16 Facts About Spoony Singh

Sapuran Singh Sundher, popularly known as Spoony Singh, was an Indian-born Canadian businessman and entrepreneur known for his personality and establishing the Hollywood Wax Museum.

Spoony Singh's family moved to Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada in 1924, eventually settling in Victoria, British Columbia.

Spoony Singh was accepted to college but by that time, his father had developed chronic asthma from working in sawmills and was unable to work.

Spoony Singh eventually earned enough money to open a sawmill in Esquimalt and a logging camp near Port Alberni.

Spoony Singh then opened an amusement park he called "Spoony's" in Victoria.

In 1964, Spoony Singh was approached by investors who were interested in opening a wax museum in the United States.

Spoony Singh went on a two-week scouting trip to Los Angeles where he toured famous attractions on Hollywood Boulevard devoted to celebrities.

Spoony Singh bought an empty brassiere factory and luggage shop located at 6767 Hollywood Boulevard and, on 25 February 1965, opened the museum to the public.

Spoony Singh became known for the inventive ways he promoted the museum including having an actor dressed as Charlie Chaplin greet visitors and skateboarders dressed in gorilla suits that he paid to skate in front of the museum.

In one instance, Spoony Singh hired people to jump out from behind the wax figures to scare patrons; the practice was later stopped for fear of lawsuits.

Spoony Singh, who used his middle name as his surname for professional purposes, became something of a celebrity in the local Hollywood community.

In 1979, Spoony Singh expanded his business after opening the Thousand Oaks Self Storage.

Spoony Singh retired in 1990 but continued to oversee his businesses which are now run by his family.

Spoony Singh oversaw the opening of the Hollywood Guinness World Records Museum in 1991, the opening of a second location of the Hollywood Wax Museum Branson in Branson, Missouri in 1996, and the expansion of his storage business in 2002.

On 18 October 2006, Spoony Singh died of congestive heart failure at his home in Malibu, California at the age of 83.

In 1965, Spoony Singh appeared on the 7 November episode of the game show What's My Line.