[Deathwatch] Allen Parkinson, "Sleep-Eze" developer, 83

[Deathwatch Central <cdw@slick.org>]

Allen Parkinson 

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Allen Parkinson, an entrepreneur who developed the
over-the-counter sleep aid Sleep-Eze and then built a wax museum
dedicated to Hollywood legends, died at his home in Warwick, R.I. He
was 83. 

Parkinson, who died Aug. 19, was working as a salesman for a wine
company in 1948 when he noticed an ad in a Canadian newspaper for a
sleep aid called Persomnia. Plagued by insomnia himself, Parkinson
thought the idea of a sleep aid was good but the name was terrible. 

Fellow insomniacs turned non-barbiturate Sleep-Eze into a best seller
that gave Parkinson a million-dollar payday when he sold it in 1959. 

He also was the original owner of Movieland Wax Museum, which opened
May 1962 in Buena Park. 

At its peak in the 1960s, Movieland, which included a wax likeness of
dozens of film greats including Rudolph Valentino and James Dean, drew
as many as 1.2 million visitors a year. 

Parkinson sold Movieland and two other attractions to Six Flags for $10
million in 1970.