The Bobblehead In: Animal Bobbleheads

The bobbling figurine known as the bobblehead has long been an American icon, a symbol of the fervor with which fans embrace their sports teams and players. The nodding dolls, also called bobble heads, have regained popularity in recent years, with collectors snapping up the likenesses of celebrities and athletes. But there’s a wildly creative side to these collectibles, one that the creators of the Bobblehead Museum in Milwaukee hope to highlight with their new exhibit, a series of bobbleheads shaped like animals.

“This is the craziest thing we’ve ever done,” says Phil Sklar, co-founder of the museum. “And it’s been the most fun we’ve had in our lives.”

Sklar and his business partner, John Novak, met in college and have been friends ever since. They played tennis together, worked in the same office and had a shared love of baseball and other team sports. They traveled to watch games, and they grew to appreciate the fervor in the stands. “You couldn’t help but get caught up in it,” Sklar said. “It was really something special.”

When Novak took a PR internship with the Rockford RiverHawks minor league baseball team in 2002, part of his job involved handling bobblehead promotions. The fervor for these papier-mache dolls — the first of which was given away in 1960, according to the museum — impressed him and gave him an idea.

Novak and Sklar decided to open a museum to celebrate the art of the bobblehead, while also manufacturing and selling them. They figured they could sell tickets to the museum and reach partnerships with teams, leagues and athletes to produce the dolls, creating a new revenue stream for the museum.

But they quickly realized they needed a massive collection to fill the space and attract visitors. They scoured the country for bobbleheads, and even made some of their own. For example, they found a picture of Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist and made a bobblehead of him standing atop a map of Carbon County, Wyoming, with volume 529 of the U.S. Reports in his hand.

The museum opened in 2017, and Sklar and Novak have developed a reputation that makes them a go-to resource for teams, leagues and athletes. They’re now able to offer quick-turn production, meaning they can post bobblehead pictures and preorder options on the museum website about an hour after an event occurs.

During our visit, Sklar points out a bobblehead of the cast of the TV show “Better Call Saul.” He says that many people are surprised to learn that more than half of the museum’s collections consists of non-sports bobbleheads. He’s particularly proud of a series they did for the movie “Home Alone.” Sklar recalls how he negotiated with the movie studio to make ones of Kevin, Harry and Marv, plus the tarantula. “We were able to bring it back from the brink,” he says. “It’s a pretty amazing story.” The Bobblehead Museum is open from April through October.