The Stay Puft Marshmallow Man Looms Large Over Los Angeles
It has been a month of highs and lows for Ghostbusters fans. The untimely death of creator and actor Harold Ramis overshadowed the wicked cool reveal of the 30th Anniversary LEGO set coming later this year. But things don’t get much higher than the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man standing on top of a building in Los Angeles. Unless you count Dan Aykroyd waxing on about his plans for Ghostbusters III. So what was this soft but deadly villain doing hanging out on the West Coast, and how did he make it from New York to California without a billion Twitter users tracking his journey?
Though it sounds like a good, if not direct, way to memorialize Ramis’ death, it isn’t. And anyway, it would be a better salute if Aykroyd died, since Ray was the one who conceived the fluffy behemoth in the first place. No, there really isn’t any story behind this at all, as LA Curbed confirmed that the inflatable monster is merely being tested atop the roof of the Petersen Automotive Museum. Inside the museum’s Hollywood Gallery, the iconic Ecto-1 Cadillac is currently on temporary display, so perhaps it’s just a form of advertisement.
Remember how terrible the authorities were in Ghostbusters? It turns out the museum staff might be just as incompetent. This general, sweeping statement that is aimed at no one in particular, except the rep in question. This was in the L.A. Curbed story.
A rep told us that the Ghostbusters’ Ecto-1 Cadillac is temporarily on display in the museum’s Hollywood Gallery, but denied there was a huge inflatable marshmallow man on the roof. After insisting we had reliable photo evidence, he made a few calls and said Stay Puft was just being tested out yesterday, but that he could come back in the future. Still, this photo was taken just this morning by a tipster who works across the street and says the marshmallow man is still there.
I guess it’s good that there isn’t an army of murderous aliens or terrorists on the roof of that building. Otherwise, we’d all be boned. I’m trying to think of a building near where I live that could possibly use Stay Puft as a promotional tool, and all I can think of is the Giant Sailor Outfit manufacturer just outside of town.
Here is a wider shot of the one seen above, followed by a video where Ramis and director Ivan Reitman display the Ecto-1 to the CBS’ Early Show in 2005 for the release of the DVD set.
