Content area
Full Text
Every so often, Judy and Lee Maltenfort walk into a restaurant or shop in a town they've never visited before and come face to face with one of their people.
Or they'll be exhibiting at a national gift show, in conjunction with one of their representation showrooms, and overhear dozens of people refer to friends, associates or family members who have one or more of their people.
Or they can visit Arts and Crafts Emporium, Bella's Restaurant, Carson Davis Antiques or City Market Cafe here in Savannah to see them on public view. There ate several others in town, acquired directly or the prize of a high bidder at a Symphony auction.
They are some of the 3,000-plus very stylized maids, butlers, chefs and other characters made by the pair over the past 13 years under the name "The Upstairs Maids." While most of the characters are dressed in Victorian costume, the Maltenforts have made everything from The Tooth Fairy to a Notre Dame football player and a UPS delivery man, the latter two dressed in uniforms supplied by the university and the company, respectively.
The venture began in South Orange NJ where they lived for 25 years before moving here. Their son, now Dr. Mitchell Maltenfort, a computational neuroscientist on a research grant at Barrows Neurological Institute in Phoenix AZ, graduated high school with a quarter-million dollars worth of academic scholarships from which to chose. To celebrate the graduation, an open house was planned and the Maltenforts made several maids...