museum display in Denver, perhaps at the Colorado History Museum. He thought these duds would look better on a figure than simply hanging on a wall and volunteered to create a likeness of Scott in his prime.
And he’s already got a head-start.
