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Big Boy caper comes to a head Mt. Lebanon police find statue's severed cranium Wednesday, June 16, 1999 By Laura Pace, Post-Gazette Staff Writer
With a devilish smile, Big Boy's disjointed head leered at his decapitated body from atop a garbage can as restaurant patrons heralded his return.
Mt. Lebanon police delivered the severed Big Boy head to its rightful owners at the Washington Road Elby's Restaurant at 11:13 a.m. yesterday, after Allegheny County Police found it on an access road in South Park.
The $2,000 statue's head was lopped off with a sharp instrument between midnight and 6 a.m. Saturday, and the words "The Deceased Hubert H. Humphrey" written on his shirt in black marker.
Other than a chipped lip, the remains of a campaign sticker and grease, presumably from a chain saw, the head appeared relatively unscathed.
Mt. Lebanon Deputy Police Chief Pat Donahue said county police from the South Park station called at 2:45 a.m. yesterday and said they'd found the fiberglass head while patrolling park groves.
"This is our icon," said Elby's Manager Kris Gualazzi as she stroked Big Boy's fiberglass face. "This is the man that does it for us all."
Gualazzi estimated that the restaurant's business had been up 40 percent since the incident, with customers often stopping to take pictures.
"His lips came back," cooed Maeve Hogel, 6, of Mt. Lebanon, who was having lunch with family friend Linda Orsini.
"Poor Big Boy. That's why we came," Orsini said. "She likes his red lips."
The restaurant will receive a new statue from its corporate headquarters in Warren, Mich., and the damaged parts will go to "Big Boy hospital for plastic surgery," Gualazzi said.
Police have no suspects but will continue to investigate.
Gualazzi thinks graduating seniors may be to blame.
Recent promotional ties between Big Boy and the movie "Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me," which opened Friday, led some to speculate that the thieves may have seen the film. It featured a Big Boy statue.
Lt. Frank Coleman of the county police suggested that the vandals felt guilty and ditched the head on the access road to the Missouri Grove between 10 p.m. Monday and 2:30 a.m. yesterday.
"It was left much the same way it was taken," Coleman said, trying not to laugh. "Thieves in the night. Shame on them."
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