Vintage souvenir machines popular at Knoxville Zoo
KNOXVILLE — During a recent late summer morning at the Knoxville Zoo, Sabine McWhirter and her daughter, Lorelei, were watching a couple of plastic gorillas being made in one of the Mold-A-Matic/ Mold-A-Rama machines.
As the plastic was automatically poured into the two joined molds after a dollar was inserted, a loud, rickety rumble began, signifying that the instant manufacturing process was under way.
All eyes — including those of fellow visitors Jessica, Patrick and Amelia Houston — began focusing on the Mold-A-Matic machine. Even Bantu, the zoo’s male gorilla, was paying attention from a few feet away until he was distracted by a female in an adjacent enclosure.
Over the next few moments, one plastic gorilla fell into the machine’s small bin where it could be picked up, and then another after another dollar bill was inserted.
“The fact that it still works is impressive,” joked Sabine McWhirter after securing her family’s inexpensive souvenir before continuing on her way around the rest of the grounds with her fellow visitors.
In this era when new animal acquisitions and newly constructed exhibition or viewing spaces are a large part of the Knoxville Zoo’s marketing efforts, the facility also depends on something quite old — its collection of vintage, 1960s- era Mold-A-Matic machines.
Scattered throughout the park are usually seven to nine Mold-A-Matic machines, depending on how many of the temperamental but beloved producers of waxy plastic items are working at the time. Among the different animals that can be made are otters, lionesses, bears, gorillas, elephants, giraffes, tigers, rhinoceroses and camels, if all the machines are in good operating condition.
A butterfly-making machine formerly was available, but it no longer is being used.
Besides the simple products, zoo visitors also seem to enjoy the equally simple manufacturing process of the machines.
“The visitors love them,” said director of guest services Josh Hurley. “They love to watch them more than anything. It’s more of a nostalgic feeling.”
A baby boomer will be taken back to a time in his or her childhood when he first saw the machines.
However, besides the warm feeling that matches the plastic animals’ temperature when they drop to the collection bin, the vending machines provide some additional zoo income.
“It’s about 20 percent of our vending sales, so it does have a little bit of a push to it,” said Hurley. “It’s one more thing for our guests to do.”
In fact, the zoo also sells the animals in its gift shop for those who may have missed any of them out on the grounds, and collectors of the animals from out of town can order them through the zoo.
“People usually want more than one of them,” said zoo assistant marketing director Tina Rolen. “They tend to collect them.”
According to officials, the Knoxville Zoo acquired its Mold-A-Matic machines from Dollywood in 1996. They are obviously much older than that, but officials are not sure where they originated.
The Mold-A-Rama/Mold-A-Matic concept dates to the 1950s, when an Illinois man named J. H. “Tike” Miller became frustrated at the difficulty in replacing a single piece of a ceramic Nativity scene at his home when one would break. As a result, he decided to create molds to make them. Eventually, he began selling the pieces to stores and developed plastic items, as well.